TV by the Decade :: August 23•29

Paramount Television

As the summer winds down and the new Fall season is poised to premiere — which is something that will look very different this year — the networks added a handful of new shows to their schedules to fill some time and hopefully find a hit to replace anything that failed after the Fall launch. Unfortunately, nothing that debuted this week lasted more than a year — the majority of them only made it to 13 episodes — and you’d be hard-pressed to find any of these shows on any home video formats. So let’s test your memories to see if you remember any of the shows that premiered between August 23 and August 30 through the decades.

1950

No new series premiered this week in 1950.

1960

No new series premiered this week in 1960.

1970

No new series premiered this week in 1970.

1980

August 24 — Reality series Those Amazing Animals premieres on ABC. A spin-off of That’s Incredible, the series, hosted by Burgess Meredith, Priscilla Presley and Jim Stafford, showcased animals and their extraordinary lives. Also appearing on the show were Jacques-Yves Coustear, Ron & Valerie Taylor, and Joan Embry from the San Diego Zoo. The series aired Sunday nights until August 23, 1981.

1990

August 23 — Sitcom Ferris Bueller premieres on NBC. Based on the hit film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, the series was not a continuation of the film, but set up to portray the ‘real life’ situations upon which the film was based. In the show’s first — and it turns out only — meta moment, star Charlie Schlatter comments on his displeasure of Matthew Broderick’s performance of him in the movie and destroys a cardboard cutout of him with a chainsaw. No further references were made to the movie after this. Instead, the series focused on Bueller’s high school experiences with his friends Cameron, Sloan, and sister Jeannie (Jennifer Aniston). The show’s location was moved from Chicago to Santa Monica, CA, Bueller’s parents’ names were changed from Katie and Tom to Barbara and Bob. Also, Ferris is a junior and Jeannie a senior, which is the opposite of the film. The main cast included Schaltter, Aniston, Richard Riehle, Sam Freed, Ami Dolenz, Brandon Douglas, Judith Kahan and Cristine Rose. Jane Lynch guested on an episode as Mrs. Tenser. While the series was produced by Paramount Television (the movie was from Paramount Pictures), the film’s producer John Hughes had no involvement. The series was cancelled after its first 12 episodes were broadcast, the last on December 16, 1990. NBC finally aired the 13th and final episode on August 11, 1991. The series started off with strong ratings, but comparisons to the movie and the popularity of FOX’s knockoff series Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, which debuted in September 1990 and lasted for three seasons, doomed the official adaptation.
August 27 — Saturday morning comedy series Guys Next Door premieres on NBC. The series featured a boy band that performed comedy sketches and spoofs, sort of a cross between New Kids on the Block and The Monkees. The group was comprised of Patrick J. Dancy, Eddie Garcia, Bobby Leslie, Damon Sharpe and Chris Wolf, and was signed to SBK/EMI records, producing a single album and a Billboard Hot 100 single ‘I’ve Been Waiting for You’. Wolf and Leslie dropped out of the public eye after the show ended. Dancy and Garcia are still acting, and Sharpe is now a music producer and songwriter who has worked with Jennifer Lopez, Kylie Minogue, Kelly Rowland and Big Time Rush. While the show lasted just a single season with 13 episodes, there are still several fan sites online and most of the group’s music videos are on YouTube. The final episode aired on February 16, 1991.

2000

August 26 — Animated series Generation O! premieres on Kids’ WB. Originally titled ‘Molly O!’, the series focused on Molly O, and 8-year-old rock star and lead singer of the band ‘Generation O!’, bassist Nub (a human), guitarist Eddie (Molly’s cousin, also a human), drummer Yo-Yo (a kangaroo), and manager Colonel Bob. Also featured are Molly’s best friend Chad and pesky little brother Buzz. The alt-rock band Letters to Cleo wrote the show’s theme song and performed the music. Most of the episodes were written by The Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins. Every episode featured at least one song and music video related to the episode’s plot. Only 13 episodes were produced, with the last airing on March 23, 2001. A few episodes were released on VHS in 2001 but the series has never been released on DVD.
August 26 — Drama series In a Heartbeat premieres on Disney Channel (Family Channel in Canada). The series, based on a real life EMT squad in Darien, CT whose staff consists of high school students, follows the lives of teenagers volunteering as part-time EMTs while attending school and trying to maintain a normal teenage life. The team is made up of football player Hank Beecham (Danso Gordon), cheerleader Val Lanier (Reagan Pasternak), football player Tyler Connell (Shawn Ashmore), who is also Hank’s best friend, and Jamie Waite (Christopher Ralph), who joins the team as part of a program to help troubled teens. Val’s 12-year-old sister Brooke (Lauren Collins) also volunteers with the squad after school, managing the paperwork. The series was a Canadian-American co-production with Variety giving the series a favorable review, saying the characters were as appealing as any on The WB but ‘a heck of a lot smarter’. The reviews, however, didn’t help the show which ran for just a single season of 20 episodes, the last broadcast on March 25, 2001.