Lorne Greene made a name for himself as Ben Cartwright in the hit Western, Bonanza. However, while the actor had worked hard to succeed in his career, not all of his acting opportunities were victories.

Shortly after the ending of Bonanza in 1973, Greene starred in the crime series, Griff. In the show, Greene starred as Wade "Griff" Griffin, a private detective. Unfortunately, the series only lasted 12 episodes before it was canceled.

In an interview with The Toronto Star, Greene noted the show's shortcomings and admitted that he was grateful when he learned Griff had been canceled.

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"It was one of the worst experiences I've had in 34 years," said Greene. "That kind of experience I will not have again. Just the day before Thanksgiving, we found out we were a casualty and quite frankly, it hit me with great glee. I wasn't the least bit surprised because the show was not the show I'd signed to do."

So why did Greene agree to star in the series? Greene argued that it was a matter of keeping relevant.

"Bonanza's been off since the beginning of the year, and if I had waited for another season I'd have been off the air almost two seasons," said Greene. "I wanted to be on the air sooner than that."

But in retrospect, Greene acknowledged that despite the show's flaws, it still held some value. "The 12 Griff [episodes] I don't consider a failure- the audience share was one of the best they'd ever had in that spot and we were up against Carol Burnett. We had nights when we had a bigger share than the mystery movie before it. I don't take anything like that hard."