1. Small Wonder: A Robot Kid Nobody Quite Wanted to Remember
If you were watching sitoms in the ’80s, you might recall Small Wonder, a sitcom about a family secretly raising a robot daughter named Vicki. Despite running for four seasons, it’s more often remembered for its eerie premise and wooden acting than its longevity. Critics weren’t kind either. Entertainment Weekly once said it “traumatized a generation.” It never made it into syndication like other ’80s sitcoms, possibly because its weirdness didn’t age well. Even those who grew up watching it tend to shrug and say, “Yeah, that was… strange.” And then they change the subject.
2. Out of This World: A Teen with Time-Freezing Powers
Imagine being a teenager who could literally freeze time with your fingers. That’s the idea behind Out of This World. It aired from 1987 to 1991 and followed Evie, a half-alien girl navigating adolescence and otherworldly powers. The premise was fun, but critics never warmed up to it. The show just quietly vanished, never landing on any major rerun circuits. One viewer on Reddit described it best: “It felt like a fever dream, and I still question if I made it up.” You probably won’t see Evie’s story on any ‘best of the ’80s’ lists.
3. Probe: A Genius Too Smart for TV
Science buffs might have been intrigued by Probe, which aired briefly in 1988. It starred Parker Stevenson as a brilliant, eccentric scientist solving mysteries with logic and gadgets. Think Sherlock Holmes meets Bill Nye. Created by Isaac Asimov and Michael Wagner, it had brains but not the buzz. The intellectual plots just didn’t click with casual viewers. As one fan noted on a retro forum, “It made you feel like you needed a PhD to follow the story.” Sadly, smart didn’t sell, and the network pulled the plug after just a few episodes.
4. Misfits of Science: Superpowers with No Staying Power
Before the superhero craze took off, Misfits of Science gave us a group of young adults with strange abilities like shrinking or shooting lightning. It even had a young Courteney Cox before Friends. But despite its 1985 debut during prime-time, it flopped hard. The tone was inconsistent, sometimes comedic, sometimes serious, and audiences didn’t know what to make of it. “A mess with good intentions,” wrote one viewer on TV Tropes. NBC canceled it after just one season, and it quietly disappeared, making it more of a trivia question than a cult classic.
5. Automan: When Tron Tried to Solve Crimes
Take Tron, mix in buddy-cop tropes, and you get Automan. This 1983 show featured a glowing, holographic man who could project himself into the real world to help fight crime. It looked flashy for the time but wasn’t much fun to watch. One viewer said, “It felt like watching someone else play a video game you couldn’t control.” The show was too tech-heavy for general audiences and too shallow for sci-fi fans. With just 13 episodes aired, it vanished like its title character into the digital void.
6. Jennifer Slept Here: A Ghostly Has-Been
What do you get when a Hollywood starlet dies and haunts a teenage boy’s new house? Apparently, not a hit show. Jennifer Slept Here aired in 1983, and despite a charming idea on paper, it didn’t win over viewers. The humor was uneven, and the chemistry between characters felt off. One critic from the Los Angeles Times called it “a concept in search of a laugh.” Ghost comedies can be a hard sell, and this one didn’t even get a chance to make its case. By the next year, it was a distant memory.
7. Manimal: The Man Who Turned into Animals
This one’s title kind of says it all. In Manimal, a professor could shape-shift into any animal to help solve crimes. Tigers, hawks, you name it. But cool as that sounds, the transformation scenes were the only highlight. The rest of the show felt like a stretch. It aired just eight episodes in 1983 before being shelved. Even now, it’s more of a running joke than a remembered series. “We all thought it was fake when someone brought it up at work,” one X user posted. But no, it was very real. Just very short-lived.
8. The Powers of Matthew Star: Alien High School Blues
A teenage alien trying to blend in at an American high school sounds like prime YA gold, right? Not in 1982. The Powers of Matthew Star starred Peter Barton as the alien prince hiding out on Earth. It tried to mix teen drama, government intrigue, and sci-fi but ended up confusing everyone. NBC pulled the plug before the first season even wrapped. “It had the personality of a mannequin,” one viewer quipped on an old sci-fi blog. Even the cast seemed to know it was doomed. Blink, and you missed this one.
9. Voyagers!: History Class with a Time-Travel Twist
History buffs might remember Voyagers!, a 1982 adventure show where a man and a kid traveled through time fixing historical mistakes. Kind of like Quantum Leap for kids. It had charm and solid educational value but suffered from scheduling changes and stiff competition. “It was fun, but no one knew when it was on,” one former fan wrote in a Facebook nostalgia group. NBC gave up after one season, and while it does have a cult following now, it’s rarely mentioned unless someone really digs into vintage time travel tales.
10. Hello, Larry: The Spinoff Nobody Asked For
After Diff’rent Strokes became a hit, someone thought it was a good idea to spin off a show about a radio host dad named Larry. They were wrong. Hello, Larry starred McLean Stevenson (who left MASH* to do this), and it was critically panned from day one. The writing was flat, the humor forced, and the crossover episodes couldn’t save it. “It was like being served leftovers from a meal you didn’t enjoy in the first place,” one viewer wrote on a fan site. NBC axed it after two seasons. Barely anyone remembers Larry now.
11. The Girl with Something Extra: ESP and No Staying Power
Sally Field could carry just about anything, but The Girl with Something Extra pushed her luck. She played a woman with extrasensory perception (ESP), which led to quirky moments and awkward marital misunderstandings. It premiered in 1973 and fizzled out quickly. “They tried to make mind reading cute it wasn’t,” said one user on TV Obscurities. Despite the talent, the premise wore thin fast. NBC canceled it after one season, and it never got syndicated. Even Field herself rarely mentions it in interviews. Some powers just aren’t worth keeping around.
12. Holmes & Yoyo: Robotic Buddy Cop Flop
Imagine RoboCop, but make it a buddy comedy before RoboCop even existed. Holmes & Yoyo aired in 1976 and featured a straight-laced detective and his android partner, Yoyo. Slapstick ensued. Viewers, however, weren’t laughing. The robot character constantly malfunctioned, which was funny for about five minutes. “It felt like a ‘Saturday Night Live’ sketch gone too long,” said one IMDb reviewer. After 11 episodes, ABC pulled the plug. It was one of those shows that made people wonder, “Who thought this would work?” The answer remains a mystery.
13. Me and the Chimp: Family Sitcom Gone Bananas
Yes, this really happened. Me and the Chimp aired in 1972 and was exactly what it sounds like—a family sitcom about raising a chimpanzee named Buttons. Even the creators later admitted it was a stretch. Ted Bessell, who played the dad, reportedly regretted signing on. It was canned after 13 episodes, and critics didn’t hold back. One TV Guide review simply said, “Don’t.” The show is now mostly remembered as a cautionary tale about bad sitcom pitches. If you’ve never heard of it, that’s probably for the best.
14. My Living Doll: The Robot That Couldn’t Charm
Before Small Wonder, there was My Living Doll. Airing from 1964 to 1965, it starred Julie Newmar as a robot named Rhoda being taught how to be the “perfect woman.” It hasn’t aged well. The series tried to blend comedy and futuristic tech but mostly felt awkward. One viewer described it as “sci-fi with a side of cringe.” CBS yanked it after one season, and it quietly disappeared. Newmar herself joked years later that she barely remembered filming it. It’s a strange little footnote in television history that most folks prefer not to revisit.
15. The Tammy Grimes Show: Gone in Four Episodes
Talk about blink and you miss it. The Tammy Grimes Show premiered in 1966 with a huge push from ABC, banking on the Broadway star’s charm. But it tanked hard. Only four episodes aired before the network called it quits. The show’s concept—a rich woman who didn’t want to grow up—fell flat, and even the laugh track couldn’t help. Critics didn’t hold back either. Variety called it “a puzzling misfire.” It’s one of the few shows in history to be canceled that fast, making it more myth than memory. Most people never even saw it.
16. My Mother the Car: A Talking Car You Didn’t Want
Yes, this was a real show. A man’s mother dies and comes back as a talking antique car. My Mother the Car aired in 1965 and is often listed as one of the worst TV shows ever made. The jokes were groan-worthy, and the premise even more so. One critic later wrote, “It was like watching a bad dream about auto repair.” Despite its bizarre concept, it ran for a full season but only because canceling too early would’ve been more embarrassing. It’s the kind of show that makes you appreciate reruns of anything else.
17. Turn-On: Canceled Mid-Episode
This one’s the ultimate TV disaster story. Turn-On premiered in 1969 as a sketch comedy show intended to push boundaries. But it pushed too far, too fast. Some stations canceled it during the first broadcast. Viewers called in to complain about its bizarre pacing, weird visuals, and raunchy jokes. One ABC exec later admitted, “It was like being held hostage by a computer with no soul.” Only one episode aired and even that’s hard to find today. If there’s a poster child for shows that disappeared overnight, this is it.
This story 17 TV Shows That Disappeared Almost Overnight and Why No One Talks About Them was first published on Daily FETCH
