Universal Television
Only three decades this week saw the premiere of new TV series, with 2013 having seven and only one of those was a scripted series that outlasted all of the reality shows. Another debut was a news program that is still on the air today. 2003 only had one show which was a huge success and has been running off and on across several different outlets for the past 20 years. 1983 gave a popular comic actor another shot at sitcom stardom, but it failed to catch on and disappeared as quickly as it appeared. Read on to learn more about the shows celebrating anniversaries this week and tell us if any of them are your favorites!
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
Conway Enterprises
- March 15 – Ace Crawford, Private Eye (CBS, One season, 5 episodes)
Ace Crawford, Private Eye was shot on film instead of videotape.
1993
- No new series debuted this week in 1993.
2003
Katalyst Media
- March 17 – Punk’d (MTV/BET/Quibi/The Roku Channel, Eleven seasons, 94 episodes)
Punk’d began as a hidden camera show under the title Harassment, with real people being pranked however a segment involving a fake dead body at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas backfired and the couple who were targets of the prank sued Kutcher, MTV, and the hotel for $10 million. The concept was then retooled to feature celebrities being pranked. The original MTV version of the series ended on May 29, 2007, with a revival announced in 2012. That ran for a single season and ended on June 7. The BET revival launched on August 11, 2015 and ended on October 6, 2015. The Quibi version launched in 2020 but when the streaming service was abruptly shut down, The Roku Channel bought the rights and a second season premiered onDecember 10, 2021.
2013
- March 12 – Family Trade (GSN, One season, 8 episodes)
- March 12 – Dead of Night (Investigation Discovery, Three seasons, 31 episodes)
- March 14 – Funeral Boss (Discovery Fit & Health, One season, 6 episodes)
- March 17 – Playing with Fire (E!, One season, 6 episodes)
- March 17 – Wicked Single (VH1, One season, 8 episodes)
- March 18 – Bates Motel (A&E, Five seasons, 50 episodes)
- March 18 – The Lead with Jake Tapper (CNN)
Family Trade was a reality series GSN hoped would broaden its scope from the game show programming it was known for. The experiment failed, with the series losing half of its audience from the premiere to the finale.
Bates Motel was a ‘contemporary prequel’ to the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock thriller Psycho, centered around the relationship of young Norman Bates and his mother Norma. A&E ordered a full ten episode first season without a pilot, and the show became the network’s longest-running scripted series. Star Vera Farmiga received an Emmy nomination and won a Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television and a People’s Choice Award for Favorite Cable TV Actress. Freddie Highmore also won a People’s Choice Award for Actor, and the series also won for Favorite Cable TV Drama. Carlton Cuse, one of the show’s creators, has cited Twin Peaks as an inspiration for the series, admitting they pretty much ripped off the show. Rihanna was cast in the iconic role of Marion Crane, played by Janet Leigh in the original movie, for the fifth season. A replica of the Bates Motel set was built in British Columbia, where the series was filmed, but it was demolished in 2017 after production wrapped.
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