Sprout Original
You can count the number of new series premiering this week on two hands and have a couple of fingers left over. Since the week in many of the decades included Thanksgiving, plus it’s Sweeps Month with the Nielsen ratings, most of the networks (in later decades) filled the schedule with reruns and holiday specials. Of the eight new shows this week, only two were on broadcast networks and one show was a daytime kids show, and the other was a late night music show.
1952 saw the premiere of a show for pre-schoolers that predated the more well-known Romper Room by a year. Ding Dong School originated as a local show in Chicago and was picked up by NBC for national broadcast six weeks after its debut. No one had faith in the show and it was only scheduled to air once, with no promotion, but an outpouring of viewer support forced the station managers to reverse their decision and air the show weekday mornings. The host, Frances Horwich, had two weeks to master drawing, painting and doing puzzles upside-down for the camera. When the show began airing on NBC and Horwich relocating to New York City, it was drawing more viewers than Arthur Godfrey’s morning program on CBS. Horwich retained the rights to the show and when NBC suggested certain sponsors for the show, like a BB gun manufacturer, she refused. NBC also wanted to expand the show to an hour but Horwich refused saying children should not watch television for more than 30 minutes at a time. The network also wanted to move the show to late morning or early afternoon, which she also refused, and the show was cancelled. Horwich returned to Chicago and brought the show back on WGN in 1958, and as the rights holder was able to syndicate the show nationally until 1965. Five kinescopes of the NBC episodes are held by the Library of Congress.
In 1972, ABC preempted The Dick Cavett Show for the premiere of a new concert series. The first episode featured Alice Cooper, Bo Diddley, Curtis Mayfield, and Seals & Crofts in concert at Hofstra University. A second episode in December also preempted Cavett’s show, and featured The Allman Brothers and Chuck Berry. The show then aired every other Friday night until April 25, 1975. During its run, the show received four Primetime Emmy Awards. ABC revived the show in 1991 as In Concert ’91 as a summer replacement for Rick Dees’ late night series Into the Night. The show proved more popular than Dees’ show, which was cancelled, and in January 1992 the series received a slight name change to ABC In Concert. The final episode aired on September 11, 1998.
2002 saw an MTV sketch comedy series starring Snoop Dogg which was supposed to produce six episodes but was expanded to eight. A second season was cancelled before it was even produced because Snoop wanted $1 million and the network refused to pay. 2012 was filled with reality/competition and kids shows, but of the five that debuted only crime paid off as ID’s Wives with Knives enjoyed a five season run. Nickelodeon’s The Chica Show and truTV’s game show Killer Karaoke ran for two seasons each.
Check out the list of shows celebrating this week and tell us in the comments section if you remember any of them.
1952
WNBQ-TV
- November 24 – Ding Dong School (NBC, Five seasons, last broadcast on December 28, 1956)
1962
- No new series debuted this week in 1962.
1972
- November 24 – In Concert (ABC, Three seasons, last broadcast on April 25, 1975)
1982
- No new series debuted this week in 1982.
1992
- November 22 – The Dinosaurs! (PBS, Four episode mini-series, last broadcast on November 25, 1992)
2002
- November 25 – Doggy Fizzle Televizzle (MTV, 8 episodes)
2012
Indigo Films
- November 23 – Killer Karaoke (truTV, Two seasons, 16 episodes)
- November 23 – Wives with Knives (Investigation Discovery, Five seasons, 40 episodes)
- November 24 – The Chica Show (Sprout, Two seasons, 26 episodes)
- November 24 – Marvin Marvin (Nickelodeon, One season, 19 episodes)
- November 25 – Sugar Dome (Food Network, One season, 6 episodes)
Share this post
