Throwback Thursday: ‘Lost’, ‘Friends’, ‘Modern Family’, ‘Suits’ and ‘Teen Wolf’ Say Goodbye
Boy oh boy, what a week September 20-26 is on the TV landscape! Let’s take another trip through time for this week’s Throwback Thursday and see what we find!
Along this journey, we will see 60s classics such as The Jetsons, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Gilligan’s Island. As well as some more modern shows such as 90s hits: Boy Meets World, Friends, Will & Grace, and Law & Order: SVU.
This week also had some wonderful TV moments to look back on. Brothers & Sisters says goodbye to a major character, Lost introduces a fan favorite, and Chicago Fire ends the life of a fan favorite.
We also said goodbye to two very popular TV shows this week — Suits and Teen Wolf.
Fasten your seatbelts…it’s going to be a bumpy ride through TV history.
Major TV Moments:
Desmond Hume inside the hatch (Lost Season 2 Episode 1, “Man of Science, Man of Faith”) (September 21, 2005)
The Lost Season 2 premiere, and the show’s most-watched episode, also introduces a character that would become a major player for the rest of the series.
Through flashbacks, we first see Demond helping Jack through a slight crisis when Jack goes running after a tough case at the hospital. The two meet on the bleachers when Jack rolls his ankle.
So it comes as a bit of a shock when we see Desmond inside the hatch at the end of the episode. How did he get there? What does this mean?
Robert McCallister’s fate is revealed (Brothers & Sisters Season 5 Episode 1, “The Homecoming”) (September 26, 2010)
By the end of Season 4, actor Rob Lowe had decided to leave the show for good. Whenever this happens it leaves writers with a dilemma of what to do with their character.
In the case of Robert McCallister, the writers put his character into a major car accident during the Season 4 finale. This left it open for Season 5 to explain his fate a year into the future.
The whole season premiere focuses on how the family is all dealing with the aftermath of that accident and Justin’s return from active duty. It is Justin who finds out Kitty has spent the entire year at Robert’s bedside as he was kept alive by a ventilator.
It is also Justin who convinces Kitty to let her husband go because he wouldn’t want to live like that. Kitty then decides to turn off the machines, and the family holds a dinner to honor him.
Firehouse 51 says a tearful goodbye to one of their own (Chicago Fire Season 8 Episode 1, “Sacred Ground”) (September 25, 2019)
Chicago Fire hadn’t killed a character since the loss of Leslie Shay back in Season 3. So, it’s exciting and dramatic when it is revealed on the Chicago Fire Season 8 premiere that Firehouse 51 staple, Brian Zvonecek perished in the mattress factory fire.
The drama around his death shows just how much of a driving force Otis was to the whole team. The writers accurately depicted a gambit of reactions to grief throughout the episode.
The hardest scene of the whole episode is Cruz’s bedside goodbye with his best friend and Otis’ last words. The young man says “Brother, I will be with you, always” in Russian.
Kill our souls why don’t you.
Premieres:
KARLA SOUZA, JACK FALAHEE, VIOLA DAVIS, AJA NAOMI KING, LIZA WEIL, MATT MCGORRY, ALFRED ENOCH
The majority of Fall TV premieres in the final weeks of September. So naturally, we had quite a few programs to highlight.
Law enforcement dramas were ever popular this week including Law & Order: SVU‘s debut 21 years ago. The show continues to air new episodes, setting a new world record for longest-running live-action tv series in history.
Other law enforcement dramas of note include Hawaii Five-O (1968), NYPD Blue (1993), Without a Trace (2002), NCIS (2003), Criminal Minds (2005), and Blue Bloods (2010).
Other dramas that span the 00s and 10s are Lost, Heroes, Gotham, How to Get Away With Murder, Brothers & Sisters, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, and The Good Wife. There were quite a few long-running sitcoms and comedy premieres as well — some of them still have a huge fanbase.
This week also saw the start of the political drama that would put many familiar faces on the map, The West Wing. And who can forget the start of the Canadian sketch comedy, Second City TV, which made such notable names as Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short, Robin Duke, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, and John Candy famous to American viewers.
Here are a few TV shows that premiered this week in TV History:
- 1957 – Perry Mason
- 1962 – The Jetsons
- 1962 – The Beverly Hillbillies
- 1963 – Gilligan’s Island
- 1968 – Hawaii Five-O
- 1969 – The Brady Bunch
- 1976 – Second City TV
- 1982 – Family Ties
- 1984 – Who’s The Boss?
- 1987 – Full House
- 1987 – A Different World
- 1989 – Baywatch
- 1989 – Family Matters
- 1991 – Step By Step
- 1993 – NYPD Blue
- 1993 – Boy Meets World
- 1994 – Friends
- 1998 – Will & Grace
- 1999 – Law & Order: SVU
- 1999 – The West Wing
- 2001 – Crossing Jordan
- 2002 – Firefly
- 2002 – Without a Trace
- 2003 – NCIS
- 2004 – Lost
- 2004 – Veronica Mars
- 2005 – Everybody Hates Chris
- 2005 – Criminal Minds
- 2005 – Ghost Whisperer
- 2006 – Brothers & Sisters
- 2006 – Heroes
- 2007 – The Big Bang Theory
- 2007 – Chuck
- 2007 – Private Practice
- 2009 – The Good Wife
- 2009 – Modern Family
- 2010 – Blue Bloods
- 2011 – New Girl
- 2012 – The Mindy Project
- 2013 – Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D
- 2013 – The Goldbergs
- 2014 – Gotham
- 2014 – How To Get Away With Murder
- 2019 – Prodigal Son
- 2019 – Stumptown
- 2019 – Evil
Finales:
It is never easy to say goodbye to a favorite show. Especially when the show runs for almost a decade, much like the fan-favorite drama, Suits, did. Or when the show has such a passionate fanbase much like that of Teen Wolf.
Teen Wolf – September 24, 2017
When this werewolf teen drama was ordered for a 6th and final season fans were visibly upset. After all, this show introduced a passionate fanbase to some fresh faces. This show made stars out of their leads: Tyler Posey, Dylan O’Brien, and Tyler Hoechlin.
The finale itself was a nice tie-up of old storylines and with a bit of hopeful openness to some of the newer recruits. Fans got to see characters like Ethan, Jackson, Derek, and Stiles return to Beacon Hills and save the town from Gerard and his newest followers.
It is nice that while Teen Wolf may have ended the town remains under the protection of Sheriff Stilinski, Agent Rafe McCall, and Scott McCall. Some things can always be counted on much like werewolves calling Beacon Hills, CA home.
Suits – September 25, 2019
After almost a decade on the air, Suits ran its final con on September 25, 2019. While it was time for the show to come to a close that doesn’t mean the fans weren’t sad to see it go.
For a series finale, this show didn’t hold back in the slightest. Everything from a paused wedding due to the bride going into labor, to a surprise wedding, to the final reunion between the show’s Batman and Robin happens within the hour-long program.
The shippers of Donna and Harvey are left extremely happy as the two get engaged and married all in one fell swoop. And fans of the Harvey and Mike bromance were left satisfied as well when the two take up working together in Seattle.
All around, the finale was an ode to the fans and gave the fans exactly what they wanted. Which we always hope for in any series finale.
Tell-Tale TV Archives:
Back in 2015, here at Tell-Tale TV, we were gearing up for the second season of newcomer drama, Gotham by talking to Robin Lord Taylor about Oswald’s future. Then in 2016, we laid out why we love Supernatural with a list of all their meta moments. Then finally Miranda Mayo previews Chicago Fire‘s Season 7 in an exclusive interview.
2015
2016
2018
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What are some major TV premieres, finales, or moments you remember? Sound off in the comments below and your choice just might be featured in a future Throwback Thursday column.
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Mads Misasi
Mads is a part-time entertainment journalist and full-time marketing content creator. They love any and all TV Dramas with a few sitcoms mixed in. Join in the fun talking about TV by following them on Twitter: @dorothynyc89.