New York News | CBS | 1995

September - November 1995

CBS | 13 episodes (5 unaired) | Drama

WATCH EPISODE TWO | MORE INFO

WHO'S IN IT? Mary Tyler Moore, Madeline Kahn, Melina Kanakaredes

SYNOPSIS: New York News is the story of the fictional New York Reporter, a struggling tabloid in the US's largest, most competitive newspaper market - New York City.

VERDICT: ★★★☆☆

The saxophone theme tune, the fashion, the newsroom as a setting...could this be anymore 90s?! 

Mary Tyler Moore, the woman who can “turn the world on with her smile,” leads the cast as the tough-as-nails newspaper editor Louise Felcott, so disliked that she’s universally known as “the Dragon.” Mary apparently felt that her character's storylines were not fully fledged and wanted out of her contract, though she enjoyed the opportunity to play against type.

In this episode, Madeline Kahn's character, gossip columnist Nan Chase, sets up a date with the uber-90s media personality Fabio so he can give his side of the story after she writes in her column: "Shirley MacLaine last night with Fabio twisted around each other like two pretzels!". After she's schmoozed by Fabio and a correction submitted, she's later stood up. Furious, Nan dashes into Louise's office to demand that they stop the presses so she can edit her column into a vicious Fabio evisceration, even offering to "pull the lever" herself. Looking for support, she asks Louise the last time she was stood up. "I'm not sure I ever was stood up," she answers. Nan takes a beat, and then says, "Oh...thank you for that." Of course, "The Dragon" is having none of it and tells her: “If Jesus himself were to walk through that door to announce his second coming, I wouldn’t stop the press.”

CANCELLED TOO SOON? I liked it but there may have been too much going on at one point. There were about 3-4 different storylines running at the same time - the Fabio one, one about sweatshops in Chinatown, another about a cross-dressing congressman, and then Louise being forced to submit to an efficiency evaluation from a new middle manager. Not only that, another character was shot at the end of the episode. Was it drama? Comedy? Comedy-drama? I wasn't sure. The show was aired on the same night as Seinfeld during its 7th season, yes The Soup Nazi season, so it's no wonder it didn't catch on.

Ned and Stacey | FOX | 1995

September 1995 - January 1997

FOX | 46 episodes (11 unaired) | Sitcom

WATCH OPENING CREDITS | MORE INFO

WHO'S IN IT? Debra Messing, Thomas Haden Church, Greg Germann

SYNOPSIS: He wants a promotion. She wants a new place to live. She hates his self-righteous attitude. He doesn't like her re-decorating his living room. Will their fake marriage actually result in love? 

VERDICT: ★★★☆☆

Ned and Stacey are two people that, on the surface, absolutely despise each other. He's an unscrupulous ad executive and she's a liberal journalist. They come together to advance each others goals - he wants the promotion, she wants to get out of her parents house. Cue constant bickering and already it's like a real marriage! Debra Messing is very Grace, like the character she later played in Will & Grace. Thomas Haden Church is well...I don't know, as I'm not sure what I've seen him in. His acting style is a bit off. Maybe that is his style?

CANCELLED TOO SOON? On it's original broadcast, the first season ran for 24 episodes, and although not a "hit" even for FOX, the show was renewed for a second season. Only 11 episodes were aired before it was cancelled. 

I've seen the show in its entirety and I'd say yes, cancelled too soon but maybe it wasn't quite the right fit for FOX - more of an NBC kind of show. However, had it not been cancelled we may not have ended up with Debra Messing starring in Will & Grace. Every cloud!

You can buy the full series on DVD.

Murder One | ABC | 1995

September 1995 - May 1997

ABC | 41 episodes | Crime Drama

WATCH OPENING CREDITS | MORE INFO

WHO'S IN IT? Daniel Benzali, Mary McCormack, Michael Hayden, Stanley Tucci, Jason Gedrick.

SYNOPSIS: Murder One, from the mind of Steven Bocho, centers on a prominent defense attorney, Theodore "Teddy" Hoffman, and his associates. For the first season, when an arrogant young actor with a track record of drug-and-alcohol problems is accused and tried for murder, it's up to Teddy to save him, and not for the first time.

VERDICT: ★★★★☆

Inspired by the sensational O.J. Simpson murder trial of the mid-1990s, Murder One was high quality drama that was hindered by poor scheduling. Rather than letting the show pick up an audience in an unchallenged slot, Murder One was pitched against ER (which was then entering its second season). Due to the nature of the show - an extremely detailed view of one central case - it was important that viewers had seen the episode the week before. Despite retooling in its second season (focussing on several cases rather than the one season-long cases), and moving the show to a different night, the show was cancelled after 41 episodes.

CANCELLED TOO SOON? Yes definitely - will seek out more episodes! The show is available on DVD and on streaming. I think had the show been made in the 2020s, the issue of viewers not catching every episode on a weekly set timeslot would not be an issue. Another one of those shows that was groundbreaking at the time, but the TV market and viewership at the time just could not keep up.

Malibu Shores | NBC | 1996

March - June 1996

NBC | 10 episodes | Primetime Soap Opera

WATCH EPISODE | MORE INFO

WHO'S IN IT? Keri Russell, Charisma Carpenter, Essence Atkins, et. al.

SYNOPSIS: Zack, a working-class kid from the San Fernando Valley, meets and falls in love with Chloe, a girl from wealthy Malibu shores. Nobody thinks the relationship will work - but then an earthquake throws the Valley kids and the Malibu Shores crowd together.

VERDICT: ★☆☆☆☆

Just over 26 years ago to the day that the final episode aired, I am re-watching the first episode. Well, I say re-watching but I've never actually seen the show before and I can imagine many people are in the same boat. 

Aaron Spelling, who produced the show, touted it as: "Romeo and Juliet with a little West Side Story thrown in" but really it's just boring rich kids facing another existential crisis: shitty dialogue - "They're tresspassing on our private beach!" - over a trendy soundtrack with sweeping shots of the shore. At a party at the beach one of the rich kids pulls out a huge knife and that is the most dramatic moment.

The show debuted as a mid-season replacement and was cancelled 10 episodes later. Critics at the time described the show as "pretentious lowbrow junk". It's an NBC show but feels very The WB or FOX.

CANCELLED TOO SOON? No - not a loss that it was cancelled early.

My Guys | CBS | 1996

April - May 1996

CBS | 6 episodes (4 unaired) | Sitcom

WATCH EPISODE | MORE INFO

WHO'S IN IT? Michael Rispoli, Francis Capra, Mike Damus.

SYNOPSIS: Sonny DeMarco is widower managing a small Manhattan limousine company, but when it comes to raising his two sons, Michael and Francis, he's not always in the driver's seat.

VERDICT: ★☆☆☆☆

What can you expect from a show that was pulled off the air after only two episodes? Not a lot, sadly. The Spokesman-Review said the show looked like "an escapee from the early days of FOX or one of those quickly canceled WB comedies" and that CBS had "hit the bottom of the programming barrel" I kind of have to agree. 

One scene was somewhat touching in how when we're remembering those who have departed, we can often think of everything about them with rose-tinted glasses. The boys, lamenting their dad's unedible stew, hark back to the time of their mom's cooking, which may not be as great as one of them recalls. His brother quips back: "Just because she died doesn't suddenly make her a great cook! Remember the time she made the chicken, she left the saran wrap on? You ate half of it before you realised!"

CANCELLED TOO SOON? No, very formulaic, nothing special.

The Monroes | ABC | 1995

September - October 1995

ABC | 13 episodes (7 unaired) | Prime time soap opera

WATCH OPENING CREDITS | MORE INFO

WHO'S IN IT? William Devane, Susan Sullivan

SYNOPSIS: The planned run for Maryland governor by leading business magnate John Monroe is hampered by revelations of an affair he had 20 years earlier - with a a woman who turns out to be a foreign spy - while serving at the American embassy in Brussels.The admission not only knocks him out of the gubernatorial race but also creates tension for the millionaire with his wife who, in typical political matriarch fashion, vows to endure the indignity for the family’s sake.

VERDICT: ★★☆☆☆

From the start, The Monroes faced stiff competition against Seinfeld and was not expected to fare well. In the end, it didn't - the show was dumped after five episodes, leaving seven unaired. Who pits a show against Seinfeld and expects to win? Variety said the show wasn't "particularly compelling" and EW said fans of Dynasty "may find this potboiler amusing".

In response to the news breaking of his affair, William Devane's character, John Monroe, proclaims: “This is the 90s! Who cares what I do in my spare time?”. Meanwhile, with helicopters buzzing around her head, Susan Sullivan’s character, Kathryn, nonchalantly says: “Hang on a moment, I just want to make a statement to the press…” turning to aggressively flip the bird to the TV crew hanging out of the helicopter’s door.

Elsewhere in the episode, the family urge their astronaut son James -“the golden child” - to go back into space to give the family a bit of positive press. They have another son, Gabriel, who isn't so keen on the perks of being part of the family, with the episode's opening scenes of him urging a traffic cop to give him a ticket. He's in a coma by the end of the episode.

CANCELLED TOO SOON? Interesting in parts, but on the whole - boring. Wouldn't watch more.

Misery Loves Company | FOX | 1995

October 1995

FOX | 8 episodes (3 unaired) | Sitcom

WATCH EPISODE TWO | MORE INFO

WHO'S IN IT? Dennis Boutsikaris (Joe), Christopher Meloni (Mitch), Julius Carry (Perry), Stephen Furst (Lewis)

SYNOPSIS: Four men in their late-30s, whose dreams of youth have not survived to adulthood, still have their friendship despite divorces and failing marriages. 

VERDICT: ★☆☆☆☆

Shown across five Sundays in October 1995, Misery Loves Company was one of those "friends since childhood" type of shows where the guys hang out a bar complaining about life. The stand out is Christopher Meloni (with hair) of Law & Order SVU fame. One reviewer called the show "stupid and offensive" and in response to the show's toilet humour: "Misery Loves Company deserves to live no longer than it takes to flush it from the air."

In one scene in Nicky St. Hubbins - the bar where the guys like to hang out - Mitch's current date, Sasha, enters the men's bathroom because there's a "line for the ladies room". After foregoing the privacy of an empty cubicle, she relieves herself standing up at the urinal (to raucous studio applause). Mitch's brother, Joe, can't wait to share this with the fellas, proclaiming Sasha is "a guy" and that her "arcing stream was un-lady-like". The guys later grill Mitch with jibes such as: "Did you get to third base? And when you got there, was there a man on third?". In the end, it was an elaborate piss-take (get it?) to wind-up Joe and all the guys were in on it (Sasha wasn't really a guy; it was just a squeezy bottle).

Later on in the episode, Perry plays basketball against his ex-wife's new boyfriend, Dennis Rodman (yes THE Dennis Rodman), as a way to prove he's still got it. 

CANCELLED TOO SOON? Nah. Would not watch again.

Minor Adjustments | NBC/UPN | 1995

September 1995 - June 1996

NBC/UPN | 20 episodes | Sitcom

WATCH EPISODE | MORE INFO

WHO'S IN IT? Rondell Sheridan, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Camille Winbush, Sara Rue

SYNOPSIS: Rondell Sheridan stars as Dr. Ron Aimes, a child psychologist who, being a child at heart, has a special gift for talking with children. His wife Rachel (Wendy Raquel Robinson) is the voice of reason and 'straight man' to her husband when it comes to keeping the Aimes family together. She also keeps a close eye on her precocious four-year-old daughter Emma and clever ten-year old Trevor.

The show first aired on NBC and then changed to UPN 8 episodes later.

VERDICT: ★★☆☆☆

I found Dr. Ron's kids to be the stand-out characters of the show. Child actors are often unbearable but these kids were pretty good, specially Camille Winbush as Emma.

CANCELLED TOO SOON? Not terrible, but not overly impressed. Middle of the road kind of show.

Maybe This Time | ABC | 1995

September 1995 - February 1996

ABC | 18 episodes | Sitcom

WATCH EPISODE | MORE INFO

WHO'S IN IT? Marie Osmond, Betty White, Ashley Johnson, Amy Hill, Craig Ferguson

SYNOPSIS: The series stars Marie Osmond as Julia, a mother and recent divorcee running the family coffee shop/bakery with her mother Shirley (Betty White) while raising her 11-year-old daughter Gracie (Ashley Johnson). Rounding out the cast are Logan (Craig Ferguson), who works in the bakery of the coffee shop, and Kay (Hill), owner of the pawn shop down the street.

VERDICT: ★★★☆☆

Charming and witty at times, not too straitlaced - in the first episode, Betty White's character reveals how she's been able to get a good deal on her lease for the past how many years - acting out sexually fantasies with the landlord. The show debuted in the Top 20 but was soon lower down the ranks after a few episodes, so I'm guessing the jokes got tiresome fairly quickly?

I don't believe that I've seen Marie Osmond act in anything before, but she's not bad, and she plays off Betty White fairly well. Betty meanwhile is completely the opposite of her character in Golden Girls. I guess that was intentional. Ashley Johnson is just awful. Thankfully she has improved in the last 25 years, but here she's insufferable. Amy Hill giving her typical OTT Asian portrayal, while Craig Ferguson over plays his Scottish-ness.

CANCELLED TOO SOON? Yes, it's on par with a lot of shows that had several seasons.

Matt Waters | CBS | 1996

January - February 1996

CBS | 6 episodes | Drama

WATCH EPISODE | MORE INFO

WHO'S IN IT? Montel Williams, Kristen Wilson, Richard Chevolleau, Sam McMurray, et. al.

SYNOPSIS: Montel Williams - yes the chat-show host - plays science teacher, Matt Waters, a recently retired naval officer, whose brother is tragically murdered in the same New Jersey neighborhood in which Williams character grew up. Matt decides to dedicate his life to helping troubled youth at the New Jersey high school he attended.

VERDICT: ★★☆☆☆

Montel worked on the show while hosting his chat show, but this wasn't for long - Matt Waters lasted for just six episodes. Typical inner city troubled teens, array of ethnic characters, and a character who can't even read and write but has a knack for mathematics (Later in the show Matt convinces her to return to school, offering to write her a check each week so she doesn't loose out on a salary). Scenes are delivered with such seriousness and lines like: 

"Sometimes you gotta lose the battle to win the war"

"Don't through the rest of your life wondering what you could've been".

[On empty seats in the classroom] "The hardest part of this job isn't dealing with the filled seats, it was dealing with the empty ones, because the empty ones remind you of the ones that got away."

Montel isn't that bad, but doesn't quite work as the lead. The title of the show puts me off - Matt Waters. MW...Montel Williams. Not a stretch. Character names in TV shows are always a bit meh anyway. A working title was "Educating Matt Waters" which is a bit better.

In the first episode, Montel, I mean Matt, returns to the school that he attended, soon becoming the talk of the faculty, namely the sister of his ex-girlfriend. She says:

"I know more than I ever wanted to know about Matt Waters"

"Did he shave his head back then?"

"He's bald?!"

CANCELLED TOO SOON? I think had it been more of an ensemble show, it would've worked a bit better. Maybe if it had been given a bit more time, things would have been different.

The Louie Show | CBS | 1996

January - March 1996

CBS | 6 episodes (1 unaired) | Sitcom

WATCH EPISODE | MORE INFO

WHO'S IN IT? Louie Anderson, Bryan Cranston, Laura Innes, Kate Hodge, Nancy Becker-Kennedy, Paul Feig.

SYNOPSIS: Louie Anderson plays Louie Lundgren, a psychotherapist in Duluth, Minnesota. Due to a costly repair bill for his roof, Louie needs to find a housemate to offset the cost - Californian Gretchen answers the ad, recently only deciding to move to Minnesota because people in the midwest live average live a 1.3 years longer.

VERDICT: ★★★☆☆

"I've been wanting to do a sitcom for a long time," Louie says to the studio audience as the show opens, "but never have been able to figure it out..." going by how the show panned out he didn't quite figure it out - six episodes were produced but only five aired. Apparently, Anderson wasn't too pleased with the final product due to network meddling.

CANCELLED BEFORE ITS TIME? I liked it, Louie wasn't annoying as I expected, and the show had a good mix of nutty characters.

Local Heroes | FOX | 1996

March - April 1996

FOX | 7 episodes | Sitcom

WATCH EPISODE | MORE INFO

WHO'S IN IT? Ken Hudson Campbell, Louis Ferreira, Jason Kristofer, Jay Mohr, Paula Cale

SYNOPSIS: Four Pittsburgh guys who met in high school - dopey Eddie, who lives at home with his widowed mother, sort of engaged Mert, talkative Stosh who drives a taxi, and Jake who works in retail - still like to hang out together mostly at their local, Blue Lou's, and reminisce about the good days.

Seven episodes of the show were produced but only five actually aired.

VERDICT: Another show about a group of guys who have been friends since high school and constantly talking about stuff that happened 20 years ago. It was described at the time as a "blue-collar version of Friends", by people who had never watched Friends, I'm guessing.

The show opens what is presumed to be a funeral - sombre mood, best suits, black armbands - but it's actually the wedding of one of their friends. Oh the hilarity! The guys then share their immature attitudes on marriage. Later on, they decide to steal a goat - the mascot of a rival pub - even though they're pushing 40 and should really know better.

CANCELLED BEFORE ITS TIME? No, I wouldn't watch further episodes, although the scenes with Eddie and his mother (Rhoda Gemignani) and sister (Tricia Vessey) were funny.

Live Shot | UPN | 1995

August 1995 - November 1995

UPN | 13 episodes | Drama

WATCH EPISODE | MORE INFO

WHO'S IN IT? Jeff Yagher, Cheryl Pollak, Bruce McGill, Wanda De Jesus, Hill Harper, Sam Anderson, et. al.

SYNOPSIS: "In the television news business, there's one hard and fast rule: you're only as good as your next...LIVE SHOT"

Live Shot is a fast-paced ensemble drama focusing on the staff of a Los Angeles television newsroom. As the series opens, Alex Rydell is about to begin his first day as KXZX Channel 3's news director. He's moved from Boston to Los Angeles with his young son in tow, leaving behind a dissolving marriage in the process. 

In the first episode, the team uncover a police cover-up involving the murder of a local socialite (which was followed over in a story-arc not resolved by the end of the show), later on in the episode a bomb goes off in the newsroom - nicknamed "the chopped liver bomb" - the origins of which were also carried over into a later episode.

VERDICT: The ensemble cast is interesting, although a little busy. The show has major network quality, although very mid-90s: full-screen graphics of the show's title in/out of each commercial break, and flashy jump cuts set to a pop music soundtrack (The "Do be do be do do dos" from Annie Lennox's "No More I Love You's" play through the episode, then later changing to her 1995 single "I Can't Get Next To You", and then the episode closing with "Why" also by Lennox - I guess someone was a fan!). The storyline of Alex and his son is a little boring, but the episode otherwise makes up for it.

At the time of the show's launch, UPN was a fairly brand new network and attempting to branch out into different genres - it's most successful show at the time was Star Trek Voyager. In the case of Live Shot, it's cancelation was more that viewers were not aware of the show, rather than a testament to the quality of the show.

CANCELLED BEFORE ITS TIME? Yes! Deserved much better. Thankfully, all episodes are on YouTube.

The Last Frontier | FOX | 1996

June - July 1996

FOX | 6 episodes | Sitcom

WATCH EPISODE | MORE INFO

WHO'S IN IT? Jessica Tuck, Anthony Starke, Patrick Labyorteaux, Leigh-Allyn Baker

SYNOPSIS: Kate moves to Anchorage, Alaska, on a six-month assignment building a tourist resort for a hotel conglomerate - "the greedy bastards building that eye-sore on Red Shirt lake!". She's less than pleased when the only suitable accommodation that she can find is sharing with three 20-something immature males - Reed, who runs an outdoor adventure company, Billy, a conservative architect and the straightest of the three, and Andy, a not too nice Air Force intelligence officer.

The show ran for six episodes in summer 1996. There's no evidence of how it performed (one can only assume).

VERDICT: Has its moments, but nothing overly memorable. The Alaskan setting was interesting, but not explored within the pilot - this could be a story told anywhere.

CANCELLED BEFORE ITS TIME? I'd have to say no.

L.A. Firefighters | FOX | 1996

June - July 1996

FOX | 6 episodes | Drama

WATCH EPISODE | MORE INFO

WHO'S IN IT? Jarrod Emick, Christine Elise, Miguel Sandoval, et. al.

SYNOPSIS: L. A. Firefighters follows the lives of the members of Fire Company 132 in Los Angeles.

The show was burned by critics and real-life firefighters called for a boycott of the show (they even held a press conference to denounce it), saying it made them look unprofessional and that "just about every scene is rife with sexual innuendo". The show was supposed to return in the fall and a further seven episodes were produced but were never aired in the US.

VERDICT: The show opens with a baby in a crib - thick smoke pouring out of the air vent, the building soon a raging inferno. Minutes later, a fireman tackling the blaze, and not wearing proper protective equipment, quips: "Is it me, or do you smell something burning?" (the baby does survive, btw). The action scenes are good, but the dialogue between the firefighters when they're not on the scene is just so clunky and cliché - for example, asking whether a female colleague is gay, or delivering doubly cliché lines such as: 

"I've been protecting you since we were kids!"

"You always have to be a hero, don’t you, Jack?"

CANCELLED BEFORE ITS TIME? No, not a forgotten gem. I could barely get through the episode.

Kindred: The Embraced | FOX | 1996

April - May 1996

FOX | 8 episodes | Supernatural Drama

WATCH OPENING CREDITS | MORE INFO

WHO'S IN IT? Mark, Frankel, Kelly Rutherford

SYNOPSIS: San Francisco police detective Frank Kohanek suspects influential businessman Julian Luna of being heavily connected to the mob and is deadset on bringing him in. While investigating the homicide of Julian's bodyguard on a lead from an anonymous tipster, Frank discovers the secret society of vampires, or "kindred" as they call themselves, that have taken up residence in the city. Unfortunately, kindred law states that telling a human about the existence of vampires is punishable by death. And Julian just so happens to be the leader, or "prince" of the kindred and the one responsible for carrying out that sentence. By the end of the 1st episode, the two men are at odds with each other, with Frank vowing to kill Julian for what he has done. 

VERDICT: ★★★☆☆

The show was cancelled by FOX after only 8 episodes. Efforts were made by a US cable network to continue production of the series, but this was abandoned when series star Mark Frankel was killed in a motorcycle accident in the fall of 1996.

At the time, critics described the show as a mix of The Godfather and Melrose Place... with vampires. The show was based on a role-playing game, and due to the numerous changes and "sanitization" of the game's elements for mainstream television, there is a noticeable divide between fans of the game and fans of the show. Some are fans of both.

The show is very 90s in how it looks and feels, but there is some good action, drama, and the on-location shots of San Francisco gives the show more credence - think early days of Charmed. The show was released on DVD and I think I will seek it out.

CANCELLED TOO SOON? Yes Definitely!

If Not For You | CBS | 1995

September - October 1995

CBS | 7 episodes | Sitcom

WATCH EPISODE | MORE INFO

WHO'S IN IT? Hank Azaria, Elizabeth McGovern, Debra Jo Rupp, Reno Wilson, Jane Sibbett, Peter Krause

SYNOPSIS: Craig and Jessie lock eyes on each other at a Chinese restaurant and instantly fall in love. Their only problem is that they are already involved with other people - Jessie is due to get married to Elliot, while Craig is engaged to Melanie. They meet properly at Craig's workplace, a recording studio named Gopher Records, where Melanie is recording a books on tape series.

Despite being placed right after Murphy Brown, the show lasted four episodes, leaving three unaired (I'm not sure if those unaired episodes were ever broadcast elsewhere). Prior to broadcast, the show was in a bidding war between NBC, ABC, and CBS, who despite winning the bid, apparently lost faith in the show before even airing one episode.

VERDICT: Not groundbreaking, but an interesting concept. The show is set in Minneapolis; usually this would be a NYC kind of show.

A scene with Craig and Jessie about Chinese food leads to the discussion on the status of Hong Kong and how in 1997 it reverts back to the Chinese. Craig says to his colleague: "I forget to pay my rent, and I'm supposed to know when some country's lease is up now?"

CANCELLED BEFORE ITS TIME? Deserved better than four episodes.

Hudson Street | ABC | 1995

September 1995 - June 1996

ABC | 22 episodes | Sitcom

WATCH EPISODE | MORE INFO

WHO'S IN IT? Tony Danza, Lori Loughlin, Jerry Adler, Christine Dunford

SYNOPSIS: Tony Danza starred as Tony Canetti, a divorced detective in Hoboken, New Jersey, who shares custody of his son Mickey with his ex-wife. In between work and raising his son, Tony also starts a romance with crime reporter/obituary writer, Melanie (Lori Loughlin).

The series received good reviews and initially placed in the top 10 (partly due to its placement between Roseanne and Home Improvement), but was canceled after one season.

VERDICT: This is the 3rd of four series that Danza plays a character called Tony. All Tony's, no matter the job, are pretty much the same person.

The first episode is set a year after Tony's divorce. Although he's keen to get himself out there, he feels that he's not lacking in any female attention. His colleague comments: "Arresting a hooker and driving her downtown does not consist of a date!". He later goes on a date with Lori Loughlin's character, Melanie, but Tony's pigheadedness ruins any possibilities, leading to Melanie giving a scene stealing speech and running out of the door. The next day, Melanie turns up at the station to apologise and to drop the news that she has been promoted to crime reporter, meaning that Tony will be seeing a lot more of her. He welcomes her by telling her: "I think you're gonna make a rotten crime reporter. You're not tough enough!" and gives her a false tip off.

CANCELLED BEFORE ITS TIME? It feels like it would be one of those "will they, won't they" kind of shows. Nothing too special.

Hope & Gloria | NBC | 1995

March 1995 - June 1996

NBC | 35 episodes | Sitcom

WATCH EPISODE | MORE INFO

WHO'S IN IT? Jessica Lundy, Cynthia Stevenson, Enrico Colantoni, Alan Thicke, Taylor Negron.

SYNOPSIS: Hope, an old-fashioned, highly-strung television producer at WPNN-TV, forms an unlikely alliance with Gloria, a brash, tough-talking beautician, after they become neighbours in an apartment complex in downtown Pittsburgh. Gloria soon takes a job at the TV station where Hope works.

The show was a mid-season replacement in March 1995, running for 11 episodes until May 1995, then a further two episodes in August and September 1995. The 2nd season premiered two weeks later, running for a full season of 22 episodes. 

VERDICT: The episode I watched was from the 1st season, episode 11 titled "Sisyphus, Prometheus and Me" which aired in November 1995. In this episode, Gloria learns she's pregnant and contemplates a third marriage to Louis (I'm guessing that they had been married twice before). For some reason they plan a wedding to take place live on air. Hilarity ensues when the minister fails to show (Burt Reynolds offers to step-in), and Hope gets locked in the prop room.

In a season two episode, titled "A New York Story" (watch here), following the news that Hope's divorce is final, the duo take a weekend trip to New York City to celebrate. Arriving in New York, they stop by a coffee shop named...Central Perk, where they mistake Lisa Kudrow's character, Phoebe Buffay, for an actress from All My Children, asking a customer in the coffee shop: "Isn't that January from All My Children?," 

to which he replies: "I don't know, I watch Days of Our Lives".

"Days? I stopped watching that when they replaced the original Bo." and the character is played by the actor (Peter Reckell) who played the original Bo from Days of Our Lives. 

Lisa Kudrow then plays Phoebe Buffay pretending to be January from All My Children. After signing autograph as Phoebe Buffay, she says: "Oh I must be in character....TV movie of the week...ooh I've got to go..Where's my baby!...that's the name of it...where's my baby?! Where's my baby?!" as she runs out the door. Hope and Gloria are then met with the real New York when they stroll down the wrong street and meet a homeless man wearing a crown and carrying an invisible dog leash.

The crossover is meta on meta but enjoyable. Usually other Friends related crossovers happened on Friends, but to see Central Perk and Phoebe Buffay on another entirely unrelated show was quite interesting. I guess it only came about because both shows were produced by WB and aired on NBC.

CANCELLED BEFORE ITS TIME? Yes! I enjoyed the two episodes that I watched. Although the show was apparently broadcast here in the UK in 1996, it's odd that it's never been shown since then.