Some of the most beloved comedy shows of all time were short-lived. As a stand-alone sitcom, The Honeymooners only lasted 39 episodes, but it’s remained in syndication pretty steadily since the 1950s. Fawlty Towers was intentionally kept to just 12 episodes and is still considered to be one of the greatest British comedies ever made. In order to get syndicated—or even be remembered, for that matter—a show has to at least make it beyond the first episode, though. It’s rare that one doesn’t, but negative responses have occasionally led to some very early cancellations. Let’s take a look back at a few shows that were too controversial to get a second installment.
3. HEIL HONEY I’M HOME!
The 1990 British sitcom Heil Honey I’m Home! centered around Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun, as portrayed by Neil McCaul and DeNica Fairman. Intended as a spoof of classic TV comedies like I Love Lucy, the series presents the pair as a stereotypical sitcom couple living next door to a Jewish family. It was pulled after only one episode and has been referred to as “perhaps the world’s most tasteless situation comedy.”
2. TURN-ON
1969’s Turn-On was a notorious flop created by the producers of Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. The risqué sketch comedy series had a strong focus on sex, with one segment involving a woman desperately trying to get the morning-after pill out of a vending machine. Viewer complaints got it axed following its debut episode, but not before the station manager for ABC affiliate WEWS sent an angry telegram to the president of ABC saying, “If your naughty little boys have to write dirty words on the walls, please don’t use our walls. Turn-On is turned off as far as WEWS is concerned. You tried too hard.”
1. AUSTRALIA’S NAUGHTIEST HOME VIDEOS
Originally broadcast—in part—on September 3, 1992, Australia’s Naughtiest Home Videos was sort of like America’s Funniest Home Videos if the latter featured clips of naked people falling out of showers and dogs trying to have sex with cats. The infamous show, which also included a video of a child fondling a kangaroo’s genitals, enraged the network owner so much that he had it yanked from the air halfway through the broadcast. It was later shown, in slightly edited form, 16 years later.
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