TV by the Decade :: November 7•13

Columbia TriStar Television

For the start of November Sweeps, it was a pretty lackluster week for new programming. The most successful of the series began as a late night drama experiment before transitioning to a cable network for a successful multi-season run. One game show ran for two seasons, but the rest of this week’s new series barely managed a single season. One, however, did develop a cult following after its short run and spawned a slightly more successful reboot 15 years later (although it ran just two seasons, slightly more than doubling the episode count of the original). Let’s take a look to see if you remember any of this week’s new series.

1951

• No new shows premiered this week in 1951.

1961

• No new shows premiered this week in 1961.

1971

• No new shows premiered this week in 1971.

1981

November 11 – Shannon

• Cast: Kevin Dobson, Michael Durrell, Bruce Kirby, Charles Fields, Al Ruscio, Karen Kondazian, William Lucking
• Notable Guests: Kathryn Leigh Scott, Jonathan Banks, Laura Dern, Joseph Mascolo
• Synopsis: Jack Shannon is a New York cop and a single father. He decides to move to San Francisco so that his late wife’s parents can help him take care of his son. He gets a new job with the local police by pulling strings and calling in favors, which does not endear him to his new colleagues.
• Network: CBS
• Broadcast History: One season, 9 episodes (2 unaired), last broadcast on March 31, 1982
• Trivia: CBS pulled the show from the schedule after the fourth episode on December 2, 1981, with three of the five remaining episodes airing in March 1982.

November 13 – Strike Force

• Cast: Robert Stack, Dorian Harewood, Richard Romanus, Michael Goodwin, Trisha Noble, Herb Edelman
• Notable Guests: Paul Petersen, Tab Hunter, Joanna Cassidy, Ike Eisenmann, Eric Braeden, James Shigeta, John Karlen, Ally Sheedy, Billy Drago, Laurence Fishburne, Rick Dees, Lynne Moody, Philip Michael Thomas, David McCallum, Christopher Stone
• Synopsis: Capt. Frank Murphy is the leader of a special unit of specialized detectives and police officers whose job is to stop violent criminals at any cost.
• Network: ABC
• Broadcast History: One season, 20 episodes, last broadcast on May 21, 1982
• Trivia: The series was at one point labeled the most violent show on television.

1991

Stephen J. Cannell Productions Inc.

November 7 – Silk Stalkings

• Cast: Mitzi Kapture, Rob Estes, William Anton, Ben Vereen, Robert Gossett, Charlie Brill, Nick Kokotakis, Tyler Layton, Chris Potter, Janet Gunn, Jamie Rose, Dennis Paladino, John Byner, Raye Birk, Mitzi McCall
• Notable Guests: Kent McCord, Kristen Cloke, Jamie Rose, Tim Thomerson, Bibi Besch, Tracy Scoggins, Greg Grunberg, John O’Hurley, Erin Gray, Laura Harring, Stephen J. Cannell, Gloria Reuben, Sam J. Jones, Mark Sheppard, Gilbert Gottfried, Audrey Landers, Patrick Muldoon, Vanity, Robert Forster, Carrie-Anne Moss, Andrew Stevens, Sandahl Bergman, Charlie Schlatter, Tanya Roberts, Krista Allen, Eric Dane, Brenda Strong, Adrian Zmed, Christopher Atkins, Gordon Thomson, Michael Dorn, Jaime Pressly, Diane Salinger, Dick Gautier, Gerard Christopher, Rex Smith, Andrea Thompson, Kevin Spirtas, Carlos Bernard, Tuc Watkins, Kim Lankford, Tobin Bell, Kristin Bauer van Straten, Rutanya Alda, Timothy Omundson, Carnie Wilson, Roddy Piper, Silas Weir Mitchell, Frank Grillo, Lisa Vanderpump, Casper Van Dien, Michael Trucco, Constance Towers, Doug Jones, Gail O’Grady, Scott Valentine, Sean Hayes, Pat Harrington Jr., Stella Stevens, Eric McCormack, Melissa George
• Synopsis: The series portrays the daily lives of two detectives who solve sexually-based crimes of passion among the ultra-rich of Palm Beach, Florida.
• Network: CBS / USA Network
• Broadcast History: Eight seasons, 176 episodes, last broadcast on April 18, 1999
• Trivia: The series was part of CBS’ late night Crimetime After Primetime block until the programming experiment ended in June 1993, moving to USA Network for its remaining five seasons. Though set in Palm Beach, FL, most of the series was filmed in San Diego, CA with some episodes filmed in Scottsdale, AZ.

November 12 – Alan King: Inside the Comedy Mind

• Host: Alan King
• Notable Guests: George Carlin, Jerry Seinfeld, George Burns, Buddy Hackett, Mel Brooks, Joan Rivers
• Synopsis: Talk show featuring stand-up comics interviewed about the art and craft of creating stand-up.
• Network: The Comedy Channel
• Broadcast History: Unknown

2001

• November 7 – Beat the Geeks

  Cast: J. Keith van Straaten (Season 1), Blaine Capatch (Season 2), Tiffany Bolton, Marc Edward Heuck, Paul Goebel, Andy Zax, Michael Jolly, Michael Farmer

• Notable Guests: Dana Gould, Jerry Springer, Jane Wiedlin, Wil Wheaton, Coolio, Susan Olsen, Jimmie Walker, Hugh Hefner, Peter Noone
• Synopsis: Contestants face off in trivia matches against a panel of three resident ‘geeks’ who are well-versed in music, movies, and television, as well as a fourth guest geek with an alternate area of expertise which varies from episode to episode. The object is to outsmart the geek at their own subject.
• Network: Comedy Central
• Broadcast History: Two seasons, 130 episodes (1 unaired), last broadcast on October 7, 2002
• Trivia: J. Keith van Straaten was replaced as host after the first season as producers didn’t think he was geeky enough.

November 8 – The Tick

• Cast: Patrick Warburton, David Burke, Liz Vassey, Nestor Carbonell
• Notable Guests: Jonathan Penner, Ron Perlman, Missi Pyle, Dave Foley, Armin Shimerman, Beth Howland, Derek Mears
• Synopsis: The story of superhero The Tick, based on the popular comic book.
• Network: FOX
• Broadcast History: One seasons, 9 episodes, last broadcast on January 31, 2002
• Trivia: Christopher Lloyd appeared uncredited at Mr. Fishladder. Due to the Walt Disney Company acquiring the rights to FOX’s children’s programming, two major characters from the animated version of The Tick, American Maid and Die Fledermaus, could not be included in the live-action series, replaced by Captain Liberty and Batmanuel. Patrick Warburton has blamed the show’s failure on FOX, which did not own the show and therefore did not put much effort into promoting it. Shortened production schedules contributed to higher budgets due to overtime, and that was also a factor. Cast, crew and journalists were also initially concerned about the show’s Thursday time slot against Survivor and NBC’s Must See TV line-up.

2011

• No new shows premiered this week in 2011.