Minor Adjustments | NBC/UPN | 1995

September 1995 - June 1996

NBC/UPN | 20 episodes | Sitcom

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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.

Live Shot | UPN | 1995

August 1995 - November 1995

UPN | 13 episodes | Drama

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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.

Deadly Games | UPN | 1995

September 1995 - January 1996

UPN | 13 episodes | Sci-Fi, fantasy

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WHO'S IN IT? Christopher Lloyd, Cynthia Gibb, James Calvert

SYNOPSIS: From Executive Producer Leonard Nimoy, Deadly Games focuses on the battle between Dr. Gus Lloyd and the evil characters in his homemade video game. Bursting into the real world after an antimatter experiment goes awry, these characters are programmed to destroy anyone or anything that gets in their way, including their inventor. Gus must confront the immediate problem of "playing" each round of the game to keep the bad guys from achieving their programmed goals, which include the annihilation of love, laughter and life on earth.

VERDICT: The episode starts with Christopher Lloyd's character, Sebastian Jackal (the main villain of the show), holding a damsel in distress hostage in his bunker, while his henchman wanders around like some half quarterback, half Frankenstein's monster. It's soon revealed that this is a video game played by James Calvert's character, Dr. Gus Lloyd, and all the characters are based on people in his life. Problem is, he's having a hard time to successfully complete the game. The "game" footage is odd - although it is cartoony and over-the-top, it's not distinguishable from other footage, so you're not instantly aware that these sections are part of the game. Gus' accelerator then explodes (causing his vat of liquid to overflow - normal in video game production?), allowing the characters to come to life (they step out of the TV and just look the same as in the "game"). His villainous characters are let loose in the real world and Gus doesn't really seem overly concerned at first but later barges into his ex-wife Lauren's house with a gun, (don't worry, it was just a water gun, which can repel his characters), because the damsel character is based on her, so naturally the characters will go after her first. Later on Gus says to Jackal: "The game isn't over yet, Jackal! There's always next time!" a catchphrase perhaps? Gus and Lauren must then work together to battle the villain of the week.

Odd concept, but interesting. Very cable TV, low budget, although perhaps that was intentional? If this was made today it would be on SyFy for sure.

CANCELLED BEFORE ITS TIME? Well..maybe? All 13 episodes are available on DVD.