Mendacity Pictures
Heading into the Summer months, the bulk of this week’s new series premieres took place in 2005 and 2015 to fill the needs of cable broadcasters who didn’t deal in reruns like the major networks did at the time (and only one of the then ‘Big Four’ networks had a new show in 2005 and 2015). 1975 did have two new daytime game shows that fizzled after a few months, although one of them was very notable for its host. 2005 had two very different cable animated series, one for kids, the other for adults, one family drama, and a network reality competition. 2015 produced one network drama and, surprisingly, only one cable reality series, and one children’s animated series. The rest were all scripted dramas or comedies, including the first German-language series to air in the US. Scroll down to see the shows that premiered this week across the decades and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating milestone anniversaries.
1955
- No new series premiered this week in 1955.
1965
- No new series premiered this week in 1965.
1975
- June 16 – Spin-Off (CBS, One season, 60 episodes)
- June 16 – Musical Chairs (CBS, One season, 90 episodes)
Spin-Off was based on the dice game Yahtzee, and was hosted by Jim Lange. The show replaced The Joker’s Wild on CBS’ daytime schedule.
Musical Chairs replaced Tattletales in the 4:00 PM time slot after Tattletales moved to the morning, placing Musical Chairs against soap opera Somerset on NBC and The Money Maze on ABC (and You Don’t Say! after The Money Maze was cancelled). It was not successful against the competition and was replaced by Give-n-Take (cancelled after two months) before Tattletales moved back to 4:00 PM. The show was hosted by Adam Wade, the first African-American game show host. The show was recorded at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City, later the home to The Late Show with David Letterman (and Stephen Colbert). Episodes usually had guest singer or groups, including The Tokens, The Spinners, Margaret Whiting, The New Christy Minstrels, Sister Sledge, Alaina Reed, Jane Olivor and Irene Cara. Episode status is unknown. CBS had stopped wiping tapes for reuse in 1972. One episode is known to exist with Irene Cara, soap star Mary Stuart, and The Spinners. A former contestant, Arlene Dittamo, uploaded two episodes to YouTube in 2017 which were from the show’s final week with guests Bobby Rydell, Ernestine Jackson, Sister Sledge and Shari Lewis among them.
1985
- No new series premiered this week in 1985.
1995
- No new series premiered this week in 1995.
2005
Lionsgate Television
- June 17 – The Buzz on Maggie (Disney Channel, One season, 21 episodes)
- June 19 – 12 oz. Mouse (Adult Swim, Three seasons, 31 episodes, 2 specials, 1 webisode)
- June 20 – Wildfire (ABC Family, Four seasons, 52 episodes)
- June 21 – I Want To Be a Hilton (NBC, One season, 8 episodes)
The Buzz on Maggie was Disney’s first series to be animated completely in Adobe Flash, with many animators from the recently cancelled Kids WB series ¡Mucha Lucha! hired for the show. The series was produced in widescreen but cropped to 4:3 aspect ratio due to the channel’s lack of an HD feed at the time. The show’s theme song, ‘Just the Way I Am’ by Canadian singer Skye Sweetnam, was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award. The show’s voice cast included Jessica DiCicco in her first main voice role, Cree Summer, Brian Doyle-Murray and Tara Strong. Guest voice actors included Laraine Newman, Paul Rodriguez and Jon Polito. Episodes originally aired once a week until July 22, 2005. Only two episodes aired in August and September, with just one or two new episodes airing each month from October 22, 2005 until May 27, 2006. ABC began airing episodes on September 17, 2005.
12 oz. Mouse was originally conceived to lack continuity between episodes, but a serialized format was adopted with the second episode. An ending for the series was also constructed early on, but the final episode concluded differently than planned. The series initially ended on December 17, 2006, but was revived for a third season on July 20, 2020. Animation for the series was created in Final Cut Pro. The character Shark was borrowed from Space Ghost Coast to Coast.
Main cast members for Wildfire included James Read, Nana Visitor, Dennis Weaver, Amy Jo Johnson and Eric Winter. The guest cast included Joe Lando, Debrah Farentino, Arye Gross, Jason London, and Amanda Seyfried.
I Want To Be a Hilton was a reality show that featured contestants who wanted to be like a Hilton. The show’s original title was The Good Life to tie in with Paris Hilton’s reality show The Simple Life. Kathy Hilton hosted, and eliminated contestants with the line, ‘You’re not on the list.’
2015
Closest to the Hole Productions
- June 15 – The Making of the Mob (AMC, Two seasons, 16 episodes)
- June 15 – Fresh Beat Band of Spies (Nickelodeon / Nick Jr., One season, 20 episodes)
- June 16 – Proof (TNT, One season, 10 episodes)
- June 16 – Clipped (TBS, One season, 10 episodes)
- June 17 – Deutschland 83 (SundanceTV, One season, 8 episodes)
- June 18 – The Astronaut Wives Club (ABC, One season, 10 episodes)
- June 19 – Killjoys (Syfy, Five seasons, 50 episodes)
- June 21 – Ballers (HBO, Five seasons, 47 episodes)
- June 21 – The Brink (HBO, One season, 10 episodes)
The first season of The Making of the Mob was subtitled ‘New York’, and the second season was ‘Chicago’. Ray Liotta was the show’s narrator.
Fresh Beat Band of Spies is an animated spin-off of live-action series The Fresh Beat Band. Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer, Thomas Hobson, Tara Perry, and Jon Beavers reprised their roles, with Tom Kenny replacing Patrick Lewis.
Jennifer Beals, Matthew Modine and Joe Morton starred on supernatural drama Proof. David Sutcliffe and Callum Blue were also in the cast. Kyra Sedgewick was one of the show’s producers.
The working title for Clipped was Clipsters. When the series was officially announced in April 2014, it was then untitled, and by May 6, 2014 it was titled Buzzy’s. It’s unclear when the final title was locked in. The cast included Mike Castle, Ashley Tisdale, Lauren Lapkus, Ryan Pinkstone and George Wendt. Reginald VelJohnson had a recurring role.
Deutschland 83 was the first German-language series to be broadcast in the US. It was shown in German with English subtitles. A second season was ordered with the title Deutschland 86, with a third season in 2020 titled Deutschland 89. The series was alwasy intended to be a trilogy. The show incorporated music from the artists of the 80s including Nena, David Bowie, New Order, Eurythmics, and Peter Schilling. The series was a recipient of a Peabody Award.
The Astronaut Wives Club was based on Lily Koppel’s 2013 book of the same name. The series was planned as a miniseries that told a complete story, however there was also a plan to turn it into an anthology series to feature the wives of men in different eras and professions if it was renewed. The show was originally intended to premiere on July 24, 2014, but was delayed to Spring 2015 to undergo changes (further delayed until the Summer).
Killjoys was a Canadian sci-fi series that aired on the Space network, with Syfy co-producing and airing the show in the US simultaneously. Hannah John-Kamen, Aaron Ashmore and Luke Macfarlane starred.
The cast of Ballers included Dwayne Johnson, Rob Corddry, John David Washington, Omar Miller, Dulé Hill, Christopher McDonald, Richard Schiff, Clifton Collins Jr., Michael Cudlitz, Andy Garcia, Steve Guttenberg, Peter Berg and John Amos. While many of the athletes on the show are fictional, many real athletes also made guest appearances including Steph Curry, Odell Beckham Jr., Tony Hawk, Randy Couture and Rick Fox.
The Brink was conceived as an anthology comedy with each season following a different crisis somewhere in the world. HBO renewed the series for a second season while the first was airing, but reversed the decision and cancelled the show after one season. The main cast included Jack Black, Tim Robbins, Pablo Schreiber, Aasif Mandvi, Geoff Pierson and Esai Morales. Guest stars included Mimi Kennedy, Carla Gugino, John Larroquette, Iqbal Theba and Michelle Gomez.