Endemol USA
It’s another slow week with just three decades producing new series, but one of the most notable premieres this week was a 1993 TV movie musical based on a hit Broadway show, starring The Divine Miss M. The other big series this week was a long-running 2003 reality renovation series that, while popular, courted a lot of controversy. 2013 had two single season scripted series, and three reality shows with two of them running for two seasons. Take a look at the list 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
- No new series premiered this week in 1973.
1983
- No new series premiered this week in 1983.
1993
Storyline Entertainment
- December 5 – The Moxy Pirate Show (Cartoon Network, Two seasons, 24 episodes)
- December 6 – Gypsy (CBS, TV movie)
The Moxy Pirate Show consisted of classic cartoons inter-spliced with segments featuring Moxy the anthropomorphic dog, who gives commentary. It was Cartoon Network’s first exclusive original program. Bobcat Goldthwait provided the voice for Moxy, and John Stevenson was the actor used for Moxy’s movements which utilized motion capture technology. The show was rebranded as The Moxy Show on November 6, 1994, and introduced a new character named Flea, who serves as Moxy’s sidekick. The show ended due to poor audience reception and is believed to no longer exist.
Gypsy was a TV movie based on the 1959 Broadway musical about the life of Gypsy Rose Lee. Lee’s son Erik Lee Preminger had been trying to get the movie made for ten years, always with Bette Midler as ‘Mama Rose’, but it required the approval of five entities to obtain the rights. Arthur Laurents, who wrote the book for the stage musical, hated the 1962 film version and was opposed to a remake. Following the US TV broadcast, the film was released to theaters in foreign markets. The director, Emile Ardolino, died of AIDS three weeks before the first broadcast. The film garnered excellent reviews and was viewed by 26.2 million people, ranking it Number 4 out of 90 programs that week in the Nielsen ratings. The film earned three Golden Globe nominations with Bette Midler winning Best Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television, and 12 Emmy Award nominations, winning one for Michael Rafter’s music direction.
2003
- December 3 – Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC/HGTV, Ten seasons, 212 episodes to date)
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is informally referred to as Extreme Home Makeover, and was a spin-off of Extreme Makeover. Ty Pennington hosted the original run on ABC which ended on January 13, 2012. HGTV revived the show for one season in 2020 with Jesse Tyler Ferguson as host. Despite the show’s positive message, it has also been scrutinized for its ethics and authenticity (specifically casting families with tragedies and severe illnesses), and for making the families’ situations worse with the improvements increasing mortgage payments and property taxes due to higher assessments after the renovations. Nine of the original families featured on the show had to give up their homes due to financial issues, including two foreclosures. Pennington has countered the criticism by stating the families are left with a financial adviser and some of them had chosen to remortgage their homes to start businesses that failed, while others were faced with unemployment and medical bills unrelated to the renovations. A spin-off series, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition: How’d They Do That?, aired for one season from November 1, 2004-May 23, 2005, and ABC has announced a revival to air during the 2023-2024 season though no mention of the show was made in ABC’s mid-season schedule announcement.
2013
Darkwoods Productions
- December 4 – Kirstie (TV Land, One season, 12 episodes)
- December 4 – Mob City (TNT, One season, 6 episodes)
- December 5 – Panic Button (truTV , Two seasons, 18 episodes)
- December 5 – Courtney Loves Dallas (Bravo, One season, 8 episodes)
- December 8 – Dude, You’re Screwed (Discovery, Two seasons, 15 episodes)
A fifth season episode of fellow TV Land series Hot in Cleveland featured a crossover with Kirstie, in which it was revealed the character of Victoria Chase (Wendie Malick) was acting school roommates with Maddie Banks (Kirstie Alley).
Mob City, created by Frank Darabont, was based on real-life accounts of the L.A.P.D. and gangsters in 1940s Los Angeles as chronicled in John Buntin’s book L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America’s Most Seductive City. The series was announced in 2012 as L.A. Noir, and changed to Lost Angels in January 2013 because the original title was too similar to the title of the videogame L.A. Noire, and then changed to Mob City in August 2013. Jon Bernthal, who worked with Darabont on The Walking Dead, was the first actor cast after a month of negotiations. TWD alums Jeffrey DeMunn and Andrew Rothenberg were also cast. The pilot was shot on 35mm film, while the rest of the series was shot digitally. Darabont prefers film but was sufficiently impressed with the approximation to film that digital technology had been able to accomplish with video and agreed to use the format for the series. The pilot wrapped production in May 2012, and due to the length of time before the series began production in June 2013, changes were made to better establish new series regulars that had been added. Additionally, some roles were recast including Gregory Itzin replacing Ron Rifkin as the mayor of Los Angeles, while Mekia Cox replaced Pihla Viitala as Anya, the bartender at Bunny’s Jungle Club. Encouraged by the positive relationship Darabont had with TNT, recurring actor Ed Burns developed the series Public Morals with the network in 2015, utilizing Mob City actors Neal McDonough and Robert Knepper.
Courtney Loves Dallas was a spin-off of Bravo reality series Most Eligible Dallas. Dude, You’re Screwed is also known as Survive That. The series featured survival experts who took turns being the contestants, dropped in dangerous areas of the world with the goal to find civilization within 100 hours using only the provided survival kit and anything they could sneak with them.
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