TV by the Decade :: December 4•10

Curious Pictures

As we move closer to the holidays, the number of new shows making their debuts are going to be fewer and fewer until the networks’ ‘mid-season’ kicks in after the new year. A few new shows will make their bebuts on cable networks which run on a year-round schedule with more shows and shorter seasons. That is the case this week with no new series premiering in the pre-cable decades, and only one new show appearing on a traditional broadcast network. And of these series, only two ran for more than a single season.

2002 had three new series — an animated show, a panel talk show, and a game show. The animated series, Codename: Kids Next Door, actually began as a pilot in 2001, part of The Big Pick II, a showcase of 11 pilots with the winner selected by a Cartoon Network viewer poll that would be greenlit to a full series. Two TV movies were also produced: Operation: Z.E.R.O. in 2006, and Operation: I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S. in 2008 which served as the series finale. The run of the series also featured a crossover episode with The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy in 2007. It had the longest run with the second most episodes of the five new shows this week. The panel series, Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn, was born out of a failed 2002 NBC series, The Colin Quinn Show, which was broadcast live on Monday nights from the SNL studio but lasted just three episodes. Quinn took a similarly themed panel show to Comedy Central where it aired four nights a week, giving it the most total episodes over just two seasons. The game show, WinTuition, was hosted by game show veteran Marc Summers, and had Henry Winkler as an executive producer. The show aired weeknights for four months, producing the third highest number of episodes.

2012 was a terrible year for the two new shows that debuted this week. A TLC reality series, Sin City Rules, failed so hard that its last three episodes were shuffled off to the internet. Meanwhile, NBC premiered a new game show hosted by Howie Mandel, originally titled Howie Mandel’s White Elephant but changed before airing, and used the six episodes as a programming stunt with five broadcast on consecutive nights, and the final episode airing one week after the show’s premiere. The network probably hoped the nightly run would build an audience eager for more but that did not pan out.

So the question is — do you remember any of these shows? If you do, share your thoughts in the comments section below!

1952

No new series debuted this week in 1952.

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

December 6 – Codename: Kids Next Door (Cartoon Network, Six seasons, 78 episodes)
December 9 – Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn (Comedy Central, Two seasons, over 200 episodes)
December 9 – WinTuition (Game Show Network, One season, about 60 episodes)