Running Down Every Canceled Fox Show From The 'Family Guy': "North By North Quahog" Cold Open: The Hopeless Batch

Round 3 is finally here and there’s lots of surprises to be found, but in the details, not the goal.

Credit: 20th Television Animation

Oh boy, it’s been a while hasn’t it. Over six months ago, on what happened to be Family Guy’s 18th anniversary of its return, I went through about a quarter of the 29 shows Peter mentioned in that infamous opening scene of “North by North Quahog” to see whether they were streaming anywhere. By the end of the month, I did about another quarter. But then things got busy. So much that the gap between part 2 and this third part is more than four times the amount of articles between parts 1 and 2. And now, as I hit article 500 in front of a subscribership double and a half the size it was the last time, it felt right to push off other news and come back. In the time since, notable streaming absentees among popular series, like L.A. Law and Moonlighting are now available on Prime Video and Hulu respectively. So what about the less successful?

While we cover any changes to status on what’s already covered, I just want to make clear this is very Americentric, because when checking back up on Dark Angel, one of the results that came up was a Disney+ page, obviously for other regions. Undeclared is purchasable on Amazon. Out of everything, it seems we lost Action to the digital marketplaces, it’s no longer streaming on Crackle. I also realized that in my original investigation in March, I left off three of the 29 shows. So while I don’t know what their status was then or in May, they will be addressed here for their current status.

But first, let’s kick things off with Get Real, a show with a fascinating cast but absolutely zero reason to be here. The series, created by Suddenly Susan creator and eventual initial Dexter showrunner Clyde Phillips, ran 20 of its 22 episodes from September 1999 to April 2000. The series follows parents Mitch and Mary Green, who started their family as teenagers, now seeing their marriage falter. Oldest child Meghan is class valedictorian nominee, accepted to UC Berkeley, but announces she is foregoing college. Slacker middle child Cameron brings girls to stay the night. Awkward youngest child Kenny is a frequent bullying target. Mary's mother Elizabeth is living with them after her recent windowing. The cast is actually full of familiar faces. Mitch and Mary are played by Jon Tenney, eventually of The Closer and Major Crimes, and Debra Farentino, eventually of Eureka. The kids? They’re Anne Hathaway, Eric Christian Olsen, and Jesse Eisenberg. This was Hathaway and Eisenberg’s first respective roles period. Truly unhatched star power right there. Sure, Family Guy was canceled after season 2, but still got the reprieve to get that third season, the hiatus after which Get Real could not air. In fact, it’s had no home media releases, so those two unaired episodes have never been released. The start of these A-list actors’ careers is available nowhere legally and that’s why there was a rescuer on YouTube who started posting episodes in June 2020.

FreakyLinks, originally called Fearsum is a supernatural science fiction series, mixing horror, mystery and comedy. It was created by David S. Goyer and Gregg Hale, and marketed similarly to The Blair Witch Project. That was achieved with its own defictionalized freaklylinks.com website, which in the show Derek Barnes and his friends Chloe and Jason run. They seek out the dark and forbidden truths behind paranormal phenomena and urban legends, after Derek’s twin brother, Adam, died under mysterious circumstances. They would investigate supernatural claims for the website in search of the truth of his brother's fate. Derek was played by Can’t Hardly Wait’s Ethan Embry, Jason by Karim Prince, who played Cestro the Blue Aquitian Ranger in Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers and Power Rangers Zeo, and Chloe by Lisa Sheridan, whose last television roles included Murder in the First and Still the King before chronic alcoholism took her life in 2019 at the age of 44. This is definitely another “should this have been included?” because its thirteen episodes originally ran from October 6, 2000 to June 22, 2001, situated comfortably within the aforementioned rollercoaster between seasons 2 and 3 of Family Guy (season 3 didn’t premiere until nearly a year after the largely March to August 2000 release of season 2).

Or at least it would be comfortable if it didn’t end up such a mess. The marketing seemed mismatched, and there were low ratings. Goyer was fired after a certain objected-to scene. The studio continued to meddle with the series with much discussion between the creators. The producers at Haxan wanted more frights while Fox wanted the comedic lean. Embry confirmed the original showrunner was axed at the start and the tone shifted, forcing them to rediscover it by the seat of their pants. Creative differences led to many jumping ship. After a rerun stint on Chiller (remember that channel?) the series mostly disappeared, without even a physical home release, let alone streaming availability.

The $treet is yet another show whose spot probably could’ve gone to a show that failed during the Family Guy cancellation that actually stuck, as it only managed to air 7 of its 12 episodes from November 1 to December 13, 2000. It was created by Darren Star, creator of Beverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place, Sex and the City, its follow-up, And Just Like That…, Younger, and Uncoupled, and Jeff Rake, who developed The Mysteries of Laura and created Manifest. The series follows following a group of New York City stockbrokers entrenched in money, power, relationships and backstabbing as they work at the Belmont Stevens brokerage house. The cast includes another That Thing You Do! actor, Tom Everett Scott, as well as Jennifer Connelly, Giancarlo Esposito, the other Adam Goldberg, Firefly’s Sean Maher, and Royal Match spokesman Rick Hoffman from Suits. The episodes unaired in the United States did air overseas but the series hasn’t had any kind of home media release.

With Luis, which is pronounced like Louie but even predates the premiere of preceding Louis CK series Lucky Louie by a year, this is Luis Guzman’s vehicle series, where he works in a doughnut shop. It seems to have been bathed in stereotypes and cliches according to a TV Guide review. Created by Will Gluck, it lasted 4 episodes of its 10 total from September 19 to October 17, 2003 before becoming the first cancellation that season, which was while Family Guy was canceled. We also find our second It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia cast member, a clean shaven Charlie Day! Grimm and Prison Break’s Reggie Lee is a delivery boy named Zhing Zhang. This is another show that has no physical release, let alone streaming.

Wanda at Large was a Wanda Sykes vehicle, co-creating the series with Les Firestein, Lance Crouther, and Bruce Helford, who worked with Sykes in her three appearances on The Drew Carey Show. Her presences on Crank Yankers and Curb Your Enthusiasm were already in place. As the show goes, Sykes played Wanda Hawkins, a former government worker who decides to become a stand-up comedian. Through her friend Keith, played by Dale Godboldo, she becomes a new editorial correspondent for a low-rated political talk show. She has a widowed sister, a niece and a nephew at home she has to deal with. Other co-stars included Phil Morris and Jurnee Smollett. A 6-episode midseason replacement premiering in March 2003, it was renewed for a second season and put in a Friday night comedy block for a 13-episode season 2 with the new Luis. It was canceled when Luis was, leaving 5 episodes unaired. Allegedly, they eventually aired in July 2006 on TV One, and the series did stream on Tubi…in May 2022 and may have already left by March, and is definitely gone now.

Let’s finish it off with probably the most egregious “WHY ARE YOU HERE?” of the entire list: Costello. Maybe the writers have something against her and wanted to laugh, but the series starred its co-creator and producer, comedian Sue Costello. It’s about Sue Murphy, a barmaid recovering from a breakup played by Costello and her South Boston Irish-American family. Dan Lauria’s in this. It originally aired from September 15 to October 13, 1998, leaving half of its 8 episodes unaired. But yes, you read that right. Costello didn’t even live long enough to see Family Guy premiere in the first place. I’d never heard of Sue Costello before looking it up for this. I imagine much of my audience doesn’t know or remember her either. The absolute burying of this show probably has a lot to do with it.

Well that makes for another good round. Dunno if the next will be the last but we’re definitely closer to the end. Thanks so much for marking 500 articles with me.

Source: JoBlo