The Crew

Before "Desperate Housewives," creator Marc Cherry worked on a string of sitcoms, most notably the "The Golden Girls" and it's spin-off, "The Golden Palace." In 1994, Cherry and his "Golden" writing partner, Jamie Wooten, collaborated on another show called "The 5 Mrs. Buchanans." A hit with critics and fans alike, "Buchanans" was buried on Saturday nights before being unceremoniously canceled after 17 episodes (the same network played similar games with his 2001 sitcom, "Some of My Best Friends," canceling it after only 5 episodes had aired). Then in 1995, Cherry and Wooten sold "The Crew" to Fox. Like all of Cherry's shows, "The Crew" started out funny and progressively got better as the season rolled along. Unfortunately, it was doomed from the start, and few people saw it -- but more on that in a moment.

"The Crew" focused on the staff of stewards and stewardesses at Regency, a small commercial airline. Jess Jameson (Rose Jackson, Carrie the Musical) was a brash, outspoken loudmouth who lived with self-esteemless Maggie Reynolds (Kristin Bauer, "True Blood"). In addition to sharing an apartment and responsibilities at work, Jess and Maggie also share custody of Spats, a foul-tempered, psychotic cat whom Jess couldn't stand. Jess and Maggie's male counterparts were Paul Steadman (David Burke, "The Tick"), a gay guy who fell just short of being queeny (this was pre-"Will and Grace," after all) and his best friend, Randy Anderson (Charles Esten, "Whose Line Is It Anyway?"), a redneck and perpetual ladies man. Their constant pilot was Captain Parker (Lane Davies).

More new shows launched in 1995 than any other season in history, and Fox already had a pre-existing reputation for running through sitcoms like water. Adding fuel to the flame, "Friends" debuted and became a monstrous hit the previous season, so nearly every new sitcom was accused of being a clone (including "The Crew"). Adding further insult, Fox scheduled the show opposite NBC's "Must See TV" Thursday lineup, which included "Friends" and "Seinfeld" (if memory serves, "The Crew"'s competition was "The Single Guy," which got better ratings than NBC ever gave it credit for). Unlike most of Cherry's other shows, "The Crew" didn't click with critics either -- most were too preoccupied with the fact that it was about a group of co-workers who were friends.