Sitcoms have always been hit and miss, but a good thing about today’s sitcoms is they aren’t as gimmicky as they used to be. Gimmicky sitcoms in the science fiction and fantasy realm are an odd breed, as they want us to laugh at something that isn’t really relatable. How are we supposed to laugh at sitcoms where the characters aren’t even human? My girlfriend isn’t a genie or a witch and my roommate isn’t an alien I have to hide. Sometimes it was such a desperate attempt at a gimmick, sometimes it was in poor taste but most of the time, it wasn’t offensive, but much as just odd. On this list are sitcoms with very unrelatable premises, but did try to make it work.
Here are 10 sitcoms with more than groan-worthy laughs, but premises that defy logic.
10. What A Dummy (1990-1991)
A knock-off of ALF, “What A Dummy” tries really hard to make an already crazy premise work with an even more crazy one. A family living in New Jersey finds a mysterious box in their attic, and when they open it, a magic living dummy comes out and next thing you know, the family has a new roommate. This sitcom was the first role for future Fast and Furious star, Stephen Dorff as the teenage son. Also, their neighbor is played by the famous Kaye Ballard, who later admitted in an interview she regretted being on this show. A sitcom that aired mostly on the early days of FOX as a syndicated show, it featured a laugh track and only lasted 22 episodes. One episode is on YouTube, and that’s it.
9. Scorch (1992)
This was another “ALF” knock off, with yet another puppet. It only aired 3 episodes before CBS pulled it from their lineup. At the time, networks had a weird obsession with supernatural puppets in sitcoms. Scorch, a small 1,300 year old dragon is hit by lightning and crash lands in front of the apartment of a single dad (Jonathan Walker) and his daughter (Rheda Silver-Smith) in Hartford, Connecticut. So what do they do instead of calling animal control? Find a reason to make him a new room mate of course! The dad is a weatherman at a local station, and pitches his new dragon pal as a puppet to do the weather with, with only him and his daughter knowing the truth. As for the premise, it sounds like a fun kids fantasy novel idea, but as a sitcom, huh?
8. Madame’s Place (1982-1983)
This is a sitcom about Madame, once again, airing in syndication and not on a solid network. This one actually came before “ALF”, so unlike other puppet sitcoms, this one isn’t a “ALF” knock off, so I guess it has that going for it. The show was about an old horny woman named Madame, living with her production assistant, butler, niece and a noisy neighbor kid played by a young Cory Feldman. She also hosts a TV show from her big house, and there’s interview segments with celebrities from the time between the hijinks in the episode’s main stories. Oh, and Madame’s a puppet. “Madame’s Place” was made to air a new episode every day, so over one season, there were 150 episodes.
7. Teen Angel (1997)
TGIF actually had one of the better gimmicky sitcoms to ever air, which was “Sabrina The Teenage Witch”, starring Melissa Joan Hart, which ran a whole 7 seasons, starting on ABC and finishing up on the WB. The sitcom was based on a beloved Archie comic book series, and starred sitcom mainstay Melissa Joan Hart, had some heart, wit and good characters. However, if a teenage witch is charming, a teenage angel isn’t because an angel has to die first, which is a really bad way to start what is supposed to be a TGIF sitcom. The premise was that a teen boy’s best friend dies after eating a hamburger that was under his bed. Later, he comes back to hang out with his grieving friend. Whacky? Starring Mike Demus and Corbin Allred, it might have worked as a teen buddy sitcom, but with the whole grime set up hanging over it, it doesn’t work. It was also created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, the iconic Simpsons writers duo and the creators of the way ahead of its time, “The Critic”, considered one of the greatest short lived shows of all time, so this one is a headscrather.
6. Angel From Hell (2016)
Yet another angel sitcom, we are going more current this time. “Angel From Hell” was a sitcom from 2016, which CBS cancelled it after 8 episodes. A single camera sitcom starring Jane Lynch, Maggie Lawson, Kyle Bornheimer and Kevin Pollak sounds like a great show with a great cast. So where did it go wrong? The crazy premise of course. Jane Lynch plays a seemingly random woman who starts showing up everywhere Maggie Lawson’s character goes. Lynch tells Lawson that she’s her guardian angel, and instead of calling the police, what does she do? She decides to have her prove it! This woman is a total stranger and rides a bike everywhere. I wouldn’t trust her, but this is bad sitcom logic. If there was another explanation for Jane Lynch’s character, like a crazy mom or crazy step mom, that might work but random guardian angel without any proof? Sketchy. Also, TV critics also pointed out Maggie Lawson’s character didn’t have anything so bad in her life that would justify a guardian angel. Her problems were pretty normal level stuff. Most of the critics pointed out those two giant flaws of the promise, but by then it was too late for this show not have the plug pulled.
5. You Wish (1997-1998)
TGIF was really starting to fade in popularity during the late 90s to early 2000s. Like “Teen Angel”, ABC was looking to save their fading line up with gimmicky fantasy sitcoms. This one was an attempt at an update of “I Dream Of Jeannie”, which while fun to watch as an old fashioned romp of a show, does not age well for sexist reasons. However, it still has a charm as old fashioned retro fun if you don’t read too much into it. I guess what I’m saying is people still remember “I Dream Of Jeannie”. People don’t remember “You Wish”. “You Wish” flipped the premise with a single mom played by Harley Jane Kozach, who buys an old rug, and a genie comes out of it, played by John Ales. Wackiness happens as he lives with her and her kids, and they all learn to live with a genie. Not only does he not have a bottle, he somehow lives in a rug (?) but the writers didn’t even give the genie a name. They literally named the character Genie. ABC quickly regretted the series and made a wish they could go back in time and not greenlit it. “You Wish” was cancelled after 13 episodes.
4. Cavemen (2007)
Geico Car Insurance got really creative with their advertising in the early 2000s, ditching more traditional commercials and switching to advertising with a humorous feel. One of their most creative and offbeat ads was about a literal Caveman getting offended at an ad for Geico’s website, saying it’s so easy a Caveman can do it. That’s creative for a quick spot but a whole 22 minute show? Not so much. Starring an actor named Bill English and comedian Nick Kroll as the cavemen, the whole sitcom evolved around the one joke of them being offended at people making fun of cavemen, which in this universe, is a race I guess? ABC pulled the show after 6 episodes out of 13 episodes aired. However, Nick Kroll would bounce back later with the critically acclaimed cable sitcom “The League”, which ran for 7 seasons on FX from 2009 to 2015.
3. My Mother The Car (1965-1966)
This sitcom is regularly considered one of the worst TV shows of all times. It made one season with 30 episodes before being cancelled by NBC. The premise was that a man’s mother dies, and she comes back as his talking car. The car talks to her owner, who is also her son, and the car is also his dead mother. That’s it. That’s the plot. In 2002, TV Guide proclaimed it the second worst TV show ever made, only after The Jerry Springer Show took the top spot on their list. Starring Jerry Van Dyke, it also might be one of the worst career decisions in Hollywood history. Jerry Van Dyke picked this show himself, and turned down two offers from other TV shows in the same year he was offered. One was to be a cast member of The Andy Griffith Show and the other was the lead role on Gilligan’s Island. Ouch.
2. Meego (1997)
Fresh off “Perfect Strangers”, which ran for 8 seasons on ABC, Bronson Pinchot went over to CBS, along with TGIF mainstays “Family Matters” and “Step By Step” for their new Friday night lineup, The CBS Block Party. This was CBS’s attempt to beat ABC in the ratings on Friday night. Oddly, this was also when TGIF was starting to fade in popularity anyway, so CBS’s attempt seemed outdated the minute they started. Bronson Pinchot starred in this science fiction sitcom as an alien who befriends a group of siblings, who have trouble keeping a nanny, and who’s dad is Ed Bagley Jr. Not only was the alien character just a groan worthy catch phrase machine with whacky mannerisms, but the father character hires the random guy as their nanny because he was simply told he was from Canada, by the siblings. Did he at least ask what agency sent him or he had references working with kids he could check? Nope. Sitcom! The siblings are played by 90s kid actor darlings of the time, Michell Trachtenberg, Will Estes and Jonthan Lipnicki. CBS cancelled it after 7 episodes out of 13 made, along with the rest of the “CBS Block Party” lineup.
1. Small Wonder (1985-1989)
Even for 80s TV, this is a strange one. It’s the syndicated sitcom “Small Wonder”. Basically, it’s an ALF like set up. However, the premise is that a family pretends a realistic kid robot is their adopted daughter. Yes, that’s really the premise. Played by Tiffany Brissette, VICKI (short for Voice Input Child Identicant), lives with her family, who is really the family of her inventor in a seemingly normal house. The sitcom around her is mostly a generic family sitcom, with generic parents, a generic young son, a generic annoying neighbor and a generic neighborhood woman played by Edie McClurg who is a bit of a snoop,and suspects something weird about Vicki. Baffling however, Vicki talks in monotone throughout the series and comes off wooden, taking out any charm this series could have had. Created by Howard Leeds, who co-created “Silver Spoons” and “The Facts of Life”, I figured he thought it might have been fun to create something a bit more science fiction or fantasy based, but even for that, this is a bizarre idea. However, the most bizarre thing about this series is the fact it had a decent run. 96 episodes over 4 seasons, and you can even get the whole series on DVD courtesy Shout Factor. Besides fondness for this series from growing up in the 80s, or mobib curiosity, I don’t know why you would?
