Berlanti Productions
As October ends and networks are beginning to see how their new Fall series are performing, there are a few stragglers making their debuts heading into the November sweeps. 1955 saw the debut of the very first hour-long drama series, 1965-1985 went on a break, 1995 had a kids show based on a series of scary novels, a cartoon based on a popular movie, and a sitcom that was a very thinly veiled ripoff of a hit British comedy series. 2005 produced a horror series with one episode so disturbing it never aired, and 2015 gave us another superhero series that eventually flew to another network, and a comedy-horror series that was a continuation of a popular film franchise. 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 31 – NBC Matinee Theater (NBC, Three seasons, 650 episodes)
NBC Matinee Theater was a daily anthology series that aired in the afternoon, usually broadcast live and often in color, with minimal sets and costumes. It was the first daily, hour-long, dramatic series on American television. The show ended due to its unusually high budget, higher than any other daytime program of the era at about $73,000 per episode. A few of the later episodes were preserved on color film for later rerun syndication under different titles. The scripts of the series’ episodes are archived at the University of California, Los Angeles. Several episodes are preserved at the UCLA Film & Television Archive, The Paley Center, and the Library of Congress. John Conte was the host. The series originally had sixteen directors, including Boris Sagal, Lamont Johnson and Arthur Hiller, but those who could not promptly answer the question as to what they needed or wanted for their episodes were dismissed. While one episode was being broadcast, the next day’s episode was in final rehearsal, both in the same studio with a soundproof curtain dividing the space, requiring two crews of about 75 technicians working on each project. At the same time, four future episodes were being rehearsed in four rehearsal halls in Los Angeles. The series won an Emmy Award in 1956 for Best Contribution to Daytime Programming, and a Golden Globe in 1957 for Best TV Show, tying with The Mickey Mouse Club, Cheyenne, Playhouse 90, and This Is Your Life. Louis Hayward starred in the first episode.
1965
- No new series premiered this week in 1965.
1975
- No new series premiered this week in 1995.
1985
- No new series premiered this week in 1985.
1995
JVTV-Look Ma Productions
- October 27 – Goosebumps (FOX Kids, Four seasons, 74 episodes)
- October 28 – Dumb and Dumber (ABC, One season, 13 episodes)
- October 30 – High Society (CBS, One season, 13 episodes)
Goosebumps is an anthology series based on the book series by R.L. Stine. It was filmed largely in Ontario, Canada, as it offered cost-effective facilities and could convincingly resemble the US while still being geographically ambiguous.
Dumb and Dumber, an animated series based on the hit feature film, featured Bill Fagerbakke and Matt Frewer voicing the characters of Harry and Lloyd, respectively, who were played by Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey in the film, respectively. It was the last Hanna-Barbera cartoon to air on a television network other than Cartoon Network, and one of the last Saturday morning cartoons on ABC. It was one of three animated series based on Jim Carrey films premiering in 1995, including Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Mask: Animated Series.
High Society was a blatant rip-off of the UK series Absolutely Fabulous. Mary McDonnell and Jean Smart starred. The show’s theme song, ‘The Lady is a Tramp’, was sung by Chaka Khan. Jayne Meadows received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
2005
- October 28 – I Shouldn’t Be Alive (Discovery Channel/Animal Planet, Six seasons, 58 episodes)
- October 28 – Masters of Horror (Showtime, Two seasons, 26 episodes)
- October 30 – But Can They Sing? (VH1, One season, 6 episodes)
- October 30 – Homewrecker (MTV, One season, 8 episodes)
Discovery Channel cancelled I Shouldn’t Be Alive on March 5, 2007, but it was picked up by Animal Planet in 2010. The show was placed on hiatus in 2012 but never formally cancelled.
Mick Garris created Masters of Horror out of a series of informal dinners he began hosting with horror icons as guests. The original ten ‘Masters’ were John Carpenter, Larry Cohen, Don Coscarelli, Joe Dante, Guillermo del Toro, Stuart Gordon, Tobe Hooper, John Landis, William Malone, and Garris himself. The first season finale episode, ‘Imprint’ directed by Takashi Miike, was not broadcast by Showtime due to concerns over its content. Garris even called it one of the most distrubing films he’d ever seen. The episode was made available in the Season 1 DVD set. After Showtime cancelled the series, Lionsgate began funding what was to be a third season. NBC picked up the show but it was renamed Fear Itself, which had the same premise as Masters of Horror.
But Can They Sing? featured celebrities in an American Idol-style singing competition. The star contestants were Joe Pantoliano, Michael Copon, Larry Holmes, Morgan Fairchild, Bai Ling, Antonio Sabato Jr., Myrka Dellanos, Kim Alexis, and Carmine Gotti-Agnello. Copon was the eventual winner.
2015
Renaissance Pictures
- October 26 – Black Ink Crew: Chicago (VH1, Seven seasons, 110 episodes)
- October 26 – Supergirl (CBS/The CW, Six seasons, 126 episodes)
- October 27 – Wicked City (ABC, One season, 8 episodes, 5 unaired)
- October 30 – Popples (Netflix, Three seasons, 26 episodes)
- October 31 – Ash vs Evil Dead (Starz, Three seasons, 30 episodes)
Ryan Henry, Phor Brumfield, Dom Brumfield and Ashley Brumfield were the only four cast members of Black Ink Crew: Chicago to appear in all seven seasons.
Supergirl was cancelled by CBS after its first season and was transferred to The CW, retroactively incorporated into that network’s ‘Arrowverse’ and definitively linked with the rest of the franchise in the fifth season. Early titles for the show were Super and Girl. Series co-cretor Greg Berlanti cited Ginger Rogers as an inspiration for the character’s portrayal. When the show moved to The CW, production shifted from Los Angeles to Vancouver which reduced Calista Flockhart’s involvement as Cat Grant, as her contract stipulated the series had to be produced in Los Angeles. Flockhart made a few guest appearances in Sesaons 2, 3 and 6. Claire Holt and Gemma Atkinson were under consideration for the role of Supergirl before Melissa Benoist was cast. The first season had a budget of about $3 million per episode, one of the highest for a new series. The move to Vancouver was an effort to cut costs. Berlanti expressed interest in placing Supergirl within The CW’s ‘Arrowverse’ franchise but the head of CBS refused to allow that, even though at the time CBS was part owner of The CW. The CW had actually passed on Supergirl as The Flash had not launched yet and the network was not ready to take on another DC Comics property. Network head Mark Pedowitz later regretted letting it go. A crossover with The Flash did happen in Episode 18 of Season 1 as Barry Allen’s character traveled through various dimensions, placing Supergirl on an alternate Earth in the Arrow and The Flash multiverse, referred to as Earth-38 (or ‘Earth-CBS’ by one of Arrow’s creators). Supergirl then appeared in the ‘Invasion!’ crossover event with The Flash, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow in the show’s second season after the move to The CW. Supergirl and The Flash also had a musical episode crossover. A two-night four-way crossover, ‘Crisis on Earth-X’, with Supergirl, Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow aired November 27-28, 2017. A three-part crossover in December 2018 introduced Batwoman and Gotham City to the ‘Arrowverse’, and the five-part crossover ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ was broadcast in December 2019 with Supergirl opening the event. At the end a new Earth-Prime was created where all of the CW series exist together. Supergirl spun off Superman & Lois but after a planned first season crossover with Supergirl was cancelled due to COVID restrictions at the time, Superman & Lois was retconned in the Season 2 finale as existing in its own universe with no narrative ties to Supergirl or the ‘Arrowverse’.
ABC cancelled Wicked City after airing the third episode and removed the series from the schedule, stopping production after the eighth episode. Ten episodes were originally ordered. The remaining episodes were dropped on Hulu on December 22, 2015, with the finale released on December 30. The show was conceived to be an anthology series with new characters and plots each season, with the title L.A. Crime. The show was slated to premiere mid-season during the 2015-2016 television season but was pushed up to October following the failure of Of Kings and Prophets. Adam Rothenberg had been cast as Detective Jack Roth, but left the project due to the renewal of Ripper Street. Jeremy Sisto took over the role. Darrell Britt-Gibson and Holley Fain had been cast as Diver Hawkes and Allison Roth, respectively, but were replaced with Evan Ross and Jaime Ray Newman.
Popples was an animated series based on the toy line of the same name.
Starz ordered a second season of Ash vs Evil Dead three days before the series premiered. The idea for the series came from two competing ideas for a fourth Evil Dead movie, but with no idea how to get funding for the film, Sam and Ivan Raimi instead wrote it as a TV series, which meant it had to be accessible to new viewers as well as for fans of the franchise. Star Bruce Campbell said Starz was the only outlet that would allow the show to be unrated and unrestricted. Due to legal issue with Universal Pictures, events from Army of Darkness could not be directly referenced in the first season, but the issues were resolved and the events were referenced from Season 2 onward. In July 2022, Campbell announced an animated revival of the series was in the works, but in October 2024 he revealed the proposed series was not a continuation of Ash vs Evil Dead.