TV by the Decade :: September 24•30

Marvel Television

Another week with some major TV premieres across the decades. 1953 gave Danny Thomas a starring role in a sitcom that ran for more than a decade on two different networks under two different titles. 1963 saw the debut of a beloved rural sitcom, and also gave three well-known entertainers their own variety shows. 1983 gave us a series spun-off from a classic series that could not match the original, and produced one of the looniest live-action series up to that point. 1993 had two long-running comedies and two Westerns, only one of which had any success. 2003 had more misfires than hits with six of the ten new shows leaving the airwaves with episodes left unseen. 2013 brought the MCU to television, gave us a long-running family sitcom, and saw the returns of Robin Williams, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Michael J. Fox to series television. Read more about this week’s new series and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating an anniversary!

1953

• September 29 – Make Room For Daddy (ABC/CBS, Eleven seasons, 343 episodes)

Make Room For Daddy was retitled The Danny Thomas Show beginning with the fourth season. Thomas’ co-star Jean Hagen, who played his wife, quit the show at the end of Season 3 and the decision was made to kill off the character, something that had never been done in a sitcom before. Marjorie Lord joined the cast during the fourth season, and Thomas’ Danny Williams proposed to her in the season finale. ABC decided to cancel the show at that point. The series was filmed at Desilu Studios (Lucy & Desi appeared on the show both as Lucy & Ricky Ricardo and as themselves), and I Love Lucy was ending its run on CBS so the network quickly snapped up Thomas’ show to take over Lucy’s timeslot. With the fifth season premiere, Danny and Kathy were already married. With the change of networks Lelani Sorenson, who played Linda the daughter of Lord’s character Kathy, was recast with Angela Cartwright. When Danny Williams adopted Linda the show’s ratings shot up and ended the season at Number 2 in the ratings. During the first three seasons, Louise Beavers appeared several times as the Williams’ maid but when she fell ill Amanda Randolph took over the role in a recast. Thomas and Lord grew tired of their roles during the last two seasons, and during the 11th season Thomas decided to retire from the show and it ended in 1964, still one of the top ten series on television. When the show entered Syndication, the first three seasons with Jean Hagen were not included in the package. A seventh season episode served as the pilot for The Andy Griffith Show. In addition to I Love Lucy, the show also crossed over with The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour and The Joey Bishop Show. Morey Amsterdam played his The Dick Van Dyke Show character Buddy Sorrell on the fourth episode of Season 11. Bill Dana appeared several times as José Jiménez which was spun-off into The Bill Dana Show, on which Thomas played himself in one episode. Most of the cast reunited for the first ever TV reunion special, The Danny Thomas TV Family Reunion, in 1965, and again for Make More Room for Daddy which aired as an episode of The Danny Thomas Hour in 1967. A 1969 reunion special, Make Room for Granddaddy, performed so well that CBS picked it up to series but Thomas didn’t like the timeslot so he pulled the show. ABC revived the series for one season in 1970 with some slight and unexplained casting changes, but ratings went from mediocre to poor when ABC moved the show from Wednesdays at 8:00 PM to Thursdays at 9:00 PM.

1963

Filmways

• September 24 – The Littlest Hobo (Syndication, Two seasons, 61 episodes)
• September 24 – Petticoat Junction (CBS, Seven seasons, 222 episodes)
• September 25 – The Danny Kaye Show (CBS, Four seasons, 120 episodes)
• September 26 – The Edie Adams Show (ABC, Three seasons, 21 episodes)
• September 28 – The New Phil Silvers Show (CBS, One season, 30 episodes)
• September 28 – Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales (CBS, Three seasons, 75 episodes)
• September 29 – The Judy Garland Show (CBS, One season, 26 episodes)

The Littlest Hobo was a Canadian TV series based on a 1959 movie of the same name directed by Charles R. Rondeau. The series was revived in 1979 by CTV and aired for six seasons, producing 114 episodes which were syndicated to the US and UK.

Petticoat Junction was one of three interconnected series created by Paul Henning, including The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres. Proposed titles for the show were Ozark Widow, Dern Tootin’, and Whistle Stop. The main setting of the show, the Shady Rest Hotel, sits halfway between the towns of Pixley and Hooterville, with Hooterville becoming the setting for Green Acres. Another nearby town is Bugtussle, original home of the Clampett family before they ‘moved to Bever-lee’. The exact location of Hooterville is never given, and clues throughout the series often conflict with each other but it seems to be in Southwest Missouri. The show’s title is a misnomer as the Shady Rest is located at a water stop, not a junction. Paul Henning wrote the show for Bea Benaderet, who was known for her co-starring role on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, and who would also play Cousin Pearl on Hillbillies‘ first season (she also voiced Betty Rubble on The Flintsones). Henning felt she had more than paid her dues and deserved to headline her own series. Benaderet contracted lung cancer and missed the last third of Season 5. Her character was said to be out of town but no other explanation was given. She did return for the fifth season finale, and announced in January 1968 that her cancer treatments had been successful so she would return for Season 6. After completing the first two episodes, it was discovered her cancer had returned, and the third episode was her last physical appearance on the show. Henning knew she would not be back so wrote the fourth episode to feature the birth of her granddaughter so Benaderet could provide some voice work. In one scene at daughter Betty Jo’s bedside, Benaderet’s stand-in is seen from the back as her voice is heard. The episode aired 13 days after Benaderet’s death. As she was so beloved by fans of the show, her absence had to be handled with care as it was almost unheard of for a main character on a TV comedy to die. CBS decided to keep the show on the air, and Kate was still considered to be out of town, while Benaderet’s name was removed from the opening credits with the theme song rewritten to remove Kate’s name as the hotel proprietor. New character Janet Craig, played by June Lockhart, was introduced in Season 6 as the series about a family unit needed a mother figure. The Season 6 finale, in which Steve and Betty Jo reveal they are having a second child, was meant to serve as a series finale, but CBS renewed the show for a seventh season so there would be five full seasons in color for Syndication. The impending birth was never mentioned again. CBS cancelled the series at the end of Season 7, part of the ‘rural purge’ that also took out the other two Henning series and variety show Hee-Haw, leaving the show without a proper finale although the fourth-to-last episode has the feel of a series finale. Edgar Buchanan as Uncle Joe was the only cast member to appear in every episode, while Linda Kay Henning, who appeared in all but two episodes, and Frank Cady (who also appeared regularly on Green Acres as general store owner Sam Drucker) were featured in every season. Cady was the only actor in TV history to play the same character concurrently on three different series, also making guest appearances on The Beverly Hillbillies. Sharon Tate was originally considered for the role of Billie Jo but her agent convinced her to pass on the offer as producers felt she wasn’t ready to take on a major character role. Jeannine Riley played Billie Jo for the first two seasons. She was replaced by Gunilla Hutton in Season 3, and she was replaced by Meredith MacRae from Season 4 on. Pat Woodell played Bobbie Jo for the first two seasons and was replaced with Lori Sanders. Paul Henning’s daughter Linda Kay Henning played Betty Jo. Petticoat Junction was the only one of the three Henning series to not have a TV movie reunion special, although several cast members appeared on a 1983 episode of Family Feud competing against the cast of The Brady Bunch. Frank Cady’s last acting role was as Sam Drucker in Return to Green Acres. Linda Kay Henning appeared in The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies, but not as Betty Jo Bradley. To date only the first three seasons have been released to home video.

When CBS ordered The Danny Kaye Show for the 1963-1964 season, the intention was to schedule the show on Sunday nights at 9:00 PM following The Ed Sullivan Show. That time was known as the ‘graveyard slot’ because NBC broadcast Bonanza at that time. Kaye refused so his show was scheduled on Wednesdays at 10:00 PM, and the new variety series headlined by Judy Garland got the Sunday slot. The Edie Adams Show was also known as Here’s Edie. The show alternated in its time slot with Sid Caesar’s show. The New Phil Silvers Show starred Silvers playing a character that was basically a civilian version of his Sergeant Bilko character from his successful series that ended four years earlier. Audiences were turned off by his factory foreman character still scheming and scamming blue-collar workers who were just trying to make an honest living. To improve ratings, a family was added in the 18th episode to make the show more of a domestic comedy but that shift came too late to save the series. The Judy Garland Show went through three producers and format changes during its short 26 episode run, starting as a comedy-variety series and switching to a concert format with Episode 20, the show’s title changed to Judy Garland in Concert. Audiences loved Garland, but not the variety format or co-star Jerry Van Dyke, and fans unsuccessfully rallied to save the show from cancellation. It is now viewed as an important piece of TV history.

Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales was one of the earliest Saturday morning cartoons on television. With the FCC declaring television a ‘vast wasteland’ in terms of educational material, efforts were made with the show to have Tennessee Tuxedo and his pal Chumley being the ones educated so kids didn’t feel they were being lectured to, even though they were. Several new shorts were produced for YouTube in 2014.

1973

• No new series premiered this week in 1973.

1983

• September 26 – Boone (NBC, One season, 13 episodes)
• September 26 – AfterMASH (CBS, Two seasons, 31 episodes, 1 unaired)
• September 27 – Oh Madeline (ABC, One season, 18 episodes)
• September 30 – Manimal (NBC, One season, 8 episodes)

Boone was created by Earl Hamner (The Waltons), and has not been seen since its initial run. AfterMASH was a continuation of the popular M*A*S*H, which ended February 28, 1983, set immediately after the Korean War. Harry Morgan, Jamie Farr and William Christopher reprised their roles, with Kellye Nakahara providing the voice of the hospital’s public address system. Rosalind Chao, who appeared in the M*A*S*H series finale and married Farr’s Corporal Klinger, also joined the spin-off. The show was a Top 15 series during its first season on Monday nights, so CBS moved it to Tuesday for Season 2 to compete with NBC’s The A-Team, Ratings plummeted and the show was cancelled nine episodes into the run, scuttling plans to feature guest appearances by former M*A*S*H stars including Alan Alda.

Sitcom Oh Madeline starred Madeline Kahn and was based on the British comedy series Pig in the Middle. The show was the first produced by Carsey-Werner Productions. Kahn received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance.

Manimal premiered with a 90-minute pilot episode. Oscar-winning SFX artist Stan Winston created the transformation effects. During the transformation from human to animal, Simon MacCorkindale’s character was often wearing a suit that would rip off as he shape-shifted, but there was never any sign of discarded clothing. When he returned to human form, all of his clothing would be perfectly restored with no explanation.

1993

Michael Jacobs Productions

• September 24 – Boy Meets World (ABC, Seven seasons, 158 episodes)
• September 25 – Harts of the West (CBS, One season, 15 episodes)
• September 25 – Walker, Texas Ranger (CBS, Nine seasons, 203 episodes)
• September 28 – Acapulco H.E.A.T. (Syndication, Two seasons, 48 episodes)
• September 29 – Grace Under Fire (ABC, Five seasons, 112 episodes)
• September 29 – Joe’s Life (ABC, One season, 11 episodes, 1 unaired)

Walker, Texas Ranger starred Chuck Norris and was inspired by his film Lone Wolf McQuade. The series launched with three TV movies in the Spring on 1993. The ‘H.E.A.T.’ in Acapulco H.E.A.T. stood for ‘Hemisphere Emergency Action Team’, a secret coalition to fight terrorism and other international crimes, with its team posing as models and photographers in the beach-fashion business. The series only produced one season initially, but returned for a second after two years with a mostly new and smaller cast.

On Grace Under Fire, Grace’s ex-husband Jimmy was only an off-screen character during the first season, occasionally voiced by Blake Clark. Geoff Pierson joined the show to portray Jimmy on-screen periodically. Julie White, who played Grace’s friend Nadine, left the series after the fourth season and was replaced by Lauren Tom as Dot. Dot, however, abruptly disappeared, though she was still mentioned, and was replaced by Julia Duffy as Grace’s old friend Bev Henderson. Duffy was to join the cast full time, but the series was cancelled after she had appeared in just two episodes. Co-star Dave Thomas commented that Brett Butler unintentionally hindered the series with her desire for control, prompting him to try to exit but could not due to his contract. White’s departure was also triggered by Butler’s behavior which included a painkiller addiction and accusations that she flashed her breasts at a child actor playing her son (who was removed from the show by his parents). Butler did seek help and returned for the fifth season clean and sober, but she relapsed during the holidays causing ABC concern for her health, but growing impatient with her missed tapings. Ratings fell during Season 5 due to Butler’s reputation in the press and the longer-then-usual hiatus between Seasons 4 and 5, but with Butler in her current state the network was reluctant to continue with the series and aprubtly cancelled it after the February 17, 1998 broadcast. The series did earn three Golden Globe nominations, two for Butler and one for the series, as well as two Emmy nominations for guest performers Jean Stapelton and Diane Ladd.

2003

• September 24 – The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire (CBS, One season, 9 episodes, 4 unaired)
• September 25 – Coupling (NBC, One season, 10 episodes, 6 unaired)
• September 26 – Miss Match (NBC, One season, 17 episodes, 6 unaired)
• September 26 – The Handler (CBS, One season, 16 episodes, 2 unaired)
• September 26 – Joan of Arcadia (CBS, Two seasons, 45 episodes)
• September 26 – Hope & Faith (ABC, Three seasons, 73 episodes)
• September 28 – 10-8: Officers on Duty (ABC, One season, 15 episodes, 1 unaired)
• September 28 – Cold Case (CBS, Seven seasons, 156 episodes)
• September 28 – JoJo’s Circus (Playhouse Disney, Three seasons, 63 episodes)
• September 28 – The Lyon’s Den (NBC, One season, 13 episodes, 7 unaired)

Brian Haley was originally cast in the role of Waylon Shaw on The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire, but was replaced with Chris Penn after filming the pilot episode. Haley’s scenes were reshot with Penn, but the pilot was eventually scrapped and never aired. The series was cancelled after the fifth episode.

Coupling was based on the UK series of the same name, and the original scripts were used with alterations in dialogue for American audiences and a trimming of the run time for commercial broadcast. The original unaired pilot starred Breckin Meyer as Jeff, Melissa George as Susan and Emily Rutherfurd as Sally. NBC then fired the writers and replaced Meyer, George and Rutherfurd with Christopher Moynihan, Rena Sofer and Sonya Walger, respectively. George later commented that she ‘dodged a bullet’ by being replaced before the show aired. Thirteen episodes were ordered, but the series was cancelled after the fourth episode aired, leaving six unaired and three unproduced. The show was called a poor imitation of the original, and BBC America began airing the UK series immediately after the NBC broadcast so viewers could see how superior it was to the US version. Two NBC affiliates in Salt Lake City, Utah and South Bend, Indiana refused to air the show for what was claimed to be indecent content.

Despite mostly positive critical reaction, Miss Match failed to draw an audience in its ‘Friday death slot’ time period. The show had a crossover with NBC soap Passions with cast members Deanna Wright, Galen Gering and McKenzie Westmore making an appearance.

Joan of Arcadia earned an Emmy nomination for Best Dramatic Series for its first season. It also won the Humanitas Prize and the People’s Choice Award. On the series, God was portrayed in many ways, more metaphysical than religious, by various actors including Kathryn Joosten, Russ Tamblyn (father of series star Amber), Zachary Quinto, Adam Richman, John Kassir, Candice Azzara, Curtis Armstrong, Susan Sullivan, Allyce Beasley, Iqbal Theba, Sonya Eddy, Adam Wylie and will.i.am. Though set in Maryland, the series was filmed in Los Angeles with establishing shots of the town of Arcadia filmed in Wilmington, Delaware.

Hope & Faith was created and produced by Joanna Johnson, who loosely based the premise on her own life as a former cast member of The Bold and the Beautiful. On Cold Case, actor Danny Pino brought his character Scotty Valens to an episode of CSI: NY, which connected Cold Case to the CSI universe and Without a Trace. Cold Case was cancelled two weeks after the seventh season finale aired, leaving the story with an unresolved cliffhanger. When NBC cancelled The Lyon’s Den after six episodes, producer and star Rob Lowe decided to complete the final seven episode as they were contractually obligated, making them as absurd and off the wall as possible with a freakish ending. All 13 episodes were broadcast in the UK.

2013

Adam F. Goldberg Productions

• September 24 – Fangasm (Syfy, One season, 6 episodes)
• September 24 – Who Wore It Better (E!, One season, 8 episodes)
• September 24 – Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC, Seven seasons, 136 episodes)
• September 24 – The Goldbergs (ABC, Ten seasons, 229 episodes)
• September 24 – Trophy Wife (ABC, One season, 22 episodes)
• September 24 – Lucky 7 (ABC, One season, 8 episodes, 6 unaired)
• September 25 – Back in the Game (ABC, One season, 13 episodes, 3 unaired)
• September 26 – The Crazy Ones (CBS, One season, 22 episodes)
• September 26 – The Michael J. Fox Show (NBC, One season, 22 episodes, 7 unaired)
• September 27 – MasterChef Junior (FOX, Eight seasons, 95 episodes)
• September 29 – Masters of Sex (Showtime, Four seasons, 46 episodes)
• September 29 – Betrayal (ABC, One season, 13 episodes)
• September 29 – Instant Mom (Nick at Nite, Three seasons, 65 episodes)
• September 30 – We Are Men (CBS, One season, 11 episodes, 9 unaired)

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was the first Marvel television series to be set with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, acknowledging the continuity of the theatrical films (while the films seemed to ignore the series as both were at the time under different divisions within Marvel).

The character of Hillary on Trophy Wife was played by Gianna LePera in the pilot, but replaced with Bailee Madison when the series went into production. Lucky 7 was based on the British series The Syndicate. Steven Spielberg loved the original series and came aboard Lucky 7 as an executive producer. It was the first show of the 2013-2014 season to be cancelled. All of the episodes were available to purchase on iTunes.

The Crazy Ones brought Robin Williams back to series television in a regular role since Mork & Mindy ended 31 years earlier. It also ended up being his last television role, ending three months before his death. It also marked Sarah Michelle Gellar’s return to series television since the end of Ringer in 2012. She lobbied for the role when she heard Williams was returning to television comedy. The show featured major brand names to give the show a sense of reality, but none of the companies mentioned paid for product placement or had any control over the scripts.

The Michael J. Fox Show marked its star’s return to television since Spin City ended. The show was pulled from NBC’s schedule to make room for the 2014 Winter Olympics and the network stated the show was not cancelled. However, the final seven episodes never aired (in the US) and the show was officially cancelled on May 10, 2014. The unaired episodes were broadcast in Australia. Fox was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance.

Masters of Sex was loosely based on Thomas Maier’s biography Masters of Sex, which told the story of Dr. William Masters and Virginia Johnson. The series was Golden Globe nominated in 2013. Instant Mom aired both as part of the Nick at Nite and NickMom blocks. The premiere was the highest-rated in the history of both blocks. The show then aired first on TV Land for its third season. We Are Men was ordered to series by CBS under the title Ex-Men.