Best known as ‘The Jim and Tammy show’ the 1974 TV show ‘The P.T.L. Club’ was a Christian program hosted by a religious couple; its name stood for “Praise the Lord.” Luckily, viewers quickly discovered this show had nothing to do with God and everything to do with scams and money.
The show was basically designed as a scam to steal people’s money, and even though it lasted 14 seasons, mainly because it only aired in the Christian PTL satellite network, everything fell apart in the late 1980s. One of the show’s hosts, Jim Bakker, was accused of abuse and convicted for fraud and conspiracy.
Big Hawaii
Another NBC show from the '70s that barely lasted two months was 'Big Hawaii.' Released in 1977, the show came out shortly after a pilot film, 'Danger in Paradise,' which aired in May of that same year. Starring Cliff Potts, John Dehner, and Lucia Stralser, 'Big Hawaii' followed the story of the wealthy Fears family, who owns the lavish Paradise Ranch in Hawaii.
Drama ensued, but unfortunately, it wasn't exciting enough to keep the show from being canceled after just 12 episodes, out of which only 9 aired.
Highcliffe Manor
Inspired by the 1966 Gothic soap opera 'Dark Shadows,' NBC's 'Highcliffe Manor' was released in 1979, and it definitely had promise. The show was a horror-themed sitcom that featured Shelley Fabares, Ernie Hudson, Audrey Landers, Jenny O'Hara, and Stephen McHattie. Each episode lasted 30 minutes.
Fabares played Helen Blacke, a widow who recently inherited a lavish mansion in Massachusetts that's filled with paranormal characters that want to get her out of the house. Even worse, the strange characters were also planning to take over the world and create chaos by cloning world leaders. As interesting and entertaining as this all sounds, the show was canceled after only six episodes due to low ratings. Guess some things are just better on paper.
Lucan
Based on a successful TV movie, 'Lucan' was an adventure series released in 1977 by ABC. A young and handsome Kevin Brophy played Lucan, a young man that had been raised by wolves during the first ten years of his life. After being rescued by a doctor, played by John Randolph, and taught how to live in modern society, Lucan is wrongly accused of a crime and runs away again.
The whole series, which lasted all of 11 episodes, was a cat-and-mouse game between Lucan and the cop that's chasing him, Prentiss. The fact that the boy was raised in the wild certainly gives him some edge to surviving on his own, but even with all that excitement and adventure, the show got dropped after a year.
Gemini Man
Based on H.G. Wells' 'The Invisible Man,' NBC's 1976 TV show, 'Gemini Man,' had high hopes of success. The story revolved around Sam Casey (Ben Murphy), a secret agent who could become invisible at any time thanks to a special watch he wore. If Casey remained invisible for more than fifteen minutes within a 24-hour period, he would die.
But unfortunately, out of 11 produced episodes, only 5 made it to air after the show was abruptly cancelled. Viewers weren't impressed by the plot or Casey's lead role of a semi-superhero.