The CW
It’s another slow week for new series premieres as networks are in the middle of the February Sweeps period, devoting more screen time to popular, established series and special events like the Winter Olympics. No new series premiered during the first four decades of the list, and the next two only had one new show each that had single season runs. 2014 gave us five new, or new-ish, shows with two running two seasons and two only making it through a single season. The new-ish show this decade was a new iteration of a long-running late night series that is still going strong today. Scroll down to see the shows that premiered this week across the decades and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating!
1954
- No new series premiered this week in 1954.
1964
- No new series premiered this week in 1964.
1974
- No new series premiered this week in 1974.
1984
- No new series premiered this week in 1984.
1994
- February 14 – Trashed (MTV, One season, 50 episodes)
Trashed was an MTV game show hosted by Chris Hardwick. Among the writing staff were comedians Brian Posehn, Doug Benson, Steve Higgins, David Anthony Higgins and Joel Hodgson.
2004
BVS Entertainment
- February 14 – Power Rangers Dino Thunder (ABC Family, One season, 38 episodes)
Power Rangers Dino Thunder is technically the 12th season of the Power Rangers TV series, adapted from Bakuryū Sentai Abaranger, the 27th entry of Toei Company’s long-running Super Sentai franchise. The series was notable for the return of Jason David Frank as Tommy Oliver. It was the first series to be aired on ABC Family. The episode ‘Legacy of Power’ was the 500th episode overall. The ‘Fighting Spirit’ episode aired on the 11th anniversary of the series premiere.
2014
- February 12 – Mixels (Cartoon Network, Two seasons, 26 episodes)
- February 13 – Tattoos Titans (CMT, One season, 8 episodes)
- February 17 – Breadwinners (Nickelodeon, Two seasons, 40 episodes)
- February 17 – Star-Crossed (The CW, One season, 13 episodes)
- February 17 – The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC, Ten seasons, 1,921 episodes to date)
Mixels was co-produced with Cartoon Network Studio by The LEGO Group. Nine series of collectible LEGO toys based on the characters were released.
Breadwinners was developed as an animated short that was screened at a short film festival at a bar in New York City, and was later linked to Nickelodeon where the short was developed into a series. The premise for the story came from co-creator Gary ‘Doodles’ DiRaffaele’s appetite for bread. When contacted by email by Nickelodeon to develop the series, DiRaffaele thought it was spam. Action in the series plays out metronomically, set to a musical score that is recorded before the animation begins. Children in test audiences were seen to bounce to the beat.
The title Star-Crossed was taken from Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, used to describe a relationship that is doomed to fail. The series was originally titled Oxygen while in development.
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is the seventh incarnation of the late night talk show, with Jimmy Fallon serving as the sixth host. The show is produced in the same studio that Jack Paar and Johnny Carson used from 1957 to 1972, before Carson moved the show to Los Angeles. The show has earned nine Primetime Emmy Awards nominations, winning two. NBC has renewed the series with Fallon through 2026. Fallon was groomed to take the reins from Jay Leno’s second term has host as NBC was worried about the younger Jimmy Kimmel, whose show had just moved to 11:35 PM, grabbing the younger demographic. NBC announced Leno would retire from the show at the end of his contract in September 2014, but it was Leno who suggested NBC move the date of the transition to February so NBC could use the Winter Olympics to promote Fallon’s arrival. NBC agreed and even moved the premiere date up a week in the middle of Olympics coverage. Since Leno was technically still under contract, the crew of his show was paid until September. While the show tapes in Studio 6B at 30 Rock, Seth Meyers’ Late Night tapes in the studio directly above. With concerns about sound bleed due to the building’s construction, Fallon tapes at 5:00 PM and Meyers tapes at 6:30 PM. To accommodate Fallon’s house band, The Roots, schedule, two shows are taped on Thursday to air Thursday and Friday (although there is an occasional Friday taping). A new marquee was added to the building’s Avenue of the America’s entrance touting the show, and it can also act as a stage for outdoor musical performances. On April 1, 2022, Fallon and Kimmel swapped places as part of an April Fool’s joke with Fallon hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live! from Los Angeles and Kimmel in Studio 6B in New York for The Tonight Show.
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