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  • The Best Shows That Only Lasted One Season

    Freaks and Geeks (1999 - 2000) castEveryone’s been there: You root for a freshman show, delighted by the new addition to your TV landscape, only to find that it gets mercilessly cancelled after a single season. While it hardly seems fair, not every show must go on, and some are destined to forever be one-season wonders. But before you take to Twitter to demand the return of your favorite, spend some time checking out these past shows that had a solid one-and-only year.

    ‘Enlisted’ (2014)

    Military comedies are often a tough sell for audiences — they can be hard to relate to, and they’re often forced to create humor within the grim context of war. “Enlisted” approached this challenge by creating an ensemble comedy about the soldiers charged with supporting military families at home: The show’s “Rear Detachment Unit” was a hilarious, military version of “MAS*H” and “Community,” “Enlisted” was stuffed to the gills with laugh-out-loud side characters who nearly stole the show each episode. But ultimately, “Enlisted” stood out because of its heart. The show focused on a soldier returning from combat, dealing with his complicated relationships with his brothers, and his difficulty coming home. Adept at both quick humor and emotional depth, “Enlisted” was discharged way before its time.

    ‘Lucky Louie’ (2006)

    Years before Louie,” he had another semi-autobiographical show, “Lucky Louie,” where he also played an exaggerated version of himself, this time at an earlier stage in his life (and, weirdly, as a mechanic instead of a comic). The similarities end there, though — “Lucky Louie” was a straightforward sitcom, filmed in front of a live studio audience, and it primarily depicted the struggles he faced raising his first daughter while living in poverty. The show featured a lot of the same players as “Louie,” including Pamela Adlon and Jim Norton (as well as a very young Emma Stone), and the half-hour plots, while funny, were laced with a surprising level of vulgarity. Although it was probably doomed from the start — HBO has never been a great home for sitcoms, and network TV would never have allowed “Lucky Louie” on the air — it remains required viewing for fans of the comic.

    ‘Wonderfalls’ (2004)

    “Wonderfalls” was witty, odd, delightful, and slightly surreal — exactly what you’d expect from show creator Dead Like Me” and “Pushing Daisies”). The show followed burnout Jaye Tyler (Caroline Dhavernas), a young gift-shop worker content to complain about life, who suddenly finds the tchotchkes at her job are talking to her, urging her to do odd yet meaningful things. Part rom-com, part foray into Magical Realism, “Wonderfalls” became more compelling as it got weirder — getting viewers to care as much about the mystery of the show as they did about Jaye’s love life. While criminally underappreciated, “Wonderfalls” maintains a cult following to this day, and is well worth a binge.

    ‘The Muppets’ (2015)

    When “30 Rock” first aired, a lot of people noted that it felt like a live-action version of the original 1970s “The Muppet Show” — the backstage hijinks of a variety show’s wacky cast and crew. Given the similarities in the characters — let’s face it, The Office,” following the gang as they produced a fictional late-night talk show — and it ended up feeling like a modern version of “30 Rock.” Oddly enough, the new show worked, giving more depth to newer characters like Pepe the Prawn and Bobo the Bear, and even breathing new life into the will-they-or-won’t-they relationship between Kermit and Miss Piggy. Unfortunately, the show was too adult for kids and not unique enough for adults, and ultimately was given the ax by ABC after 16 episodes. Nonetheless, “The Muppets” remains a solid entry in the history of everyone’s favorite group of oddball puppets.

    ‘Awake’ (2012)

    “Awake” was both a crime procedural and a concept-driven sci-fi show, and it managed to be great at both. Detective Michael Britten (Jason Isaacs) was a man whose life was torn apart by a deadly car accident involving his wife and son. But after recovering, Britten finds himself living two lives — one in which only his wife is still alive, and one in which only his son has survived. Each time he wakes up, he finds himself switching between realities, unsure of which is real, and at the same time being forced to solve crimes in both. Although “Awake” never got to blossom into a full-blown mystery, in a single season it managed to create compelling characters and a clever take on the crime-of-the-week genre. Also, unlike many one-season wonders, the season finale is a satisfying final chapter.

    ‘Freaks and Geeks’ (1999)

    “90210” — they were the awkward and insecure kids that everyone could actually relate to, living mundane, if entertaining, lives. While the show practically demanded a second season (as did its fans after the final episodes were never originally broadcast), you’ll have to settle for just the single season.

    Sources

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  • 5 TV Shows to Watch If You Miss College Life

    5 TV Shows to Watch If You Miss College LifeAh, sweet college — the perfect fusion of freedom and dependence, childhood and adulthood, midterms and hangovers. For many students, it takes escaping high school and heading off to college to find out who they really are and who they really want to be. It’s okay to miss it sometimes, or even most of the time.

    Fortunately, television will always be here to help you relive your glory days. These college-set series cover the good, the bad, and the hilariously pathetic parts of higher learning. For every randomly selected roommate who became an instant best friend, there was a mind-numbingly boring professor with a two-hour lecture on the origin of language. For every idyllic fall day on campus, there was a boxed macaroni-and-cheese mishap. And for every deep, personal revelation, there was a moment of being too hungover to get out of bed, let along get to class.

    When you’re jonesing for a walk around the quad and some anything-can-happen hopefulness, turn to these five college TV shows.

    1. ‘Undeclared’ (2001 – 2003)

    This short-lived Freaks and Geeks” did for high school. Future superstars like Seth Rogen, Charlie Hunnam, and Jason Segel navigate the wild west of the dorm tower, dealing with familiar struggles: a roommate’s jealous high school boyfriend, demoralizing fraternity rush rituals, embarrassing part-time jobs, and being “sex-iled” to the common room, just to name a few.

    2. ‘Felicity’ (1998 – 2002)

    Who’d have guessed that Felicity” was a star-making turn for both Keri Russell and Keri Russell’s hair — fans and the media completely lost it when she went from curly mane to gamine pixie cut in Season Two. It also launched the careers of Scott Foley, Greg Grunberg, and Jennifer Garner. The titular heroine spends much of the show stuck between accessible Noel and dream man Ben, but the series is fundamentally a coming-of-age story with more than romance on its mind.

    3. ‘Community’ (2009 – 2015)

    Not everyone arrives on campus at 18 with a perfect transcript, an expensive pea coat, and a beanbag chair full of uncrushed dreams. “Community” is a tribute to the misfits. Joel McHale and his co-stars play a diverse group of unlikely friends who find their way to the same community college through all manner of mistakes and second chances. If you prefer your sincerity with a heavy dash of sarcasm and never met a pop-culture reference you didn’t like, this is the college comedy for you.

    4. ‘A Different World’ (1987 – 1993)

    “A Different World” moved away from its Huxtable roots after just one season when central character Denise was written out after actress Lisa Bonet became pregnant and left the show. Bonet’s shoes were filled by unforgettable coeds like the refined and traditional Whitley, the geeky Dwayne, the mature Jaleesa, and the rest of the outspoken and tightly knit student body at the fictional, historically black Hillman College.

    5. ‘How to Get Away With Murder’ (2014 – )

    That’s not a topic you’d find on many course listings, but getting away with murder is the most in-demand curriculum at Philadelphia’s Middleton college. In the ShondaLand thriller, law professor Annalise Keating schools her exclusive group of eager pupils in the ways of manipulating witnesses, tampering with evidence, and literally burying bodies.

  • Joel McHale: ‘Community’ Cast Too Expensive for Season 7, Movie Still Possible

    “Community” has been a great career launchpad for its likable, talented cast, but the downside of that is — after six seasons — TV can’t afford them anymore. That’s show star Joel McHale’s take on it, when talking to Metro Weekly about the move from NBC to Yahoo and the (slim) possibility of a Season 7.

    Here’s that portion of the Q&A:

    MW: Is it getting another season on Yahoo?

    McHALE: No. They wanted to. But all of our contracts were up after six years. All the actors on the show, almost without exception — their stock has risen significantly and it’s out of the pay rate that is affordable to make the show. So you’re not going to be able to get Alison Brie or Gillian Jacobs at a normal television salary anymore. There is just not enough money to be able to pay for the show.

    That started making the Internet rounds as “Community has been canceled!” but Yahoo hasn’t canceled the show … yet. Here’s a statement from them (via Deadline): “We’ve seen tremendous value in our partnership with Sony and are continuing to discuss future opportunities for Community.”

    Joel also clarified his comments on Twitter:


    Yahoo may make an official cancellation notice at some point, though. Showrunner Dan Harmon told The Hollywood Reporter that a movie is more likely to happen than Season 7, seeming to echo Joel’s cast comments:

    I think it has to do with talent contracts. We’ve got a lot of very talented people whose contracts have run out, and they get to explore the world and see what comes of it. In that kind of situation, anybody coming to those people and rounding them up like the Magnificent Seven and saying, ‘Who wants to do a movie?’ — I think the chance of getting a ‘Yes’ to that is much higher than, ‘Who wants to come back to Vietnam — the war’s not over yet.’ I think the idea of a movie just sounds more fun and also sounds like it has a hard out in terms of schedule.”

    There was movie talk before Season 6 got the green light, so it’s still possible Season 7 will happen (with new one-season contracts). If not, maybe there will be a fun full-cast movie. Or do you think they should just quit while they’re ahead and let this be the end?

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  • 10 Ways YouTube Has Changed the Way We Watch TV

    Brand Assembly Presents The New Class At YouTube Space
    It’s hard to believe that YouTube is just 10 years old. It seems like it’s been around forever, and it’s difficult to recall how we ever lived without it.

    Nonetheless, it was only 10 years ago this week, on April 23, 2005, that YouTube posted its first user-uploaded video. (It was a 19-second clip called “Me at the Zoo,” uploaded by site co-creator Jawed Karim, showing him commenting on his own visit to the elephant exhibit at the San Diego Zoo. It’s been viewed 19 million times.)

    Today, YouTube seems a ubiquitous part of our lives. But whether you post your own videos or simply watch those made by others, you’re adding to the growth of a platform that has forever altered the formerly passive way we used to watch television. Here are 10 ways YouTube has changed what we watch and how we watch it.

    Streaming. There was streaming video before YouTube, but it was often spotty — interrupted by buffering, low in resolution, and on a tiny window on a media player that required you to download various third-party extensions to your browser. YouTube had the good fortune, however, to come along just as broadband was taking off. At last, you really could use your computer as a TV screen. (And soon, your phone and your tablet.) More than anything else, it was YouTube that paved the way for television’s still unfolding transition from bundled cable, where you’re offered a finite selection of programs scheduled by someone else, on a package of take-’em-or-leave-’em channels, toward true a la carte digital programming, streaming over the Internet, from an infinite pool of programs, selected by you to start and stop at a time of your convenience.

    Sharing. The other great innovation of YouTube was the ease with which you could embed the videos at your own site. (The clips still lived at YouTube, and the code that made them play on your page was easy to add to your blog.) Within months of YouTube’s debut, “Saturday Night Live” posted its first “Digital Short,” Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell’s “Lazy Sunday,” generally regarded as the first video to go viral. It racked up 5 million views and quickly made YouTube into an invaluable promotional tool, both for amateur videographers and for traditional network and cable shows promoting their own content. Today, the ability to create video that people will want to share the next morning is indispensable to the success of Jimmy Fallon and other late-night talk show hosts.

    Instant commentary. Yeah, YouTube’s comment boards seem overrun with bitter, foul-mouthed trolls. Still, they’ve made instant audience feedback an expected part of the viewing experience. In the world of TV, this aspect is manifest in the form of live-tweeting your favorite shows. Which in turn has restored some sense of appointment TV to a cable universe where the DVR had largely decoupled programs from any kind of schedule. After all, the conversation works best if we’re all watching at the same time.

    History. Used to be, if you wanted to watch an out-of-circulation artifact of classic TV history (say, the “Chuckles Bites the Dust” episode of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”), you’d have to go to New York or Beverly Hills, to the archive of the Paley Center for Media. Now, anyone can watch it for free, on demand, just by typing in a quick keyword search. Pretty much the entire history of TV, from many different countries, is a couple of clicks away. Want to see a supercut of every time David Caruso donned his shades while making a mordant quip on “CSI: Miami”? Want to see Peter Gabriel dressed like a flower as Genesis performs all 24 minutes of “Supper’s Ready” on some forgotten foreign music show? It’s all here, the collective memory of pop culture, at your fingertips. These days, cable channels are making reruns of once-obscure series commonplace because they have to fill the endless programming hole, but YouTube has already primed us for a world where no show ever truly goes off the air forever.

    Attention span. People used to blame MTV and its quick-cut aesthetic for destroying our attention spans, even though we used to watch music videos for hours. (Yes, kids, the “M” in MTV once stood for “Music,” and they used to play nothing but song clips all day long.) But now, we can blame YouTube for the fact that we can’t sit still for anything longer than a 2 1/2-minute movie trailer parody. (Part of that is that 150 seconds is about all we have time for while we’re procrastinating at work; indeed, YouTube has made it acceptable to watch a few moments of TV at work, even if you’re not a bartender at a sports bar.) For much of YouTube’s history, that limit to our patience seemed to be getting even shorter, especially as similar social media services like Vine threatened to cut it all the way down to six seconds. Fortunately,,John Oliver has come along and started to reverse the trend with his deep-dive comedy news segments from “Last Week Tonight.” So the upper limit is now about 16 minutes. Not exactly “Gone With the Wind” yet, but baby steps.

    Talent scouting. Today, anyone with a smartphone and an Internet connection has the power once reserved to network television: to broadcast one’s own video content worldwide. As a result, YouTube has created a number of stars, and not just professional musicians like Psy and Justin Bieber, but regular people whose clips went viral or, even better, generated regular subscribers. Grace Helbig, who started posting her comedy stylings while she was a bored housesitter, parlayed her YouTube fame into a gig hosting a late-night talk show on E!But it’s not just stardom based on the kind of performing talent that creates conventional viewing entertainment. PewDiePie, that YouTube channel featuring a guy who makes funny noises while playing video games, has 37 million subscribers, numbers most TV broadcast and cable networks would kill for.

    Idea incubation. As PewDiePie proved, anything that attracts eyeballs is fair game. Cooking demonstrations, personal rants, sneezing pandas. Of course, a lot of more conventional programming, albeit with an edge, led to TV deals for some online video stars. Comedy Central’s “Broad City” started as a web series. The mini-documentaries created by VICE led to HBO enlisting VICE to create a daily news program. Dan Harmon parlayed Channel 101, his platform for experimental TV series pilots, into NBC’s “Community.”

    Overabundance. YouTube reportedly has a billion users, and they upload 300 hours of video every minute. It’s mathematically impossible to see everything. In fact, it’s impossible just to see everything good. This is the 500-cable-channel problem writ large; in a way, YouTube prepared us for the glut of quality TV we currently face. It hasn’t come up with a solution, but at least we have a metaphor now, a way to think about it.

    Side outlet. The low barrier for entry doesn’t just apply to the anonymous masses. If you’re Russell Brand or Jerry Seinfeld, you can also launch your own Web series for cheap, without having to run it past a gantlet of executives or come up with megabucks in financing. To the extent that smart TVs with built-in WiFI and pre-installed YouTube are becoming more prevalent, these celebrities are finding yet another way to get on TV, with minimal cost and effort.

    Cats. Aside from Animal Planet, you’d think there’d be loads of cat content on cable now, since a billion YouTube users have indicated that that’s what they like to watch. Hasn’t happened yet (though Grumpy Cat did get its own Christmas movie on Lifetime last winter). But give it time.
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  • The 5 Greatest Best Friend Duos on TV

    leslie knope and ron swanson in parks and recreationAs someone who has definitely watched my fair share of television, I can say that one of the best parts of watching any show is falling in love with the characters. Sure, the drama, one-liners, and hilarious situations are great, but they would be nothing without the characters we love. And what’s better than one amazing character? Two of them! I’m pretty sure that most of us can agree that these BFF pairs are some of the greatest.

    1. Chandler and Joey, “Friends”
    Can you say “bromance”? Chandler and Joey stole our hearts early on in the iconic “Friends” series. They always had each other’s backs, no matter what. Joey kept Chandler’s secret when he started seeing Monica. Chandler forgave Joey when he lost all of their furniture. I mean, they even had matching flashy best friend bracelets! There is no doubt that Chandler and Joey deserve to be on this list. Don’t believe me? This hug montage should change your mind.

    2. Rory and Lorelai, “Gilmore Girls”
    Yes, these two make up the iconic, unstoppable mother-daughter team. However, there is no denying that they are the closest of friends, too. They seriously tell each other everything, have a million inside jokes, and speak their own fast-paced language filled with old movie references. Heck, they even have the same name. These two definitely take the prize for Best Biological Buds.

    3. Troy and Abed, “Community”
    As I’m sure many of you were, I was absolutely heartbroken when Donald Glover left the incredible comedy “Community” because it meant there would be no more Troy & Abed. With their wild imaginations, and their love for all things nerdy, viewers couldn’t help falling in love with Troy and Abed’s friendship. They not only have their own handshake, but also their own talk show, “Troy and Abed in the Morning”. There is no doubt that Troy and Abed’s bromance is cool. Cool, cool, cool.

    4. Leslie and Ron, “Parks and Recreation”
    To be completely honest, I have still not recovered from the “Parks and Recreation” series finale. To say that I “shed a few tears” would be a complete understatement. Out of all the episodes in the final season, the fourth episode, titled “Leslie and Ron,” made me cry the most. Why? Simply because the friendship that Ron and Leslie have is the best. Emotional, enthusiastic, government-loving Leslie and stoic, detached, government-hating Ron are the perfect (and extreme) compliments to each other. Their friendship is so important in the show, and Leslie always brings out the best in Ron. (Although, to be fair, Leslie brings out the best in everyone on that show.)

    5. Jim and Pam, “The Office”
    Jim and Pam are the perfect example of marrying your best friend. Right from the beginning of the show, you can’t help but adore these two characters both individually, and together as a couple. They never fail to make each other (and the audience) laugh, what with all the office pranks they pulled together. And, to be completely honest, if you didn’t squeal when Jim finally asked Pam out on a date, then you must be heartless.

    Congratulations to the, in my humble opinion, top five best friend television duos. Honorable mentions: George and Jerry (“Seinfeld”), and Kenneth and Tracy (“30 Rock”).

    Abigail Drueke is a first year telecommunications major at the University of Florida and a contributor to Moviefone’s Campus Beat. Are you a current college student with a love for all things movies and TV? Contribute to Campus Beat!
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  • 5 Reasons to Be Excited for ‘Community’ to Return

    Well, Season 6 of “Community” is almost here, and we get to see all of our favorite aspects of the show back on the screen. Sure, it’s a slightly smaller screen, but we shall get to reunite with our favorite Greendale characters once again – or at least most of them. The new additions to the cast hopefully add an entirely new dynamic that I’m excited to see play out. Here are 5 reasons to get excited:

    1. The Creative Episodes
    “Community” has created entertaining episodes about paintball and “The Floor is Lava.” The creative material they come up with is insane, and Season 6 just means there will be more to look forward to. If every episode came from the inside of a blanket fort, I would be a happy girl. You can tell that the writers have a good time writing the show, and with the move to Yahoo Screen, this can hopefully mean bigger and better things for the future.

    2. Constant Pop Culture References
    Abed is one of my favorite characters on television, mainly in part to his constant stream of pop culture references. Plots that center on his inability to understand reality are some of the more enjoyable episodes that we’ve seen from the series. Scenes where he’s trying to figure out Nick Cage or that Christmas special (you know the one) or the Comic Convention that parodies “Doctor Who.” Every zany situation he gets into is another reason to love Abed and to identify with him even more.

    3. Dean Puns
    As someone who appreciates a good pun every now and again, every time the Dean enters a scene, I cannot help but burst out laughing. If we get more scenes like the Dean rap, I foresee many hurting ribs in our future. Dean Pelton has turned into one of my favorite characters with his random entrances and unabashed love for Jeff Winger. Hopefully we can have more Dean-centric plots in the future, but for now I’m just content with the lovely puns.

    4. Awesome Guest Stars
    They’ve had people like Jack Black, Anthony Michael Hall, Lavar Burton, Rob Cordry, and so many others. Now that they have grown in popularity –- somewhat due to their renewal being all over the internet last year –- they have the opportunity to attract different stars which can only add to the hilarity.

    5. Will They/Won’t They Relationships
    While such relationships often become trite, “Community” executes the will they/won’t they relationship perfectly. It can go from Jeff/Brita to Jeff/Annie in a millisecond and I don’t even care. Both relationships are cute and there’s this constant state of suspense where the viewers is made to ask “What will happen next?”

    Brooke Schmidt is a student at The College of New Jersey and a contributor to Moviefone’s Campus Beat. Are you a current college student with a love for all things movies and TV? Contribute to Campus Beat!
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