Kung Fu Monkey Productions
Coming out of Thanksgiving and into the holiday season, very few new series made their debuts this week, and only three decades produced anything new. 1994 gave us two different interactive game shows on two different cable networks, while 2000 launched a new fashion competition series that is about to enter a new era. 2014 had two scripted series that ran for multiple seasons, an animated holiday special based on a popular animated film series, a live musical production, two Hallmark Christmas movies, and another Christmas movie on the ION channel. Scroll down to see the list of shows, specials and movies that premiered this week and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating a milestone anniversary.
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
- December 1 – U to U (Nickelodeon, 20 episodes)
- December 2 – Prime Games (Game Show Network, last broadcast in 1997)
U to U aired until 1996 featuring viewer-submitted work and ideas, including short stories and comic strips written by viewers that were turned into animated shorts, and songs that were written and made into music videos.
Prime Games was a program of live interactive segments that aired between classic game shows, hosted from 1994-1996 by Peter Tomarkin, followed by Marianne Curan from 1996-1997.
2004
Miramax Television
- December 1 – Project Runway (Bravo/Lifetime, Twenty seasons, 251 episodes)
Project Runway originated on Bravo for its first five seasons, then moved to Lifetime for eleven, and returned to Bravo for its last four seasons before falling into limbo with the network. Disney has announced the show will return on its Freeform network for its 21st season. The series won a Peabody Award in 2008. Original host Heidi Klum and mentor Tim Gunn left the show in 2018 to host a new fashion competition series, Making the Cut. Karlie Kloss hosted for one season (the show went hostless after her departure), with Season 4 winner Christian Siriano taking over as mentor for the remainder of the show’s run through Season 20. Nina Garcia has been a judge on every season. Michael Kors was a judge through Season 10. Zac Posen filled his seat from Season 11 to Season 16, while Brandon Maxwell and Elaine Welteroth joined Garcia on the panel for Season 17-20. Guest judges would also sit in with the regular panel each week. The show launched several spin-offs including Project Runway All Stars, Under the Gunn, Project Accessory, Project Runway: Threads, Project Runway: Junior, and Project Runway: Fashion Startup.
2014
Tiny Pyro Productions
- December 2 – Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce (Bravo, Five seasons, 45 episodes)
- December 2 – Toy Story That Time Forgot (ABC, Holiday special)
- December 4 – Peter Pan Live! (NBC, TV special)
- December 6 – Debbie Macomber’s Mr. Miracle (Hallmark Channel, TV movie)
- December 7 – Christmas at Cartwright’s (Hallmark Channel, TV movie)
- December 7 – The Librarians (TNT, Four seasons, 42 episodes)
- December 7 – Merry Ex-Mas (ION, TV movie)
Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce was retitled Girlfriends’ Guide to Freedom for Season 3, Girlfriends’ Guide to Bossing Up in Season 4, and Girlfriends’ Guide to Ever After in season 5. The show was based on the book series by Vicki Iovine. Janeane Garofalo was a regular for the first seven episodes. Paul Adelstein was a regular for Seasons 1 and 2, and became recurring for Seasons 3 and 5. Retta recurred during Season 2 and was promoted to a regular with Season 3. This was the first original scripted series for Bravo. The guest cast included Carrie Fisher, Bernadette Peters, Laverne Cox, Barry Bostwick, Lesley Ann Warren, Malcolm Jamal Warner, Kathie Lee Gifford, Hoda Kotb, Denise Richards and Talia Shire.
Most of the original Toy Story cast reprised their movie roles for the holiday special Toy Story That Time Forgot. Kevin McKidd joined the cast as Reptillus Maximus. This was Don Rickles’ final TV special role before his death in 2017, and was the last Toy Story production for five years until the release of Toy Story 4. The project was originally planned as a six-minute short, but the idea was solid enough to turn it into a TV special.
Peter Pan Live! included a song that was cut from the original Broadway production before its premiere. The production featured a CGI Tinkerbell that was rendered live and controlled by a technician. The special received three Emmy Award nominations.
Christmas at Cartwright’s was retitled Santa’s Secret in the UK. The Librarians is a continuation of The Librarians film series.
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