10 Forgotten TV Shows from 1988 That Flopped HARD
#rememberwhen Scott Bakula was a sleezy lawyer, pre-Friends Matt Leblanc was on a TV news show, and the Navy shut down ABC’s knockoff of Tom Cruise’s biggest hit? From Eisenhower and Lutz to Supercarrier, these 10 forgotten shows flopped so hard that they left a crater.
Future stars like pre-Seinfeld’s Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Courtney Thorne-Smith, and Brad Garrett (before Everybody Loves Raymond) couldn’t save these disasters.
10 Forgotten TV Shows from 1988 That Flopped HARD
Chapters:
00:00 – Intro
01:10 – #10: Eisenhower and Lutz — Scott Bakula, Patricia Richardson
03:27 – #9: Coming of Age — Paul Dooley, Kevin Pollak
05:32 – #8: Murphy’s Law — George Segal
07:35 – #7: First Impressions — Brad Garrett
09:39 – #6: HeartBeat — Kate Mulgrew, Lynn Whitfield
12:16 – #5: Day by Day — Douglas Sheehan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Courtney Thorne-Smith
14:33 – #4: Sonny Spoon — Mario Van Peebles
16:59 – #3: TV 101 — Matt LeBlanc
18:49 – #2: Aaron’s Way — Merlin Olsen, Jessica Walter
21:06 – #1: Supercarrier — Gerardo Mejía, Robert Hooks
Watch more TV fails from the ’80s here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRZTUGHHqdh5POL7oJuEbSjTb47KhZVws
#forgottentvshows #scottbakula #mattleblanc #GeorgeSegal #80sFlops #ClassicTV #Supercarrier #TVHistory #1988TV #TVFails #GenXTV #RememberWhen #TVNostalgia
@TheMarcelo88
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
22:22 ese no es Gerardo Mejia…
@lockandloadlikehell
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
GLAAD media award and it got murdered in the ratings
What a gd surprise
@lockandloadlikehell
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
Yeahhh there were definitely no other tv shows with more than one yenta
@StandsAlone777
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
Sonny Spoon was so horrible they actually stole the plot and script almost line for line of the Simon&Simon episode "Tanks for the Memories" S1 E13 they even used the same song in both episodes and the same footage of the exploding boat.
@JuanCarlos-cv4lg
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
‘…. it’s like your favourite restaurant….’ Bit bored with that catch phrase, people outside the US don’t have a favourite restaurant and don’t like to eat the same sheit all the time, change your record, mate.
@teohproject
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
Quantum Leap was awesome and Day by Day was hilarious!
@dorisbrown3622
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
James Noble ,played the Governor on Benson 😮😊❤ Nene
@RollingAlongTheRIver
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
I was a Day by Day watcher
@j.p.6932
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
22:27 Wow! He got a lot more Latin really quickly
@j.p.6932
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
18:48 I’m a die hard Friends fan and remember TV 101. I had no idea Matt LeBlanc was in it….
@j.p.6932
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
14:12 I remember Day by Day and the Brady Bunch episode. I liked it as a kid, but liked a lot of stupid stuff.
@Oppeldeldoc1
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
At 10:30, it's good that you say the first RECURRING lesbian couple. Because when TV has a REGULAR character doing anything unusual, people kind of ignore all the ONE-TIME characters who did the same thing before that!
@cavspunk08
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
me looking at number 1: oh a Top Gun ripoff
few minutes later: wait RICO SUAVE WAS IN THIS?!
@RenaissanceMundo
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
Michelin stars are giving to the restaurant not the chef
@RossAllaire-wx4og
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
8:35 What did Are You Being Served? do to deserve that slight?
@user-Brian_Gregory
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
I remember watching Eisenhower & Lutz (DeLane Matthews was hot!) and Sonny Spoon. Definitely not the WORST shows on TV at the time.
@bunny70
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
Day by day was a great show. it really showed Gen X before Gen X was a thing. The first generation brought up by Television
@nyc78
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
I enjoyed Sonny Spoon!
@mercytodayministries
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
Why is it that every time someone mention the show "Murphy Law" I always think of "Murphy Brown"?
@tracymickelson6391
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
A show with lesbians won a glad award?! AMAZING!
@Josebarberena1978
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
22:21 that is not Gerardo, that is white dude… nor rico, nor suave, LOL
@deprive-999x
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
Don't knock Days of Our Lives hater.
@RJSchex
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
"TV 101" helped launch 3 carrers, not just that of Matthew LeBlanc.
• Alex Desert ("Becker")
• Stacey Dash ("Clueless")
@marceejohnson4113
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
Sonny Spoons was my ish!
@josephposavac3767
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
The only one of these I remember is Day By Day. I kind of liked it, even aside from the Brady Bunch episode.
@ComedyCentaurus
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
These shows are still better than the shows come out today.
@ChristianMcAngus
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
So much hairspray.
@gogglespisano24
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
I loved Day by Day. It was syndicated as well, which was weird since they didn't have a lot of episodes.
@dellshonewilson6187
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
I loved Sonny Spoon
@cmfort2696
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
I love it when commenters point out inaccuracies in content instead of making their own videos.
@cmfort2696
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
"Rico…"
@angelicdexter
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
TV 101 actually had 17 episodes, but they only aired 13.
@ChampolionHogan
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
How politically correct of you to call sin groundbreaking
@mr.rashadgrice79
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
Why hasn't someone brought up that some shows flopped back then because there was a "TV" version of payola going on?? Please start talking about how certain shows quietly had adverting companies backing them so they had Neilsen workers paid to watch specific shows…
@Shorty_Lickens
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
22:00 Cec Verrel is Silk, from Silk. She was also the tough chick in Hell Comes To Frogtown.
@Shorty_Lickens
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
10:40
For reference, America was ready for lesbians on TV. Networks were famously bad for underestimating what audiences could handle on TV in the late 80's. Also they feared backlash from that tiny percentage of assholes that loves to make a stink about non-issues. The Ellen Show proved those people can be quite scary.
@Shorty_Lickens
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
I dont remember any of these nor do I remember promos for em. And I was watching TV back then.
@ultramaximusreviews
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
How could you not mention that Christopher Daniel Barnes who imagined himself as Greg Brady on Day by Day would actually PLAY Greg Brady in the 2 Brady Bunch movies in the 90s??????
@asamtbuk
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
So before Greys anatomy, there was Heartbeat
@Subo23
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
Sonny Spoon was awesome
@erwindavis9451
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
I remember Sonny Spoon! One of the episodes had a character whose name was Titus Philemon. He was allergic to chocolate and that’s how Sonny was able to prove that he actually knew the guy.
@andiepants
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
I loved Sonny Spoon lol as a wee lass i had a bit of a crush on him 😅
@kramona74
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
Do you have any videos that discuss Brad Garret’s other cancelled show, The Good Life? It was funny and then poof – disappeared!
@Dexy83
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
I only remember Day by Day out of the whole list. 😂
@jamesbonnen
March 14, 2026 at 5:05 pm
9:30 I think Garrett is a great impersonator.
Comments are closed.