Jax Media
No new programs made their debuts this week until 1986, with one very short-lived comedy and two TV movies, one being a pilot that never became a series. 1996 did have a pilot TV movie on a cable channel that became a series on a broadcast network, and a now cult classic series whose pilot lost viewers during its broadcast, and lost even more before during the following three episodes before the plug was pulled. 2006 gave us an interactive game show, a kids comedy series, and a series so bizarre there is little information about it to be found. 2016 had a competition series from a former member of Destiny’s Child, a Disney prank show, a series based on a movie, a comedy series from a husband-wife team, and a sci-fi show that got shuffled off to midnight due to apathetic viewers. 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.
1956
- No new shows premiered this week in 1956.
1966
- No new shows premiered this week in 1966.
1976
- No new shows premiered this week in 1976.
1986
- April 6 – Beverly Hills Madam (NBC, TV movie)
- April 6 – Fathers and Sons (NBC, One season, 4 episodes)
- April 7 – Annihilator (NBC, TV movie)
Beverly Hills Madam, also known as Ladies of the Night, was a TV movie starring Faye Dunaway, Melody Anderson, Donna Dixon and Robin Givens. Sitcom Fathers and Sons starred former football player Merlin Olsen as a baseball coach.
Annihilator was a TV movie pilot for a potential TV series that starred Mark Lindsay Chaplin, Susan Blakely, Lisa Blount, Geoffrey Lewis, Catherine Mary Stewart and Nicole Eggert. The movie received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Makeup for a Miniseries or a Special (Michael Westmore and Zoltan Elek).
1996
Greenwalt/McNamara Productions
- April 7 – Sabrina the Teenage Witch (Showtime, TV movie)
- April 8 – Profit (FOX, One season, 8 episodes, 4 unaired)
Sabrina the Teenage Witch was the pilot for the TV series, starring Melissa Joan Hart. In the movie, Sabrina’s last name was Sawyer but was changed to Spellman for the series. The only other actor from the movie to appear in the series was Michelle Beaudoin, who played Sabrina’s friend, Marnie (in the movie) / Jenny (TV series). The movie was set in Riverdale, while the TV series was set in Westbridge. The rebooted Netflix series changed the setting to the comic book location of Greendale (which was also referenced on the Riverdale TV series). Ryan Reynolds appears in the movie as a character named Seth, on whom Sabrina has a crush and who is also dating the school queen bee Katie La More.
Profit, starring Adrian Pasdar, is now considered to have been ahead of its time with its dark themes that later became popular on TV series like The Sopranos, Mad Men and Breaking Bad. The show was perhaps too dark for network TV audiences at the time, making many viewers and affiliates uncomfortable to the point that it was cancelled after just four episodes, despite overwhelmingly positive critical reaction. Aside from low ratings — with viewers tuning out during the two-hour pilot — the cancellation was also due to caller complaints to the network, largely from the Bible Belt, objecting to Profit’s amoral character, many calling him ‘Satan in a Suit’. FOX affiliates threatened to pre-empt the show in their areas. Corporate America was also outraged that the business community was depicted so poorly. Even FOX owner Rupert Murdoch was said to have objected to the show, but Pasdar was quoted as saying it was Murdoch’s favorite TV show. Profit also lost almost all of the lead-in audience from the hit series Melrose Place, which angered that show’s creator, Aaron Spelling, especially because his show got scathing reviews while Profit‘s were so positive (Spelling, it seems, got the last laugh). Profit was the last series from Stephen J. Cannell Productions, and one of the few for which Cannell wrote no episodes. The show’s co-creator, David Greenwalt, went on to produce Angel (the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off), and wanted to bring Pasdar to the series as Jim Profit, working for the law firm of Wolfram & Hart. Pasdar had a conflicting work schedule with the NBC series Mysterious Ways, and the difficulties in securing the rights to use the character prevented the use of Profit before the end of Angel‘s five season run. Pasdar stated in 2018 that a reboot was in development by Cannell’s daughter, but nothing has surfaced since then.
2006
- April 6 – PlayMania (Game Show Network, One season, 204 episodes)
- April 9 – Just for Kicks (Nickelodeon, One season, 13 episodes)
- April 11 – At the Poocharelli’s (Nick at Nite, One season, last broadcast on May 30, 2006)
PlayMania was a live, interactive game show. It was replaced on February 20, 2007 with two separate game shows, quiznation and 100 Winners, which were known as the PlayMania Block. PlayMania was based on the UK game show, Quiznation, and that show’s host, Mel Peachey, was brought to the US as one of the hosts of PlayMania.
Kids comedy series Just for Kicks was created by Alana Sanko and developed by Whoopi Goldberg. Working titles were Head to Toe and The Power Strikers. At The Poocharelli’s follows the daily lives and misadventures of the Poocharelli family of talking dogs.
2016
Transactional Pictures
- April 5 – America’s Greatest Makers (TBS, One season, 8 episodes)
- April 5 – Chasing Destiny (BET, One season, 10 episodes)
- April 6 – Walk the Prank (Disney XD, Three seasons, 60 episodes)
- April 10 – Dice (Showtime, Two seasons, 13 episodes)
- April 10 – The Girlfriend Experience (Starz, Three seasons, 37 episodes)
- April 11 – The Detour (TBS, Four seasons, 42 episodes)
- April 11 – Hunters (Syfy, One season, 13 episodes)
America’s Greatest Makers was renewed for a second season, but was cancelled soon after casting. Chasing Destiny was a competition series to find the next superstar girl group, created by Kelly Rowland. The five winners formed the group June’s Diary.
Anthology series The Girlfriend Experience was based on Steven Soderbergh’s 2009 film of the same name, with Soderbergh serving as executive producer on the series. Riley Keough starred in the first season, with Anna Friel, Louisa Krause and Carmen Ejogo leading Season 2, and Julia Goldani Telles heading Season 3. Keough received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film.
The Detour was created by Jason Jones and Samantha Bee, with Jones starring. The series was based on the couple’s own real life experiences with family vacations.
Hunters originally aired Mondays at 10:00 PM, but due to low ratings Syfy pushed the final six episodes to midnight on Tuesdays. Each episode takes its title from a different song by the British band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Variety called the show ‘instantly forgettable’.