Dan Curtis Productions
The first full week of February through the decades yielded a handful of new programming but few hits. None of the series that premiered during this week are still on the air today. In fact, 1979 gave us what is considered one of the biggest bombs in television history. Do you remember Supertrain?
1959
- No new series premiered this week in 1959.
1969
- No new series premiered this week in 1969.
1979
- February 7 — Supertrain pulls out of the station on NBC. With ABC’s The Love Boat a ratings success, NBC wanted to compete with an anthology show of their own so they aired this one set on a nuclear-powered bullet train that was so big it had more amenities than a cruise ship, including swimming pools and shopping areas! The plots focused on the guest cast much as the seafaring counterpart, and included a regular crew, including Edward Andrews, Patrick Collins, Harrison Page, Robert Alda, Nita Talbott, Arrika Wells, William Nuckols, and Michael DeLano. After the show’s decent premiere, ratings dropped quickly and the show was pulled from its Wednesday time slot after five episodes. The show returned on Saturday, April 7th with its sixth episode, a new executive producer (Dan Curtis of Dark Shadows fame oversaw the series initially), and a slimmed-down cast that ditched everyone except Andrews, Page and Alda. The seventh episode added Joey Aresco and Ilene Graff to the regular cast, and the eighth episode added one more element: a laugh track. NBC pulled the series again on May 5, right at the start of a major ‘sweeps’ period which is not a good sign for any show. No new episodes were produced or aired, but NBC did rerun the series, minus the pilot in June with the last episode airing, again, on July 28, 1979. Supertrain was the most expensive TV series ever produced up to that time and its failure (NBC co-produced the series with Dan Curtis), plus the US boycott of the 1980 Olympics which NBC was to air, nearly bankrupted the network. Supertrain is one of the biggest flops in television history and has not been seen in any official capacity in the US except for a single airing of the pilot on the Lifetime network in 1987. Still, those who remember the series have made this one of the most requested DVD releases.(
- February 8 — Sitcom Angie premieres on ABC. The series was created by Garry Marshall, produced by Miller-Milkis Produtions, and starred Donna Pescow as the titular coffee shop waitress. Robert Hayes, who would appear in Airplane! the following year, co-starred as Angie’s boyfriend and then husband, Doris Roberts as her mom and Debralee Scott as her sister. The series drew comparisons to CBS’ popular Rhoda with the Falco family the Italian-Catholic counterpart to the Morgansterns, and Angie’s mother and sister comparable to Rhoda’s. The series was a hit during its short first season, ranking fifth for the year thanks to its Mork & Mindy lead-in. ABC moved the series to Tuesdays for season 2, placing it between Happy Days and Three’s Company but viewers lost interest once Angie and Brad married in the season premiere, losing the feisty chemistry they once had. ABC cancelled the series in its second season, with 36 episodes produced and 1 unaired. The series did turn out a hit theme song, ‘Different Worlds’, performed by Maureen McGovern (‘The Morning After’) which peaked at Number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and spent two weeks at Number 1 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart.
1989
- February 3 — Ten years after the short-lived Supertrain, NBC debuted Unsub which was equally short-lived. The series revolved around an FBI forensics team investigating serial murderers and other violent crimes. The title is the abbreviation for the ‘Unknown subject’ of an investigation. The series, from Stephen J. Cannell, starred David Soul, M. Emmett Walsh, Kent McCord, Jennifer Hetrick and Ricahrd Kind, and was cancelled after eight episodes, ending its run on April 14, 1989.
1999
- No new series premiered this week in 1959.
2009
- February 4 — Reality series Billy the Exterminator debuts on A+E. The series follows Billy Bretherton, a pest control expert with Vexcon Animal and Pest Control. Members of Breterton’s family often appeared on the series. Bretherton was known for favoring humane and natural methods of pest control, relocating captured animals if possible. He often gave technical descriptions of the pests, their environments, and any diseases associated with them. In 2012, Bretherton left Vexcon because of family issues, ending the series after six seasons. Vexcon had originally been featured on Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe, and was titled The Exterminators for its first season. The second season title change was reflected in reruns of the first season. Billy’s brother Ricky began hosting a YouTube series called Vexcon The Exterminators in 2015. In 2016, CMT Canada began airing Billy Goes North which aired in the US as the seventh season of Billy the Exterminator.
- February 6 — Sports documentary series Jockeys debuts on Animal Planet. The series focused on the professional lives of jockeys during the thirty-day Oak Tree Meet at Santa Anita Park. The show aired for two seasons, producing 19 episodes.
- February 8 — Sitcom/sketch comedy hybrid series The CollegeHumor Show premieres on MTV. The series starred nine CollegeHumor editorial staff members playing exaggerated versions of themselves in an adaptation of the Hardly Working short film series created for the CollegeHumor website. In addition to the nine writers/actors, Nick Kroll also appeared as Chuck Paulson, the CEO of CollegeHumor’s rival website GiggleBarn.biz. MTV cancelled the series after its initial six-episode first season, but the show did spin off comedy series Pranked which ran for five seasons.
- February 8 — On the same day as The CollegeHumor Show, MTV also premiered The Girls of Hedsor Hall, a reality series similar to VH1’s Charm School where 12 out of control American girls are sent to Hedsor Hall in the UK, a finishing school where they will try to become ladies (the location was actually UK events venue Hedsor House). The ‘most improved’ girl would receive the ‘Hedsor Trust’ worth $100,000. The series ran for a single eight-episode season.
- February 8 — MTV was busy on this day in 2009 as Nitro Circus made its debut. Nitro Circus is an action sport collective that still performs lives show today. The series followed founder Travis Pastrana and his friends as they traveled the world performing their intense stunts. The show originally started as a miniseries on Fuel TV in 2006 before becoming an episodic series for MTV. The series ran for two seasons, with the second season debuting on August 27, 2009. 21 episodes were produced. Nitro Circus: The Movie was released thetrically in 3D on August 8, 2012. The series also spawned reality series Nitro Circus Live which ran on MTV2 for four seasons.
- February 8 — And last but not least on MTV, Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory debuts. The series featured pro skateboarder Dyrdek in his ‘factory’, a warehouse designed for skateboarding and an office complex, as he manages two aspects of his life, professional and personal. Rob’s cousin Chris ‘Drama’ Pfaff served as his assistant. Christopher ‘Big Black’ Boykin, who co-starred with Dyrdek in MTV’s Rob & Big from 2006-2008, joined the series in season 4. Also appearing were Sterling ‘Steelo’ Brim and Chanel West Coast, both of whom would join Rob as co-hosts on Ridiculousness. MTV had announced the show’s sixth season would be the last, but then reversed that decision and renewed the series for a seventh and final season. The series ended on March 5, 2015 with 73 episodes and three specials.
- February 8 — Sitcom Sonny with a Chance debuts on the Disney Channel. The series starred Demi Lovato as Sonny Munroe, a teenager who becomes the newest cast member on her favorite show ‘So Random!’ The series was the first Disney Channel original to be shot and broadcast in high definition, and is one of three Disney series to feature a show-within-a-show concept. The series had been renewed for a third season, but Lovato’s role was in question after she checked herself into a treatment program two weeks before production was to commence. The network decided to continue the series but focus on the ‘So Random!’ aspect instead of the behind-the-scenes stories. Lovato, however, did not return so the series was rebranded So Random! and aired for a single season.
Do you remember any of these shows? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!
Share this post
