PBS Kids
As we move into September, the networks still haven’t launched their Fall Premiere Weeks, but a handful of new series did make their first appearances this week through the decades. The 1950s saw a long-running Western, the 1990s launched a fairly successful sitcom that has gone on to cult status, and the 2000s gave us an endearing and enduring children’s animated series that is still popular to this day. So let’s take a look and see which of this week’s new series you remember!
1950
- September 2 — Variety series Star Time premieres on the DuMont network. The series starred singer-actress Frances Langford, and featured several regulars and guest performers. The series aired Sundays at 7:00 PM and Tuesdays at 10:00 PM with each episode including a lengthy skit built around a couple known as The Bickersons, played by Langford and Lew Parker, a quarrelsome couple that first debuted on radio and transitioned to TV as an unhappy sitcom husband and wife. Music was also an integral part of the series that included Langford singing and a trio of harmonica players known as The Harmonicats. A regular musical slot called Club Goodman became a component of the show featuring the Benny Goodman Sextet playing jazz arrangements of popular songs. Teddy Wilson, one of the sextet members, was one of the first African-American performers featured as a regular cast member of a sponsored national TV series. The series had a short run, ending on February 24, 1951. Only four complete one-hour episodes exist at the UCLA Film and Television Archive, along with excerpts from a fifth. The Library of Congress has five half-hour segments including the first half-hour of the premiere episode, the opening half of another episodes and three closing half-hours featuring the Goodman Sextet and The Bickersons.
- September 5 — Western series The Cisco Kid premieres in first run syndication. Duncan Renaldo starred as the Cisco Kid, with Leo Carrillo as his jovial sidekick Pancho. The pair were technically desperados wanted for unspecified crimes, but were viewed by the poor as Robin Hood figures who helped those in need against an often corrupt law enforcement system. Westerns were popular on television in the 1950s with series aimed at adults and children. The Cisco Kid was aimed more at the younger viewers, with the moral of each episode being to stand up for the rights of the underdog. Iron Eyes Cody, known best as the ‘Crying Indian’ for a Keep America Beautiful ad campaign in the 1970s, appeared in two episodes as two different Indian Chief characters (in reality Cody was Italian-American but insisted that he was of Native American ancestry). The series, the first to be filmed in color though not seen by many viewers that way until the 1960s, aired for six seasons, producing 156 episodes. The final episode was broadcast on March 22, 1956. Collections of episodes have been released on three DVDs, but not the complete series.
1960
- No new series premiered this week in 1960.
1970
- No new series premiered this week in 1970.
1980
- No new series premiered this week in 1980.
1990
- September 1 — Sketch comedy series Haywire premieres on FOX. The series included various segments including ‘Mind Your Manners with Billy Quan’ which described etiquette for practioners of kung fu; ‘The Persuaders’, in which cast members would persuade people on the street to do zany and unusual tasks; ‘Thrillseekers’, which introduced people with boring or mundane jobs; commercial spoofs; and footage from old films or people on the street with redubbed dialog. A Bill Plympton animation would run between segments. The cast included Craig Copeland, David Hirsch, Alan Hunter (one of the original MTV VJs), John Keister, Bob Perlow and Darrell Suto. The series seems to have fallen into complete obscurity sources listing the show as running for two seasons with no episode count, while also being listed as cancelled and ending on January 1991, just four months after its debut.
- September 2 — Sitcom Parker Lewis Can’t Lose premieres on FOX. Loosely based on the hit film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which also inspired an authorized series that aired on NBC at the same time (but only lasted for 13 episodes), the series focused on Parker Lewis, a student at Santo Domingo High School, for whom nothing was impossible and whose main concern was achieving and maintaining coolness. Those efforts were often thwarted by his kid sister Shelly and principal Grace Musso. Parker was joined in his efforts by friends Jerry Steiner and Mikey Randall, and later in the series by girlfriend Annie Sloan. The series had a surreal, cartoon-like quality with clever camera angle and filming techniques — which were toned down in the final season — and often referenced movies, politics and celebrities. The cast included Corin Nemec, Billy Jayne, Troy Slaten, Melanie Chartoff, Maia Brewton, Timothy Stack, Anne Bloom, Abraham Benrubi, Taj Johnson and Jennifer Guthrie. Bloom played Parker’s mother Judy in the first season, but was replaced with Mary Ellen Trainor for Seasons 2 and 3. Trainor played Judy in the pilot. The recurring cast included Gerrit Graham, Paul Johansson, Harold Pruett and John Pinette. Though the series only aired for three seasons, it was one of the first shows to gain internet fan support, influenced future series, such as Malcolm in the Middle, Ally McBeal and Scrubs, and was referenced in songs by Fall Out Boy, SWV, Naughty by Nature, Childish Gambino and House of Pain. The series produced 73 episodes with the last airing on June 13, 1993.
- September 2 — Sitcom True Colors premieres on FOX. The premise of the series, set in Baltimore, centered on Ronald Freeman (Frankie Faison), a widowed African-American dentist who marries Ellen Davis (Stephanie Faracy), a divorced white kindergarten teacher who was also one of his patients. Ron has two sons and Ellen has a daughter. Ellen’s ex-husband Leonard (Paul Sand), who accepted her new marriage, would occasionally visit as he tried to get his life back together. For the second season, Faison was replaced with Cleavon Little. Regular cast member Nancy Walker was only able to appear in half of the season’s episodes due to treatment and compromised health from lung cancer, appearing in a motorized wheelchair for the majority of her episodes. Other changes were made to the storyline as Ron’s oldest son Terry left to attend a university not far from home, and Ellen accepted a new teaching job while also discovering her talent for painting. Young neighbor Robert, aka ‘Twist’, was introduced, attaching himself to the Freemans, stealing scenes and causing an uproar. Little’s physical appearance began to look more gaunt during the course of the season and he disclosed he was battling colorectal cancer. FOX shortened the second season episode order from 24 to 21, with the 45th and final episode airing on April 12, 1992. Walker, who continued to work on the show as long as she could, died on March 25, 1992 after production was completed on the last episode. Little died seven months later on October 22, 1992.
2000
- September 4 — Animated series Clifford the Big Red Dog premieres on PBS Kids. The series was based on the children’s book series by Norman Bridwell and was an American/British co-production. Two 15-minute shorts made up each episode with one story focusing on Clifford and his friends, while the second focused on his owner Emily Elizabeth and her friends. During scenes from the dogs’ perspective, the human voices would be replaced with barking. John Ritter was the voice of Clifford for the US broadcast, with Cree Summer, Kel Mitchell and Cam Clarke voicing the other dogs for US viewers. Human voices were provided by Grey DeLisle, Cam Clarke, Gary LeRoi Gray, Terrence C. Carson, Kath Soucie, Edie McClurg, Tony Plana and Earl Boen. The series aired for two seasons and produced 65 episodes with 130 segments. The last episode aired on February 25, 2003. After Ritter’s sudden death on September 11, 2003, less than two weeks after the premiere of Clifford’s Puppy Days, no new Clifford episodes were produced, although some of the main voice cast have reprised their roles for the Ready to Learn PBS Kids PSAs. Clifford’s Really Big Movie (2004) served as the series finale. A series reboot with Adam Sanders as the voice of Clifford launched on December 6, 2019 on Amazon Prime and PBS Kids the following day. Reruns of the original series continue to air on PBS Kids.
2010
- August 30 — Reality series Quints by Surprise premieres on TLC. The series follows now married childhood sweethearts Ethan Jones and Casey Ann Jones, whose desire to start a family was impeded by infertility. With fertility treatments, a sperm donor and intrauterine insemination, the Jones’ welcomed daughter Eliot McKenna on July 14, 2004. Hoping to conceive a younger sibling for Eliot, the couple underwent the IUI treatment for a second time and discovered they were expecting higher order multiples with six fetuses present (one failed to develop). The couple refused selective reduction and the quints were born on January 16, 2009 with over 25 members of the Seton Medical Center staff present for the birth. The Joneses first appeared in two one-hour specials on Discovery Health, Too Many Babies? and Too Many Babies: How Do They Do It, which were later aired on TLC as Quintuplet Surprise (March 16, 2010) and Quintuplet Surprise: The First 16 Months (September 13, 2010). Filming on the first full season took place in the Spring and Summer of 2010 with the family filming three to four days a week. Two additional episodes were produced: Quints by Surprise: Turning 2 (April 18, 2011) and Quints by Surprise: The 5 Turn 5 (May 18, 2014). The series ran for three seasons, producing 22 episodes with the last broadcast on November 22, 2011.
- September 5 — Reality series Mel B: It’s a Scary World premieres on Style Network. The series follows singer/actress Mel B and her blended family as they deal with her daily life as an entertainer, businesswoman, wife and mother. The show’s title is a play on Mel’s nickname when she was part of the Spice Girls. The series ran for a single season of 10 episodes.
Did you or do you watch any of these shows? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!
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