New York News | CBS | 1995

September - November 1995

CBS | 13 episodes (5 unaired) | Drama

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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.

My Guys | CBS | 1996

April - May 1996

CBS | 6 episodes (4 unaired) | Sitcom

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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.

Matt Waters | CBS | 1996

January - February 1996

CBS | 6 episodes | Drama

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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

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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.

If Not For You | CBS | 1995

September - October 1995

CBS | 7 episodes | Sitcom

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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.

High Society | CBS | 1995

October 1995 - February 1996

CBS | 13 episodes | Sitcom

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WHO'S IN IT? Jean Smart, Mary McDonnell, David Rasche

SYNOPSIS: High Society, inspired by the British TV show Absolutely Fabulous, revolves around two New York City women - Ellie a foul-mouthed trash novelist who smokes and drinks heavily and her best friend, Dott, who publishes Ellie's books via her publishing house (having won it in a divorce settlement). Dott is a mother with a preppie college-aged son, Brendan, who is regularly subjected to the relentless sexual advances of Ellie. At the publishing house, the women work with a flamboyant gay male secretary named Stephano and sleazy Peter, who co-owns the company.

The show's ratings were strong, but with the network wanting to tone down the show and apparently Roseanne Barr threatening a lawsuit (she had recently obtained the rights to create an American version of Absolutely Fabulous), rather than continuing past the initial 13 episode order, the producers and network mutually agreed to call it quits.

VERDICT: I originally saw all episodes of the show when it was broadcast on BBC2 in the late 90s and it left quite an impression (they also showed Jean Smart's other one-seasoner, Style and Substance). The similarities with Absolutely Fabulous are that the two central characters - women of a certain age - act in an outrageous, drunken, campy, and decadent manner, without either really having a grasp on reality or giving a crap about what anyone thinks of them. 

In the pilot episode, the women's former college friend, Val, arrives after she decides to leave her philandering husband, and later reveals that she's pregnant and needs someone to help her through her pregnancy - "Haggish impregnated suburbanite taken in by stunning socialites!" (Val was later written out of the series without explanation after the sixth episode). The Washington Post commented on the show: "Female characters on the show act like drag queens -- men playing women -- and mean drag queens at that, since the portrayals are mighty unflattering. The whole thing plays like a misogynistic nightmare"

CANCELLED BEFORE ITS TIME? Over-the-top with some funny one-liners, beyond the difficulties it faced I can't imagine that it would have continued for a long time otherwise. 

Good Company | CBS | 1996

March - April 1996

CBS | 6 episodes | Sitcom

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WHO'S IN IT? Wendie Malick, Lauren Graham, Seymour Cassel

SYNOPSIS: Good Company was set at the offices of Blanton, Booker & Hayden, a Manhattan ad agency. Art director Will would rather be a serious painter than an ad man and his recent Cleo Award win has given him serious thought to changing career. However,  newly appointed creative director Zoe pooh-pooh's his plans to quit and assigns him to jazz up a new toilet-paper line (toilet paper with baking soda!). Other characters include Ron, the account director, Liz, another copywriter, Dale, a junior art director, and Bobby the agency's president and CEO.

Six episodes were made, and there's very little evidence of the show.

VERDICT: It's not bad, but there's nothing overly unique or stand out - it's a run of the mill workplace sitcom set in New York. For some reason the time is given in the corner of each scene - adds nothing. Wendie Malick plays Zoe, a high powered no-nonsense business woman. After Will tries to quit she tells him: "I think someone needs to remind you that this is a place of business. You can't just sit around and drink cappuccino and discuss your personal problems all day like you were a cast member of that show Friends, because I've got news for you - this isn't, and we ain't!"

CANCELLED BEFORE ITS TIME? Well...I like Wendie Malick, but the show didn't make an impression.

Dweebs | CBS | 1995

September - November 1995

CBS | 10 episodes | Sitcom

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WHO'S IN IT? Corey Feldman, Stephen Tobolowsky, David Kaufman

SYNOPSIS: Carey, someone who barely knows the difference between microchip and potato chip, takes a job as an office manager at a fictional Seattle software company called Cyberbyte. The company is raking in enough money to move from its oil-stained garage headquarters – shades of Woz and Jobs – into a clean, modern, office building. Carey does most of her interacting with Cyberbyte’s trio of wisecracking, jargon-spouting programmers - the "dweebs" - whiny, neurotic Morley, clueless, sheltered Karl, and snarky, sleazy Vic. 

I'm only onto the D's here and this is the 7th CBS show that didn't last longer than the 1995-96 TV season. Ten episodes were produced but only seven aired. 

VERDICT: Not bad - in the first episode Carey throws a party which gives an introduction to the Dweebs - Vic, a know-it-all type (played by Corey Feldman), whose form of social chit chat is to tell someone: "the leather they use in German cars causes rectal warts in mice," the Dick Solomon type Karl (played by Stephen Tobolowsky), who turns up wearing a cape and later entertains the guests playing boogie woogie on the piano, and Morley, who when told he's a little early, sits in the hall rocking back-and-forth, later asking one of Carey's friends: "I've heard that women who've known each other a long time their menstrual cycles become synchronized". 

Kathy Griffin plays a party guest who spends the evening avoiding the dweebs, later telling Carey when she urges her friends to speak with the Dweebs: "Carey, I have two regrets in life - I never learned to play the piano, and I didn't leave this party an hour ago!"

CANCELLED BEFORE ITS TIME? I guess the timing was wrong for the subject matter - 1995 was just on the cusp of the home computer use. Broadcast and cancelled before its time!

CPW aka Central Park West | CBS | 1995

September 1995 - June 1996

CBS | 21 episodes | Prime time soap opera

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WHO'S IN IT? Mädchen Amick, John Barrowman, Mariel Hemingway

SYNOPSIS: Central Park West was a glossy prime time soap opera created by Darren Star, chronicling the lives of young (and rich) New Yorkers, including a magazine editor, a nightlife columnist, a DA, a gallery owner and an author-teacher.

The series started on September 13th 1995, three weeks later Entertainment Weekly was asking: "Can Central Park West be saved?" the answer was no: the show was put on hiatus several episodes later, returning on June 5th 1996. The retooling did nothing and the final episode was broadcast on June 28th 1996.

VERDICT: "$3,000 a month in Central Park West!" claims Stephanie, Mariel Hemingway's character, adding: "it's a steal!" as she gazes from the balcony of her new apartment overlooking the park. Is it a steal? I don't know. Mariel Hemingway was 34 here, but comes across as much older - a kind of corporate librarian - which is somewhat jarring against what you expect from a show produced to appeal to younger viewers. 

Stephanie soon gets into a war of words with Mädchen Amick's forever smoking character, Carrie, who claps back: "I do what I like, where I like, when I like" after Stephanie, her editor, criticises Carrie's column, attitude, and high salary ($200,000 a year!). Carrie gets in the last word: "Enjoy the delusion of power, because when reality hits, it can be a real bitch!" before storming off in a huff. Newsflash for Carrie, as later on, her step-dad and owner of the magazine tells Stephanie: "see that she quits, otherwise you may be the one standing on the employment line!"

I guess this cattiness sets the tone of the show and I anticipate more scenes like this throughout the series. Mariel Hemingway was indeed soon in the employment line by episode eight (I'm not sure if she left of her own accord or was fired), to be replaced by Raquel Welch (for some reason).

CANCELLED BEFORE ITS TIME? It's nothing overly special, more of a guilty pleasure.

Courthouse | CBS | 1995

September - November 1995

CBS | 11 episodes | Drama

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WHO'S IN IT? Patricia Wettig, Jenifer Lewis, Annabeth Gish, Shelley Morrison, Nia Peeples, Michael Lerner  (and Jorja Fox who plays a drug addict in the pilot)

SYNOPSIS: Partially inspired by NYPD Blue and the OJ Simpson case, Courthouse portrays the daily trials and tribulations in one courthouse (assumed to be in New York, going by the first episode) and people who are employed there - judges, district attorneys and public defenders.

The show included Jenifer Lewis (as Juvenile Court judge Rosetta Reide) as the first recurring African American lesbian character on TV, but the role was ordered to be toned down for broadcast.

VERDICT: In the opening scene a Judge (clearly disliked, from the brief minute he's in it) is gunned down in the courtroom by an offender he's just put to death. Later on, Jorja Fox's character is dragged by two cops from her hospital bed back to prison, just because another judge felt like exercising his right over Nia Peeples public defender character.

From what I can see, Courthouse was hated. Poorly rated from the offset, I'm surprised how it managed to get to nine episodes (plus three unaired). But is it crap? No, the characters are strong and interesting, and Jenifer Lewis' character is the stand-out (more so than Patricia Wettig who assumed she was the star). The language is a bit more adult - an asshole, a bastard, here and there.

CANCELLED BEFORE ITS TIME? Not quite right for 1995, but it would have fared better a few years later. I'd watch more episodes.

Can't Hurry Love | CBS | 1995

September 1995 - February 1996

CBS | 19 episodes | Sitcom

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WHO'S IN IT? Nancy McKeon, Mariska Hargitay

SYNOPSIS: The series is about Annie (a Monica Gellar type), a single, thirty-something living in New York City and her three friends (no, it's not Sex and the City). The general premise of the series centers around Annie's search for romance in the big city.

Most of the action takes place in either Annie's small studio apartment or the employment agency she manages. Supporting characters included Roger and Elliot (Think Joey and Ross) who work with her at the agency, and Didi (somewhere between Rachel and Phoebe), the slaggy free spirit of the group, who often lives across the hallway from Annie (in the pilot she's on hand with a roll of condoms).

VERDICT: Definitely CBS' attempt at Friends: 30-somethings living in New York City, hanging around one apartment. I think looking back 25 years later, this is one of the shows you can say "I wish it had more episodes". Two episodes of the show reference Maxwell Sheffield from The Nanny, almost insisting upon that they share the same New York universe. 

CANCELLED BEFORE ITS TIME? Yes, it's not Friends, but it has its moments, for example: In the pilot, Annie feeds a couple of pigeons on her windowsill, naming them Bill and Hillary. "how can you tell them apart?" asks one of her colleagues, "Bill is the one banging the blue jay"

The Bonnie Hunt Show | CBS | 1995

September 1995 - April 1996

CBS | 13 episodes | Sitcom

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WHO'S IN IT? Bonnie Hunt (Jumani was released December 1995, while this show was on the air)

SYNOPSIS:  Bonnie Hunt played Bonnie Kelly, a television reporter who moves from Wisconsin to take a job with a local TV station in Chicago. In addition to the stories surrounding her personal life and her life at the station, each episode showed one of Bonnie's television news features, where she would interview real people. For example, in the pilot episode, Bonnie says to a young African-American girl with dreadlocks: "I love your work in Sister Act".

It seems it ran for 6 episodes before being put on hiatus and returned with some retooling.

VERDICT: Not bad, the first episode pretty much captured the first day nerves of starting at a new job - not knowing where things are, who you're working with, etc. The setting was Chicago, but felt more of a New York type of show. The scene where Bonnie is talking to her neighbour over the alleyway, their windows barely a foot apart, living cheek by jowl, is something you're going to get in any metropolis really. 

CANCELLED BEFORE ITS TIME? I'd watch more episodes.

Bless this House | CBS | 1995

September 1995 - January 1996

CBS | 16 episodes | Sitcom

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WHO'S IN IT? Andrew Dice Clay and Cathy Moriarty

SYNOPSIS: A sarcastic postal worker and his equally snarky wife raise their kids in small apartment in New Jersey. 

In the first episode, the couple go house-hunting and are asked by a rude realtor: "have you ever lived in a house?"

"No, I grew up in a cardboard box" Burt (Dice Clay) snaps back, segueing into the next scene where he drinks from a bidet, thinking it's a water fountain.

VERDICT: Typical kind of sitcom where the family are snapping at each other, but by the end of the episode everything is ok. Very Roseanne, King of Queens, etc. Not horrible, not spectacular. In 2002, TV Guide ranked Bless This House number 48 on their 50 Worst Shows of All Time.

CANCELLED BEFORE ITS TIME? Maybe not.

American Gothic | CBS | 1995

September 1995 - July 1996

CBS | 22 episodes | Supernatural Drama

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WHO'S IN IT? Gary Cole, Lucas Black, Sarah Paulson, Jake Weber

SYNOPSIS: A quiet, seemingly-quaint small town is ruled over by its charming yet evil sheriff who uses his demonic powers to remove anyone who dares to stand in his way. The only one he fears is a young boy whom he fathered through rape.

VERDICT: ★★★★☆

During the first episode, Sarah Paulson's character, Merlyn, is murdered by the local sheriff who snaps her neck after she’s almost bludgeoned to death by her own father. Sheriff Buck then manipulates Sarah’s father into committing suicide so he can claim Sarah's brother, Caleb, his biological son, as his own. Later in the episode, Merlyn returns in ghost form to help guide Caleb from Sheriff Buck’s grasp. Caleb is further assisted by the newly arrived Dr Crowther (Jake Webber), and his out of town cousin, Gail, who begin to uncover the sheriff’s role in the deaths of Merlyn and her father.

American Gothic only lasted for one season, not because of the quality of the writing or production, but mostly because the show wasn't really given a chance by CBS. It seems several episodes were aired out of order, and the show wasn't given as much publicity as CBS' other shows in the 1995-96 TV season.

CANCELLED TOO SOON? Yes, check anywhere and American Gothic is far from forgotten. Contemporary critics say had the show been made today, it would have been a hit - mostly because networks now have a better idea on how to promote and schedule this type of show. The show is on DVD - I will definitely watch more!

Almost Perfect | CBS | 1995

September 1995 - October 1996

CBS | 34 episodes | Sitcom

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WHO'S IN IT? Nancy Travis and Kevin Kilner.

SYNOPSIS: the series focused on the professional life of the female executive producer of a television cop show, her witty, zany staff which doubled as her family, and initially, how she balanced her high-powered role with that of her newfound romance with a busy assistant D.A. 

VERDICT: Actually, not bad. The show had moderate success for the first season, but it seems due to a regime change and claims that Travis and Kilner lacked chemistry, format changes were abound and the plug was pulled.

CANCELLED BEFORE ITS TIME? Yes, well, it's typical sitcom of the 90s - mid-30s female in the workplace looking for love, but the jokes were sharp and witty.