# Dimly remembered shows on network launches **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [March 20, 2021, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dimly-remembered-shows-on-network-launches/938313 "2021-03-20T18:07:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dimly-remembered-shows-on-network-launches/938313/21 "2021-03-21T01:21:10Z")
The first program on the UPN network was _Star Trek Voyager_. The very last program shown before UPN’s merger with the WB Network was _WWE Smackdown_. The WB’s first program was _The Wayans Brothers_.Its final program was a two-hour retrospective. By the time the WB and UPN merged, the two networks’ combined primetime ratings had dropped below those for the all-Spanish Univision. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dimly-remembered-shows-on-network-launches/938313/23 "2021-03-21T01:49:49Z")
Dream On…I taped some episodes of that on VHS!..That was a kind of cute 80’s show, the HBO version had some nudity. Brian Benben played a single dad in NYC with a blase son, Wendy Malik ex-wife, was married to The Most Remarkable Man On Earth. Pretty funny. I liked the main character had reactions to events with a short little clip of an old black-and-white movie playing in his head, quite clever… Lots of guest stars, basically how many dozens of hot women could our hero bang in one lifetime? A new one every week. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dimly-remembered-shows-on-network-launches/938313/24 "2021-03-21T02:26:59Z")
Kurtwood Smith was the bad guy on **Beans Baxter**. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dimly-remembered-shows-on-network-launches/938313/25 "2021-03-21T04:26:01Z")
I liked _ **Tour of Duty** _ a lot, but it was on CBS, not a startup network. Sadly, it only ran for two seasons (and like _ **Crime Story** _ on NBC, the second was nowhere near as good as the first). KXLI out of St Cloud, MN, started up when I was in college. It had a lot of old shows like _ **Leave It to Beaver** _ and the B&W Emma Peel episodes of _ **The Avengers** _. KITN (“The Kitten That Roared”) started up around the same time out of MPS/STP. The show I remember watching most was _ **Movie Macabre** _ (with “Elvira, Mistress of the Dark”) late on Saturday evenings. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dimly-remembered-shows-on-network-launches/938313/26 "2021-03-21T04:59:12Z")
I think I’m confused on the intended topic of this thread…it seems to be talking about network launches, but… > [@Biggirl](#): > > Which brings up FOX channel launch. I very much remember a show called Duets. Or maybe just Duet. And another show with Lisa Simpson in the flesh-- this one was called Herman’s Head. Neither of these shows is a Fox launch title - they’re from 1989 and 1994, 2 and 7 years after Fox launched (With Married…With Children and The Tracy Ullman show), and separated by 5 years from each other. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > Prime Time Entertainment Network started with two shows … Huh. I had thought PTEN was a first-run syndication producer…but, nope, you’re right…short lived network. (I loved Time Trax, wish it had continued…) ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dimly-remembered-shows-on-network-launches/938313/27 "2021-03-21T05:14:02Z")
What? Duets was definitely an early Fox launch show and also you seemed to have skipped a vital part of the description of this thread: _Dimly_ remembered shows. . … ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dimly-remembered-shows-on-network-launches/938313/28 "2021-03-21T05:46:39Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I liked _ **Tour of Duty** _ a lot, but it was on CBS, not a startup network. I must have confused it with Fox’s attempt at making a series out of _The Dirty Dozen_. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dimly-remembered-shows-on-network-launches/938313/29 "2021-03-21T08:08:16Z")
**Men in Tights** , a parody of the Robin Hood legend, was created by Mel Brooks and broadcast by ABC in 1975. Although the network and critics held high hopes, it was cancelled after just 13 episodes. I still remember reading in TV Guide or whatever, “_This one looms as a sure hit_.” ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dimly-remembered-shows-on-network-launches/938313/30 "2021-03-21T08:28:36Z")
> [@alovem](#): > > **Men in Tights** , a parody of the Robin Hood legend, was created by Mel Brooks and broadcast by ABC in 1975. Although the network and critics held high hopes, it was cancelled after just 13 episodes. I believe you’ve gotten things a little muddled. Robin Hood: Men In Tights was a film Brooks released in 1993, whereas Google informs me that the 1975 sitcom you’re remembering was called _When Things Were Rotten_. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dimly-remembered-shows-on-network-launches/938313/31 "2021-03-21T08:33:50Z")
Whoa! I sure did mix that up, and I swear I had it right in my head as I wrote that. Thanks for the correction! ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dimly-remembered-shows-on-network-launches/938313/32 "2021-03-21T09:58:08Z")
i domt know if it counts as series … but i remember when mtv was trying to get the cable carriers to carry them and they used to run like an hour or two show of videos and clips inbetween begging you to pester your cable co. to carry them in an infomercial format on various indie stations ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dimly-remembered-shows-on-network-launches/938313/33 "2021-03-21T10:46:56Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > What? Duets was definitely an early Fox launch show and also you seemed to have skipped a vital part of the description of this thread: _Dimly_ remembered shows. . … You’re right. _Duets_ premiered on April 19, 1987, six months after Fox’s launch date of October 9, 1986. I’d definitely count it. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dimly-remembered-shows-on-network-launches/938313/34 "2021-03-21T14:38:50Z")
Just yesterday afternoon we had the TV on a movie channel and Pretty in Pink was playing. My wife asked me if I had thought Molly Ringwald was attractive back then. I said no, I didn’t think she was attractive during her John Hughes movies (maybe it was that weird 50s hairstyle she had then), but I thought she was attractive later on. So my wife asked, what did she do later on that you saw her in? And I said, a show called “Townies” in the late 90s. Had a pretty powerhouse TV trio of Molly, Jenna Elfman and Lauren Graham, but only lasted 1 season. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dimly-remembered-shows-on-network-launches/938313/35 "2021-03-21T15:24:34Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > > [@Biggirl](#): > > > > What? Duets was definitely an early Fox launch show and also you seemed to have skipped a vital part of the description of this thread: _Dimly_ remembered shows. . … > > You’re right. _Duets_ premiered on April 19, 1987, six months after Fox’s launch date of October 9, 1986. I’d definitely count it. _Duet_ was part of Fox’s original opening The October 9th date was for the Joan Rivers talk show, but the first prime time shows were in April. They didn’t roll them out all at once, so some didn’t air for a few weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dimly-remembered-shows-on-network-launches/938313/36 "2021-03-21T15:41:17Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I’m going purely off memory here, but I do remember when Comedy Central launched. I think it was a rebrand/merge situation, but it launched as the channel we see today. The Comedy Channel started in 1989, the Ha! TV Comedy Network started in 1989, and they merged in 1991 to form the Comedy Central station we know and love today. I don’t ever remember watching Ha! but I do remember when they merged with The Comedy Channel. I barely remember some of their early shows like _The Higgins Boys and Gruber,_ _Onion World,_ and of course there was _Short Attention Span Theater_ which was fun to say with the inflection Penn Gillette gave it in his voice overs for the commercials. At least I think it was Penn. I remember when the FX network launched in 1994. I used to watch _Breakfast Time_ in the morning with Tom Bergeron and Laurie Hibbard. There was even a show hosted by Jeff Probst where viewers could send in email, truly we were living in the future then, and answer viewer questions. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dimly-remembered-shows-on-network-launches/938313/37 "2021-03-21T16:47:10Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > …There was even a show hosted by Jeff Probst where viewers could send in email, truly we were living in the future then, and answer viewer questions… Backchat. [He looks younger now than he did when he hosted it.](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/m3fFUNv7O9o/sddefault.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dimly-remembered-shows-on-network-launches/938313/38 "2021-03-21T17:06:58Z")
Oliver Beene- I remember it as an earlier version of The Goldbergs. Duet- I only remember it because I thought Mary Page Keller was gorgeous. In '76, there was a show featuring Bernadette Peters in her prime (IMHO), Richard Crenna, and some new comic named Michael Keaton. Anyone remember it? ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dimly-remembered-shows-on-network-launches/938313/39 "2021-03-21T17:19:15Z")
“Once upon a time when things were Rotten, not just food but even Kings were Rotten” ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dimly-remembered-shows-on-network-launches/938313/40 "2021-03-21T17:20:20Z")
**All’s Fair**. It was Norman Lear’s first stumble on his slow fall from TV success. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dimly-remembered-shows-on-network-launches/938313/41 "2021-03-21T19:39:00Z")
Second. Remember **Hot L Baltimore**? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dimly-remembered-shows-on-network-launches/938313.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dimly-remembered-shows-on-network-launches/938313.md?page=3)