BBC
It was a very slow week for TV premieres with just four new series making their debuts in two decades. 1973 saw the premiere of a British sitcom that was beloved by viewers and had a history-making run. 2003 saw the premieres of a two-season sitcom that is barely remembered, a sci-fi series that was doomed by its cost, and a reality series about improving bar businesses. Check out this week’s brief list and tell us if you remember any of these shows!
1953
- No new series premiered this week in 1953.
1963
- No new series premiered this week in 1963.
1973
- November 12 – Last of the Summer Wine (BBC1, Thirty-one seasons, 295 episodes)
Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on January 4, 1973. Alan J. W. Bell produced and directed all episodes of the show from late 1981 to 2010. It is the longest-running TV comedy program in Britain and the longest-running live-action TV sitcom in the world. In addition to the 295 episodes, there were twenty-one Christmas specials, three television films and a documentary film about the series. There was also a TV prequel, several novelizations and stage adaptations. BBC hated the show’s title and kept it as a temporary working title, favoring The Library Mob instead, but creator Roy Clarke — who also wrote every episode — returned to The Last of the Summer Wine for the pilot and dropped ‘The’ for the series. Exterior shots were always filmed on location in Holmfirth, with interiors filmed before a live studio audience at BBC Television Centre in London until the early 1990s. Location filming increased and the travel to London became a burden so the studio audience was done away with and all filming remained in Holmfirth, with the filmed episodes shown to audiences to record their laughter. The series was broadcast worldwide, including on PBS in the US.
1983
- No new series premiered this week in 1983.
1993
- No new series premiered this week in 1993
2003
- No new series premiered this week in 2003.
2013
Frequency Films
- November 14 – Ground Floor (TBS, Two seasons, 20 episodes)
- November 17 – Almost Human (FOX, One season, 13 episodes)
- November 17 – On the Rocks (Food Network, One season, 8 episodes)
The cast for Ground Floor included Skylar Astin, John C. McGinley and Anna Camp.
The cast of Almost Human included Karl Urban, Michael Ealy, Minka Kelly and Lili Taylor. FOX aired the episodes out of the intended order, and although each episode was self-contained the personal relationship development between the characters played by Urban and Ealy was uneven.
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