TV by the Decade :: September 22•28

Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions

It’s another huge week for TV series premieres with an iconic talk show launching in 1954, another macabre family comedy in 1964, a short-lived spin-off of a long-running sitcom in 1984, a classic New York City-set sitcom in 1994, a 2004 myustery series that’s developed a cult following, a 2014 series based on an iconic comic book character … in which said character was not featured, and two series that featured a collection of castaways on decidedly different islands. Scroll down to see all of the new shows that made their debuts this week, and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating milestone anniversaries!

1954

• September 27 – Caesar’s Hour (NBC, Three seasons, last broadcast on May 25, 1957)
• September 27 – The Tonight Show (NBC, Seventy seasons, 13,311 episodes to date)

Caesar’s Hour was considered a continuation of star Sid Caesar’s previous variety series Your Show of Shows, as it included most of the same writers and actors. Nanette Fabray replaced Your Show of Shows co-star Imogene Coco, who opted to star in her own 1954 series. The show was broadcast live, but most of the kinescopes (filmed from a TV monitor) still exist at the UCLA Film and Television Archive in Los Angeles and The Paley Center for Media in Manhattan and Beverly Hills, California.

The Tonight Show has had six hosts to date: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 2010–2014), Conan O’Brien (2009–2010), and Jimmy Fallon (2014–present). Several guest hosts have filled in including Ernie Kovaks, Joey Bishop, McLean Stevenson, David Letterman, David Brenner, Joan Rivers, and Jay Leno (during Carson’s tenure). It is the world’s longest-running talk show and the longest-running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC. Pre-Carson, the show’s title changed slightly several times, initially titled simply Tonight, then Tonight Starring Jack Paar and The Jack Paar Show due to the popularity of its host. After Carson took over, the show’s title always featured the host’s name. Carson is the longest serving host to date with 30 years on the show, while Jay Leno has hosted the greatest number of episodes because Carson only appeared on three episodes a week beginning in the 1980s and Leno only used a guest host once. The show’s original run time was 105 minutes, starting at 11:15 PM, and was shortened to 90 minutes when local news expanded to 30 minutes. During Carson’s 1980 contract negotiations, the show was shortened again to 60 minutes. Before NBC launched Saturday Night Live in 1975, The Best of Carson aired at 11:30 PM Saturdays. Conan O’Brien was the shortest serving host at 146 episodes, controversially replaced with Leno, who had essentially been pushed out from his first tenure then given a nightly primetime series that was essentially The Tonight Show but flopped in the ratings. The Leno debacle did not make O’Brien’s transition easy and the new Leno show hurt O’Brien’s ratings — and NBC eventually felt his style did not fit the Tonight Show format — and Leno was brought back for a second tenure that lasted just shy of four years. The Tonight Show was the first late-night talk show to feature a sitting president as a guest when Barack Obama appeared with Leno on March 19, 2009. Prior to Paar taking over the show, NBC changed the format in 1957 to a news program similar to Today and renamed the show Tonight! America After Dark. The new show was unpopular with network affiliates, which began dropping the show from their broadcast. The Tonight Show has been broadcast around the world, but was met with little success in the UK in the 1980s.

1964

Kayro-Vue Productions

• September 22 – The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (NBC, Four seasons, 105 episodes)
• September 23 – The Cara Williams Show (CBS, One season, 30 episodes)
• September 24 – Daniel Boone (NBC, Six seasons, 165 episodes)
• September 24 – The Munsters (CBS, Two seasons, 70 episodes)
• September 25 – Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (CBS, Five seasons, 150 episodes)
• September 25 – Nightmare Theatre (KIRO, Fifteen seasons, last broadcast on October 31, 1978)
• September 26 – Gilligan’s Island (CBS, Three seasons, 98 episodes, 1 pilot)

Several episodes of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. were combined and released as theatrical films. The show also spawned the spin-off, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. With just a core cast of Robert Vaughn, David McCallum and Leo G. Carroll, the series had many notable guest stars. William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy appeared in a 1964 episodes, two years before Star Trek. Jame Doohan also appeared in multiple episodes as different characters. Barbara Feldon guested in a 1964 episode a year before starring as Agent 99 on Get Smart. Other big-name stars who guested include Werner Klemperer, Jill Ireland, Ricardo Montalban, Joan Crawford, Janet Leigh, Jack Palance, Sonny and Cher, Eve Arden, Joan Blondell, Judy Carne, Ted Cassidy, Joan Collins, Chad Everett, Anne Francis, Grayson Hall, James Hong, Elsa Lanchester, Martin Landau, Angela Lansbury, Julie London, Jack Lord, Leslie Nielsen, Kurt Russell, Telly Savalas, Nancy Sinatra, Sharon Tate, Terry-Thomas, Rip Torn and Fritz Weaver. The series won a Golden Globe in 1966 for Best TV Show.

Early reaction to The Cara Williams Show compared star Williams to Lucille Ball, although she refused to acknowledge any similarities. The show was ahead of its time in the depiction of a previously divorced, childless, two-income married couple.

The first season of Daniel Boone was broadcast in black-and-white, but transitioned to ‘living color’ beginning with the second season. The show was highly fictionalized with very little historical accuracy. Star Fess Parker previously starred as Davy Crockett as part of a Disney anthology series, and producers tried to secure the rights for a Crockett series but Disney refused and the show was changed to Boone.

The Munsters was Golden Globe-nominated for Best TV Series in 1965 but lost to The Rogues. The series was cancelled after two seasons due to competition from Batman on ABC. The show has developed a cult following, spawning a theatrical feature film, reboots and attempted reboots. The series came from the producers of Leave It to Beaver and satirized the typical family sitcom of the era, occasionally making references to shows like Father Knows Best and The Donna Reed Show. The show’s pilot script was titled Love Thy Monster. The concept for the show was inspired by the Charles Addams cartoon, and as the show was produced by Universal they were able to use the classic monsters like Frankenstein, Dracula and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. The show ran concurrently with The Addams Family, on ABC, and enjoyed higher ratings. Some TV execs originally pushed for the show to be animated. Stars Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis were the first to be cast in the pilot as they had just completed Car 54, Where Are You? and had good chemistry together. Joan Marshall was cast as Herman’s wife Phoebe and Happy Derman was cast as Eddie. Beverly Owen was cast as niece Marilyn. The pilot was filmed in color. A second pilot was ordered with Yvonne De Carlo as the wife, renamed Lily, and filmed in black-and-white. A third pilot was ordered with Butch Patrick taking over the role of son Eddie, and CBS execs liked it but ordered a fourth pilot in which Eddie was less spoiled. The Munsters’ Victorian Gothic mansion was originally constructed on Universal’s largest soundstage with two other houses for the 1946 film So Goes My Love. The sets were in storage until 1950, when they were reassembled with other stock house sets on Universal’s Colonial Street on the backlot. The house can be seen in many movies and TV shows including Leave It to Beaver. It was redressed for The Munsters in 1964 and restored to its original look after the show ended, becoming the family home on 1979-1980 series Shirley. The house was also used on Coach,and redressed again for Desperate Housewives.

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. was a spin-off of The Andy Griffith Show, and the pilot aired as that show’s Season 4 finale. The first season was in black-and-white. The series was a major hit and never placed no lower than tenth during its run. The character was based on an ‘inept’ gas station attendant writer Everett Greenbaum had encountered, and was named after writer Gomer Cool and actor Denver Pyle. Andy Griffith discovered Jim Nabors, who was appearing at the Santa Monica nightclub The Horn. Gomer was only intended to appear in one episode of Griffith’s show but he proved to be popular and was made a regular, then given his own show.

Late night horror movie program Nightmare Theatre originated in Seattle, and was immensely popular in the Pacific Northwest, Canada and Alaska, and as far east as Idaho. The show got a boost in popularity in 1968 when it introduced host The Count, played by Joe Towey, who was similar to other horror hosts like Vampira, Zacherley and Elvira. KIRO-TV tried to end the show several times but audience pressure forced them to revive it again and again. The Count hung up his cape in 1975, but the show continued, although it faced competition from a rival series on KTVW-TV and host Robert O. Smith and his cast of characters. As audience interest in horror began to wane, mostly due to a surge in science fiction thanks to Star Wars, the show came to an end in 1978 with The Count returning for the final episode. As The Count’s segments were produced on videotape, very little of them survive today as the tapes were regularly recycled for economic reasons.

The first season of Gilligan’s Island was filmed in black-and-white, but were later colorized (badly) for Syndication as broadcasters believed audiences would not watch black-and-white programs. The pilot featured seven characters, as in the series, but only Gilligan, the Skipper and the Howells transitioned to the series. Due to the significant changes, the pilot was never aired on CBS, finally making its first television broadcast 29 years later on TBS. The three original characters were two secretaries and a high school teacher, played by Kit Smythe, Nancy McCarthy and John Gabriel, respectively. The theme song had different lyrics and had more of a calypso-theme, although the laugh track and background musical are nearly identical to those heard on the show. The backgrounds of the characters was never explored in the pilot. The names of the Skipper, Jonas Grumby, and the Professor, Roy Hinkley, are heard in a radio broadcast on the first episode. Grumby’s name is never mentioned again, and Hinkley’s name is used only one other time when Mr. Howell introduces him as Roy Huntley. The unaired pilot episode was recycled for the first season’s Christmas episode as flashbacks with footage of the recast characters re-shot with the new characters. The last episode left the castaways stranded on the island as it was not known during production that the series was going to be cancelled. One of the show’s trademarks was its use of dream sequences that kept the setting from becoming static and showed off the cast’s acting talents. Of the seven castaways, Ginger was the only one who never had a dream sequence. Jerry Van Dyke was the first choice to play Gilligan, but he turned it down believing the show would not be successful. Instead he took My Mother the Car, which has been cited as one of the worst TV shows ever produced. Bob Denver got the role instead. Natalie Schafer (Mrs. Howell) had it in her contract that no close-ups of her would be filmed, but that was forgotten after a while. Schafer was 63 when the pilot was shot, though she did not divulge her age and no one on the show knew. She accepted the part because the pilot was filmed in Hawaii and saw it as nothing more than a free vacation, never thinking the ‘silly show’ would sell. Tina Louise clashed with producer Sherwood Schwartz as she believed she was being hired as the central character. She also refused to play the character as originally written, as a sharp-tongued temptress, so a compromise was reached and she played the character as a Marilyn Monroe type. She was reportedly difficult to work with but always professional on set, and she refused to appear in any of the three post-series TV reunion movies. She finally did appear on two talk show cast reunions in 1982 and 1988, and on a 1995 episode of Roseanne that featured a re-enactment of Gilligan’s Island. After John Gabriel failed to score with test audiences, the role of the Professor was considered for Dabney Coleman but Russell Johnson won the part. Dawn Wells’ competition for the role of Mary Ann was Raquel Welch and Pat Priest, who would go on to replace Beverly Owen as Marilyn on The Munsters for its second season. The theme song for the pilot was written by John Williams (credited then as Johnny), and the lyrics mentioned a ‘six-hour ride’ instead of a ‘three-hour tour’. It also did not mention Ginger, and the Howells were only mentioned as ‘the Millionaire and Mrs. Millionaire’ followed by ‘and the other tourists’ (the Howells were later mentioned a ‘the Millionaire and his wife’, while Ginger was ‘the movie star’). Williams also composed the incidental music for the first season but was replaced by Gerald Fried. The Season 1 theme did not include The Professor and Mary Ann in the lyrics, only mentioned as ‘and the rest’. Bob Denver personally asked studio execs to add the characters, and when they refused citing the cost of adding them to the titles, Denver wanted his name removed. The studio caved and added ‘the Professor and Mary Ann’ for Seasons 2 and 3. The song was performed by The Wellingtons for Season 1, while Season 2’s singers were uncredited. Johnson later said the performers were the Eligibles. CBS assured Sherwood Schwartz that the show would be renewed for a fourth season, and many of the cast bought homes near the set. CBS had planned to cancel Gunsmoke,which had been airing late on Saturdays, but under pressure from the CBS head and his wife along with pressure from network affiliates to keep the show, it was moved to Gilligan’s Monday at 7:30 PM timeslot and Gilligan’s Island was quietly cancelled. The series became immensely popular in syndicated reruns but none of the cast ever saw any profits.

1974

• No new series premiered this week in 1974.

1984

• September 22 – Cover Up (CBS, One season, 22 episodes)
• September 22 – Hot Pursuit (NBC, One season, 13 episodes, 3 unaired)
• September 22 – Finder of Lost Loves (ABC, One season, 23 episodes)
• September 23 – Paper Dolls (ABC, One season, 14 episodes, 1 TV movie)
• September 24 – Super Password (NBC, Five seasons, 1,151 episodes)
• September 25 – Three’s a Crowd (ABC, One season, 22 episodes)
• September 26 – It’s Your Move (NBC, One season, 18 episodes)
• September 27 – Partners in Crime (NBC, One season, 13 episodes)

Cover Up starred Jennifer O’Neill and Jon-Erik Hexum. Hexum only appeared in the first eight episodes. During a break between scenes, he grew bored and began to play Russian Roulette with what he believed was a harmless prop gun. The gun was loaded with blanks and when he pulled the trigger wadding from the blank was shot into his skull, driving a bone fragment the size of a quarter into his brain and causing massive hemorrhaging. Hexum was rushed to the hospital, where he was declared brain dead nearly a week later. On October 18, he was taken off life support. He was replaced by Antony Hamilton for the remainder of the show’s run and ratings held steady, but were too low for a renewal.

The theme song for Finder of Lost Loves was performed by Dionne Warwick and Luther Vandross, written by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager. It was an Adult Contemporary chart hit in 1985. The show had a core cast of Anthony Franciosa, Deborah Adair and Anne Jeffreys with guest stars each episode including Melissa Sue Anderson, Mackenzie Astin, Pamela Bellwood, Tom Bosley, Jack Coleman, Cathy Lee Crosby, Mary Crosby, Colleen Dewhurst, Joyce DeWitt, Buddy Ebsen, Anne Francis, Beverly Garland, Michael Gross, Florence Henderson, John James, Lance Kerwin, Hope Lange, Carol Lynley, Kevin McCarthy, Lee Meriwether, Vera Miles, Leslie Nielsen, Heather O’Rourke, Donna Pescow, Michelle Phillips, Robert Reed, Esther Rolle, Dick Sargent, Peter Scolari, Connie Selleca, Ted Shackleford, Vic Tayback. Lauren Tewes, Dick Van Patten, Dee Wallace and Marcia Wallace.

Paper Dolls was based on the 1982 TV movie of the same name. Jennifer Warren and Jeffrey Richman were the only actors from the movie to reprise their roles on the series. Joan Hackett, who died before production on the series began, Daryl Hannah, Alexandra Paul, Craig T. Nelson and Joan Collins were replaced with Brenda Vaccaro, Nicollette Sheridan, Terry Farrell, John Bennett Perry and Morgan Fairchild respectively. Lloyd Bridges, Nancy Olson, Dack Rambo, Mimi Rogers and Richard Beymer rounded out the cast. Despite positive reviews, viewers found it difficult to keep up with the continuing storyline as the series was pre-empted several times by baseball playoffs. The final episodes ended with several major cliffhangers.

Super Password was the third version of the popular Password game show following Password Plus. Bert Convy hosted. The show exists in its entirety and can be seen on BUZZR. The series also ran on Game Show Network, but certain episodes were not aired due to celebrity clearance issues that were out of GSN’s control. A man named Kerry Ketchum appeared on the show under the name Patrick Quinn, winning a total of over $58,600 in four days. Ketchum had outstanding warrants in Alaska and Indiana for fraud. His appearance led to his arrest after the Secret Service contacted producers of the show. When Ketchum called and asked if he could pick up his winnings in person instead of having a check issued, as he claimed he was leaving the country on a business trip, they said yes and scheduled a date and time with the approval of the Secret Service. When Ketchem showed up to the Mark Goodson Productions offices he ran down eleven flights of stairs and was apprehended and taken into custody by local officials after being found in the restroom. The arrest came two days after his appearances finished airing. He was sentenced to five years in prison and his winnings were rescinded as he was ruled to have violated contestant eligibility rules by using a false name.

Three’s a Crowd was a continuation of Three’s Company, and starred John Ritter as Jack Tripper, with Mary Cadorette, Robert Mandan and Alan Campbell. Jessica Walter appeared in a recurring role. The show was aired as Three’s Company, Too as part of the Three’s Company Syndication package. The series debuted one week after Three’s Company ended. It is loosely based on the UK series Robin’s Nest, which itself was spun off from Man About the House, upon which Three’s Company was based. Another spin-off, George and Mildred, was the inspiration for The Ropers. The original plan for Three’s a Crowd was to be a spin-off titled Byrd’s Nest, possibly starring Richard Kline instead of Ritter. ABC passed but as ratings for Three’s Company declined due to competition from The A-Team, the spin-off with Ritter was approved. Ritter’s co-stars Kline, Joyce DeWitt, Priscilla Barnes and Don Knotts were kept out of the loop as the new show was being developed. DeWitt accidentally discovered the spin-off plans when she walked in on auditions for the role of Vicky, Jack’s love interest, and was informed of the show’s impending cancellation. She was upset by the secrecy but soon reconciled with Ritter. She and Barnes found it difficult to tape the rest of the final season knowing their characters would end with the series finale. Kline and Knotts were offered recurring roles on the new show but declined, although Kline did make one guest appearance. Suzanne Somers reportedly lobbied to bring her Chrissy Snow character back for the new show as Jack’s love interest. Three’s a Crowd was also slotted against The A-Team and had respectable enough ratings to garner interest in a second season. ABC offered a 13-episode commitment to see how things would go, but Ritter refused to return unless a full season was ordered. ABC instead picked up Diff’rent Strokes, which had just been cancelled by NBC.

Jason Bateman starred in It’s Your Move, with Tricia Cast, Caren Kaye, Ernie Sabella, David Garrison and Garrett Morris. The series was slotted against ABC’s Dynasty, which made it difficult to find an audience. Guest stars included River Phoenix, Justine Bateman, Shawnee Smith and Nina Blackwood. The show’s creators, Michael G. Moye and Ron Leavitt, would take the tone of the It’s Your Move concept and apply it to Married… with Children, which also starred Garrison for its first four seasons.

Partners in Crime was broadcast in the UK as Fifty/Fifty to avoid confusion with the British series Agatha Christie’s Partners in Crime. The series starred Lynda Carter and Loni Anderson.

1994

• September 22 – Friends (NBC, Ten seasons, 236 episodes)
• September 22 – Madman of the People (NBC, One season, 16 episodes)
• September 24 – Free Willy (ABC, Two seasons, 21 episodes)
• September 24 – ReBoot (ABC, Two seasons, 24 episodes)
• September 24 – The 5 Mrs. Buchanans (CBS, One season, 17 episodes)

Friends was developed under the working title Insomnia Cafe. After several rewrites of the concept, the show’s titles included Six of One and Friends Like Us until Friends was finally settled on. 52.5 million people watched the series finale, making it the fifth-most-watched series finale in television history and the most-watched television episode of the 2000s. The series was nominated for 62 Emmy Awards, winning Outstanding Comedy Series in 2002 for its eighth season. The series never fell out of the Top Ten during its run, reaching Number 1 in Season 8, with its lowest rank at Number 8 for the first season. The rest of the series placed no lower than fifth. Season 8’s storylines included the newly married Monica and Chandler, and Rachel’s pregnancy with Ross being confirmed as the father, although Ross begins dating Mona. Joey expresses his feelings for Rachel, which she does not reciprocate, and when Rachel goes into labor, Ross’ mother encourages him to propose, giving him an heirloom ring. Ross hesitates and leaves the ring in his jacket in Rachel’s room. Joey finds the ring on the floor and picks it up, and Rachel impulsively says yes when she thinks he is proposing. Meanwhile Ross intends to ask Rachel if she wants to resume their relationship. The series finale was written four months before the airing, with the writers watching other series finales to see what worked and what didn’t, holding up The Mary Tyler Moore Show finale as the gold standard, wanting to stay true to the series and avoid anything high concept. Critical parts of the finale were filmed without an audience, and with a minimum of crew. For award consideration, the cast decided collectively to enter themselves in the same categories, first in Supporting categories and then Lead beginning with Season 8. Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow are the only two to win, while Courtenay Cox was the only one not to receive a nomination.

Madman of the People is one of the highest rated shows to be cancelled after its first season, ranking at Number 12. NBC wasn’t happy that the show was unable to retain a large portion of the Seinfeld audience, and was hurting ER as the lead-in. NBC noticed the early success of Friends and moved that show to the 9:30 PM timeslot. The unaired episodes were finally burned off in June 1995. The series was part of a continuing storyline during its seventh episode along with Friends and Mad About You which centered on a city-wide blackout caused by Jamie in Mad About You. None of the characters crossed over to the other shows. Seinfeld chose not to participate in the event stunt.

Free Willy was an animated series that continued the adventures of the killer whale Willy and the boy who freed him from captivity.

ReBoot was a Canadian animated series that aired in the US for two seasons. The Canadian show ran for four seasons and 48 episodes. It is one of the first CGI series made for television.

The 5 Mrs. Buchanans was titled The Four Mrs. Buchanans in the original pilot, which referred to only the four daughters-in-law. Thirteen episodes were ordered with a five episode pick-up, but only four additional episodes were produced. The series aired on Saturday nights and CBS had intended to move it to Mondays following Murphy Brown to improve the ratings, but the network picked up Cybill instead as a mid-season replacement. The seventh episode, however, did air in the timeslot as a one-time special.

2004

Bad Robot

• September 22 – CSI: NY (CBS, Nine seasons, 197 episodes)
• September 22 – The Mountain (The WB, One season, 13 episodes)
• September 22 – Veronica Mars (UPN/The CW/Hulu, Four seasons, 72 episodes)
• September 22 – Lost (ABC, Six seasons, 121 episodes)
• September 24 – Complete Savages (ABC, One season, 19 episodes)
• September 24 – Dr. Vegas (CBS, One season, 10 episodes, 5 unaired)
• September 26 – Clubhouse (CBS, One season, 11 episodes, 6 unaired)
• September 26 – Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat (PBS Kids, One season, 40 episodes)
• September 26 – Wife Swap (ABC/Paramount Network, 14 seasons, 208 episodes)
• September 28 – Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County (MTV, Three seasons, 43 episodes)

CSI: NY is an indirect spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and a direct spin-off from CSI: Miami. It is the third series in the CSI: franchise.

Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas originally wrote a young adult novel with a male protagonist, but changed it to female to give it a more interesting perspective for a noir piece. After the show’s third season cancellation, Thomas wrote a feature film, but Warner Bros. opted to not fund the project. Thomas and star Kristen Bell launched a Kickstarter campaign and raised $2 million in less than 11 hours, accumulating more than $5.7 million by the end of the campaign. The film was released in March 2014. Hulu commissioned an eight-episode fourth season in 2019. Bell won the role of Veronica over 500 other women who auditioned. Jason Dohring auditioned for the role of Duncan, and Teddy Dunn auditioned for Logan, but they ended up swapping roles after Dohring auditioned again for Logan. Amanda Seyfried’s audition and performance as Lily Kane for Season 1 were so good that Thomas ended up using her almost four times as much as he originally planned.

Lost was partially inspired by the feature film Cast Away. The show was one of the most expensive on television, and the pilot alone cost $14 million. The series won the 2005 Emmy for Outstanding Drama, and the British Academy Television Award for Best American Import. It won the Golden Globe for Best Television Series – Drama in 2006, as well as a SAG Award for Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series. The initial season had 14 regular speaking roles with star billing, and while most of the actors remained with the series for its entire run, none of them appeared in all 121 episodes. During the show’s run, characters were written out and new characters were introduced. The main character of Jack in the pilot was going to die, with the role intended for Michael Keaton, with Kate slated to be the leader of the survivors. ABC was adamant that Jack live and the role went to Matthew Fox. Dominic Monaghan auditioned for the role of Sawyer, a slick, suit-wearing con, but producers liked his performance so much the washed-up rock star Charlie was created for him. Jorge Garcia also auditioned for Sawyer, and the part of Hurley was written for him. Producers like Josh Holloway’s audition for Sawyer and his Southern accent and rewrote the character for him. Yunjim Kim auditioned for Kate, but the character of Sun was written for her, with husband Jin written for Daniel Daw Kim. Sayeed was not in the original script, and was written for Naveen Andrews. Emilie de Ravin’s character of Claire was originally written as a recurring role. Michael Emerson was contracted for three Season 2 episodes as ‘Henry Gale’ (Ben Linus), but his role was expanded and became a major figure throughout the series. The series was shot on film almost entirely on location on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Scenes in the Season 3 finale were shot in Los Angeles with a hospital set borrowed from Grey’s Anatomy. Two Season 4 scenes were filmed in London where Alan Dale was appearing in Spamalot and was unable to travel to Hawaii. The show has regained its popularity due to streaming on Hulu and Netflix.

Wife Swap‘s run included 148 episodes for the original series, 40 Celebrity Wife Swap episodes, and 20 for the 2019 reboot.

2014

Primrose Hill Productions

• September 22 – Celebrity Name Game (Syndication, Three seasons, 257 episodes)
• September 22 – Forever (ABC, One season, 22 episodes)
• September 22 – Gotham (FOX, Five seasons, 100 episodes)
• September 22 – Scorpion (CBS, Four seasons, 93 episodes)
• September 23 – NCIS: New Orleans (CBS, Seven seasons, 155 episodes)
• September 24 – Sports Jeopardy! (Crackle, Three seasons, 116 episodes)
• September 24 – black-ish (ABC, Eight seasons, 176 episodes)
• September 25 – How to Get Away with Murder (ABC, Six seasons, 90 episodes)

Celebrity Name Game was based on the board game Identity Crisis. It was originally pitched as a primetime series for CBS with Craig Ferguson as host. The series was eventually picked up for Syndication with Ferguson, who left The Late Late Show in December 2014. Ferguson won two Daytime Emmy Awards for hosting the series in 2015 and 2016, and was nominated again in 2017.

FOX originally ordered 16 episodes for the first season of Gotham, but expanded the order to 22. The show was filmed primarily in New York City. Though based on the Batman comics, many of the established characters were not allowed to be used to reserve them for the DCEU feature films. Actor Cameron Monaghan confirmed that his character was not allowed to be called Joker, nor were they permitted to use his signature green hair.

Scorpion, aka </SCORPION>, was very loosely based on the life of its executive producer and self-proclaimed computer expert Walter O’Brien.

NCIS: New Orleans, starring Scott Bakula and CCH Pounder, was the third series of the NCIS franchise. It was also the first of the franchise series to end.

Sports Jeopardy! was hosted by Dan Patrick.

black-ish earned 4 Golden Globe nominations and one win for Tracee Ellis Ross as Best Actress, and fifteen Emmy nominations but no wins. The series spawned the spin-offs grown-ish and mixed-ish.

How to Get Away with Murder star Viola Davis became the first Black woman to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She also won two SAG Awards and earned Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice and Television Critics Association Awards nominations. Davis’ deal to star in the series was for a limited season of no more than 16 episodes. Season 1 consisted of 15 episodes, as did the subsequent seasons.