Well, it has been a long time since I saw the episode but I seem to recall the joke was that it was one of these series that everyone knows is not going to last long. Many of these shows in the 80's and early 90's were trying to cash in on the popularity of Knight Rider and Airwolf (shows that were really only popular for a couple of years but lasted roughly four seasons). They would all have some kind of gimmick, be promoted a lot, and then be off the air by Christmas.
Well, if you throw in ALIEN NATION, which, granted, had an alien partner instead of a robot, then the sci-fi buddy cop show is even more of a thing to be parodied.
Except that Holmes and Yo-Yo and Future Cop both aired in 1976-77, preceding Knight Rider by over 5 years. If they were cashing in on anything, it was The Six Million Dollar Man. And wasn't Airwolf itself basically a knockoff of the Roy Scheider movie Blue Thunder? As for Mann & Machine, it was from 1992. Its influences may have included Alien Nation and definitely included ST:TNG; there was a lot of Data in the way Yancy Butler played Eve Edison. But I don't think it was intended as a cheap knockoff. It was co-created by Law & Order's Dick Wolf, after all. L&O had been a cop show with a twist, merging that genre with the courtroom genre, and I suppose Wolf decided to follow it up by doing a cop show with a science-fiction twist. I think that a lot of TV-series production is about finding innovation within a formula. And really, I doubt very many genre shows that came along after 1987 would've been that influenced by what passed for genre shows earlier in the decade. TNG was really the start of a new, more sophisticated era in American SFTV, and Alien Nation and Quantum Leap solidified that transition.
I really disliked JRM in the Tudors, to the point where I gave up on the show. I would love for Dracula to be good, but him in the lead is a real turn off for me.
Is there a website out there that gives a summary of all new shows about to start in the new TV season? I'm kinda lazy to start googling each separate show.
lol, speak of the devil, this just posted 22 minutes ago: http://io9.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-this-falls-science-fiction-and-f-1149999892
I didn't know there was a How to Train Your Dragon tv show! Anyone know if its any good and of similar tone to the movie?
It has its hits and misses, but it's pretty good overall. It features several of the film's lead actors reprising their roles (Jay Baruchel, America Ferreira, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and one other whose name I forget), though the rest are recast. It feels like a pretty authentic continuation from the movie and the direct-to-DVD shorts, although it remains to be seen how compatible it'll be with the sequel (although I gather the second season will be bridging the first season and the sequel).
Thanks for posting the link. Good summary. Too bad it doesn't include any of the mid season premiers.
I'd rather have this focused on fall premiers now. I'll worry about mid-season shows in Dec/Jan. Knowing what's coming midseason doesn't change the time I have in the fall.
Thank the stars for that, too; how some bloggers can claim that many of the late 70s and early 80s shows are better than sci-fi TV now, I don't even know. There's also a Kung Fu Panda show (Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness) show, if you like that movie as well.
Makes sense, but most fall shows take a winter break and continue in Jan/Feb. The same time frame the midseason shows premier. If I don't take the midseason shows into account now, I'll be totally overbooked when they premier.
Well, Agents of SHIELD is pretty much the only thing I'm interested in at the moment. That and Justified but it's not sci-fi.
There are always shows that get cancelled and end in Dec, or shows that I just don't like that much and drop myself. Inevitably there is room in my calendar for a new show. And if there isn't, I use it as an opportunity to drop a show I'm unsure about if I think the new winter show will be better.