Broadway Video
For a week in mid-August, the surprising fact about this week is that only one decade did not produce any new TV series. Interestingly, 1965 and 2005 both had animated blocks aimed at children in Syndication and on cable, with the 2005 block bringing a British show to the US where it remains popular to this day. 1955 had a kids show that was a reworking of a previous show following the host’s sudden death, 1985 had a short-lived series based on a popular film of the era, 1995 brought together a group of people who would later create an iconic cult comedy series, 2005 had a series finale movie that later became just a dream, and 2015 had one series that spoofed well-known documentaries, and a second that began as a prequel to a popular horror series before eventually catching up to the parent show’s storyline. Scroll down to see all the shows that premiered this week across the decades, and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating milestone anniversaries.
1955
- August 20 – Andy’s Gang (NBC, Five seasons, last broadcast on December 31, 1960)
Andy’s Gang was a reworked version of children’s program Smilin’ Ed McConnell and His Buster Brown Gang (later shortened to Smilin’ Ed Gang), hosted by Ed McConnell. When McConnell died suddenly of a heart attack in 1954, Andy Devine took over the show, inheriting many of the characters from the previous show as well as the sponsor, Buster Brown Shoes. The show featured audience reaction shots, but was filmed without an audience which allowed for occasional special effects. The cast included Billy Gilbert, Jerry Maren, Alan Reed and Vito Scotti. June Foray provided the voices of Midnight the Cat and Old Grandie the Witch. Episodes are known to survive, include a few segments filmed in color near the show’s end.
1965
- August 23 – The Astronut Show (Syndication, One season, 17 episodes)
The Astronut Show included segments Astronut, Hashimoto-san amd Luno the White Stallion. The program was reworked in the early 1970s with segments Astronut, Sad Cat and James Hound. Astronut first appeared on the Deputy Dawg series. The Astronut cartoons were originally produced by Terrytoons for theatrical distribution by 20th Century Fox from 1964 to 1966, and were then made solely for television.
1975
- No new series premiered this week in 1975.
1985
- August 22 – Hometown (CBS, One season, 9 episodes)
Hometown was a loose adaptation of the feature film The Big Chill. The cast included Jane Kaczmarek, Christine Estabrook and Daniel Stern. CBS gave the series an early push for the Fall with an August premiere following reruns of the popular Simon & Simon. Ratings were promising but by the fifth episode they had taken a dive. With Knots Landing set to return to its post-Simon & Simon time slot on Thursday, September 26, CBS moved the show to Tuesdays at 8:00 PM, where the final four episodes languished at the bottom of the Nielsen ratings (Episode 7 ranked 69 out of 69 for the week). CBS quietly cancelled the series.
1995
HBO Downtown Productions
- August 20 – Exit 57 (Comedy Central, Two seasons, 12 episodes)
- August 23 – Kirk (The WB, Two seasons, 32 episodes, 1 unaired)
The cast of Exit 57 included Stephen Colbert, Paul Dinello, Mitch Rouse and Amy Sedaris, who would create Strangers with Candy four years later. The show’s vaguely named Quad Cities setting was a reference to the real Quad Cities region between Iowa and Illinois. The Second City alumni Sedaris, Dinello and Rouse were approached by HBO Downtown Productions to create a sketch comedy show while appearing in the play Stitches, by Amy’s brother David Sedaris. Sedaris and Dinello asked Colbert to participate and he left The Second City and moved to New York City to work on the show. They then asked The Second City’s director, Mick Napier, to help them with the show’s structure. Scripts were born out of improv sessions in which they would act out a scene and someone would take notes. Colbert and Dinello wrote most of the sketches, with David Sedaris writing for Amy and Jodi Lennon. During read-throughs and re-writes, David didn’t take kindly to notes and would just create a new sketch. Comedy writer Michael O’Donoghue once wrote a sketch for the show, but it was rejected due to its violence. O’Donoghue died in 1994 and the sixth episode of the first season is dedicated to his memory. The show was filmed before a live audience and they were only able to film two takes per sketch. The show earned CableACE nominations in 1995 for writing, performance and best comedy series.
2005
- August 19 – The Proud Family Movie (Disney Channel, TV Movie)
- August 22 – Tickle-U (Cartoon Network, last broadcast on January 13, 2006)
The Proud Family Movie served as the finale to the original run of The Proud Family. The 2022 revival series, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, retcons the events of the movie to have been a dream.
Tickle-U was a pre-school block of programming on Cartoon Network hosted by mascots Pipoca (Ariel Winter) and Henderson (Tom Kenny). The block and the hosts were removed on January 13, 2006 but the programs continued to air. Programs included Yoko! Jakamoko! Toto! (which premiered in the UK on June 2, 2003 and ran for two seasons with 52 episodes); Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs (which premiered on Teletoon in Canada, with two seasons and 52 episodes, though only one season was broadcast on Cartoon Network); Peppa Pig (which began in the UK on May 31, 2004 and continues to produce new episodes today for Netflix); Firehouse Tales (the only original Cartoon Network series on Tickle-U which ran for one season of 26 episodes); Gerald McBoing-Boing (One season, 26 episodes premiering on both Teletoon and Cartoon Network August 22, 2005); Little Robots (premiered on UK’s CBeebies January 7, 2003, airing for five seasons and 65 episodes); and Gordon the Garden Gnome (which aired 52 episodes and premiered on CBeebies on June 6, 2005).
2015
Square Head Pictures
- August 18 – Six Degrees of Everything (TruTV, One season, 10 episodes)
- August 20 – Documentary Now! (IFC, Four seasons, 27 episodes)
- August 22 – Blunt Talk (Starz, Two seasons, 20 episodes)
- August 23 – Fear the Walking Dead (AMC, Eight seasons, 113 episodes)
Six Degrees of Everything was a comedy sketch series-reality show hybrid hosted by the Fine Brothers, which attempted to connect wildly different subjects via the six degrees of separation concept, such as Einstein to Breast Implants, Neanderthals to Smart Phones, Adam and Eve to the Atom Bomb and Hitler to Hip-Hop.
Documentary Now! was a mockumentary series created by Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Seth Meyers and Rhys Thomas that spoofs actual documentary films. Armisen and Hader starred, with Helen Mirren introducing each episode. The fictitious program launched in celebration of its 50th anniversary. Documentaries spoofed include Grey Gardens, Nanook of the North, The Thin Blue Line, The War Room, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Swimming to Cambodia, Stop Making Sense, The Kid Stays in the Picture, Wild WIld Country, Original Cast Album: Company, Let’s Get Lost, and My Octopus Teacher. The idea for the series came from a pre-taped segment for Saturday Night Live when Armisen and Hader were cast members. IFC greenlit the series under the title American Documentary. Guest stars included Cate Blanchett (‘Waiting for the Artist’), Taran Killam, John Mulaney, James Urbaniak, Alex Brightman, Richard Kind, Paula Pell, and Renée Elise Goldsberry (‘Original Cast Album: Co-Op), Kevin Dunn, Michael C. Hall, Tim Robinson, and Bobby Moynihan (‘Any Given Saturday Afternoon’), Natasha Lyonne (‘Long Gone’), and Owen Wilson, Michael Keaton, and Necar Zadegan (‘Batsh*t Valley’). For the episode ‘Final Transmission’, Armisen, Hader and Maya Rudolph staged a real concert, which attracted about 1,000 people, and preformed as a Talking Heads-inspired band in a riff on Stop Making Sense. The series received six Emmy nominations total, including three for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series, and was also nominated for a Peabody Award.
Starz ordered 20 episodes of Blunt Talk, starring Patrick Stewart, which were split into two seasons. Jacki Weaver co-starred. Richard Lewis, Ed Begley Jr., Brent Spiner, Lesley Ann Warren and Trace Lysette appeared in recurring roles. Guest stars included Elisabeth Shue, Jason Schwartzman, Sharon Lawrence, and Moby. Stewart received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in 2015.
Fear the Walking Dead is the second series in the Walking Dead franchise, with the first three seasons serving as a prequel while the subsequent series storylines run concurrently with The Walking Dead as Morgan Jones (Lenny James) crossed over to the series as he encounters the surviving members of the series in Texas. The series was originally conceived with the title Cobalt. Early Season 1 episodes were filmed in Los Angeles, with production on the remaining five episodes moving to Vancouver. Season 2’s production moved to Baja California, Mexico, where Season 3 was also produced. Season 4 was filmed in the Austin, Texas area, with Season 5 filmed in New Braunfels, Texas. Seasons 6 and 7 also filmed in Texas, with the final season relocating to Savannah, Georgia.