BVTV
Only two decades gave us new series premieres this week with some failures, some moderate hits and a couple of shows that went on to have very long runs. Let’s take a look.
1959
- No new series premiered this week in 1959.
1969
- No new series premiered this week in 1969.
1979
- No new series premiered this week in 1979.
1989
- No new series premiered this week in 1989.
1999
- August 16 — Animated series Rocket Power debuts on Nickelodeon. The series revolves around four young friends and their day-to-day adventures playing extreme sports, surfing, and getting into various situations. The series hailed from the creative team behind Nickelodeon hit Rugrats and shared the same animation style. The series ran for four seasons, ending with a TV movie titled ‘The Big Day’ on July 30, 2004. Repeats of the series aired as part of the Nick on CBS block in 2004, on Nicktoons from 2002 to 2010, and on various other Viacom-owned Nick-related channels through 2017.
- August 16 — Game show Who Wants To Be a Millionaire debuts on ABC. The popular quiz show, originally hosted by Regis Philbin, began as a summer programming stunt which aired for two weeks in a 30 minute format. The show was so popular, ABC brought it back in November in an hour-long format for another special week of broadcast (which also happened to coincide with the ratings sweeps period … no accident on ABC’s part). The show became a regular part of ABC’s schedule on January 18, 2000 where it would draw around 30 million viewers — a number unheard of in the modern TV climate. Unfortunately, ABC began to use the show to fill dead spots in its schedule, leading to overexposure and viewer fatigue. By the beginning of the 2001-2002 TV season, the show’s ratings were a fraction of what they had been the year before and by the end of the season, the show was not even in the Top 20. The primetime edition of the show was cancelled on June 27, 2002. But the series lived on in first-run syndication which began in the 2002-2003 TV season. The new version almost didn’t have a second season when CBS’ New York City affiliate planned to bump the show to make way for a new series, The Dr. Phil Show. But ABC gave the 12:30 PM timeslot back to its affiliates after the cancellation of soap Port Charles and were able to convince WABC to pick up Millionaire for a second season. It stayed in that time slot for a decade before moving to 2:00 PM. The show narrowly avoided cancellation at the end of the 2014-2015 season (and the original game play had been altered significantly by this point), but after returning to the original format and cutting the budget, the show was renewed for 2015-2016. On May 17, 2019 it was announced the show would not be returning for the 2019-2020 season. During its primetime heyday, the series inspired other networks to produce similar game shows including Greed, Twenty One and The Weakest Link.
2009
- August 16 — Reality series 2 Months 2 Million (abbreviated at 2M2MM) premieres G4. The show follows four online poker players — Dani ‘Ansky’ Stern, Jay ‘KRANTZ’ Rosenkrantz, Brian ‘flawless_victory’ Roberts and Emil ‘whitelime’ Patel — who share a house and try to collectively win $2 million in two months using their own money. Ten episodes were produced but at the end of the season they had only won $676,700 and the series was cancelled.
- August 16 — Dating reality series My Antonio premieres on VH1. The series follows actor Antonio Sabato Jr. (obviously fallen on hard times to resort to this type of show) as he searches for love. The show’s drama was spiced up with the addition of his mother, and the appearance of his ex-wife Tully Jensen as a contestant. She placed in the final three but settled for third place. Brooke Barlow, a nurse from Jackson, MS was chosen as the ‘winner’ on the season (and series) finale. The show ended after ten episodes on October 25.
- August 17 — Stop-motion animated series Glenn Martin, DDS premieres on Nick at Nite, the network’s fourth original series. The show followed the Martin family on a cross-country road trip to strengthen the family bond after Glenn accidentally burned down their house in Freeland, PA. The show originally included a laugh track, unusual for an animated series, but was removed at the request of the series’ creators. The series received negative critical reaction upon its launch (some also pointing out the use of the laugh track to sell a joke), and parents were upset by the show’s adult humor in the 8:00 PM timeslot following SpongeBob SquarePants, so the show was moved to Fridays at 10:30 PM. Despite the reviews, the series was renewed for a second season which debuted on June 11, 2010, but the series ended after 40 episodes on November 7, 2011. The voice cast included Kevin Nealon, Catherine O’Hara and Judy Greer.
- August 17 — Reality series Hoarders premieres on A&E. Each episode of the series follows one or two interventions involving a psychiatrist/psychologist, a professional organizer, or an ‘extreme cleaning specialist’, each of whom specialized in some aspect involving the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorders, anxiety disorders, and/or hoarding. Only two episodes of the first season featured a psychologist and an organizer. With the launch of Season 2, each subject was provided with both to assist them with their disorder and cleaning, with family and friends often helping with the clean up over a period of two to three days. Each episode ends with on screen text revealing the outcome of the effort and whether the subject decided to seek further assistance. The original version of the series ran for six seasons, ending on February 4, 2013. On June 2, 2014, Lifetime began re-airing the series with updates on the subjects which led to production of a seventh season, Hoarders: Family Secrets, that aired from May 28, 2015 to July 30, 2015. The show returned to A&E with a new eighth season on January 3, 2016. Update episodes continue to run between seasons under various titles. The show is currently in its tenth season.
Did you or do you watch any of these show? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!
Share this post
