TV by the Decade :: July 31•Aug 6

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As we head into the last month of Summer, the broadcast and cable networks are still rolling out some new shows in the hopes they can find something successful enough to carry into the new season. While there are quite a few new shows that premiered this week, very few of them achieved much success, but there were some that did garner a faithful audience, and all three were reality shows. One that centered around the antics of a faded celebrity went for three seasons, one that basically answered viewer mail ran for seven, and one spooky series has gone for eleven seasons and counting. There are more lesser known shows that may have caught your attention when they aired but have you forgotten them now? Read on to refresh your memory or discover something new!

1952

• No new series premiered this week in 1952.

1962

• No new series premiered this week in 1962.

1972

August 1 – The John Byner Comedy Hour

• Cast: John Byner, Dennis Flannigan, Gary Miller, Linda Sublette, Patti Deutsch, R.G. Brown
• Notable Guests: Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, James Farentino, Gloria Loring, Bill Bixby, Michele Lee, Peter Marshall, Helen Reddy, Ted Knight, Teresa Graves
• Synopsis: Summer variety series.
• Network: CBS
• Broadcast History: One season, 5 episodes, last broadcast on August 29
• Trivia: The show first introduced the character of Super Dave Osborne, played by Bob Einstein.

1982

• No new series premiered this week in 1982.

1992

August 1 – Lifestories: Families in Crisis

• Notable Cast: Calista Flockhart, Tovah Feldshuh, Wil Wheaton, Audra Lindley, Craig Wasson, Amy Aquino, Julie Bowen, Sam Rockwell, Jorja Fox, Sabrina Lloyd, Claire Danes, Ben Affleck, Ernie Hudson, Donna Murphy
• Synopsis: Based on true stories, this anthology series depicts a variety of important and critical events that can happen in the lives of children and teenagers.
• Network: HBO
• Broadcast History: One seasons, 15 episodes, last broadcast on February 8, 1996
• Trivia: The stories usually ended with the real person on which the story is based providing helpful information for others in a similar situation. Donna Murphy won the CableACE Award for Actress in a Dramatic Special or Series.

August 2 – My Little Pony Tales

• Voice Cast: Willow Johnson, Maggie Blue O’Hara, Venus Terzo, Chiara Zanni, Laura Harris, Brigitta Dau, Kelly Sheridan, Lalainia Lindbjerg, Richard Ian Cox, Kate Robbins, Tony Sampson, Brad Swaile, Shane Meier
• Synopsis: The adventures and misadventures of a group of young ponies in Ponyland.
• Network: Disney Channel
• Broadcast History: One season, 26 episodes, last broadcast on December 25, 1992
• Trivia: The first cartoon from Hasbro to air on the Disney Channel. Each of the ponies has a distinct flank symbol. Hasbro did release toys of the seven female pony friends, but they were only marketed in Europe.

2002

August 1 – Contest Searchlight

• Cast: Lenny Clarke, Denis Leary, Michael Lombardi, Chris Phillips, Jim Serpico, Amber Gross, Mary Birdsong, Adam Ferrara, Danielle Schneider, Jimmy Burke, Lou Wallach, Tom Sellitti
• Notable Guests: Patrice O’Neal, Colin Quinn, Jason Mantzoukas, Kristen Schaal, Peter Gallagher
• Synopsis: Documentary-style parody of HBO’s Project Greenlight.
• Network: Comedy Central
• Broadcast History: One season, 4 episodes, last broadcast on September 1, 2002
• Trivia: The actors are playing slightly fictionalized versions of themselves. There was no indication that the series was a parody, and after Peter Gallagher’s character was hit by a car and he left the show, he and Comedy Central received panicked calls from viewers who believed he had really been hit. Matt Dillon and Jon Stewart made uncredited cameos as themselves.

August 1 – Oblivious

• Cast: Regan Burns, Jessica Custodio, Jeff Henry, Jerry G. Angelo, Steven Sebastian Price, Russ Taylor, Julian Kay
• Notable Guests: Katie Lohmann, James Nesbitt, Holly Valance
• Synopsis: In this hidden camera game show, contestants are asked trivia questions for a chance to win money, but aren’t told they’re on a game show until after they’ve answered the questions.
• Network: Spike
• Broadcast History: Two seasons, last broadcast on June 1, 2004
• Trivia: Based on a British program of the same name.

August 1 – The Rerun Show

NBC

• Cast: Paul Vogt, Brian Beacock, Ashley Eckstein, Candy Ford, Daniele Gaither, Danielle Hoover, Donald Gene Reed, Mitch Silpa
• Notable Guests: Aries Spears, Marla Gibbs, Gary Coleman, David Faustino, Erik Estrada, Dennis Haskins, Todd Bridges, Dustin Diamond, Fred ‘Rerun’ Berry, Alfonso Ribeiro, Danny Bonaduce, Alex Michel
• Synopsis: The Rerun Show recreates your favorite sitcoms verbatim without all the boring stuff!
• Network: NBC
• Broadcast History: One season, 7 episodes, last broadcast on August 20, 2002
• Trivia: Shows spoofed include Diff’rent Strokes, The Partridge Family, The Facts of Life, The Jeffersons, What’s Happening!!, Bewitched, Saved by the Bell, One Day at a Time, and Married… With Children. Most episodes had an actor from the original series playing a different part.

August 4 – The Anna Nicole Show

• Cast: Anna Nicole Smith, Daniel Smith, Howard K. Stern, Kim Walther, Sugar Pie, Bobby Trendy, Shelly Cloud
• Notable Guests: Jay Leno, Larry King, Rip Taylor, Patti Stanger, Martin Sheen, Margaret Cho, Kathy Griffin, Kelly Ripa, Ellen DeGeneres, Chyna, Regis Philbin, Wayne Brady, Cedric the Entertainer, Tammy Faye Bakker, Slash, Danny Bonaduce, Joey Fatone, La Toya Jackson, Larry Flynt
• Synopsis: Reality sitcom starring former model and Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith.
• Network: E!
• Broadcast History: Three seasons, 28 episodes, last broadcast on October 7, 2004
• Trivia: The first season was the network’s most-watched series. An episode where Howard K. Stern destroyed a pink couch spiked sales of the couch and caused Bobby Trendy’s website to crash.

August 4 – Mail Call

• Host: R. Lee Ermey
• Synopsis: Former U.S. Marine Corps Sergeant R. Lee Ermey answers viewers’ questions about military technology.
• Network: History
• Broadcast History: Seven seasons, 81 episodes, last broadcast in 2009.

August 6 – A Haunting

• Narrator: Anthony Call
• Synopsis: An American paranormal anthology previewing stories told by the victims. Victims tell their terrifying encounters with the paranormal, depicted in frightening re-enactments.
• Network: Discovery Channel/Destination America/TLC/Travel Channel
• Broadcast History: Eleven seasons, 115 episodes to date
• Trivia: The series was launched after two successful feature length specials, A Haunting in Connecticut (which served as the basis for the feature film) and A Haunting in Georgia (which was also made into a feature film). Cases were drawn from actual victims’ accounts, but the network ordered some stories to be filtered to remove some of the more violent or sexual content. Discovery aired the show for four seasons (August 6, 2002-November 9, 2007), Destination America aired it for four seasons after a five year hiatus (October 12, 2012-March 20, 2016), TLC aired it for one season (October 21, 2016-October 30, 2017), and Travel Channel has aired the show for two seasons to date (May 27, 2019-March 4, 2022).

2012

July 31 – HGTV Design Star All Stars

HGTV

• Cast: David Bromstad (host), Vern Yip, Genevieve Gorder (judges)
• Designers: Kellie Clements, Leslie Ezelle, Josh ‘Sparkle Josh’ Johnson, Tom Vecchione, Dan Vickery, Hilari Younger
• Synopsis: Spin-off series based on HGTV Design Star featuring six designers from the first seven seasons of the original series.
• Network: HGTV
• Broadcast History: Four episodes, last broadcast on August 21, 2012

August 4 – Robot and Monster

• Voice Cast: Harland Williams, Curtis Armstrong, Jonathan Slavin, Maurice LaMarche, Cree Summer, Nolan North, Fred Tatasciore, Rhea Perlman, Megan Hilty
• Notable Guests: April Winchell, Bill Fagerbakke, Kurtwood Smith, Jeffrey Tambor, Kari Wahlgren, Greg Cipes, Alan Tudyk, Harriet Sansom Harris, Carol Ann Susi, Jon Polito
• Synopsis: Two best friends, Robot and Monster, live together and have adventures while solving and avoiding problems.
• Network: Nickelodeon/Nicktoons
• Broadcast History: One season, 26 episodes, last broadcast on March 4, 2015
• Trivia: Nickelodeon only aired 22 of the 26 episodes. Three of the last four were aired on Nicktoons, while one episode remained unaired but was released on home video and the Noggin app. The show was added to Paramount Plus on November 10, 2020.