One-Episode Wonder: Difference between revisions

The former category should be easy to explain — if a show gets extremely negative reviews, poor ratings, or contains controversial content without enough redeeming value to be worth dealing with the [[Media Watchdogs]], it's likely it'll die a quick death without anyone caring...it's a wonder anyone thought the idea would work in the first place.

 

 

Until the internet, occasional anthology series would be the only place for these quirky bits of production history to be showcased.

 

== Real Life One Episode Wonders ==

* ''[[The Adventures of Superpup]]'': At the end of the fifth season of ''[[The Adventures of Superman]]'', star George Reeves was found dead. The producers of the show handled the situation in the classiest way possible....by filming an [[After Show]] pilot on the same sets with little people wearing giant dog masks, using character names such as "Bark Bent" and "Puppy Bite".

* ''[[The Amazing Screw-On Head]]'': 2006 animated pilot based on a one-off comic by Mike Mignola, creator of ''[[Hellboy]]''. Featured Paul Giamatti as a [[Steampunk]] cyborg who fights paranormal forces at the behest of the Lincoln administration, with David Hyde-Pierce as his arch nemesis, Emperor Zombie. The Sci-Fi Channel actually had an online poll to gauge interest, but despite being very well-received it somehow never made it, possibly due to low numbers (ignoring how hard it is to promote a one-off pilot or attract word-of-mouth).

* ''Babylon Fields'': 2007 zombie drama. Rather than being portrayed as malevolent monsters, however, the recently deceased return to their homes and attempt to pick up their lives.

* ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined|Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome]]''. Originally intended to be a new TV series, [[Sci Fi Channel|Syfy Channel]] later cut the order back to a TV pilot, then slashed it again to a low-budget webseries with all CGI sets, of which exactly one episode was filmed and then hidden away in the network's vaults. [http://io9.com/5895080/totally-badass-trailer-for-battlestar-galacticas-cylon-war-prequel-blood-and-chrome A trailer for the show] surfaced in early 2012, which was later revealed to have been smuggled out of [[Sy Fy]] and leaked to the public without their authorization. [[Sy Fy]] says it has no plans for producing or even ''airing'' ''Blood and Chrome'', because as everyone knows [[Network Decay|Syfy Channel only shows wrestling now-a-days]].

* ''Bob and a Half'': A horror series about a guy who finds his friend chopped in half.

* ''[[Bubsy]]'', which nobody would've ever seen if not for the fact that it was packaged with the Windows version of one of the Bubsy games. [[Rob Paulsen]] leaves it off his résumé nowadays...

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnUvZP7-5LM The Animated Series]''. It never even made it to the full pilot stage, but the link is to the 4-minute promo on [[YouTube]]. It features almost the entire original cast (except Sarah Michelle Gellar; they got Buffy's voice from the video game instead).

* ''Co-Ed Fever'': 1979 CBS sitcom set at an all-female college that had just started to admit male students.

* ''[[Constant Payne]]'': 2001 animated pilot for Nickelodeon. Similar in concept to ''[[Jonny Quest]]'', it followed the Payne family, consisting of an adventurous super-inventor and his daughter. There are several reasons why it didn't get aired.

* ''Dragon's Heaven'' was one single OVA based on an old, highly obscure manga, but with some of the coolest mechs ever and an [[Awesome Music (Sugar Wiki)|awesome]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBDqHok-oMA soundtrack], it's a crying shame that nothing more ever came of it.

* ''Emily's Reasons Why Not'': A comedy starring Heather Graham, based on a novel of the same name. It was intended to be the anchor of ABC's post-football-season Monday night lineup in 2006, and failed miserably, getting cancelled after its only airing in January despite heavy promotion during the fall of 2005. It was said ABC bought the series without seeing a script. It was cancelled so quickly that magazines that came out the next week were stuck running feature stories promoting a show that was no longer on the air because their press deadlines came before the airing of the one episode.

* In 2000, PAX tried a Bible-based quiz show called ''Genesis'', hosted by Jim McKrell.

* ''[[Global Frequency]]'': A 2005 Mark Burnett adaptation of the Warren Ellis comic book series, starring Michelle Forbes of ''[[Star Trek]]'' fame. According to Ellis, when the pilot was leaked onto [[Bit Torrent]] networks (to tremendous acclaim), The WB simply axed the project altogether.

* ''Head of the Family'': a pilot that featured Carl Reiner as the Head Comedy Writer for [[Show Within a Show|"The Alan Sturdy Show"]], and showed both his home and work life. The pilot was rejected by CBS and burned off as a one time "comedy special". Producer Sheldon Leonard saw it, completely recast it, changed 'Alan Sturdy' to 'Alan Brady', and created a five year hit known as ''[[The Dick Van Dyke Show]]''.

* ''[[Heat Vision and Jack]]'': 1999 comedy/sci-fi show starring Jack Black as Jack Austin, a former astronaut exposed to inappropriate levels of solar radiation, granting him super-intelligence whenever the sun is out. Since NASA wishes to take out his brain, he's on the run with his friend Heat Vision, a friend who has been hit by a laser beam and turned into a talking motorcycle (Voiced by Owen Wilson). They travel the countryside chased by NASA mercenary Ron Silver (as himself), blocked at every turn...by adventure! Directed by Ben Stiller.

* ''[[Korgoth of Barbaria]]'': 2006 animated pilot for a ridiculously over-the-top parody of ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' and other such barbarian fantasy novels/movies, created by Aaron Springer. Originally said to have been picked up by the [[Adult Swim]] lineup in 2007, but later said to be canceled with nary an episode other than the pilot.

* ''Lawless'': 1997 FOX action series starring NFL star Brian Bosworth as a private detective.

* ''[[Locke and Key]]'' had a pilot filmed in 2011 for Fox, but it wasn't picked up to series.

* ''The Melting Pot'': 1975 BBC production. Two stereotyped illegal-immigrants from Pakistan arrive in England via Amsterdam and move into lodgings run by an stereotyped Irishman. [[Hilarity Ensues]].

* ''The Modifyers''. The pilot can be found [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDXKcC_gMl0 here.]

* ''MTV Ultimate Mash-Ups'': Originally intended to be a series bringing artists together for collaborations, the first mash-up, between [[Jay-Z]] and [[Linkin Park]], was a huge success, yet MTV never created another one. Ludacris and Sum 41 were rumored to be the next collab at one point.

* [[The Naked Brothers Band]] animated special ''Supetastic 6''.

* Pauly Shore has a habit of pumping these sort of shows out. His first series, simply titled ''[[The Danza|Pauly]]'', was actually canceled halfway through the airing with only five episodes produced, with the footage replaced by an apology from the network.

* ''Pryde of the [[X-Men]]'': Surreal 1989 Kitty Pryde-based animated X-Men adaptation, which laid the ground work for the later series, after a much needed retool. Stan Lee's hyperactive narration takes it to the next level. The inclusion of Dazzler in the main cast and the fact that the historically Canadian [[Wolverine Publicity|Wolverine]] has an Australian accent probably didn't help either.

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* ''The Robinsons'': A 2003 ''Lost In Space'' remake pilot commissioned by the WB Television Network. The pilot was directed by John Woo (of ''Hard-Boiled'' and ''Face-Off'' fame), and featured multiple changes from the original, such as: the Jupiter 2 being a landing pod instead of a full-fledged ship, one of the Robinsons' sons dying in an attack by aliens, and much younger actors playing Judy and Don Robinson. The show was never picked up, but the sets of the Jupiter 2 were bought for use on the re-imagined ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined|Battlestar Galactica]]'', as the Battlestar Pegasus' command center.

* ''Ronna and Beverly'': 2009 Showtime sitcom based on a live sketch comedy show about two middle aged Jewish women who write a bestselling self-help book. The pilot was written by Jenji Kohan, whom you might know better as the creator of ''[[Weeds]]''. When the pilot wasn't picked up, fans of the duo petitioned Showtime to air it, which they did in the dead of a cold December night.

* ''[http://www.supermansupersite.com/superboy61.html Superboy 1961]'': A planned prequel series (or possible reboot) to the George Reeves series, ''The Adventures of Superman'', the pilot followed a young Clark Kent as he attempts to thwart a gang of jewel thieves.

* ''Tag Team'': Jessie Ventura and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper play wrestlers drummed out of the business for refusing to take a dive. They then go on to become police officers. [[They Fight Crime]].

* ''[[Virtuality]]'', which aired on FOX. Originally intended as a pilot, but canned preemptively.

* ''Welcome to Eltingville'', an animated adaptation of Evan Dorkin's comic book ''Dork!'' about a group of fanboys on Staten Island. [[Adult Swim]] occasionally re-airs the pilot along with other Wonders. Presumably to taunt us.

* ''Which Way to the War?'', an ITV sitcom (with all that implies) pilot clearly intended for a full series which was broadcast in the 1990s. It featured a range of stereotypical WWII soldiers of various nationalities (the trailer showed a camp Scotsman saying "I'm not Scotch. I'm Scottish", this apparently being the joke they hoped would reel in interested viewers) along with 1970s-style writing and production values. Never heard from again.

* ''The Will'': 2005 CBS reality show. It centered on the "Benefactor", a multi-millionaire from Arizona named Bill Long. Ten of his friends and relatives competed in a series of challenges to win the right to inherit his "prized possession", a huge Kansas ranch. The series eventually aired in its entirety on FOX Reality Channel.

* NBC's 2011 ''[[Wonder Woman]]'' series, which was quietly canned after receiving '''massively''' negative feedback from test audiences. The incomplete pilot was eventually leaked onto the Internet, which allowed fans to see precisely why it was savaged: Wonder Woman is a violent vigilante who thumbs her nose at the law and tortures a crook for information so she can slander [[Liz Hurley]] -- in other words, [[In Name Only|not Wonder Woman at all]].

 

* ''The Adventures of Kotetsu''.

* ''Apple Pie'', an eccentric 1978 sitcom starring Rue McClanahan and Dabney Coleman, created by [[Norman Lear]]. Seven episodes were produced, but ABC only aired two of them.

* ''[[Clerks the Animated Series]]''. Although six episodes were produced, only two were shown on the network that commissioned the show.

* ''[[Dragon Half]]''. Legend has it the [[OAV|OAVs]] were cancelled after the mangaka was busted for drug possession.

* ''[[Elf Princess Rane]]'' only lasted two episodes before the creators "ran out of budget". This is highlighted by a close-up of one of the characters begging the viewing audience for more money so they can continue the series.

* ''Girls Club'', a 2002 David E. Kelley-created show about a trio of young female lawyers, had six episodes produced but only two aired.

* FOX drama ''Lone Star'' is a bit of an odd example because it was supposed to be the network's big show for 2010; however, it was canned after two episodes due to abysmal ratings.

* ''Mighty Space Miners''

* In May 2004, PAX debuted a [[Game Show]] called ''[[On The Cover]]'', which aired for two episodes before abruptly stopping. It came back later in the year with some (mostly cosmetic) changes, but was gone again after its first "real" season.

* And subverted again with another game show, ''[[The Rich List]]''. One of countless one-episode wonders from FOX (2006 in this case), it was [[Retool|Re Tooled]] two-and-a-half years later as ''The Money List'', which aired on [[GSN]]...for nine episodes.

* There have also been cases of shows cancelled after one or two episodes going on to longer runs elsewhere. An example being the aforementioned series ''The Will'', which was cancelled almost immediately by its host network, but later played in full on a cable channel.

 

* ''Jerry'': In-universe TV show that Jerry [[Seinfeld]] and George Costanza were continually trying to make. Lasted only one episode, in part because the only executive on their side ran away to join Greenpeace [[All Love Is Unrequited|for all the wrong reasons]]. They very nearly got it on the air, but then [[Grand Finale|they were thrown in jail]].

* ''Limozeen: [[Recycled in Space|But They're In Space]]!'': Animated television series in the [[Homestar Runner]] universe (and according to Strong Bad, the greatest thing he's ever "seen, done, or eaten") starring the [[Fake Band]] Limozeen and their [[Band Toon|fantastic adventures]] [[Recycled in Space|in space]]. The show was canceled ''during the airing of its pilot'', and the characters themselves halt the episode halfway through to inform the viewers to watch their future adventures in syndication or on DVD. The "end credits photo montage" of the email "Montage" mentions that "Strong Bad went on to host some show on [[Animal Planet]]. It was canceled before the first commercial break."

* ''Wormhole X-Treme'', the [[Show Within a Show]] in ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' was variously said to have only run one episode before being cancelled ("Citizen Joe") or three episodes ("200") and [[Firefly|got a feature film because it performed well on DVD]].