This Day in Pop Culture for September 12

1959: The First Color TV Show

NBC made the first coast-to-coast color broadcast on January 1, 1954, during its telecast of the Tournament of Roses Parade, but it wasn’t until five years later that a regular show was broadcast in color on a regular basis – The western Bonanza.

The show’s Saturday night ratings were terrible and under normal circumstances would have been cancelled, but since it was the first series to be filmed and broadcast in color, NBC kept it going.

In 1961 the show was moved to Sunday nights where its ratings soared. In 1964, Bonanza made the #1 spot and stayed there until 1967. In 1970, the show became the first to appear in the top five list for nine consecutive seasons. (Image: TVDB)

1993: Superman Comes Back to TV

The story goes like this: DC Comic’s president, Jenette Kahn had been working for years to sell a new Superman TV series, but the title (Lois Lane’s Daily Planet) did it no favors. However, Deborah Joy LeVine, who developed the show, was able to sell the show to ABC. when the title was changed to Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

However, LeVine may not have been the best choice to lead the show since she had never even read a comic book before. Not only that, she was more interested in making a romantic comedy series.

Dean Cain was among over one hundred men who auditioned for the role and almost didn’t get it since LeVine thought that he was too young for the part. Kevin Sorbo almost got the role but ultimately lost to Cain. Terri Hatcher won the role for Lois Lane, Lane Smith for Perry White and John Shea for Lex Luther.

The show debuted on Sunday nights impressing critics and scoring well with families. The show even won a Saturn Award for Best Genre Television Series, but finished in 65th place out of 132 prime time shows. Although the ratings did improve during the next two seasons (#44), it dropped back down significantly (#104) during its fourth and last season.

This was partially due to the fact that the network moved the show to Saturday nights. A 5th season had been planned, but ABC pulled the plug instead. In fact, the network paid a fee to Warner Bros. to get out of their commitment.

Years Later, Cain played Kara Danvers stepfather in the Supergirl TV series. Hatcher and Sorbo also guest-starred on the show as villains. (Image: ABC)

Saturday Morning TV

Remember watching your favorite cartoons with a bowl of cold cereal? Here are some that began airing on this day. How many do you remember?

1964: Hoppity Hooper

Produced by Jay Ward (Rocky and Bullwinkle), this series centered on Hoppity Hooper a frog; Waldo P. Wigglesworth, a snake-oil-selling fox and Fillmore, a bugle-playing bear. These three had high hopes despite their misadventures.

1970: Groovie Goolies

This Filmation show featured updated and silly characterizations of old-time movie monsters like Drac, a vampire who crashed into walls; Frankie, a muscle-bound Frankenstein; Wolfie, a beatnik wolfman and Hagatha, a witch of a chef.

1970: Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Also by Filmation, this series was based on the Archie Comics character of a teenage girl wanting to live a “normal” human life against her witchy aunts’ wishes. She often interacted with Archie and friends plus the Groovie Goolies.

1970: Josie and the Pussycats

Also based on characters from Archie Comics, but created by Hanna-Barbera, Josie and the Pussycats are a traveling band that often found themselves in the middle of some mystery that needed to be solved just in time before they needed to perform.

1970: The Bugaloos

Sid & Marty Krofft’s The Bugaloos starred four singing teens who resembled different bugs. Billy Barty played Sparky the Firefly and Martha Raye played the jealous Benita Bizarre who lived in a jukebox. A fever dream for sure.

1981: The Smurfs

Based on the Belgian comic strip, Hanna-Barbera’s The Smurfs ran for nine years on NBC. These little blue elves…or whatever…were busy, happy and used the word “Smurf” as often as possible. There was only one female Smurf – the blond Smurfette.

1992: Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa

This ABC cartoon involved everyday cows getting hit by a light from a “cow-met” causing them to evolve into a “bovipomorphic” state. The C.O.W.-Boys (“Code of the West”) would try to keep the peace in Cowtown against outlaws and such.

1970: The Reluctant Dragon & Mr. Toad Show, Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp, Harlem Globetrotters, The Heckle and Jeckle Show, The Woody Woodpecker Show, The Further Adventures of Dr. Dolittle
1981: Goldie Gold and Action Jack, The Kwicky Koala Show
1987: Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock, Alf, The New Archies
1992: The Addams Family, Fievel’s American Tails, California Dreams, Name Your Adventure

^{(Cartoon images: Wikipedia, Filmation, Hanna-Barbera, ABC)}