CBS
Things have slowed down a bit now that we’re a month into what is normally a new TV season. Of course this year is anything but normal, but the last 70 years stuck to the script with only a handful of new series making their premieres this week. Of the week’s new shows, one scripted drama and one reality series had multiple seasons, and one daytime talk show is celebrating its tenth anniversary. The rest are largely forgotten, as is the network one show aired on, but real TV fans may remember a few of this week’s shows. Let’s take a look, and as always click on a red link to get more information about making a purchase which helps support Hotchka. You can use a specific link and purchase anything from the affiliate to show us your support.
1950
October 18 – The Most Important People
- Cast: Jimmy Carroll, Rita Carroll, Kyle MacDonnell
- Synopsis: Fifteen minute musical variety series
- Network: DuMont
- Broadcast History: One season, last episode broadcast on April 13, 1951
- Trivia: Also known as Mr. and Mrs. Carroll. The series aired Wednesdays and Fridays at 7:30 PM. The title referred to babies as the sponsor was Gerber’s Baby Food. As with most series on the DuMont Network (whose company partner was Paramount Pictures), no episodes are known to exist.
1960
- No new shows premiered this week in 1960.
1970
- No new shows premiered this week in 1970.
1980
- No new shows premiered this week in 1970.
1990
October 24 – WIOU
- Cast: John Shea, Helen Shaver, Harris Yulin, Dick Van Patten, Mariette Hartley, Kate McNeil, Phil Morris, Wallace Langham, Jayne Brook, Joe Grifasi, Robin Gammell
- Guest Cast: Eric Pierpoint, Rosie Perez, Dick Anthony Williams, Kevin Conroy, Fran Drescher, Eddie Jones, Earl Boen, Frances Fisher, Ken Foree, Anita Morris, Rita Wilson, Denise Crosby, Greg Mullavey, Cristina Raines
- Synopsis: The show is set in the news department of a fictional television station whose actual callsign is WNDY, but which is nicknamed WIOU by its staff because of the station’s perennial financial struggles.
- Network: CBS
- Broadcast History: One season, 14 episodes (1 unaired), last broadcast on March 20, 1991
2000
October 23 – Boston Public
- Cast: Chi McBride, Anthony Heald, Loretta Devine, Sharon Leal, Fyvush Finkel, Nicky Katt, Jessalyn Gilsig, Rashida Jones, Kathy Baker, Jeri Ryan, Michael Rapaport, Jon Abrahams, Joey McIntyre, Cara DeLizia, Thomas McCarthy, Joey Slotnick, Michelle Monaghan, Natalia Baron, Heavy D
- Guest Cast: Tamyra Gray, John Francis Daley, Leslie Jordan, Debbi Morgan, Sherilyn Fenn, Lyndsy Fonseca, Milo Ventimiglia, Billy Zane, Mehcad Brooks, Zachery Ty Bryan, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Kyle Howard, Lynn Whitfield, Anne Archer, Boris Kodjoe, Verne Troyer, Thomas Dekker, Courtney B. Vance, Haylie Duff, Jason Dohring, Ben Foster, Tony Todd, Stephen Macht, Shannon Woodward, Matthew Lawrence, Kevin Dunn, Majandra Delfino, Rusty Schwimmer, Kate Mara, Sean Young, Colm Feore, Camryn Manheim, Dean Norris, Denis Arndt, Helen Slater, Michael Badalucco, Michael Jai White, Nicholas D’Agosto, Whitney Houston, Taran Killam, Anthony Starke, Stacy Hogue, Seymour Cassel, Chris Evans, Harry Groener, Ashley Tisdale, Beth Littleford, Jonathan Bennett, Samm Levine, Method Man, Michael Stipe, Jane Lynch, John Rubinstein, Ronny Cox, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Mandy Patinkin, Barry Livingston, Will Arnett, Steven Culp, Taryn Manning, Leighton Meester, Christopher Cousins, Neil Flynn, Kurt Fuller, Max Greenfield, David Alan Grier, Aldis Hodge, Armin Shimerman, Amber Tamblyn, Larry Anderson, Willam Belli, Betty Garrett, Duncan Sheik, Harry Shum Jr.
- Synopsis: The series centers on Winslow High School, a fictional public high school in the Boston Public Schools district, and focuses on the work and private lives of the various teachers, students, and administrators at the school.
- Network: FOX
- Broadcast History: Four seasons, 81 episodes, last broadcast on January 20, 2004
- Trivia: The series aired Mondays after Ally McBeal for its first three seasons, then FOX moved it to the Friday ‘death slot’ in its fourth season where the series was cancelled after 13 episodes, although two more episodes were produced. Those episodes did not air until March 1 and 2, 2005 on TV One. Each episode title was a chapter number from a high school textbook. The series won a Peabody Award in 2002 for the episode ‘Chapter Thirty-Seven’. The first season episode ‘Chapter Thirteen’ crossed over with the Season 5 episode of The Practice, ‘The Day After’, a rare multi-network event. After Boston Public was cancelled, Chi McBride reprised his role of Steven Harper on a Season 1 episode of Boston Legal, a spin-off of The Practice (all three series were produced by David E. Kelley). Kathy Baker won an Emmy Award in 2001 for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.
October 23 – Scariest Places on Earth
- Cast: Linda Blair, Alan Robson, Zelda Rubinstein (narrator)
- Synopsis: Paranormal reality television series that featured reported cases of the paranormal by detailing the location’s history, and then sending an ordinary family to visit the location in a reality TV-style vigil.
- Network: Fox Family
- Broadcast History: Five seasons, 41 episodes, last broadcast on October 29, 2006
- Trivia: Haunted locations featured on the show include Alcatraz Island, the Lizzie Borden House, Eastern State Penitentiary, Lake Shawnee Amusement Park, New Jersey Pine Barrens, the Queen Mary, Thunderbird Lodge, Westminster Hall and Burying Grounds, the Catacombs of Paris, and the Colusseum. The series had been accused of fabricating some of the events depicted on the show.
October 24 – The Michael Richards Show
- Cast: Michael Richards, William Devane, Bill Cobbs, Amy Farrington, Tim Meadows
- Guest Cast: Ed Begley Jr., Gregory Itzin, Dakin Matthews, Tamlyn Tomita, Brenda Strong, Jeff Garlin, Sean Gunn
- Synopsis: The show revolved around Vic Nardozza (Richards), a lanky and clumsy private investigator working for McKay Investigative Services. Throughout the show, misunderstandings and screw-ups get in the way of the cases, but Nardozza always ends up getting the job done.
- Network: NBC
- Broadcast History: One season, 8 episodes (plus the unaired pilot), last broadcast on December 19, 2000
- Trivia: Richards wanted to differentiate the character from Kramer, the character he made famous on Seinfeld, but NBC wanted the character to share the same characteristics. In a 2015 interview, William Devane said that making the show was ‘a nightmare’.
2010
October 18 – The Talk
- Cast: Julie Chen, Sara Gilbert, Sharon Osbourne, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Leah Remini, Holly Robinson Peete, Aisha Tyler, Sheryl Underwood, Eve, Carrie Ann Inaba, Marie Osmond
- Synopsis: Daytime talk show with a female panel, similar to ABC’s The View
- Network: CBS
- Broadcast History: Eleven seasons, 2,000+ episodes to date, still in production
- Trivia: The show was developed by Sara Gilbert, one of the original panel members. While the show is broadcast live, Friday shows are taped on Thursday with the same studio audience. The series was selected to replace the soap As the World Turns which CBS cancelled in December 2009. Other contenders for the time slot included a cooking show with Emeril Lagasse; Say It Now, a talk show hosted by Valerie Bertinelli and Rove McManus; and a revamped version of the game show Pyramid hosted by Andy Richter. Kelly Osbourne became the first guest host as she filled in for her mother Sharon when she returned to the judging panel on America’s Got Talent.
October 20 – That’s Tough
- Synopsis: The show reveals the toughest high-security prisons, sniper units, little people, and bank vaults. Other examples are: the toughest dictators, armored state cars, fighting styles, street gangs, special forces, and insects.
- Network: G4
- Broadcast History: One season, 8 episodes, last broadcast on December 8, 2010
- Trivia: The show had no host, instead there was narration provided by experts on the subject of each segment of the episode. Each episode was comprised of three segments.
October 22 – Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless
- Cast: Taylor Swift, Andrea Swift, Scott Swift, Abigail Anderson, Amos Heller, Grant Mickelson, Al Wilson, Paul Sidoti, Mike Meadows, Caitlin Evanson, Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Huett, Claire Callaway, Lacey Mason, Charity Baroni
- Synopsis: The documentary miniseries follows Swift behind-the-scenes at multiple tour stops, includes home videos and personal footage, and performances of a portion of the songs on the tour setlist.
- Network: The Hub
- Broadcast History: Three episodes broadcast over three nights.
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