Sony Pictures Television
Here we are at a bit of a lull for new series premieres, stuck in that place between the Fall and Midseason premieres, where anything new usually signaled an early cancellation of a new series that did not live up to expectations. 1958 and 1968 had no new premieres for this week but there were others, mostly forgotten, that did have brief runs.
Let’s take a look at the debuts between 1988 and 2008 and see how many you remember.
1958
- No new series premiered this week in 1958.
1968
- No new series premiered this week in 1968.
1978
- November 2 – David Cassidy: Man Undercover premiered, a series spun-off from Cassidy’s appearance on a two-hour episode of Police Story as police officer Dan Shay, who successfully infiltrates a high school drug ring as a fellow student. Cassidy scored an Emmy nomination for his performance before reprising his role for the new series. This was Cassidy’s first series role since The Patridge Family ended four years earlier. Dee Wallace played Cassidy’s wife in the Police Story episode, but was recast with Wendy Rastatter for the series. Simon Oakland also co-starred. The series ran for just 10 episodes on NBC, cancelled on July 12, 1979.
- November 3 – One of the few success stories this week was Diff’rent Strokes which debuted on NBC. The series starred Gary Coleman, Conrad Bain, Todd Bridges and Dana Plato with Charlotte Rae as the Drummond family’s housekeeper (she was spun-off to her own series The Facts of Life midway through season two). Nedra Volz replaced Rae until the end of season 4 (although she was never considered a series regular) and Mary Jo Catlett took over in season 5 as a series regular. Dixie Carter joined the show in season 7 as the new Mrs. Drummond, but was replaced with Mary Ann Mobley when NBC cancelled the series and it moved to ABC for a brief eighth and final season. The series also became known for its ‘very special episodes’ that tackled issues such as racism, drug use, hitchhiking, kidnapping and child sexual abuse. First Lady Nancy Reagan made an appearance in an anti-drug episode to promote her ‘Just Say No’ campaign. The series ended its NBC run on May 4, 1985 after 170 episodes, and produced 19 more episodes for ABC, finally coming to an end on March 7, 1986. After the series ended, Coleman played a building code inspector on an episode of Married … with Children and uttered the phrase ‘What’chu talkin’ about, Bundy?’, and Coleman and Bain reprised their roles for the series finale of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air where Coleman got to say ‘What’chu talkin’ about, Will?’
1988
- October 29 – Long before ABC remade the classic movie, CBS produced a sitcom based on the popular movie Dirty Dancing which was a hit in the Fall of 1987. In the series, Patrick Cassidy starred as dancer Johnny and Melora Hardin played Baby. But while following the basic premise of the movie, Baby was now the daughter of resort owner Max Kellerman and was the talent director. Baby and Johnny did not have a romantic connection but their feelings grew as the series progressed. It’s unclear where the story would have gone once the summer ended as Baby was still planning to attend Mount Holyoke as in the movie. Viewers never got to find out as the show was cancelled after 11 episodes, last airing on January 21, 1989. The series also starred McLean Stevenson as Max Kellerman, and Paul Feig, better known today as the creator of Freaks and Geeks, and the director of hit films Bridesmaids, The Heat, Spy, Ghostbusters and A Simple Favor.
- November 2 – Crime drama Murphy’s Law premiered, based loosely on the Trance novels by Warren Murphy. George Segal starred as Daedelus Patrick Murphy, a recovering alcoholic who worked as an insurance-fraud investigator who often clashed with his office manager but was supported by the supervisor since his method got results. Murphy lived with his girlfriend Kimiko (Maggie Han) while attempting to reconnect with his estranged daughter. Josh Mostel co-starred. 13 episode of the series were produced but ABC pulled the plug after episode 12 which aired on March 18, 1989. The theme song was an edited version of ‘Murphy’s Law’ which appeared on the Al Jarreau album High Crime.
1998
- November 2 – The only other success story on this list, Becker premiered on this date in 1998. The comedy series starred Ted Danson (five years after the end of Cheers) as John Becker, a curmudgeony doctor with a small practice who is constantly annoyed by his patients, co-workers, friends, family … basically everyone. But he genuinely cares about his patients who remain loyal to him. Terry Farrell joined the show as Reggie after quitting Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the owner and operator of a diner where Becker hangs out. Reggie and Becker were to develop a romantic interest and at the end of season four Nancy Travis was brought in to shake that relationship up, but Becker and Reggie were destined to go on their first date as the series ended. Producers worried this would be compared to Sam and Diane on Cheers, and that concept was dropped … as was Farrell at the end of the season, much to her surprise. The series was a hit in its Monday time slot paired with Everybody Loves Raymond, but CBS wanted to find a new home for the series and moved it to lead off Sundays which led to the series falling out of the Top 50. CBS was going to cancel the series but gave it a short sixth season, moving it to Wednesdays with The King of Queens. The series ended on January 28, 2004 after 129 episodes.
2008
- October 30 – Animal Planet debut a special episode of Lost Tapes for Halloween before the official series premiere on January 6, 2009. The series was a mockumentary which presented ‘found footage’ video depicting frightening encounters with cryptozoological creatures like the Chupacabra, Bigfoot, vampires, werewolves, zombies and the Kraken. While each episode was self-contained, the third season introduced the Enigma Corporation, a private security firm that specialized in the unexplained, and employees Noel Connor and Elise Mooney. Even with this new device added to the series, there was still no effort to give the show any type of continuity, keeping each story self-standing. The series produced 34 episodes over three seasons, ending on November 9, 2010.
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!
Share this post
