Brillstein-Grey Communications
Only four decades produced any new series this week, but those decades produced some very memorable programs, although no one may remember the three season comedy series on a small-ish cable network in 1985. Tell us if you do! 1995 had two hits and one flop. One hit was a comedy set at a radio station with an ensemble cast (and one tragedy that impacted the show greatly), and the other was a sci-fi series that endured great turmoil behind-the-scenes among the producers, cast and two networks which broadcast it. 2005 produced one new series with twin brothers that was a hit with the Disney crowd. 2015 also had three series, two hits and one flop (both flops lasted just six episodes … as did two 1985 flops), with a dramedy-horror series based on a comic getting five seasons, and an expensive streaming drama getting three seasons. Scroll down to see the shows that premiered this week, and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating milestone anniversaries.
1955
- No new shows premiered this week in 1955.
1965
- No new shows premiered this week in 1965.
1975
- No new shows premiered this week in 1975.
1985
- March 18 – Safe at Home (Superstation WTBS, Three seasons, 96 episodes)
- March 21 – Eye to Eye (ABC, One season, 6 episodes)
- March 21 – Wildside (ABC, One season, 6 episodes)
Superstation WTBS is known as TBS today. Safe at Home was one of three original comedies produced for the network at the time. Martha Nix originally starred as lead character Caroline, but when she was replaced with Katherine Britton after the first season, the focus shifted to Caroline’s brother Dan, played by Michael J. Cutt, who was then elevated to the star of the show.
Eye to Eye was based on the 1977 movie The Late Show by Robert Benton, starring Art Carney and Lily Tomlin. The detective drama TV series starred Charles Durning and Stephanie Faracy. ABC scheduled Wildside against NBC’s The Cosby Show, which contributed to its low ratings and cancellation after a month on the air.
1995
St. Clare Entertainment
- March 21 – NewsRadio (NBC, Five seasons, 97 episodes)
- March 21 – Pride & Joy (NBC, One season, 6 episodes)
- March 22 – Sliders (FOX/Sci-Fi, Five seasons, 88 episodes)
NewsRadio featured the last series regular role for Phil Hartman. Jon Lovitz joined the show after Hartman’s untimely death during the hiatus after Season 4. His death was addressed in the Season 5 premiere as it is revealed his character Bill died of a heart attack. The series only had one regularly recurring character across multiple seasons, Jimmy’s (Stephen Root) lawyer Roger, initially played by Norm Macdonald, and later by NewsRadio writer Drake Sather, who did a vocal impression of Macdonald. Several guest actors appeared on the show in multiple seasons playing different characters including David Cross, Toby Huss, Brian Posehn, David Anthony Higgins, Wallace Langham and Bob Odenkirk. Huss and Tone Lōc played security guards in two episodes which were based on security guards at the studio where the show was taped. Patrick Warburton had a recurring role during the final season. Lauren Graham had a four-episode arc during Season 4 which star Maura Tierney suggests may have led to the departure of series regular Khandi Alexander, but this disputes the accounts that she had planned to leave before Graham was cast due to not being given enough to do on the show. Alexander did return for the Season 5 episode featuring the funeral of Hartman’s character. The show’s ratings were inconsistent due to NBC changing the timeslot eleven times: twice during Season 2, four times during Season 3, three times during Season 4, and twice during Season 5. The series ended in the Tuesday, 8:30 PM time slot where it began. The show never placed higher than 26th in the Nielsen ratings.
Sitcom Pride & Joy starred Craig Bierko, Julie Warner, Jeremy Piven and Caroline Rhea.
Sliders filmed in Vancouver for its first two seasons, and relocated to Los Angeles for the remaining three seasons. FOX cancelled the series after Season 3 and was picked up by Sci-Fi Channel for the remainder of its run. Cleavant Derricks was the only actor to appear in all five seasons. Star Jerry O’Connell departed after Season 4. Sabrina Lloyd left after Season 3, but voiced her character — played by a barely visible body double — in Season 5. John Rhys-Davies also left the show after Season 3. Derricks and Linda Kay Henning (Quinn Mallory’s mother) are the only actors to appear in both the first and last episodes. Derricks’ identical twin brother Clinton Derricks-Carroll appeared in three episodes when there was a need for the Rembrandt character to interact with his double. Rhys-Davies left the show because FOX interfered with the scripts too much, turning what could have been a great show into ‘incomprehensible gibberish’. He felt the show failed to find writers who actually read science-fiction to write for the show, falling back on repurposing ideas from other works like Tremors, Twister, Night of the Living Dead and The Island of Doctor Moreau. One plot point in an episode was a direct rip-off from a scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, in which Rhys-Davies also appeared. His breaking point came when he saw the writers watching a DVD of the movie Species, picking idea to use in the show. O’Connell departed after FOX shifted the show from thought-provoking to more action-oriented. Actor Ken Steadman died in a freak accident during production of the episode ‘Desert Storm’ when a dune buggy he was moving from one location to another overturned, killing him instantly. Producers knew the show would not be renewed for a sixth season, feeling Sci-Fi had lost interest in the series (even though it was their highest rated show), not even providing feedback notes for the episodes. Sci-Fi had one strict rule that a gun could never be pointed at someone’s head, so to test the theory that no one at corporate were even reading the scripts, executive producer Bill Dial presented a script in which a character gets his entire head shot off, which was completely ignored. Dial had also saved money from each of the final season episodes to pour into a major battle in the series finale, but the money went to the penultimate episode instead. The final script purposely left the series on an unresolved cliffhanger, which the network also ignored. Many recurring characters were dropped after the move to Los Angeles due to the cost of flying them back and forth from and to Vancouver. Kari Wuhrer guested in Season 3 and was then promoted to a regular, which may have led to the departure of Lloyd, with some suggesting she was jealous of Wuhrer. It was later revealed the two did not get along after some snide comments Wuhrer made about Lloyd’s engagement to a crew member. The new Season 3 showrunner wanted to return to the 2 male/1 female dynamic of the first two seasons, so Lloyd was fired after asking for a raise. O’Connell’s brother Charlie had joined the series during the fourth season, but both left because much of the show’s original premise was gone following the departures of Rhys-Davies, Lloyd and series creator Tracy Tormé. Fans were so upset by the departures that an attempt was made to bring back several popular recurring characters for Season 5, but the negotiations with the actors were unsuccessful. The character Logan St. Clair was created to be a recurring character, but only appeared in one episode as FOX did not think she was sexy enough and requested she not return. FOX infamously broadcast some Season 1 and 2 episodes out of order, resulting in continuity errors. In one instance, the ‘Summer of Love’ cliffhanger leads directly into the ‘Prince of Wails’ episode, which FOX had aired a week earlier. The episode ‘The Last of Eden’ was filmed before Rhys-Davies left the show, but was aired a full month after his character was written off, so a new opening scene had to be filmed to frame the story as a flashback. Sci-Fi restored the original filmed order when it rebroadcast Season 1, but Universal put the episodes in broadcast order for the DVDs. Tracy Tormé, O’Connell and Rhys-Davies were interested in a revival if the show could stick to its thought-provoking aspects of the alternate worlds, and Tormé stated in 2021 that a reboot was actively in the works. Unfortunately, he died in 2024 of complications from diabetes so the revival status is unknown.
2005
Disney Channel
- March 18 – The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (Disney Channel, Three seasons, 87 episodes)
The Suite Life of Zack & Cody was the third Disney Channel original series to have more than 65 episodes. A sequel series featuring original stars Dylan and Cole Sprouse, The Suite Life on Deck, ran on Disney Channel for three seasons from 2008-2011, and that was followed by a TV movie, The Suite Life Movie, on March 25, 2011. Disney Channel aired the special That’s So Suite Life of Hannah Montana on July 28, 2006, as a crossover with That’s So Raven and Hannah Montana. The show was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, including two for Outstanding Children’s Program.
2015
Warner Bros. Television
- March 17 – iZombie (The CW, Five seasons, 71 episodes)
- March 17 – One Big Happy (NBC, One season, 6 episodes)
- March 20 – Bloodline (Netflix, Three seasons, 33 episodes)
iZombie was based on the DC comic book series. Warner Bros. asked Rob Thomas to develop the series while he was editing the film version of Veronica Mars. He refused but the studio insisted and he eventually took the job. Thomas had actually been trying to pitch his own zombie series, but when AMC picked up The Walking Dead, it essentially killed Thomas’ project. The opening credits for the series are drawn by Michael Allred, the main artist and co-creator of the original comic book. Alexandra Krosney played the part of Peyton Charles in the pilot, but was replaced with Aly Michalka when the series was picked up, and the character was reduced to recurring but then promoted to a regular for the third season. Nora Dunn was to play Liv’s mother, but she left after the role was much smaller than originally envisioned. Molly Hagan replaced Dunn. The first three seasons have been released on home video, but Warner Bros. has stated Season 4 is unavailable due to rights issues, and Season 5 is not available because Season 4 has not been released (though some digital service do offer Season 5).
One Big Happy was produced by Ellen DeGeneres, and starred Kelly Brook, Elisha Cuthbert and Nick Zano.
Bloodline was the first major deal between Netflix and a major studio for a TV series. A number of outlets were interested in the series before Netflix picked it up. Creators Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler, and Daniel Zelman specifically chose Kyle Chandler to play the deeply flawed John Rayburn, a direct opposite of his warm and inviting character on Friday Night Lights. Chandler saw it as an experiment, unsure if it was going to work, but he was completely on board. Ben Mendelsohn was the only choice to play Danny Rayburn. A certain chemistry between the two actors was vital in portraying the tense relationship between the brothers. Chandler said Mendelsohn was easy to work with, but there was so much going on with him psychologically that he was tricky. Mendelsohn returned for Season 2 even though his character was killed off in Season 1, but it was always the plan to bring him back. John Leguizamo and Andrea Riseborough joined the second season. Chloë Sevigny recurred in Seasons 1 and 2, and was promoted to a regular for Season 3. The show was filmed on location in the Florida Keys. The novel Crime and Punishment was a major influence on the series. First takes were often used in the show as the actors did not rehearse to maintain a sense of spontaneity. The show’s cost per episode was between $7 million and $8.5 million, with the 33 episodes costing between $231 million and $289 million. Much of the expense was due to shooting on locaiton. The cost was a major factor in the show’s cancellation, despite critical acclaim and awards nominations. The series was nominated for a total of five Primetime Emmy Awards, with Chandler nominated for Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Seasons 1 and 2, and Mendelsohn nominated in the Supporting Actor category for all three seasons, winning the award for Season 2. Mendelsohn also received the sole Golden Globe nomination in Season 2.