TV by the Decade :: October 1•7

Warner Bros. Television

It’s another big week for TV premieres as the new Fall season marches on. Many notable series made their debuts but not all of had much staying power. 1953 was notable for giving us the first sitcom for an actress who would go on to become a beloved icon. 1973 had the second series for a popular movie star who asked to have the show cancelled. A short-lived 1983 series featured a young actor in an early role before hitting it big on a popular primetime soap the next year and going on to movie stardom, while another drew comparisons to a popular motion picture about computer hackers. A 1993 series also featured another young actor who was just getting in to motion pictures, and was also a precursor to a future, more popular series based on the same property. A 2003 series featured a character from a hit motion picture, but was doomed because of its timeslot. 2013 featured a series that was the first spin-off of a popular supernatural TV series, and another that gave Sean Hayes a post-Will & Grace starring role … before jumping to another series the next year. Read about these and more series celebrating anniversaries this week and tell us if any of your favorites are on the list!

1953

Bandy Productions

• October 2 – The Comeback Story (ABC, One season, 19 episodes)
• October 2 – The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse (ABC, Two seasons, 80 episodes)
• October 2 – The Price of the Family (ABC, One season, 39 episodes)
• October 5 – Of Many Things (ABC, One season, last broadcast on January 11, 1954)
• October 7 – Life with Elizabeth (Syndication, Two seasons, 65 episodes)

The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse was an anthology series originally presented live, but switching to film during the first season, which was hosted by Arlene Dahl in 1953, Anita Colby in 1954, and Polly Bergen in 1955. Notable guest stars include Claude Akin, Frances Bavier, Charles Bronson, Pat Carroll. Beverly Garland, Peter Graves, Carolyn Jones, Brian Keith, Lee Marvin, Vera Miles, George Nader, Patrick O’Neal and Craig Stevens. Three episodes are known to exist in the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

CBS aired reruns of The Price of the Family in the Summer of 1955.

Life with Elizabeth was the first sitcom to star Betty White, based on the Elizabeth character she performed on her previous daytime talk show, Hollywood on Television. White received her first Emmy nomination for her work on the show. The series was produced by Bandy Productions, which White co-founded. The series was cancelled at the height of its popularity by the distributor which felt that too many episodes would over-saturate the secondary Syndication market, making the series less profitable.

1963

• No new series premiered this week in 1963.

1973

• October 2 – Hawkins (CBS, One season, 8 episodes)
• October 3 – Love Story (NBC, One season, 12 episodes)

Hawkins was James Stewart’s second and final attempt at a network TV series, winning a Golden Globe for his work. However it was Stewart who requested the series be cancelled after eight episodes feeling the quality of scripts and directors could not measure up to the level he was accustomed to in feature films. The series began with a pilot TV movie that aired on March 13, 1973. Each episode was 90-minutes long and aired as part the the ‘wheel series’ The New CBS Tuesday Night Movies. The series rotated with a TV movie and a TV adaptation of the film Shaft, which had a decidedly different audience than Hawkins, making it difficult for the Stewart show to find an audience.

Love Story was an anthology series that used the title of the popular novel and 1970 film, as well as the film’s hit theme song ‘Where Do I Begin?’, but had no other connection to those properties.

1983

Shoot the Moon Enterprises

• October 1 – The Rousters (NBC, One season, 13 episodes
• October 1 – Cutter to Houston (CBS, One season, 9 episodes, 2 unaired)
• October 2 – The Yellow Rose (NBC, One season, 22 episodes)
• October 3 – Scarecrow and Mrs. King (CBS, Four seasons, 88 episodes)
• October 5 – Whiz Kids (CBS, One season, 18 episodes)

The Rousters was supposed to be the show to ‘sink The Love Boat‘. Instead, it was pulled from the schedule after four weeks, not airing during the November Sweeps period, returned for two episodes in the middle of the holidays in December, then pulled again and burned off in June and July 1984.Jim Varney, aka Ernest, was a series regular.

Cutter to Houston is notable for two of its leads, former Charlie’s Angels star Shelley Hack, and Alec Baldwin in his first primetime series role after 28 episodes between 1980 and 1982 on NBC soap The Doctors. He would finally hit it big after appearing on two seasons of Knots Landing in 1984 and 1985.

The Yellow Rose theme song, set to the tune of the classic song but with new lyrics specific to the series, was recorded by country singers Johnny Lee and Lane Brody. The song became a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart on April 21, 1984.

Scarecrow and Mrs. King won an Emmy Award in 1986 for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore). It received three additional nominations during its run including one for star Kate Jackson. It also received one Golden Globe nomination. The show was Number 20 in the ratings for its first two seasons, and 28 for its third in its Monday timeslot. CBS moved the show to Fridays for Season 4 where ratings slipped, finishing 41st for the season. Despite being higher rated than other renewed shows like Simon & Simon and The Twilight Zone, CBS cancelled the series.

Whiz Kids was often compared to the movie WarGames, released in May 1983, because of its subject matter of teenage computer hackers, but series creator Philip DeGuere insisted the idea for the show originated in 1981. Co-producer Bob Shayne stated that the concept for the show was based on The Hardy Boys and was pitched to Universal Television in 1982, with DeGuere adding the computer elements in the pitch meeting. The intention was to shop the show to ABC and NBC to compete with 60 Minutes on CBS, but CBS unexpectedly picked up the show and greenlit a $2 million pilot. DeGuere centered the series around high-schoolers so that if the show clicked viewers could watch them grow and follow them through college. The original pilot caused concerns with station owners, advertisers and critics who suggested the storylines should be changed to show that access to other computers was obtained through legal means. Two adult characters were written into the show, a detective and a reporter, who would act as the teens’ moral compass. CBS scheduled the series against The Fall Guy on ABC and Real People on NBC, and ratings faltered. It was moved to Saturday mid-season to fill the slot vacated by the cancelled Cutter to Houston, but now had to compete with Diff’rent Strokes and Silver Spoons on NBC, keeping the intended younger audience away from CBS. It also faced T.J. Hooker on ABC. The series was pulled from the schedule after the February 4, 1984 episode and cancelled, with the remaining five episodes airing randomly in February, March and April, with the last episode broadcast on June 2.

1993

• October 1 – Against the Grain (NBC, One season, 8 episodes)
• October 3 – Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer (CNN, last broadcast on January 11, 2009)

Against the Grain is notable for having Ben Affleck among its cast, the same year he appeared in the film Dazed and Confused, and was NBC’s first attempt to adapt the book Friday Night Lights into a TV series.

2003

• October 1 – It’s All Relative (ABC, One season, 22 episodes, 2 unaired)
• October 1 – Karen Sisco (ABC, One season, 10 episodes)
• October 3 – Married to the Kellys (ABC, One season, 22 episodes)
• October 4 – Battlefield Detectives (History Channel, Four seasons, 32 episodes)
• October 5 – Animal Tails (PAX TV, Three seasons)
• October 5 – Tarzan (The WB, One season, 8 episodes)
• October 6 – The Big Break (Golf Channel, last broadcast in 2015)
• October 6 – Knock First (ABC Family, Two seasons, 24 episodes)

It’s All Relative got off to a good start scheduled on Wednesdays between My Wife and Kids and The Bachelor, but suffered against 60 Minute Wednesday on CBS and American Idol on FOX. ABC moved the show to Tuesdays in March 2004, pitting it against 24, The Guardian, Scrubs, America’s Next Top Model and One Tree Hill. The show was pulled from the schedule in April with two episodes unaired and officially cancelled in May.

Karen Sisco, despite positive reviews, suffered due to its scheduling against Law & Order on NBC. The character Karen Sisco was created by novelist Elmore Leonard and had appeared in several of his stories, most notably in the film adaptation of Out of Sight with Jennifer Lopez. Carla Gugino played the role on TV and reprised the part in the second episode of the third season of Justified, but her last name was changed to Goodall (through marriage) because FX Network did not own the rights to the character or her stories.

Married to the Kellys was originally titled Back to Kansas, and it aired as part of ABC’s TGIF lineup following Hope & Faith.

Tarzan was co-created by Eric Kripke, who would go on to create Supernatural. He found the series to be ‘a piece of crap’ because he wrote a 50 page pilot treatment that had a beginning, middle and end. When the series was picked up with a 12 episode order, he realized there was nowhere to go with the story and he called production ‘a hell ride in every way’ before the network ‘wisely’ put them out of their misery after eight episodes. The main cast included Travis Fimmel, Sarah Wayne Callies, Miguel A. Núñez Jr., Leighton Meester, Mitch Pileggi, and Lucy Lawless.

2013

3 Arts Entertainment

• October 1 – Dukes Of Haggle (Discovery Channel, One season, 12 episodes)
• October 2 – Super Fun Night (ABC, One season, 17 episodes)
• October 2 – Ironside (NBC, One season, 9 episodes, 5 unaired)
• October 2 – Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce (Fuse TV, Six seasons, 47 episodes)
• October 3 – Welcome to the Family (NBC, One season, 9 episodes, 6 unaired)
• October 3 – Sean Saves the World (NBC, One season, 15 episodes, 2 unaired)
• October 3 – The Millers (CBS, Two seasons, 34 episodes)
• October 3 – Man, Cheetah, Wild (Discovery Channel, Documentary film)
• October 3 – The Originals (The CW, Five seasons, 92 episodes)
• October 3 – Society X with Laura Ling (E!, Documentary film)
• October 4 – Cassadee Pope: Frame by Frame (CMT, One season, 6 episodes)
• October 6 – Witches of East End (Lifetime, Two seasons, 23 episodes)
• October 6 – Alaskan Women Looking for Love (TLC, One season, 6 episodes)
• October 6 – T.D. Jakes Presents: Mind, Body & Soul (BET, One season, 11 episodes)
• October 7 – Mighty Med (Disney XD, Two seasons, 44 episodes)
• October 7 – Peg + Cat (PBS Kids, Six seasons, 63 episodes)

Super Fun Night was created by and starred Rebel Wilson. Ironside, with Blair Underwood, was a reimagining of the 1967-1975 TV series that starred Raymond Burr. Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce was retitled Big Freedia Bounces Back for the sixth season.

NBC ordered 18 episodes of Sean Saves the World, starring Sean Hayes, of which only 15 were produced, with two left unaired. The show’s original title was Happiness. The unaired episodes were made available on iTunes. Lindsay Sloane was originally case as Sean’s co-worker and best friend, but two days after the series order she left the show and was replaced with Megan Hilty. The sitcom was shot on a closed set with a laugh track added in post-production, which many critics derided. For the last three episodes, scenes that took place in Sean’s apartment were filmed with a live studio audience.

CBS cancelled The Millers four episodes into its second season, with the final episode still in production. Producers decided to complete the episode for the financial sake of the crew who had already been working on the episode for several days. Co-star Margo Martindale said the cancellation was unexpected. Sean Hayes had joined the show for the second season. The show was pulled from the schedule after the fifth episode had aired, and the remaining six episodes were burned off in July 2015, apparently shown out of order.

The Originals was the first spin-off from The Vampire Diaries. Claire Holt reprised her Vampire Diaries role of Rebekah Mikaelson but left the series as a regular after the third episode to spend more time with her family. She returned for guest appearances during the series’ run.

Witches of East End was based on the 2011 novel of the same name by Melissa de la Cruz. The pilot was filmed in Wilmington, North Caroline, with a wedding scene filmed in Macon, Georgia. The rest of the series was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia. After the show’s cancellation, fans launched a campaign to save the show with celebrities Channing Tatum, William Shatner, Snooki, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Shannen Doherty and Holly Marie Combs lending support.

After it’s cancellation, Mighty Med was followed by a spin-off titled Lab Rats: Elite Force, which featured two characters from 2012-2016 series Lab Rats, and three regular cast members from Mighty Med reprising their roles.

Peg + Cat was an animated series based on the children’s picture book The Chicken Problem, which was published in 2012. The series was co-produced by Fred Rogers Productions. The series won seven Daytime Emmy Awards.