Heatter-Quigley Productions
Considering this is a holiday week in the US, a surprising number of new series made their debuts in all but two decades (even more surprising is that 2014 took the week off). Four of this week’s new series were daytime game shows, with two of them enjoying multi-season runs and revivals. This week in 1974 saw CBS begin to celebrate the nation’s bicentennial over the coming two years, 1994 saw the launch of a nightly news program that ran for twenty years on three different networks, and 2004 went with reality shows, one that swapped spouses and one that investigated disasters. Scroll down to see the list of shows that premiered this week, and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating milestone anniversaries.
1954
NBC
- July 5 – Concerning Miss Marlowe (NBC, One season, last broadcast on July 1, 1965)
- July 6 – One Minute Please (Dumont, One season, 33 episodes)
Concerning Miss Marlowe, a daytime serial sponsored by Procter & Gamble, was originally aired on an ‘alternate-day basis’. In September 1955, the company held a Talent Discovery contest with the show’s star, director, and producer as judges.
One Minute Please was a panel quiz show hosted by Ernie Kovacs. While the show received favorable reviews, it had no sponsors because it wasn’t carried by enough stations on the Dumont network and was cancelled after 33 episodes.
1964
- No new series premiered this week in 1964.
1974
- July 1 – High Rollers (NBC, Two seasons, 559 episodes)
- July 1 – Winning Streak (NBC, One season, last broadcast on January 3, 1975)
- July 4 – Bicentennial Minute (CBS, 912 episodes)
High Rollers aired daytime on NBC with a weekly nighttime version launching in Syndication in 1975. Both versions ended in 1976. Alex Trebek hosted, with Ruta Lee (daytime) and Elaine Stewart (nighttime) as the co-host and dice roller for the contestants. The series was revived as The New High Rollers in 1978 with only Trebek returning. Contestants rolled their own dice. It was one of three shows to end in 1980 to make room for the new daytime talk show hosted by David Letterman. The show was revived again in Syndication in 1987 with Wink Martindale as host. Both daytime versions of the series are believed to have been erased so the tapes could be reused. Only a few episodes survive on YouTube. The status of the 1975 Syndicated version is unknown. The 1987 Syndicated version survives intact.
Winning Streak was hosted by Bill Cullen, with Don Pardo as the announcer. The show was programmed against the popular Gambit on CBS, and was never able to draw a significant audience. Wheel of Fortune replaced the show on January 6, 1975. As with most game shows of the era, all of the tapes are believed to have been wiped but one episode does survive and was aired on Game Show Network twice. A production slate showed the episode was scheduled to air August 9, 1974, but was pre-empted due to news coverage of President Nixon leaving office and Gerald Ford being sworn in, which may explain why the episode still exists.
Bicentennial Minute was a series of short educational American television segments commemorating the bicentennial of the American Revolution. The series was originally intended to end on July 4, 1976, but was extended to the end of the year. Shell Oil was the show’s sponsor until July 1976. Raid sponsored the series for the rest of its run. CBS executives initially thought the series was a waste of program time, but it received an Emmy Award for Special Classification of Outstanding Program and Individual Achievement in 1976. Each segment highlighted an event that took place on that date 200 years earlier, and featured a different narrator, usually a CBS star or news personality. The July 4, 1976 episode was narrated by First Lady Betty Ford. The final segment on December 31, 1976 was narrated by President Gerald Ford, and was the longest segment of the series. The series became a cultural touchstone, with the series referenced on All in the Family, Sanford and Son, Rhoda, Maude, Match Game and The King of Queens. The segment was also spoofed on Hee-Haw, The Sonny and Cher Show, The Carol Burnett Show and Saturday Night Live.
1984
Reg Grundy Productions
- July 2 – Scrabble (NBC, Six seasons, last broadcast on March 23, 1990)
Chuck Woolery was the host of Scrabble, which was based on the popular board game. The series was revived briefly between January 18 and June 11, 1993. The series was remarkably successful in its 11:30 AM time slot programmed against The Price is Right on CBS and Family Feud on ABC. The show was moved to 12:30 PM in 1987 against The Young and the Restless on CBS and Loving on ABC. It moved again in 1989 to 10:00 AM, airing against the CBS version of Family Feud for the remainder of its run. The time slot was filled by rerun of 227 starting March 26, 1990. Every season of Scrabble survives, as NBC had ended the practice of wiping tapes in 1983. The reruns aired on USA Network from 1991 to 1995, but have not been seen since due to the rights being held by multiple entities including Fremantle and Hasbro. Justin Willman hosted a new version of the show in 2011, Scrabble Showdown, which was based more closely on the board game and had almost nothing in common with the NBC version.
1994
- July 4 – Politics with Chris Matthews (America’s Talking, 1994-1996)
Politics with Chris Matthews moved to CNBC after America’s Talking folded in 1996 and was renamed Hardball with Chris Matthews. The series was transferred again to MSNBC in 1999 until it ended on February 28, 2020.
2004
- July 1 – Trading Spouses (FOX, Three seasons, 59 episodes)
- July 6 – Seconds From Disaster (National Geographic, Seven seasons, 69 episodes)
Trading Spouses was FOX’s answer to ABC’s Wife Swap, which the network rushed on the air to beat ABC to the punch. Producers of Wife Swap claimed FOX stole their concept. A lawsuit was launched on September 15, 2004. Following the third season, FOX sold the rights to the show to CMT, effectively ending the series.
Seconds From Disaster initially ran for three seasons and was put on hiatus for four years. It was revived in 2011 with 22 episodes, and revived again in 2018.
2014
- No new series premiered this week in 2014.
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