Just a few random TV related events that happened on April 2. Discuss or comment as you please……
1908: Actor/dancer Buddy Ebsen (The Beverly Hillbillies, Barnaby Jones) is born (as Christian Rudolph Ebsen, Jr.) in Belleville, Illinois.
1950: WTAR-TV (channel 4, now WTKR on channel 3) signs on in Norfolk, Virginia. The change to channel 3 would come in 1952 (along with several other channel changes up and down the Eastern Seaboard due to too-short spacing).
1954: The Grove Family debuts on the BBC. It is considered to be the first soap opera on TV in the U.K.
1956: As the World Turns and The Edge of Night premiere on CBS as the first 30 minute long U.S. soap operas.
1961: In Milwaukee, WITI (channel 6) switches from CBS to ABC, with rival WISN-TV (channel 12) switching in the other direction. The swap would be reversed 16 years later.
1966: At 6 p.m., WJET-TV (channel 24, Erie, Pennsylvania) signs on for the first time, kicking off its schedule with a 24-hour movie marathon. (Presumably, they started carrying ABC programming the next evening in prime-time. I wonder how the network felt about being totally bypassed for the first 24 hours?)
1967: It’s About Time breathes its last on CBS. (And many viewers and critics agreed: “It’s about time!!”) :
1971: The final episode of Dark Shadows airs on ABC. Despite its cult popularity, a precipitous drop in its ratings during its last two years on the air, coupled with a very young (i.e., “unprofitable”) demographic (younger than almost any other daytime series) spelled the doom of Barnabas and the denizens of Collinswood. (Funny how nowadays, most TV shows are geared for that younger demo, huh? Guess the 18-35 crowd has more discretionary income than they used to...)
1978: Dallas premieres on CBS as a 5-part miniseries. The show would become a regular weekly series starting in September.
1982: After a 12-year tenure, John Chancellor sits behind the anchor desk for the last time on NBC Nightly News. He would be replaced by the team of Roger Mudd and Tom Brokaw, an arrangement that would last just 17 months.
1983: Goodnight, Beantown begins a 5-episode limited run on CBS. Starring Bill Bixby and Mariette Hartley as TV news anchors in Boston (at fictional WYN-TV), the critically-acclaimed series would begin a regular season run in September, but only last another 13 episodes due to low ratings.
1984: At noon, KNXT (channel 2, Los Angeles) changes its call letters to the present KCBS-TV. (Interesting timing – I thought call changes normally took place between sign-off and sign-on??)
1984: Actress Ashley Peldon (Guiding Light, The Mommies) is born in New York City. Her three-year stint at GL began in 1988 when she was 4 (the youngest actor ever put under contract on the show), and at the age of 6, became one of the youngest (if not THE youngest – anyone know?) to be honored with an Emmy Award nomination.
1994: Actress/commentator/consumer advocate Betty Furness (What’s My Line?, The Today Show) dies in New York City of stomach cancer, aged 78.
2004: In the U.K., digital channel BBC Four broadcasts a live re-make of the famous 1953 science-fiction drama The Quatermass Experiment. The production is the first live drama broadcast by the BBC for over twenty years.
(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…..)
1908: Actor/dancer Buddy Ebsen (The Beverly Hillbillies, Barnaby Jones) is born (as Christian Rudolph Ebsen, Jr.) in Belleville, Illinois.
1950: WTAR-TV (channel 4, now WTKR on channel 3) signs on in Norfolk, Virginia. The change to channel 3 would come in 1952 (along with several other channel changes up and down the Eastern Seaboard due to too-short spacing).
1954: The Grove Family debuts on the BBC. It is considered to be the first soap opera on TV in the U.K.
1956: As the World Turns and The Edge of Night premiere on CBS as the first 30 minute long U.S. soap operas.
1961: In Milwaukee, WITI (channel 6) switches from CBS to ABC, with rival WISN-TV (channel 12) switching in the other direction. The swap would be reversed 16 years later.
1966: At 6 p.m., WJET-TV (channel 24, Erie, Pennsylvania) signs on for the first time, kicking off its schedule with a 24-hour movie marathon. (Presumably, they started carrying ABC programming the next evening in prime-time. I wonder how the network felt about being totally bypassed for the first 24 hours?)
1967: It’s About Time breathes its last on CBS. (And many viewers and critics agreed: “It’s about time!!”) :
1971: The final episode of Dark Shadows airs on ABC. Despite its cult popularity, a precipitous drop in its ratings during its last two years on the air, coupled with a very young (i.e., “unprofitable”) demographic (younger than almost any other daytime series) spelled the doom of Barnabas and the denizens of Collinswood. (Funny how nowadays, most TV shows are geared for that younger demo, huh? Guess the 18-35 crowd has more discretionary income than they used to...)
1978: Dallas premieres on CBS as a 5-part miniseries. The show would become a regular weekly series starting in September.
1982: After a 12-year tenure, John Chancellor sits behind the anchor desk for the last time on NBC Nightly News. He would be replaced by the team of Roger Mudd and Tom Brokaw, an arrangement that would last just 17 months.
1983: Goodnight, Beantown begins a 5-episode limited run on CBS. Starring Bill Bixby and Mariette Hartley as TV news anchors in Boston (at fictional WYN-TV), the critically-acclaimed series would begin a regular season run in September, but only last another 13 episodes due to low ratings.
1984: At noon, KNXT (channel 2, Los Angeles) changes its call letters to the present KCBS-TV. (Interesting timing – I thought call changes normally took place between sign-off and sign-on??)
1984: Actress Ashley Peldon (Guiding Light, The Mommies) is born in New York City. Her three-year stint at GL began in 1988 when she was 4 (the youngest actor ever put under contract on the show), and at the age of 6, became one of the youngest (if not THE youngest – anyone know?) to be honored with an Emmy Award nomination.
1994: Actress/commentator/consumer advocate Betty Furness (What’s My Line?, The Today Show) dies in New York City of stomach cancer, aged 78.
2004: In the U.K., digital channel BBC Four broadcasts a live re-make of the famous 1953 science-fiction drama The Quatermass Experiment. The production is the first live drama broadcast by the BBC for over twenty years.
(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…..)
