TV by the Decade :: July 9•15

Tilted Productions

It was a pretty big week for new TV series premieres with five of the last seven decades offering something new. 1953 had a single premiere, a half-hour anthology series where several stars made their TV debuts. 1983 had the premiere of a classic children’s TV series all about the joys of reading. 1993 had three new shows with only one of them making it through two seasons. 2003 had six new premieres, including a groundbreaking reality makeover series. 2013 had 13 new shows with several going on to great success including a historical comedy series, a celebrity-filled game show, an award winning prison dramedy, and an afternoon talk show. Four of the series premiering this week went on to be nominated for or win Daytime and Primetime Emmy Awards, and three of them also won Peabody Awards. Take a look at the list below to learn more, and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating anniversaries this week!

1953

• July 11 – Medallion Theatre (CBS, One season, 39 episodes)

Henry Fonda, Claude Rains and Janet Gaynor made their major television dramatic debuts on Medallion Theatre, and Rod Serling was among its writers. All episodes aired live from New York City.

1963

• No new series debuted this week in 1963.

1973

• No new series debuted this week in 1973.

1983

Lancit Media Productions

• July 11 – Reading Rainbow (PBS, Twenty-one seasons, 155 episodes)

Before Reading Rainbow‘s official premiere, the show aired for test audiences in Nebraska and Buffalo markets. The series earned over 200 broadcast awards including a Peabody Award and 26 Emmy Awards, 10 of which were for Outstanding Children’s Series. The series pilot was produced in 1981 and aired as the eighth episode of the series in 1983.

1993

• July 10 – Brains & Brawn (NBC, One season, last broadcast on October 16, 1993)
• July 11 – Danger Theatre (FOX, One season, 7 episodes)
• July 11 – Weinerville (Nickelodeon, Two seasons, 68 episodes, 3 specials)

Brains & Brawn was a Saturday morning version of a primetime game show first aired in 1958, and was hosted by Mark-Paul Gosselaar with Danielle Harris co-hosting early episodes, later replaced with Tatyana M. Ali.

Danger Theatre was a comedy anthology series that spoofed familiar genres, with Robert Vaughn hosting in mock earnestness. The score for the series was composed by Lalo Schifrin, best known for his theme song for Mission: Impossible.

Weinerville originally aired as a two-hour block on Sundays, but as the show’s popularity grew Nickelodeon moved the show to weekday afternoons, and allowed the show’s creator, Marc Weiner, and his puppets to host a New Year’s special event. Weinerville also produced three specials. The show was produced at Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, and the last episode was the 1,000th episode to film at the Florida studio. Guest stars included Marc Summers, Buster Poindexter, Huey Lewis, the cast of Clarissa Explains It All, Melissa Joan Hart, Paul Shaffer, John Tesh & Mary Hart, Leeza Gibbons, Pat O’Brien and Andy Lawrence.

2003

Scout Productions

• July 11 – Evil Con Carne (Cartoon Network, Two seasons, 13 episodes, 32 segments)
• July 11 – Free for All (Showtime, One season, 7 episodes)
• July 11 – Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (MTV, One season, 13 episodes)
• July 13 – Dance Fever (ABC Family, One season, 6 episodes)
• July 14 – Who Wants to Marry My Dad? (NBC, Two seasons, 11 episodes)
• July 15 – Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Bravo, Five seasons, 100 episodes)

Evil Con Carne first appeared as part of Grim & Evil. A two-part episode titled ‘The Smell of Vengeance’ had to be reworked in the wake of the September 11 attacks on New York City. The episode featured New York City being attacked with a giant stink gun, forcing people to jump off the World Trade Center into the water below. No one at the time thought that just weeks later people would be jumping from the World Trade Center. The episode’s setting was changed to rural Kansas but it was still suspended from broadcast rotation.

Free for All was cancelled shortly after its seventh episode was broadcast, ending the series on a cliffhanger. The main characters were voiced by Jonathan Silverman, show creator Brett Merhar, Dee Bradley Baker, Juliette Lewis, Mitzi McCall and Sam McMurray.

Spider-Man: The New Animated Series was originally intended to serve as a continuation of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movie, as well as a loose adaptation of the Ultimate Spider-Man comics. The events of the series were contradicted by the events of Spider-Man 2. Neil Patrick Harris voiced Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Lisa Loeb voiced Mary Jane Watson, Ian Ziering voiced Harry Osborn, and Keith Carradine voiced J. Jonah Jameson. Guest actors include Stan Lee, Rob Zombie, Eve, Kathy Griffin, Jeremy Piven, Michael Dorn, Michael Clark Duncan, Keith David, Jeffrey Combs, Clancy Brown, Virginia Madsen, James Marsters, Harold Perrineau, Ed Asner, Gina Gershon, John C. McGinley, Ethan Embry, Devon Sawa, Tara Strong and Cree Summers.

Dance Fever was hosted by Eric Nies, with judges Carmen Elektra, Jamie King and MC Hammer.

Heidi Mueller, one of the daughters seeking a bride for her father in Season 1 of Who Wants to Marry My Dad?, joined the cast of NBC soap Passions after the second season ended.

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was a surprise success, winning an Emmy for Outstanding Reality Program in 2004. The title was abbreviated to just Queer Eye at the beginning of its third season to include makeovers for any individual regardless of gender or sexual orientation. Development of the series was approved after the success of Bravo’s counter-programming efforts with Gay Weddings against the Super Bowl in 2003. The pilot was filmed in Boston, but only Carson Kressley and Ted Allen carried over to the series. Kyan Douglas and Thom Filicia joined the show when it was ordered to series, with Blair Boone serving as the culture expert. Boone’s two episodes aired as the second and third episodes of Season 1 and he was credited as ‘guest culture expert’. Jai Rodriguez was Boone’s replacement. Each episode took four days to film but was edited to create the perception it all took place in one day.

2013

Hazy Mills Productions

• July 9 – Property Envy (Bravo, One season, 12 episodes)
• July 9 – Drunk History (Comedy Central, Six seasons, 70 episodes, 2 specials)
• July 10 – The Bridge (FX, Two seasons, 26 episodes)
• July 10 – Camp (NBC, One season, 10 episodes)
• July 11 – Hollywood Game Night (NBC, Six seasons, 77 episodes)
• July 11 – Orange Is the New Black (Netflix, Seven seasons, 91 episodes)
• July 11 – Summer Camp (USA, One season, 8 episodes)
• July 13 – Beware the Batman (Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, One season, 26 episodes)
• July 13 – The Haunted Hathaways (Nickelodeon, Two seasons, 47 episodes)
• July 13 – Bounty Hunters (CMT, One season, 13 episodes)
• July 14 – Hillbillies for Hire (CMT, One season, 12 episodes)
• July 14 – Pop Innovators (E!, Three episodes)
• July 15 – The Real (Syndication, EIght seasons, 1,360 episodes)

Drunk History had been renewed for a seventh season, and production was underway until the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown. Comedy Central then reversed its decision and cancelled the series. While the show’s storytellers are inebriated, they read up on their stories sober and rehearse with producers before getting drunk. Dates, names and story elements have been verified as historically accurate.

The Bridge was an American adaptation of the Danish-Swedish series Bron/Broen. The show’s production company wanted to shoot the series at the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor, Canada to mirror the original series’ winter setting. The producers successfully argued to set the series at the Bridge of the Americas connecting El Paso with Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. The series won a Peabody Award in 2013.

Camp received a 13-episode straight-to-series order for a Summer 2013 premiere. The episode count was reduced to ten due to scheduling issues. The series was filmed in Australia around the areas of Murwillumbah and Crams Farm Reserve in Northern New South Wales.

Hollywood Game Night host Jane Lynch received three Primetime Emmy Awards nominations for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program, winning twice. The series was pitched as Celebrity Game Night, but the title was changed when picked up by NBC. The network has never formally renewed the series for a seventh seasons or cancelled the series, and some sources list the episodes that premiered in June 2020 as part of a seventh season while others list them as a continuation of Season 6.

Orange Is the New Black was based on Piper Kerman’s memoir Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison. The show is one of Netflix’s longest-running series. The show earned 12 Emmy nominations for its first season, winning three. It had been submitted in the Comedy Series category but changes to the Emmy rules in 2015 forced the series to move to the Drama category. The change made it the first series to be nominated in both Comedy and Drama categories. It received four Emmy nominations for Season 2 with Uzo Aduba winning for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. The series also received six Golden Globe Award nominations, six Writers Guild of America Award nominations, a Producers Guild of America Award, an American Film Institute award, and a Peabody Award. Katie Holmes was under consideration for thr role of Piper Chapman, but was unable to accept due to other commitments. Laura Prepon auditioned for the role of Piper, but producer Jenji Kohan felt she had a certain toughness that wasn’t right for the character so she was given the role of Alex. Yael Stone auditioned for the role of Nicky, but Kohan didn’t feel she was tough enough so she was given the role of Lorna. Natasha Lyonne was considered for Alex, but was asked to read for Nicky instead because Kohan knew she could ‘do the part in her sleep’. Uzo Aduba read for the part of Janae but was offered Suzanne ‘Crazy Eyes’ Warren instead. This American Life host Ira Glass was offered the role of a public radio host but declined the invitation. The series began filming in the former Rockland Children’s Psychiatric Center in Rockland County, New York, on March 7, 2013. The building, part of the what was then the Rockland State Hospital campus, was completed in 1970 and closed by 2010. The title sequence features close-up shots of female non-actors who were formerly prisoners, including Piper Kerman herself; she is the one who blinks.

Beware the Batman was pulled from Cartoon Network’s schedule four months after its premiere with no explanation. It returned to Adult Swim’s Toonami block on July 27, 2014. Promotional art not intended for public release was seen by the public, resulting in outcry over the depiction of Alfred Pennyworth as a gun-toting associate of Batman. Fans claimed this would reveal Batman’s identity as Bruce Wayne’s butler was fighting with him, but producers assured fans Alfred would remain true to his character. In order to ensure realism in the CG animation, Batman’s utility belt was built out of cardboard and worn by the design team in order to test how it would function in motion. The series was eventually declared a financial failure and was written off for tax purposes.

Bounty Hunters was an animated series featuring the voices of Jason Jones, Samantha Bee, Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall, Lisa Lampanelli and Dave Thomas.

The Real ended due to production costs attributed to COVID-19. Amanda Seales joined the series in Season 6 following the departure of original panel member Tamar Braxton. Seales then left the show in June 2020 citing her dissatisfaction with the inability to openly speak on recent social issues as a reason, along with a lack of minority executive staff within production company Telepictures. Original panel member Tamera Mowry-Housley exited a month later, with Garcelle Beauvais added to the panel in Season 7. Adrienne Bailon, Loni Love and Jeannie Mai remained with the series for the entire run. The series was nominated for 22 Daytime Emmy Awards during its run, winning six including Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host in 2018.