FX Productions
The past three decades were the only ones to produce new TV series this week with 1993 and 2013 having some of the more notable programs, and two of those series were filmed in Baltimore! 1993’s Homicide: Life on the Street survived against all odds for seven seasons in a deadly Friday time slot. 2003 had only one series that lasted more than one season, and it barely did that. 2013 saw a series that signaled the dawn of a new era for streaming television, with another that became a cable TV darling. Curious to know more about these and other show’s celebrating anniversaries this week? Read on and share your favorite memories with us in the comments section below.
1953
- No new series debuted this week in 1953.
1963
- No new series debuted this week in 1963.
1973
- No new series debuted this week in 1973.
1983
- No new series debuted this week in 1983.
1993
Baltimore Pictures
- January 31 – Homicide: Life on the Street (NBC, Seven seasons, 122 episodes)
While the series ended on May 21, 1999, NBC did allow the producers to wrap up the storylines on February 13, 2000 with Homicide: The Movie. The show won Television Critics Association Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Drama in 1996, 1997, and 1998. It was the first drama series to win three Peabody Awards, and was nominated for 17 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning four, though it was never nominated for Best Drama Series. Four actors of the ensemble cast appeared in all 122 episodes: Richard Belzer, Clark Johnson, Yaphet Kotto and Kyle Secor. Belzer’s Det. Munch was so popular he carried the character over to Law & Order (4 episodes), The Beat (1 episode), Law & Order: Trial By Jury (1 episode), The Wire (1 episode) and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (326 episodes). The character even appeared on episodes of 30 Rock, Arrested Development, The X-Files and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Despite launching after the Super Bowl, the show did not catch on during its first season and was looking at cancellation but two Emmy wins and the success of NYPD Blue convinced NBC to give it another shot. The show placed consistently in third place during its run, mainly due to its Friday time slot, but strong reviews and a loyal fan base kept the show on the air. The show’s value to NBC also increased when Seinfeld ended and the network paid out $850 million to keep ER on the air. If you lived in Baltimore, you were probably an extra on the show — as was yours truly — or you know someone who was an extra on the show.
2003
- February 1 – .hack//SIGN (Cartoon Network, One season, 26 episodes)
- February 2 – Kingpin (NBC, One season, 6 episodes)
- February 2 – L.A. Dragnet (ABC, Two seasons, 22 episodes)
- February 4 – A.U.S.A. (NBC, One season, 12 episodes, 4 unaired)
.hack//SIGN was imported from Japan, where it originally air on TV Tokyo from April 4 to September 25, 2002. Kingpin had a short life due to low ratings and NBC’s discomfort with having a drug trafficker as a series lead.
The 2003 Dragnet revival from from Law & Order creator Dick Wolf followed the traditional series format for the first season with each episode a self-contained case with officers Friday (Ed O’Neill) and Smith (Ethan Embry). The formula was changed for Season 2 with an ensemble cast that gave the show the feel of a traditional police procedural, and was cancelled after five episodes. Three of the five remaining unaired episodes were broadcast on USA Network in 2004, and the final two were shown on the Sleuth channel in 2006.
2013
Sony Pictures Television
- January 29 – Nikki & Sara Live (MTV, Two seasons, 24 episodes)
- January 29 – Starter Wives Confidential (TLC, One season, 8 episodes, 5 unaired)
- January 29 – Southie Rules (A&E, One season, 11 episodes)
- January 30 – The Americans (FX, Six seasons, 75 episodes)
- January 31 – Do No Harm (NBC, One season, 13 episodes)
- February 1 – Belle’s (TV One, One season, 6 episodes)
- February 1 – House of Cards (Netflix, Six seasons, 73 episodes)
- February 1 – Who the (Bleep)… (Investigation Discovery, Two seasons, 13 episodes)
TLC seems to have not aired all of the Starter Wives Confidential episodes in order. Online records indicate only four episodes were produced with one unaired and uploaded to the show’s web page, but there were eight episodes total, with only Episodes 4, 5 and 7 curently available to stream on Discovery Plus.
The Americans was one of the rare drama series to win two Peabody Awards. The second was for ‘one of television’s best series finales’. The show received 18 Emmy nominations. Matthew Rhys won the Lead Actor in a Drama Seriess for the show’s final season, and Margo Martindale won the Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series twice out of four nominations. The series finale episode won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series.
Do No Harm, which was a modern spin on Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, received a 13-episode order from NBC but the order was reduced to 12 episodes due to scheduling conflicts. 13 episodes were produced and aired, but the series was cancelled after two episodes with the remaining episodes burned off over the Summer.
House of Cards was adapted from the British series of the same name, and was the first series produced for Netflix by an outside studio. The series was nominated for 33 Emmy Awards, and was the first streaming series to receive major Emmy nominations including Outstanding Dramatic Series. The series also received eight Golden Globe nominations. The series was one of the first to have an entire season released at one time, and was given an initial two season order which aided in the story’s continuity. Show producer David Fincher stated that all of the main actors were his first choice, and he told them not to ‘fuck this up’. Though set in Washington DC, most of the filming took place in and around the Baltimore area.
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