TV by the Decade :: August 21•27

HBO Independent Productions

As we get closer and closer to the new Fall Season, the TV offerings in this last full week of August are a very mixed bag, with three decades sitting out the week. Many of the new shows that premiered this week lasted barely a season, but there were a few hits that had multiple season runs. The most notable was a 1992 sitcom on the FOX network that endured some turmoil among the cast toward the end of its run. 2002 introduced a new Transformers universe, and 2012 had a hit game show that ran for three seasons … and has never officially been cancelled. Read on to learn more about these and other shows celebrating anniversaries this week and tell us if any of your favorites are on the list!

1952

August 24 – The Doctor

• Host: Warner Anderson
• Notable Guests: Anne Jackson, Dennis Patrick, Charles Bronson, Whit Bissell, Neva Patterson, Alan North, Harry Morgan, Dabbs Greer, Conrad Janis, Beulah Bondi, Maudie Prickett, Lee Marvin, Dorothy Malone, Henry Jones, James Broderick, Mildred Natwick, Ernest Truex, Val Dufour
• Synopsis: Medical anthology series that had the viewer seeing patients through the eyes of a general practitioner who makes house calls.
• Network: NBC
• Broadcast History: One season, 44 episodes, last broadcast on June 28, 1953
• Trivia: The Doctor replaced The Red Skelton Show on Sunday nights. The program was produced on film, with some productions made in Hollywood and others in New York. Retitled The Visitor when it went into Syndication. Robert Aldritch directed 17 episodes, three of which he wrote. Rod Serling wrote two episodes. Camay Sopa was the sponsor.

1962

• No new series premiered this week in 1962.

1972

• No new series premiered this week in 1972.

1982

• No new series premiered this week in 1982.

1992

August 23 – 2000 Malibu Road

Spelling Television

• Cast: Lisa Hartman, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Beals, Tuesday Knight, Brian Bloom, Scott Bryce, Michael T. Weiss, Ron Marquette, Robert Foxworth, Sally Kellerman, Mitchell Ryan, Constance Towers, Stephen Nichols
• Notable Guests: Hope Davis, Robin Strasser, Yvonne De Carlo, Annabelle Gurwitch
• Synopsis: A story of four women living together at a beach house located at 2000 Malibu Road – Jade, a former prostitute trying to get out of the profession; Perry, a young lawyer also escaping from her past; Lindsay, a would-be actress trying to get the right break; and Joy, Lindsay’s two-faced, manipulative sister.
• Network: CBS
• Broadcast History: 6 episodes, last broadcast on September 9, 1992
• Trivia: The series ended with several unresolved cliffhangers. Overseas broadcasts may have included a voice over by Lisa Hartman that served to wrap up the characters’ stories. Aaron Spelling and Joel Schumacher were two of the show’s executive producers, and Schumacher directed as well. While the ratings fell after a decent premiere, Spelling claimed producers and the network could not come to term on license fees so the show was cancelled. Lisa Hartman claims the show was airing against Melrose Place and Spelling didn’t want to compete with himself or weaken the established series so he let the show be cancelled.

August 25 – Covington Cross

• Cast: Nigel Terry, Cherie Lunghi, James Faulkner, Jonathan Firth, Glenn Quinn, Ione Skye, Tim Killick, Paul Brooke
• Notable Guests: James Nesbitt, Siân Phillips, Art Malik, Julian Fellowes, Daniel Craig
• Synopsis: Set in 14th-century England, the series follows the daily intrigues of Sir Thomas Grey, a widower, and his sons and daughter.
• Network: ABC
• Broadcast History: One season, 13 episodes (6 unaired), last broadcast on October 31, 1992
• Trivia: The pilot aired in the UK six days after its US premiere, but the rest of the series was not broadcast in the UK. It had been intended to air in the UK in 1993. It did air in Ireland in 1994 and in France in 1993. Filmed in the UK by a British company for an American television network. The village set was filmed at Shepperton Studios, and it was later reused in the sixth season of British television series Red Dwarf as the Gelf village in the episode ‘Emohawk: Polymorph II’. Stars Nigel Terry and Cherie Lunghi appeared in Excalibur. The cross worn by John Mullens (James Faulkner) was previously worn by Kevin Costner in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

August 27 – Martin

• Cast: Martin Lawrence, Tisha Campbell, Thomas Mikal Ford, Carl Anthony Payne II, Tichina Arnold, Garrett Morris, Jon Gries
• Notable Guests: Tracy Morgan, David Alan Grier, LaWanda Page, Lynn Whitfield, Ted Lange, Tommy Davidson, James Lesure, Lark Voorhies, Brian McKnight, Chris Rock, Merrin Dungey, Marla Gibbs, Gary Coleman, The Notorious B.I.G., Charles Barkley, Kenneth ‘Babyface’ Edmonds, Jackie Chan, Mr. T, Sherman Hemsley, John Amos, Erik Estrada, Jenna von Oÿ, Zelda Rubinstein, Keith Sweat, Kym Whitley, Georg Stanford Brown, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Kelly Coffield Park, Dick Anthony Williams, M.C. Hammer, Kenya Moore, Kristoff St. John, Bernie Kopell, Method Man, Tone Loc, Richard Moll, Kim Fields, Kathleen Freeman, Christopher Reid, Little Richard, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Richard Pryor, Billy Dee Williams, Beverly Johnson, Snoop Dogg, Ramy Zada, Pam Grier, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Tucker Smallwood, Vivica A. Fox, Whitman Mayo, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jill Whelan, Lou Rawls, John Witherspoon, Kim Coles, Antonio Fargas, Tyrese Gibson, Jurnee Smollett, Fred Berry, Ja’net DuBois, Halle Berry, Michael Jai White, Rudy Ray Moore, Shaquille O’Neal, Coolio, Shirley Hemphill, Salt-N-Pepa, Will Smith, Robert Townsend, BeBe Winans, CeCe Winans, Outkast
• Synopsis: Sassy sitcom centering on radio and television personality Martin Payne. Series focuses on his romantic relationship with girlfriend Gina, her best friend Pam and escapades with best friends Tommy and Cole.
• Network: FOX
• Broadcast History: Five seasons, 132 episodes, last broadcast on May 1, 1997
• Trivia: Episode 129, ‘Goin’ for Mine’, was a backdoor pilot for a spin-off series starring Tichina Arnold as her character purused a music industry career as an A&R executive at Keep It Real Records. Tisha Campbell did not appear in most of the Season 5 episodes after filing a lawsuit for sexual harassment and verbal and physical assaults against Martin Lawrence and the producers. Gina was explained to be ‘out on business’. The suit was settled so the season could be completed and Campbell returned for the two-part series finale on the condition she would not share any scenes with Lawrence. The show was written so they would enter and exit a room at different times so they were part of the storyline but never crossed paths. Carl Anthony Payne II also had issues with Lawrence and did not appear in several final season episodes. Thomas Mikal Ford is the only actor to appear in all 132 episodes as the same character. Wendy Williams appeared as herself uncredited. Jill Whelan, Bernie Kopell and Ted Lange reprised their Love Boat roles.

August 27 – The Heights

• Cast: Ray Aranha, Alex Désert, Ken Garito, Cheryl Pollak, Donnelly Rhodes, Charlotte Ross, Shawn David Thompson, Zachary Throne, Tasia Valenza, Jamie Walters
• Notable Guests: Nicolas Surovy, Pamela Adlon, Gloria Reuben, Tracy Scoggins, Jill Schoelen, Roark Critchlow
• Synopsis: The Heights centered on a fictional band (also called The Heights) made up of mostly working-class young adults. Episodes regularly featured one of their songs.
• Network: FOX
• Broadcast History: One season, 13 episodes (1 unaired), last broadcast on November 26, 1992
• Trivia: The cast actually sang and played the band’s instruments.

2002

August 23 – Transformers: Armada

Hasbro/Takara

• Cast: Garry Chalk, David Kaye, Scott McNeil, Kirby Morrow, Tabitha St. Germain, Matt Hill, Michael Dobson, Colin Murdock, Brent Miller, Alvin Sanders, Brian Dobson, Don Brown, Tony Sampson, Andrew Francis
• Synopsis: On the planet of Cybertron, war rages between the two factions known as the Autobots and the Decepticons over the race of smaller, power-enhancing Transformers called Mini-Cons.
• Network: Cartoon Network
• Broadcast History: 52 episodes, last broadcast on December 26, 2003
• Trivia: Known in Japan as Super Robot Life-Form Transformers: Legends of the Microns. The first series co-produced between the American toy company Hasbro and their Japanese counterpart Takara, which begins a new Transformers continuity apart from previous series. The first series in the ‘Unicron Trilogy’. Because of an unreasonable production schedule set by Cartoon Network, the show premiered in the US first, and included unfinished animation and a dub that has many errors in the names of characters (Sureshock is called ‘Grindor’ in several episodes). The animation was completed for the Japanese broadcast. Because of the series, a Unicron toy was produced for the first time after the original appearance in 1986’s Transformers: The Movie.

August 25 – Nickelodeon Robot Wars

• Host: Dave Aizer
• Synopsis: Nickelodeon’s take on Robot Wars, the popular and long-running robot-fighting game show.
• Network: Nickelodeon
• Broadcast History: 6 episodes, last broadcast on October 6, 2002
• Trivia: Filmed at Shepperton Studios in England at the same time as the second season of TNN’s Robot Wars: Extreme Warrior. Both shows featured American teams and robots flown to England for the filming. The show featured robot competitors familiar to fans of the American series of Robot Wars, such as ‘Rosie The Riveter’ and ‘The Revolutionist,’ but the robot operators were all children associated with the teams. To make the show ‘kid friendly’, all Robot Wars fire hazards were disabled, Sir Killalot was renamed Sir K, the Pit Release Bumper was moved further down the arena wall, and rough language was not allowed.

August 26 – Ocean Ave.

• Cast: Steve DuMouchel, Leigh Lombardi, Jean Carol, Tony Templeton, Kristy Eisenberg, Timothy Adams, Matthew McKerrow, Megan Fox, Rebecca Ferguson, Marc Menard, Natalie Khoury, Victoria Jackson, Marc Macaulay, Antoni Corone, Jessica Sutta, Candace Kroslak, Gwendolyn Osborne
• Notable Guests: Victoria Silvstedt
• Synopsis: A cop working on the case of a serial killer targeting prostitutes must deal with his own secrets being exposed.
• Network: TV4 (Sweden)
• Broadcast History: One season, 130 episodes, last broadcast on April 1, 2003
• Trivia: Swedish-American primetime soap that was moved to daytime after abysmal ratings. The main cast included just five Swedish actors, with four others in minor roles. The series was filmed in Miami. Dialogue was shot in both Swedish and English with the hope of selling the series to international markets, but the series was never picked up anywhere outside of Sweden. The 130 hour-long episodes were edited to 260 half-hour episodes.

2012

August 23 – The American Bible Challenge

Relativity Television

• Host: Jeff Foxworthy, Kirk Franklin
• Synopsis: American biblical-themed television game show.
• Network: Game Show Network (GSN)
• Broadcast History: Three seasons, 27 episodes, last broadcast on July 17, 2014
• Trivia: Each season was a 9-episode tournament. The highest rated original program in GSN’s history at the time. Earned two 2013 Daytime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Game Show and Outstanding Game Show Host. The series was developed with Pastor Troy Schmidt as a writer and consultant, as well as an ‘on-camera Bible expert’. Test audiences rejected that part of the pilot and production took six weeks to bring in new staff and make changes to the show’s format. Schmidt admitted he was not comfortable being on camera. When Jeff Foxworthy was approached to host, he was hesitant until he learned contestants would be playing for charity instead of for their own benefit. Losing teams were also given a smaller donation for their charities. Kirk Franklin was added as co-host for the second season. The series was never officially cancelled.

August 23 – Beat the Chefs

• Host: Matthew Rogers; Judges: Christy Jordan, Brad A. Johnson
• Chefs: Beau MacMillan, Antonia Lofaso, Jeff Henderson
• Synopsis: Contestants prepare a home-cooked family recipe, while professional chefs make the same recipe in an upscale restaurant version.
• Network: GSN
• Broadcast History: 4 episodes, last broadcast on September 13. 2012
• Trivia: The series was originally pitched to CBS in March 2010. One guest judge appeared on each episode. Guest judges include Melody Thomas Scott, Eric Roberts and Melissa Rycroft. GSN did formally cancel the show in October 2012. It followed The American Bible Challenge, but retained less than a third of the audience.

August 24 – I Found The Gown

• Cast: Rick and Leslie DeAngelo
• Synopsis: The show follows the owners of VOWS, Rick and Leslie DeAngelo, searching for discounted and discontinued dresses in back rooms and department store warehouses to sell, and the brides that come to the store searching for the deeply discounted dress of their dreams and the experience of the shop.
• Network: TLC
• Broadcast History: Three seasons, 44 episodes, last broadcast on July 1, 2014

August 24 – Yukon Men

• Cast: Stan Zuray, Joey Zuray, Charlie Wright, Robert ‘Bob’ Wright, Pat Moore, Thomas Moore, Courtney Agnes Moore, Lorraine Moore, James Roberts
• Synopsis: The series details the lives of several inhabitants of the remote Alaskan village of Tanana which is situated by the Yukon River.
• Network: Discovery Channel/Animal Planet
• Broadcast History: Seven seasons, 60 episodes, last broadcast on April 22, 2016
• Trivia: Narrators for the series were Pat Duke, Darren O’Hare, and Chris Rollins.

August 25 – WWE Saturday Morning Slam

• Cast: Mick Foley, Tony Dawson, Josh Mathews, Tony Chimel
• Notable Guests: Mike ‘The Miz’ Mizanin, Nic Nemeth, John Cena, Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, David Otunga, Mick Foley, David Arquette, Terry Crews, Ryan Lochte, Jerry Lawler, Sheamus, Kane, Randy Orton, Nikki Bella, Brie Bella
• Synopsis: American professional wrestling television show that was produced by the WWE. It aired as part of the Vortexx Saturday morning block.
• Network: The CW
• Broadcast History: One season, 38 episodes, last broadcast on May 11, 2013
• Trivia: With a TV-G rating to meet the guidelines of the Saturday morning timeslot, more aggressive wrestling moves were not shown.

August 28 – Abby & Brittany

• Cast: Abby and Brittany Hensel
• Synopsis: Follows the 22-year-old conjoined twins as they graduate college together, travel to Europe and seek their first job.
• Network: TLC
• Broadcast History: One season, 8 episodes, last broadcast on October 2, 2012