Blink and You Missed Their Big Moment
The 1990s introduced dozens of performers as the supposed stars of television’s next great sitcom. Then the ratings arrived, the shows disappeared, and many of their leading actors faded from mainstream memory with them. How many of these forgotten sitcom stars do you remember?
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25. Dweezil Zappa — Normal Life
Musician Dweezil Zappa played teenager Jake Harlow in Normal Life, a family sitcom loosely inspired by the unconventional Zappa household. CBS aired 13 episodes in 1990. Despite also featuring Moon Unit Zappa, Cindy Williams and Max Gail, the experiment ended before viewers could decide what “normal” meant.
Screenshot from Normal Life, Brillstein-Grey Entertainment (1990)
24. John Mendoza — The Second Half
Stand-up comedian John Mendoza co-created and starred in The Second Half as John Palmaro, a divorced Chicago sports columnist juggling work, dating and visits from his daughters. NBC aired 15 episodes during 1993 and 1994, but Mendoza never became the household-name sitcom lead the network envisioned.
Michael S. Schwartz, Getty Images
23. Peter Dobson — Johnny Bago
Peter Dobson played John Tenuti, an ex-con who adopted the name Johnny Bago after being framed for a mob killing. The unusual CBS action-comedy sent him across America in a Winnebago. Only six of eight produced episodes aired in 1993, quickly ending Bago’s strange road trip.
22. Jackie Guerra — First Time Out
Comedian Jackie Guerra starred as an ambitious hairdresser and part-time law student in The WB’s First Time Out. The 1995 sitcom was built around her personality and was promoted as an important showcase for a Latina lead. It lasted one season, with several completed episodes left unaired.
Screenshot from First Time Out, Columbia Pictures Television (1995)
21. Greg Giraldo — Common Law
Before becoming a respected stand-up comedian and television-roast regular, Greg Giraldo starred as attorney John Alvarez in Common Law. ABC’s 1996 sitcom followed a Latino lawyer working at a stuffy Manhattan firm. Only four episodes aired before it was removed from the schedule. Objection sustained, apparently.
Screenshot from Common Law, Warner Bros. Television (1996)
20. Sue Costello — Costello
Fox gave comedian Sue Costello her own self-titled sitcom in 1998. She played Sue Murphy, a sharp-tongued South Boston bartender contending with her family and stalled personal life. Eight episodes were produced, but only four aired before the network pulled the plug. That is barely enough time to unpack an accent.
Screenshot from Costello, Buena Vista Television (1998)
19. Anthony Tyler Quinn — Ask Harriet
Anthony Tyler Quinn starred as Jack Cody, a fired sportswriter who disguised himself as a woman to secure an advice-column job. Fox ordered 13 episodes of Ask Harriet in 1998 but aired only five. Quinn’s starring vehicle disappeared so quickly that even the fictional newspaper probably forgot his employment paperwork.
Screenshot from Ask Harriet, Columbia TriStar Domestic Television (1998)
18. Mike Damus — Teen Angel
Mike Damus starred as Marty DePolo in ABC’s supernatural TGIF comedy Teen Angel. Marty died after eating an old hamburger and returned as his best friend’s guardian angel—certainly one way to discourage food waste. The series aired 17 episodes between 1997 and 1998 before ascending permanently from the schedule.
Screenshot from Teen Angel, Touchstone Television (1997-1998)
17. John DiResta — DiResta
Stand-up comedian and former transit police officer John DiResta played a fictionalized version of himself in UPN’s DiResta. The comedy followed his character at work and at home with his family. Fifteen episodes aired between 1998 and 1999, but the series never returned for another shift.
Michael Tullberg, Getty Images
16. Royale Watkins — Built to Last
Comedian Royale Watkins played a man who postponed his career plans to help operate his family’s construction company after his father suffered a health scare. NBC’s Built to Last drew inspiration from Watkins’s real family. Eight episodes were produced in 1997, but only three reached television.
Screenshot from Built to Last, Warner Bros. Television (1997)
15. Jon Patrick Walker — Holding the Baby
Jon Patrick Walker starred as Gordon Stiles, an advertising executive suddenly raising an infant after his wife left for Tibet with another man. Fox’s 1998 adaptation of the British sitcom Holding the Baby produced 13 episodes but aired only seven. Evidently, the network was also unwilling to hold the baby for long.
14. Eric Schaeffer — Too Something
Eric Schaeffer co-created and starred in Too Something as aspiring writer Eric McDougal. Fox later renamed the struggling show New York Daze, but the new title did not produce new enthusiasm. The comedy appeared sporadically between 1995 and 1996, with many completed episodes never broadcast.
Screenshot from Too Something, Warner Bros. Television (1995-1996)
13. Rondell Sheridan — Minor Adjustments
Rondell Sheridan headlined Minor Adjustments as child psychologist Dr. Ron Aimes, who understood his young patients better than the adults surrounding him. NBC dropped the sitcom in 1995, but UPN picked it up and aired the remaining installments. Despite changing networks, it still ended after one 20-episode season.
Screenshot from Minor Adjustments, NBC (1995-1996)
12. Brian McNamara — Pig Sty
Brian McNamara played straight-laced writer Randy Fitzgerald in Pig Sty, one of UPN’s earliest sitcoms. Randy moved into a New York apartment occupied by four deeply untidy men, creating something resembling Friends after a sanitation strike. The comedy completed 13 episodes during 1995 and was not renewed.
Screenshot from Pig Sty, United Paramount Network (1995)
11. Rose Jackson — The Crew
Rose Jackson played flight attendant Jess Jameson in Fox’s The Crew. The 1995 sitcom followed airline employees who worked together and shared an apartment building in Miami. Although 21 episodes aired, the series failed to secure a second season, and Jackson never became the breakout sitcom name producers may have anticipated.
Screenshot from The Crew, 20th Century Fox Television (1995)
10. Tom Rhodes — Mr. Rhodes
Comedian Tom Rhodes starred as a struggling novelist who returned to his hometown and became an English teacher at the private school he once attended. NBC’s Mr. Rhodes debuted in 1996. Nineteen episodes were produced, but two went unaired, and Rhodes’s anticipated sitcom breakthrough quietly ended.
Screenshot from Mr. Rhodes, Universal Television (1996-1997)
9. Rick Reynolds — Life… and Stuff
Rick Reynolds brought his autobiographical comedy to CBS with Life… and Stuff, playing married writer Rick Boswell opposite former Mork & Mindy star Pam Dawber. Six episodes were produced for the 1997 summer series, but CBS aired only three. Even the title seemed unsure what else to mention.
Screenshot from Life… and Stuff, Columbia TriStar Domestic Television (1997)
8. Ralph Louis Harris — On Our Own
Ralph Louis Harris played Josh Jerrico, the eldest of seven orphaned siblings attempting to keep his family together. He also disguised himself as “Aunt Jelcinda” to satisfy social services. ABC aired 20 episodes of On Our Own during 1994 and 1995, but Harris largely disappeared from mainstream television afterward.
Screenshot from On Our Own, ABC(1994-1995)
7. John Caponera — The Good Life
Stand-up comedian John Caponera starred as working-class family man John Bowman in NBC’s The Good Life. The series also featured a then-little-known Drew Carey as John’s friend and coworker. All 13 episodes aired in 1994, but it was Carey—not Caponera—who soon received a long-running sitcom.
Screenshot from The Good Life, Touchstone Television (1994)
6. Thea Vidale — Thea
Comedian Thea Vidale starred as widowed mother Thea Armstrong-Turrell, who supported four children while working multiple jobs. ABC’s Thea aired 19 episodes in 1993 and 1994. The show also featured young performers Brandy Norwood and Jason Weaver, but Vidale’s leading sitcom role lasted just one season.
Screenshot from Thea, ABC (1993-1994)
5. Bobby Hosea — Singer & Sons
Bobby Hosea played Mitchell Patterson in NBC’s Singer & Sons, a comedy about two Black brothers helping an elderly Jewish widower operate his family delicatessen. The summer series had an experienced cast that included Harold Gould and Esther Rolle, yet NBC aired only four episodes in June 1990.
4. Richard Jeni — Platypus Man
Popular stand-up comedian Richard Jeni received his own UPN sitcom in 1995. Platypus Man borrowed its title and material from his comedy routines, casting him as the host of a cooking program aimed at men. The network aired 13 episodes, but Jeni’s sitcom career ended with that single season.
Screenshot from Platypus Man, United Paramount Network (1995)
3. Tim Conlon — Wild Oats
Tim Conlon played Chicago photographer Jack Slayton in Fox’s Wild Oats, a comedy about four single friends that premiered shortly before Friends. Six episodes were produced in 1994, but only four aired. Supporting actor Paul Rudd became famous; the man receiving top billing largely vanished from public memory.
Screenshot from Wild Oats, Fox Broadcasting Company (1994)
2. Stephen Dunham — Oh, Grow Up
Stephen Dunham played construction-company owner Hunter Franklin in ABC’s Oh, Grow Up. The 1999 sitcom followed three former college roommates sharing a Brooklyn home and reluctantly confronting adulthood. Thirteen episodes were produced, but two went unaired, and Dunham’s leading sitcom opportunity ended before the new millennium arrived.
Screenshot from Oh, Grow Up, Twentieth Century Fox Television (1999)
1. Dan Gauthier — Muscle
Dan Gauthier starred as Kent Atkinson in Muscle, The WB’s 1995 parody of prime-time soap operas. Set inside a fictional New York fitness club, it featured affairs, schemes and deliberately ridiculous melodrama. The network aired 13 episodes, but the proposed second season—and Gauthier’s moment as a sitcom headliner—never materialized.
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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
