The Year in TV: August 2010

At the 62nd Primetime Emmys, The Pacific (eight wins), Modern Family (six wins), and Mad Men (four wins) are the night’s biggest winners.

NBC airing of the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards marked the first time the event was shown live in all time zones. Jimmy Fallon hosts the show to warm reviews, especially for his hilarious tribute to the series that ended this year.

Throughout the month, most PBS stations airAretha Franklin Presents: Soul Rewind. In the special, Franklin hosts vintage clips of many R&B/soul hits like Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me”, “Dancing in the Street” by Martha & the Vandellas, “You Really Got a Hold on Me” by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, and “Lady Marmalade” by Labelle.

Entertainment Tonight’s Mary Hart announces that she is leaving the show after 30 years, beginning next year. Her co-anchor position will be taken over by former Access Hollywood alum Nancy O’Dell.

The Discovery Channel’s annual “Shark Week” line-up featured six new shark specials and was hosted by Craig Ferguson. With over 30.8 million viewers, it was the most-watched out of the network’s 23 years of Shark Weeks.

The Home Shopping Network, HSN, launched a sister channel, HSN2.

The Canadian export, 18 to Life garners low ratings on America’s CW network and is canceled after six episodes. The show still airs in other parts of the world.

In anticipation of the new Fall season in September, there weren’t very many series premieres this month. ABC Family’s Melissa & Joey, Showtime’s The Big C, and Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Washington, D.C. are exceptions.

Several series ended this month, including FOX’s Sons of Tucson, ABC Family’s Huge, and the syndicated At the Movies.

Some of the important television personalities who left us this month include actress Patricia Neal, TV producer David L. Wolper, Sky King’s Gloria Winters, and journalists Edwin Newman, James Kilpatrick, and Harold Dow.