MTV Productions
Four decades produced notable TV debuts this week, but only one series gained any kind of popularity and was the longest running series at three seasons, while two TV movies drew viewers to their respective networks. 1953 had a short-lived talent series that tried to clone two other popular shows’ formats, but failed. 1993 saw the debut of a newsmagazine that got folded into another newsmagazine. 2003 produced the TV movies and the pop culture phenom reality series, and 2013 had nine new series, two of which ran for a maximum of two seasons, and seven of them were unscripted. Take a look at this week’s list of premieres and tell us if you remember any of them.
1953
- August 18 – Judge for Yourself (NBC, One season, last broadcast on May 11, 1954)
Judge for Yourself, originally subtitled The Fred Allen Show, was a talent show with a panel of celebrity judges and a panel of civilian judges ranking the acts. If a civilian matched the rankings of the celebrities, they won a prize. The intent of the show was to allow Allen to interact with guests in the manner of Groucho Marx on You Bet Your Life. The show was revamped in the middle of the season, losing the celebrity judges and allowing the studio audience to rank new songs to predict future hits, similar to ABC’s Jukebox Jury. Announcer Dennis James took over as host with the revamp.
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
- August 18 – Now with Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric (NBC, Two seasons, 46 episodes)
The title Now with Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric was shortened to Now, and the series eventually merged into Dateline NBC.
2003
Brownhouse Productions
- August 15 – The Cheetah Girls (Disney Channel, TV movie)
- August 17 – Red Water (TBS, TV movie)
- August 18 – I Love the ’70s (VH1, One season, 10 episodes)
- August 19 – Wild West Tech (History, Three seasons, 32 episodes, 2 pilots)
- August 19 – Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica (MTV, Three seasons, 40 episodes)
The Cheetah Girls was based on the book series of the same name by Deborah Gregory, and was the first musical Disney Channel Original Movie. Solange Knowles was cast as Aqua but dropped out to promote the release of her debut album Solo Star. Whitney Houston was one of the film’s producers. Red Water was TBS’ highest rated TV movie ever at the time.
I Love the ’70s was based on a BBC series of the same name and concluded with the episode ‘I Love 1979’. A sequel series premiered on July 10, 2006. Wild West Tech was originally hosted by Keith Carradine, but his half-brother David took over from Season 2.
Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica was originally set up as a reality series focused on the marriage of Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley, but they opted not to continue with the project during the pre-production phase. The project was shelved until 2002 when Jessica Simpson’s father proposed a series based on her marriage to Nick Lachey. The series, which was launched to coincide with the release of Simpson’s album In This Skin, helped grow her popularity, establishing the couple as household names. The series became a pop culture phenomenon.
2013
Disney Television Animation
- August 13 – Cash Dome (truTV, One season, 6 episodes)
- August 13 – Heroes of Cosplay (Syfy, Two seasons, 12 episodes)
- August 13 – Porter Ridge (Discovery Channel, One season, 13 episodes)
- August 13 – Tickle (Discovery Channel, One season, 12 episodes)
- August 13 – Doomsday Castle (National Geographic Channel, One season, 8 episodes)
- August 14 – Let It Ride (National Geographic Channel, One season, 10 episodes)
- August 15 – Owner’s Manual (AMC, One season, 8 episodes)
- August 16 – Wander Over Yonder (Disney Channel, Two seasons, 43 episodes)
- August 19 – Crowd Goes Wild (FS1, One season, 27 episodes)
The second season of Heroes of Cosplay is officially known as Season 1.5. The series was criticized by some in the cosplay community for misrepresenting cosplay and featuring humiliating and frustrating participants who were not part of the cast but were attending the competitions at the featured conventions, hurting the community. The ‘second season’ overhauled the format focusing more on the crafting of the costumes and the work of the group rather than manufactured drama.
Doomsday Castle was a spin-off of Doomsday Preppers.
Wander Over Yonder premiered on the Disney Channel but was moved to Disney XD on August 16, 2013, however the episodes did still air on Disney Channel as part of the Disney XD on Disney Channel block. The series was created by Craig McCracken, who also created The Powerpuff Girls and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends for Cartoon Network. This was his only Disney series, and after the premiere episode on August 16, the series formally began to air on September 13. The series received 15 Annie Awards nominations during its run, winning three, and two Primetime Emmy Awards nominations, winning one.
Crowd Goes Wild was hosted by sports fan Regis Philbin, who was unable to discuss sports topics on his morning show with Kathie Lee Gifford and Kelly Ripa.
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