While somewhat invalidated by its, slightly too soon, 1988 airdate, Isaac Asimov's Probe (starring Parker Stevenson and Ashley Crow) was quite excellent. It was kind of the X-Files before there was an X-Files. The episode (awesomely entitled "Metamorphic Anthropoidic Prototype Over You"), where the pair have to determine whether an orangutan is capable of pre-meditated murder, is quite excellent.
As much s I love it its probably better it didn't cause they probably would've ruined it and at least it ended properly and didn't end on a cliff hanger so let's just be thankful for the 24 episodes we got
I could be wrong, but I think the writers once said that they only intended for it to have one season But considering it ended on a cliff-hanger, it certainly deserved a second season
@@galexeqe no, they were told after the 5th or 6th episode, they wouldn't get more than the one season. that's why the last few episodes were a jumbled mess as they tried to close everything off with one season ending.
@@galexeqe Moderator: To Morgan & Wong; Hello. When you started writing Saab did you have an idea of how the show would eventually end? What was it? JamesWong: We thought it would be longer - hopefully 5 years of SAAB. GlenMorgan: We didn't know how it would end - we hoped it would run a lot longer JamesWong: When it came down to knowing they'd be cancelling the show, we came up with that ending. Moderator: what caused FOX to finally cancel the show? was it the high budget or low ratings or something else? GlenMorgan: Their stupidity ! JamesWong: I think it was a combination of that they didn't have the confidence that we had in the show really picking up steam. Towards the end, they didn't give us enough airings in a row. JamesWong: They promised us 5 airings in a row Friday at 8 and they reneged on that. JamesWong: They ended up only giving us 2. That was the time slot we always asked for. JamesWong: Without much promotion - we really felt that they didn't give us a chance.
I liked SAaB. The scene on Mars was pretty cringeworthy on some technical things like the depiction of two quite large moons. Who wouldn't know about guitars? I thought the fighter spaceplanes were a good design, and they had tailgun turrets, but IIRC those only got used in one episode. Too un-dramatic when your hotshot pilots don't need to call for help when an enemy is on their six.
Cancelling Brisco County Jr. was a crime. The writing was really good and it was evident Bruce Campbell was having a hoot playing the role. ("The Head" on MTVs Oddities - while initially a bit humdrum - actually good really good towards the end of its run.)
@@detef0n Back in the very, very ancient days of the internet, there were dozens and dozens of websites dedicated to Earth 2 and the correct watching order, because the stupid network was trying to kill it and ran it completely out of order. The order I watch it in (some may argue, please leave comments if this is the case! Would love to hear thoughts) 1) First Contact 2) The Man Who Fell to Earth (Two) 3) Life Lessons 4) Promises, Promises 5) A Memory Play 6) Natural Born Grendlers 7) Water 8) The Church of Morgan 9) The Enemy Within 10) Redemption 11) Moon Cross 12) Better Living Through Morganite, Pt. 1 13) Better Living Through Morganite, Pt. 2 14) Grendlers in the Myst 15) The Greatest Love Story Never Told 16) Brave New Pacifica 17) The Boy Who Would Be Terrian King 18) After the Thaw 19) Survival of the Fittest 20) Flower Child 21) All About Eve
I remember watching it with my mom back in the day, and even back then I knew who Tim Curry was, and it was really cool for me at the time seeing him as the villain lol.
Brilliant idea, but the actual main characters, just weren’t getting prime time viewer numbers. Only shows with a known star, or someone they were about to hype, got time to evolve. The lead teen, on Eerie, just wasn’t a young actor that was going to have a big career. He wasn’t getting movies, and Eerie just wasn’t worth what they thought was a risk. Now, Eerie is basically how many of the blueprints for shows start.
I'm just confused about that network and timeslot. Because here it was a FOX KIDS show and was given the afternoon and saturday morning cartoon timeslots.
I really enjoyed Cupid. I always liked the fact the Claire was a Psychiatrist. In Greek mythology Cupid's wife was named Psyche, which means "mind" and is the base word for Psychiatrist. It gave a clue as to their future relationship. :)
"Space Above And Beyond", "Roar" (Heath Ledgers first "big" role), "Harsh Realm", "Total Recall 2070" and "Brimstone". I really loved "Earth 2". Fantastic show with production values and special effects that still hold up quite well to this day. Also one cannot forget the amazing "Millennium" from Chris Carter and an unforgettable performance from Lance Henriksen. Now that wasn't a flop and it wasn't really cancelled as it came to a pretty natural conclusion (there was a crossover episode on the "X-Files" later on as a kind of follow-up).
Yes THE Movie had a very specific idea which was very cool to portray but for the series to work you would have to dial it down to just a very addictive & problematic drug Like A Fentanyl mix with THE go-fast to MAKE the combination which IS destroying ALL WHO COME IN CONTACT WITH IT. @@cylexxxicago
I believe I had heard that Brisco County Jr. was cancelled because the network changed executives and everything but Star Trek was gone. I was once at a book signing with Bruce Campbell and he said that quite often his autograph lines were a weird combination of Brisco County fans and Evil Dead ones.
Of all the celbrities I have met, the nicest and coolest was Bruce Campbell. Met him on a USO tour in Iraq and he was just an all around nice guy and amazing person.
"As long as you're OK with watching a series that doesn't have a resolution, and never will..." - You just described 90% of the shows on TV today, since it is now 100% REQUIRED for every season to end on some sort of cliffhanger.
I loved it back then but rewatched not long ago and it has more problems going on and poor writing than the good ideas around it, not recommended except for as a curio and for Tim Curry and Clancy Brown
These were 2 of the few shows on the list I don't remember. When I was playing Starfield I wanted to watch movies and TV shows that were similar and Earth 2 sounded like it would have been a good fit.
I wonder how many of these shows would have survived had streaming technology been around in the 90s? With scheduling being a non-issue, streaming would have helped them by not having to compete against more popular shows or be put into a dead-end time slot.
A couple of shows I only ever saw after they'd been cancelled: John Doe (Dominic Purcell plays a man who knows everything except his own identity) Now and Again (Eric Close plays a "dead" man resurrected in a new body as part of a government experiment and must balance his new life with his old one)
@@InnaGottaDavida I know - I had to Google it to make sure I didn't confuse the two titles. Not as bad as "Forever" (the 2014 ABC Drama with Ioan Griffiths as an immortal Doctor) and “Forever” (the 2018 Amazon series with Fred Amisen and Maya Rudolph) - also both one Season wonders!
Off-topic but one early 2000s show that ended in a cliffhanger and I loved so much was Dark Angel. It sucks we never knew what happened in the ‘climactic battle’ that was being built up but we never got to see.
I solved Nowhere Man, kind of, and the answer to the series is in the first episode. It was an awesome, eerie moment when I asked myself a question, went back and watched the first episode, got the answer and knew who was behind the whole thing. I'll always be grateful to the show for that moment.
You really hit some of my favorites. I LOVED Eerie, Indiana (Tornado Bob, anyone?), Pirates of Dark Water, and Briscoe County Jr. (who doesn't love Bruce Campbell???) Great compilation!
Dark Skies stuck to a single concept, it was not an X-Files clone, it told a good story against the backdrop of real history and the Majestic 12 lore. I love that show.
It was amazing, I loved how they wove historical events and people into the story. Been years since I saw it but I remember being very disappointed with the final, or maybe the last two episodes, can't quite remember. In classic fashion, I was equally upset that the show was cancelled and that the story went off in a direction I hated. Go figure.
Dark Skies was awesome...whomever made this list really doesn't seem to know more than a what they saw reading the first paragraph of the wikipedia article.
original cupid with Jeremy Piven and Paula Marshall was one of the best series, short lived as it is. great writing, dialong, characters and chemistry between the two, there's always that hint of is he really a mental patient or does he actually have some magic. in his version, cupid never married, so I always thought that couple 100 would be him and claire. If it had the typical 20-22 episodes per season back in the 90s, show wouldve lasted 5 seasons. space above and beyond was another scifi one that got lost due to ST, B5 etc
Earth 2 was one of my favourite shows, and although it had some flaws, it was an incredible show. VR5 was also great. The networks destroyed both shows.
Flaws? The final episode revealed that one of the main plot arcs of the entire show was one of the stupidest things ever put on television. Anyone who has the smallest comprehension of how seasons work had their intelligence insulted by Earth 2. Aside from that I thought it was a decent show, just unfortunately built on a foundation made of termite eaten balsa wood. Then there were some minor basic "how things actually work" fails like the bullet that rotates to dig itself in farther - but spinning the wrong way after it's extracted and set on the bench.
If you ever do one about intriguing shows from the 2000’s that got canceled, there was a show called Now and Again that my wife and I absolutely loved! It ended the season with a cliffhanger but never came back for a second season. We were totally left wondering what happened! Another really good one was No Ordinary Family. Same thing happened with that one - it also got canceled after ending on a cliffhanger.
No Ordinary family? Was that the one with the superheroes as a family? It was with Michael Chiklis and Julie Benz if I recall. I loved that show! I remember when it first came out and I thought it was great!
@@ItsFreakinHarding. yes, that’s the one! My wife and I loved that one too. The season finale ended with the villain sending a plane full of people crashing into the same water that gave the family their superpowers. So you’d expect season 2 to open with a whole group of people with superpowers using them for either evil or good. But then it got cancelled so we’re all left wondering what happened!
I entirely agree about The Maxx. Absolutely amazing show, extremely well written with great animation reminiscent of reading an actual comic book, some truly unique worldbuilding, and sometimes surprisingly profound introspection into everything from the hardships of living on the streets, and mental illness, to the uncertain line between fact and imagination, to even the very nature of reality itself, yet somehow also didn't take itself too seriously, either. You truly felt like you were experiencing the world of the main character himself, and it was a truly amazing (if sometimes strange, confusing and even a bit scary) place to be. I am so glad it got the opportunity to be fleshed out into a series of its own. It's just a shame the animated version was so short, because there was so much more potential that could have been explored there. I need to go dig out my old (official) VHS tape of it and see if I can find something to play it on, now...
Friday The 13th The Series wasn't a 90s show it first came out in 1987 Forever Knight is a 90s series came out in 1992 but the TV Pilot Nick Knight came out in 1989.
Forever night really could’ve gotten a lot darker and really played it up but it was a great show. This show was done dirty, but the producers in the network that it.
The Dana Carvey show didn't flop, it got GREAT ratings. He made fun of his sponsors, the network got angry with him. they sabotaged the show and moved it to a different day without promoting that it was, then had an off week. The ratings did drop as a result, but it wasn't because there wasn't interest. I watched a lot of these shows. The UPN had too many awful shows, if any of them were good, most people didn't know it. Dark Water was a really great show, it was hard to catch though, at least where i lived. The series was never as good as the mini series though.
Yes, I agree 100 percent. However, this theme was also used on the science fiction channel TV show from 1998, First Wave. This series had several seasons. Need to see if, I can get the full series on DVD to add to my collection (smile...smile).
For those of you who wanted the resolution that Pirates of Dark Water deserved, the game for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive has the full canonical ending that was intended for the series. Give it a play, and let your childhood finally get the resolution you always needed
I have both the entire Pirates of Darkwater episodes AND the original CUPID tv series in my home media library. Someone digitized their VHS tapes of the latter show and I was so happy to get my hands on them because I thought that show was awesome and it was never going to get released on DVD. It was clearly way too high brow for its audience even in 1998. Fortunately Pirates of Darkwater came out on DVD so that series was easier to get ahold of and download.
That was an amazing series. A few years later Exo-Squad came along and then Batman: TAS, and Gargoyles, for us kids that wanted a more mature animated show.
If they're going to talk about The Pirates of Dark Water and not talk about a show from Ex-Hanna-Barbera writer Exosquad, which had a lot of the writers lifted to X-Men: The Animated Series after Exosquad was canceled in the second season. In fact X-Men: The Animated borrowed many of the writers from Exosquad from the 2 seasons it was shown. Exosquad lasted from 1993 to 1994 and was created by Jeff Segel, in Universal Animation Studios which is now merged into DreamWorks Animation. After Universal bought DreamWorks Animation.
Brisco County is a show I remember because I was so excited for it but it was on in a weird time slot for me so I hardly got to watch it. I also seem to remember it moving time slots all of a sudden and then I couldn't really watch it at all.... and then all of a sudden it was gone. I love Get a Life!
I mean even X-Men seemed to be a show that Fox was determined to cancel. They only ran the first two episodes until that Thanksgiving when a fan survey listed it as their #! new show, which is when they finally ran that third episode.
The Pirates of Dark Water was my show as a kid lol.... Back when we had Saturday Morning Cartoons. Then years later Cartoon Network brought it back. Extreme Ghostbuster too... shout out to weekday afternoon cartoons.
I liked silver surfer, but I can see how it didn't really catch enough viewers. The story was slower and more narration than action. My so-called life deserved a 2nd season. I don't know if Exosquad would be a 90s flop, as it did get 2 seasons, but it seems often forgotten yet was a very good show.
The reason why My So-Called Life didn’t last more than one season is because for whatever reason, the premiere of the pilot episode was pushed back so far that by the time it finally aired, the main cast had already moved onto other projects.
Exo Squad was a cartoon that should have gotten more than 2 seasons but I think it was a bit too mature for the channel and they didn't know what to do with it. Dark Skies was another that deserved better considering it was actually popular but still got canceled.
As I recall, wasn't eXtreme Ghostbusters on weekday mornings? Some places had it titled Ghostbusters Dark, I'm pretty sure it was that morning time slot that killed it. This animation team was taking off, too, they handled Godzilla, Men in Black, Big Guy and Rusty, eXtreme Ghostbusters, Wonder what happened
Brisco County Junior was an AMAZING SHOW, and I watched the full series when it aired!! I still love the show and it really wasn't like anything else on TV now or since, except for maybe Firefly!!!!
The surprising thing about Earth 2's failure is that Tim Curry was the villain in it. How can a show starring Tim Curry fail? I don't understand that. I enjoyed Dark Skies for all of it's way-too-short run. Surprised you didn't include Space: Above and Beyond
Tim Curry also voice Hook in the 90s cartoon peter pan, which was a pretty good kids cartoon. Then Disney bought Fox and buried it after failing to sue them over rights.
I liked Eerie, Indiana and The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. IMHO Dark Skies had many episodes that were superior to the last few years of The X-files
Loved Earth2, Dark Skies, and Bruce Greenwood’s Nowhere Man. Fortunately, I have them on DVD, but a higher HD version on blu-ray or digital would be nice. Nowhere Man does wrap things up in its final episode, from a certain point of view… a twilight zone feeling kind of a view.
I loved so many of these shows, but Earth 2, Dark Skies and Nowhere Man were probably my favourites. I also have a soft spot for John Woo's Once a thief. I've never been able to find it online, but luckily I found the entire series on dvd a decade, or so ago.
Mortal kombat conquest should have been on this list. Its on Max if you have it. Classic 90s cheesy acting amazing fight scenes and sweet character development. Plus the ending is EPIC.
Yep. I watched a lot of these. I was super pissed when Eerie Indiana & Cupid were cancelled. Brisco County Jr. was a big deal in my house & everyone watched it together
I have The Maxx and Aeon Flux on dvd and I loved Erie Indiana. Two great shows that you missed were Mann and Machine, and Kindred the Embraced. 1:05 Also props for John Astin cameo.
My so called life is one of the best shows ever made. PEROID. I have no interest in HS drama, or teen drama, AND I STILL LOVE THIS FUCKING SHOW. This is one of those see it before you die shows... its that good. If you haven't seen it yet GO WATCH THIS SHOW.
I remember nine of these fondly- and some of them are available on streaming services (I bought Pirates of Dark Water as soon as I saw it), so I'm willing to bet I would've liked a lot of the ones that I've never heard of as well... ......... Time for a deep dive, I guess!
Eerie Indiana started being aired on Saturday morning years after it was cancelled. New episodes started airing a few weeks later. I don't remember how many new episodes they did. They had new cast members and promoted the show with behind the scenes specials.
I remember enjoying My So-Called Life and Earth 2. Earth 2 definitely told a good sci-fi story. Had some elements later used in Avatar and Terra Nova. That said, Brisco is still one of my all time favorite short-lived series. I dispute your claim that Brisco was not good at his job. He was intelligent, thoughtful, and optimistic, all while being competent. You can infuse a character with humor and ridiculous situations without that character being classified as bumbling through the plot. It is a clearly a show ahead of it's time with a long running arc, fun characters, good writing and solid action. A show that would be prime for either a reboot or sequel for a streaming service. One of Bruce Campbell's less exaggerated characters, and that shows off the full range of his acting, comedic and dramatic. Bring me more Brisco.
The adventures of Briscoe County junior, and there was another one that Bruce Campbell was in. I want to say Jack of all trades or something like that was the shows name we’re both one season wonders and they deserve more.
Thank you so much for including My So-Called Life. I am only two years older than Claire Danes, so I am 100% still that 90's generation and I loved that show so much.
There was one other show I can't remember the name of. It was about a guy who always received the newspaper from the following day and then tried to prevent events named in that paper from happening. Can anybody help me out?
I liked Pirates of Dark Water and X-Men, but there was another 90s show with similarly strong worldbuilding and themes: Exo-Squad. It’s backstory is more detailed than the main story of most shows of its day!
It was a cartoon where some of the heroes actually died. And on the themes: slavery, cloning and other heavy stuff was covered extensively. The 'enemy' were purpose-bred disposable clones that rose up in revolution. Their methods extreme, and their leadership powermad sure, but the circumstances the neosapiens lived in prior to revolt, and the general goal they want is still not evil on its own. It made the conflict a bit grey, despite the human PoV. Very ahead of its time.
@@stormtempterf8058 Couldn't agree more! The neo-sapiens were bred to be slaves, but with a will to be free. Then there are the pirates... who turn out to be the descendants of penal colony inmates who were used to work (mining asteroids, etc.) but abandoned when the neo-sapiens were developed, yet who managed to survive and turned to piracy to survive. Anyone who likes heady themes owes it to themselves to watch Exo-Squad!
This video has several inaccuracies, it feels like whomever wrote just read the first paragraph of the wikipedia article about each show. Dark Skies description was wrong, Nowhere Man had an ending...it was rushed and not satisfying, but it did have an ending, probably more.
I feel that Hard Time on Planet Earth could be on this list. Long forgotten, lasted barely a season, but was a semi original scifiish show that deserves to be remembered. Also, Space Above and Beyond? Fell victim to the Fox cancel everything desease.
WOW! I can’t believe you mentioned ‘Stark Raving Mad’’ I thought I was the only person who knew that show existed. I watched the first episode, it seemed good but I never got to see it again before it disappeared. This was when regular schedules didn’t exist for myself and I’m certain they changed the airing times too before this one bit the dust.
I clicked on this video with a faint hope that SRM would be on here, and was pleasantly shocked and surprised to see that it was. I think the reason it was cancelled so quickly was because NBC was a ratings juggernaut at the time (i.e.: Seinfeld, Friends, Frasier) and a lot of shows that didn't instantly meet its ultra high expectations was instantly cancelled.
Cupid! I thought I was the only one who remembers that show. Was such a sweet, entertaining watch. Still remember the theme song by the Divinyls, "Human on the Inside."
Brisco County Jr. and Get a Life were both favorites of mine. If I remember right, Brisco got cancelled because of low ratings (horrible time slot) and big budget. Get a Life was never going to have huge appeal, but Chris Elliot was a comic genius and Brian Doyle Murray is a fantastic comedic actor. Eerie Indiana had good writing, decent acting, but looked like a sitcom with a small budget. I think that confused people.
Eerie Indiana was broadcast in France, I remember as a kid loving that show and really wandering at the end why there wasn't more episodes. Also, I'm surprised you didn't include the show Profit, with Adrian Pasdar.
Great list. So many lesser-known shows came out in the 90s: “Hearts Afire”, “Evening Shade”, “Relativity”!!!!, “Due South”!!!, “Profiler”, and “The Pretender”.
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
Are there any other shows that you would absolutely recommend?
American Gothic!
There was a Fox show called Brimstone that I loved so much, I found and bought the DVD. Pity that it didn't last.
Time Trax. Lasted 2 seasons but ended too soon
While somewhat invalidated by its, slightly too soon, 1988 airdate, Isaac Asimov's Probe (starring Parker Stevenson and Ashley Crow) was quite excellent. It was kind of the X-Files before there was an X-Files. The episode (awesomely entitled "Metamorphic Anthropoidic Prototype Over You"), where the pair have to determine whether an orangutan is capable of pre-meditated murder, is quite excellent.
Profit
the fact that Brisco never got a second season is criminal
I loved that show
I agree
But at least we got another Bruce Cample show in Jack of all trades.
As much s I love it its probably better it didn't cause they probably would've ruined it and at least it ended properly and didn't end on a cliff hanger so let's just be thankful for the 24 episodes we got
@@jimmysandonato3403the creators idea for season 2 convinced me one season was for the best
I still love and watch Briscoe but have to admit after the demise of Bly the plot started to wander.
space: above and beyond was also another show that was great but never got a second season. aired at the same time as earth 2.
I could be wrong, but I think the writers once said that they only intended for it to have one season
But considering it ended on a cliff-hanger, it certainly deserved a second season
@@galexeqe no, they were told after the 5th or 6th episode, they wouldn't get more than the one season. that's why the last few episodes were a jumbled mess as they tried to close everything off with one season ending.
@@craiglortie8483 The 90's was a graveyard of good shows cancelled due to short-sighted network executives.
@@galexeqe Moderator: To Morgan & Wong; Hello. When you started writing Saab did you have an idea of how the show would eventually end? What was it?
JamesWong: We thought it would be longer - hopefully 5 years of SAAB.
GlenMorgan: We didn't know how it would end - we hoped it would run a lot longer
JamesWong: When it came down to knowing they'd be cancelling the show, we came up with that ending.
Moderator: what caused FOX to finally cancel the show? was it the high budget or low ratings or something else?
GlenMorgan: Their stupidity !
JamesWong: I think it was a combination of that they didn't have the confidence that we had in the show really picking up steam. Towards the end, they didn't give us enough airings in a row.
JamesWong: They promised us 5 airings in a row Friday at 8 and they reneged on that.
JamesWong: They ended up only giving us 2. That was the time slot we always asked for.
JamesWong: Without much promotion - we really felt that they didn't give us a chance.
I liked SAaB. The scene on Mars was pretty cringeworthy on some technical things like the depiction of two quite large moons. Who wouldn't know about guitars? I thought the fighter spaceplanes were a good design, and they had tailgun turrets, but IIRC those only got used in one episode. Too un-dramatic when your hotshot pilots don't need to call for help when an enemy is on their six.
Cancelling Brisco County Jr. was a crime. The writing was really good and it was evident Bruce Campbell was having a hoot playing the role.
("The Head" on MTVs Oddities - while initially a bit humdrum - actually good really good towards the end of its run.)
I remember watching it as a young kid, and I loved it. I had dreams about "the orb."
Earth 2 was criminally underrated. Had strong storylines, excellent characters, and a great cast.
You needed to watch the eps in the "Right" order for it to make sense
@@kumachan9311 happy new year. do you know where I can find that info?
@@detef0n Back in the very, very ancient days of the internet, there were dozens and dozens of websites dedicated to Earth 2 and the correct watching order, because the stupid network was trying to kill it and ran it completely out of order.
The order I watch it in (some may argue, please leave comments if this is the case! Would love to hear thoughts)
1) First Contact
2) The Man Who Fell to Earth (Two)
3) Life Lessons
4) Promises, Promises
5) A Memory Play
6) Natural Born Grendlers
7) Water
8) The Church of Morgan
9) The Enemy Within
10) Redemption
11) Moon Cross
12) Better Living Through Morganite, Pt. 1
13) Better Living Through Morganite, Pt. 2
14) Grendlers in the Myst
15) The Greatest Love Story Never Told
16) Brave New Pacifica
17) The Boy Who Would Be Terrian King
18) After the Thaw
19) Survival of the Fittest
20) Flower Child
21) All About Eve
I agree 100 percent and own the full TV series on DVD (smile...smile).
I remember watching it with my mom back in the day, and even back then I knew who Tim Curry was, and it was really cool for me at the time seeing him as the villain lol.
Eerie Indiana was a BRILLIANT show.
Absolutely. Without a doubt one of my favorites when I was a kid.
Never forget, always keep your GM20/20’s safely secured for use in emergencies only
Brilliant idea, but the actual main characters, just weren’t getting prime time viewer numbers.
Only shows with a known star, or someone they were about to hype, got time to evolve.
The lead teen, on Eerie, just wasn’t a young actor that was going to have a big career.
He wasn’t getting movies, and Eerie just wasn’t worth what they thought was a risk.
Now, Eerie is basically how many of the blueprints for shows start.
I'm just confused about that network and timeslot. Because here it was a FOX KIDS show and was given the afternoon and saturday morning cartoon timeslots.
Someone could so easily do an SPC foundation type of show with a similar premise, today.
"Brisco County, Junior " , and "Jack of All Trades" (Produced by the same people who made "Hercules" and "Xena") were terribly underrated
I loved Jack of All Trades! It deserved more.
And Xena, in spite of attracting serious lesbian audience, was hilariously tongue in cheek. And its star was a heterosexual woman.
I remember watching Earth 2, I really liked it and was bummed when it stopped.
Yes, Earth 2 had some great ideas and and themes.
I really enjoyed Cupid. I always liked the fact the Claire was a Psychiatrist. In Greek mythology Cupid's wife was named Psyche, which means "mind" and is the base word for Psychiatrist. It gave a clue as to their future relationship. :)
Pirates of Dark Water is an absolute masterpiece of a show! I was so devastated when it got cancelled. It had such an original world and characters!
"Space Above And Beyond", "Roar" (Heath Ledgers first "big" role), "Harsh Realm", "Total Recall 2070" and "Brimstone". I really loved "Earth 2". Fantastic show with production values and special effects that still hold up quite well to this day. Also one cannot forget the amazing "Millennium" from Chris Carter and an unforgettable performance from Lance Henriksen. Now that wasn't a flop and it wasn't really cancelled as it came to a pretty natural conclusion (there was a crossover episode on the "X-Files" later on as a kind of follow-up).
I remember coming home from school in 4th grade and immediately watching Pirates of Dark Water. It was a seriously under-appreciated show.
I absolutely loved Pirates of dark water and Brisco County Jr!!!! I still watch them with my kids.
It came out in 1989 so it's 1 year off but Alien Nation was a really good show that only got one season.
I just asked about this..forgot it was in late 80's
Great show! I liked it better than the movie.
Yes THE Movie had a very specific idea which was very cool to portray but for the series to work you would have to dial it down to just a very addictive & problematic drug Like A Fentanyl mix with THE go-fast to MAKE the combination which IS destroying ALL WHO COME IN CONTACT WITH IT. @@cylexxxicago
yeah, that has a lot of good stuff even though a lot of meh tropes too, but overall, yepyep
It got two movies though (or was it three?).
I believe I had heard that Brisco County Jr. was cancelled because the network changed executives and everything but Star Trek was gone. I was once at a book signing with Bruce Campbell and he said that quite often his autograph lines were a weird combination of Brisco County fans and Evil Dead ones.
Of all the celbrities I have met, the nicest and coolest was Bruce Campbell. Met him on a USO tour in Iraq and he was just an all around nice guy and amazing person.
Brisco was on Fox, not UPN. You are thinking of Legend.
@@davideberhartii6028 He IS the coolness. Meeting him in person on a horror convention in Germany 2018 was a blast.
"As long as you're OK with watching a series that doesn't have a resolution, and never will..." - You just described 90% of the shows on TV today, since it is now 100% REQUIRED for every season to end on some sort of cliffhanger.
Which Netflix and Amazon have a habit of doing, look at how many shows that were hits with the fans that get killed off
The fact that you didn't mention Firefly is a GLARING omission, in my opinion....
Wrong decade. Firefly aired in 2002-2003.
Thank you for listing Earth 2. I absolutely loved that show. Sometimes I felt like I was the only one who did. Glad to see others remember it.
I loved it back then but rewatched not long ago and it has more problems going on and poor writing than the good ideas around it, not recommended except for as a curio and for Tim Curry and Clancy Brown
I loved Earth 2 and Dark Skies. They should reboot them.
Earth 2 was one of my favorite shows at the time. It really hurt when it got cancelled.
Glad to see earth 2 getting some love. It was a really solid blend of sitcom personal drama and high concept sci-fi.
Still heartbroken about Earth2. Such a good show.
These were 2 of the few shows on the list I don't remember. When I was playing Starfield I wanted to watch movies and TV shows that were similar and Earth 2 sounded like it would have been a good fit.
@@ratedtriplex … hilariously, what I’m playing, too, haha!
I wonder how many of these shows would have survived had streaming technology been around in the 90s? With scheduling being a non-issue, streaming would have helped them by not having to compete against more popular shows or be put into a dead-end time slot.
A couple of shows I only ever saw after they'd been cancelled:
John Doe (Dominic Purcell plays a man who knows everything except his own identity)
Now and Again (Eric Close plays a "dead" man resurrected in a new body as part of a government experiment and must balance his new life with his old one)
Now and Again was a great show but came out the same year as a show called Once and Again, which I think confused viewers.
@@InnaGottaDavida I know - I had to Google it to make sure I didn't confuse the two titles. Not as bad as "Forever" (the 2014 ABC Drama with Ioan Griffiths as an immortal Doctor) and “Forever” (the 2018 Amazon series with Fred Amisen and Maya Rudolph) - also both one Season wonders!
THANK YOU, I was trying to remember the name of John Doe and was about to resort to IMDb.
I love Extreme Ghostbusters!! Their ending credits gave me nightmares when I was a kid.
Off-topic but one early 2000s show that ended in a cliffhanger and I loved so much was Dark Angel. It sucks we never knew what happened in the ‘climactic battle’ that was being built up but we never got to see.
I loved that show, have both seasons as soon as I could find them.
There was a Dark Angel novel that took up where the show left off. I don't remember what it was called.
I solved Nowhere Man, kind of, and the answer to the series is in the first episode. It was an awesome, eerie moment when I asked myself a question, went back and watched the first episode, got the answer and knew who was behind the whole thing. I'll always be grateful to the show for that moment.
You really hit some of my favorites. I LOVED Eerie, Indiana (Tornado Bob, anyone?), Pirates of Dark Water, and Briscoe County Jr. (who doesn't love Bruce Campbell???) Great compilation!
Earth 2 was one of my favorites and it had so much potential.
Eerie, Indiana was at least 2 seasons. They didn't introduce "Dash X" until that 2nd season.
They also foretold "The Donald"
Dark Skies stuck to a single concept, it was not an X-Files clone, it told a good story against the backdrop of real history and the Majestic 12 lore. I love that show.
It really could have been a long running series
I agree, it was not in any way an X-Files clone. For the record while, I watched both TV shows however, I preferred the X-Files (smile...smile).
It was amazing, I loved how they wove historical events and people into the story. Been years since I saw it but I remember being very disappointed with the final, or maybe the last two episodes, can't quite remember. In classic fashion, I was equally upset that the show was cancelled and that the story went off in a direction I hated. Go figure.
Dark Skies was awesome...whomever made this list really doesn't seem to know more than a what they saw reading the first paragraph of the wikipedia article.
It may be a stupid question but was there in dark skies scen like "they feeded guy some concoction to save him because he have alien inside"
original cupid with Jeremy Piven and Paula Marshall was one of the best series, short lived as it is. great writing, dialong, characters and chemistry between the two, there's always that hint of is he really a mental patient or does he actually have some magic. in his version, cupid never married, so I always thought that couple 100 would be him and claire.
If it had the typical 20-22 episodes per season back in the 90s, show wouldve lasted 5 seasons.
space above and beyond was another scifi one that got lost due to ST, B5 etc
LOVED pirates of dark water. ALso loved Exosquad!
Earth 2 was one of my favourite shows, and although it had some flaws, it was an incredible show. VR5 was also great. The networks destroyed both shows.
Flaws? The final episode revealed that one of the main plot arcs of the entire show was one of the stupidest things ever put on television. Anyone who has the smallest comprehension of how seasons work had their intelligence insulted by Earth 2. Aside from that I thought it was a decent show, just unfortunately built on a foundation made of termite eaten balsa wood. Then there were some minor basic "how things actually work" fails like the bullet that rotates to dig itself in farther - but spinning the wrong way after it's extracted and set on the bench.
If you ever do one about intriguing shows from the 2000’s that got canceled, there was a show called Now and Again that my wife and I absolutely loved! It ended the season with a cliffhanger but never came back for a second season. We were totally left wondering what happened! Another really good one was No Ordinary Family. Same thing happened with that one - it also got canceled after ending on a cliffhanger.
No Ordinary family? Was that the one with the superheroes as a family? It was with Michael Chiklis and Julie Benz if I recall. I loved that show! I remember when it first came out and I thought it was great!
@@ItsFreakinHarding. yes, that’s the one! My wife and I loved that one too. The season finale ended with the villain sending a plane full of people crashing into the same water that gave the family their superpowers. So you’d expect season 2 to open with a whole group of people with superpowers using them for either evil or good. But then it got cancelled so we’re all left wondering what happened!
I entirely agree about The Maxx. Absolutely amazing show, extremely well written with great animation reminiscent of reading an actual comic book, some truly unique worldbuilding, and sometimes surprisingly profound introspection into everything from the hardships of living on the streets, and mental illness, to the uncertain line between fact and imagination, to even the very nature of reality itself, yet somehow also didn't take itself too seriously, either. You truly felt like you were experiencing the world of the main character himself, and it was a truly amazing (if sometimes strange, confusing and even a bit scary) place to be. I am so glad it got the opportunity to be fleshed out into a series of its own. It's just a shame the animated version was so short, because there was so much more potential that could have been explored there.
I need to go dig out my old (official) VHS tape of it and see if I can find something to play it on, now...
People also forget Jack of All Trades, which was a mother fun Bruce Campbell series.
It was only mentioned in reference, but I loved Aeon Flux
that was one of those things like Max Headroom where we only got shorts and one-off episodes, but the influence was widely felt
@@zimriel and, unfortunately, they made the movie which bombed against the smashes that were released at almost the same time - Potter, Narnia etc.
@@zimriel Max Headroom had two excellent seasons. It was a few years before the 90s. Otherwise it would belong at the top of this list.
Aeon Flux always started in the middle of her mission so one never knew if she was a hero or villain. That was brilliant.
90’s had a lot of great weird/unusual shows. Friday the 13th was good (ended in 1990). I also liked Forever Knight.
Friday The 13th The Series wasn't a 90s show it first came out in 1987 Forever Knight is a 90s series came out in 1992 but the TV Pilot Nick Knight came out in 1989.
Forever night really could’ve gotten a lot darker and really played it up but it was a great show. This show was done dirty, but the producers in the network that it.
Yes, I too watched and enjoyed both the TV series "Friday the 13th" and "Forever Knight" (smile...smile).
The Dana Carvey show didn't flop, it got GREAT ratings. He made fun of his sponsors, the network got angry with him. they sabotaged the show and moved it to a different day without promoting that it was, then had an off week. The ratings did drop as a result, but it wasn't because there wasn't interest. I watched a lot of these shows. The UPN had too many awful shows, if any of them were good, most people didn't know it. Dark Water was a really great show, it was hard to catch though, at least where i lived. The series was never as good as the mini series though.
I'm glad to see appreciation of DARK SKIES and BRISCO COUNTY, but you don't mention my personal favorite: GRAPEVINE.
Nowhere Man was a fantastic show. A damn shame it never got beyond season 1.
Yes, I agree 100 percent. However, this theme was also used on the science fiction channel TV show from 1998, First Wave. This series had several seasons. Need to see if, I can get the full series on DVD to add to my collection (smile...smile).
I can't believe it was even mentioned, I fell like I am the only one who remembers the show and how good it was/is.
The show has an actual ending. Tomas Vail just loses in the most definitive way. I have the series on DVD.
Try watching the first episode again and ask yourself, what/who initiates it every time something goes strange? The answer may surprise you. :)
American Gothic and Viper are also worth watching
For those of you who wanted the resolution that Pirates of Dark Water deserved, the game for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive has the full canonical ending that was intended for the series. Give it a play, and let your childhood finally get the resolution you always needed
I have both the entire Pirates of Darkwater episodes AND the original CUPID tv series in my home media library. Someone digitized their VHS tapes of the latter show and I was so happy to get my hands on them because I thought that show was awesome and it was never going to get released on DVD. It was clearly way too high brow for its audience even in 1998. Fortunately Pirates of Darkwater came out on DVD so that series was easier to get ahold of and download.
That was an amazing series. A few years later Exo-Squad came along and then Batman: TAS, and Gargoyles, for us kids that wanted a more mature animated show.
Cupid had excellent banter. And was one of the few filmed-in-Chicago shows at the time.
If they're going to talk about The Pirates of Dark Water and not talk about a show from Ex-Hanna-Barbera writer Exosquad, which had a lot of the writers lifted to X-Men: The Animated Series after Exosquad was canceled in the second season. In fact X-Men: The Animated borrowed many of the writers from Exosquad from the 2 seasons it was shown. Exosquad lasted from 1993 to 1994 and was created by Jeff Segel, in Universal Animation Studios which is now merged into DreamWorks Animation. After Universal bought DreamWorks Animation.
Maaaaan, Exosquad is the definition of underrated.
I watched so many of these! Pirates of Dark Water, Eerie Indiana, Nowhere Man, The Maxx. All great shows. Good list.
Brisco County is a show I remember because I was so excited for it but it was on in a weird time slot for me so I hardly got to watch it. I also seem to remember it moving time slots all of a sudden and then I couldn't really watch it at all.... and then all of a sudden it was gone. I love Get a Life!
I mean even X-Men seemed to be a show that Fox was determined to cancel. They only ran the first two episodes until that Thanksgiving when a fan survey listed it as their #! new show, which is when they finally ran that third episode.
"Brisco County Jr." Was great! If I remember correctly, it was aired on Friday nights, which didnt help the ratings.
And I loved "Cupid".
Except that the "X-Files" followed "Brisco County Jr".
The Pirates of Dark Water was my show as a kid lol.... Back when we had Saturday Morning Cartoons. Then years later Cartoon Network brought it back.
Extreme Ghostbuster too... shout out to weekday afternoon cartoons.
I saw most of these shows back then and was always disappointed when they disappeared. They really deserved a longer life.
I liked silver surfer, but I can see how it didn't really catch enough viewers. The story was slower and more narration than action. My so-called life deserved a 2nd season.
I don't know if Exosquad would be a 90s flop, as it did get 2 seasons, but it seems often forgotten yet was a very good show.
The reason why My So-Called Life didn’t last more than one season is because for whatever reason, the premiere of the pilot episode was pushed back so far that by the time it finally aired, the main cast had already moved onto other projects.
Exo Squad was a cartoon that should have gotten more than 2 seasons but I think it was a bit too mature for the channel and they didn't know what to do with it. Dark Skies was another that deserved better considering it was actually popular but still got canceled.
As I recall, wasn't eXtreme Ghostbusters on weekday mornings? Some places had it titled Ghostbusters Dark, I'm pretty sure it was that morning time slot that killed it. This animation team was taking off, too, they handled Godzilla, Men in Black, Big Guy and Rusty, eXtreme Ghostbusters, Wonder what happened
Brisco County Junior was an AMAZING SHOW, and I watched the full series when it aired!! I still love the show and it really wasn't like anything else on TV now or since, except for maybe Firefly!!!!
well, no
I had just watched the Darkwaters cartoon this week lol loved this show as a kid and was sad i never knew what happened... Dark Skies was great also.
Thanks to this video I watched Freaks and Geeks, and I loved it !
Nowhere Man was great! I still remember watching it. Another one that is not mentioned here would be "Golden Years." Another great show.
The surprising thing about Earth 2's failure is that Tim Curry was the villain in it. How can a show starring Tim Curry fail? I don't understand that.
I enjoyed Dark Skies for all of it's way-too-short run.
Surprised you didn't include Space: Above and Beyond
Tim was amazing in it. They should have brought him back for at least one more episode.
Tim Curry also voice Hook in the 90s cartoon peter pan, which was a pretty good kids cartoon. Then Disney bought Fox and buried it after failing to sue them over rights.
I liked Eerie, Indiana and The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. IMHO Dark Skies had many episodes that were superior to the last few years of The X-files
Loved Earth2, Dark Skies, and Bruce Greenwood’s Nowhere Man. Fortunately, I have them on DVD, but a higher HD version on blu-ray or digital would be nice.
Nowhere Man does wrap things up in its final episode, from a certain point of view… a twilight zone feeling kind of a view.
lol you could see it that way (about nowhereman)
I loved so many of these shows, but Earth 2, Dark Skies and Nowhere Man were probably my favourites. I also have a soft spot for John Woo's Once a thief. I've never been able to find it online, but luckily I found the entire series on dvd a decade, or so ago.
Mortal kombat conquest should have been on this list. Its on Max if you have it. Classic 90s cheesy acting amazing fight scenes and sweet character development. Plus the ending is EPIC.
Eerie Indiana was so good that, until now, I didn't realize it was just one session. It's that memorable.
Absolutely, I remember it so well from my teen years I imagined it had gone on for several seasons at least. The mind is a funny thing... 😁😁
Yep. I watched a lot of these. I was super pissed when Eerie Indiana & Cupid were cancelled. Brisco County Jr. was a big deal in my house & everyone watched it together
Sam Keith and "The Maxx" completed the story.
I have The Maxx and Aeon Flux on dvd and I loved Erie Indiana. Two great shows that you missed were Mann and Machine, and Kindred the Embraced. 1:05 Also props for John Astin cameo.
Brisco County is well worth watching.
Eerie, Indiana was a hit in my household. 💯
I watched "The Adventures of Brisco County Jr." every Friday night without fail. Probably one of my most favorite show's of all time.
Thank you for including Nowhere Man on this list. It was an inventive, intelligent show that deserved so much more.
My so called life is one of the best shows ever made. PEROID. I have no interest in HS drama, or teen drama, AND I STILL LOVE THIS FUCKING SHOW. This is one of those see it before you die shows... its that good. If you haven't seen it yet GO WATCH THIS SHOW.
I remember nine of these fondly- and some of them are available on streaming services (I bought Pirates of Dark Water as soon as I saw it), so I'm willing to bet I would've liked a lot of the ones that I've never heard of as well... ......... Time for a deep dive, I guess!
The Maxx was awesome.
Eerie Indiana started being aired on Saturday morning years after it was cancelled. New episodes started airing a few weeks later.
I don't remember how many new episodes they did. They had new cast members and promoted the show with behind the scenes specials.
Absolutely loved Brisco County Jr!
Surface was another show I enjoyed that just ended out of nowhere.
I remember enjoying My So-Called Life and Earth 2. Earth 2 definitely told a good sci-fi story. Had some elements later used in Avatar and Terra Nova. That said, Brisco is still one of my all time favorite short-lived series. I dispute your claim that Brisco was not good at his job. He was intelligent, thoughtful, and optimistic, all while being competent. You can infuse a character with humor and ridiculous situations without that character being classified as bumbling through the plot. It is a clearly a show ahead of it's time with a long running arc, fun characters, good writing and solid action. A show that would be prime for either a reboot or sequel for a streaming service. One of Bruce Campbell's less exaggerated characters, and that shows off the full range of his acting, comedic and dramatic. Bring me more Brisco.
The adventures of Briscoe County junior, and there was another one that Bruce Campbell was in. I want to say Jack of all trades or something like that was the shows name we’re both one season wonders and they deserve more.
Thank you so much for including My So-Called Life. I am only two years older than Claire Danes, so I am 100% still that 90's generation and I loved that show so much.
Ben Stiller Show wasn't a flop, it won an Emmy, it was just typical Fox executive stupidity.
Watched Silver Surfer last year. It was so dope! I was surprised I never noticed it as a kid, I feel like it honored one of my favorite characters.
There was one other show I can't remember the name of. It was about a guy who always received the newspaper from the following day and then tried to prevent events named in that paper from happening. Can anybody help me out?
One that was missed was Firefly. Many of us are still jaded. Even with a movie (Serenity)...Many of us were robbed.
Firefly came out in 2002.
I am still jaded@@ashcraft555! Thanks for the correction.
The Maxx was awesome!
It really deserved a 2nd season for the 2nd chapter of the comics.
With 'hindsight', "Freaks & Geeks" works PERFECTLY as a single season; ALTHOUGH, we're OVERDUE for some type of 'reunion'.......
I liked Pirates of Dark Water and X-Men, but there was another 90s show with similarly strong worldbuilding and themes: Exo-Squad. It’s backstory is more detailed than the main story of most shows of its day!
It was a cartoon where some of the heroes actually died. And on the themes: slavery, cloning and other heavy stuff was covered extensively. The 'enemy' were purpose-bred disposable clones that rose up in revolution. Their methods extreme, and their leadership powermad sure, but the circumstances the neosapiens lived in prior to revolt, and the general goal they want is still not evil on its own. It made the conflict a bit grey, despite the human PoV. Very ahead of its time.
@@stormtempterf8058 Couldn't agree more! The neo-sapiens were bred to be slaves, but with a will to be free. Then there are the pirates... who turn out to be the descendants of penal colony inmates who were used to work (mining asteroids, etc.) but abandoned when the neo-sapiens were developed, yet who managed to survive and turned to piracy to survive. Anyone who likes heady themes owes it to themselves to watch Exo-Squad!
Absolutely agree with everything said here. Really, really mature-themed show for its day. Themes that are very relevant even today.
This video has several inaccuracies, it feels like whomever wrote just read the first paragraph of the wikipedia article about each show. Dark Skies description was wrong, Nowhere Man had an ending...it was rushed and not satisfying, but it did have an ending, probably more.
Freaks and Geeks surpasses all expectations of TV. This series should be seen on par with classic films like Dazed and Confused or American Graffiti.
A great list. The only thing missing, I'd argue is Ned & Stacy. Debra Messing, Thomas Haden Church and co-written by Charlie Kaufman.
Debra Messing was also in Prey. Another great yet short lived show.
Debra Messing was also in Prey. Another great yet short lived 90s show!
Ned & Stacy was hilarious me and my late parents didn't miss an episode especially the Mr. Belvedere one.
Being from Indiana, I loved Eerie, Indiana as a kid. I only watched it as re-runs in the late 90's/early 2000's, but still, I liked that show a lot.
I feel that Hard Time on Planet Earth could be on this list. Long forgotten, lasted barely a season, but was a semi original scifiish show that deserves to be remembered. Also, Space Above and Beyond? Fell victim to the Fox cancel everything desease.
I will never forget Hard Time On Planet Earth it was one of my favorite TV series also my late Mother's we both fans of Martin Kove since the 70s.
@@ZavaXavier Martin Kove? Kreese of Karate Kid/Cobra Kai was there?
WOW! I can’t believe you mentioned ‘Stark Raving Mad’’ I thought I was the only person who knew that show existed. I watched the first episode, it seemed good but I never got to see it again before it disappeared. This was when regular schedules didn’t exist for myself and I’m certain they changed the airing times too before this one bit the dust.
I clicked on this video with a faint hope that SRM would be on here, and was pleasantly shocked and surprised to see that it was.
I think the reason it was cancelled so quickly was because NBC was a ratings juggernaut at the time (i.e.: Seinfeld, Friends, Frasier) and a lot of shows that didn't instantly meet its ultra high expectations was instantly cancelled.
Earth 2 was great and so was Space Above and Beyond and Flying Blind.
Cupid! I thought I was the only one who remembers that show. Was such a sweet, entertaining watch. Still remember the theme song by the Divinyls, "Human on the Inside."
I also remember watching Cupid good series.
"Earth 2", a "gem". Bro, do you even lift?
Brisco County Jr. and Get a Life were both favorites of mine. If I remember right, Brisco got cancelled because of low ratings (horrible time slot) and big budget. Get a Life was never going to have huge appeal, but Chris Elliot was a comic genius and Brian Doyle Murray is a fantastic comedic actor.
Eerie Indiana had good writing, decent acting, but looked like a sitcom with a small budget. I think that confused people.
Always nice to see Earth 2 get some love, it was my favorite show when it was on the air.
Eerie Indiana was broadcast in France, I remember as a kid loving that show and really wandering at the end why there wasn't more episodes.
Also, I'm surprised you didn't include the show Profit, with Adrian Pasdar.
My So-Called Life was my jam. The fact that it only had 19 episodes was criminal.
Great list. So many lesser-known shows came out in the 90s: “Hearts Afire”, “Evening Shade”, “Relativity”!!!!, “Due South”!!!, “Profiler”, and “The Pretender”.
Profiler is still one of my favorite shows.
Evening Shade was excellent, watched it all the time. Strong cast and very enjoyable.
Totally left out "Space: Above and Beyond"
Oof. So many memories. I had forgotten that many of these even existed. It's sad how these show weren't given more love by the networks.