Jersey Television
A handful of new series made their debuts this week across the decades, and several of them went on to very long runs, sometimes across multiple platforms. Two long-running series were late night shows, two of them had exclamation points in their titles, while one had a question mark. That’s a lot of punctuation for one week! Two of the shows were also about cops, one a faux reality series and the other animated (and co-created by a child). But did you watch any of them? Read on to learn more and tell us if your favorites are on the list!
1953
- No new series debuted this week in 1953.
1963
- No new series debuted this week in 1963.
1973
- No new series debuted this week in 1973.
1983
- July 29 – Friday Night Videos (NBC, 19 seasons, last broadcast on May 24, 2002)
Friday Night Videos was created to cash in on the emerging popularity of music videos as MTV was a relatively new cable network at the time and was not available on all cable carriers, particularly in rural and inner city areas. The series originally ran for 90 minutes, but was reduced to 60 minutes in 1987. Off-camera announcers introduced the videos until October 18, 1985 when celebrity guest hosts were employed, the first being Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Lisa Bonet. As the interest in videos began to fade — and with NBC’s reluctance to air videos in the grunge, hardcore rap and indie rock genres, segments were added with stand-up comedians which grew and eventually overtook the original program. A live musical performance was introduced in 1991, and Tom Kenny (who would go on to fame as the voice of Spongebob Squarepants) became the permanent host with DJ Frankie Crocker as co-host. Crocker later became the host, followed by Darryl M. Bell and Branford Marsalis. The show was retooled in 1994 to remain relevant and the title was shortned to Friday Night, becoming less of a music show and more general entertainment and variety. The new format was hosted by Henry Cho and Rita Sever (Sever took over as sole host in 1996). Despite a ratings resurgence, the program was retooled again for budgetary reasons, and on January 5, 2001 the show was retitled Late Friday, discontinuing the music and feature segments, focusing exclusively on stand-up comedians, which ran until May 2002 when Last Call with Carson Daly expanded from four to five nights a week.
1993
- July 25 – Politically Incorrect (Comedy Central/ABC, Eight seasons, last broadcast on July 5, 2002)
- July 28 – Street Match (ABC, One season, 6 episodes)
Street Match was hosted by Ricky Paull Goldin, in a format that would attempt to match people on the street for a potential date.
2003
- July 23 – Reno 911! (Comedy Central/Quibi/The Roku Channel, Eight seasons, 124 episodes)
Reno 911! originally aired on Comedy Central until 2009. The series was revived for the Quibi short-form platform in 2020, its seventh season, and was renewed for an eighth but Quibi shut down while the season was in production. The Roku Channel picked up Quibi’s programming and acquired the new season in the process, which was retitled Reno 911! Defunded. That season launched in 2022, and also aired on Comedy Central. The show’s perps are portrayed by comedian friends of the cast, and by the cast themselves with their voices altered and faces blurred. The show is a direct parody of the FOX network reality series Cops, and the pilot was actually produced for FOX but was rejected, according to star Thomas Lennon, due to a scene of his character passionately kissing another man. Comedy Central picked up the show two years later. Establishing shots for the show were filmed in Reno, but the bulk of the series was filmed in Los Angeles and Carson, California. Starting in 2005 some scene were also filmed in Piru, California. All of the season’s morning briefing room scenes were filmed in a single ten-hour day with the cast contributing their own dialogue. When the show’s cancellation was announced in 2009, residents and officials of Reno, Nevada petitioned to save the show. The series received two Emmy Award nominations in 2020 for Outstanding Short Form Series and Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Series (Kerry Kenney-Silver), and again in 2021 in the same two categories. A feature film, Reno 911!: Miami, was released in 2007, followed in 2021 by Reno 911! The Hunt for QAnon on Paramount Plus, and Reno 911! It’s a Wonderful Heist on Comedy Central in 2022.
2013
Friends Night
- July 23 – Power Broker (HGTV, One season, 8 episodes)
- July 23 – The Vineyard (ABC Family, One season, 8 episodes)
- July 24 – Spell-Mageddon (ANC Family, One season, 8 episodes)
- July 24 – Joe Rogan Questions Everything (Syfy, One season, 6 episodes)
- July 25 – Sanya’s Glam & Gold (WE tv, One season, 6 episodes)
- July 26 – Would You Fall for That? (ABC, 3 episodes)
- July 27 – Axe Cop (Fox/FXX, Two seasons, 22 episodes)
- July 27 – High School USA! (FOX, One season, 12 episodes)
- July 28 – Total Divas (E!, Nine seasons, 120 episodes)
- July 29 – The Writers’ Room (Sundance Channel, Two seasons, 12 episodes)
Spell-Mageddon, hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro, combined a spelling bee with a Wipeout-style obstacle course. Critics said the show did not look like fun at all, and the distractions endured by the contestants were more annoying than compelling.
Would You Fall for That? was from the creators of What Would You Do? and looked at how the mind could play tricks on people in certain situations. Scott Rogowsky and Sasheer Zamata co-hosted with anchor Nick Watt.
Axe Cop was an adult animated series based on the webcomic series of the same name. The first season consisted of twelve 11-minute episodes, and the second consisted of 10 episodes. Ethan Nicolle created the webcomic with his brother Malachai, who was five years old at the time and had a vivid, disjointed imagination. High School USA! was another animated series for the FOX Animation Domination block, along with Axe Cop, with a style and basic character setup that parodied Archie Comics.
The Writers’ Room, hosted by Jim Rash, was Emmy nominated for Outstanding Informational Series or Special in 2014.
Share this post
