The CW
As we get deeper into the Fall season, new series making their debuts become fewer and fewer, with only two scripted series making their network premieres … and only of them them made it past 13 episodes. There were two long-running talk shows that debuted this one, one sketch show, one late night and one daytime, two notable TV movies, a children’s series, two pop culture shows, three reality shows, and one game show that is still going strong after ten years. Check out the list of premieres below and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating anniversaries this week!
1953
- No new series premiered this week in 1953.
1963
- No new series premiered this week in 1963.
1973
- October 15 – The Tomorrow Show (NBC, Eight seasons, last broadcast on December 17, 1981)
The Tomorrow Show was also known as Tomorrow with Tom Snyder and Tomorrow, while the title was changed to Tomorrow Coast to Coast for the final season, which also saw it expand from 60 to 90 minutes (the extra 30 minutes coming after The Tonight Show scaled back to 60 minutes), adding a studio audience and with Rona Barrett joining the show briefly. Snyder hated all the changes as it took away from the intimacy of his one-on-one interviews. He also resented Barrett’s addition to the show and refused to acknowledge her as a co-host, referring to her only as a correspondent. To try to smooth things over, NBC fired the producer — who was also Snyder’s girlfriend — and brought in Roger Ailes, which infuriated Snyder further. Barrett walked off the show in December 1980 but returned in January 1981. Her feud with Snyder escalated and she quit the show for good on June 16, 1981. During Tomorrow‘s run, notable guests included Charles Manson, Spiro Agner, Harlan Ellison, Alfred Hitchcock, Jimmy Hoffa, David Brenner, Mort Sahl, Marlon Brando and Ayn Rand. The show featured the first US TV appearance of U2 and ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic, and the final televised interview of John Lennon. The Clash, the Grateful Dead, KISS, Paul McCartney, Public Image LTD, The Ramones and Anne Murray were among the other notable musical guests. When the series taped in Los Angeles, it was in the same studio as The Tonight Show, which had to be hastily rearranged in time for Snyder’s arrival following his evening news anchor duties on KNBC. The show moved to New York with the first show airing on December 2, 1974, and Snyder also began to anchor NBC Nightly News on Sundays as well was WNBC’s 6:00 PM weeknight broadcast. Tomorrow would then tape at 7:30 PM. Carson’s son Rick joined the show as a segment producer and was promoted to assistant director. The show returned to Los Angeles on June 6, 1977, with Snyder devoting his full attention to the show. The May 25, 1978 episode featured three unknown comedians newly arrived in Los Angeles — David Letterman, Merrill Markoe and Billy Crystal. Robin Williams was supposed to be one of the guests but his listless pre-interview with the producer led to him being unbooked. It was Letterman’s national TV debut. The show moved back to New York City in June 1979, and Snyder also returned to the news division as well hosting Prime Time Sunday. After Peter Criss left KISS, he became the first member of the group to appear on a TV interview without makeup. The show aired after The Tonight Show at 1:00 AM and then 12:30 AM, but to keep Johnny Carson with NBC he was given control over the 12:30 AM slot. Snyder was given the offer to continue the show at 1:30 AM but he refused and the show was cancelled. David Letterman ultimately got the slot after Carson.
1983
Universal Television Enterprises
- October 15 – Newton’s Apple (PBS, Fifteen seasons, 195 episodes)
- October 17 – Policewoman Centerfold (TV movie)
- October 17 – The Sally Jessy Raphael Show (Syndication, Nineteen seasons, 3,820 episodes)
- October 21 – Jennifer Slept Here (NBC, One season, 13 episodes)
For most of Newton’s Apple‘s run, the theme song was Ruckzuck by Kraftwerk, later remixed by Absolute Music. Earlier and later episodes featured an original song. Radio and television journalist Ira Flatow was the host for the first five seasons. David Heil, then assistant director of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, hosted Season 6. Peggy Knapp joined the show as a field reporter in Season 4, and became co-host in Season 13. The final three seasons were co-hosted by Knapp, Dave Huddleston, Brian Hackney, David Heil and SuChin Pak. Actress and voiceover artist Eileen Galindo replaced Knapp in the 14th season. Guests included Scott Hamilton, Monty Hall and Betty White. The series won the Daytime Emmy Award in 1989 for Outstanding Children’s Series.
Policewoman Centerfold was loosely based on the story of police officer Barbara Schantz who posed for Playboy magazine in 1982. The TV movie starred Melody Anderson, Ed Marinaro and Donna Pescow.
The Sally Jessy Raphael Show was one of the first audience-participation, issue-driven talk shows to have a female host, predating The Oprah Winfrey Show by three years. The show originally aired in a 30-minute format but expanded to 60-minutes in 1986, but local stations were given the option of continuing with the 30-minute package which most of them opted to do since most stations already had successful half-hour shows airing before or after Sally. More stations did go with the hour format in the following years as timeslots began to free up. The show was never seen in reruns on traditional television, but the Nosey streaming service made episodes available in 2017.
The Jennifer Slept Here theme song was co-written by series star Ann Jillian, and performed by Joey Scarbury who was best known of performing the theme song to The Greatest American Hero. The series garnered poor reviews but did well in its Friday timeslot against The Dukes of Hazzrd on CBS and Webster on ABC. Summer reruns found the show often in the Top 30 but it wasn’t enough to earn a renewal. The series did score one Emmy nomination for Outstanding Technical Direction/Camerawork/Video for a Series for the eleventh episode, ‘Life with Grandfather’.
1993
- October 17 – Danielle Steel’s Message from Nam (TV movie)
Danielle Steel’s Message from Nam was another TV movie of the era based on the works of the popular author.
2003
- October 17 – VH1 ILL-ustrated (VH1, Two seasons, 13 episodes)
- October 19 – When __ Ruled the World (VH1, One season, 12 episodes)
VH1 ILL-ustrated was the only project produced by animator Bob Cesca’s company, Camp Chaos Productions, besides Napster Bad and an unreleased Sopranos parody miniseries. When __ Ruled the World was a series that focused on different aspects of pop culture in each episode.
2013
Knuckle Sandwich
- October 15 – Criss Angel: BeLIEve (Spike, One season, 10 episodes, 1 unaired)
- October 16 – Gem Hunt (Travel Channel, One season, 14 episodes)
- October 17 – Reign (The CW, Four seasons, 78 episodes)
- October 18 – The Birthday Boys (IFC, Two seasons, 20 episodes)
- October 20 – Guy’s Grocery Games (Food Network, Twenty-nine seasons, 256 episodes to date)
- October 21 – Bar Hunters (Discovery Channel, One season, 6 episodes)
The 11th episode of Criss Angel: BeLIEve did not air — and may not have been produced — due to a surgery on Angel that was deemed necessary after he suffered a severe shoulder injury from his ‘Double Straight Jacket’ escape which aired as the eighth episode.
Reign was based on the life of Mary, Queen of Scots but favored fictionalized stories over fact. Actress Adelaide Kane is part Scottish and may be a descendant of the real Mary Stuart on her mother’s side. The role of Stuart’s mother was originally cast with Kate Walsh, who had to withdraw due to scheduling conflicts. She was replaced with her Private Practice co-star Amy Brenneman.
Guy’s Grocery Games is often referred to as Triple G. It spawned a short-lived spin-off, Dessert Games. The first season of the show was filmed in a real supermarket, Field’s Market in Los Angeles. From the second season on, the supermarket was re-created as a set in a 15,500 square foot warehouse in Santa Rosa, California and stocked with $700,000 worth of food. After each taping, the perishable items were donated to local food banks, and scraps are donated to farmers. Each episode takes about 12 hours to shoot with large portions of the time devoted to interviews.
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