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The new fall series that debuted in September are still making their marks on the TV landscape so as we move further into October, the debuts become far less frequent or memorable. However, there are a couple of shows that debuted this week through the decades so let’s see which ones you remember.
1959
- October 22 — Game show Take a Good Look debuts on ABC. Created, produced and hosted by Ernie Kovacs, the show was a spoof of the Goodson-Todman panel game shows like What’s My Line? and To Tell the Truth that were popular at the time. Here, ordinary people are presented to a panel with intentionally vague and misleading clues given as the panel attempts to guess what circumstances brought the guest to the stage. The first season regular panel included Edie Adams, Cesar Romero, Hans Conried and Ben Alexander, with guest panelists Zsa Zsa Gabor, Jane Wyatt, Mort Sahl, Jack Carson, Tony Randall, Janet Leigh, and Jim Backus. Carl Reiner appeared as a regular panelist in Season 2 but there were no other guests probably due to the fact that Season 2, with 14 episodes, was much shorter than Season 1 with 39 episodes. In all, 53 episodes were produced and aired with the last broadcast on February 9, 1961.
- October 24 — Adventure drama Mr. Lucky debuts on CBS. The series was created by Blake Edwards, a retooling of his Willie Dante character from Four Star Playhouse who was played by Dick Powell. (Howard Duff took on the role for the 1960 NBC series Dante.) The character was retooled as Lucky and played by John Vivyan, with Edwards co-writing and directing the first episode. Jack Arnold directed 15 of the 34 episodes and Henry Mancini provided the show’s theme song. The regular cast included Ross Martin, Pippa Scott and Tom Brown. In the series, Lucky is an honest, professional gambler with extraordinary luck. He and Andamo (Martin) operate a floating casino aboard a yacht anchored outside an American city port. The business brings them into contact with various criminals and people hiding from criminals, which continues even after a format change turns the casino into a restaurant (which was done under orders of the show’s sponsor, Lever Brothers, due to the 1950s quiz show scandals). Despite the show being a major hit, ending the season at Number 21, Lever Bros. decided to cancel its sponsorship and CBS was unable to find another sponsor, resulting in the show’s cancellation. Star Vivyan believed the cancellation was a favor to long-time CBS star Jack Benny to give his production company’s new series Checkmate the Saturday time slot in the Fall of 1960. Edwards attempted to revive the series several times, first following a movie adaptation of Peter Gunn. The failure of that saw a Mr. Lucky revival abandoned. Edwards and Aaron Spelling attempted a version of the character with the TV movie Casino in 1980 that went nowhere, followed by another TV revival of Peter Gunn in the late 1980s, which failed to secure a pickup which forced the studio, New World Television, to pull the plug on Mr. Lucky. 34 episodes were broadcast with the last airing on June 18, 1960.
1969
- No new series premiered this week in 1969.
1979
- No new series premiered this week in 1979.
1989
- No new series premiered this week in 1989.
1999
- October 25 — Drama series Time of Your Life debuts on FOX. The series, a spin-off of the popular Party of Five, starred Jennifer Love Hewitt as Sarah Reeves Merrin as she moved to New York City to learn more about her biological parents. The series co-starred Jennifer Garner, Pauley Perrette and Gina Ravera. The series debuted to low ratings and was put on an indefinite hiatus after the tenth episode aired on January 24, 2000. FOX aired two more episodes in June of 2000 before pulling the plug, leaving seven episodes unaired. The episodes were seen in international markets, and US viewers finally got to see the unaired episodes when the show aired in syndication on TBS with Episode 13 broadcast on March 4, 2006.
2009
- October 22 — Sketch comedy series The Jeff Dunham Show debuts on Comedy Central. The series was a showcase for Dunham and his variety of ventriloquist dummies, combining pre-taped segments and Dunham on stage with his characters in front of a live audience. Despite having higher ratings than other Comedy Central shows, the series was cancelled after its seven-episode season due to higher production costs. The last episode was broadcast on December 10, 2009.
- October 22 — Competition mini-series Ultimate Parkour Challenge debuts on MTV. The series featured six of the top parkour and freerunning competitors from around the world competing against each other in a series of themed challenges. The series was hosted by parkour enthusiast Andy Bell and freerunner Travis Wong. The series ran for two seasons, producing 12 episodes, ending on June 11, 2010.
- October 23 — Crime drama/comedy White Collar debuts on USA Network. Matt Bomer starred as Neal Caffrey, a renowned con artist, forger and thief, who is captured after a three year hunt by FBI agent Peter Burke (Tim DeKay). But with only three months left on his sentence, Caffrey escapes to look for his girlfriend Kate (Alexandra Daddario), but Burke again tracks him down and returns him to prison. Caffrey offers a deal to Burke to help apprehend dangerous, white collar criminals as part of a work-release program. Burke agrees and the two form an unconventional and testy relationship. The regular cast included Willie Garcon, Tiffani Thiessen, Marsha Thomas, Sharif Atkins, Hilarie Burton and Natalie Morales. Recurring cast members included Diahann Carroll, James Rebhorn, Treat Williams, Mark Sheppard, Judith Ivey, Noah Emmerich, Beau Bridges, Andrew McCarthy, Emily Proctor and Titus Welliver. The series ran for six seasons, producing 81 episodes, with the series concluding on December 18, 2014.
- October 26 — Reality series Police Women of Broward County debuts on TLC, the first of the network’s Police Women series. The show followed four female members of the Broward County Sheriff’s Office in Broward County, Florida as they carried out their duties at work and at home. Julie Bower, Shelunda Cooper, and Andrea Penoyer were featured on both seasons while Ana Murillo was replaced with Erika Huerta for Season 2. 24 episodes were produced with the last broadcast on February 26, 2011.
Did you or do you watch any of these show? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!
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