The Ghosts of Upfronts Past

By Forrest Wickman, Aisha Harris, and David Haglund

Looking for a distinctive mix of melancholy and amusement? Let us recommend the cast photo of a canceled sitcom. Sure, the actors huddling close together in the promos for this year’s new batch of shows look happy now, but few of those smiling faces will endure longer than a few episodes. Many will never air at all. Coming next season: False hopes, failed dreams.

This is the peculiar sadness of the canceled sitcom. Just look at the up-and-comers rounded up in this slideshow. So young! So jaunty! They could be the next Friends!

Related post: The Ghosts of Upfronts Past

Co-Ed Fever (1979)

This Animal House-inspired sitcom about an all-girls college that goes co-ed starred Heather Thomas and Alexa Kenin. Judging from the excitement emanating from this promo picture, perhaps they partied too hard: Co-Ed Fever was expelled from sitcom university after just one episode.
CREDIT: Publicity image/CBS 1979.
The Dictator (1988)

This Christopher Lloyd vehicle, in which the venerable star played a former foreign dictator now living in an American laundromat, never made it to air—but the premise is eerily similar to a big-budget comedy arriving in theaters this weekend.
Publicity image/CREDIT: CBS 1988.
Public Morals (1996)

Sure, you’ve seen shows about police, but have you seen shows about moral police? That was the premise of this short-lived series from Steven Bochco of NYPD Blue and Jay Tarsas of The Muppets Take Manhattan. The show attempted to combine the grit and salaciousness of NYPD Blue with the laugh track of the half-hour sitcom—but that was one odd couple that never found chemistry: The show was canceled after one episode.
Publicity image/CREDIT: CBS 1996.
Heat Vision & Jack (1999)

Perhaps it was too much like Knight Rider: Jack Black plays a former astronaut who gains superintelligence after getting too close to the sun, and his talking motorcycle, Heat Vision, is voiced by Owen Wilson. Or perhaps this Ben Stiller-directed and Dan Harmon-produced show which only aired one episode—but now has a cult following—was ahead of its time.
CREDIT: Publicity image/Fox 1999.
The Grubbs (2002)

Why yes, that is Randy Quaid and a not-so-thin Michael Cera in a promo pic for this sitcom which never made it to air.
CREDIT: Publicity image/Fox 2002.
Commando Nanny (2004)

While everyone knows Mark Burnett’s reality series (Survivor, Celebrity Apprentice, The Voice) few remember his foray into sitcoms. That’s because Commando Nanny—which was based on Burnett’s own experience as a Beverly Hills nanny after fighting in the Falklands—never aired.
CREDIT: Publicity image/Warner Bros. 2004.
The Singles Table (2006)

“Cheers,” says this enthusiastic group of strangers (including John Cho of Harold & Kumar) who got stuck at the one wedding table—but never made it to primetime.
CREDIT: Publicity image/NBC 2006.
Eight Days a Week (2007)

Whoever created this promo clearly couldn’t get all of the actors (including Mario Lopez, singer Christina Milian, and My Girl star Anna Chlumsky) to come together in front of one camera, as evidenced by the rather awkward photoshopping seen here. That probably didn’t bode well for this workplace comedy: It never aired.
CREDIT: Publicity image/CBS 2007.
The IT Crowd (2007)

Not every British import becomes The Office. While the original British version of this series has already completed four seasons and counting, the American takeoff never made it to air, even though it often matched the British version beat-for-beat and shot-for-shot.
CREDIT: Publicity image/NBC 2007.
Manimal (1983)

Manimal starred Simon MacCorkindale as Jonathan Chase, an NYU professor who can shapeshift into the animal of his choice (usually a hawk or a panther). Chase solved crimes with comely policewoman Brooke MacKenzie and grizzled Vietnam vet Ty Earl—sadly, for just eight episodes. Unlike the previous shows, Manimal was not a sitcom. But with a premise like that, it deserves to be remembered.

Related post: The Ghosts of Upfronts Past
CREDIT: Publicity image/NBC 1983.

With some sitcoms, it’s no mystery why their hopes were dashed while they were still so young. Many feature tired premises: odd couples, odd men out, zany workplaces, another family rallying around the living room couch. Others go places a sitcom should probably never go, like, for instance, the 1990 series Heil Honey I’m Home! Others are ahead of their time: Consider the case of Heat Vision and Jack, a deliberately campy mix of old TV tropes that starred Jack Black and Owen Wilson (with Ben Stiller directing, and Dan Harmon executive producing) that never made it to air. It’s just one of many beautiful dreams that wasn’t meant to be.