One of my favorite things is hearing about a TV show I’ve literally never heard before… and seeing how many episodes it had.
For example, The Edge of Night ran from 1956-1984. 28 seasons, 7,420 episodes. I’ve never once heard of it, I got to it by thinking of a kind of obscure show (Car 54 Where Are You?) and then looking for other shows.
Oh my god I had forgotten all about Car 54 Where Are You…Nick At Nite was such a history lesson back in the 90s. Are all those shows just lost media now?
Eh, The Edge of Night is kinda an outlier: it was a soap opera, and there just isn’t the cultural memory for soaps, especially more than 10-15 years after they’re off the air. Also, when you do 250 episodes a year, it’s easy to rack up the episode count.
Another cultural memory hole are all the shows from the 40s and 50s, the majority of which are lost to time.
I guess they’re not interesting to me because they have a lot of episodes? I like looking up lesser-known stuff, like the late 1970’s science fiction comedy Quark, the two short-lived spin-offs from MASH (AfterMASH and WALTER; there’s also Trapper John MD, but that lasted a while) and the Casablanca series starring David Soul from Starsky & Hutch.
I also like looking up short-lived shows like Mr and Mrs Smith with Scott Bakula, and Space Rangers. Bonus points if they had episodes that never aired in the States, like Moon Over Miami (3 unaired episodes) or something like South of Sunset, starring Glenn Frey of The Eagles, which got pulled after airing just one episode. Or Turn-On, which was officially pulled after one episode, though a number of stations took it off the air during the first episode.
I guess we’re both interested in tv shows that have been memory-holed, we’re just using different ranges for what’s interesting?
I just want both! There’s something inherently very interesting about things that culturally disappear.
It’s flabbergasting to me that all these people got together to make TV shows, sometimes for years, and I’ve literally never even heard the title or what it’s about.
People wrote scripts, they had sound technicians and built sets. Actors were like “this is my big break!” and they did it for six years… and no one has ever heard of it.
Makes sense that Scott Bakula would have a few failed pilots, but 30 people got together for 7 years. Wtf!
One of my favorite things is hearing about a TV show I’ve literally never heard before… and seeing how many episodes it had.
For example, The Edge of Night ran from 1956-1984. 28 seasons, 7,420 episodes. I’ve never once heard of it, I got to it by thinking of a kind of obscure show (Car 54 Where Are You?) and then looking for other shows.
Oh my god I had forgotten all about Car 54 Where Are You…Nick At Nite was such a history lesson back in the 90s. Are all those shows just lost media now?
No, they’re still out there, there are sites and forums that collect them.
Eh, The Edge of Night is kinda an outlier: it was a soap opera, and there just isn’t the cultural memory for soaps, especially more than 10-15 years after they’re off the air. Also, when you do 250 episodes a year, it’s easy to rack up the episode count.
Another cultural memory hole are all the shows from the 40s and 50s, the majority of which are lost to time.
Oh, I just started there.
My point is that you can pick any decade and there are shows with 50+ episodes you’ve never even heard of. That’s fascinating.
What about The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd? 1987-1991.
Comedy-drama, 5 seasons, 65 episodes. 65 episodes of a series I had literally never heard of until just now!
How boring to just say “that’s not interesting.”
Here’s another one. Kate & Allie, a sitcom. 1984-1989. I have literally never heard of it until right now. 122 episodes!
I guess they’re not interesting to me because they have a lot of episodes? I like looking up lesser-known stuff, like the late 1970’s science fiction comedy Quark, the two short-lived spin-offs from MASH (AfterMASH and WALTER; there’s also Trapper John MD, but that lasted a while) and the Casablanca series starring David Soul from Starsky & Hutch.
I also like looking up short-lived shows like Mr and Mrs Smith with Scott Bakula, and Space Rangers. Bonus points if they had episodes that never aired in the States, like Moon Over Miami (3 unaired episodes) or something like South of Sunset, starring Glenn Frey of The Eagles, which got pulled after airing just one episode. Or Turn-On, which was officially pulled after one episode, though a number of stations took it off the air during the first episode.
I guess we’re both interested in tv shows that have been memory-holed, we’re just using different ranges for what’s interesting?
I just want both! There’s something inherently very interesting about things that culturally disappear.
It’s flabbergasting to me that all these people got together to make TV shows, sometimes for years, and I’ve literally never even heard the title or what it’s about.
People wrote scripts, they had sound technicians and built sets. Actors were like “this is my big break!” and they did it for six years… and no one has ever heard of it.
Makes sense that Scott Bakula would have a few failed pilots, but 30 people got together for 7 years. Wtf!