It is becoming increasingly common for streaming services to shoot entire seasons of shows, only to remove them from circulation forever. HBO Max did it to Martin Scorsese’s “Vinyl” and Disney turned “Willow” into a tax write off, The truth is, this kind of corporate scuttling is nothing new. And sometimes, shows never even make it to air.
Case in point: the unfortunate fate that befell “The Men’s Room,” starring John Cho, who would appear as Sulu in the Kelvin timeline “Star Trek” films. According to The Movie Database, the sitcom was about “the friendship of three guys who are at crossroads in their lives” and co-starred Scott Cohen and Brian Skala. It went into production in 2004, and six full episodes were shot before NBC pulled the plug. Apparently network execs were unhappy with the show’s creative direction.
Unlike other shows that make it to air and are quickly canceled or have the few episodes they produced quickly burned off at odd hours of the night, “The Men’s Room” has never seen the light of day. NBC decided to take the extraordinary measure of halting production entirely and burying the show to cut its losses.
Cho’s stardom took off thanks to a trip to ‘White Castle’ and a journey through ‘Star Trek’
Fortunately, the true engine for John Cho’s career was already in the can by the time the sitcom was unceremoniously flushed away. The stoner comedy “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” premiered in July 2004 and became an instant cult favorite.
While it might have stung to have his work on “The Men’s Room” erased forever, Cho’s role in “Harold & Kumar” brought the actor into the spotlight, bringing him legions of fans in smoke-filled dorm rooms and Hollywood studios alike. Thanks to the glow of the White Castle sign, Cho’s stardom took off in earnest, and in 2009, he was cast as Hikaru Sulu in J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek” reboot. He’d reprise this role in the film’s two sequels.
Cho went on to star in the post-modern ABC sitcom “Selfie” and the live-action remake of the seminal anime “Cowboy Bebop.” While these series might not have fallen to the same fate as “The Men’s Room,” they were both canceled after their first seasons. Still, Cho continues plugging away at lead and supporting roles in film and TV, so we’re lucky he didn’t get stuck in “The Men’s Room” forever.