Warner Bros. Television
Another slow week for TV premieres as Fall is turning to winter and we roll toward the holiday season. There’s not a whole lot to write home about this week but there is one series that will be celebrating its 30th anniversary this year … while the newly rebooted season is currently airing on a major network.
1958
- No new series premiered this week in 1958.
1968
- No new series premiered this week in 1968.
1978
- No new series premiered this week in 1978.
1988
- November 10 – While the television and movie industry was in the midst of a strike by the Writers Guild of America, which began March 7, 1988, the networks had very few options to air new, original programming during the traditional September ‘Premiere Week’ pushing summer reruns into the Fall. As most Fall series started production in the summer months, ABC managed to keep the lights on with shows like its Mission: Impossible reboot that used scripts from the original series. As the strike ended on August 7, Hollywood was able to get back to work. Knightwatch got into production and debuted on November 10. The series revolves around the ‘Knights of the City,’ a volunteer groupset up to assist law enforcement, largely made up of ex-gang members (and modeled after the real life Guardian Angels). Benjamin Bratt starred as the leader of the group. ABC scheduled the series against The Cosby Show and A Different World on NBC and 48 Hours on CBS and it was a ratings disaster, cancelled on January 19, 1989. It probably would have been yanked sooner had there been something else ready to go but the residual effects of the strike kept it on the air for nine weeks.
- November 14 – Classic television sitcom Murphy Brown premieres and become an instant hit and a cultural touchstone, with CBS reviving the series for a 13-episode season this year. Candice Bergen stars as the titular character, an investigative journalist and anchor for the newsmagazine ‘FYI’. Murphy is surrounded with a cast of characters including Miles Silverberg, the inexperienced producer, the eternally optimistic Corky Sherwood (well, at least until her divorce), and old pros Frank Fontana and Jim Dial. A running gag on the series featured Murphy’s inability to hire and keep employed her own assistant secretary. At home, handyman Eldin Bernecky made a career out of painting Murphy’s house — and later became her baby’s nanny until actor Robert Pastorelli left the series for his own show — and after work the gang hung out at Phil’s. The series became famous for mixing fact and fiction, particularly when then Vice President Dan Quayle decided to make an example of the fictional character for deciding to have a baby out of wedlock. By the show’s seventh season, Grant Shaud had also departed and ratings were beginning to decline. Lily Tomlin was brought in as the new producer, as inexperienced as Miles was — but the character was not afraid to stand up to Murphy. The show’s tenth, and then final, season featured a season-long arc of Murphy’s battle with breast cancer which caused more controversy as Murphy used medical marijuana to relieve the side effects of chemo. The series, however, was credited with a 30% increase in the number of women getting mammograms that year. By the end, Murphy dreamed about interviewing God, played by Alan King, and Edward R. Murrow (with computer editing to insert the real Murrow into the show footage), and then returned to an empty house with Eldin appearing at the end to give the place a touch up. Bette Midler also made a cameo appearance on the first part of the series finale and reprised the character on the seventh episode of the reboot. The original ten season run produced 247 episodes and ended on May 18, 1998.
1998
- No new series premiered this week in 1998.
2008
- November 15 – Game Show Network presented a special one-off game show called Think Like a Cat which was developed by the company that makes Meow Mix cat food, so many saw the program more as an infomercial than an actual game show. Veteran game show host Chuck Woolery oversaw the competition which featured eight cats and their owners playing games and participating in cat-based trivia. The first round was an eating competition with the three cats eating the most in a specified time perioud moving on to the next round. The eliminated contestants received $1000. Round two was a Jeopardy-inspired trivia round with six CATegories, and the lowest scorer at the end of the round eliminated and winning $10,000. The final round had two cats squaring off with their owners wagering on what their cat would do in pre-recorded clips. The high scorer received $25,000 (second place got $15,000) and a chance to play for $1,000,000 with the cat and the owner needing to each select a bag. If both bags had the same symbols, they won the prize plus $100,000 to donate to their favorite animal shelter The show was universally reviled by critics, with one saying the show needed to be ‘put down’ and its only saving grace was that it ran just 30 minutes. The New York Times called it “not only one of the most embarrassing half-hours in the history of television, [but] also a significant step toward the collapse of civilized society”, adding that the games were ‘idiotic’ and the infomercial feel was its biggest problem. Despite the criticism, over 1,000,000 people combined saw the show during its five airings. There was never an other episode.
How many of these show do you remember? Do you have a favorite or memories of the series that didn’t go down in TV history? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!
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