He has secured his place of honor among the greatest television producers in the history of American television. Aaron Spelling (1923-2006), born on April 22, 1923 in Dallas, Texas, is credited with legendary high-gloss hit series such as “Beverly Hills, 90210”, “Melrose Place”, “The Denver Clan” or “Charmed – Magical witches”.
The mega producer, who incidentally also cast his daughter Tori Spelling (49) in “Beverly Hills, 90210” and thus made her a star, even made it into the Guinness Book of Records. Spelling has acted as executive producer on television productions a total of 218 times in his decades-long career – an absolute record.
As early as 1959, Spelling became a series creator for the first time with the western show “Johnny Ringo” (1959-1960), which was produced for CBS. After some rather forgotten successes such as “The Mod Squad” (1968-1973), the extremely busy Spelling produced the TV classics “Starsky” in quick succession from the mid-1970s
All of the latter titles appeared on the US channel ABC, whose primetime filled almost two-thirds of Spelling in the early 1980s. Pointed tongues therefore smugly christened the station “Aaron’s Broadcasting Company”.
However, the tireless Spelling did not rest on these laurels and produced one of the series of the decade in the 1980s with “Der Denver-Clan” (1981-1989). The glossy soap opera not only fueled the trend for the shoulder pads so characteristic of the eighties. The popularity of the series in Germany was probably only increased by the very similar hit import “Dallas” (1978-1991) around the villain J.R. played by Larry Hagman (1931-2012). surpassed Ewing.
The “The Denver Clan” was then also a fairly blatant copy of “Dallas”, only that the series took place in the US state of Colorado instead of Texas, and Larry Hagman was replaced by the legendary Joan Collins (89). She once said of what is probably her most well-known TV series: “Every single person in ‘The Denver Family’ was good-looking. You wanted to see wealthy, attractive people fighting with each other”.
Towards the end of the 1980s, after the cancellation of “The Denver Clan”, “Love Boat” and “T.J. Hooker” (1982-1986) with William Shatner (92) and Heather Locklear (61) in the lead roles, super producer Spelling suddenly became the first Since time immemorial without a successful primetime show on US television. But his greatest success at that time was still ahead of the TV maker.
“I don’t think the television networks give audiences what they want,” Spelling once explained, adding, “They want escapism. That’s what ‘Love Boat’, ‘Fantasy Island’ and ‘The Denver Clan’ are all about ‘ gave them – an escape from the harshness of everyday life”.
In 1990, the then still young Fox channel started with “Beverly Hills, 90210” (1990-2000), a legendary teen series that began at the beginning of the decade together with the lifeguard show “Baywatch” (1989 -2001) redefined the media image of Los Angeles and California – and was formative for later successful teen series such as “OC, California” (2003-2007).
With the series “Melrose Place” (1992-1999), Spelling soon produced something like a direct copy of his own mega hit “Beverly Hills, 90210” about the twins Brandon (Jason Priestley, 53) and Brenda (Shannen Doherty, 52), who relocate from Minnesota to the upscale suburb of Beverly Hills, California, where they meet characters like Dylan, played by Luke Perry (1966-2019).
Even after this double success in the 1990s, Spelling, whose fortune was estimated at 300 million US dollars by “Forbes” in the 1980s, did not retire. Around the turn of the millennium, the then mid-70-year-old produced the two popular series “A Heavenly Family” (1996-2006) and “Charmed – Magical Witches” (1998-2006).
The Guinness Book of Records calculated in 1999 that Spelling produced an incredible 3,842 hours of TV – enough to fill seven days a week prime time for three and a half years without having to air a single repeat.
In addition, Spelling was awarded two Emmys in his long career – for the two TV films “… and life goes on” (1993) and “The Bomb” (1989). Today, April 22nd, the most prolific producer in US TV history would have been 100 years old.
