Last week was the Emmys. This week, a new season begins. The 2022–23 television season—well, certainly for the broadcast networks—will start on the same date as this blog topic. (A given week runs Monday through the following Sunday. That is, for the network television with its week-to-week schedule as well as the ratings, advertisements, and such.) And I will admit: I have not made a point to look into the newbies for this now-official 2022–23 season to see what I may want to check out. I am not being generally dismissive. I am simply, by comparison to when I was younger, not making a point to keep up. However, I am reminded, here in 2022, that the start of this new 2022–23 television season is coincidentally timed with numerous milestone anniversaries of past series—many which I appreciated—for when they premiered. The following are: videos, from my YouTube page (set to Public), for each listed series’s main-theme music and credits; and some notable information on listed productions (key cast members, particularly with series leads, and their premiere dates). When considering this, it can feel amazing (note the coincidental date of 09.16.1972) that all this time has passed.
50 Years | 1972–73 Season
• The Bob Newhart Show (CBS), the fresh comedy about working spouses—one a psychiatrist who has colorful patients—who do not have children but keep plenty of company; starring Bob Newhart and Suzanne Pleshette (who who received two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series); series premiered 09.16.1972
• Bridget Loves Bernie (CBS), the No. 5 season-ranked among all 1972–73 series; it was created by Oscar- and Tony-nominated playwright Bernard Slade (Same Time Next Year); it was canceled after its first season (due to its controversy of the mixed backgrounds of its lead characters in a romantic comedy); starring pre-marrieds David Birney and Meredith Baxter (its only surviving cast member); 09.16.1972
• The Julie Andrews Hour (ABC), acclaimed variety series (and the winner of the 1972–73 Emmy in that category); starring the 1964 Best Actress Oscar winning star of Mary Poppins; 09.13.1972
• Kung Fu (ABC), the Emmy winner for directing in drama and multi-nominated series, set in the American Old West; it starred an Emmy-nominated David Carradine; its pilot [movie] was broadcast 02.22.1972 and its series premiered 10.14.1972
• M*A*S*H (CBS), starring Emmy-winning Alan Alda (with co-lead roles played by Wayne Rogers, in its first three seasons and, with the rest of its eleven seasons, Mike Farrell); developed by Larry Gelbart (from Robert Altman’s Oscar-winning 1970 film to a multi-Emmy-winning small-screen sitcom awarded Outstanding Comedy Series in 1974); series premiered 09.17.1972
• Maude (CBS), created by Norman Lear and Bud York; starring the 1966 Tony-winning costar of the musical Mame, Beatrice Arthur (who won the 1977 Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series), and Bill Macy; following the top character’s introduction on All in the Family (“Cousin Maude’s Visit,” 12.11.1971, with backdoor pilot episode “Maude,” 03.11.1972); series premiered 09.12.1972
• The Rookies (ABC, which was rebooted to its current version in 2018), with Georg Stanford Brown (future Emmy-winning director for CBS’s Cagney & Lacey which starred his then-wife, and Emmy winner, Tyne Daly), Sam Melville, and Michael Ontkean (who would leave after two seasons and be replaced by Bruce Fairbairn); costarring was pre-Charlie’s Angels’s Kate Jackson (who reunited with Ontkean in 1982’s controversial film Making Love); as a pilot [movie] 03.07.1972 and with its series premiere 09.11.1972
• The Streets of San Francisco (ABC), from well-recognized Quinn Martin Productions; a multi-Emmy-nominated detective drama—filmed on location (according to series title)—starring Oscar and Emmy winner and 27th president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Karl Malden; backed in support by future Oscar and Emmy winner Michael Douglas (who departed the series in its final season and was replaced by a pre-Battlestar Gallactica Richard Hatch); 09.16.1972
• The Waltons (CBS), the historical drama created by Earl Hammer Jr., set in rural Virginia during the Great Depression and World War II periods; starring Richard Thomas, Ralph Waite, and Michael Learned—and costarring Oscar nominee Ellen Corby and Will Geer (both having won Emmys for the series)—following the Emmy-nominated TV film The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, 12.19.1971. It was the big Emmy winner for its debut season (Outstanding Drama Series and Lead acting wins for Thomas and eventual four-time winner Learned). Series premiered 09.14.1972
(Above is video from the first episode of ABC’s The Julie Andrews Hour. Prior to getting this blog topic completed and published, I had not seen a YouTube video with just its theme. I could not include that with the prior videos. So, please consider this one to be a bonus.)
40 Years | 1982–83 Season
• Cheers (NBC), the comedy among friends in a Boston, Massachusetts bar owned by a former Red Sox player; with Ted Danson and Shelley Long (who left after five seasons and was replaced by Kirstie Alley for the remainder of its run); four-time Emmy winner for Outstanding Comedy Series—with a combined four Emmys for its leads—over a period of eleven seasons (and a ten-year time parallel following CBS’s M*A*S*H; they overlapped with the 1982–83 season); series premiered 09.30.1982
• Newhart (CBS), with Bob Newhart and Mary Frann; scene-stealing and Emmy-nominated supporting cast members Julia Duffy and Peter Solari joined the series in its second and third seasons; 10.25.1982
• Remington Steele (NBC), a detective series mixing drama with humor; starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan; 10.01.1982
• St. Elsewhere (NBC), the multi-Emmy-winning and unique hospital drama created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey; starring Tony and Emmy winner Ed Flanders (who left the series in its sixth and final season and was replaced by Ronny Cox), David Birney (who was written out after its first season and replaced by Norman Lloyd), and future 25th president of the Screen Actors Guild of America William Daniels; it costarred future Oscar and Tony winner Denzel Washington; 10.26.1982
30 Years | 1992–93 Season
• The Ben Stiller Show (Fox), variety series and winner of a writing Emmy (in its genre) which was canceled after 13 episodes and one season (perhaps it was ahead of its time); it featured Andy Dick, Janeane Garofalo (at which time she was also a cast member on HBO’s The Larry Sanders Show, which premiered 08.15.1992), and future Better Call Saul’s Bob Odenkirk; series premiered 09.27.1992
• Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper (ABC), with Mark Curry, Dawnn Lewis (who left the series after its first season due to change in direction and was replaced by Saundra Quarterman), and Holly Robinson [Peete]; Lewis (who cowrote the theme to NBC’s A Different World) and Robinson Peete co-sang the first season’s opening theme with then-sensation R&B group En Vogue; 09.22.1992
• Mad About You (NBC), a romantic comedy about a married couple played by Paul Reiser (who co-created the series with Danny Jacobson) and Helen Hunt; during its eight seasons, Hunt won four Lead Actress Emmys for the series and the 1997 Oscar for Best Actress in As Good As It Gets; 09.23.1992
• Picket Fences (CBS), a David E. Kelley creation and multi-Emmy-winning drama—it won the Big Three in its first season (Outstanding Drama Series, Actor, and Actress)—which was based in a fictional, low-population Wisconsin location, Rome, and addressed timely, real-world issues; starring Emmy winners Tom Skerritt and Kathy Baker; 09.18.1992
25 Years | 1997–98 Season
• Ally McBeal (Fox), a David E. Kelley creation with Calista Flockhart in the title role; a rare one-hour comedy series which won the top Emmy (in 1999) for its genre; series premiered 09.08.1997
• Brooklyn South (CBS), a collaborative effort by Steven Bochco (with numerous of his partners from ABC’s then-current NYPD Blue); with top-billed Jon Tenney (then-husband of Teri Hatcher); a 1997–98 Emmy winner for directing in drama (for its pilot episode); 09.22.1997
• Veronica’s Closet (NBC); co-created by Friends’s David Crane and Marta Kauffman; with Kirstie Alley as the owner of a lingerie company; and an opening theme performed by Jeffrey Osborne; 09.25.1997
The season’s biggest freshman hit, certainly with lasting power, and appearing last in the above related video, turned out not to be from the broadcast networks. It was Comedy Central’s outrageous animated comedy South Park, created by Tony, Grammy, and Emmy winners Trey Parker (also an Oscar-nominee for the song “Blame Canada” from its 1999 film) and Matt Stone. The series premiered 08.13.1997.
A number of these noted seasons also had standout midseason freshmen. Their debut seasons were likewise Emmy-eligible. The 1972–73 season also marked the premiere of Barnaby Jones (CBS), starring Buddy Ebsen (and costarring an Emmy-nominated Lee Meriwether), on 01.28.1973.… The 1982–83 season also marked the debuts of two acclaimed and Emmy-nominated comedies (but on for two seasons): Buffalo Bill (NBC), with Dabney Coleman and Joanna Cassidy, on 06.01.1983; and Goodnight, Beantown (CBS), which paired Bill Bixby and an Emmy-nominated Mariette Hartley, on 04.03.1983.… The 1992–93 season also marked the debuts of: Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (CBS), set in Colorado’s past and with a two-time Emmy-nominated Jane Seymour in the title role, on 01.01.1993; Homicide: Life on the Street (NBC), a police procedural which won both directing (1988 Oscar winner for Rain Man Barry Levinson) and writing Emmys for its debut season, and with an ensemble cast which included future Oscar and Emmy winner Melissa Leo and 1998 Emmy winner for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series Andre Braugher, on 01.31.1993; and MTV’s bold Beavis and Butt–Head, created by Mike Judge, with its pilot on 09.22.1992 and with its first season on 03.08.1993.… The 1997–98 season also marked the debut of Dawson’s Creek (The WB), a coming-of-age drama starring James Van Der Beek in the title role with other key roles played by Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson, and future Oscar and Tony nominee and Emmy winner Michelle Williams, on 01.20.1998.
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