NBC
The Fall premiere season continues to wind down with new shows making their debuts in every decade, though only a handful are remembered today. 1955’s longest running series features a talking dog, but is mostly forgotten today. A 1965 cartoon is fondly remembered but hard to find now. 1985 also gave us a musical animated series that still has a cult following today. 1995, interestingly, had another show with a talking dog but this one was aimed at children. 2005 had three series that barely lasted the season, and one children’s show that ran for two, while 2015 gave another talking dog his twelfth animated series, while two streaming services also rolled out two animated series, one for adults and one for children, while Vikings invaded the land for five seasons and a movie. But it was 1975 which gave us the most enduring — to this day — late night comedy series, a proving ground for comedy talent now for five decades. Scroll down to see all of the shows that premiered this week, and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating milestone anniversaries.
1955
- October 5 – Screen Directors Playhouse (NBC/ABC, One season, 35 episodes)
- October 6 – The People’s Choice (NBC, Three seasons, 104 episodes)
- October 7 – Crossroads (ABC/Syndication, Two seasons, 78 episodes)
- October 7 – Crusader (CBS, Two seasons, 53 episodes)
- October 8 – The Big Surprise (NBC, Two seasons, last broadcast on April 2, 1957)
Screen Directors Playhouse began as an NBC radio program on January 9, 1949, broadcasting 122 episodes until September 28, 1951. Hal Roach Studios produced the television version. NBC aired the series until June 1956, and the final episodes were broadcast by ABC until September 26, 1956. John Wayne appeared in one episode, his only real dramatic role on TV, and Errol Flynn made his TV drama debut in another episode.
The People’s Choice starred Jackie Cooper, with Mary Jane Croft voicing the thoughts of his character’s basset hound Cleo. The idea of a talking dog spawned the idea of a talking baby in the 1960-1961 NBC sitcom Happy.
Crossroads is an American television anthology series based on the activities of clergy from different denominations. The show was retitled The Way of Life for Syndication. The entire series is preserved at the UCLA Film and Television Archive in Los Angeles, California. James Dean guested in an episode that aired five weeks after his death in an automobile accident.
Quiz show The Big Surprise was hastily created by NBC in response to the success of The $64,000 Question on CBS. The Big Surprise offered a grand prize of $100,000. At least five people won the top prize. Jack Barry hosted the show until March 3, 1956, and he was replaced with Mike Wallace. Late in 1959 it was revealed The Big Surprise was one of the shows involved in the 1950s quiz show scandals in which producers and staff influenced the outcome of the game. Only the April 7, 1956 episode is known to exist, featuring guest contestant Errol Flynn playing for $30,000.
1965
Hal Seeger Productions
- October 9 – Milton the Monster (ABC, One season, 26 episodes)
Milton the Monster, also known as The Milton the Monster Show, included segments Fearless Fly, Flukey Luke, Stuffy Durma the Millionaire Hobo, Muggy-Doo: Boy Fox, and Penny Penguin. The entire series was released on DVD in 2007 but has since gone out of print.
1975
- October 11 – NBC’s Saturday Night (NBC, 50 seasons, 988 episodes to date)
The title for NBC’s Saturday Night was changed to Saturday Night Live after the second season. NBC was unable to use the more familiar title upon the show’s debut because ABC had premiered variety series Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell on September 20, 1975, which was cancelled in early 1976. NBC purchased the rights to the title and began using it from the third season. The program was developed after Johnny Carson asked NBC to stop airing reruns of The Tonight Show on weekends so they could be aired as reruns during the week so he could have some time off. George Carlin hosted the first episode. The show found its footing by the fourth episode, which was hosted by Candice Bergen. Co-creator Lorne Michaels asked NBC to put the show on hiatus for a year after the fifth season to allow him to pursue other projects, but the network would not give him a deal so he left the show, replaced by Jean Doumanian. Most of the cast and crew left with Michaels. Doumanian was fired after only ten months following new cast member Charles Rocket inadvertently saying the dreaded F-word on live television. Some NBC execs wanted to cancel the show, but Dick Ebrsol was hired as a producer and the show got a reprieve, revamping the show and firing all of the new cast members except for Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo. Ebersol avoided political comedy which alienated the show’s fans. Murphy rose to prominence during Ebersol’s tenure, which created tensions within the cast. Established performers Billy Crystal and Martin Short joined the show for the 1984-1985 season, regarded as one of the funniest, but it diverged from Michaels’ innovative approach to comedy. Ebersol followed in Michaels’ footsteps and asked for a show hiatus to recast and rebuild the show, but NBC refused and approached Michaels to return. Michaels returned in 1985 and also hired established performers but the writers struggled with the cast. Michaels cleaned house again for the 1986 season, bringing in new talent like Dana Carvey and Phil Hartman. The new cast revived the show’s popularity with critics and audiences. Michaels began to over-crowd the cast, fearing breakout stars leaving for film careers, leading to competition for screen time. The 1994-1995 season is considered the worst of the series due to the show’s humor, cast and backstage dysfunction. The cast was overhauled again for the 1995-1996 season with names like Will Ferrell and Cheri Oteri joining, which again revitalized the series, while it also faced new competition on FOX from Mad TV, which began 30-minutes earlier and had a more diverse cast. The 2000-2001 season was well-received for its spoofing of the Bush and Gore presidential campaigns. The September 11, 2001 attacks on New York City affected the cast and crew, but the series returned on September 29 with an acclaimed appearance by Rudy Giuliani. The show upgraded to HD for the 2005-2006 season, but then suffered budget cuts for 2006-2007 which reduced the cast. The 2007-2008 season was cut short by a Writers Guild strike. Tina Fey, a cast member from 1997-2006, returned in 2008 for guest appearances as Sarah Palin, which helped boost her stardom. The show began to rely more on pre-recorded material than ever before during this period. Another major cast overhaul occurred for the 2013-2014 season following the exits of longtime cast members such as Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig, with seven new hires including Beck Bennett, Kyle Mooney and Sasheer Zamata. Seth Meyers left the show mid-season, replaced by Colin Jost as the ‘Weekend Update’ anchor. The 2019-2020 season was halted on March 16, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but returned in April with remotely produced episodes titled Saturday Night Live at Home. The show returned to Studio 8H in October 2020. Many cast members, including Aidy Bryant, Kate McKinnon and Pete Davidson, left after the 2021-2022 season, with Michaels stating many of them had stayed longer than intended due to the pandemic. Speculation began to surface that Michaels would leave the show after its 50th anniversary, with Tina Fey as a possible replacement, but Michaels denied he was considering leaving. Longest-serving cast member Kenan Thompson speculated that the whole show would end after the 50th season. The show will return for its 51st season in October 2025. The show has won 113 Primetime Emmy Awards to date, and three Peabody Awards.
1985
- October 6 – Jem (Syndication, Three seasons, 65 episodes)
Jem is also known as Jem and The Holograms. The series was a joint collaboration by Hasbro, Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions. Toei Animation handled the animation for most of the episodes. Eleven episodes and the opening sequence were provided by the South Korean studio AKOM. None of the voice cast provided the singing voices for their characters, although the voices were matched. The music was cast and recorded in New York and Atlanta, while the dialog was recorded in Burbank, California. Samantha Newark was the speaking voice of Jem, while Britta Phillips did the vocals. ‘Turn the Beat Around’ singer Vicki Sue Robinson provided the singing voices for Rapture and Minx.
1995
Big Feats! Entertainment
- October 9 – Wishbone (PBS, Two seasons, 50 episodes)
Wishbone was produced by Big Feats! Entertainment, which also produced Barney & Friends for PBS. Wishbone, however, was targeted at an older audience of ages 6 to 11. The stories from classical literature were notable for staying faithful to the source material, and not toning down their subject matter like murder, execution, suicide, and the effects of slavery. Soccer the Dog played Wishbone, with Larry Brantley providing the voice. Amy Acker was a ‘Wishbone Player’ in Season 2. Notable guest stars included Jensen Ackles, Shelley Duvall, and Irma P. Hall. Casting for the dog took three days with between 100 and 150 dogs being auditioned in a motel courtyard in Valencia, Califonia. The show was filmed on a backlot and studio in Texas. Each episode cost about $500,000, with almost all of it coming out of pocket from producer Richard Leach due to the success of Barney & Friends. 40 episodes were run as the first season, with the remaining ten aired as Season 2. PBS allegedly cancelled the show because it did not have ‘merchandising potential’. The show won a Peabody Award in 1998, and a total of four Daytime Emmy Awards out of five nominations.
2005
- October 5 – Related (The WB, One season, 18 episodes)
- October 5 – Freddie (ABC, One season, 21 episodes)
- October 7 – Hot Properties (ABC, One season, 13 episodes)
- October 9 – Little Einsteins (Playhouse Disney, Two seasons, 67 episodes)
Freddie starred Freddie Prinze Jr., and was inspired by his real life. Prinze, Brian Austin Green and Chloe Bridges crossed over on a Season 5 episode of George Lopez as their characters, though Bridges is credited as Chloe Suazo.
Little Einsteins was developed after Disney bought The Baby Einstein Company. The series was introduced with a direct-to-video movie, Our Huge Adventure, which was released on August 23, 2005. The series was nominated for both of its seasons for the Outstanding Children’s Animated Program Daytime Emmy Award. The album Disney’s Little Einsteins Musical Missions also received a nomination for Best Spoken Word Album for Children at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards.
2015
DreamWorks Animation
- October 5 – Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! (Cartoon Network/Boomerang, Two seasons, 52 episodes)
- October 5 – WITS Academy (Nickelodeon, One season, 20 episodes)
- October 7 – Casual (Hulu, Four seasons, 44 episodes)
- October 7 – Jay Leno’s Garage (CNBC, Seven seasons, 88 episodes)
- October 8 – SuperMansion (Crackle, Three seasons, 41 episodes, 5 specials)
- October 9 – The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show (Netflix, Four seasons, 52 episodes)
- October 10 – The Last Kingdom (BBC Two/Netflix, Five seasons, 46 episodes)
Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! is the twelfth iteration of the Scooby-Doo animated series from Hanna-Barbera. The show was announced to premiere on Boomerang, but instead premiered on Cartoon Network, which left 11 episodes unaired as of March 7, 2017. The final episodes premiered on the Boomerang network in March 2018, and were added to the streaming service on September 26, 2018. Frank Welker continued to voice Scooby-Doo and Fred, while Matthew Lillard, who played Shaggy in the live-action movies, voiced the cartoon character. Grey DeLisle and Kate Micucci voiced Daphne and Velma, respectively. This was the first Scooby-Doo series to not feature Casey Kasem, who originally voiced Shaggy, in any capacity. Kasem voiced Shaggy’s father in the previous series, Mystery Incorporated, but he died in June 2014 leaving Welker as the only surviving original voice cast member. It is also the first series to not feature Mindy Cohn as Velma since A Pup Named Scooby-Doo.
WITS Academy was an American telenovela-formatted teen sitcom. The show was a spin-off/sequel to Every Witch Way.
SuperMansion began life as a 12-minute pilot for Adult Swim, under the original name Übermansion. For unknown reasons, the series was moved to Crackle with the title changed to SuperMansion. Bryan Cranston, Keegan-Michael Key, Heidi Gardner, Jillian Bell, Chris Pine, Breckin Meyer and Yvette Nicole Brown provided voices.
The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show is based on ‘Peabody’s Improbable History’, the 1960s segments that aired as part of The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle and Friends, and the 2014 film, Mr. Peabody & Sherman, which was also produced by DreamWorks Animation. Chris Parnell voices Mr. Peabody (Ty Burrell provided the voice for the movie), while Max Charles reprises the role of his boy Sherman. Da’Vine Joy Randolph is the voice of Christine Bluestone and historical figure Abby Fisher. 78 episodes of the series were ordered, but only 52 were broadcast. Guest voices include Flula Borh, Gary Busey, Margaret Cho, Stephen Fry, Jane Lynch, Missi Pyle, Jeff Ross, Dee Bradley Baker, Tom Kenny, Tress MacNeille, Rob Paulsen, Tara Strong and Fred Tatasciore. The series received four Daytime Emmy Awards nominations in 2017, winning two for Individual Achievement in Animation for episodes ‘The Wrath of Hughes’ (Kevin Dart) and ‘Pea Dummy/Mary Anning’ (Eastwood Wong).
The Last Kingdom was a co-prodcution between BBC Two and Netflix, with Netflix acquiring the series outright in 2018, streaming the series in the US beginning November 19, 2018. A feature length sequel, Seven Kings Must Die, concluded the series, premiering April 14, 2023. Alexander Dreymon (Uhtred of Bebbanburg) and Emily Cox (Brida) are the only regular actors to appear on every season, while Eliza Butterworth (Lady Aelswith) recurred in Season 1 and was a regular for the remaining seasons. For portrayals of the Vikings at sea, the Viking ship replica Havhingsten fra Glendalough was used.