ABC
The first full week of August through the decades actually gave us two long-running series that continue to this day. It also gave us some not-so long running shows and one total failure from a man who was the king of television sitcoms in the 1970s, Mr. Norman Lear. Let’s take a look and see if you remember his notable flop and the other series that debuted this week.
1959
- No new series premiered this week in 1959.
1969
- No new series premiered this week in 1969.
1979
- August 8 – Norman Lear sitcom Hanging In debuts on CBS. The series has an interesting trajectory, as it was originally born out of Lear’s attempt to freshen up Maude by making the title character a congresswoman and moving the series to Washington DC. But star Bea Arthur decided to quit the show after two episodes. Lear believed in the project, replaced Maude with a Black character played by John Amos in a show titled Onward and Upward. Creative differences arose between Amos and the producers and he bowed out, replaced by Cleavon Little and the show was retitled Mr. Dooley, then Mr. Dugan. The show was scheduled to premiere March 11, 1979 and heavily promoted by CBS but a special screening for the Congressional Black Caucus was a disaster and CBS and Lear pulled the plug before the series aired. Lear reworked the concept again into Hanging In which featured former Maude star Bill Macy as Lou Harper, a former pro football star who becomes president of the fictional Braddock University. Most of the supporting cast from Mr. Dugan and its other incarnations appeared in the new show, including Barbara Rhodes, Dennis Burkley, Nedra Volz and Darian Mathias. While the show made it to the air, it only lasted four episodes, ending on August 29 ahead of the new Fall season.
1989
- No new series premiered this week in 1989.
1999
- August 9 — Documentary series Independent Lens debuts on PBS. The weekly series, now approaching its 18th season, presents documentaries made by independent filmmakers. The series has won six Primetime Emmy Awards and 20 of the films have won News & Documentary Emmy Awards. Four films won in 2017 alone: ‘The Armor of Light’, ‘(T)error’, ‘Best of Enemies’ and ‘In Football We Trust’. Seven films have also been nominated for Academy Awards in the Best Documentary category including ‘Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room’, ‘The Weather Underground’ and ‘I Am Not Your Negro’. Documentaries from the series have also received Peabody and Sundance Film Festival Awards. Hosts for past season of the series include Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Edi Falco, Terrence Howard, Maggie Gyllenhaal, America Ferrera, Marie-Louise Parker and Stanley Tucci (who hosted for two seasons from 2012-2014). To date, more than 400 films have been produced for the series.
2009
- August 5 — Reality series Giuliana and Bill premieres on the Style Network. The series focused on E! News and Fashion Police host Giiuliana Rancic and her husband Bill, entrepreneur and first winner of The Apprentice. The series followed the daily lives of the couple who met when Giuliana was interviewing Bill for an E! News segment. The couple married on September 1, 2007. The show’s first six seasons aired on the Style Network and when that was shuttered it moved to corporate sibling E! for the seventh season. By the end of the sixth season, the show was the highest rated program on Style, but after the show’s 7th season finale on June 3, 2014, E! released a statement that the show was no longer on the network’s current schedule. In all, 79 episodes were produced and aired.
- August 9 — Business reality series Shark Tank premieres on ABC. Based on the UK series Dragon’s Den, the show features aspiring entrepreneurs making pitches to a panel of investors who then choose whether to invest in the company as a business partner. Some products featured on the show have gone on to see some success, even when a deal isn’t made. Many of the products are already in production and simply appearing on the show has given them a financial boost. Many of the deals, however, are never enacted due to a vetting process that comes following the deal — including product testing and the entrepreneur’s personal and business finances — and in some cases the entrepreneurs have backed out admitting they only appeared on the show for publicity. The shows’s resident ‘sharks’ for 11 seasons include Kevin O’Leary, Barbara Corcoran, Daymond John and Robert Herjavec. Mark Cuban joined the series starting with its third season replacing Kevin Harrington, and Lori Greiner joined as a regular in Season 4. Guest sharks have included Jeff Foxworthy, Steve Tisch, Ashton Kutcher, Richard Branson, Alex Rodriguez, Bethenny Frankel and Charles Barkley. Over ten seasons, the series has produced 222 episodes and an 11th season is scheduled to air in the Fall of 2019.
Did you or do you watch any of these show? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!
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