Blinding Edge Pictures
It was a very slim week for new television series premieres as the networks were winding up the current season and, until the cable era, Summertime meant reruns. Of the series that premiered this week across the decades, a 1965 series was simply a package of episodes from previously aired series. 1985 saw a new late night sports entertainment series filling in for reruns of a popular sketch comedy series, 2005 had a pop star reality series cobbled together from a different unrealized reality series, and 2015 had yet another reality series focused on a cappella teams, and the lone scripted drama that ran longer than intended. Scroll down to see the shows that debuted this week and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating milestone anniversaries.
1955
- No new series premiered this week in 1955.
1965
- May 11 – Cloak of Mystery (NBC, One season, last broadcast on August 8, 1965)
Cloak of Mystery recycled programs originally telecast on The Alcoa Theatre and The General Electric Theater.
1975
- No new series premiered this week in 1975.
1985
- May 11 – Saturday Night’s Main Event (NBC, Six seasons, last broadcast on April 27, 1991)
Saturday Night’s Main Event was aired in the time slot usually given to reruns of Saturday Night Live during the era of executive producer Dick Ebersol, who struck a deal with WWE’s Vince McMahon to produce the show. The March 14, 1987 episode featuring Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant drew 11.6 million viewers, a record for that time slot that still stands today. The success of the series led to several Friday primetime specials known simply as The Main Event. NBC lost interest in wrestling after acquiring right to NBA games and the show was dropped. FOX picked up the show in 1992 but only aired two episodes. When WWE Raw returned to USA Network in 2005, Saturday Night’s Main Event was revivevd on NBC as a series of specials, returning on March 18, 2006 in primetime, and ending in July 2008. The show was revived a second time with the first episode airing on December 14, 2024.
1995
- No new series premiered this week in 1995.
2005
- May 17 – Britney and Kevin: Chaotic (UPN, One season, 5 episodes)
A majority of the footage used in Britney and Kevin: Chaotic was originally shot for Spears’ own reality series for MTV to document the European leg of the Onyx Hotel Tour in the spring of 2004. Spears fell and injured her left knee during the shooting of the music video for ‘Outrageous’, causing the remainder of the tour to be cancelled. Critics noted Spears’ excessive narcissism and explicit themes of the series were career suicide for the singer. The show’s original title was Britney and Kevin: Can You Handle Our Truth? but when it was changed, ‘Can You Handle Our Truth?’ became the show’s tagline. The series debuted to 3.7 million viewers, making it UPN’s most-watched series in its time slot since March 2004. By the final episode, viewership had dropped to 2.1 million.
2015
- May 13 – Sing It On (Pop, Two seasons, 16 episodes)
- May 14 – Wayward Pines (FOX, Two seasons, 20 episodes)
Sing It On followed the real life stories, high stakes and personal triumphs of the country’s top competitive collegiate a cappella teams as they battle it out to win the ICCA Finals.
Wayward Pines was based on the novel series of the same title by Blake Crouch. M. Night Shyamalan directed the pilot and served as an executive producer. The plot of the first novel is covered in the first five episodes of Season 1. The second and third novels serve as the storyline for the remaining five episodes. The series was only intended to run for the initial ten episodes, having covered the entire trilogy of novels, but FOX renewed the series due to its impressive ratings and it continued using original material. Because of the unexpected renewal, most of the main cast did not return for Season 2, or only appeared as guest stars. Among those not returning were Matt Dillon, Reed Diamond, and Juliette Lewis. Returning in guest roles were Carla Gugino, Toby Jones, Shannyn Sossamon, Melissa Leo, Terrence Howard and Hope Davis. Jason Patric succeeded Dillon as the new series lead.