Disney Television Animation
Coming in to the middle of November, only one decade saw a new broadcast network scripted series, while only one other decade had multiple new series debuts and all of them on cable … and all but one in the reality genre.
1952’s action series Biff Baker, U.S.A. starred Alan Hale, Jr., who would go on more than a decade later to become the beloved Skipper on Gilligan’s Island. His 1952 series only ran a single season and even then the network left four episodes in the can. It wasn’t until the show was sold into Syndication that those episodes were finally broadcast. We have to skip all the way to 2012 for the next batch of new shows, and only one animated series was scripted entertainment — for kids — Sofia the First, which was nominated for 11 Daytime Emmy Awards, winning two, and won the 2014 Annie Award for Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production for Preschool Children. The show did receive criticism after a producer identified Sofia as Latina which led to questions about the character’s light skin tone and lack of cultural signifiers. Disney had to release a statement that the character was a fairytale from a fairytale land with elements that reflect various cultures and ethnicities but are not meant to be specific to the real world. However, the controversy did lead to the creation of Elena of Avalor, which does feature a specifically Latina character. The longest running series of the group focused on real stories of divorces gone horribly wrong, and another popular series focused on the real life relationship of rapper The Game (Jayceon Taylor) and his fiancé Tiffney Cambridge as their marriage plans collapse and they work to fix their relationship (which didn’t work as The Game moved on to a VH1 dating reality series She Got Game that premiered in 2015).
Are any of your favorite shows on the list this week? Let us know in the comments section below!
1952
- November 13 – Biff Baker, U.S.A. (CBS, One season, 26 episodes, 4 unaired)
1962
- No new series debuted this week in 1962.
1972
- No new series debuted this week in 1972.
1982
- No new series debuted this week in 1982.
1992
- No new series debuted this week in 1992.
2002
- No new series debuted this week in 2002.
2012
51 Minds Entertainment
- November 13 – Little People Big World: Wedding Farm (TLC, One season, 6 episodes0
- November 17 – Fatal Vows (Investigation Discovery, Seven seasons, 88 episodes)
- November 18 – Married to the Army: Alaska (OWN, One season, 8 episodes)
- November 18 – Sofia the First (Disney Junior, Four seasons, 109 episodes)
- November 19 – Marrying the Game (VH1, Three seasons, 22 episodes)
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