TV by the Decade :: Mar 26•Apr 1

Bell Dramatic Serial Company

This was a pretty big week for new series making their debuts with, believe it or not, three series from the last 50-60 years still on the air today! The mid-point of the last seven decades also gave us a classic TV mini-series that is still fondly remembered today. 1993 and 2003 didn’t have much luck with their outputs with the exception of one reality series that ran for eight seasons, and 2013 gave us one cult classic series that went on to win multiple awards and accolades. Check out the list of shows celebrating anniversaries this week, and share your thoughts on some of your favorites!

1953

• No new series debuted this week in 1953.

1963

Selmur Productions

• April 1 – General Hospital (ABC, 60 seasons, 15,000-plus episodes to date)

GH is listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-running American soap opera in production. It is the world’s third longest-running scripted drama series in production after British serials The Archers and Coronation Street, as well as the world’s second-longest-running televised soap opera still in production. It is is the longest-running serial produced in Hollywood, and the longest-running entertainment program in ABC television history. It holds the record for most Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series, with 14 wins. The show’s setting was unnamed until the 1970s when it was named Port Charles, New York. John Beradino and Emily McLaughlin were the show’s original stars and remained with it until their deaths in 1996 and 1991 respectively. Rachel Ames joined the show in 1961 and remained full time until 2007, making guest appearances until 2015 for the show’s 50th anniversary. The soap spun off The Young Marrieds in 1964, which ran for two years, and Port Charles (1997-2003). The 30-minute show expanded to 45 minutes on July 26, 1976, then to one hour on January 16, 1978. Supercouple Luke & Laura’s wedding drew 30 million viewers and remains the highest rated hour in American soap history. The show became the first ABC series to broadcast in HD on April 23, 2009. The series was nearly cancelled in 1978, facing CBS’ The Price is Right and NBC’s Another World, and new exec producer Gloria Monty spent $100,000 to re-tape four episodes. The show became the most-watched daytime drama by 1979. Due to the COVID pandemic, production was forced to shut down in March 2020 with about two months of episodes in the can. The show aired on a four-day schedule with ‘Flashback Friday’ episodes through May 21, 2020, which was followed by several weeks of vintage episode repeats. Production resumed on July 22, 2020 and new episodes began airing on August 3.

1973

• March 26 – The Young and the Restless (CBS, 50 seasons, 12,500-plus episodes to date)
• March 26 – The $10,000 Pyramid (CBS/ABC, 15 seasons, 1,211 episodes)

While Y&R is set in the fictional Genoa City, it is not to be confused with the real Genoa City, Wisconsin (from which the name was taken). The original half-hour series expanded to one hour on February 4, 1980. The show originally centered around the Brooks and the Foster families, but the original characters except for Jill Foster Abbott were written out in the early 1980s and the new core families became the Abbotts and the Williamses, with the Newmans, the Barber/Winters and the Baldwin-Fishers being introduced later. Despite the changes, the show featured a 40 year feud between Jill Abbott and Katherine Chancellor, the longest rivalry on any US soap. The Young and the Restless has won 11 Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series. It is also currently the highest-rated daytime drama on American television, a rank it has held for 34 years as of the end of the 2021–22 season. The soap spun off The Bold and the Beautiful, which briefly took the Number 1 crown, on March 23, 1987. The show’s working title was The Innocent Years, and was created to compete with ABC’s younger-skewing soaps. The title was changed to reflect the youth and mood of the early 1970s. On June 27, 2001, the show became the first soap to broadcast in HD.

The $10,000 Pyramid has gone through seven iterations of the original with a top cash prize now at $100,000. The original daytime versions of the show have collectively collected nine Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Game Show. The show has also spun-off nighttime syndicated editions. Dick Clark is the host most commonly associated with the show, serving in daytime from 1973 to 1980 and a 1981 nighttime syndicated version, followed by a second nighttime edition from 1985-1988. Bill Cullen hosted the first nighttime version from 1974-1979. John Davidson hosted The $100,000 Pyramid in 1991, Donny Osmond hosted Pyramid from 2002-2004, Mike Richards hosted The Pyramid on GSN in 2012, and Michael Strahan currently hosts a primetime edition of The $100,000 Pyramid on ABC which began in the Summer of 2016. From October 1 to November 9, 1979, the show’s format was scrapped and it was retitled Junior Partner Pyramid, with children playing the game with a parent or other adult relative.

1983

David Wolper–Stan Margulies Productions

• March 27 – The Thorn Birds (ABC, Mini-series, 4 episodes)
• April 1 – Baby Makes Five (ABC, One season, 5 episodes)

The Thorn Birds was extremely successful, becoming the second highest-rated mini-series behind Roots. Based on the 1977 novel of the same name by Colleen McCullough. The project was originally developed as a feature film with Christopher Reeve under consideration for the lead with Herbert Ross directing. When Peter Weir became attached to direct, he looked to Robert Redford for the lead. Weir dropped out, Arthur Hiller took over and he considered Ryan O’Neal. It was eventually decided to turn the project into a TV mini-series. Though set in Australia, the mini-series was filmed in California. Rachel Ward, born in 1957, plays the mother of Mare Winningham (1959) and Philip Anglim (1952). Ward met her husband Bryan Brown on the set. Brown was the only Australian-born major cast member. The mini-series was nominated for eight Golden Globes, and won four — Best Mini-series or Television Film, Best Actor (Chamberlain), Supporting Actor (Richard Kiley) and Supporting Actress (Barbara Stanwyck). It was nominated for sixteen Emmy Awards and won six — Lead Actress in a Limited Series (Stanwyck), Supporting Actor in a Limited Series (Kiley), Art Direction for a Limited Series, Outstanding Achievement in Makeup, Film Editing for a Limited Series.

1993

• March 29 – 10 Seconds (The Nashville Network, One season, 130 episodes)
• March 31 – Home Free (ABC, One season, 13 episodes, 2 unaired)

Home Free starred Matthew Perry and aired between The Wonder Years and Home Improvement. Due to poor ratings the show was pulled from the schedule after five episodes to avoid airing during the all-important May ‘sweeps’ month, and was officially cancelled during ABC’s Fall upfronts presentation that month. It did return to the schedule on May 28 as part of the TGIF line-up, but the last two episodes went unaired.

2003

• March 26 – Wanda at Large (FOX, Two seasons, 19 episodes, 5 unaired)
• March 28 – America’s Most Talented Kid (NBC, One season, 6 episodes / PAX TV, Two seasons, 32 episodes)
• March 30 – Black Sash (The WB, One season, 8 episodes, 2 unaired)
• March 30 – The Pitts (FOX, One season, 7 episodes, 2 unaired)
• March 31 – American Chopper (Discovery Channel/TLC, Eight seasons, 179 episodes)
• March 31 – Trigun (Adult Swim, 26 episodes)
• April 1 – What Should You Do? (Lifetime, Two seasons, 29 episodes)
• April 1 – Lost at Home (ABC, One season, 8 episodes, 4 unaired)

Wanda at Large‘s unaired episodes (FOX scheduled the second season in the ‘Friday night death slot’) were broadcast on July 4, 2006 during the TV One launch marathon of the series. Sykes claimed the network assured her that the Friday slot was temporary, and she wishes the show had aired on UPN instead. America’s Most Talented Kid was a limited series for NBC, hosted by Mario Lopez and Lance Bass. It moved to PAX TV beginning with the second season with the titled amended to America’s Most Talented Kids, hosted by Dave Coulier. Notable contestants include Jojo, Tori Kelly, Diana DeGarmo, Hunter Hayes and Jordin Sparks.

The two unaired episodes of The Pitts were broadcast in the UK. FOX began development on an animated series in 2007 with original stars Lizzie Caplan and Dylan Baker signed to reprise their roles, and Allison Janney replacing Kellie Waymire, who died in 2003. Andy Milonakis was signed to replace David Henrie (Petey) who had moved on to Disney’s Wizard’s of Waverly Place. The project was taken out of production after a pilot failed to impress the network.

American Chopper aired on Discovery until December 2007 when it was moved to sister network TLC, where it ended in February 2010. The series was revived for two seasons on Discovery Channel from March 1, 2018-April 2, 2019. Between the end of the series and the start of the reboot, a new series, American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior, premiered on TLC in August 2010 but moved to Discovery midway through the first season.

Trigun was an anime series first broadcast in Japan on TV Tokyo in 1998. The series was released in the US on DVD in 2000, before premiering on Adult Swim in 2003.

2013

Temple Street Productions

• March 30 – Orphan Black (BBC America, Five seasons, 50 episodes)
• March 30 – Rebel Eats (Food Network, Pilot episode)
• March 31 – Bad Samaritans (Netflix, One season, 5 episodes)
• April 1 – The Gossip Game (VH1, One season, 8 episodes)
• April 1 – (Get to) The Point (CNN, 4 episodes)

Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany received a Primetime Emmy Award, two Critics’ Choice Television Awards and two further nominations, one TCA Award and one further nomination, two Satellite Award nominations, and a Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for her performance as multiple characters. The series also won a Peabody Award in 2013. Bad Samaritans was made available on various digital platforms on April 2, 2013 but is no longer available on Netflix. (Get to) The Point was a current affairs series that attracted such ridicule on social media, and was mocked by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, that CNN cancelled after its first week on the air.