Cliffhangers
Cliffhangers was a short-lived TV show that aired in 1979 on NBC. It featured three segments that aped the format of cliffhanger serials, which were
- Stop Susan Williams -- a female reporter investigates the murder of her brother and becomes involved in an international conspiracy
- The Secret Empire -- A hybrid Western/sci-fi story, heavily inspired by TThe Phantom Empire
- The Curse of Dracula -- Dracula comes back as a modern-day college teacher
The series all started In Media Res with chapters greater than 1 that even continued from nonexistent cliffhanger endings from the "previous episode". Onlt The Curse of Dracula ended in the USA, although international broadcasts and Compilation Movies end all three series. They generally aired one segment of each per week. It was intended that serials would be replaced by new serials or new stories in old serials once they had ended, but the show didn't last that long.
- Cliff Hanger, of course.
- Compilation Movie
- Conspiracy Thriller: Stop Susan Williams
- The Danza: Susan Anton as Susan Williams.
- Deliberately Monochrome: The Secret Empire was in "beautiful black and white" in the Western segments and in color in the science fiction segments (which took place in the same time period, but underground)
- Film Serial
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Dracula's motivation.
- Keep Circulating the Tapes: The series is unavailable on video of any sort but is commonly bootlegged at science fiction conventions.
- The Nth Doctor: Tara in The Secret Empire.
- Poorly-Disguised Pilot: Every serial was potentially this, although none ever became an independent series.
- Retraux: emulating the serial style, as well as black and white in The Secret Empire.
- Vampire Refugee: Mary's mother
Live-action TV from the United States of America
Live Action TV series that belong to the Science Fiction genre.
For tropes commonly used in these works, see Speculative Fiction Tropes. For series that fall under other sub-genres of Speculative Fiction, see Speculative Fiction Series.
Note: If a series is already on one of the listed sub-categories, do not list it here.
Categories by decade:
Live Action TV examples of The Western. See also Category:Film Westerns and Western Literature.
- ↑ All the Warner Brothers Studio television western stars who had programs on ABC in 1959. From left to right: "Sugarfoot" Brewster (Sugarfoot), Johnny McKay (Lawman), Bart Maverick (Maverick), Bronco Laine (Bronco), Bret Maverick (Maverick), Christopher Colt (Colt .45), and Dan Troop (Lawman).