TLC Shows You Forgot Existed

These days, TLC is home to a jaw-dropping array of reality television fare, ranging from "1000-Lb Sisters" to "90 Day Fiancé" and its seemingly endless stream of spinoffs. Given the current programming lineup, it's easy to forget that the origins of TLC were far more high-minded, originally springing from a NASA-linked government initiative dubbed the Appalachian Education Satellite Project. The result was the launch of The Learning Channel (TLC) in 1972, initially under the auspices of the Appalachian Community Service Network (ACSN). In 1991, the cable network was purchased by Discovery Communications, branded as an educational broadcaster. 

Over the course of the 1990s, The Learning Channel evolved away from its educational roots and morphed into the TLC that viewers know today, thanks to such high-profile hits as "Extreme Couponing," "Trading Spaces," and "What Not to Wear." During the ensuing decades, TLC continued to evolve, exploring various niches such as unique and unusual families (a category that ran the gamut from "19 Kids and Counting" to "Sister Wives" to "Little People, Big World") and the so-called "celebreality" genre — at one point TLC even attempted to claim some space in the late-night sphere with the launch of a short-lived talk show.

There have been so many shows that have aired on the network over the years that it's easy for many of them to slip anyone's memory.

By 2000, the erstwhile Learning Channel had fully morphed into TLC, pretty much entirely ditching anything even remotely connected with education — the TLC motto could have been "Nothing to learn here!" That was the year that "Trading Spaces" made its debut, becoming a mega-hit that took the network by surprise while stealing some real estate that had previously been almost exclusively held by HGTV. 

Realizing there were big bucks to be made in home-renovation programming, in 2005 TLC premiered "The Adam Carolla Project." As the title indicated, the show was built around comedian Adam Carolla, known to radio listeners from the call-in show "Loveline" and to TV viewers for co-hosting Comedy Central's "The Man Show" with pal Jimmy Kimmel. The show followed the efforts of Carolla — who had been a professional carpenter before hitting it big in showbiz — as he renovated his dad's Los Angeles home in order to flip it. Naturally, there were challenges aplenty, including a badly deteriorated roof, pipes that leaked, the lurking specter of asbestos hidden in walls, and a haplessly inept construction crew.

The show ran for just one 13-episode season, and a scathing review in The New York Times made it clear why the show wasn't renewed. "After a few minutes of watching the house show, it occurred to me that this really is like watching paint dry," wrote The Times' Ned Martel. "But I was wrong: they must be saving that for the finale."

In 2007, TLC execs came up with the idea of launching the network's first-ever late-night talk show. Tapped to host was Stacy London, who'd already experienced previous TLC success co-starring the hit series "What Not to Wear" alongside fellow fashionista Clinton Kelly. No longer part of a doubles act, London was flying solo when the show, "Fashionably Late with Stacy London," made its debut.

Given London's expertise in fashion, that became the focus of the show; instead of a punchline-packed monologue, she talked about what she was wearing. "The concept is a little like a party on a Friday night that you don't have to leave your couch for," London told the New York Daily News. 

To say the show did not connect with viewers is putting it mildly; in fact, TLC yanked it off the air after just six episodes aired. Years later, London admitted the show's near-immediate cancellation still stung, but she'd been able to put the experience in perspective. "The fact that it didn't work, and there were many reasons it didn't, was perhaps one of the greatest disappointments of my life," she confessed in a 2018 Instagram post. "I put everything I had, everything I knew into making that show and part of me never quite recovered from its loss. I can't say failure. I don't believe in failure or success: it's all experience and we need to take it for what it is, not slap a value judgment on it."

Back in the 1950s, Art Linkletter struck television gold with "Kids Say the Darndest Things," in which he asked children loaded questions that would lead them to deliver hilariously cute answers. While the original ran from 1952 until 1969, "Kids" was rebooted in the late 1990s with Bill Cosby as host, and again in 2019 with comedian Tiffany Haddish. 

In 2010, TLC announced it came up with the not-so-original idea of producing its own knock-off, with "Everybody Loves Raymond" alum Brad Garrett starring in the cleverly titled "I Kid with Brad Garrett." Judging by the network's tone at the time, TLC had pretty high hopes for the series. "This show is the next evolution of family entertainment on TLC," gushed Nancy Daniels, TLC's senior vice president of production and development, via The Hollywood Reporter. "We are thrilled to have Brad Garrett on board. His comedic instincts and enthusiasm for the project are going to put this series over the top. And, at the heart of this show are the candid and unfiltered reactions from kids, which makes this a perfect fit for the network."

When the show finally premiered in the summer of 2011, it struggled in the ratings and did not last long. After just a few episodes aired, TLC yanked the show off the air. The vacant time slot was filled by reruns of "Toddlers & Tiaras."

"Abby & Brittany" marked something of a television milestone, given that it was the first docuseries focusing on conjoined twins. The series followed the lives of Abby and Brittany Hensel, who share a single body that combines at the torso. While the two were previously featured on a different network in the special "Joined for Life," "Abby and Brittany" was less about their physicality than it was the triumphs the sisters experienced in their day-to-day lives, such as getting a driver's license — no mean feat considering that each sister controls a different side of their shared body, requiring a lot of coordination between them in order to operate a motor vehicle. "When we drive Abby is [in] control of the gas and the brakes and we both steer, and I'm in charge of the blinker," said Brittany in an interview with OMG Stories.

The series covered a pivotal time in the women's lives, spanning the period after they graduated from college to when they were looking for a job, ultimately getting hired as teachers. "Obviously right away we understand that we are going to get one salary because we're doing the job of one person," Abby told BBC News.

"Abby & Brittany" only ran for a single eight-episode season, and was not renewed for a second.

Debuting in 2012, "On the Fly" took viewers behind the scenes at Southwest Airlines, chronicling all the drama that takes place in the airport, at the gate, and up in the air. This, as viewers discovered over the course of 13 episodes, ranged from lost luggage to unexpected flight delays to unpredictable weather. The show received a high level of access from Southwest and took viewers into areas of airports and airplanes that are normally off-limits to passengers. As TheWrap reported, the show centered on two of the airline's airport hubs in Denver and Baltimore. 

"It's great to eavesdrop," Howard Lee, TLC's senior vice present of production and development, told NBC News of the show's voyeuristic appeal to viewers. "Airports are complete microcosms, and each of them has stories and frustrations. They are incredibly relatable. We were able to capture that."

Interestingly, "On the Fly" marked the second time that Southwest allowed its operations to be filmed for reality TV. Back in 2004, the same airline was the subject of the A&E reality series "Airline," which followed a very similar flight path. 

Jo Frost shot to fame in her native Britain via the reality show "Supernanny" in which she lent her tough-love advice to parents who'd lost control of their youngsters. She then made a name for herself on the other side of the pond when ABC brought Frost stateside for a U.S. version of "Supernanny," which ran for seven seasons before its cancellation in 2011 — but was then revived by Lifetime, where it aired for one more season in 2020. 

In between the cancellation and revival of "Supernanny," TLC tapped Frost for a new series, "Family S.O.S." This time out, Frost expanded beyond tantrum-throwing toddlers to help mend broken family dynamics, ranging from rebellious teens to spouses teetering on the brink of divorce. "I've always been about the parents," Frost told the Independent. "I wanted to do a wider format that would show how I was helping the adults ... I've had some real head-on situations with some of the fathers. Not all of that you would have got to see in the old shows. Now you can. It's very raw."

As Frost indicated, the episodes could be harrowing — such as one in which a six-year-old girl confided in Frost to wish that her family would cease yelling at each other. As a review in The Washington Post pointed out, "Family S.O.S." was not an easy show to watch — and many viewers didn't. The show was axed after just one season.