TV Flashback: “The World’s First Living Television Network,” fX, Turns 18

It might be a little hard to believe that there was a time when FX was not one of the best-known destinations on basic cable.

Heck, you might not even remember when the network name had a like f, making it “fX.” But that’s what happened when the network launched 18 years ago today, on June 1, 1994 – a time when names like Jeff Probst and Tom Bergeron weren’t known for things like Survivor or Dancing With The Stars, but instead headlined a viewer mail-in show and the best morning show that ever existed, respectively.

In a move that might have been about ten years too early, fX boasted several hours of live daily programming. The previously mentioned morning show, Breakfast Time hosted by Tom Bergeron and Laurie Hibberd, also featured an ugly orange puppet named “Bob” as one of its co-hosts. Unseen announcer “Jim” would draw doodles on the weather map and he would give moments of high and low pressure names like “Henri” and “Luigi.” When Hibberd would wear a leopard-print shirt, the Josie and the Pussycats theme would play. Inventive chyrons filled the bottom of the screen. It wasn’t Today or Good Morning America, but it was instead something… fun.

The action of Breakfast Time and all of the fX programming took place in a fully-functional apartment constructed on the second floor of a building in Manhattan. It was the first show that would be on their daily schedule, with the second series in their daily line-up being Personal fX with Claire Carter and John Burke. In a very Antiques Roadshow but pre-Ebay type manner, people would come in and see what their “junk” was worth. As it stood, Personal fX was the longest running live program on the network.

The Pet Department came in the early afternoon, hosted by Steve Walker and a dog named Jack, who is surely long since deceased. The evening would bring the award-winning Under Scrutiny With Jane Wallace, which also somehow ended up being the first fX show to get the axe. In between these live shows were repeats of series like Eight Is Enough, Dynasty, The Greatest American Hero, Hart To Hart, Wonder Woman, and the 1960’s Batman. Some of the shows in the lineup were not often seen at that time; looking back, it is probably because they were cheaply acquired, but the reruns were what drew me in. Viewers got added content from the repeats as “channel hosts” would come in with trivia about the particular episode during any hour, making you feel like there was always something going at the apartment. Again, it was a notion that was before its time; had fX existed in the same form today, there’d surely be a live Internet feed showing what’s going on at all times. In addition to all of this, news updates would come at the top of every hour, where hosts like Vernon Shaw would tell us to “keep it locked on fX.”

Late night on fX brought Sound fX hosted by Karyn Bryant, Matt Ostrum, and Orlando Jones. To cap off the night, fX launched another innovation – BackChat, a show where viewers of the network could send in their questions and compete for “Letter Of The Day.” BackChat, which was hosted by Jeff Probst, was one of the first television programs to allow its viewers to communicate via e-mail. I was one of the first to discover this trick, and ended up on the show quite a bit in my teenage years.

The only way to really know what fX was like would be to experience it, and here are two video clips from that era. One is a collection of network promos – sorry, the sound quality seems to be kind of crap – and the other is when Laurie Hibberd, who you might recognize from stints on Good Morning America as well as being Mrs. Gelman, giving a tour of the “fX Apartment,” which leads to a funny and unplanned moment.

Sadly, the “live” fX didn’t last as long as many may have hoped. “The world’s first living television network” started making changes. BackChat went to once a week and eventually became some kind of entertainment show before quietly disappearing. Breakfast Time, the innovative morning show, might have suffered a worse fate. Either as a way to try to make good on their investment, or perhaps because the parent FOX network knew a good thing when they saw it… Breakfast Time moved to FOX and got shortened to only an hour, becoming FOX After Breakfast. On paper, that sounds like a good idea… but then the changes started coming, and none of them were good. Lovable Jim The Announcer was not brought back for this second incarnation. Laurie Hibberd was gone after a few months, as was Bob The Puppet. Losing Jim from the team was bad enough, but losing more key components hurt the show even more. The cute chyrons and playful music of the show were dropped for something smoother and… not so energetic. Eventually, even Tom Bergeron was axed and the show evolved into a morning show for Vicki Lawrence. We love Mama, but Breakfast Time was something special, and the neutered FOX After Breakfast bombed.

Watching old fX clips and thinking about the time, it was of something new and great, with boundless enthusiasm and excitement, at least for this TV viewer. The audience was made to feel like part of the family, and the folks in front of the camera also seemed like family. Back in the day, it was rumored that the first floor of their building was going to become an “fX Cafe” for fans to congregate and, of course, watch their stable of shows. The best laid plans apparently didn’t pan out.

fX eventually rebranded with a capital F and took a much shinier, bolder “FOX Gone Cable” approach. For a while this meant M*A*S*H repeats several times a day, but ultimately shows like The Shield and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia gave FX a great reputation for quality programs.

Lots of folks from fX have become staples of primetime programming to this day, with one Emmy Awards ceremony featuring show hosting from Tom Bergeron, Jeff Probst, and fellow fX-er Phil Keoghan. Bergeron and Laurie Hibberd ended up on another morning show at the same time later on – Good Morning America – but sadly, the puppet was nowhere to be seen.

For those who remember “TV made fresh daily” – started 18 years ago to this day – it was a special time. I’m so thankful that I was able to visit the “apartment” at age 17, and my interest in fX had a lot to do with what got me interesting in writing about television. It really was magic. If you remember those days as well, feel free to leave your comments below.