NBC
The week of the July 4th holiday in the US generally yields very little in the way of new television programming, and in fact only one of the major broadcast networks had a new series premiere this week … and it was a soap opera. The rest are cable TV shows that, with one exception, have not withstood the test of time. Let’s take a look and see if you remember any of these shows.
1959
- No new series premiered this week in 1959.
1969
- No new series premiered this week in 1969.
1979
- No new series premiered this week in 1979.
1989
- No new series premiered this week in 1999.
1999
- July 4 — Drama series The Hoop Life premieres on Showtime. The series follows the lives of a team of basketball players in the fictional United Basketball Association (UBA). The series starred Rick Peters, Mykelti Williamson, Dorian Harewood, Robert Hooks, Dan Lauria, Linda Thorson and Cirroc Lofton. The series ran for just one season of 22 episodes, and has also aired on Spike TV.
- July 5 — Daytime soap Passions premieres on NBC. The series follows the lives of the residents of the town of Harmony with several multi-cultural families at its core: the African American Russells, the Caucasian Cranes and Bennetts, and the half-Mexican half-Irish Lopez-Fitzgeralds. The series also broke from the norm and included supernatural elements courtesy of the town’s witch Tabitha Lenox and her doll-come-to-life Timmy. (Sadly, actor Josh Ryan Evans died on August 5, 2002 during a medical procedure. Timmy was intended to die and become a angel for the duration of the series and the character’s death happened to air the same day as the actor’s death. The entire storyline had to be rewritten to remove the character but a previously filmed scene with Timmy in Heaven did eventually air as a sort of coda.) Early days of the soap drew controversy with the character of Sheridan Crane (McKenzie Westmore), who was a close friend of Lady Diana. Sheridan was involved in a car accident eerily similar to Diana’s with a ‘guardian angel Diana’ urging her to fight to live. The opening episode also set up the Theresa/Ethan/Gwen love triangle that carried through to the final episode. The first three years of the series relied heavily on the supernatural with witches, warlock and doorways to Hell, but they became less frequent in the final year. In 2003, the series submitted for Emmy consideration an orangutan who played Precious, caretaker of Edna Wallace, who held an unrequited love for Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald but the nomination was turned down by the Academy. The series broke ground for daytime dramas by having the prominent character Simone Russell come out as gay and was the first daytime series to feature two women in bed making love. In 2007 another character, Chad Harris-Crane, was cheating on his wife with another man, leading to another daytime first featuring two men in bed. The character of Vincent Clarkson was also the first intersex character on daytime TV who became pregnant with his own father’s son. In 2007, NBC decided not to renew the series for a full season so it could turn the time over to an expanded Today show. Satellite TV service DirecTV picked up the series, with most of the original cast staying on, and aired new episodes Monday-Thursday at 2:00 PM, with repeats lated in the day. DirecTV’s The 101 channel also produced a weekly live talk show on Thursdays, Passions Live, that gave viewers a chance to call in and talk to the cast, making Passions the first soap to be broadcast on a major network and a subscription service, and have a live talk show. In February 2006, NBC-owned Sci-Fi Channel began airing reruns of the series but due to low ratings were pulled in May. On August 15, 2006, Passions became the first daytime drama to offer episodes for sale on iTunes, and on November 6, 2006 became the first daytime drama to offer full episodes for free streaming on NBC.com. Once the series moved to DirecTV, new episodes were no longer available on that site. DirecTV offered a monthly ‘All Access Pass’ to view new episodes on NBC.com for $19.99, which was reduced to $14.99 when the show was cut from four to three days a week. While on DirecTV, a pop-up trivia game was introduced that allowed viewers to use their remote to answer questions, making the series the first soap to have an interactive feature. On December 10, 2007, it was confirmed that DirecTV had opted not to renew the show, but ordered 52 episodes to wrap up the storylines. New episodes aired until August 7, 2008. When production wrapped on March 28, 2008 the cast was informed that efforts to sell the show to a new outlet had failed and the cancellation was final, despite the show being the highest-rated original series on The 101. Unfortunately, that did not translate to the expected number of new subscribers to DirecTV. The series ended with a total of 2,331 episodes over nine seasons.
2009
- July 1 — Docuseries Monsters Inside Me premieres on Animal Planet. Each episode of the series dramatized illnesses caused by infectious diseases, parasites or medical affliction, usually featuring a first person interview with the survivor of the infection and commentary and explanations from biologist Dan Riskin. The first two seasons focused solely on parasitic infections but from season three also included illness caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi and foreign objects. Of the 216 cases, only 12 ended with the death of the victim. Over eight seasons, the series has produced 75 episodes.
- July 3 — Softcore erotic drama Lingerie debuts on Cinemax (affectionately known as Skinemax for its library of such programming). The series centered around Lacey Summers (Jennifer Korbin), a successful fashion model who gives up her career to become a designer of lingerie. The series also starred Matthew Fitzgerald, Marcus Thomas (both played Lacey’s brother Cody), Michael Scratch, Lana Tailor, Denise Cobar, Geoff Stevens, Erin Brown, Emily McLeod, Jonathan Steen, Chris Smits and Amber Smith. The series ran for two seasons and produced 26 episodes.
- July 6 — The Great Debate premieres on VH1. The series hosted debates about pop culture and featured topics such as Worst Thing to Happen to a Penis on Film: There’s Something About Mary vs. Porky’s; Best Teen Soap: 90210 vs. The O.C.; Kanye West: Musical Genius or Tool; The Snuggie: Genius or Crap; Which are cuter: Kittens vs. Puppies. The series was introduced by boxing ring announcer Michael Buffer. Only six episodes were produced and the series ended on July 10.
- July 6 — SportsNation premieres on ESPN2. The series is based on the fan forum and poll section of ESPN.com with 60% of the show’s content generated or suggested by fans. The show aired as occasional segments on ESPN and ESPN 2 before becoming a regular fixture of ESPN’s weekday afternoon block in February 2016. The original hosts were Colin Cowherd and Michael Beadle. Beadle left in 2012 and was replaced by Charissa Thompson. Cowherd announced his departure in September 2012 to focus on his radio work and possibly because he did not want to relocate from the show’s East Coast studio when operations were moved to the West Coast. He was replaced by Marcellus Wiley. In 2013, Thompson left and was replaced by Max Kellerman. On March 3, 2014, Beadle returned to the show. In July 2016, Kellerman left to host ESPN’s First Take, replacing Skip Bayless. On February 9, 2018 Beadle left again to host a new ESPN morning show, Get Up, and was replaced by Cari Champion. In July 2018, Wiley left the show. In September 2018 as part of ESPN’s schedule realignment, High Noon was moved to the show’s 4:00 PM time slot, effectively cancelling the show. The final episode aired August 24, 2018 with 1,456 episodes under its belt.
Did you watch any of these show? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!
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