There was a scene in “Automan” that would be repeated in “Manimal”: The heroes are trapped in a taxi that is rigged to explode. Both episodes aired about a week apart and my friends and I went “Didn’t we just see this?”
It was, I was involved in the fandom for a while after the show was cancelled, but alas most of the hard core fans I knew are now 'among the stars'. I still enjoy it though and am glad they put it out on DVD.
@@YvaJStoryTime enjoyed watching it but thought it lasted two seasons not one. I think the last one was we got to meet the mom played by erin grew who costarred in a buck Roger's series
I was so glad they gave it a DVD release. I bought a bootleg DVD copy years earlier. I scooped up the official release on the first day it came out. I’ve read in years since that it was a liked show, just in a horrible time slot.
@@magicmike5879 no, Voyagers! was cancelled in 1983, and he died in 1984 on the set of Cover Up. You probably know this, but Hexum was on-set and waiting for the next take, when he tried to relieve the boredom by jokingly putting a gun loaded with blanks to his temple and pulling the trigger. There was no bullet, but the gas pressure at that range was enough to blast a chunk of his skull through his brain, mortally wounding him. What a shame.
@@nerva- ahhhhh ok! My timeline was off a bit from what I remembered. But yes I knew he was goofing around on set and had that accident. Terrible waste of talent.
@@nicolaasjonkhart4660 - And it didn't help that the main actor (Jon-Erik Hexum - "Phinoas Bogg") died on the set of another project via an accidental shooting (he had jokingly fired a prop-gun at his head, but the explosion from the blank bullet so close to his skull caused severe head injuries) after the end of the 1st season. He died while his popularity in Hollywood was on the rise.
@@nicolaasjonkhart4660 - Actually, 'Voyagers" enjoyed a 17 share of the ratings (quite high, especially considering they were going up against CBS's "60 Minutes"). The show was expected to be renewed for a 2nd season, however, NBC decided to gamble by canceling a show with high ratings ("Voyager") and instead replace it with its own news-magazine program called "Monitor" to compete with "60 Minutes". NBC's gamble failed royally as the "Monitor" did poorly in the ratings, with a paltry 7 share...10 points less than "Voyagers". A Network's management INCOMPETENCE played the biggest role in the widely popular show "Voyagers" being canceled.
I think what made Voyagers a good show was the chemistry of the 2 actors. Plus Jon Eric Hexum, everyone would have loved him. Han Solo type of attittude with good looks.
You mean "Otherworld" didn't make the list? They tried to make it serious but it came off as just goofy and cheesy. One interesting point is Johnathan Banks, better known to us today as Mike Ehrmantraut, played the police / officer / security guy that chased the family as they tried to find their way back to Earth.
I remembered watching Otherworld back when I was in middle school. That's because it aired right before Airwolf on Saturday nights. I'm surprised it never did well even though it was a lead in to a popular show.
Automan was an attempt to build off of Tron's popularity. It definitively did not reflect what people thought computers could do. Like Tron, it was just about cool special effects. 5th grade me liked it a lot.
"Automan" and "Starman" were actually HUGE successes in Sweden. Alas, for all our sakes, that market is a tad too limited for commercial viability - and was even more so in the 80s.
@@FandomSpotlite They actually put it out in Germany too, but only translated 20 episodes into German. For some reason, The Test (the final episode) was scrapped from being translated. Probably because 'Starscapes' was such an amazing two-part story.
I was once at a group dinner in Beverly Hills and, as luck would have it, I sat across from Jeff Conaway. I assumed most people would ask him about Andy Kaufman, or Taxi, or Grease or Babylon 5, but I thought I would playfully screw with him and so I said "Wizards and Warriors was on of my favorite shows back in the day." I thought he would just chuckle or wince or something, but he lit up and told me about how much he enjoyed it and what a shame it was that it was canceled. The reason? The head of CBS at the time of development was gung-ho for the series to work, but by the time the show aired, someone else was in charge and they were not a fan, and the series was never given the chance to find an audience. Though we knew several of the same people, I never saw Jeff Conaway again. Such a friendly, humble guy. I was sad to learn of his decline and death.
i remember watching a lot of these as a kid! i loved automan and galactica when i was a kid and star man when i was a little older. i watched them all the time. i didn’t realize they got cancelled until now lol. guess my concept of shows and seasons was different as a kid lol. manimal used to freak me out but i remember pushing through my fears because i wanted to watch lol
I remember something like that happening because the Osmonds got 'dinged' because Marie play/punched her brother Donnie in the arm while they were doing a Saturday morning Show and the show was considered the most violent of all time and cancelled without anyone questioning what was going on. I have had more violent sneezing attacks- wish i could cancel my allergies! I watched Voyagers like it was my religion and my mom and dad never thought to tell me that JEH had died until my Aunt let the cat out of the bag and they were astounded at my reaction. It was horrible. They even tried to convince me that he hadn't died because they thought i had a crush on "the kid" Meeno Peluce and were convinced that that was who i thought had died. Clueless grownups. Anyway i bought the dvd a few years ago but the second disc was screwed up and i never got around to returning it. Just curious if all the boxsets had the same problem or i was just lucky that way. Also why has no one uploaded the movie "The Bear"?
@@deborahhanna9126 Oh wow, i've only had my one copy of the DVDs from the official 2007 release and never had problems with it, nobody else I know has complained either in all that time. I'm sorry you got a bad copy. The Bear is a pretty long boring film and Jon-Erik's role is less than 5 minutes. I suppose that's why. lol. But I think someone did post his scenes up on youtube if you look up his name and Type 'The Bear 1984 it should come up.
I have looked for them before but never knew exactly how much of the film he was in. Thanks! I may go ahead and order a new boxset now i just didn't need TWO of them to be messed up. Did you get to see JEH in Circus of the Stars? He had a tightrope walking act that only aired once if i remember because he was still practicing for it when he passed. My theory is he was working on so many projects all at once that he was sleep deprived.
@@deborahhanna9126 I never saw Circus with the Stars with him, I didn't think he actually got to film it. If he was in it, that's great! Maybe one day we will find it posted. Yeah, a lot of us feel he was just tired and was only attempting a joke, like when you put a finger to your head and say, "can you believe this??"
The only show I remember out of this list is Manimal. I loved that show and didn't find it cheesy at all! Probably because I was 5yrs old at the time, lol! But I bet if they did a reboot of Manimal with today's technology and really good storylines, it would probably be a big hit!
I loved Starman the TV series. It had some great episodes. If the writers had been able to tear themselves away from Agent Fox showing up in every episode, it would have been even greater. Like Inspector Javert pursuing the Fugitive, the device got old and limited how deep each episode could go. Hayes and Barnes both brought a lot to their characters.
I VERY vaguely remember Automan, & Starman, but i was a big fan of WIzards & Warriors back then. I was a young kid, but remember it moderately. That it was close to being in the same genre as King Arthur & Merlin, I loved it.
I don't know that Voyagers should really be here, because it would have been signed for a second series, except that the star, Jon-Erik Hexum, was killed on set by an accident with a gun.
The series was cancelled in 1983. Jon-Erik Hexum died on the set of Cover-Up in October 1984. He really tried to keep Voyagers on the air but NBC didn't listen.
@@kaliburgos6055 My grandma and I loved Manimal and Automan. I wanted to be Manimal so I could turn into the hawk or jaguar anytime I wanted. Btw I know they are not on the list because they were great shows, but I have been watching The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man and Wonder Woman. Still love those shows.
I remember all these shows, & Manimal & Voyagers were good. There other shows that got canned like, Foul Play, The Renegades, Misfits of Science, Breaking Away, The Powers of Matthew Star.😭😴 oh well!!!🤪
If you're focusing on the 80's in your list, why did you show so much footage of the modern, not cheesy and still with seasons to come Black Lightning??? I also recommend shows like The Visitor, First Wave and Early Edition for great cheesy shows.
i actually really liked wizards and warriors. i found a bootleg of the series on dvd at the san diego comic con one year... it was 'sort of' ahead of it's time, a fantasy series that had humor occasionally. when xena came out i remember thinking it reminded me of this show... i also remember automan. total cheese...
Describe Manimal now to a bunch of comic con kids, and they'll probably think it's cool. (I actually did) But the show itself was too far fetched for audiences who don't read comics. And ironically Beast Boy would become the most popular Teen Titan decades later.
Manimal and Automan are two promising IPs that can actually do quite well today. In their original presentation they were undoubtedly bit rough around the edges and needed some quality checks but they entertained nonetheless and their cheese was part of the appeal, especially for Automan. Automan has potential to be a comedic detective sci-fi show if it fully embraces the techno fantasy elements. Perhaps even bring alien tech into it to make him possible for the way he is. Manimal, on the other hand, has immense potential to be a psychological thriller police series, preferably mini series. They can make it about Professor Chase indirectly by telling the story through Ty or Brooke as the main protagonist who comes in contact with a mysterious Dr Chase on one of the mind bending cases. Now the draw would be the mystical presentation of Dr Chase, the unknown factors, an otherworldly aura about him. He could even be slyly presented as a villain, which may or may not be true. All the while keeping his power to turn into animals ambiguous, to sort of add dreamlike quality to the show. But alas, they are ignoring these shows that have great potential!
Just to let you know the Phoenix to draw his power from the sun. If you watched all episodes it kind of points that out. And I really like that show. I like the concept. Even to this day I have a phoenix tattoo. Obviously it’s not connected to the show in anyway but for the fact that it’s a phoenix coming out a fire.
@@Sockenstuff accidentally. He was working on a different show called “cover up” and the production was going horrible. So he put a prop gun to his head and pulled the trigger as a joke thinking it was not loaded, but there was a blank round in the chamber.
I'm not entirely sure if it was from the 80's, and I can't remember the name of the series, but I remember a poem a lady in the TV series came up with, to "get the job" so to speak. "There once was a man named James who's genius exceeded all claims, he could solve out of hand all the problems of man, and tell you it was all just a game."
These were all great shows. The "cheese" factor is only in hindsight. Of COURSE they look cheesy and the stories are cheesy but even the most serious shows will look cheesy in 20 or 30 years. So that's pretty unfair. The Phoenix, Automan, Voyagers, and all the rest were what got me going through my troubled and fucked up childhood...and they STILL are great to me now that I'm 50.
'Voyagers' didn't end due to cheesiness or poor ratings --- it ended because the main actor (Jon-Erik Hexum - "Phinoas Bogg") died on the set of another project via an accidental shooting (he had jokingly fired a prop-gun at his head, but the explosion from the blank bullet so close to his skull caused severe head injuries). Anyway, 'Voyagers' enjoyed a 17 share of the ratings (quite high) and was expected to be renewed for a 2nd season, even though it went up against the news-magazine program, '60-Minutes'. NBC nonetheless decided to gamble by canceling 'Voyagers' and replace it with its own news-magazine program to compete against '60 Minutes'. That NBC news-magazine program ("Monitor") was a ratings disaster, averaging just a 7 share of the ratings (10 points less than "Voyager"). And nope...it didn't help that the main actor was killed during the rise in his popularity.
This is bad intel, Fidel. Hexum didn't die until October 1984, well over a year after Voyager was canceled. He was actually cast in a new series, COVER UP, and on that set is where he accidentally shot himself. That said, I was and am a huge Voyagers fan and wish it had continued.
I swear I can remember every one of these shows. OK, maybe not the female "greatest american hero," but surely the others. Either way, my heart overfloweth.
other single season shows that were killed way before their time that were excellent were: The Fades - BBC ( I'm still sick to my stomach about that one ) Threshold Surface - (again, epic and gut wrenching when cancelled) When I think of all the good shows that have been killed primarily due to piss poor advertising combined with the dumbest scheduling imaginable, and admittedly before the days of streaming, I weep given the amount of utter crap that gets multi season runs.
I'm definitely a sci-fi geek...I remember watching all of these,including the greatest American heroin that they tried to get off the ground after actor William katt decided to no longer play in the title role due to his commitments on Perry Mason...
Wow, I forgot about some of those shows, but now I remember them. They may have been 1 season or just a few episodes, but some of them will always be great to me.
Hi could you help me with a forgotten show? It started out as a guy was riding his motorcycle up a mountain hiway, and when he reaches the top he stops and poses on the bike and an airplane fall out of the sky on him. It was from around the 1990' s I think. It was like a comedy porady of Renegade. The guy on the motorcycle was a PI detective . It only had a few episodes I think the name was something like Rebel, or something like that. Thanks in advance for any thoughts on what it might have been called
Holly Molly, I must of bin in a coma in the 80's, I don't remember seeing or hearing of any of these shows aside from Galactica. By the looks of what I just seen here I'm glad I did.
The Voyagers! theme was incredible. Automan's intro was super catchy as well. We had some great TV themes in the 80s. Tales of the Gold Monkey is another great TV theme. Complete rip off of Indiana Jones, but still cool for a young kid in the 80s.
Funny how the word cheese gets tossed around about stuff from the 80s, when everything from the 80s was better than anything out today. I'll take those 80s shows any day.
Some of these were definitely "ahead of their time"... "Voyagers" was probably re-tuned and re-written to became "Quantum Leap" or at least having a heavy influence.
starman manimal a team battle star galtica buck rogers automan green mantas speed racer voyagers! tv show dvd video collection i have hr puff and snuff shazam mighty icesses 1970s TheWebOfTheSpider
Didn't know about The Greatest American Hero, not that fizzled to has aired 3 seasons. Instead, The Wizard (1986) was a completely flop, one season and 19 episodes.
1988 War of the worlds had a successful first season but they killed off most popular character for second season and show did not last long after that.
Not from the 80s, but Generation NeXt? (I think that's the title.) From the Generation X title comic book (Marvel, X-men.) It seemed pretty directionless, w/cheesy acting. Also, the original Fantstic Four movie was a cheddar fest, horrendous acting & sfx.
Dang wizards and warriors looked promising. The Phoenix seemed boring. There was also a show with Catherine Hicks where she plays a psychic. The 80s were big in new concepts. Now aways there's hardly anything original anymore.
