10 Sci-Fi TV Shows That Wasted Incredible Premises
4. Manimal
When it comes to awesome premises, they don't come more bizarre and brilliant than this 1983 show. As the title unsubtly suggests, the show explores the life of a man who has the ability to turn himself into an animal. Depending on the requirements of the episode, Dr. Jonathon Chase would transform into a bird or panther, while occasionally popping into other forms such as a shark.
The show was appropriately cheesy in style, but without the humour that was required to make such a fun but silly premise work. Each transformation from man to animal was drawn out in excruciating detail, with actor Simon McCorkindale looking like he was extremely constipated while changing from human to animal.
The stories were all lightweight 'police detective' stories of the week, when the concept was really crying out for a more comic book feel. The Manimal really needed some more otherworldly type villains to take on rather than the goon of the week served up here, as there was never any real sense of threat.
The acting isn't much either, Melody Anderson delivering a performance worthy of a pantomime as Chase's best friend, detective Brooke Mackenzie. Simon McCorkindale fails in the other direction as the Manimal, giving a consistently dull and lifeless performance for a character that just had to be played over the top.