Big John, Little John
‘Big John, Little John’ was a situational comedy about a 40-year teacher who drinks from a mysterious fountain of youth and turns into a 12-year-old boy. The change isn’t permanent but occurs at inconvenient times. Despite this creative plot, the show didn’t last for more than one season.
It first aired in September of 1976 on NBC and only ran 13 episodes. By December, the show was already canceled and pretty much forgotten. If for some reason, you still wish to try and watch it, you might be able to find its DVD, which was released in 2009.
The Bob Crane Show
'The Bob Crane Show' is an NBC sitcom that followed Bob, a man in his 40's who decides to quit his boring job as an insurance salesman and go back to med school. While in school, his wife, portrayed by Patricia Harty, has to support the family, which was uncommon at the time.
The show was a huge disappointment for the network; it had low ratings and only lasted for 13 weeks. The show's failure blamed on a lack of chemistry between the actors, so NBC decided to cancel it.
Sonny Comedy Revue
Despite having a big name attached to it, 'Sonny Comedy Revue' had a hard time getting the audience's attention. Its initial airdate was on September 22, 1974, the same year Sonny and Cher ended their marriage. Weirdly, that didn't stop them from having their own show that same year.
The show aired on ABC, but sadly the fact that it heavily featured Sonny and barely had Cher meant no one really wanted to watch. Critics said the show was not funny and almost unbearable to watch. No one could get over Cher's absence. The show had consistently low ratings, which led to it being canceled after 13 episodes, with the final episode in December of the same year.
The Associates
'The Associates' was an American sitcom based on a novel written by John Jay Osborn Jr. The show was produced by the same producers of 'Taxi' and starred Wilfrid Hyde-White, Joe Regalbuto, and Shelley Smith. It ended up being nominated for two Golden Globes, but that didn't help it run past its ninth episode.
The show only survived from September 1979 to April 1980, which, you have to admit, is a pretty short run. Only nine out of thirteen episodes shot made it to air, the four unaired episodes were lost forever, and maybe that's a good thing.
The Eddie Capra Mysteries
The 70s brought much distinctive mystery shows to American television, including 'The Eddie Capra Mysteries.' The series starred Vincent Baggetta, who played an unconventional lawyer named Eddie. He tried to solve extremely complex murder cases.
The show aired on NBC from September to January 1979 and tried to keep Americans caring by challenging them to find out who the murderer was before Eddie Capra did. But, one mystery that is easy to solve is why the show was canceled after only 13 episodes -- it just wasn't good enough.