What Might've Been: Free Country (1978)

 After leaving All in The Family, Rob Reiner wanted to develop something for himself. Mindful of the fact that his father, Carl, had flopped two years earlier with Good Heavens, in which Rob had appeared in one episode, Reiner signed with ABC, and the same studio that produced Heavens, Columbia Pictures Television, helped Reiner get Free Country on the air as a summer series in 1978.

Reiner had hoped to get the standard 13 weeks, but ABC pulled the plug after 5. Reiner plays a Lithuanian immigrant in two phases of his life. The retiree is the narrator, flashing back to his younger days.

So why did Country fail? I don't really know, but if I could venture a guess, I'd think viewers thought Reiner was channeling All in The Family's Carroll O'Connor in his role as Joseph Bresner. Judge for yourselves.

As we know, Reiner found his greatest success behind the camera as a director. Free Country, which Reiner co-created, was ahead of its time.