Great shows that were too smart for audiences

doubledown, it is on DVD. I've seen it at Best Buy.

 

Thanks for clarifying my intentions, IJAG. For the rest of the week, I will be rooting for the Bobcats to whip Mizzou.

 

btw, that Welles bit was based on a bootleg tape of Orson going nuts at the engineer while Orson kept fucking up a voiceover for a frozen-peas spot. Priceless stuff, almost as good as Casey Kasem losing it.

 

Eerie, Indiana.
Square Pegs.

 

I was thinking more of "Joey."

 

To those who thought Futurama was awesome and were bummed that it was dropped, I give you this piece of news from June:

http://tv.ign.com/articles/714/714479p1.html

 

So many good thoughts here (mainly The Critic, Police Squad).
As big as a fan of Family Guy is, I don't think it qualifies here because of the tendency for it to hit the lowest common denominator to keep the most amount of people interested.

 

Thought immediately of the Greatest Show Ever when I saw the title of this thread.

Yup, another big vote for Twin Peaks. HUGE vote for Twin Peaks. Great dialogue and interesting situations, fascinating characters, images that kept me awake at night, and pretty ladies in Sherilyn Fenn, pre-anoerexia Lara Flynn Boyle, and the absolutely luminous Madchen Amick.

Last year, my wife surprised me by tracking down the old videocassette release of the entire show on eBay. Reminded me that the second season, though not nearly as special as the first, still had plenty of great moments and a lot of future stars such as David Duchovny doing guest appearances.

SO many things it did with plot, characters, music, setting, etc. have become standard for TV dramas.

Ahem. Can't get enough of it.

As for others, I would put forth the original Star Trek as something that was smarter than its audience (at the time), and far ahead of its time. The plots and characters often tackled social issues, and the forward-thinking attitude it had as far as U.S.-U.S.S.R. relatioons, racial issues, etc. are often lauded by those who attempt to place it in proper historical context.

I also enjoyed Sports Night, loved the Critic, thought Class of '96 had potential.

More recently, Invasion was a solid show that took a while to weave a narrative, and likely lost viewers due to that. But I really liked it, and lament its cancellation.

Today's TV climate is weird, since networks like UPN and the WB keep shows afloat that the networks would never have the patience to allow to find an audience. I would put Gilmore Girls in that category, for instance.

 

Murder One, was on ABC for one year

 

There was a show on A&E for a season or so with Alan Arkin. Can't remember the name for the life of me, but it was fantastic.

 

Alf.

 

Something a little more contemporary. "Lucky" on FX. It got the ax after one season but I thought it was great.