Blast from the Past: Syndicated TV Showcase

Back in the eighties, there was the strange phenomenon of "syndicated" TV shows. Actually, that's not a great description, since shows still are syndicated. What I mean is, network shows that got cancelled, and then padded their episode runs by running new ones in syndication. Sometimes, shows that never got picked up in the first place made a stab at it in syndication instead. This worked spectacularly for shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation and Babylon 5. But I'm not after the spectacular successes here. Just the cheesily notable.

All of these four shows either got cancelled and then were extended in syndication, or lived nowhere else but syndication. See if you remember any of them.




#1 - Mama's Family - This series--before it was extended into syndication--was actually extended from The Carol Burnett Show in the first place. It was never high art, but Vicki Lawrence was shrewd enough to parlay her much older character into a Vegas act. She's still not old enough to be Thelma Harper, so she's got many years to go. Oh, and adding Alan Kayser as Bubba Higgins was a master stroke. No, uh, pun intended.

#2 - Charles in Charge - Scott Baio made his career with Happy Days. He was good looking, not a bad actor by 80s sitcom standards, and a hot property. So, they gave him a sitcom. And it didn't work. But for some reason, they syndicated it two years after it was cancelled. The theme song is one of the worst ever, by the way.

#3 - It's a Living - This series about T&A waitresses at a swanky restaurant limped through two seasons (with two different titles) on ABC. Later, they syndicated it with some of the same cast, most prominently, Ann Jillian. For some reason I loved this show. Maybe it was the theme song.

#4 - Small Wonder - One of the strangest sitcoms of this genre was Small Wonder. It was a show about a robot disguised as a 10-year-old. It never--not surprisingly--had a network run. But it lasted in syndication for years. Even Edie McClurg (playing a variation of the nosy neighbor she played on The Hogan Family) couldn't save this abomination.