Warner Bros. Television
Happy New Year! Networks are rolling out a host of new series this week across the decades, with several popular, long-running shows making their debuts mostly in the first part of the past 70 years. 1954 gave us a long-running inspirational series and a soap opera that made the transition from radio. 1964 produced a popular variety series, and 1984 gave us a long-running, Emmy winning comedy series that has been given a new life over the past year. Things started to go downhill in 1994 with one series ending after a season but finding a brief new life in Syndication, while most of 2014’s new series — the majority of which were of the reality genre — barely getting past their first seasons, while one high-profile primetime drama ended its short run on Sunday afternoons. Check out the list of premieres below and tell us if you remember any of these shows!
1954
- January 2 – The Spike Jones Show (NBC, One season, 19 episodes)
- January 3 – Look Up and Live (CBS, Twenty-six seasons, 196 episodes)
- January 4 – The Brighter Day (CBS, Eight seasons, more than 2,200 episodes)
The Spike Jones Show was the first of three variety shows hosted by Spike Jones under that title. A second version, meant only as a Summer replacement, ran from April to August 1957 on CBS. A third version on CBS aired from July 31 to September 25, 1961.
Look Up and Live was a Sunday morning, non-denominational religious anthology series produced with the National Council of Churches. The series received a Peabody Award in 1960 when Reverend Andrew Young, who would later become a top aide to Martin Luther King Jr. and mayor of Atlanta, was the host. Guest hosts and narrators during the series’ run include Mahalia Jackson, Merv Griffin, Eddie Fisher, Eydie Gormé and Ed Sullivan. Guest stars included Gene Hackman, Dick Van Dyke, James Earl Jones, Jack Klugman, Sal Mineo, Billy Dee Williams, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. Warren Beatty also made an early television performance on the show. Some episodes are preserved at the Paley Center for Media in New York City, and at the Peabody Awards archives at the University of Georgia.
The Brighter Day was a CBS soap opera that originated as a radio drama on NBC Radio, which ran concurrently with the TV series between 1954 and 1956. The series was created by Irna Phillips, who would be known in the soap world for her other series Guiding Light, As the World Turns and Another World. The Brighter Day was the first TV soap to have an explicitly religious theme. The radio series was a spin-off of another radio soap, Joyce Jordan, M.D., where The Brighter Day characters were first introduced. When Procter & Gamble gave up the series to CBS, the production was relocated from New York to Los Angeles, dropping key characters and stories when actors did not wish to relocate. Rex Ingram became the first African American actor under contract to a daytime series in August 1962, making his first appearance on September 17. Unfortunately, the series was cancelled two weeks later. With a short window to wrap up the series, actor Paul Langton appeared in character as Uncle Walter to address the audience, wrapping up the storylines and explaining how the characters would resolve their problems. Notable cast members on the show include Hal Holbrook, Lois Nettleton and Patty Duke.
1964
ABC
- January 4 – The Hollywood Palace (ABC, Seven seasons, 192 episodes)
The Hollywood Palace began as a midseason replacement for The Jerry Lewis Show, which ended its run on ABC after three months. Little-known actress Raquel Welch appeared as the ‘Billboard Girl’, placing the names of the acts on a placard, similar to that of a vaudeville house. The series had a different host each week. Bing Crosby was the first and last host, logging 31 appearances total. Dean Martin joked during his hosting gig by thanking his former partner Jerry Lewis for building him the theater from which the series was broadcast. The Rolling Stones and The Jackson 5 made their first US TV appearances on the show. Music videos for The Beatles’ ‘Penny Lane’ and ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ premiered on the show as well. The series was broadcast in black-and-white until the transition to color in 1965. An adjacent parking lot was transformed into a staging area for acts that could not be booked on The Ed Sullivan Show, such as circus acts with large animals and trapeze artists. The final episode was taped without an audience and included clips from previous episodes. The series won one Emmy Award in 1966 for Art Direction. It was also nominated that year for Best Variety Series.
1974
- No new series premiered this week in 1974.
1984
Stephen J. Cannell Productions
- January 3 – Riptide (NBC, Three seasons, 58 episodes)
- January 4 – Night Court (NBC, Nine seasons, 193 episodes)
- January 6 – Blue Thunder (ABC, One season, 11 episodes)
Riptide premiered as a two-hour TV movie. Created by Stephen J. Cannell and Frank Lupo, the series starred Perry King, Joe Penny and Thom Bray.
Night Court‘s end credits included a distinctive laugh over the vanity logo for producer Reinhold Weege’s ‘Starry Night Productions’. The same laugh was also heard coming from the studio audience throughout numerous seasons, leading many to believe it was canned laughter by voice actor Mel Blanc or series star Harry Anderson. It was actually the laugh of Chuck Weege, Reinhold’s father, who attended nearly all of the tapings until his son left the series after the sixth season. The series was nominated for 18 Creative Arts Emmys, winning three, and 12 Primetime Emmy Awards, with John Larroquette winning four times for Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. Larroquette and Selma Diamond were also Golden Globe nominated in 1985. NBC revived the series in 2023 with John Larroquette reprising his role.
Blue Thunder was based on the 1983 movie of the same name, using a large portion of stock footage from the movie. A pre-SNL Dana Carvey was among the main cast.
1994
- January 2 – The Mighty Jungle (The Family Channel, One season, 26 episodes)
- January 2 – Viper (NBC, One seasons/Syndication, Three seasons, 78 episodes total)
- January 3 – Intimate Portrait (Lifetime, Twelve seasons, 271 episodes)
- January 5 – Birdland (ABC, One season, 7 episodes)
The Mighty Jungle starred Francis Guinan as Dan Winfield, a family man who is the only one who knows that the animals in his backyard zoo can speak. Delta Burke and Tony Danza provided the voices of Viola the toucan and Vinnie the alligator, respectively.
Viper aired just one season on NBC before it was cancelled. The show was revived in 1996 for Syndication with only Joe Nipote returning as Frankie ‘X’ Waters. Season 1 star Joe McCaffrey returned for the fourth season. Heather Medway was the only actor to appear in all three seasons of the Syndicated series.
Intimate Portrait was a biographical documentary series focusing on different female celebrities hosted by Meredith Vieira.
2004
- No new series premiered this week in 2004.
2014
Cinemat
- January 1 – Every Witch Way (Nickelodeon, Four seasons, 82 episodes)
- January 1 – House of Secrets (Lifetime Movie Network, TV movie)
- January 1 – Kim of Queens (Lifetime, Two seasons, 22 episodes)
- January 1 – Vacation House for Free (HGTV, Two seasons, 26 episodes)
- January 2 – The Assets (ABC, Eight-part mini-series)
- January 2 – Toned Up (Bravo, One season, 8 episodes)
- January 2 – Cold River Cash (Animal Planet, One season, 8 episodes)
- January 2 – Do or Die (National Geographic Channel, One season, 17 episodes)
- January 4 – Rev Run’s Renovation (DIY Network, Two seasons, 20 episodes)
- January 5 – Blood, Sweat & Heels (Bravo, Two seasons, 21 episodes)
- January 6 – Wolf Watch (MTV, Four seasons, 25 episodes)
The first season of Every Witch Way aired as a one-month event with the first 20 episodes airing weeknights in January 2014. The series spun off WITS Academy, which premiered following the series finale on July 30, 2015. Kim of Queens was a Lifetime reality series centered around 1991 Miss Georgia winner and pageant coach Kim Gravel.
The Assets was based on the book Circle of Treason: A CIA Account of Traitor Aldrich Ames and the Men He Betrayed by retired CIA officers Sandra Grimes and Jeanne Vertefeuille. With a 0.7 rating in the 18-to-49 age demographic for the pilot episode, it was the lowest rated drama premiere ever on one of the ‘Big Three’ networks. ABC pulled the series from the schedule on January 10, 2014, with the remaining episodes to air over the summer beginning on June 21, 2014, but pulled the series again after two episodes. The remaining four episodes were burned off in a Sunday afternoon timeslot in July and August of 2014. The series was picked up for broadcast in the UK in the Summer of 2018, ahead of star Jodie Whittaker’s debut as The Doctor in Doctor Who.
Wolf Watch was an ‘After Show’ for fans of MTV’s Teen Wolf, hosted by Jill Wagner.
Share this post
