Yeah, this one you've probably heard of, and probably even seen episodes of. A spin off from The X-Files, The Lone Gunmen got off to a great start by having their first episode about a plane hijacking threatening the Twin Towers... right before 9/11...
This series went for the comedy like no-one's business. Fine, they were never set up to be the next dramatic leads, but they went wacky and have to get in two stars to be the actual action leads they couldn't be. Bruce Harwood, Tom Braidwood and Dean Haglund all reprised their roles, and were joined by Stephen Sneddon and Zuleikha Robinson. Despite what they nearly did with Yves Adele Harlow, Jimmy Bond never had any hope.
I enjoyed these episodes, and while they skirted 'wacky hijinks', they did present some decent stories. But... I can't say I'm surprised they didn't get renewed. There was the follow up, tie up episode in The X-Files, and as a send off it was better than the Millennium episode (which went two and a half seasons, and was cancelled right before getting to 2000...).
As a spin off, maybe it doesn't count as a 'one season wonder', but close enough for my list.
[END]
Saturday, 7 September 2013
OSW: The Lone Gunmen (2001)
Friday, 6 September 2013
OSW: Spy Game (1997)
This, for me, was the proper sequel to The Avengers, despite what certain movies would have you believe. And despite it being American. Spy Game was about, you may guess, spies. But, and here's the important point, it kept the humour and whimsy of The Avengers (and actually knows what whimsy is, unlike that movie!).
Although there were only 13 episodes (and I'm not sure how many were shown over here), I do remember making sure that I caught each episode when it screened. The Avengers was great... but I didn't have easy access to that. Instead, this scratched that itch, and, hey, a proper cameo by Patrick Macnee! The chemistry between the leads, Linden Ashby and Allison Smith, was great (although I have no idea if there was a 'will they/won't they' dynamic... probably was).
They originally only screened nine of the episodes, although 13 were screened elsewhere. And I haven't seen this on DVD or available anywhere... and I'm not aware of anyone else being aware of this.
If that movie proved anything, it's that this definitely should have gotten another season or two.
[END]
Thursday, 5 September 2013
OSW: American Gothic (1995)
This was a fantastic series. Sheriff Lucas Buck, as played by Gary Cole, was an evil man, possibly the devil, it’s never made clear, but he has such a hold on the town of Trinity in American Gothic… If you are a long time follower of the blog, you'll know I set some Heoric Cthulhu adventures there.
Although there were 22 episodes, in the first run they didn't all get shown, and then some of them were out of order. But the creepy atmosphere of all the episodes, matched by the glee of the Sheriff, is wonderful. (I just love that buttoned up shirt, with no tie, look of his.)
The rest of the cast did try to be good characters, but they had flaws (okay, some didn't try that hard). But the performances of all the actors were great, even Lucas Black as Caleb Temple is appropriately scary at the right times. (And, hey, guest star role by Bruce Campbell!)
Despite being nominated for a number of awards, this go cancelled, although the creator, Shaun Cassidy, did have ideas for season two. And, for some reason, the order of the episodes on the DVD is based on air date, with the out of order ordering, rather than proper order. Also, I've already ruined one DVD set by watching it too much, and had to get a second.
(Strange, I can't find the opening anywhere... have this teaser trailer instead!)
[END]
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
OSW: Legend (1995)
Between MacGuyver and Stargate SG-1, Richard Dean Anderson has done other work. One such show being Legend, a series about a cowboy that aped the popular series The Adventures of Brisco County Jr that had just finished (and got a second season, so that won’t be on this list either). Also between shows, and in this one, is John de Lancie as a mad scientist type. RDA plays Legend, a rather larger than life cowboy, or so he’s portrayed in dime store novels as written by Ernest Pratt… the actual character RDA is playing with Nicodemus Legend as his book hero. However, Ernest soon gets caught up as being his character, and gets into various adventures, with the aforementioned mad scientist Janos Bartok helping him.
The adventures were fun, in the style of Brisco, although without the more over the top science fiction elements. RDA and JdL are clearly having fun as well, although it is the lack of real oomph to this series, indeed too much fun, that spells the doom for it. After low ratings and a change in network management, bye bye.
This did have a companion book series (although I never read them, or indeed even knew about them), so technically it did live beyond it’s one season tv life… but not on screen, so it’s here for only having the one season.
[END]
Tuesday, 3 September 2013
OSW: The Flash (1990)
This one people probably saw. One of the few live action superhero based tv series (and the other ones I can immediately think of got more than one season), this was based on The Flash, aka the guy who does things quickly. More "inspired by" the comic, rather than directly borrowing from it, the Flash fought rather mundane villains with the odd mad scientist thrown in. The occasional super villain was less than super (this being an approach Arrow seems to be emulating).
The main image you might remember is John Wesley Shipp in that padded red suit. Still, it looks more realistic than certain other outfits I’ve seen (I’m looking at you Thing). But even more than him… Amanda Pays. Ah, I remember being rather enamoured of her as a younger lad. I recall her accent being rather exciting, although coming back to the series, not so much now.
Looking through that guest star list, there is quite a few names there, such as Mark Hamill, Jeffrey Combs, Bill Mumy, Denise Crosby, Jeri Ryan… clearly this one season failure didn’t hurt their career any.
Money and bad tv slots earned this series its axe, although there was a second season planned.
[END]
Monday, 2 September 2013
OSW: Star Cops (1987)
Continuing the space theme with shows created by Doctor Who staff, we have Star Cops, created by Chris Boucher. Now this was another series to kick you in the gut with great characterisation of people, and realistic stories. This is, as the title suggests, more of a cop show, but with the cops in this case operating in space and on the moon. And they don’t have an easy time of it either.
The cast gets quite international. While we have David Caulder leading, and Trevor Cooper for the Brits, we get Erick Ray Evans being American, Linda Newton as an Australian, Sayo Inaba as Japanese and Jonathan Adams for the Russians. The character of Anna Shoun was seen as a hideous mistake by most of the audience, but I rather like her.
Her character was rather emblematic of what happen to the show. Although Chris Boucher started it, other writers were brought in, and the cast expanded over his designs. He had plans for a second season, but, of course, they didn't eventuate.
Also often derided is the theme song "It's Won't Be Easy". However, I like it, and think it is incredibly apt when seen from the viewpoint of Nathan Spring after the events of the first episode.
[END]
Sunday, 1 September 2013
OSW: Moonbase 3 (1973)
As well as helping to create a part of Doctor Who’s history, Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks also did other work. Such as, just after leaving Doctor Who, Moonbase 3. This is set on the moon (shock! surprise! a twist no-one would see!), and is one of several moonbase colonies set up, this one by the British.
One of the best aspects of it is that it is realistic. Sure, okay, it’s on the moon, but there are no aliens, no fantastical mysterious beings, no strange scientific experiments going wrong… okay, that’s not true at all, but what there is is treated in a very down to moon way. The emphasis of each story is on the people, not some invention or discovery.
While only six episodes, there is a decent range of topics covered, from, indeed, the possibility of life (and how people react to that), to the possible destruction of earth (and how people react to that!).
All this is done by brilliant performances by the cast, with Donald Houston leading the team, with Ralph Bates, Fiona Gaunt and the irascible Barry Lowe, whose line in the first episode "Not my pigeon" inspired me to take that on for a while at work (and I now have my own pigeon).
Where do you go after destroying the earth? Not to a second season. With low ratings, and a rather restrictive format for a science show in space, it only had the one season.
[END]
