NBC
With Halloween just around the corner, the networks did not roll out many new spooky series this week, although one new series premiere was intentionally delayed to take advantage of the big day. This week also saw the debut of a beloved children’s series that included early roles for some big stars, a popular sitcom with six seasons to its credit, a game show that sounds like a cult classic sci-fi series, and a groundbreaking comedy series that featured television’s first gay leading character … but you may not have known it if you watched the show. Other shows this week barely registered a blip, but read on and see if any of your favorites made their debuts this week.
1951
- No new shows premiered this week in 1951.
1961
- No new shows premiered this week in 1961.
1971
October 25 – The Electric Company
- Cast: Jim Boyd, Morgan Freeman, Judy Graubart, Skip Hinnant, Rita Moreno, June Angela, Mel Brooks, Luis Avalos, Zero Mostel, Hattie Winston, Melanie Henderson, Stephen Gustafson, Danny Seagren, Lee Chamberlin, Bill Cosby, Gregg Burge, Todd Graff, Doug Grant, Bayn Johnson, Rodney Lewis, Réjane Magloire, Janina Mathews, Irene Cara, Denise Nickerson, Ken Roberts
- Notable Guests: Big Bird, Carol Burnett, Barbara Eden, Grover, Diane Keaton, Michael Landon, Dean Martin, Carroll O’Connor, Oscar the Grouch, Jean Stapleton, Lily Tomlin
- Synopsis: A comedy variety show that teaches basic phonetic and grammar concepts using live-action sketches, cartoons, songs, and Spider-Man episodes.
- Network: PBS
- Broadcast History: Six seasons, 780 episodes, last broadcast on April 15, 1977
- Trivia: Marvel Comics allowed the use of Spider-Man for free. Judy Graubart was the first cast member to appear in the first skit of the first episode. She and Morgan Freeman were the last cast members to appear in the final skit of the final episode.
1981
October 24 – Fitz and Bones
- Cast: Dick Smothers, Tom Smothers, Diana Muldaur, Mike Kellin, Lynnette Mettey, Roger C. Carmel
- Synopsis: Investigative reporter Ryan Fitzpatrick works for a San Francisco TV station with Bones, an offbeat cameraman. Fitz’s unorthodox style displeases his bosses Terri and Robert, he has an unfriendly rival in Brody and a friend in ex-wife Rosie.
- Network: NBC
- Broadcast History: One seasons, 4 episodes (plus TV movie), last broadcast on November 14, 1981
- Trivia: The 1982 TV movie Terror at Alcatraz was the series pilot edited together with another failed, unrelated TV pilot.
October 25 – Today’s FBI
- Cast: Mike Connors, Joseph Cali, Carol Potter, Rick Hill, Harold Sylvester
- Notable Guests: Richard Dean Anderson, Carmine Caridi, Robert Mandan, Art Metrano, Paul Sorvino, Demond Wilson, Edward Albert, Phyllis Davis, Jimmie Walker, Nicole Eggert
- Synopsis: An updated and revamped version of the earlier series The F.B.I. featuring actual cases from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
- Network: ABC
- Broadcast History: One seasons, 18 episodes (plus TV movie), last broadcast on April 26, 1982
- Trivia: Hawaii Five-0 star Jack Lord was offered the role of Ben Slater (Mike Connors) but turned it down.
October 26 – Battlestars
- Host: Alex Trebek, Rod Roddy (announcer)
- Notable Guests: Rip Taylor, Linda Blair, Fannie Flagg, Telma Hopkins, Tom Poston, Debbie Reynolds, Jim J. Bullock, Nell Carter, Todd Bridges, Charles Nelson Reilly, Betty White, Richard Simmons, Jerry Seinfeld, Stuart Damon, Vicki Lawrence.
- Synopsis: Featuring a six-celebrity panel, the object of the game is to ‘capture’ the celebrities by lighting up numbers positioned around triangle shapes, inside of which sat each panelist.
- Network: NBC
- Broadcast History: One seasons, 128 episodes, last broadcast on April 23, 1982
- Trivia: Less than a year after the series was cancelled, NBC revived as The New Battlestars, but the series was cancelled after 13 weeks.
Warner Bros. Television
October 28 – Love, Sidney
- Cast: Tony Randall, Swoosie Kurtz, Kaleena Kiff, Chip Zien, Alan North, Barbara Bryne, Lynne Thigpen
- Notable Guests: David Rasche, Martha Smith, John Fiedler, Itzhak Perlman, Patricia Richardson, Christine Ebersole, Joanna Gleason, Helen Hayes, Myrna Loy, Betty White, Howard Hesseman, Barret Oliver, Eric Stoltz
- Synopsis: A middle-aged gay artist shares his New York apartment with a single mother and her little girl.
- Network: NBC
- Broadcast History: Two seasons, 44 episodes, last broadcast on June 6, 1983
- Trivia: The first program on American television to feature a gay character as the central character, although his sexual orientation was carefully downplayed for most of the series’ duration. The series was based on a short story by Marilyn Cantor Baker, which was adapted as the TV movie Sidney Shorr: A Girl’s Best Friend, which NBC aired a few weeks before the series premiered. Lorna Patterson played Laurie in the TV movie but was unavailable when the series went into production, having taken the lead role in the Private Benjamin TV series adaptation.
October 29 – Gimme a Break!
- Cast: Nell Carter, Lara Jill Miller, Lauri Hendler, Kari Michaelsen, Dolph Sweet, John Hoyt, Joey Lawrence, Telma Hopkins, Howard Morton, Matthew Lawrence, Rosetta LeNoire, Jonathan Silverman, Rosie O’Donnell, Paul Sand
- Notable Guests: Lynne Thigpen, Nedra Volz, Jack Carter, Rue McClanahan, Frank Bonner, Michael Dorn, Arlene Golonka, Paul Williams, Alice Ghostley, Helen Hunt, The Pointer Sisters, Tony Randall, Ernie Hudson, Danny Glover, Don Rickles, Gwen Verdon, Crystal Bernard, Andy Gibb, Milton Berle, Ray Parker Jr., Ray Walston, Ken Berry, Dennis Haysbert, Whitney Houston, Pat Sajak, James Cromwell, Mykelti Williamson, Sammy Davis Jr., Elizabeth Berkley, Vanna White, Marcia Wallace
- Synopsis: Nell Harper agrees to move in with the Kanisky family as a favor to her dying friend, serving as a parental figure to three teen-age daughters, and a foster son (added in the third season).
- Network: NBC
- Broadcast History: Six seasons, 137 episodes, last broadcast on May 12, 1987
- Trivia: With Dolph Sweet’s death on May 8, 1985, the character of Carl Kanisky was written out as having died as well. Sweet’s final episode aired on May 11, 1985, which was the season finale and ended with a cliffhanger. The next season premiere had to be retooled for the family to deal with his death. The March 2, 1985 episode ‘Cat Story’ aired live as a promotional gimmick. This was Whitney Houston’s acting debut (in a non-singing role), as well as Rosie O’Donnell’s. The actresses playing the daughters were all fired in the fifth season because of low ratings. Producers hoped Joey Lawrence’s popularity would be enough to supplant them. Nell Carter is the only cast member to appear in every episode. Carter received two Emmy nominations for her performance. The series was part of the original NBC ‘Must See TV’ Thursday night lineup. The family goldfish Gertrude is killed throughout the series, by accident, but keeps coming back as a running joke. The only sitcom to date that featured an earthquake in two episodes. This was John Hoyt’s final acting job; he died four years after the series ended.
October 29 – Lewis & Clark
- Cast: Gabe Kaplan, Guich Koock, Ilene Graff, Michael McManus, Wendy Holcombe, Amy Linker, David Hollander, Clifton James
- Notable Guests: Robert Hegyes, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs
- Synopsis: New Yorker Stewart Lewis has a strange — some would say twisted — ambition: he wants to own a country-music club. Stewart moves his family to Luckenbach, Texas, where he bought the Nassau County Cafe, a joint that has had nine owners in the last six years.
- Network: NBC
- Broadcast History: One seasons, 13 episodes, last broadcast on July 30, 1982
- Trivia: Gabe Kaplan’s former Welcome Back, Kotter cast mates Robert Hegyes & Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs made a guest appearance, with Hegyes’ character telling Stewart, ‘You should have been a teacher.’ The series was pulled from NBC’s schedule after the January 2, 1982 episode, with the last five episodes burned off in July.
1991
- No new shows premiered this week in 1991.
2001
October 25 – Truth or Scare
- Host: Michelle Trachtenberg
- Synopsis: A television series chronicling famous hauntings and legends from around the world, hosted and narrated by actress Michelle Trachtenberg.
- Network: Discovery Kids
- Broadcast History: One seasons, 22 episodes, last broadcast on January 1, 2003
2011
NBC
October 28 – Grimm
- Cast: David Giuntoli, Russell Hornsby, Silas Weir Mitchell, Sasha Roiz, Reggie Lee, Elizabeth Tulloch, Bree Turner, Claire Coffee, Robert Blanche, Damien Puckler, Jacqueline Toboni, Danny Bruno
- Notable Guests: James Frain, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Garcelle Beauvais, C. Thomas Howell, Reg E. Cathey, Dee Wallace, Kate Burton, Daniel Roebuck, Amy Acker, Claudia Christian, Nana Visitor, Roger Bart, Danielle Panabaker, Mark Pellegrino, Titus Welliver, Jason Gedrick, Kenneth Mitchell, Sebastian Roché, Mary Page Keller, Daryl Sabara, Sam Witwer, Jeff Fahey, Arnold Vosloo, William Mapother, Madeline Zima, Daniel di Tomasso, Kirk Acevedo, LisaGay Hamilton
- Synopsis: A homicide detective discovers he is a descendant of hunters who fight supernatural forces.
- Network: NBC
- Broadcast History: Six seasons, 123 episodes, last broadcast on March 31, 2017
- Trivia: The series was originally developed for CBS as Brother Grimm, but did not move forward because of the 2007-2008 writers’ strike. The series was to premiere in September on NBC, but was moved to October 28 to be closer to Halloween. Any room numbers or addresses mentioned on the show were a combination of the show’s season and episode number. For example, the hotel room of Adalind was shown first in episode 12 of season 2, and the room no. was 212.
October 30 – Allen Gregory
- Voice Cast: Jonah Hill, Nat Faxon, Will Forte, Joy Osmanski, Cristina Pucelli, French Stewart, Leslie Mann, Nasim Pedrad, Lacey Chabert, Jake Johnson, Keith David, Renée Taylor, Sean Clements, Jarrad Paul
- Notable Guests: Jeff Goldblum, Lisa Kudrow
- Synopsis: A pretentious seven-year-old attempts to attend regular grade school after his family goes through hard times.
- Network: FOX
- Broadcast History: One seasons, 7 episodes, last broadcast on December 18, 2011
- Trivia: The series was the only FOX Fall 2011 series to not be screened for critics. Reviews after the premiere were overwhelmingly negative.
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