Warner Bros. Television
It’s the first week of November, traditionally the start of the first ratings ‘Sweeps Period’ of the season. Networks generally use this month to trot out special events and add some stunt casting or major plot lines to the current series in order to drum up viewership. So that means there is very little in the way of new programming this month but there are some key debuts during this week through the decades. Let’s check them out.
1959
- No new series premiered this week in 1959.
1969
- No new series premiered this week in 1969.
1979
- November 8 — Late night news program Nightline premieres on ABC, or rather the show that would become Nightline. On November 4, 1979, American’s were taken hostage in Iran and four days later ABC News president Roone Arledge felt the best way for the network to compete with NBC’s The Tonight Show was to keep America updated on the status of the crisis. At the time of launch, the nightly broadcast was known as The Iran Crisis–America Held Hostage with a day number on screen. Each report was 20 minutes in length and hosted by Frank Reynolds. Shortly after the show debuted, Reynolds stepped down and Ted Koppel took over. After the end of the 444 day hostage crisis in 1981, the show — which had been renamed Nightline in 1980 — was now a part of the ABC schedule. The show expanded to 30 minutes and five nights a week, providing a mix of investigative journalism and extended interviews that continues to this day. On April 30, 2004 Koppel and ABC faced controversy from conservative affiliates and viewers when he read the names of US servicement killed in the Iraq War since March 2003. Many felt it was a ratings stunt and undermined the war effort. ABC said it was meant as an expression of respect to those who gave their lives for the country. The episode gained a 30% ratings boost. Koppel repeated the format on May 28, 2004 reading the names of the servicemen killed in the war in Afghanistan, and again on May 30, 2005. The Sinclair Broadcast Group had ordered its ABC affiliates to not air the 2003 episode, but all subsequent episodes aired as normal. The show nearly faced cancellation when David Letterman’s contract with CBS was up for renewal in 2002, but he stayed put. Rumors said if Letterman had switched networks, he would only have done so if Nightline remained at 11:35 PM with his show airing at 12:05 AM. ABC then went with Jimmy Kimmel, keeping Nightline at 11:35 PM. Koppel retired from the show on November 22, 2005 after 25 years. Since then, the show has featured several hosts from different locations, and on January 8, 2013 ABC moved the show to 12:35 AM following Kimmel’s show which was moved up to 11:35 PM to compete with NBC’s and CBS’ late night talk shows. The show is currently hosted by Dan Harris.
1989
- No new series premiered this week in 1989.
1999
- November 4 — Game show Greed debuts on FOX. The show originally began with a qualifying round featuring six contestants responding to a question with a numerical answer. The answer farthest from the correct number was eliminated. The qualifying round was eliminated as of the show’s April 28, 2000 episode when the show was retitled Super Greed. The person with the closest guess became the captain of the team and through several rounds of questions, the pot would build before getting to the final $2 million question. Contestants could choose to leave with their share of the pot or try to win the $2 million by selecting four correct answers from nine choices in the final question. If incorrect, they left with nothing. Only one contestant during the show’s run attempted to answer the final question and got three out of four correct, losing $2,200,000 in the process. When the show changed to Super Greed, the top prize was increased to $4 million. Two teams reached the final level. One team opted for a cash/car buyout (a $150,000 total value), and the other team chose to continue and won $2 million. Several international versions of the show were produced. Chuck Woolery hosted the US version which ran for just one season, producing 44 episodes. FOX had renewed the show for a Summer 2000 run to compete with Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, but abruptly cancelled the show on July 14, 2000.
2009
- November 3 — Sci-fi series V debuts on ABC. The series was a reboot of the 1984 NBC series and followed the same basic plot of giant spaceships suddenly appearing over major cities across the globe with a technologically-advanced alien species allegedly coming in peace, but of course they have ulterior motives. The first season was modestly successful and producers decided to tie the new show to the original with the addition of Jane Badler to the cast. Badler played the original alien villain Diana, and it was revealed that she is the mother of, and been held prisoner by, Anna (Morena Baccarin) who is leading the current invasion. Despite an increase in ratings for the show’s second season (and being the most-watched show on UK’s Syfy channel), ABC cancelled the series which ranked 75th for the season (Season 1 ranked at 89th). 22 episodes were produced. The cast also included Elizabeth Mitchell, Morris Chestnut, Joel Gretsch, Logan Huffman, Lourdes Benedicto, Laura Vandervoort, Charles Measure and Scott Wolf. In addition to Badler, the network hoped to gain more original fans with the addition of Marc Singer but not in his original role. Unfortunately, Singer appeared in the final episode of the season, too late to give the show any real boost.
- November 6 — Docuseries Ancients Behaving Badly debuts on History Channel. The show focused on the misdeeds of historical figures using forensic investigation, animation and interviews. Subjects included Caligula, Attila the Hun, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Nero, Hannibal, Genghis Khan and Cleopatra. Eight episodes were produced and the series ended on December 30, 2009.
- November 6 — CG animated series Fanboy & Chum Chum debuts on Nickelodeon. The series was previewed on October 12 before the official series premiere on November 6. The series revolved around the hyperactive but slow-witted best friends of the title who are obsessed with superhero comics. The voice cast included Wyatt Cenac, Jamie Kennedy, Josh Duhamel and Estelle Harris. 52 episodes consisting of 100 segments were produced over the show’s two seasons which ended on November 2, 2012.
- November 9 — Late night talk show Lopez Tonight debuts on TBS. The show was hosted by comedian George Lopez, the first Mexican-American to host a late night talk show in the United States on an English-language network. The show originally aired at 11 PM but after Conan O’Brien signed with TBS at the end of his contractual agreement with NBC to not host a new show for at least one year after departing that network, TBS announced Conan would take over the 11 PM slot bumping Lopez to midnight. Conan was hesitant to do that to Lopez after what he went through with NBC and Jay Leno, but Lopez called and urged Conan to take the gig. He did and the result was a steep decline in ratings for the Lopez show. TBS announced the cancellation on August 10, 2011 and the last episode aired the next night. Conan released a statement expressing his disappointment in the decision and thanks Lopez for generously allowing him to take the time slot. 286 episodes were produced over the show’s two seasons.
Did you or do you watch any of these show? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!
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