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Depending on the decade, this week was either pre- or post-Thanksgiving in the US, and unlike the modern method of putting most of the new series on ice for the holiday, this was an unusually busy week for the TV networks between 1978 and 2008, with ’58 and ’68 still sitting out. Not that the series that premiered during this week through the decades made any lasting impressions outside of the 1978 offering. Do you remember any of the following series?
1958
- No new series premiered this week in 1958.
1968
- No new series premiered this week in 1968.
1978
- November 27 – The White Shadow debuts on CBS. The drama starred Ken Howard as a white, former professional basketball player who takes a job as a coach at an impoverished urban high school with a racially diverse basketball team. The series was one of the first network dramas to feature a predominantly African American ensemble cast, and dealt with social issues including STDs and sexual orientation. The show was never a mainstream hit, but it did have a devoted following and paved the way for socially relevant series such as Hill Street Blues and My So-Called Life. The series made stars of Ken Howard (the show was based on his own experience as a high school basketball star, the one white player in the starting lineup which earned him the nickname ‘The White Shadow’) and Kevin Hooks, who played one of the high schoolers. While admitation for the drama has grown over the years, CBS originally saw the series as a sitcom when the idea was first pitched to avoid dealing with the controversial material. The series ran for three seasons, producing 54 episodes, ending on March 16, 1981.
1988
- November 27 – Drama series Almost Grown makes its debut on CBS. The series starred Tim Daly and Eve Gordon as a couple whose lives are explored through three different periods of their lives. Marcia Cross and Anita Gillette were also featured. The series was well-received by critics but finding an audience against Monday Night Football on ABC and The NBC Monday Movie was tough. CBS aired just nine of the 13 produced episodes before pulling the plug on February 20, 1989.
- November 29 – CBS debuted another new drama in 1988, TV 101 which featured Sam Robards as recently divorced photojournalist Kevin Keegan who quits his job to return to his former high school to teach journalism and how to produce a TV news program instead of a traditional school newspaper. Like Almost Grown, the series suffered from some bad scheduling, going up against Who’s the Boss? and Roseanne on ABC, and Matlock on NBC. The show was cancelled after airing 13 of its 17 produced episodes, a combination of low ratings and a controversy that exploded when one of the characters became pregnant and decided to have an abortion. The show’s last episode aired on March 25, 1989.
- November 30 – Good Morning, Miss Bliss (aka Saved by the Bell: The Junior High Years) made its debut on the Disney Channel. The sitcom starred Hayley Mills as a teacher at John F. Kennedy Junior High School in Indianapolis. The series focused on the character of Miss Bliss, who was often put into difficult situations by her work and was the only person her students could turn to for help. The series also starred Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Zack Morris), Lark Voorhees (Lisa Turtle), Dustin Diamond (Screech) and Dennis Haskins (Mr. Belding), who would reprise their roles when NBC rebooted the series as Saved by the Bell in 1989. Hayley Mills was the only cast member to make it from pilot to series. Pilot cast members who did not make the cut, and were virtual unknowns at the time, included Brian Austin Green, Jaleel White and Jonathan Brandis. Oliver Clark was the pilot’s Mr. Belding. The series marked the first time a major network, NBC, produced a series for a cable outlet. Though the show ran for just a single season of 13 episodes, the series was folded into the syndication package of Saved by the Bell with the opening titles re-done to reflect the same style of the reboot, and was included in the complete series DVD set.
1998
- December 1 – Comedy Central Present makes its debut, showcasing one or a series of stand-up comics in each episode. The series ran for 15 seasons, producing 283 episodes, ending on March 25, 2011. Comedy Central replaced the series with a revamped The Half Hour, which is now a series of specials airing under the title Comedy Central Stand-Up Presents.
2008
- November 28 – A British sketch show comes to America with HBO premiering Little Britain USA with original stars Matt Lucas and David Walliams playing the majority of the characters, old and new, as they did in the UK version. Guest stars included Rosie O’Donnell, Rachel Harris, Paul Rudd, Vivica A. Fox and Sting. David Schwimmer directed studio-based segments of the show. Six episodes of the first season were produced, with Matt Lucas announcing a second season was planned for 2009, however HBO decided otherwise. According to Lucas, HBO wanted to relaunch the show with a 90-minute special, which Lucas and Walliams were reluctant to do, offering two 45-minute specials instead. The network declined the offer and the series was offically dead.
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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