TV by the Decade :: March 13•19

Spelling-Goldberg Productions

Six new series debuted this week across the decades, with one long-running drama and one docuseries seeing multiple season runs, with the drama appearing on two different networks. Of the rest, none made it past ten episodes, but the longest running of them did score an Emmy nomination for its star. Read on to see if any of your favorites are celebrating anniversaries this week.

1952

• No new series premiered this week in 1952.

1962

• No new series premiered this week in 1962.

1972

• No new series premiered this week in 1972.

1982

March 13 – T. J. Hooker

• Cast: William Shatner, Heather Locklear, Adrian Zmed, James Darren, Richard Herd, Hugh Farrington, April Clough
• Notable Guests: Nicole Eggert, Shawn Weatherly, Clarence Williams III, Lynne Moody, Gary Lockwood, Jonathan Banks, Belinda Montgomery, Thom Christopher, Marc Alaimo, Marjoe Gortner, Jim Brown, Billy Drago, James Hong, Alex Rocco, Richard Lawson, Brian Patrick Clarke, Barry Van Dyke, Don Murray, Sid Haig, Lisa Hartman, Helen Shaver, Grant Goodeve, Ray Wise, Heather Thomas, Tori Spelling, Sharon Stone, Michelle Phillips, Vanessa Williams, Vic Tayback, Tracy Scoggins, Dennis Franz, Glynn Turman, Melody Anderson, Penny Johnson Jerald, Delta Burke, Richard Hatch, Leonard Nimoy, Tom Atkins, Miguel Ferrer, Jerry Lee Lewis, Nia Peeples, Richard Moll, Daphne Reid, Betsy Palmer
• Synopsis: The weekly adventures of tough-as-nails veteran police officer Sgt. T.J. Hooker, who rides the beat with his rookie partner Vince Romano.
• Network: ABC / CBS
• Broadcast History: Five seasons, 90 episodes (plus one TV movie), last broadcast on May 28, 1986
• Trivia: ABC cancelled the series after four seasons, ending on May 4, 1985. The ABC finale was a proposed reworking of the series to be set in Chicago. CBS picked the show up for its fifth season as part of its late night block of programming, keeping the setting in Los Angeles (although the city was never named). The season was produced on a much lower budget and re-used action sequences from previous seasons. The series was originally developed as a reworking of The Rookies titled The Protectors (which became the title of the first episode), but after the pilot the decision was made to focus on William Shatner’s character. Shatner is the only actor to appear in every episode of the series. Heather Locklear joined in Season 2, appearing in 84 of the 90 episodes. The T.J. in Hooker’s name stood for Thomas Jefferson. When Hooker is shot, it’s almost always in the right shoulder.

March 17 – Baker’s Dozen

• Cast: Ron Silver, Cindy Weintraub, Alan Weeks, Sam McMurray, Thomas Quinn, Doris Belack, John Del Regno
• Notable Guests: Estelle Getty, Carol Lynley
• Synopsis: The series centered around the off-beat antics of an undercover anti-crime unit of the NYPD.
• Network: CBS
• Broadcast History: One season, 6 episodes, last broadcast on June 30, 1982
• Trivia: The series was filmed on location in New York City.

March 17 – Herbie the Love Bug

• Cast: Dean Jones, Patricia Harty, Richard Paul, Claudia Wells, Nicky Katt, Douglas Emerson, Larry Linville
• Notable Guests: Elvia Allman, Dana Elcar, George Lindsey, James Karen
• Synopsis: Jim Douglas and his partner Bo ran a small driving school with a very ‘human’ Volkswagen Beetle named Herbie, who could think for ‘himself’ and frequently got Jim into some sticky comic situations.
• Network: CBS
• Broadcast History: One season, 5 episodes, last broadcast on April 14, 1982
• Trivia: Based on a series of ‘Herbie’ films with Dean Jones reprising his role from the first two films. Jones sang the show’s theme song ‘Herbie, My Best Friend’. A script for a sixth episode was discovered in January 2019, which included the character Mr. Wu from the original film. It’s not known if the episode was filmed. The series has never been made available on home video and is not currently streaming on Disney Plus.

March 19 – The Phoenix

• Cast: Judson Scott, Richard Lynch, E.G. Marshall, Carmen Argenziano
• Notable Guests: Shelley Smith, Andrea Marcovicci, Tracey Gold, Eileen Davidson, Nancy Lee Grahn, Marc Alaimo, John Vernon
• Synopsis: The plot revolved around an ancient extraterrestrial, Bennu of the Golden Light, who is discovered in a sarcophagus in Peru and awakened in the 20th century.
• Network: ABC
• Broadcast History: One season, 5 episodes, last broadcast on April 16, 1982
• Trivia: The series was preceded by a TV movie on April 26, 1981. Shannen Doherty made her second TV appearance (uncredited) on this series after a credited two-part episode of Father Murphy in 1981.

1992

• No new series premiered this week in 1992.

2002

March 19 – Mostly True Stories: Urban Legends Revealed

• Host: Natasha Henstridge
• Synopsis: An American documentary television series about urban legends. The program features reenactments of various urban legends and research into their credibility.
• Network: TLC
• Broadcast History: Four seasons, 22 episodes, last broadcast on December 15, 2004
• Trivia: Re-edited episodes of the series, without Henstridge, aired on TLC until 2008. The first episode was hosted by Michael Shermer. Some of the actors in the re-enactments appeared as different characters throughout the series’ run. The series made a mistake on a question attributing the nursery rhyme ‘Sing a Song of Sixpence’ to the pirate Blackbeard as a means to recruit pirates. The information came from the website Snopes which posted it as a red herring to test people’s common sense. This raised the question of the show cribbing its information from the Snopes website without attribution. The error was fixed on subsequent airings of the episode.

2012

ABC

March 15 – Missing

• Cast: Ashley Judd, Cliff Curtis, Adriano Giannini, Nick Eversman, Laura Donnelly, Bruno Mello
• Notable Guests: Sean Bean, Keith Carradine, Aunjanue Ellis, Lothaire Bluteau
• Synopsis: When a woman’s son goes missing under suspicious circumstances, she will do anything it takes to find him.
• Network: ABC
• Broadcast History: One season, 10 episodes, last broadcast on May 17, 2012
• Trivia: Ashley Judd received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie.