Short-lived shows with future stars?

[wildojinx]

What are some short-lived tv shows that ended up having big stars on them? Last night I found the first episode of "Monty" (a show from 1994 with Henry Winkler as a Political pundit), and the oldest son on the show was played by David Schwimmer. More notable as he ended up as one of the main cast members of Friends the same year (Monty was a mid-season show that only lasted 6 episodes).

[BlackoutCreature]

About a month back YouTube started recommending me videos for a sitcom called "One of the Boys" (the 1982 show, there was apparently a completely different 1989 show with the same name). It lasted a very forgettable thirteen episodes, but starred a very young, pre-SNL Dana Carvey. As near as I can tell, outside a bit part in Halloween II, this was his first acting job.

In more Friends news -

Jennifer Aniston's first regular television role was as the oldest sister in the short-lived seven episode Mayim Bialik vehicle Malloy.

Matt LeBlanc's first television series was in the somewhat infamous Married with Children spin-off, Top of the Heap, which only went seven episode. He was also the star of it's re-tool, Vinnie & Bobby, a year later which didn't last any longer.

Matthew Perry is somewhat infamously known for starring in the short-lived early FOX sitcom Second Chance, which was later re-tooled into Boys Will be Boys. Less well know was him being a regular in Sydney, a short-lived Valerie Bertinelli vehicle, and another show called Home Free before finally getting on Friends.

[Mr PONYMANIA Mr Jenzie]

tracey walter in best of the west

[BlackoutCreature]

Faith Ford was a regular on the short-lived sitcom The Popcorn Kid, where she played a High School student who regularly appeared in a cheerleader uniform. It was canceled after six episodes. A year later she started on Murphy Brown playing a grown adult. It also starred a young Penelope Ann Miller.

[Sir Woodrow]

Wildside, a wild west action adventure series from 1985 that featured Meg Ryan...and Terry Funk

[Mozenrath]

Katherine Heigl was a cast member for "Roswell", if I recall.

Jessica Alba sorta counts for this with Dark Angel. She wasn't an unknown at the time, and had been in Idle Hands, Flipper, etc, but her star wouldn't really fully rise until after Dark Angel had ended.

[Mighty Attack Tribble]

Asylum, a mid-'90s sitcom set in a mental asylum that lasted for six episodes, featured Simon Pegg, Jessica Stevenson, and David Walliams, and was directed by Edgar Wright.

[Zombie Mod]

Firefly? pretty much most of the main cast went on to some level of fame

[legendkiller1985]

One of the obvious ones during 2000 was Freaks and Geeks with Jason Segel, Linda Cardenelli, James Franco, Busy Phillips and Seth Rosen. Paul Feig and Judd Apatow were writing and producing. John Francis Daley who played Sam had a regular gig on Bones and Martin Starr played Mr. Harrison the teacher in the MCU spider mans and had some recurring roles on Silicon Valley and Party Down.

[JoDaNa1281]

The 1991 series Dark Season only went 6 episodes, but it was screen debut of a 15 year old Kate Winslet.

[James Fabiano]

Sarah Michelle Geller on the short-lived, very confusing Swan's Crossing.

(Confusing because the commercials made it look like 90210, while the actual show was more like a T-NBC program)

It's a cult favorite, but Sarah Jessica Parker and Square Pegs.

Sarah Polley (sense a theme?) is pretty well known now, but I still think of her from the 1980s Ramona series.

[legendkiller1985]

Does Arrested Developments original run form 2003-2006 count? You had Jason Bateman, David Cross, Portia De Rossi, Jessica Walter, Will Arnett, Jeffrey Tambor, Tony Hale and a young Michael Cera and Alia Shawkat with Guest stars like Ron Howard, Henry Winkler, Julia Louis Dreyfus, Charlie Theron, etc

[Bobeddy]

Courtney Cox's first main role on TV was as a telekinetic teenager in the 1 season, 16 episode sci-fi show Misfits of Science from 1985.

[BlackoutCreature]

Jun 28, 2023 15:36:01 GMT -5 legendkiller1985 said:

Does Arrested Developments original run form 2003-2006 count? You had Jason Bateman, David Cross, Portia De Rossi, Jessica Walter, Will Arnett, Jeffrey Tambor, Tony Hale and a young Michael Cera and Alia Shawkat with Guest stars like Ron Howard, Henry Winkler, Julia Louis Dreyfus, Charlie Theron, etc

I'm not sure how many of those actors you could really call "future stars". For example, Henry Winkler was like twenty years removed from Happy Days at this point.

Another one I just remembered. In 1990 NBC aired a sitcom based on the 1988 Melanie Griffin movie Working Girl. Twelve episodes were produced, eight made it to air before cancellation (the rest were shown on TV Land like a decade later). Griffin's role was taken over by a very young, pre-Speed Sandra Bullock. It also featured a pre-DS9 Colonel Kira as her boss.

[DiBiase is Good]

Band of Brothers had Damian Lewis, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Tom Hardy, Dominic Cooper, Andrew Scott, Simon Pegg and Stephen Graham.

[Dragonfly]

The All in the Family spinoff Gloria featured MC Bat Commander from The Aquabats/Yo Gabba Gabba.

[Feyrhausen]

Jun 28, 2023 15:22:41 GMT -5 legendkiller1985 said:

One of the obvious ones during 2000 was Freaks and Geeks with Jason Segel, Linda Cardenelli, James Franco, Busy Phillips and Seth Rosen. Paul Feig and Judd Apatow were writing and producing. John Francis Daley who played Sam had a regular gig on Bones and Martin Starr played Mr. Harrison the teacher in the MCU spider mans and had some recurring roles on Silicon Valley and Party Down.

Not recurring roles on Party Down and Silicon Valley. He was a main cast member on both.

[Feyrhausen]

Jun 28, 2023 14:14:25 GMT -5 BlackoutCreature said:

About a month back YouTube started recommending me videos for a sitcom called "One of the Boys" (the 1982 show, there was apparently a completely different 1989 show with the same name). It lasted a very forgettable thirteen episodes, but starred a very young, pre-SNL Dana Carvey. As near as I can tell, outside a bit part in Halloween II, this was his first acting job.

In more Friends news -

Jennifer Aniston's first regular television role was as the oldest sister in the short-lived seven episode Mayim Bialik vehicle Malloy.

Matt LeBlanc's first television series was in the somewhat infamous Married with Children spin-off, Top of the Heap, which only went seven episode. He was also the star of it's re-tool, Vinnie & Bobby, a year later which didn't last any longer.

Matthew Perry is somewhat infamously known for starring in the short-lived early FOX sitcom Second Chance, which was later re-tooled into Boys Will be Boys. Less well know was him being a regular in Sydney, a short-lived Valerie Bertinelli vehicle, and another show called Home Free before finally getting on Friends.

Jennifer Aniston as also on the short lived Ferris Bueller TV show, as well as a Fox sketch comedy show called The Edge.

[Bo Rida]

Pan Am featured Margot Robbie's first major role in America and only got one season.
If it hadn't been cancelled she probably wouldn't have been able to do Wolf of Wallstreet and her career would have been very different.

[DiBiase is Good]

Although some people were only in it for a matter of seconds, The Young Ones had a shitload of people who would go on to be big names (particularly in the British comedy scene).