Edmonds Entertainment
Several new shows premiered this week in three decades, most of them in 2014, but you can count on one hand the number of success stories. One series that had success is just a new iteration of a late, late, late night talk show, another is a scripted drama that featured a pre-stardom Jason Momoa, and another was a reality TV series about a popular pro athelete and his family. One notorious flop this week is a reality series that was to have no end, but was cancelled after airing 7 of its 25 produced episodes. Scroll down the list to see this week’s premieres and let us know 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 28 – Later with Greg Kinnear (NBC, Two seasons)
- March 2 – Tom (CBS, One season, 11 episodes, 1 unaired)
The Later series began in 1988 with host Bob Costas in the 1:30 AM time slot Monday-Thursday. Kinnear took over in 1994 for two years. Kinnear was hosting E!’s Talk Soup at the same time but quit that show in 1995 to further build his acting career. When the Sabrina remake was released in December 1995, the good notices for Kinnear’s performance led to more movie offers and he quit Later with his last episode airing in October 10, 1996. The series continued until January 31, 2000 with guest hosts, then Cynthia Garrett joined as host for the next year. From 2001 to 2002 the time slot was filled with reruns of SCTV. The series was to be rebooted in January 2002 with new host Carson Daly, but the Later title was retired and the show was renamed Last Call.
Tom starred Tom Arnold, who co-created the series with his then-wife Roseanne Arnold.
2004
A. Smith & Co.
- March 1 – Forever Eden (FOX, One season, 25 episodes, 18 unaired)
Forever Eden was a dating series that theoretically had no finale date, with contestants living in a resort possibly for years. FOX pulled the show after airing seven episodes. The remaining 18 episodes were eventually broadcast in the US on the FOX Reality cable channel.
2014
Fair Harbor Productions
- February 25 – Game of Arms (AMC, One season, 10 episodes)
- February 25 – Chrome Underground (Discovery Channel, One season, 6 episodes)
- February 25 – Mind Games (ABC, One season, 13 episodes, 8 unaired)
- February 26 – Mixology (ABC, One season, 13 episodes)
- February 27 – The Red Road (SundanceTV, Two seasons, 12 episodes)
- February 28 – Inside Job (TNT, One season, 6 episodes)
- February 28 – Save Our Business (TNT, One season, 6 episodes)
- March 1 – Deion’s Family Playbook (Oprah Winfrey Network, Three seasons, 22 episodes)
Game of Arms was a reality series about competitive arm wrestling. The show’s production title was King of Arms. AMC renewed the series for a second season, but cancelled it mid-production when the network ended nearly all of its reality series to focus on scripted dramas like The Walking Dead franchise.
The pilot for Mind Games was filmed in Chicago at a time of a production boom for the city with five other TV series and three movies filming at the same time. The unaired episodes were made available to purchase in the US on streaming services like Amazon and iTunes.
Mixology, co-produced by Ryan Seacrest’s company, debuted to nearly 5 million viewers but by the Season 1 finale, that number had eroded to 4 million despite mostly positive reviews, with the seventh episode the least watched with 3.65 million. Original cast member Mercedes Masöhn exited the show in March 2013 and was replaced with Ginger Gonzaga. While a cast photo shows Sarah Bolger among the group, she also left the series and was replaced with Frankie Shaw.
The Red Road was the second series fully owned by SundanceTV. Jason Momoa was one of the show’s leads. The show’s working title was The Descendants.
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