Universal Television
This week features one classic series, a 1973 cop show that became famous for its lead character’s trademark Tootsie Pop. The rest of the decades this week are faily lackluster with several series leaving their networks with several shows unaired, including a sports drama, a cop drama, and a family drama based on a classic story of young, doomed love. 1993 included a talk show with Jon Stewart on MTV, and 2003 featured three MTV reality series. 2013 featured a whopping thirteen new series … with a whopping eleven of them failing in the first season, and the other two lasting just one additional season. Scroll through the list of shows celebrating milestone anniversaries this week, and tell us if any of your favorites are on the list.
1953
- No new series premiered this week in 1953.
1963
- No new series premiered this week in 1963.
1973
- October 24 – Kojak (CBS, Five seasons, 118 episodes)
Kojak began with a pilot made-for-TV movie, The Marcus-Nelson Murders, which was based on the Wylie-Hoffert case in which an African-American man was forced by police into giving a false confession and was all but convicted until a second investigation identified the real killer. The case led to the creation of Miranda rights. The book Justice in the Back Room by Selwyn Raab also provided some inspiration for the story, and the series subsequently added a reference to the book in the credits. In the TV movie, the main detective’s name was spelled ‘Kojack’, played by Telly Savalas, who was an amalgamation of different detectives, lawyers, and reporters who were involved in the Wylie-Hoffert murder case. Kojak was a smoker, but since cigarette ads were banned on television, he would often light up and then pop a lollipop into his mouth instead, which became the character’s trademark. Savalas and Dan Frazer are the only actors to appear in every episode of the series. Kevin Dobson appeared in all but two, and George Savalas appeared in all but three. CBS aired two TV movies years after the series ended, in 1985 and 1987, and ABC revived the character again with five TV movies in 1989. The series was remade in 2005 with Ving Rhames as Kojak, but it lasted just a single season.
1983
- October 25 – Bay City Blues (NBC, One season, 8 episodes, 4 unaired)
NBC cancelled Bay City Blues after four poorly rated episoded against ABC’s Hart to Hart and CBS Tuesday Night Movies. The remaining four episodes aired in two hour blocks on select affiliates on July 1 and July 8, 1984 after local news, not to be seen again until 2011 when ESPN Classic acquired the rights to the series and aired all eight episodes.
1993
- October 25 – The Jon Stewart Show (MTV, Two seasons, 160 episodes)
- October 27 – South of Sunset (CBS, One season, 7 episodes, 4 unaired)
The Jon Stewart Show began as a 30-minute late night talk show on MTV, one of the network’s most popular shows, but following Arsenio Hall ending his syndicated late night talk show, Stewart’s show was retooled for 60-minutes and replaced Hall’s show. It was cancelled at the end of the second season. David Letterman was the guest on the final episode. Stewart wrote in his memoir that before the show he’d been told by the production company to ‘get your shit and get out’. The night before the final episode, Marilyn Manson appeared and sparked outrage after setting a Bible on fire, the band throwing their instruments around the stage, and Manson exiting offstage with a piggyback ride on Stewart.
South of Sunset performed poorly from its debut, several West Coast stations pre-empted the premiere for coverage of wildfires in Malibu, and was cancelled after the pilot episode aired. Six additional episodes had originally been ordered, and at least four of the scripts had been produced in addition to the pilot. It’s unclear if the last two scripts were filmed. The remaining four episodes would eventually be shown on VH1 several years later.
2003
Dakota Pictures
- October 20 – Cold Pizza (ESPN2, Last broadcast on May 4, 2007)
- October 20 – Skin (FOX, One season, 8 episodes, 5 unaired)
- October 22 – Kid Notorious (Comedy Central, One season, 9 episodes)
- October 26 – Viva La Bam (MTV, Five seasons, 40 episodes)
- October 26 – Wildboyz (MTV/MTV2, Four seasons, 32 episodes)
- October 28 – Rich Girls (MTV, One season, 10 episodes)
Skin was a modern take on Romeo & Juliet, but despite heavy promotion performed poorly and was cancelled after three episodes. The complete series was broadcast on SOAPnet in 2005.
Kid Notorious was an adult animated series that starred Hollywood producer Robert Evans voicing a character based on himself, but as a James Bond type of character. Evans’ close friend Slash also provided his own voice. Niecy Nash and Billy West rounded out the cast.
Viva La Bam was a spin-off of MTV’s Jackass, starring Bam Margera, his friends and family. The second season episode ‘Iceland’ has become known as ‘the lost episode’. Wildboyz featured Jackass stars Steve-O and Chris Pontius. The show moved to MTV2 with its third season. The show featured the pair performing dangerous stunts with supposedly wild animals, but many of the animals were ‘actors’ supplied by a company called Hollywood Animals.
Production on Rich Girls was impacted by the Northeast blackout of 2003 as the show was filming in New York City at the time. The show featured friends Ally Hilfiger (Tommy’s daughter) and Jaime Gleicher, but the pressures of filming and living together caused a rift in their friendship, causing them to go their separate ways after the series ended.
2013
Carnival Films
- October 22 – Ravenswood (ABC Family, One season, 10 episodes)
- October 22 – Chasing Nashville (Lifetime, One season, 8 episodes, 4 unaired)
- October 22 – Trust Me, I’m a Game Show Host (TBS, One season, 10 episodes)
- October 23 – Best Funeral Ever (TLC, Two seasons, 8 episodes)
- October 24 – Million Dollar Shoppers (Lifetime, One season, 6 episodes)
- October 24 – Scrubbing In (MTV, One season, 10 episodes)
- October 24 – Restaurant Divided (Food Network, One season, 6 episodes)
- October 25 – Dracula (NBC, One season, 10 episodes)
- October 25 – Styled to Rock (Bravo, One season, 10 episodes)
- October 26 – Spooksville (Hub Network, One season, 22 episodes)
- October 27 – The Governor’s Wife (A&E, One season, 8 episodes)
- October 27 – Hiring Squad (Spike, One episode)
- October 28 – The Pete Holmes Show (TBS, Two seasons, 80 episodes)
Ravenswood was the first spin-off from the Pretty Little Liars series. The four unaired Chasing Nashville episodes were made available on the series’ official website. Spooksville was based on the book series of the same name.
Dracula was a British-produced series that aired on NBC in the US and Sky Living in the UK. Prior to the series premiere, NBC released an animated web companion entitled Dracula Rising, which serves as a prequel that depicts the origin story of the titular character.
Styled to Rock was a competition series similar to Project Runway based on the British series of the same name. The series was originally to premiere on the Style Network on September 23, 2013 but two weeks earlier the Esquire Network announced it would be taking over that network’s space instead of G4 as originally planned. The series was picked up by Bravo but cancelled after one season.
The Pete Holmes Show produced three pilot episodes under the title The Midnight Show with Pete Holmes on the set of Conan O’Brien’s show. The show featured more personal monologues, such as Holmes’ experience attending an Enrique Iglesias concert, and comedy sketches.
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