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The week of March 3-9 did not offer up a lot of memorable programming, but it did still manage to produce one long-running drama, a well-regarded sitcom, and a supremely weird cartoon. Let’s take a look to see if you remember any of these additions to the TV vaults.
1959
- March 9 — Somewhat animated series Clutch Cargo premieres in syndication. The series was set around the adventures of Clutch Cargo who was sent around the world on dangerous missions, accompanied by his ward Spinner and dachshund Paddlefoot. The series was known for its very limited animations style — so limited that frames were often just stills — that did include some live action elements like footage of an actual airplane and effects like smoke. What really stood out about the series, and disturbs people to this day, is the effect of superimposing actual human lips onto the hand drawn characters, a technique called ‘Syncro-Vox’ that helped cut down on the expense of animating the characters talking. Each episode of the series was broken down into five five-minute serialized segment with the fourth ending in a cliffhanger, with the fifth concluding the adventure. Local stations could run each segment on weekdays, then combine them for a half-hour Saturday show. 52 episodes were produced and the show ran for a year.
1969
- No new series premiered this week in 1959.
1979
- March 4 — In the Fall of 1978, Mary Tyler Moore returned to CBS after her classic sitcom ended a year earlier with the variety show Mary, which the network canned after three episodes. Five months later she returned again with a variety-sitcom hybrid The Mary Tyler Moore Hour, a show-within-a-show format centered around the problems of putting a weekly variety series together. Carried over from the variety series were regulars Michael Keaton and David Letterman, who were joined by new cast members Dody Goodman, Ron Rifkin, Joyce Van Patten, Michael Lombard, Doris Roberts and Bobby Ramsen. The series was certainly not lacking in talent. Major stars also appeared as themselves, playing guests on the variety series portion of the show hosted by Moore’s character Mary McKinnon. Guests included Lucille Ball, Beatrice Arthur, Nancy Walker, Linda Lavin, Bonnie Franklin, Ken Howard, Mike Douglas, Gene Kelly, Hal Linden, Johnny Mathis, Paul Williams and Dick Van Dyke. The new series was more successful than its predecessor, airing 11 episodes before being cancelled.
1989
- March 4 — Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers makes its series debut on The Disney Channel (a preview episode aired on August 27, 1988) with a two-hour movie, Rescue Rangers: To the Rescue, which was eventually edited down to five half-hour episodes to run as part of the series. The series featured established Disney characters Chip ‘n Dale, two chipmunks who start a detective agency, Rescue Rangers, with friends Gadget, Monterey Jack and Zipper. The detectives solve crimes that are ‘too small’ for the police to handle. The gang often faced arch-villains Fat Cat, a tabby cat mob boss, and mad scientists Norton Nimnul. As with most Disney series at the time, 65 episodes were produced. The series entered national syndication on September 18, 1989, then became part of the Disney Afternoon from 1990-1993. The show moved to new cable channel Toon Disney from 1998 to 2008.
- March 7 — Sitcom Anything But Love premieres on ABC. The series starred Jamie Lee Curtis and Richard Lewis as co-workers at a Chicago-based magazine who have a mutual romantic attraction to each other, but struggle to keep their person and professional lives separate. The series aired for four seasons with Richard Frank, Sandy Faison, Bruce Kirby and Louis Giambalvo among the cast. A shake-up in Season 2 came when the fictional magazine was sold to a new publisher which resulted in a cast overhaul with Curtis, Lewis and Frank the only holdovers. Joining the series for the remained of its run were Holly Fulger and Ann Magnuson. Season 2 cast members included Joseph Maher, Billy Van Zandt and Jane Milmore, while Bruce Weitz joined for the final two seasons. While still popular, the series experienced a ratings decline in the second season. ABC renewed the series but held it until mid-season to undergo further retooling. John Ritter was signed for a three-episode arc that aired during the February sweeps period in an attempt to boost viewership. For Season 4, Curtis’ and Lewis’ characters nearly got married after a false positive pregnancy test. Ritter also returned for two episodes to try to lure Curtis’ Hannah away from Lewis’ Marty (it didn’t work, of course). The history of the series on ABC is convoluted and it’s a miracle it survived as long as it did. The show was popular in its initial Tuesday timeslot. The move to Wednesday at 9:00 but was flipped to 9:30 after two weeks when Doogie Howser, M.D. proved to be more popular. The show remained in the timeslot for its third season which didn’t come until February of 1991, but ratings remained stable enough for a fourth season renewal. ABC then made the unusual decision to create a comedy block on Wednesdays called ‘The Hump’ and moved the show to 10:00. Ratings slipped again and the show was moved back to 9:30. ABC, however, did not cancel the series. The show’s producers at 20th Century Fox Television pulled the plug assuming the network would not renew it and that it would not be profitable in first-run syndication being at least three more seasons away from the magic 100 episode number (only Season 2 was a full 22-episode season). In all, 56 episodes were produced and the series ended on June 3, 1992.
1999
- March 8 — Strange World makes its short-lived debut on ABC. The series focused on military investigations into criminal abuses of science and technology and starred Tim Guinee as Captain Paul Turner, a doctor for the US Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases. He suffers from a rare form of aplastic anemia as a result of exposure to chemical weapons during the Gulf War. USAMRIID lures him out of his sickbed with the opportunity to bring justice to others suffering from unethical uses of science and technology. Unknown to his superiors, he is given a temporary cure to his illness by a shadowy organization that may be trying to thwart the goals of USAMRIID. ABC cancelled the show atfer three episodes but the remaining ten ultimately aired on the Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) in the Spring of 2002. Show creator Howard Gordon stated that as they felt ABC was not going to support the show (and he was right) they were able to write a conclusion to the story which resolved the conflict between USAMRIID and the shadow organization in the final episode. While the series may not be remembered, the shows’s opening title sequence was added to the permanent collection of the American Institute of Graphic Arts in 1999.
2009
- March 8 — Reality series Candy Girls premieres on E!. The series was set at the Bella Agency, a talent agency that provides female models for music videos, magazine shoots and upscale parties. The first and only season consisted of eight episodes and concluded on May 3.
- March 9 — Animal Cops: Phoenix, formerly titled Animal Planet Heroes: Phoenix return to Animal Planet. The series first debuted in 2008 under its original title. The show centers around the Arizona Humane Society which is devoted to rescuing and caring for sick, injured and abused homeless animals, taking the animal on a journey to adoption. The series returned to Animal Planet for another ten episodes on February 19, 2017.
- March 9 — Crime-comedy-drama Castle premieres on ABC. The series starred Nathan Fillion as mystery novelist Richard Castle, and Stana Katic as homicide detective Kate Beckett. Castle is basically forced on Beckett who goes to great lengths to keep him out of her way. Their relationship eventually develops into a romance with the over-arching investigation into the murder of Beckett’s mother. Rumors began to swirl that there was discord on the set between Fillion and Katic, especially after Katic was unceremoniously dumped after the eighth season. Several cast members, including Fillion, had signed a one-year extension to their contract for a ninth season, but ABC ultimately cancelled the series instead, with the finale airing on May 16, 2016 after 173 episodes. The show did spawn a series of real mystery novels written by ‘Richard Castle’, a mobile game called Castle: Never Judge a Book By Its Cover was released on July 9, 2013, and a spin-off series featuring Castle’s ‘Derrick Storm’ character was announced on August 20, 2014 but has never come to fruition.
Do you remember any of these shows? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!
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