Warner Bros. Animation
Some memorable series premiered this week across the decades with a musical game show revival in 1974 that was rebooted again in 2020, a popular and off-beat soap opera in 1984, an animated superhero series in 2004, and two reality shows in 2014 that are still airing today! Scroll down the list to see what shows premiered this week, learn a little about them, and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating anniversaries!
1954
- No new series premiered this week in 1954.
1964
- No new series premiered this week in 1964.
1974
- July 29 – Name That Tune (NBC, One season / Syndication, Seven seasons)
Name That Tune began as a radio program on the NBC Radio Network in 1952 and moved to television in 1953. CBS then picked up the show from 1953-1959. A Syndicated revival aired in 1970. The 1974 revival in Syndication was much more successful with seven seasons, while the NBC daytime version lasted for just six months. Tom Kennedy hosted the Syndicated version while Dennis James hosted the NBC version. Kennedy also hosted a short-lived 1977 revival. Jim Lange hosted a 1984 revival, and FOX launched a primetime version in 2020 with Jane Krakowski and Randy Jackson. The daytime NBC version was likely wiped for reuse of the videotapes. The Syndicated version is intact and in the possession of producer Ralph Edwards’ estate. The 1984 version is also intact. The 1974 Syndicated version of the series also included a female singer by the name of Kathie Lee Johnson, who would go on to marry football player and sports commentator Frank Gifford and host a daytime talk show with Regis Philbin.
1984
Dobson Productions
- July 30 – Santa Barbara (NBC, Nine seasons, 2,137 episodes)
Santa Barbara was the first TV series produced by New World Television. The series won 24 Daytime Emmy Awards, including three consecutive awards for Outstanding Drama Series. Stage legend and Oscar nominee Dame Judith Anderson headlined the series as the Lockridge family matriarch. The younger Janis Page assumed the role in the 1990s. Louise Sorel was the show’s Alexis Carrington-like villain Augusta Lockridge, which earned great critical praise, but her storyline was suddenly dropped and Sorel left the show. She returned on a recurring basis and then rejoined as a regular when the Lockridge family were written back in as regular characters. The show was known for its comedic style of offbeat situations. Former nun Mary Duval McCormick (Harley Jane Kozak) was killed by a giant neon ‘C’ that toppled on her while standing atop the Capwell Hotel. Leigh McCloskey protrayed gynecologist Zack Kelton, and after the character’s death McCloskey returned as District Attorney Ethan Asher. Producers recast the original characters many times and by the end of the series almost every original character had been recast except for Eden Capwell (Marcy Walker), Cruz Castillo (A Martinez) and Lionel (Nicolas Coster) and Augusta Lockridge (Sorel). Robin Wright portrayed Kelly Capwell Perkins and was the first major actor to exit to focus on her film career following the success of The Princess Bride. Leonardo DiCaprio appeared in one episodes as Young Mason Capwell and earned a Best Young Actor in a Daytime Series at the 12th Youth in Film Awards.
1994
- No new series premiered this week in 1994.
2004
- July 28 – Amish in the City (UPN, One season, 9 episodes)
- July 29 – Blue Collar TV (The WB, Two seasons, 43 episodes)
- July 30 – O’Grady (The N, Two seasons, 19 episodes)
- July 31 – Justice League Unlimited (Cartoon Network, Three seasons, 39 episodes)
- August 1 – Stroker and Hoop (Adult Swim, One season, 13 episodes)
- August 2 – Balderdash (PAX TV, One season, last broadcast on February 4, 2005)
Amish in the City revolved around five Amish teenagers experiencing ‘modern’ (non-Amish) culture by living in a house with six mainstream American teenagers.
Blue Collar TV was greenlighted based on the success of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, which featured the show’s stars Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy. Each episode of the sketch comedy series was based around a theme. Major guest stars included Trace Adkins, Big & Rich, Clint Black, Brooks & Dunn, Drew Carey, Jeff Dunham, Christopher Knight, Rascal Flatts, LeAnn Rimes, Brad Pitt, Travis Tritt and Van Zant. Comedy Tour star Ron White refused to join the series as a regular for fear of being typecast, but he did make a few guest appearances. The series was abruptly pulled from The WB’s schedule a few weeks into the second season and production was halted with no official explanation. The show returned on May 31, 2006 to finish its second season during the final weeks of The WB’s existence before combining with UPN to form The CW.
O’Grady was an animated series featuring the voices of H. Jon Benjamin, Melissa Bardin Galsky, Patrice O’Neal and Holly Schlesinger. Guest voices included Amy Poehler, Conan O’Brien, David Cross, Rachel Dratch, Rob Corddry, Tom Kenny and Will Arnett.
Justice League Unlimited is a direct sequel to the previous Justice League animated series, picking up about two years after that show’s events. It is the eighth and final series of the DC Animated Universe, and weaves together characters and plot lines from past series. The series was actually ordered as Seasons 3 and 4 of Justice League, but Cartoon Network wanted the show rebranded and with a new, standard 30-minute episode format instead of two-part episodes. The main voice cast included Kevin Conroy, Phil LaMarr, Carl Lumbly and Michael Rosenbaum. Supporting cast voices included Nicholl Tom, Kin Shriner, Jeffrey Combs, Oded Fehr, Amy Acker, Morena Baccarin, Dana Delaney, Lauren Tom, Michael Beach, Jeremy Piven, John C. McGinley, Tom Everett Scott, Ioan Gruffud, Nathan Fillion, Ron Perlman, Jerry O’Connell, Fred Savage, Susan Sullivan, Néstor Carbonell, Ben Browder, Matt Czuchry, Daniel Dae Kim and Dick Miller.
Stroker and Hoop was an animated parody of buddy cop shows like Starsky & Hutch, with the talking car elements of Knight Rider. The main character names may be based on two Burt Reynolds characters, Stroker Ace and Hooper. The series was cancelled on a cliffhanger ending.
Balderdash was a panel game show based on the board game of the same name, which was based on the French parlor game Fictionary, hosted by Elayne Boosler and announced by John Moschitta.
2014
1/17 Productions
- July 28 – Eating America (Food Network, One season, 8 episodes)
- July 28 – Running Wild with Bear Grylls (NBC/National Geographic, Eight seasons, 64 episodes to date)
- July 29 – Raising Asia (Lifetime, One season, 13 episodes)
- July 30 – Penn & Teller: Fool Us (The CW, Ten seasons, 153 episodes to date)
- July 31 – Mecum Dealmakers (NBCSN, Two seasons, 18 episodes)
- July 31 – The Quest (ABC, One season, 10 episodes)
- August 1 – Candid Camera (TV Land, One season)
Eating America was originally announced as Food Fest Nation, and was set to premiere a week earlier before the title change. Anthony Anderson hosted.
Running Wild with Bear Grylls was rebranded as Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge beginning with the seventh season. The series moved from NBC to Nat Geo starting with Season 5. Celebrities that joined Grylls on his adventued include Zac Efron, Ben Stiller, Channing Tatum, Tom Arnold, Kate Hudson, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Kate Winslet, Ed Helms, James Marsden, Michael B. Jordan, President Barack Obama, Nick Jonas, Courteney Cox, Mel B, Sterling K. Brown, Julia Roberts, Vaness Hudgins, Joseph Godon-Levitt, Keri Russell, Lena Headey, Don Cheadle Derek Hough, Uzo Aduba, Brie Larson, Joel McHale, Dave Bautista, Zachary Quinto, Anthony Mackie, Terry Crews, Rainn Wilson, Keegan-Michael Key, Danny Trejo, Natalie Portman, Simu Liu, Ashton Kutcher, Florence Pugh, Anthony Anderson, Bradley Cooper, Benedict Cumberbatch, Cynthis Erivo, Troy Kotsu, Rita Ora, Daveed Diggs and Tatiana Maslany.
Raising Asia is a spin-off of Dance Moms.
Jonathan Ross hosted the first two seasons of Penn & Teller: Fool Us. Seasons 3-9 were hosted by Alyson Hannigan, with Season 10 hosted by Brooke Burke. The first season was filmed at Fountain Studios in London, but production moved to the Penn & Teller Theater at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas beginning with Season 2. The series originally aired on ITV in the UK but was cancelled after the first season despite higher than usual viewership for the timeslot. A moderate success in the US, The CW ordered a second season, which was a ratings hit with the highest viewership in the timeslot in five years. Due to COVID, the second half of Season 7 was filmed with a virtual audience and international acts performed via video from their home countries. Penn & Teller and the crew were tested for COVID over 660 times with every result coming back negative.
The Quest, a fantasy-based competition series, was rebooted for a second season on Disney+ in 2022 with mainly teenaged contestants. The series was developed by a production team who had produced The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Amazing Race and Queer Eye, and was filmed on location in Austria at Burg Kreuzenstein.
The 2014 revival of classic hidden camera prank show Candid Camera was hosted by Mayim Bialik. It lasted just one season and is the last version of the show to air to date. The series originally debuted on radio as The Candid Microphone in 1947, and the concept came to television in 1948, spanning 38 seasons, different networks and in Syndication, with more than 1,000 episodes in all.
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