ABC

Do You Remember: Two Episodes and Done

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Over the years there have been a multitude of short-lived dramas, most of which aired for only a few seasons or far less in some instances; but the following dramas aired for only TWO episodes before they were yanked off the air.

The dramas that follow aired during the decade from 2007 to 2017 and included quite a number of familiar faces:

Viva Laughlin aired on CBS in 2007, starring Lloyd Owen (who will soon be seen in the much anticipated The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series on Amazon), as small-time casino owner Ripley Holden, who dreamed of opening a snazzy resort on the Laughlin Strip. The cast included box office hunk Hugh Jackman, former movie starlet Melanie Griffith as well as Twin Peaks alum and Riverdale star Madchen Amick, The Rookie cast member Eric Winter and Lucifer alum D.B. Woodside.

The Beautiful Life: TBL aired on The CW in 2009 and was produced by Ashton Kutcher. The series revolved around a group of models living together in a co-ed residence in New York and included disgraced The O.C. alum Mischa Barton as well as supermodel Elle Macpherson. The cast included Nico Tortorella (Younger), Ashley Madekwe (Revenge), Corbin Bleu (High School Musical franchise); Benjamin Hollingsworth (Virgin River and a number of Hallmark Channel movies), Sara Paxton (Murder in the First and Good Girls) as well as Jamie Murray (Warehouse 13, Defiance, Once Upon a Time and Gotham) and even Wonder Woman Gal Gadot.

Lone Star aired on FOX in 2010. Despite there being high hopes for the show, the series, about a con man (James Wolk from Ordinary Joe and previously Zoo) who lived a double life being married to two different women in two different Texas towns, failed in the ratings. The show co-starred Adrianne Palicki (Friday Night Lights and The Orville), Eloise Mumford (the 50 Shades franchise and The Right Stuff), David Keith (An Officer and a Gentleman), Mark Deklin (Hallmark Channel movie Love and Sunshine and Devious Maids) and Jon Voight (Ray Donovan).

RELATED: Do You Remember

Made In Jersey aired on CBS in 2012. New Amsterdam cast member Janet Montgomery, using a tacky New Jersey accent, played a working-class woman who used her street smarts to compete with her more polished colleagues at a top New York law firm. The cast included Twin Peaks alum Kyle McLachlan, Broadway alum and The Gilded Age cast member Donna Murphy, Hallmark Channel hunk Kristoffer Polaha and SEAL Team alum Toni Truks as well as fan favorite Enver Gjokaj (Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, NCIS: Hawai’i and The Rookie).

Do No Harm aired on NBC in 2013. Rescue Me alum Steven Pasquale played Dr. Jason Cole, a brillian neurosurgeon from 8:25 AM to 8:25 PM, and bad boy Ian Price during the other 12 hours, making him a modern-day Jekyll and Hyde. The series delivered the lowest-rated, in-season debut of any scripted Big 4 series ever. The cast included Hamilton creator extraordinaire Lin-Manuel Miranda along with the one and only Phylicia Rashad; Big Sky baddie John Carroll Lynch and FBI alum Alana De La Garza.

Of Kings & Prophets aired on ABC in 2016. The biblical drama centered around a battle-weary king, a powerful and resentful prophet and a resourceful young shepherd, which was postponed from its original fall launch until mid-season, which spelled doom for the show. The cast included Ray Winstone (Beowulf and The Departed); Jeanine Mason (Roswell, New Mexico); Maisie Richardson-Sellers (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and The Kissing Booth movie franchise); Olly Rix (Call the Midwife and The Spanish Princess); Simone Kessell (the upcoming Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi) and Haaz Sleiman (the box office film Eternals and Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan).

Doubt aired on CBS in 2017. Despite a truly impressive ensemble cast that included Dulé Hill (The Wonder Years, The West Wing and Psych), Laverne Cox (Orange Is the New Black), Katherine Heighl (Grey’s Anatomy, Roswell and Firefly Lane) and Elliott Gould (Ray Donovan), the series about a successful defense lawyer at a boutique firm who becomes romantically involved with a client who may or may not be guilty of a brutal crime, suffered dismal ratings. The cast include the aforementioned Steven Pasquale along with veteran actress Judith Light and Cassidy Freeman (The Righteous Gemstones, Longmire and Smallville).

Do you remember any of these shows? Did you watch them during their extremely limited runs on network TV?

Using her favorite online handle, Rueben is an East Coast-bred gal who is now a permanent Californian and a lifelong tv-oholic. She watches at least 25 TV shows a week, goes to the movies as often as possible, listens to music every waking moment, reads every day and “plays” on the internet every chance she can. Some of her current favorite TV shows are Outlander, Sweet Magnolias, Wednesday, The Mandalorian, The Equalizer, Fire Country, Miss Scarlet, Hudson & Rex, SkyMed, The Rookie, Bridgerton, Cobra Kai, Virgin River, The Witcher, Leverage: Redemption and School Spirits. She is looking forward to the fall TV season, including the return of Outlander, Tracker and The Equalizer and the debuts of the new dramas Matlock, Murder In a Small Town, NCIS: Origins and Cross. Follow her on Bluesky @ruebensramblings.bsky.social or contact her at rueben@nicegirlstv.com. Please also check out Rueben's Ramblings website for even more entertainment news.