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A special look at television shows that were axed after one season yet live on through digital media, streaming from the Cloud and shiny optical discs. These are HERC's favorite one-and-done shows that were spooky, creepy and just a little bit out there. (There are gremlins at work in this post - try as he might, HERC has been unable to rid the post of them. He's rewritten, copy and pasted, saved, drafted, saved, updated, etc yet it remains all FUBAR.)
Kolchak: The Night Stalker [1974]
Preceded by two made for TV movies - The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler - this series lasted just 20 episodes but inspired later long-running series such as The X-Files and Supernatural with it's monster (or creature) of the week story lines. HERC used to watch this show as if his life depended on it. In 2005, former X-Files writer and producer Frank Spotnitz brought back the series as Night Stalker. It ran for just six episodes before being cancelled which was a mercy kill in HERC's eyes as the show was lame. The entire series including 4 unaired episodes is available on DVD as is the entire original series and the two movies. (Click on the movie titles above to watch.)
Project U.F.O. [1978]
HERC SR. is a proud retired Air Force and Vietnam Veteran and a U.F.O. enthusiast as well. Project U.F.O. is one of the few shows HERC remembers watching with his father. Each week, a team of two Air Force investigators, would look into a file from Project Blue Book, the United States Air Force's official systematic study of unidentified flying object sightings, which was active from 1952 until 1969. The show was also an inspiration for The X-Files.
Technically, Project U.F.O. lasted two seasons, first as a mid-season replacement for an abbreviated 13 episodes in the Spring of 1978 and then a Fall/Winter 1978 10 episode season that ran one week onto 1979 before being cancelled. An additional 3 episodes aired in the Summer of 1979. Sadly, the rights to this series are in legal limbo and it has never been officially released. The truth is out there for those who seek it...
American Gothic [1995]
Purely by chance, HERC happened to catch the premiere episode that fateful night in 1995 while sick in bed. He was hooked and scarfed up each episode as it aired but has yet to break down and order the series on DVD. The show was just the right amount of creepy for his sensibilities [What? You didn't know HERC was a scaredy cat?] with a truly dark delightful cast, especially Lucas Black, Gary Cole and Sarah Paulsen. Joe, Alison's husband from Medium makes an early appearance as well. Who knew Seventies teeny-bopper sensation and former Hardy Boy Shaun Cassidy, the show's creator, had such a fertile, Stephen King-like imagination?
Dark Skies [1996]
A indirect descendant of The X-Files, this show's premise was a simple and intriguing one: "History as we know it is a lie." Basically, an ongoing alien infiltration of the people of Earth had necessitated a Government coverup. Eric Close, who can be seen on Nashville this season, was the star of Dark Skies as well as the narrator. The show's creators had a five season plan that was made irrelevant when NBC cancelled the show after it's 20 episode first season. Fortunately for fans, the show has been released on DVD.
Special Unit 2 [2001]
Like everyone else he has ever discussed this show with, HERC missed the initial airing of Special Unit 2 on the fledgling UPN network in 2001 but caught the re-airing on the Sci-Fi Network before it became the SyFy Netowrk. It is hard to describe the show but it is alternately creepy and funny kind of like Men In Black or maybe Ghostbusters. Again, technically, the show ran for two seasons: a six episode first season in the Spring of 2001 followed by a 13 episode season from Fall 2001 until Spring 2002. Fans of Abby on NCIS can catch the actress in an earlier role, as a blonde misinformation officer on this show. It has since been shown in several marathon airings on the Sci-Fi Network. No DVD release yet but kindred spirits have posted the majority of episodes on YouTube.
Fear Itself [2008]
A horror anthology series along the lines of Rod Serling's Night Gallery, Showtime's Masters Of Horror or HBO's Tales From The Crypt, each episode was a stand alone suspense or horror tale. NBC aired eight uneven episodes in June and July 2008 before putting show on hiatus with a promised return after the Summer Olympics that year. The show wasn't mentioned again until it was offically cancelled in March 2009 with five unaired episodes in the can. The Complete Series DVD was released in September 2009 including all 13 episodes. HERC's favorite episode is "In Sickness And In Health" directed by John Landis and starring "Jules" and "Shawn" from the show psych as a couple about to be married when she receives a note that reads "The person you are marrying is a serial killer."
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