Warner Bros. Animation
This week in television history featured notable and notorious series premieres. 1954 saw a popular comedian return to the airwaves, 1984 marked the lead debut for an actor who would go on to comedy stardom in films, 1994 gave us a follow-up to an iconic 1970s sitcom and set in the same house, 2004 plumbed the depths of reality TV, and 2014 brought a popular cartoon duo back to the small screen. Scroll down to see the shows that premiered this week across the decades, and tell us if any of your favorites are on the list.
1954
- April 8 – Justice (NBC, Three seasons, 89 episodes)
- April 10 – That’s My Boy (CBS, One season, 37 episodes)
- April 12 – The Ernie Kovacs Show (DuMont, One season, last broadcast on April 7, 1955)
That’s My Boy was spun-off from the 1951 Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis film of the same name, with Eddie Mayehoff reprising his role as Jarring Jack Jackson.
The Ernie Kovacs Show was one of only six TV shows broadcast on all four U.S. television networks during the Golden Age of Television. This 1954 iteration was a late night talk show on the DuMont Network, and only one complete episodes and three partials are known to exist.
1964
- No new series premiered this week in 1964.
1974
- No new series premiered this week in 1974.
1984
MTM Productions
- April 12 – The Duck Factory (NBC, One season, 13 episodes)
The Duck Factory was the first lead role for Jim Carrey. It was also the first time voice-over actor Don Messick appeared in live-action. The series aired after Cheers, which had not yet become a Top Ten hit, replacing Buffalo Bill on the schedule. Cast member Jay Tarses was a co-creator and executive producer of Buffalo Bill. NBC broadcast the episodes wildly out of order resulting in significant continuity issues such as Carrey’s character bouncing between positions within the company. The first episode ended on cliffhangers which never seemed to be resolved, while the second episode was intended to be the eighth and the second episode, which was to establish the show’s ongoing premise and wrap up the first episode cliffhangers, was aired as the 13th (and final) episode making no sense in the continuity of what had already been broadcast.
1994
- April 11 – 704 Hauser (CBS, One season, 6 episodes, 1 unaired)
704 Hauser is a sequel to All in the Family set in the house where the Bunkers lived. The new occupants are a Black family headed by John Amos and Lynnie Godfrey as working class Democrats Ernie and Rose Cumberbatch. Maura Tierney also starred on the series as the white, Jewish girlfriend of son ‘Goodie’ Cumberbatch, who was a conservative activist. Casey Siemaszko appeared as Joey Stivic, Archie Bunker’s grandson, in the first episode. CBS News anchor Bob Schieffer appeared as himself in the premiere episode. Norman Lear created the show as a reaction to the upswing in conservative radio, making the show even more political than All in the Family.
2004
FremantleMedia North America
- April 7 – The Swan (Fox, Two seasons, 18 episodes)
- April 12 – Peep and the Big Wide World (Discovery Kids/TLC, Five seasons, 60 episodes)
- April 13 – Showbiz Moms & Dads (Bravo, One season, 7 episodes)
The Swan was a notorious reality series that put self-proclaimed ‘ugly ducklings’ through a complete three-month transformation process — weight loss, cosmetic surgery, dental procedures, therapy — with the woman deemed ‘most attractive’ at the end of the episode moving on to a beauty pageant in the season finale to earn the title of The Swan. One of the show’s writers has admitted to manufacturing dialogue and situations throughout the editing process, in one instance leading the husband of one contestant to say his wife looked average, when he actually felt she was beautiful, cutting down the interview to include the ‘average’ comment and infuriating the man when he saw the show. In 2010, Entertainment Weekly ranked the series as the worst television reality show ever produced.
Peep and the Big Wide World was based on the 1988 short film of the same name produced by the National Film Board of Canada, which itself is based on the 1962 short film The Peep Show, also produced by the National Film Board of Canada.
2014
Jane Street Entertainment
- April 7 – Kitchen Casino (Food Network, One season, 8 episodes)
- April 9 – The Tom and Jerry Show (Cartoon Network/Boomerang, Five seasons, 117 episodes)
- April 10 – FNA USA (CMT, One season, 6 episodes)
- April 12 – Comedy Underground with Dave Attell (Comedy Central, One season, 8 episodes)
Kitchen Casino was hosted by Bill Rancic, first winner of The Apprentice.
The Tom and Jerry Show originally premiered on Canadian network Teletoon on March 1, 2014. Episodes for the first season contained two 11-minute segments, but starting with Season 2 episodes contained three 7-minute segments.
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