1st Seasons Club
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1st Seasons Club

The Top Ten One Season Wonders

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1st Seasons Club
Edwin J. Viera

1. Hindsight (VH1):

Everyone wishes they could go back and change their life. Take chances on relationships they never pursued, take charge of their workplace, and keep yourself from making terrible mistakes. In this one season wonder, Laura Ramsey, plays Rebecca “Becca” Brady who has pre-wedding jitters in 2015. After going for a walk to get some clarity, she gets in the elevator up to her father’s apartment. The elevator stops short of her floor and she blacks out. When she wakes up it’s 1995, on the day of her first wedding.

The series deals with her life after she calls of her first wedding and decides to change the way her life will go based on what she knows about her future. The series was renewed for a second season but after some changes in executive staff at VH1 the series was dropped. Series creator Emily Fox has expressed thoughts of making what would have been season two into a novel so viewers have clarity after the show ended on a cliff hanger of Becca trying to get back to the future.

2. The Oblongs (The WB):

Poverty, wealth and environmental disasters combined to create The Oblongs. This show centered on The Oblongs (named after series creator Angus Oblong) who live in the poverty-stricken neighborhood, The Valley. Meanwhile they face scrutiny from the wealthy no-deformed people who live in The Hills. The series had a great cast including Will Ferrell, Jean Smart, and Pamela Aldon. One full season of this show aired on The WB before it was cancelled. Reruns of the show as well as the unaired second season have aired on Adult Swim.

3. Sunday Trio; (666 Park Avenue, Pan Am, GCB)

After the show Desperate Housewives ended, ABC struggled to find something to put in the coveted Sunday night time slot. Several shows aired only one season but failed to remain on for longer than that. Three of these shows were actually winners that could have been on for at least three or four seasons before ending.

The first was a replacement for Brothers & Sisters coveted 10pm spot on Sunday nights. The series Pan Am. The show dealt with the lives of pilots and stewardesses at the beginning of the commercial Jet age. While the series came up with several plot lines to carry into a second season, but the show only lasted 14 episodes. The producers of the show were trying to reach a deal with Amazon to continue the series.

The second show deals with the idea of getting even on the popular girl so many years later in life. GCB deals with popular girl Amanda Vaughn moving in with her mother after he husband dies in a car accident trying to escape the country. She tries to reform her life and befriend her.

Finally comes, 666 Park Avenue, which dealt with the lives of a young couple who move into a building with an owner who is more than willing to keep a deal. Starring Terry O’Quinn, Vanessa Williams, Dave Annable, and Rachael Taylor. The show lasted 13 episodes before it was cancelled.

4. Whoopi (NBC)

Whoopi Goldberg plays a sassy one hit wonder singer in this show. Her brother is a conservative Republican that can’t find a job after losing out big working for Enron. He soon begins dating a younger woman who acts ghetto. With the help of her handyman, Nasim, and her cleaning woman Jadwiga she manages to get through the days of insanity in her life. The series took many shots at President George Bush, much like SNL has taken shots at President Trump. A show like this worked out and had a fully functioning dynamic but it didn’t have great ratings, which lead to its cancellation after 22 episodes.

5. Brain Dead (CBS)

Politics gone wrong, sound like the Trump administration. In this series, an asteroid lands on Earth that contains bugs. They look like ants but are parasites that feed on the meat of the human brain. Brain Dead starred Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Laurel Harris, a documentary film maker that takes a job working for her brother who is a Congressman. The bugs begin infecting the minds of political figures and influence policy in Washington. The show was going to be an anthology of the bugs taking over Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and Hollywood. However, the series was cancelled after 13 episodes with Laurel having found a way to eliminate the bugs from people’s minds.

6. Cristela (ABC)

This show made comedienne Cristela Alonzo the first Latina to create, write, and produce her own US network show. The series dealt with Cristela Hernandez, a sarcastic woman who is an aspiring lawyer. Cristela also starred Maria Canals-Barrera as her sister, Daniella, Carlos Ponce as her machismo brother-in-law Felix, and Gabriel Iglesias as Felix’s cousin Alberto who is in love with Cristela.

The show lasted a full 22-episode season but, left on a few unresolved plot lines. Some include Cristela being asked to move out of Felix and Daniella’s house with her mother, her coworker Josh liking her and now being her assistant, and finally, Daniella finding a new job after she is fired from her job at a cable company’s call center. Many people screamed bring it back when Alonzo mentioned it during her NETFLIX comedy special, Lower Classy.

7. Selfie (ABC)

People love taking selfies, however, in this show a selfie causes one woman to reevaluate her life choices. Selfie was a modern take on the George Bernard Shaw play, Pygmalion; with a woman who buries herself in her phone learning to change her personality to be more in touch with people. However, the show was cancelled after 13 episodes though it managed to have a decent run.

8. The Pruitt’s of Southampton/The Phyllis Diller Show (ABC):

Phyllis Diller got a chance at a sitcom in 1966. Based on the novel, House Party, by Patrick Dennis, Diller played the matriarch of the wealthy Pruitt family who abruptly go broke and are left owing the IRS 10 million because of backed taxes. The series chronicled the struggle of Phyllis who tries everything to get the money to pay the IRS. This show had a great appeal but was cancelled after 30 episodes.

17 episodes were produced under the title of The Pruitt’s of Southampton, and the other 13 were produced under the name The Phyllis Diller Show. The series was retooled to The Phyllis Diller Show along with additional cast members brought on through the idea of Phyllis Pruitt turning her 60-room house into a hotel. Although the series netted Diller a Golden Globe nomination, it didn’t give her a chance to utilize her style of rapid fire stand-up comedy.

9. The Unusuals (ABC)

The idea that every cop has a secret comes to light in this unusual ABC police procedural. The Unusuals was about the officers of New York City’s 2nd Precinct and some of the stranger cases that they have to deal with. Many critics described the series as a modern-day M*A*S*H. The show failed to attract an audience and was cancelled after ten episodes.

10. High Society (CBS)

Mary McDonnell and Jean Smart star as the best friend’s money can buy in this one season wonder. High Society was originally based around McDonnel and Smart’s characters being around an old friend, Val, who is divorcing her husband. The character of Val was dropped after episode six and the series became an American version of the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous. This show had great chemistry between both Smart and McDonnell, though it failed to make the cut in the ratings.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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