Platinum Dunes
Three decades rolled out some Summer programming this week, with 1994 giving viewers a glimpse into the inner workings of a popular radio ‘shock jock’s’ daily show, 2004 gave us a reality show for the sister of a popular reality show star, and 2014 presented a scripted series that featured an event that was a little too eerily ahead of its time. Scroll down to see the shows that premiered this week, learn a little more about them, and then let us know if any of your favorites are celebrating anniversaries.
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
- June 20 – Howard Stern (E!, Ten seasons, last aired in July 2005)
Howard Stern is also known as Howard Stern On the Air. It was a nightly series featuring highlights and behind-the-scenes footage of Stern’s daily radio talk show. The entire radio show was videotaped using six cameras with the highlights assembled for broadcast. The 2,000th episode aired on February 5, 2004. The show ended when Stern moved his radio show from WXRK-FM to Sirius XM Radio and a new video broadcast was created with iN DEMAND Networks.
2004
2121 Productions
- June 16 – Quintuplets (FOX, One season, 22 episodes)
- June 16 – Method & Red (FOX, One season, 13 episodes, 4 unaired)
- June 16 – The Ashlee Simpson Show (MTV, Two seasons, 18 episodes)
- June 18 – Phil of the Future (Disney Channel, Two seasons, 43 episodes)
- June 20 – Fatherhood (Nick at Nite, Two seasons, 26 episodes)
Method & Red was cancelled after a contentious meeting between FOX executives and stars Method Man and Redman, who were not pleased with how FOX was presenting the series. Method Man hated the laugh track and the way the show was edited. He wanted something similar to Arrested Development, of which he was a fan.
The Ashlee Simpson Show was paired on MTV with sister Jessica’s already successful reality series Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica. Ashlee’s first album was released a month after the show premiered and debuted at Number 1 on the charts.
Phil of the Future‘s working title was The Out of Timers. The theme song was performed by Drew Davis Band who also performed the theme song of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.
Fatherhood was inspired by Bill Cosby’s book of the same name. It was the first original animated series produced for Nick at Nite. Blair Underwood voiced the lead character, and Underwood met with Cosby to help find the voice of the character.
2014
Bold Films
- June 19 – Dominion (Syfy, Two seasons, 21 episodes)
- June 20 – Funniest Wins (TBS, One season, 8 episodes)
- June 22 – Rising Star (ABC, One season, 10 episodes)
- June 22 – The Last Ship (TNT, Five seasons, 56 episodes)
Dominion is loosely based on the 2010 film Legion. The series was filmed in Cape Town, South Africa.
Funniest Wins was a competition between comedians in which the winner was judged to be the funniest. Marlon Wayans hosted.
Rising Star, hosted by Josh Groban, was based on an international franchise series which began with the Israeli singing competition HaKokhav HaBa (The Next Star). The show was live and allowed viewers to vote through a mobile app in real time during each performance. The show was aired simultaneously in Canada on CTV, which also had voting access. Due to complications presented by different time zones, viewers in Hawaii, which is two hours behind Pacific Time, were unable to participate in the voting but Alaskan viewers could vote as the Alaska time zone is one hour before Pacific Time. CTV in Canada originally followed ABC’s time zone broadcast but midway through the series switched so that all CTV stations aired the Eastern time zone feed. Brad Paisley, Kesha and Ludacris were the expert panel whose votes also influenced the scores. A yes vote added 7% to a performer’s score while a no vote subtracted 2%. Jesse Kinch was the winner of the first and only season.
The Last Ship was loosely based on the 1988 novel of the same name by William Brinkley. The show’s third season premiere was delayed from June 12, 2016 to August 11 due to the Pulse nightclub shooting in Florida. The episode also featured a mass shooting in a nightclub. The last two seasons were filmed back-to-back. The cast included Eric Dane, Travis Van Winkle, John Pyper-Ferguson and Jodie Turner-Smith.
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