It doesn't happen quite as much as it used to, but when I was a kid, I can't tell you the number of TV shows that started out and then were abruptly cancelled after only a couple seasons or in the worst case a couple of episodes. This is going to be a loose series covering some of my favorites from over the years. Keep checking back because in my 40+ years on this earth I have amassed quite the list and you never know when I might post about one of them.
Probe
Probe was a Sci-Fi treat from the mind of none other than Isaac Asimov. With a name like that behind it you have to believe that it is going to be something pretty fantastic. I really loved this show and I was pretty upset when it only lasted seven episodes before it was pulled from the airways.
It starred Parker Stevenson who some of you might recall from the first season of Baywatch.
Here is the synopsis of it from IMDB.
"Austin James, an eccentric scientific prodigy, and his somewhat scatterbrained secretary, Michelle Castle, investigate a variety of murders, all with a scientific basis, whether it be a locked-room mystery in a nuclear reactor, or homicides committed with holograms."
I remember that the main character worked at a "think tank" called Serendip or something like that. It was a play on the term serendipity and the idea of things happening by chance with a positive outcome. Much the same way many major technological advances have happened in the past.
I kind of think this show was just a bit ahead of its time being on in 1988 I feel something with this premise would fit really well on one of the current streaming platforms that we have available.
I remember that this show was fun, but it also seemed a bit cerebral. As a kid it made me feel more like an adult watching it. Again, like I was watching something that was just a bit ahead of my time.
If you check out the episode descriptions here, you will see that many of the plots and scenarios could just as easily be on a show in 2021 versus a show that aired in 2988
Again, according to IMDB, this show was placed in a time slot opposite of The Cosby Show. Given that information now, it is easy to understand why this show never had the chance it deserved for viewership. Perhaps if DVR had been around back then and not just VCR's, things would have ended differently.
I wish there was a repository of these old shows for viewing somewhere on the Internet. It would be cool to revisit some of them. I guess until then you will just have to follow my blog posts!
Do you remember Probe? Did you watch it? If you don't/didn't, does it sound like something you would watch today? I definitely think a reboot is in order. That show Scorpion is probably about the closest current show I can think of that follows this concept.
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I don't recall that one, but maybe it never made it to the UK. I was a big Asimov fan as a kid and read loads of his novels.
I did watch The Cosby Show. If we had only known....
Yeah, for sure! :P
I missed this one somehow but it definitely sounds like something I would like. I was probably watching The Cosby Show too. A quick search turned up at least some of the episodes on YouTube. I'll have to check them out later.
Oh, nice, I am going to have to check them out too. Someone must have kept their old VHS tapes and digitized them :)