'70s TV Flops That Are Actually Worth Watching

Not every TV show can be a successful one — just ask Martin Landau, whose 1975 big budget outer space adventure was a disaster on par with a moon thrown out of orbit. From supernatural detectives to cheesy sci-fi, these shows may have failed in the ratings, but they’re still worth the watch.

#Scifi #TVSeries #BattlestarGalactica

Mrs. Columbo | 0:00
Hawkins | 1:13
Battlestar Galactica | 2:07
Fish | 3:03
Ghost Story | 3:48
Delta House | 4:40
Bridget Loves Bernie | 5:27
Gerry Anderson's UFO | 6:28
Space: 1999 | 7:27
The Invisible Man | 8:35
Kolchak: The Night Stalker | 9:42
The Manhunter | 11:06

Voiceover By: Daniel Smith

[Looper]

Which of these shows do you think deserves a second look?

[ErraticPT]

Space 1999 and the original BSG were no flops, atleast not here in the UK.

[grhandsftl]

Battlestar Galactica wasn't a flop. It was too expensive per episode. It was very loved in the 70s

[TheDunc]

Both U.F.O. and Space 1999 were not flops. Patchy success in the States and massive success in other countries. The shows were accompanied by a massive merchandise campaign and continue to be shown all over the world still making money for their owners I.T.V. Global.

[RandomGreymane]

Space: 1999 is one of the series I grew up on. One thing a lot of people don’t realize is it’s closer to scifi-horror than plain scifi. Also I lost a toy Eagle transporter as a kid (metal made by Dinky toys) and it took me years to justify buying a new one as an adult. It sits proudly in my workspace at home. :-)

[cryptking]

Battlestar Galactica did fantastic in the ratings, it was canceled due to budget.

[Coni]

Galactic, UFO and Space 1999 were staples of my childhood. Not sure what criteria you use to determine 'flop'

[LabOfficial]

Galactica, UFO and Space 1999 were most definitely NOT flops. The series are still shown today and the merchandise still shifts very healthy units.

[RSmith]

I'm so glad you included Ghost Story/Circle of Fear! They did some great episodes. The one with 11-year-old Jodie Foster is brilliant. And an episode with Patricia Neal as a woman whose husband vanishes in a mysterious casino. Great stuff.

[taipion]

Kolchak - “While the initial two stories might’ve done well as primetime movies of the week…” is a funny way of saying the first one was the highest-rated original television film on US television.

[davidroddick]

I LOVED the Night Stalker. My sister has the series on DVD, and we watched it recently. Darrin McGavin was brilliant as the bumbling reporter who always got on the nerves of the police who were investigating the crimes.

[normanlennox]

So many of these shows were excellent, and not flops. Among the excellent are UFO, Space 1999, Battlestart Galactica, and Kolchak. BS was a hit, but the studio ran rampage all over it, and crapped the bed.

[rushmore]

Space 1999 was not a flop. The US execs made Anderson change almost everything and cut the budget.

[kali]

UFO wasn't a flop. It was popular, but not popular enough in the States, so Gerry Anderson reframed it as Space 1999.

Gerry Anderson also produced The Secret Service, which was another of his puppet shows but used double-talk specialist Stanley Unwin as a priest who serves as a secret agent along with a partner who can shrink thanks to a device owned by the priest. ITC's Lord Lew Grade looked at it and said "Cancel it! They won't understand Unwin in America." Anderson tried to convince Grade that no one was SUPPOSED to understand Unwin - that was the point - but Grade wouldn't listen. So, it was only a flop in the sense that no one had any faith in the show and refused to let it find its audience. It is really worth watching, however.

[badplay]

I remember Space 1999. I did a review which I titled Space 1899. The premise was ridiculous on basic science. The idea was the moon was blown out of orbit. It then went to other solar systems where it miraculously slowed down from light speed to spending days within the solar system. I liked Kolchak but it's problem was that as per normal at that time each show was a standalone entity and there just weren't enough monsters they could do.

[Bo_Nidle]

UFO was popular in the U.K. It should be re-booted, but only once, and if, the entertainment industry ever regains its sanity.
The first season of Space:1999 had some very good episodes (The episode “Dragons Domain” is still disturbing) but when the destroyer of franchises Fred Freiberger took over the second season, (he had already destroyed Star Trek and The six million dollar man, ) he promptly wrecked Space:1999 too.

[davidc]

When I was kid in the 1970s everyone I knew loved The Night Stalker. Hard to believe it was short lived.

[brokenbridge]

I've seen the 70's Battlestar Galactica and it sure is a fun watch. Glad I bought the DVD when I did.

[cstephen]

Space 1999, Battlestar Galactica (and Buck Rogers for that matter) all had great starts but then the studios decided on a new direction, didn't gain any fans and lost the old ones, usually dumbing down the stories and characters into simple action pieces with no depth

[jules-yirn]

Battlestar Galactica was pretty dope in it's first run....it also gave me something to watch after I was blown away by Star Wars. It really helped my seven year old brain get hooked on sci-fi, I guess🙂.