Charlie Toft,
Jan 08, 2009
The concept of an orderly television season, where new shows premiere in September and failed shows are gradually replaced throughout the winter, has begun to break down in recent years. But traditionally, January has been the time when networks begin to try out replacement shows in earnest, in an attempt to salvage weak spots in their schedules. The success rate for January replacement series certainly isn't any better than for fall premieres -- after all, many of these series were deemed unsuitable for the fall schedule in the first place.
But once in a while, a show premieres in January, catches on, and lasts for years and years. It might bring innovation to a staid network lineup, spin off from an existing hit, or ride the wave of a fad. Here is my list of the top ten television series with January premiere dates, selected on the basis of longevity, popularity, and artistic influence.
10. Homicide: Life on the Street (premiered in 1993)
The Friday Night Lights of its time, in that it never attracted a major audience (due in large part to its unusual visual style), and was nearly ignored by the Emmys. But NBC kept it on the air till nearly the end of the decade. David Simon used this great cop series as the training ground for an even greater one, The Wire. Yes, there were January shows that ran longer and had greater influence, but I loved Homicide and it's my list.
9. The Jeffersons (1975)
George Jefferson was never the most subtle character, and it's hard to look at this show today without thinking that it's a '70s white liberal's idea of how black folks with money would act. Still, the core cast, led by Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford, was one of the best on TV, and the image of an African-American family "movin' on up" undoubtedly had a positive impact beyond the surface sitcom silliness.
8. Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1968)
There are numerous aspects of this show that have not aged well -- witness the disastrous salute to Laugh-In at the most recent Emmys. But its use of topical humor, its sexual innuendo, and its general sense of anarchy seemed pretty revolutionary on a medium that had yet to truly reflect what was going on in the wider culture, and Laugh-In spent a couple of years as the biggest phenomenon on the tube.
7. America's Funniest Home Videos (1990)
This series has run off-and-on for so many years that it outlived the very concept of "home videos." Dirt cheap to produce -- you can't get much cheaper than having volunteers creating your content -- and beloved by families in its traditional Sunday evening time slot opposite 60 Minutes, it proved once again that audiences never get tired of watching ordinary people look ridiculous.
6. King of the Hill (1997)
I tell you whut, it's easy to forget how long this has been on the air, because it's been paired with the even longer-running The Simpsons from the beginning. However, few shows in TV history have ever been as sharp in detailing everyday life as it is experienced by tens of millions of Americans. An underrated gem that just may have some life in it yet, despite the general indifference from Fox as of late.
5. Dragnet (1952)
The cop show that formed the template borrowed by dozens of others over the following generation. Jack Webb adapted his radio drama for the new medium, using sparse dialogue and presenting a realistic (for the era) look at seat-of-the-pants police work. The second generation of Dragnet, which aired in the late 1960s, is worth checking out for the unintentionally hilarious way Webb indulged his dislike of hippies and similar misguided youth.
4. Dynasty (1981)
ABC's and Aaron Spelling's attempt to copy the success of Dallas worked brilliantly for a few years, and not so well for years after that. Most of the cast was stiff and frankly unmemorable, but the hiring of Joan Collins -- remember, she wasn't there at the beginning -- was just what Dynasty needed to become the ultimate Reagan-era wallow.
3. Hill Street Blues (1981)
With its scruffy documentary-like look, audiences simply didn't know what to make of this series when it premiered. In addition, instead of having simple main plots and comical subplots that were sewn up within an hour, some Hill Street storylines would linger for weeks. This is so commonplace today that it's hard to recall that this form of storytelling did not exist on television until Steven Bochco and Co.
2. Happy Days (1974)
The series that more than any other was responsible for ABC crawling out of its traditional basement and achieving ratings dominance in the late 1970s, Happy Days started out as a gentle attempt to cash in on '50s nostalgia but quickly became a star vehicle for the once minor character of Fonzie. It also gave us the phenomenon of shark jumping, and the wonder that is Scott Baio.
1. All in the Family (1971)
It took a while to catch on. Basically a stage play brought to TV -- it was the first series filmed live before a studio audience -- All in the Family shocked many viewers by presenting a lead character, Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor), who was an outspoken bigot. Eventually, the novelty of a sitcom set in an identifiable present day and depicting the exact same arguments that millions of Americans were having in their own living rooms proved too hard to resist, and the show dominated the Nielsens for the first half of the decade.
