TV by the Decade :: September 1•7

Sid & Marty Krofft Television Productions

Summer is over and the new Fall series are beginning to roll out, and this week it’s mostly new Saturday morning kids shows, including one cult series from 1974 that remains popular today. 1954 also saw a new game show that had a familiar ring to it, 1964 took the week off, 1974 also gave us another cult superhero series and a primetime sitcom, 1984 was all about the kids with one show casting kids who would go on to much bigger and better things, 1994 saw the FOX network flounder while a new entertainment newsmagazine launched, 2004 had another children’s series, and FOX lost a ton of money on a year-long experiment that lasted less than three months. Scroll down to see the shows that premiered this week, and let us know if any of your favorites are celebrating milestone anniversaries.

1954

• September – DuMont Evening News (DuMont, last broadcast on April 1, 1955)
• September 7 – It’s a Great Life (NBC, Two seasons, 78 episodes)
• September 7 – Stop the Music (ABC, Two seasons, last broadcast on June 14, 1956)

DuMont Evening News was the network’s third and final attempt at a nightly news broadcast. The program ran 15 minutes and was anchored by Morgan Beatty, who was lured from NBC but returned to that network when the show ended.

It’s a Great Life was syndicated as The Bachelors. The series starred Frances Bavier, six years before taking on the role of Aunt Bee on The Andy Griffith Show.

Stop the Music was a game show similar to Name That Tune in which a contestant had to guess a song from a short piece of music. The 1954 version was a revival of an earlier version that aired on ABC from March 5, 1949 to April 24, 1952. The series originated as a radio program that ran from Marsh 21, 1948 to August 10, 1952. Bert Parks and Dennis James were the show’s hosts.

1964

• No new series premiered this week in 1964.

1974

Filmation

• September 4 – That’s My Mama (ABC, Two seasons, 39 episodes)
• September 7 – Run, Joe, Run (NBC, Two seasons, 26 episodes)
• September 7 – Land of the Lost (NBC, Three seasons, 43 episodes)
• September 7 – Valley of the Dinosaurs (CBS, One season, 16 episodes)
• September 7 – Shazam! (CBS, Three seasons, 28 episodes)
• September 7 – Hong Kong Phooey (ABC, One season, 16 episodes)

That’s My Mama was the first series produced by Columbia Pictures Television. The show’s original title was to be The Furst Family of Washington. The pilot aired on ABC a year before the series debuted as a one-off special. Encouraged by the success of the studio’s sequel series What’s Happening Now!!, Columbia attempted a reboot of That’s My Mama Now! but not enough stations signed up to ensure the revival.

Run, Joe, Run was a Saturday morning series that was considered a cross between Lassie and The Fugitive, centering on a falsely accused lead character, this one being a dog, running from authorities.

Sci-Fi author David Gerrold was the uncredited creator of Land of the Lost. Well-known sci-fi authors contributed to the show’s scripts including Larry Niven, Theodore Sturgeon, and Ben Bova, as well as D.C. Fontana, Walter Koenig and Gerrold himself, who all had connections to Star Trek. Spencer Milligan, who portrayed father Rick Marshall, departed at the start of the third season for financial reasons including a salary increase and a share in profits from the use of his, and his co-stars’, images on various pieces of merchandise. His character was written off as having returned to Earth alone (the show’s setting is not meant to be a prehistoric planet Earth). He was replaced with Ron Harper, who played his brother Jack who happened to find the Marshall kids after he had embarked on a search mission for his family. The series was remade in 1991 and ran for two seasons, and a feature film was produced in 2009.

Valley of the Dinosaurs was an animated series about a moden family sucked by a vortex back to the Stone Age, coincidentally premiering the same day as Land of the Lost. Frank Welker, Jackie Earle Haley, Don Messick and Alan Oppenheimer were among the voice cast.

The Mentor character on the Saturday morning series Shazam! did not originate in the comic books upon which the series is based, and his origins are never explained. For the third season the show was paired with The Secrets of Isis and marketed as The Shazam!/Isis Hour, which allowed Isis star Joanna Cameron to make three appearances on Shazam! while John Davey, who played Captain Marvel, appeared in three episodes of Isis. Jackson Bostwick originally appeared as Captain Marvel for the first season and the first two episodes of Season 2. Bostwick was fired for not showing up for a day of shooting. The producers accused him of holding out for more money, while Bostwick countered he had sustained an injury doing a stunt and sought medical attention. Bostwick successfully sued the producers and received pay for the entire second season plus residuals.

Hong Kong Phooey was meant to be a vehicle for Huckleberry Hound playing the titular character until it was decided to make the show more original. Scatman Crothers voiced Hong Kong Phooey. The show’s final episode was meant to be a backdoor pilot for a new series with new characters Honcho, The Mystery Maverick, and the Posse Impossible. The series was never produced but the characters did continue in their own segment on the 1977 series CB Bears.

1984

• September 3 – Heathcliff (Syndication, Two seasons, 86 episodes)
• September 7 – Kids Incorporated (Syndication/Disney Channel, Nine seasons, 149 episodes)

Heathcliff was also known as Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats. It was the second animated series based on the popular comic strip. Mel Blanc reprised the voice role of Heathcliff from the original 1980 series. A compilation of segments was released as Heathcliff: The Movie a year after the series ended. Second season episodes were broadcast out of production order. The series was said to have ended due to Mel Blanc’s failing health.

The cast of Kids Incorporated, or Kids Inc., included Stacy ‘Fergie’ Ferguson, Martika, Mario Lopez, Eric Balfour, and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Guest stars included Gwen Verdon, Kathy Johnson, Barry Williams, Florence Henderson, Billy Blanks, David Hasselhoff, John Franklin, Ryan Bollman, Christian Hoff, Paul Rodriguez, Brian Robbins, and Ruth Buzzi. Also appearing on the series were Brittany Murphy, Scott Wolf, R.J. Williams, and Jason Hervey. The series went on hiatus for a year after the sixth season ended in 1989, and when production resumed in 1991 only Kenny Ford and Jennifer Love Hewitt were invited back as most of the remaining cast had aged-out of their roles. The show ended in 1994 when Disney’s contract with MGM/UA Entertainment expired. It is still the longest running show in Disney Channel history.

1994

Saban Entertainment

• September 1 – The Head (MTV, Two seasons, 14 episodes)
• September 3 – VR Troopers (Syndication, Two seasons, 92 episodes)
• September 4 – Fortune Hunter (FOX, One season, 13 episodes, 8 unaired)
• September 4 – Hardball (FOX, One season, 9 episodes)
• September 4 – Wild Oats (FOX, One season, 6 episodes, 2 unaired)
• September 5 – Extra (Syndication, Thirty seasons, 9,054 episodes to date)

The Head originated as a science-fiction mini-series that aired under the MTV’s Oddities label. The series is notable for being the first voice acting job for John DiMaggio.

VR Troopers was the first official ‘sister series’ to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and was an Americanized version of a Japanese children’s program. The show featured early CGI and video effects mixed with Japanese stock footage from three different Metal Hero Series: Superhuman Machine Metalder, Dimensional Warrior Spielban and Space Sheriff Shaider. The show ended primarily because the available Japanese footage was quickly exhausted. The show’s early working titles were Psycon and Cybertron, and was to focus on one main character. Due to footage being used from more than one show, the alter ego of the Ryan character was never seen in the same action scene with the alter egos of JB or Kaitlin. The group only fought together in the new American footage which featured low-quality Spandex suits and recolored Power Rangers helmets. Since the series was syndicated instead of airing on FOX Kids, the monsters were destroyed more violently.

The decision to schedule Fortune Hunter on FOX after football on Sundays led to the dismissal of the network’s president Sandy Grushow by chairman Rupert Murdoch.

Hardball premiered in the middle of the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike and was canceled around the time that the year’s World Series would have been played. Bruce Greenwood, Joe Rogan, Alexandra Wentworth and Rose Marie were among the regular cast members.

Wild Oats cast members included Paul Rudd and Christine Cavanaugh.

Extra was originally titled Entertainment News Television, but the E! Entertainment Network filed a lawsuit claiming the names were too similar. E! lost the lawsuit and the show was to go by ENT, but was changed to Extra: The Entertainment Magazine in May 1994, as the initials were then too close to rival program Entertainment Tonight which had just officially shortened its title to ET. Dave Nemeth and Arthel Neville were the original hosts. They were replaced in June 1996 with Brad Goode and Libby Weaver, and Weaver was replaced with Maureen O’Boyle in July 1997. O’Boyle left in 2000 and was replaced with Leeza Gibbons as the main anchor. Gibbons left in 2004, with Mark McGrath and Dayna Devon as hosts. Mario Lopez was announced to take over hosting in July 2008, with Maria Menounos joining him in 2011. She left in 2013 and was replaced with Tracey Edmonds and Charissa Thompson. Edmonds left in 2017 and Thompson left at the end of Season 23. Season 24’s hosts were Lopez, Tanika Ray, A.J. Calloway and Renee Bargh. The show was revamped in 2019 with Billy Bush replacing Lopez, who moved to Access Hollywood. Calloway was terminated in July 2013 after a number of sexual harassment and assault allegations not involving show staff surfaced. Other on-air personalities included Hilaria Baldwin, Nate Burleson, Holly Madison, and Jeannie Mai.

2004

• September 1 – Hawaii (NBC, One season, 8 episodes, 1 unaired)
• September 7 – Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends (Nick Jr., Three seasons, 44 episodes)

Hawaii, a police procedural, was originally titled Pearl City. The cast included Michael Biehn, Ivan Sergei and Eric Balfour.

Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends was a follow-up to Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Kids, and was based on the Sunny Patch brand and the accompanying Miss Spider book series. Sex and the City star Kristin Davis voiced Miss Spider in the North American version for the first two seasons.

2014

Talpa Media

• September 1 – Super Wings (Sprout, Eight seasons, 304 episodes)
• September 6 – The Flipside (Syndication, Two seasons, 44 episodes)
• September 7 – Utopia (FOX, One season, 12 episodes)

Super Wings was a South Korean-produced animated series.

Utopia was based on the original Dutch series of the same name and created by John de Mol. The show was initially set to air Tuesdays and Friday, but was pulled from the Tuesday schedule and only aired on Fridays. The show was cancelled after a few weeks of being promoted as a year-long experiment. Contestant Hex Vanisles was medically evacuated while filming the premiere episode but returned a few hours later.