Just a few random TV related events that happened on April 12. Discuss or comment as you please……
1946: Actor Ed O’Neill (Married...with Children) is born in Youngstown, Ohio.
1947: Comedian David Letterman is born in Indianapolis, Indiana.
1953: KFDX-TV (channel 3) signs on in Wichita Falls, Texas.
1966: The PT-73 goes into drydock as the final original episode of McHale’s Navy airs on ABC. DYK: McHale’s Navy was spawned by a 1962 dramatic presentation on the anthology series Alcoa Presents, titled “Seven Against the Sea.” It featured four of what would eventually become the McHale’s Navy cast: Ernest Borgnine, Gary Vinson, John Wright, and Edson Stroll. Impressed by the ratings, ABC ordered a series based on the pilot, but it was decided to drastically change the format to a comedy – becoming sort of a “Bilko in the Navy” concept.
1971: Actress Shannen Doherty (Beverly Hills, 90210; Charmed) is born in Memphis, Tennessee.
1979: Actress Claire Danes (My So-Called Life) is born in New York City.
1981: All networks pre-empt programming to carry the launch of Space Shuttle Columbia: the first shuttle flight (STS-1), and the first manned U.S. space launch in almost six years (the last having been the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in June 1975). In a happy coincidence for NASA publicists, it also happens to be the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s Vostok 1, the first manned space flight in history.
1984: The short-lived (13 episodes) series The Duck Factory premieres on NBC. The comedy, set in an animation studio that produces “The Dippy Duck Show,” is primarily noteworthy for two members of the cast: (1) Jim Carrey stars – his first lead role in a Hollywood production, and (2) Longtime Hanna-Barbera voice artist Don Messick plays a rare on-camera role as Wally Wooster, the studio’s principal.....um.....voice artist. (Gee...bet that was a stretch...)
1987: 21 Jump Street premieres on Fox.
2004: Space Ghost Coast to Coast ends its original Cartoon Network run.
(Just a little featurette I hope to do as time permits. It’s an entirely random selection based on a quick Net search, and is not meant to be comprehensive. So, don’t post nasty messages about “you forgot THIS” or “how could you not mention THAT?” Do so, and I’ll just take my keyboard and go home…..)
1946: Actor Ed O’Neill (Married...with Children) is born in Youngstown, Ohio.
1947: Comedian David Letterman is born in Indianapolis, Indiana.
1953: KFDX-TV (channel 3) signs on in Wichita Falls, Texas.
1966: The PT-73 goes into drydock as the final original episode of McHale’s Navy airs on ABC. DYK: McHale’s Navy was spawned by a 1962 dramatic presentation on the anthology series Alcoa Presents, titled “Seven Against the Sea.” It featured four of what would eventually become the McHale’s Navy cast: Ernest Borgnine, Gary Vinson, John Wright, and Edson Stroll. Impressed by the ratings, ABC ordered a series based on the pilot, but it was decided to drastically change the format to a comedy – becoming sort of a “Bilko in the Navy” concept.
1971: Actress Shannen Doherty (Beverly Hills, 90210; Charmed) is born in Memphis, Tennessee.
1979: Actress Claire Danes (My So-Called Life) is born in New York City.
1981: All networks pre-empt programming to carry the launch of Space Shuttle Columbia: the first shuttle flight (STS-1), and the first manned U.S. space launch in almost six years (the last having been the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in June 1975). In a happy coincidence for NASA publicists, it also happens to be the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s Vostok 1, the first manned space flight in history.
1984: The short-lived (13 episodes) series The Duck Factory premieres on NBC. The comedy, set in an animation studio that produces “The Dippy Duck Show,” is primarily noteworthy for two members of the cast: (1) Jim Carrey stars – his first lead role in a Hollywood production, and (2) Longtime Hanna-Barbera voice artist Don Messick plays a rare on-camera role as Wally Wooster, the studio’s principal.....um.....voice artist. (Gee...bet that was a stretch...)
1987: 21 Jump Street premieres on Fox.
2004: Space Ghost Coast to Coast ends its original Cartoon Network run.
(Just a little featurette I hope to do as time permits. It’s an entirely random selection based on a quick Net search, and is not meant to be comprehensive. So, don’t post nasty messages about “you forgot THIS” or “how could you not mention THAT?” Do so, and I’ll just take my keyboard and go home…..)