TV shows that should have been good but weren't

It was also a show designed to tell everyone that Kristen Chenoweth was batshit crazy. That probably didn't help you to care for Paulson's character.

 

Dooley -- Murder One was very good. The writing dragged near the end of the first season, but I liked it. Tucci was excellent and the actress who played Julie Cross was one of the best looking women on TV ever.

 

Eh, will just have to agree to disagree. Like many things Bochco, didn't match up to the hype. Then again, one who revolutionizes TV with Hill Street Blues, LA Law and NYPD Blue can be forgiven for his next best (Doogie Howser, Civil Wars) being a few notches below and the rest being well below that.

 

The more I read about the back-stage history of "Studio 60," the more it comes off as just Sorkin working out his break-up angst in the most passive-aggressive fashion ever broadcast on network TV.

ETA: Kristen Chenoweth, unlike Sarah Paulson, would kick hard-core ass all over a sketch comedy show.

 

I think it was a premise which swung hard and hit a single. I think the premise probably sounded better in the pitch room than in practicality. Benzali was more sleepy than Zen-like, but I thought that a lot of the other acting was very good. If I remember correctly, there was a stupid plot twist at the end of the trial.

 

I watched the entire season of Studio 60 - even the episodes that were burned off over the summer. Wanted to enjoy it. Didn't. I think it was just trying waaay too hard. Over-acted, big-time.
In the category of "shows canceled too soon," how about Life - it was on NBC a couple years ago. Had a 2 year run. Very well constructed and executed conspiracy theory show about a cop wrongly convicted of his wife's murder and set free after 12 years. Really enjoyed that show..

 

I had high hopes for NBC's "Kings" a couple of years ago. Seemed like a cool concept, but the writing was terrible and the storyline was proof of producers trying too hard to make something out of the show. Nothing flowed together.

 

Bay City Blues.

Hill Street Blues + baseball + Dennis Franz. How could it fail? Quite easily, actually. I was a kid, but was disappointed on how much that show sucked.

 

Dooley, count me as another fan of Murder One. I had hopes of the series to be good. Benzali's character was as dry as sandpaper, but I thought that Jason Gehrick's character, the rock star accused of murder, could have been developed more. Webster's right on Stanley Tucci. Tucci was great.

The writing had promised that it dragged which was the problem.

LaPaglia couldn't save the show if he had been casted in the first place. But, I loved the opening theme.

As a huge SportsNight fan, I hate saying this but it was good that it ended before Sorkin had the potential to screw it up.

Twin Peaks was an one-trick pony that got everyone's attention in that one season. I thought that when the new season began, someone else in that town, with a "suspect" perfect life would get killed and Agent Cooper would spend a season tracking them down.

Then David Lynch started to make the show weirder than what we wanted it to be.

I miss Sherilyn Finn tying that cherry into a knot with her tongue.

 

"Animal House". Had they somehow gotten Blutarski's role filled right (a hard deal considering the greatness of John Belushi) and gone with some of the original writers, it would have been worth a season or two.

 

I think that was called "Delta House" ... and might have Michelle Pfeiffer been on it? Anyway, I'm not sure that could have succeeded in the era of the 1970s as the movie's R rated raunchiness could never have translated over to TV. That was more of a bad idea off a good movie rather than a missed opportunity of a good show.

 

Yeah, tough role. Would need someone who could arch his eyebrow while chugging a fifth of hooch or someone who could cram a cupcake in his mouth.

Belushi was not exactly an Academy Award winner in that role.