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Canceled Too Soon #41 - The Master, aka Master Ninja (1984) Apr 10, 2017

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Fans of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 know all about MASTER NINJA, a series of "movies" starring Lee Van Cleef as an old white ninja and Timothy Van Patten as his hunky hamster-enthusiast sidekick. But before MASTER NINJA got riffed on by MST3K it ran for an entire season on NBC in 1984, under the title of THE MASTER, and featured guest stars like Demi Moore (GHOST), Crystal Bernard (WINGS), George Lazenby (ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE) and several future stars of STAR TREK.

But was THE MASTER... CANCELED TOO SOON? Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold guide you through all 13 episodes of the notorious television series, including nine shows that MST3K never got to, and guide you through the weird wide world of 1980s fetishes - like aerobics classes, trucker lingo, ninjas - via this one strange action-adventure series where they all (briefly) collided.

Follow us on Twitter at @CanceledCast, "Like" us at Facebook.com/CanceledTooSoon, follow Bibbs at @WilliamBibbiani and follow Witney at @WitneySeibold. And if you like what you hear, subscribe to The B-Movies Podcast for Bibbs and Witney's weekly movie news, reviews and in-depth celebrity interviews!

Do you have a suggestion for a TV show that was "canceled too soon" (i.e. lasted only one season or less)? You can email us at bmoviespodcast@gmail.com, or you can head over to our Amazon Wish List to send us more exciting one season wonders that we can review on the show!

Theme Song: "Canceled Too Soon," Courtesy of Heptagon

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Canceled Too Soon #40 - Doubt (2017) Apr 03, 2017

Show notes

There are more tv shows about lawyers than we could possibly care to count, but almost all of them lasted longer than DOUBT, a courtroom dramedy starring Katherine Heigl (GREY'S ANATOMY), Laverne Cox (ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK) and Elliott Gould (MASH), which was canceled last February after airing only two episodes. Katherine Heigl plays a lawyer who's in love with her murder suspect client, and nobody seemed to care.

How bad could DOUBT possibly be? And was it... CANCELED TOO SOON? Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold are on the case, dissecting both episodes of DOUBT to find out why nobody tuned in, what could have saved the series, and figuring out how this rapidly-canceled series would have ended.

Theme Song: "Canceled Too Soon," Courtesy of Heptagon

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Canceled Too Soon #39 - Space Rangers (1993) Mar 26, 2017

Show notes

The year was 1993, and STAR TREK ruled the airwaves. That was good news for Trekkies but bad news for SPACE RANGERS. When this blue collar sci-fi series debuted, STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION was still on the air and STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE had only premiered three days earlier. Audiences just weren't interested in watching SPACE RANGERS, a lower budgeted series that was aired out of order, so it was hard to even tell what was going on.

SPACE RANGERS lasted only six episodes, but was it... canceled too soon? Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold are here to walk you through the intergalactic adventures of this ragtag band of misfits, who fight aliens, defend aliens, annoy aliens and are annoyed by aliens in a television series created by Pen Densham (ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES). How cheap was this cheap, cheap show? And was it really as bad as it looked?

Theme Song: "Canceled Too Soon," Courtesy of Heptagon

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Canceled Too Soon #38 - Manimal (1983) Mar 19, 2017

Show notes

In the history of television, there are few shows that have a more embarrassing reputation than MANIMAL, an NBC series that ran for eight short episodes in 1983, and starred Simon MacCorkindale as a crimefighter who turns into a panther, a hawk, and any other animal the situation requires. Audiences balked, critics laughed, and MANIMAL became a pop culture punchline that endures to this very day.

But was MANIMAL... CANCELED TOO SOON? Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold are on the case! They're breaking down every absurd episode of MANIMAL and giving this infamous dud the critical attention it was always denied, asking the important questions about animal transformations that nobody ever asked (probably). Plus, they've also tracked down the episode of the long-forgotten superhero series NIGHTMAN which - fifteen years after the cancelation of MANIMAL - finally wrapped up the superhero's story... badly.

Theme Song: "Canceled Too Soon," Courtesy of Heptagon

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Canceled Too Soon #37 - Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures (1992) Mar 11, 2017

Show notes

The cult comedies BILL AND TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE and BILL AND TED'S BOGUS JOURNEY got turned into a short-lived live-action sitcom in the early 1990s! The pilot was written by the creators of BETTER OFF DEAD and SEX AND THE CITY, and the series found the lovable goofballs traveling back in time to learn how to rock from Elvis Presley, how to woo ladies from Casanova, and how to do math from Albert Einstein.

BILL AND TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURES only lasted seven episodes on Fox in 1992, but was it... CANCELED TOO SOON? Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold delve into this forgotten television series to figure out what went wrong, what went right, and why one of these episodes is hopelessly and offensively ignorant. If you ever wondered how excellent BILL AND TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURES were, this is the podcast for you!

Theme Song: "Canceled Too Soon," Courtesy of Heptagon

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Canceled Too Soon #36 - Alcatraz (2012) Mar 05, 2017

Show notes

Fifty years ago, hundreds of Alcatraz inmates disappeared. Now, the most notorious criminals in American history are loose in San Francisco, where a tough cop and a comic book nerd team up to find them and discover the real story behind their magic silver blood and super-duper mystery keys. ALCATRAZ was a weird, weird, weird show from Bad Robot, the makers of LOST, that was canceled after only one short season.

But was ALCATRAZ... CANCELED TOO SOON? Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold are on the case! They'll track down every awesome ALCATRAZ guest star - like MR. ROBOT's Rami Malek, MOONLIGHT's Mahershala Ali and LUKE CAGE's Theo Rossi - and delve into every one of this series' lingering mysteries. Was ALCATRAZ a good cop show that suffered from too many prison drama flashbacks? Was it a good prison drama that suffered from too many cop show flashforwards? We're about to find out.

Theme Song: "Canceled Too Soon," Courtesy of Heptagon

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Canceled Too Soon #35 - Police Squad! (1982) Feb 25, 2017

Show notes

David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker took the comedy world by storm with AIRPLANE! in 1980, and two years later they brought their rapid-fire signature schtick to ABC with POLICE SQUAD!, a parody of self-serious cop shows starring Leslie Nielsen as Lt. Frank Drebin, a cop who lives in a wacky world where nobody knows how silly they are.

POLICE SQUAD! became a cult favorite and eventually spawned three blockbuster spin-off movies called THE NAKED GUN, but was it... CANCELED TOO SOON? Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold have invited 80s All Over co-host Drew McWeeny to help explain the history of POLICE SQUAD!, why it's better than THE NAKED GUN and why Drew McWeeny picked a fight with William Bibbiani on the Movie Trivia Schmoedown.

Follow us on Twitter at @CanceledCast, "Like" us at Facebook.com/CanceledTooSoon, follow Bibbs at @WilliamBibbiani and follow Witney at @WitneySeibold. If you like what you hear, subscribe to The B-Movies Podcast for Bibbs and Witney's weekly movie news, reviews and in-depth celebrity interviews!

And be sure to check out Drew McWeeny at 80s All Over, follow him on Twitter at @DrewMcWeeny, and buy his new book You're Watching It Wrong: The Film Nerd 2.0 Guide to Star Wars.

Theme Song: "Canceled Too Soon," Courtesy of Heptagon

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Canceled Too Soon #34 - X-Men (1989) Feb 19, 2017

Show notes

They're some of the most popular superheroes ever created, but before a hit animated series and blockbuster film franchise turned the X-Men into a household name, they were featured in PRYDE OF THE X-MEN, a pilot episode for a different animated series that failed to take off. Back in the late 1980s/early 1990s, X-MEN was one of the most legendary failed pilots ever, even though it got a lot of things wrong, like making Logan (a.k.a. Wolverine) really, really, REALLY... Australian?

But was X-MEN... canceled too soon? Join film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold as they take you back in time to when Saturday morning cartoons ruled the landscape, when Marvel made MUPPET BABIES and when an impressively animated show like PRYDE OF THE X-MEN just wasn't good enough (apparently). Weird details, unexpected trivia and lots of overthinking it abound in this all new episode of CANCELED TOO SOON!

Theme Song: "Canceled Too Soon," Courtesy of Heptagon

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Canceled Too Soon #33 - Point Pleasant (2005) Feb 13, 2017

Show notes

After BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER got canceled, fans found a new destination for teen supernatural horror: POINT PLEASANT, a soap opera about the antichrist, co-created by Marti Noxon (BUFFY) and John J. McLaughlin (BLACK SWAN), starring Elizabeth Harnois, Grant Show, Dina Meyer and - before they got really famous - Aaron Paul and Jon Hamm. It's a strange series, full of teen angst and religious anxiety, and nowadays it's got quite a cult following.

POINT PLEASANT was originally canceled after only eight episodes, but was it... CANCELED TOO SOON? Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold are here to analyze all the sexy subplots, ponder the significance of apocalyptic imagery, complain about the stupid dance competition episode, and debate whether POINT PLEASANT was a soap opera that got hijacked by horror storylines, or a horror show that spent too much time trying to be a soap opera.

Theme Song: "Canceled Too Soon," Courtesy of Heptagon

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Canceled Too Soon #32 - Dragon Half (1993) Feb 06, 2017

Show notes

You know SAILOR MOON, COWBOY BEBOP and NEON GENESIS EVANGELION, but do you recall the most culty anime series of all? It was called DRAGON HALF, its four episode OVA release was canceled after just two episodes, and it's developed an enormous reputation for being funny as hell thanks to anime fans around the world.

But was this satirical saga about a half-girl, half-dragon on a quest to romance a singing dragon slayer... CANCELED TOO SOON? Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold are joined this week by author and artist Michelle Lopes to explain what the heck this wacky anime series was, how the anime medium works, and why DRAGON HALF is still remembered to this day. It's a weird and wild show packed with pop culture jokes and naughty fan service, and we think you're going to be fascinated by it.

Follow us on Twitter at @CanceledCast, "Like" us at Facebook.com/CanceledTooSoon, follow Bibbs at @WilliamBibbiani and follow Witney at @WitneySeibold. Follow our special guest Michelle Lopes at @SpasticSnap and download her book THE DOG NEXT DOOR AND OTHER DISTURBANCES on Amazon! And if you like what you hear, subscribe to The B-Movies Podcast for Bibbs and Witney's weekly movie news, reviews and in-depth celebrity interviews!

Theme Song: "Canceled Too Soon," Courtesy of Heptagon

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com//criticallyacclaimednetwork

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