TV by the Decade :: October 11•17

HBO

Premiere season is winding down so there are fewer new series making their debuts this week. Many of those that did had very short life spans but there are a few that had multiple season runs that continue into the present, among them two classic sitcoms and a popular reality show. Let’s take a look to see which of these shows you remember or still watch, and be sure to click on a highlighted link to get more information about making a purchase to help support Hotchka!

1950

October 12 – The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show

• Cast: George Burns, Gracie Allen, Bea Benaderet, Hal March (1950–51), John Brown (1951), Fred Clark (1951–53), Larry Keating (1953–58), Rolfe Sedan, Bill Goodwin (1950–51), Harry Von Zell (1951–58), Ronnie Burns
• Guest Cast: Joseph Kearns, Howard McNear, King Donovan, Elvia Allman, Lyle Talbot, Jack Benny, Maurice Marsac, Verna Felton, William Schallert, Sheldon Leonard, Barbara Pepper, Charles Lane, Mabel Albertson, Raymond Bailey, Hayden Rorke, Jill St. John, Marvin Miller, Nestor Paiva, Bob Fosse, Jack Albertson, Ruta Lee, Herbert Rudley, Dabbs Greer, Barbara Stuart, Robert Cummings, Richard Deacon, Henry Jones, Jay Novello, Ronald Reagan, Lurene Tuttle, Marion Ross, Elinor Donahue, Steve Reeves, Jerry Hausner, Olan Soule, Carl ‘Alfalfa’ Switzer, Madge Blake, Stafford Repp, Jack Weston, Joe Flynn, José Ferrer, Parley Baer, Mel Welles, Francis X. Bushman, Mary Livingstone, Tristram Coffin, Carl Reiner, Édith Piaf, Mary Wickes
• Synopsis: The fictionalized escapades of the real-life Burns & Allen, with fictional neighbor Blanche Morton often joining Gracie in her hair-brained schemes much to the frustration of her husband Harry and the bemusement of George. Later in the series’ run, George and Gracie’s real-life son Ronnie joined as a regular.
• Network: CBS
• Broadcast History: Eight seasons, 291 episodes, last broadcast on September 15, 1958
• Trivia: The show was originally broadcast live every other Thursday until the Fall of 1952 when it became a filmed weekly series. Like Desi Arnaz did with I Love Lucy, Burns realized shooting the show on film would maximize prophets by being able to sell the series into syndication. Unlike I Love Lucy, there was no live audience, however the finished episodes were screened for an audience to generate a laugh track of genuine laughter. The interiors of the house on the show were designed to look like the real home of Burns and Allen. An establishing shot of the exterior of their home was often used on the show. The cast remained mostly intact for the series’ entire run, however four different actors played Harry Morton. While Ronnie Burns joined the cast as a regular in 1955, he and his sister Sandra had made occasional appearances on the show prior. Sandra was offered a regular role but turned it down. Contrary to popular legend, at the end of each episode when George said, ‘Say goodnight, Gracie’, she never said, ‘Goodnight, Gracie’, just ‘Goodnight’. Allen had gotten tired of performing by 1957, but with I Love Lucy coming to an end, CBS wanted to renew the show to which George agreed for one more season. Allen announced her retirement on February 17, 1958 effective with the end of the eighth season. The last episode was filmed on June 4, 1958. Burns attempted to continue the show, retitled The George Burns Show with a move to NBC, but it lasted a single season. After suffering a major heart attack in 1961, Gracie would appear in public with George but she never performed. She died on August 27, 1964. George was working on a new sitcom at the time, Wendy & Me. All of the shows were produced under Burns’ production banner, McCadden Productions which also produced Mister Ed. Sony Pictures Television now owns the McCadden library. The show was nominated as Best Comedy Series by the Emmys for four of its eight seasons. Gracie received five Emmy nominations, and Benaderet received two.

1960

October 11 – The Bugs Bunny Show

• Voice Cast: Mel Blanc, June Foray, Stan Freberg, Hal Smith
• Synopsis: Primetime series featuring three Looney Tunes cartoons with new linking sequences.
• Network: ABC (1960–68, 1973–75, 1985–2000), CBS (1968–73, 1975–85)
• Broadcast History: Variations of the series were on the air until September 2, 2000
• Trivia: The show moved to Saturday mornings after two seasons. The show’s title, length and network changed over its four decade history. The show ended its network run after the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons became the exclusive property of Cartoon Network in 2000. The final first-run episode of The Bugs Bunny Show aired on August 7, 1962. The show had kept the Warner Bros. animation studio in business but it closed following the show’s network run. The show aired on Saturdays from August 1962 to September 1967, then moved to Sunday mornings. In 1968 the show moved to CBS and was combined with The Road Runner Show, which began in 1966, under the title The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour. The Road Runner Show moved to ABC in 1971 while The Bugs Bunny Show remained on CBS, now back to a 30 minute series. The show moved back to ABC in 1973 for two seasons, then both shows returned to CBS again in an hour format in 1975. In 1976, a 30 minute The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show aired in primetime on CBS from April through June. CBS added another 30 minutes to the Saturday morning series in 1977 with the show carrying The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show title. In 1982, the show was broadcast as two separate one-hour shows with different opening titles. The show returned to a 90-minute format in 1983, and the familiar ‘This Is It’ theme song was removed in 1984. In 1985, the show moved back to ABC under the title The Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes Comedy Hour. The show was reduced to 30 minutes the next year and retitled The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show, which then expanded to an hour in its third season with the ‘This Is It’ theme song reinstated. In 1996, ABC was bought by The Walt Disney Company and the series was the only non-Disney show in the line-up. The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show was reduced to 30 minutes again in 1999 before leaving the air in 2000.

October 12 – Peter Loves Mary

• Cast: Peter Lind Hayes, Mary Healy, Bea Benaderet, Merry Martin, Gil Smith, Alan Reed, Howard Smith, Arch Johnson
• Guest Cast: Alan Hewitt, Ronny Graham, Olan Soule, Molly Dodd, Marty Ingels, Bob Hastings, Joan Tompkins, Herb Ellis, Alvy Moore, Barney Phillips, Werner Klemperer, John McGiver, Ken Berry, Yvonne Craig, J. Pat O’Malley
• Synopsis: After 20 years as a headlining husband-and-wife nightclub act, Peter and Mary Lindsey — taking the advice of wisecracking housekeeper Wilma — move from New York City to the suburbs feeling it would be better for their children Leslie and Steve. The move leaves the Lindseys having to juggle the competing demands of show-business life in the city and family life in the suburbs.
• Network: NBC
• Broadcast History: One season, 32 episodes, last broadcast on May 31, 1961
• Trivia: Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy were married in real-life and had been performing together for over 40 years. They had also moved from New York to the suburbs with their son and daughter. The couple had previously starred together in the 1950-1951 series The Peter Lind Hayes Show.

October 14 – Harrigan and Son

• Cast: Pat O’Brien, Roger Perry, Helen Kleeb,Georgine Darcy
• Guest Cast: John Astin, Parley Baer, Raymond Bailey, Ken Berry, Victor Buono, John Carradine, Bert Convy, Eva Gabor, Gale Gordon, Gloria Grahame, Gerald Mohr, Agnes Moorehead, J. Pat O’Malley, Leo Penn, Olan Soule, Jack Weston
• Synopsis: Sitcom about a father-and-son team of lawyers. A running gimmick in the show consisted of Harrigan Sr. commenting on some situation in Latin, Harrigan Jr., replying, ‘Which means?’, and Harrigan Sr. translating his comment, usually humorous, into English.
• Network: ABC
• Broadcast History: One season, 34 episodes, last broadcast on September 29, 1961
• Trivia: 32 episodes aired until May 26, 1961 with the final two episodes broadcast on September 22 and September 29, 1961. The show was produced by Desilu Productions.

October 15 – The Roaring 20’s

• Cast: Rex Reason, Donald May, Dorothy Provine, John Dehner, Gary Vinson, Mike Road
• Guest Cast: Claude Akins, Max Baer, Jr., Parley Baer, Don ‘Red’ Barry, Eddie Bracken, Jack Carter, Shirley Knight, Roger Moore, Harry Dean Stanton, Lyle Talbot, Jesse White, Keenan Wynn
• Synopsis: The series focuses on newspaper reporters reporting on crime and gangsters for the fictitious newspaper The New York Record during the 1920s.
• Network: ABC
• Broadcast History: Two seasons, 45 episodes, last broadcast on January 20, 1962
• Trivia: A soundtrack album featuring music from the series was released in 1960. For its first season, the show was programmed against Perry Mason on CBS and Bonanza on NBC.

1970

• No new shows premiered this week in 1970.

1980

• No new shows premiered this week in 1970.

1990

• No new shows premiered this week in 1970.

2000

October 11 – A Makeover Story

• Synopsis: Reality series featuring two people each episode who get makeovers including clothes, hairstyling, and makeup.
• Network: TLC
• Broadcast History: Five seasons
• Trivia: Considered the original makeover show. It was TLC’s Number 1 daytime series during its first season. Later seasons added fashion experts as hosts including fashion consultant Dan Brickley, costume designer Alison Freer, hairstylist Moses Jones, and salon owner Gretchen Monahan.

October 11 – Bette

• Cast: Bette Midler, Kevin Dunn, Marina Malota, Joanna Gleason, James Dreyfus
• Guest Cast: Danny DeVito, George Segal, Brenda Song, Sharon Lawrence, Tim Curry, David James Elliott, Oprah Winfrey, Ashley Tisdale, Tony Danza, Dolly Parton, Olivia Newton-John, Jon Lovitz
• Synopsis: Midler played a heightened version of herself, though her character’s last name was never mentioned, with similarities to her actual career portrayed on the series. The core of the stories focused on Bette’s personal life in her luxurious Los Angeles home with her husband Roy (Dunn) and daughter Rose (Malota). Embarking with Bette on her long, wild journey around showbiz was her hardworking best friend and manager Connie Randolph (Gleason). Refined Englishman Oscar (Dreyfus) was Bette’s veteran musical director/accompanist, who had an obsession with tabloid media and was always on the lookout for new, strange exploitations of Bette.
• Network: CBS
• Broadcast History: One season, 16 episodes (2 unaired), last broadcast on March 7, 2001.
• Trivia: The pilot filmed in New York City with Lindsey Lohan as Rose. When production moved to Los Angeles, 14-year-old Lohan opted not to continue with the role due to the need to commute from her home to L.A., and Midler decided to keep the pilot as is without reshooting Lohan’s scenes. Kevin Dunn grew frustrated with his minimal role on the show and departed after Episode 12. Roy was mentioned over the next three episodes but was never seen. Robert Hays was hired and appeared in Episode 16, making a memorable first appearance. The entire cast was watching a soap opera commenting on how actors frequently change in a role, with Bette commenting that they must think viewers are stupid not to notice. She says, ‘Am I right, Roy?’ and Hays sticks his head out from the refrigerator door asking comically, ‘What’s that you said, honey?’ Hays filmed three episodes before the series was cancelled and was only seen in one episode as CBS didn’t air the final two. Despite its short run, Midler was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2001 for Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series – Comedy/Musical, and won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Female Performer in a New Television Series and the TV Guide Award for Actress of the Year in a New Series. The series was also Emmy nominated for Outstanding Art Direction for a Multi-Camera Series.

October 11 – Welcome to New York

• Cast: Jim Gaffigan, Christine Baranski, Anthony DeSando, Mary Birdsong, Sara Gilbert, Rocky Carroll
• Guest Cast:
• Synopsis: Gaffigan played a weatherman from Fort Wayne, Indiana, who then moved to New York City and worked as a meteorologist for a fictional morning news show called ‘AM New York’. Baranski played Marsha Bickner, the larger-than-life, tightly-wound producer who hired Jim, but tends to forget the details about his life – like where he moved from.
• Network: CBS
• Broadcast History: One season, 10 episodes (3 unaired), last broadcast on January 17, 2001
• Trivia: Gaffigan later said of the show, ‘I don’t think I had the maturity to take the authority I should have’, and felt the writing team would dismiss any of his ideas as he was not a contributing writer on the show. One review called the show smart, but an acquired taste.

October 15 – Curb Your Enthusiasm

• Cast: Larry David, Jeff Garlin, Cheryl Hines, Susie Essman, J. B. Smoove
• Guest Cast: Recurring – Richard Lewis, Ted Danson, Wanda Sykes, Shelley Berman, Bob Einstein, Kaitlin Olson, Vivica A. Fox. As themselves: Mary Steenburgen, Lin-Manuel Miranda, F. Murray Abraham, Mel Brooks, Anne Bancroft, Michael York, Martin Scorsese, Ben Stiller, Christine Taylor, Christian Slater, Martin Short, Jimmy Kimmel, Lucy Lawless, David Schwimmer, Shaquille O’Neal, Laverne Cox, Rosie O’Donnell, Philip Rosenthal, Josh Mankiewicz, Ricky Gervais, Michael J. Fox, Salman Rushdie, Elizabeth Banks, Christine Lahti, Hugh Hefner, Alanis Morissette, Bill Buckner, Mookie Wilson, Jon Hamm, Clive Owen, Sean Penn, Jonah Hill, Mila Kunis, Colby Donaldson, Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, Michael Richards, and Wayne Knight. As characters: Bea Arthur, Ed Asner, Sacha Baron Cohen, Isla Fisher, Stephen Colbert, Steve Coogan, Gina Gershon, Dustin Hoffman, Bobby Lee, Samantha Mathis, Tim Meadows, Bryan Cranston, Bob Odenkirk, Catherine O’Hara, Elisabeth Shue, Melissa McCarthy, Jane Krakowski, Chaz Bono, Vince Vaughn and Frank Whaley.
• Synopsis: The series follows a fictionalized version of Larry David in his life as a semi-retired television writer and producer in Los Angeles and, for one season, New York City. Episode plots and sub-plots are established in a written outline with dialogue largely improvised by the actors.
• Network: HBO
• Broadcast History: Ten seasons and 100 episodes to date, the series was renewed for an eleventh season in June 2020
• Trivia: The series was developed from a 1999 one-hour special, Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm. The first eight seasons were broadcast between 2000 and 2011, with a six year hiatus before the ninth season in 2017. Season 10 aired in 2020. Like Seinfeld, which David co-created, episodes are named after an event, object, or person that figures prominently in the plot. The series to date has received 47 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning twice. The series has nine nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series and holds the record for most nominations in the category without a win. David has six nominations as Best Actor in a Comedy Series. The show did win the Golden Globe for Best Series – Musical or Comedy in 2003.

2010

October 11 – Pictureka!

• Host: Cory Almeida
• Synopsis: The wild & wacky game of hide & seek which is based on the board game of the same name.
• Network: The Hub
• Broadcast History: One season, last broadcast on January 17, 2011
• Trivia: The board game was based on Where’s Waldo? The theme song was performed by The Aquabots.

October 12 – Nick Swardson’s Pretend Time

• Cast: Nick Swardson
• Guest Cast: Natasha Leggero, Ryan Phillippe, Finesse Mitchell, Nick Kroll, Paul F. Tompkins, Katrina Bowden, Adam Scott, Kerri Kenney, Horatio Sanz, Matt Walsh, Bob Odenkirk, Paul Scheer, Harland Williams, Richard Riehle, Laura Kightlinger, Owen Benjamin
• Synopsis: Comedy sketch show featuring Swardson’s stand-up act at a comedy club with several sketches.
• Network: Comedy Central
• Broadcast History: Two seasons, 14 episodes, last broadcast on November 16, 2011
• Trivia: Each episode’s title came from one of Swardson’s favorite lines from the show. The show was produced by Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions, and Horatio Sanz was one of the producers.

October 14 – The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

• Cast: Taylor Armstrong, Camille Grammer, Adrienne Maloof, Kim Richards, Kyle Richards, Lisa Vanderpump, Brandi Glanville, Yolanda Hadid, Carlton Gebbia, Joyce Giraud de Ohoven, Eileen Davidson, Lisa Rinna, Kathryn Edwards, Erika Girardi, Dorit Kemsley, Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave, Denise Richards, Garcelle Beauvais
• Synopsis: Reality series that focuses on the personal and professional lives of several women residing in Beverly Hills, California.
• Network: Bravo
• Broadcast History: Ten seasons and 220 episodes to date.
• Trivia: The show is the sixth installment in the Real Housewives franchise. The show launched the spin-off Vanderpump Rules. Lady Gaga’s music video ‘G.U.Y.’ features cast members from the series. A screen grab from the Season 2 episode ‘Malibu Beach Party from Hell’ began trending on social media as the ‘woman yelling at cat’ meme, featuring Taylor Armstrong and Kyle Richards next to a picture of a cat at a dinner table.

October 15 – The Adventures of Chuck and Friends

• Voice Cast: Stacey DePass, Fabrizio Fillipo, Darren Frost, Gabriel Giammaria, Gabriel Giuliani, Lauren Holly, Lyon Smith, Joanne Vannicola, Dale Yim, Laurie Elliot, Jeremy Harris, Sam Barringer
• Synopsis: Chuck is a dump truck him and his freinds have fun together and with the world famous monster truck rally.
• Network: The Hub
• Broadcast History: Two seasons, 39 episodes (78 segments), last broadcast on January 9, 2012
• Trivia: Also known as The Adventures of Chuck & Friends, Chuck and Friends, or simply Chuck & Friends

October 15 – School Pride

• Cast: Jacob Soboroff, Kym Whitley, Susie Castillo, Tom Stroup
• Synopsis: Each week, cameras follow teachers, students and community members as they perform renovations on an ailing school, which will occur over a seven-day period (ten days for the first episode). A group of community organizers and personalities serve to motivate the volunteers and lead the community through the makeover process. Cameras will revisit the school a few months after the renovation to see how the community has been affected by the changes.
• Network: NBC
• Broadcast History: One season, 7 episodes, last broadcast on November 26, 2010
• Trivia: The series was based on the successful rehabilitation of Carver Elementary in Compton, California. Cheryl Hines, an executive producer on the show, volunteered for that renovation. Each school received approximately $2 million in upgrades and repairs. Executive producer Denise Cramsey died of a brain aneurysm on November 23, 2010, and the November 26 episode was dedicated to her and was the series finale. The series was criticised for appearing to be scripted and too contrived.

October 16 – Tower Prep

• Cast: Drew Van Acker, Ryan Pinkston, Elise Gatien, Dyana Liu, Ted Whittall, Dan Payne, Richard Steinmetz, Karin Konoval, Alek Diakun
• Guest Cast: Calum Worthy, Michael Shanks, Richard Steinmetz
• Synopsis: Tower Prep is an exclusive school for people with special abilities. None of the students know where they are or how they had arrived there, and there’s no escape.
• Network: Cartoon Network
• Broadcast History: One season, 13 episodes, last broadcast on December 28, 2010
• Trivia: The series was promoted with vlogs from the four main characters. To promote the premiere, Cartoon Network gave away 1,000 iPod Touch devices that resembled the PDA devices from the show. Cartoon Network never gave series creator Paul Dini an answer as to why the series was cancelled, but he speculated that a rise in female viewership over the network’s young male target was the reason. Dini and the network had originally planned on a five season run. The series received critical acclaim from critics and audiences in that it appealed to children and adults and was a step in the right direction for live-action programming on the network.