6 1970s Sitcom Disasters So Bad, They Vanished From TV History
Television in the 1970s was a wild time for sitcoms, with networks throwing everything at the wall to see what stuck.
Some shows became legendary hits, while others crashed and burned so spectacularly that they disappeared almost overnight. Ready to explore the forgotten flops that time forgot?
1. Me and the Chimp
Ever wondered what happens when you give a chimpanzee a starring role in a family sitcom? CBS tried it in 1972, and the results were absolutely bananas (pun intended). Mike Reynolds and his family adopt a chimp named Buttons who causes chaos in every episode.
Audiences quickly grew tired of the monkey business, and critics called it one of the worst shows ever made. Only 13 episodes aired before CBS pulled the plug, making it one of television’s most embarrassing experiments.
2. The Paul Lynde Show
Paul Lynde was comedy gold on Hollywood Squares, but his own sitcom proved that game show charm doesn’t always translate to primetime success. Playing uptight attorney Paul Simms, Lynde’s character dealt with his daughter’s hippie husband and the generation gap.
ABC aired only one season in 1972 before canceling it due to poor ratings and lukewarm reception. What worked in short bursts on game shows felt forced and uncomfortable stretched across 30-minute episodes week after week.
3. When Things Were Rotten
Mel Brooks brought his comedy genius to television with a Robin Hood spoof that should have been hilarious. Richard Gautier starred as Robin Hood in a show that parodied the legendary outlaw’s adventures with slapstick humor and silly situations.
Despite Brooks’ involvement, ABC canceled it after just 13 episodes in 1975 due to dismal ratings. Perhaps audiences weren’t ready for medieval parody, or maybe the jokes simply missed their mark more often than Robin’s arrows hit targets.
4. Dusty’s Trail
He tried recapturing Gilligan’s Island magic by basically remaking it in the Old West, and viewers saw right through it. Sorry, Bob Denver! Instead of castaways on an island, we got lost pioneers on a wagon train, complete with recycled plots and familiar character types.
Syndication ran from 1973 to 1974, but audiences rejected what felt like a cheap knockoff. Denver’s lovable bumbling worked on a tropical island, but transplanting that formula to dusty prairies proved that lightning rarely strikes twice in television comedy.
5. The Texas Wheelers
ABC took a gamble on a sitcom about a poor Texas family struggling to survive, but audiences weren’t laughing. Zack Wheeler and his four kids tried making ends meet in rural Texas after their mother abandoned them, mixing comedy with surprisingly dark themes.
Critics praised young Gary Busey’s performance, but that wasn’t enough to save the show from cancellation after just eight episodes in 1974. Mixing poverty with punchlines proved too uncomfortable for viewers expecting lighthearted family entertainment on Friday nights.
6. On the Rocks
Once again, ABC somehow thought a sitcom set in a minimum-security prison would be comedy gold, but viewers disagreed strongly. Following the antics of inmates at Alamesa Prison, the show tried mining humor from incarceration, which felt tone-deaf even in the 1970s.
Only 11 episodes aired in 1975 before ABC pulled it off the schedule permanently. Prison life simply wasn’t funny to most viewers, and the show’s attempts at lighthearted humor fell flat when dealing with criminals and confinement.
