Warner Bros. Television
Passing the middle of the month of January, we’re now into the second half of the TV season that networks now refer to as ‘mid-season,’ a time to roll out new shows to replace the ones that didn’t survive between Premiere Week and Christmas. This week, a number of well-known series premiered through the decades so let’s have a look.
1959
- No new series premiered this week in 1958.
1969
- No new series premiered this week in 1958.
1979
- January 20 — Salvage 1 takes flight on ABC. The pilot movie aired to high ratings and the series began the following week. In the pilot (just titled Salvage), Jettison Scrap and Salvage Company owner Harry Broderick (Andy Griffith) wants to build a rocket to go to the moon, bring back all the junk NASA left there and sell it. Former astronaut Addison ‘Skip’ Carmichael (Joel Higgins) and fuel expert Melanie ‘Mel’ Slozar (Trish Stewart) assist him. They complete their mission and go on to further adventures in the series. Minus the pilot, Season One produced and aired 12 episodes. The show was renewed for a second season which debuted on November 4, 1979 but only three of the six produced episodes aired before ABC cancelled the series due to poor scheduling on the network’s part, putting up against WKRP in Cincinnati on CBS and Little House on the Prairie on NBC. Of note, science fiction author Isaac Asimov was a consultant for a few episodes. The show is remembered fondly by those who saw it when it aired but to date it has never received a proper home video release on any format, although two episodes were released to DVD through Sony’s manufacture-on-demand service.
- January 21 — Three says after ABC debuted its official Animal House-inspired TV series, NBC debuted its knock-off series Brothers and Sisters (not to be confused with ABC’s 2006-2011 drama of the same name), the second of three similar series to debut this year. The series starred TV stalwart William Windom as Dean Crandall, Chris Lemmon as Milos ‘Checko’ Saboicik, Jon Cutler as Larry Zipper and Randy Brooks as Ronald Holmes III. The three students live in the basement of the fraternity and cause havoc on campus rather than attend classes. As with ABC’s Delat House, the NBC series ran into problems with the network’s Standards and Practices department and was off the air after the April 6 broadcast. Adding to the show’s woes while it was on the air, co-star Mary Crosby appeared on The Hollywood Squares for a week in March, and host Peter Marshall mentioned the series as being ‘on another network’ before Crosby informed him that they were both on NBC.
- January 21 — Daily business news program Nightly Business Report makes its debut on public broadcasting channels in the US. The show was produced at WPBT in Miami until the program was purchased by CNBC which closed the Miami operations. The show still airs on PBS in the US and on CNBC Asia and CNBC Europe (Friday edition only).
- January 26 — Those good old boys The Dukes of Hazzard roll onto the TV landscape on CBS. The action-comedy series was inspired by the movie Moonrunners which shared several character names and concepts with the TV series. Both the film and show were created by Gy Waldron and Jerry Rushing. The series starred John Schneider and Tom Wopat as Bo and Luke Duke, with Catherine Bach, Denver Pyle, Sorrell Booke and James Best in supporting roles. With the show’s massive popularity for CBS — second only to Dallas in the ratings — stars Schneider and Wopat grew concerned about their salary and profits owed to them from merchandising. As the fifth season was to begin filming, neither of the stars reported for work to protest the matter. Catherine Bach, with a similar contract, also considered sitting out production but her co-stars convinced her to stay or there might not be a show to come back too. Production was delayed and Byron Cherry and Christopher Mayer were hired as Coy and Vance Duke, nephews of Uncle Jesse, come to visit while Bo and Luke were travelling the NASCAR circuit. Rating plummeted because viewers saw the pair as identical clones of the originals and weren’t happy. Warner Bros. Television quickly negotiated a new deal with Wopat and Schneider and the pair returned four episodes before the end of the fifth season. Series cretor Waldron admitted that had Bach walked as well, the series would most likely have been cancelled. The show eventually ran for seven seasons and produced a spin-off, Enos, which lasted for just 18 episodes. An animated version of the series, The Dukes, premiered during the Coy and Vance period and those characters were featured in the first season. Bo and Luke replaced them for the second season. The original cast provided the voices for their animated counterparts. Video games based on the series were released between 1984 and 2004, and two made-for-TV movies were produced in 1997 (The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!) and 2000 (The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood). A feature film was released in 2005 with Johhny Knoxville (Luke), Seann William Scott (Bo) and Jessica Simpson (Daisy), with a direct-to-video prequel in 2007 with Randy Wayne (Luke), Jonathan Bennett (Bo) and April Scott (Daisy).
- January 26 — Sitcom Turnabout premieres on NBC, based on the 1931 novel of the same name (and 1940 movie). The plot focused on a husband and wife, played by John Schuck and Sharon Gless, who envied each other’s life. Penny buys a small statue from a gypsy and before you can say Freaky Friday the pair have switched bodies, with the couple trying to adjust without anyone noticing. No one noticed and the show was cancelled after seven episodes, ending on March 30, 1979. Steven Bochco co-wrote the pilot which was directed by actor Richard Crenna. Four episodes (1, 2, 5 and 7) were combined into a TV movie titled Magic Statue.
- January 26 — NBC sitcom Hello, Larry debuts with McLean Stevenson starring as snarky radio talk show host Larry Alder. To make the character more likeable, season two focused almost exclusively on the Alder family. Larry’s daughter Diane was played by Donna Wilkes in Season One and Krista Errickson in Season Two, with daughter Ruthie played by Kim Richards in both seasons. Season One also featured Joanna Gleason as Larry’s producer Morgan, who was seen less in the second season with the shift in focus. Season Two added Ruth Brown as a neighbor, Meadowlark Lemon as himself running a local sporting goods store, and Shelly Fabares as Larry’s ex. None of the changes were enough to save the show which ended on April 29, 1980 with a total of 38 episodes. With NBC in the ratings basement at the time, the network had hoped that fans of M*A*S*H would follow Stevenson to his new show (even though he’d already had two unsuccessful series since departing that classic series). The show was seen as poorly written and unfunny and became the target of jokes in Johnny Carson’s monologue. TV Guide ranked the show at Number 12 on their ’50 Worst Shows of All Time’ list in 2002. Many have referred to the series as a spin-off of NBC’s popular Diff’rent Strokes, but the series was conceived independent of that show, with the addition of an army buddy connection between Larry and Phillip Drummond — and Drummond’s company becoming owners of the radio station — that allowed for several crossover episodes that NBC hoped would boost the popularity of Hello, Larry.
1989
- January 20 — While Angela Lansbury was still tracking down killers in Cabot Cove on CBS’ popular Murder, She Wrote, Father Dowling Mysteries premieres on NBC. The series starred Tom Bosley as a Catholic priest who solves mysteries in his Chicago parish assisted by nun Sister Stephanie (Tracy Nelson). The series was based on characters created by Ralph McInerny for a series of mystery novels, but none of the novels were ever adapted for the series of TV movie that preceded it. The TV movie that served as a series pilot first aired on November 30, 1987, but due to a writers’ strike, the series which was scheduled 1988 was delayed until January 1989. The first season on NBC consisted of nine episodes, with ABC picking up the series mid-season in 1990 for a second season of 13 episodes. Season Three was the only full season with 22 episodes, but as the series began to drift away from mysteries and tackle more theological issues (including presenting the Devil and angels as real characters within the storylines), more devout viewers took issue, as did ABC, and the series was cancelled. A total of 43 episodes and one TV movie were produced.
- January 21 — American drama Dolphn Cove premieres on CBS. The Queensland, Australia-set series centers on Micahel Larson (Frank Converse) who moves with his son and daughter to Australia to research dolphins, hoping to get a new start after his wife died. But the son hates Aussie life, the daughter hasn’t spoken since her mother died — and hates her new Aussi therapist — but her outlook changes when she realizes she can communicate with the dolphins. Unfortunately, they could not communicate with viewers and CBS pulled the plug after eight episodes.
- January 21 — Medical drama Nightingales premieres on NBC, developed from a pilot TV movie that aired in June 1988, was produced by Aaron Spelling Productions. The series follows Christine Broderick (Suzanne Pleshette, who did not appear in the movie), a supervisor of student nurses, and her five young students. The series received a critical drubbing, accused of demeaning the nursing profession by portraying the students, as one review put it, ‘as lusty bimbos.’ The Chicago Tribune noted the students ‘don’t spend much time studying…[but] do hang around in their underwear a lot.’ The American Nurses Association launched a letter-writing campaign that prompted several sponsors to withdraw advertising, and the series was cancelled after 13 episodes. Aside from Pleshette, notable cast members included Barry Newman, Susan Walters, Kristy Swanson, Roxann Dawson and Gil Gerard. Spelling tried to revive the series in syndication in 1995 under the title University Hospital. That effort lasted nine episodes.
1999
- January 21 — Police drama Turks debuts on CBS. Set in Chicago, the series centers around the Turks, an Irish-American family of police officers. Notable cast members included William Devane, David Cubitt, Michael Muhney, Ashley Crow and Paul Adelstein. The show was cancelled after 13 episodes, ending with the April 23, 1999 broadcast.
2009
- January 21 — Crime drama Lie to me* debuts on Fox. Tim Roth starred as Dr. Cal Lightman who, with his colleagues at The Lightman Group, to assist in law enforcement investigations using applied psychology. The series was inspired by the work of Paul Elkman, the world’s foremost expert on facial expressions. Jennifer Beals recurred as Lightman’s ex-wife in the first two seasons. Season One consisted of 13 episodes with Season 2 receiving a full 22 episode order. Season Three was given a 13-episode order with a premiere date set for November 10, 2010. The date was moved up to October 4 after the hasty cancellation of Lone Star. Fox cancelled the series on May 11, 2011 after three seasons and 48 episodes, the last being broadcast on January 31, 2011.
- January 24 — British animiated series Olivia (aka Welcome to the World of the Pig Olivia) premieres on Nick Jr. The series takes place in a world where everyone is a pig and focuses on Olivia and her family, and Olivia’s unique way of dealing with everyday situations. The series was based on the books by Ian Falconer, and won a silver Parents’ Choice Award for its positive storylines and characters. The series ran on Nick Jr. for 37 episodes over two seasons, ending on August 10, 2013. Reruns have been broadcast on the Universal Kids network.
- January 26 — While Fox had Lie to me*, the TNT network debuted drama series Trust Me, which focused on the advertising firm Rothman, Greene and Moore, the difficulties of securing accounts, and the characters’ personal lives. The series starred Tom Cavanagh as Connor, the brilliant but irresponsible copywriter, and Eric McCormack as Mason McGuire, the firm’s newly promoted Creative Director and straitlaced family man. The cast also included Sarah Clarke, Griffin Dunne and Monica Potter. TNT couldn’t sell the series to viewers and it was cancelled after 13 episodes, the last airing on April 7, 2009.
Do you remember any of these shows? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!
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