Nickelodeon
Summer is beginning to wind down and a few new series have made their premieres this week through the decades. Not many of them lasted long, but two beat the odds: a classic animated series and a still running competition series. Let’s take a look and see if you remember or watch any of these shows.
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 9 — Reality show That’s My Line premieres on CBS. Borrowing from the title of a classic Goodson-Todman CBS game show as well as taking inspiration from NBC’s Real People and ABC’s That’s Incredible, this series from Mark Goodson Productions highlighted average people with unusual occupations, but rather than being a game show in the vein of What’s My Line?, the series consisted of interviews and demonstrations. The show’s second season placed an emphasis on funny, bizarre or ridiculous occupations. The show was hosted by Bob Barker and announced by Johnny Olson, with co-hosts Suzanne Childs and Tiiu Leek, with Kerry Millerick joining in Season 2. One memorable segment featured voice artist Mel Blanc challenging an audience member to see who could do the best voice acting. The audience member turned out to be his son Noel. In another segment, magician James Randi contested the psychic abilities of James Hydrick. The series ran as a summer replacement for two seasons, ending in September 1981.
1990
- No new series premiered this week in 1990.
2000
- August 9 — Teen drama series Live Through This premieres on MTV. The series focused on the fictional band The Jackson Decker Band which was reuniting for one last comeback. Each episode had new, original music composed by Graham Nash and performed by Pat Benatar. It was the first hour-long scripted drama series to air on MTV. The cast included Matthew Carey, Tom Lock, Sarah Manninen, Jane McGregor, Jessica Welch, Bruce Dinsmore, Ron Lea, David Nerman and Jennifer Dale. The first ten Season 1 episodes aired from August – mid-November, with the last three premiering on February 22, 2001. The series was cancelled after its initial 13-episode run due to poor ratings, with the last episode broadcast on March 8, 2001.
- August 14 — Animated series Dora the Explorer premieres on Nickelodeon. The series centers around seven-year-old Dora who has a love of embarking on quests related to an activity she wants to partake of or of a place she wants to go to with her large purple backpack and monkey companion Boots. Each episode features obstacles Dora and Boots must overcome or puzzle they have to solve, with ‘assistance’ from the viewers. The episodes always end with Dora and Boots successfully reaching their destination, singing the ‘We Did It!’ song. The series is one of the longest-running shows to air on the Nick Jr. block. Since the show’s debut, Kathlees Herles, Caitlin Sanchez and Fátima Ptacek have voice Dora, with Harrison Chad, Regan Mizrahi and Koda Gursoy voicing Boots. Guest voices have included John Leguizamo, Cheech Marin, Ricardo Montalban, Esai Morales, Chita Rivera, Paul Rodriguez and Frankie Grande. Guest stars have included Johnny Weir, Hilary Duff, Jewel, Mel Brooks, Alan Cumming and Sara Ramirez. To date, 178 episodes have been produced.
- August 15 — Musical series 2gether premieres on MTV. The satirical series about the fictional boy band began as a TV movie, the first ever produced for MTV, that was broadcast without interruption on February 21, 2000. The band members were played by Evan Farmer, who would go on to host While You Were Out on HGTV, Noah Bastian, Michael Cuccione, Kevin Farley and Alex Solowitz. The cast was reunited for the series, broadcast as 2ge+her: The Series, which ended after two seasons due to low ratings and death of cast member Cuccione, who had battled cancer from the age of 9, and began experiencing respiratory issues that required the use of an oxygen tank on set. The problems increased and he missed several tapings and public appearances, then suffered injuries in a minor car accident that he was unable to fight off, entering the hospital on December 4, 2000, spending the rest of his stay on a respirator. He died on January 13, 2001 from respiratory failure eight days after his 16th birthday. The surviving members of the group hoped to reunite for a concert in Los Angeles, with proceeds to benefit the Michael Cuccione Foundation, with MTV’s blessing to produce a reunion mockumentary, but the project seems to have stalled. Bastian, Farley and Solowitz did a one-off show at the Jon Lovitz Theater in 2012. Farmer was unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts but did send a video message for the show. The group produced two albums released on February 15, 2000 and August 29, 2000. 19 episodes were produced over two seasons, but the last episode was never aired in the US (it did air in Canada and the UK). The final US episode was broadcast on March 19, 2001.
2010
- August 9 — Reality series Too Fat for 15: Fighting Back premieres on Style. The series featured stories of various overweight teenagers who are enrolled at Wellspring Academies, following their quest to lose weight. The series ran for two seasons. The first season consisted of eight episodes, while the second had 16 which was split into two eight-episode blocks. The last episode was broadcast on December 21, 2011.
- August 15 — Reality competition The Great Food Truck Race premieres on Food Network. The competition features teams of three who drive to various locations in the US in food trucks with stops in key cities to sell their food and compete in challenges. When the show launched, the prize was that the winning team got to keep their food truck and $50,000 to start their business. The truck prize has since been dropped. Depending on the length of the season, anywhere from six to nine teams have competed, some professionals, some home cooks, preparing a menu of their signature dishes while also being thrown curveballs by host Tyler Florence. including incorporating a specific ingredient into their menus, timed challenges, swapping team members, sitting a team member out for a specific time, and head-to-head competitions. Each team is given seed money to begin the first of their two-day selling period, and at the end of the episode the teams that earned the most money advance to the next episode (and the total also includes any bonus cash they received for winning a challenge). The team in last place is sent home. With teams driving their own trucks, caution is important because any accidents that occur that result in some restitution comes from the team’s till which could wipe out their day’s earnings and send them home. Most seasons take place in Spring or Summer, but there has been one winter season. The first season took teams from San Diego to New York City. Season 2 started in Las Vegas and ended in Miami. Season 3 started in Los Angeles and finished in Lubec, Maine. The first three season consisted of professional chefs and food truck owners. Beginning with Season 4, none of the teams owned their own truck. Season 4 began in Beverly Hills and ended in Washington DC. Season 5 took teams from Santa Barbara to Key West. Season 6 featured professional food truck operators once again and they traveled from Santa Monica to Chicago. Season 7 was subtitled ‘Family Face-Off’ and included at least two family members per team of three and stayed in California, for a short five-week season. Season 8’s ‘Battle of the South’ returned to novice teams and began in New Orleans with the six-week season ending in Savannah, GA. Season 9’s Wild West theme featured seven teams and hit cities in CA, NV and AZ, starting and ending in Los Angeles. Season 10 was a ‘Summer Beach Battle’ theme with nine teams starting in Myrtle Beach, SC and ending in Key West. Season 11 was the shortest season at four weeks with five teams starting in Wolfeboro, NH and ending in Newport, RI. The series’ 12th season was subtitled ‘Gold Coast’ and premiered March 26, 2020, keeping the seven teams mainly in California, starting at Santa Monica and ending in Hollywood with a Week 4 detour to Las Vegas. To date, 86 episodes have been produced.
Did you or do you watch any of these shows? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!
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