Bon Mot Productions
Only two decades produced new TV series this week, including two competition series, two hidden camera prank shows, one animated series, a crime reality series, a scripted kids show and miniseries prequel to a fourteen year old cult classic. Interestingly, the Disney kids show and the Cartoon Network animated series had the longest runs. Scroll down to see all of the shows that premiered this week in 2005 and 2015, 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
- No new series premiered this week in 1975.
1985
- No new series premiered this week in 1985.
1995
- No new series premiered this week in 1995.
2005
- July 27 – R U the Girl (UPN, One season, 9 episodes)
- July 28 – The Law Firm (NBC/Bravo, One season, 8 episodes)
- August 2 – Hi-Jinks (Nick at Nite, Two seasons, 18 episodes, 1 special)
R U the Girl was hosted by the surviving members of TLC, Tionne ‘T-Boz’ Watkins and Rozonda ‘Chilli’ Thomas. UPN initially promoted the competition series as a search for someone to be the replacement for Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopez, who died in a car accident in Honduras in 2002. T-Boz and Chilli clarified that the winner was not joining TLC full time, but would provide guest vocals on a new single by the duo. The finale was aired live with two contestants vying for the win, O’so Krispie (Tiffany Baker) and Mirrah Fay-Parker. Krispie was selected as the winner and performed ‘I Bet’ with Watkins and Thomas on the finale. Both Krispie and Fay-Parker had recorded vocals for the song prior to the finale.
The Law Firm featured up-and-coming lawyers competing against each other while trying real court cases with real clients, in front of real judges and juries, resulting in outcomes that are final, legal and binding for the parties. After experiencing a drop of 1 million viewers between the first and second episodes, NBC pulled the show from the schedule and the remaining episodes were broadcast on Bravo.
Hi-Jinks was a hidden camera prank show where parents played pranks on their children with the help of a known celebrity, a combination of Candid Camera and Punk’d. Celebs included Vivica A. Fox, Richard Kind, Meredith Vieira, Gilbert Gottfried, Alan Thicke, Jane Seymour, Patti LaBelle, Tony Hawk, Ted McGinley, Holly Robinson Peete, Alfonso Ribeiro, Corbin Bernsen and Dave Coulier. Following the Season 2 finale, a Halloween special episode was broadcast on October 31, 2006.
2015
Showalter Wain
- July 27 – We Bare Bears (Cartoon Network, Four seasons, 140 episodes)
- July 29 – Fameless (TruTV, Two seasons, 42 episodes)
- July 31 – Cold Justice: Sex Crimes (TNT, One season, 10 episodes)
- July 31 – Bunk’d (Disney Channel, Seven seasons, 161 episodes)
- July 31 – Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (Netflix, One season, 8 episodes)
Following the run of We Bare Bears, a film adaptation titled We Bare Bears: The Movie was released digitally and then broadcast on Cartoon Network, wrapping up the series’ narrative. A spin-off prequel series We Baby Bears premiered on January 1, 2022. The characters of Nom Nom and Charlie were initially voiced by Ken Jeong and Tom Arnold, but the parts were recast before the show aired. The show received one Primetime Emmy Award nominations in 2018 for Outstanding Short Form Animated Program.
TruTV originally ordered eight episodes for the first season of prank show Fameless, hosted by David Spade, but added an additional ten episodes to fill out the season due to stronger than expected ratings.
Cold Justice: Sex Crimes was a spin-off of Cold Justice.
Bunk’d was a spin-off of Jessie, and featured Peyton List, Karan Brar, and Skai Jackson reprising their roles through Season 3, though List did return as a guest star in Season 5. Miranda May is the only regular cast member to appear in every season.
Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp is a prequel miniseries to the 2001 feature film Wet Hot American Summer. All of the film’s original adult actors — who played teens in the movie and went on to more high-profile work — returned for the series, playing even younger versions of their characters, including Elizabeth Banks, H. Jon Benjamin, Michael Ian Black, Bradley Cooper, Judah Friedlander, Janeane Garofalo, Joe Lo Truglio, Ken Marino, Christopher Meloni, David Hyde Pierce, Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd and Molly Shannon. Notable additions to the cast included Jason Schwartzman, Lake Bell, John Slattery, Michaela Watkins, Josh Charles, Chris Pine, Jon Hamm, Randall Park, Michael Cera and Kristen Wiig. Guest stars included Jordan Peele, Paul Scheer, Jayma Mays, ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic, John Early, Bruce Greenwood, Rob Huebel and Richard Schiff. Along with the miniseries, a behind the scenes documentary was also produced and streamed on Netflix titled Hurricane of Fun: The Making of Wet Hot. A 10-episode sequel, Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later, was released on August 4, 2017.