My pal Shelly Goldstein linked me to this video of the opening sequences of eighteen (18) short-lived situation comedies of the seventies. My long-ago partner Dennis and I worked briefly on one of them…and come to think of it, everyone who worked on these shows worked briefly on them.
When I see videos like this, I can't help but feel sorry for the performers who are featured in the opening titles…but who then never rose to any similar heights once the show in question was cancelled. For a brief time, they could tell their friends and family, "Hey, I got a series" and they were aware that if it ran as long as M*A*S*H (11 seasons) or Maude (6 seasons), they'd make a heckuva lot of money, be recognized wherever they went for a long time and probably get offers for many other things.
That's if the show lasted long enough to go into syndication. If it was gone at mid-season, they'd have a lot of folks saying, "Hey, what happened to that show you were on?" — which is never a pleasant question to answer. Also, of course, there was the shock of realizing their future income probably wouldn't be what they thought it would be. I heard stories of performers who got a series, made the down payment on a house and/or car and then had to seriously re-plan their lives and wriggle out of some deals.
And when no other acting job turned up quickly, they could get very worried that their careers were somehow tainted by the cancelled series even though it was, to them, either a great show that deserved more of a chance or a poor show that wasn't bad because of them. A lady I knew was on a show not in this montage and when it was quickly axed, she was certain she'd never get another series. And she didn't for about eight weeks.
Watch the video. I never saw some of these programs and odds are neither did you.