April 29: This Day in TV History

[Stanislav]

Just a few random TV related events that happened on April 29. Discuss or comment as you please……

1913: Producer/director Norman Felton (The Eleventh Hour, Dr. Kildare, The Man From U.N.C.L.E.) is born in London, England. He celebrates his 96th birthday today.

1944: Actor Richard Kline (Three’s Company) is born in New York City.

1954: Comedian Jerry Seinfeld is born in Brooklyn, New York.

1955: Actress Kate Mulgrew (Mrs. Columbo/Kate Loves a Mystery, Ryan’s Hope, Star Trek: Voyager) is born in Dubuque, Iowa. DYK: On Voyager, she was a last-minute replacement for Canadian actress Geneviève Bujold, who was originally cast as Captain Janeway. Bujold dropped out after filming just a few scenes of the series' first episode, citing the demanding work schedule of a TV series. (Those involved with the show were not entirely unhappy as they felt, based on her work in those first few scenes, that Bujold had been miscast, and was not up to essaying the authoritative personality and gravitas of a starship captain.)

1956: WSPA-TV (channel 7) signs on in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

1956: WRVA-TV (channel 12, now WWBT) begins operating in Richmond, Virginia.

1956: Actress Susan Pratt (General Hospital, Guiding Light, All My Children) is born.

1958: Actress Eve Plumb (The Brady Bunch) is born in Burbank, California.

1961: Wide World of Sports premieres on ABC. The inaugural show features coverage of the Drake Relays from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and the Penn Relays from Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1969: Actor Paul Adelstein (Prison Break, Private Practice) is born in Chicago.

1974: The six and a half hour miniseries QB VII, based on the Leon Uris novel, begins airing on ABC. The series would later be nominated for 13 Emmy Awards, winning 6.

1977: CBN Satellite Service, an arm of Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network, launches. It is one of the first satellite-distributed basic-cable (non-premium) channels. The network offerings include, of course, The 700 Club (three times a day) along with many well-known and lesser-known television evangelists. (As a result, some televangelists begin producing a Monday-through-Friday strip of TV programs in addition to their traditional weekly Sunday shows.)

1978: The final first-run episode of Maude is aired by CBS.

1980: Legendary director Alfred Hitchcock dies from renal failure in Bel-Air, California, aged 80.

1991: Announcer Jay Miltner dies of lung cancer in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, aged 73. For 4 decades, he was “The Voice of WKYC,” working from 1947 to 1986 on Cleveland’s NBC outlet WNBK/KYW-TV/WKYC-TV.

1992: Touched off by the acquittal of four LAPD officers accused in the videotaped beating of Rodney King, The Los Angeles Riots of 1992 begin. Over the next six days, widespread looting, assault, arson and murder occur, and property damages would ultimately top $1 billion. In all, 53 people would die during the riots and thousands more would be injured. L.A. area TV stations would provide practically 24/7 live coverage of the riots, including much footage from helicopter news crews. (Who can forget the horrifying images of driver Reginald Denny being dragged from his truck and beaten almost to death?)

1994: Character actor Bill Quinn dies in Caramillo, California of natural causes, aged 81. His career spanned from silent films in the 1920’s through his final role in the 1989 film “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.” TV Geeks, however, remember him best as the blind barfly Mr. Van Ranseleer on All in the Family/Archie Bunker’s Place.

1995: The last new episode of Empty Nest airs on NBC.

1996: Nickelodeon builds on the success of its “Nick-at-Nite” programming block by launching the new spin-off channel TV Land.

1999: WWF SmackDown! premieres on UPN.

2005: JAG ends a 10-season 227-episode network run (1 season on NBC, followed by nine on CBS).

(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…..)

 

[RicoGregg]

1955: Actress Kate Mulgrew (Mrs. Columbo/Kate Loves a Mystery, Ryan’s Hope, Star Trek: Voyager) is born in Dubuque, Iowa. DYK: On Voyager, she was a last-minute replacement for Canadian actress Geneviève Bujold, who was originally cast as Captain Janeway. Bujold dropped out after filming just a few scenes of the series' first episode, citing the demanding work schedule of a TV series. (Those involved with the show were not entirely unhappy as they felt, based on her work in those first few scenes, that Bujold had been miscast, and was not up to essaying the authoritative personality and gravitas of a starship captain.)

Genevieve Bujold is the personification of the saying that it's better to be lucky than good. Her performance in the alleged sci-fi thriller Coma is stiff, grim, and brutal. I think the film was called Coma because it potentially could put you into that state. One of the worst actresses to ever get anywhere, ever.

1992: Touched off by the acquittal of four LAPD officers accused in the videotaped beating of Rodney King, The Los Angeles Riots of 1992 begin. Over the next six days, widespread looting, assault, arson and murder occur, and property damages would ultimately top $1 billion. In all, 53 people would die during the riots and thousands more would be injured. L.A. area TV stations would provide practically 24/7 live coverage of the riots, including much footage from helicopter news crews. (Who can forget the horrifying images of driver Reginald Denny being dragged from his truck and beaten almost to death?)

It didn't have to happen. When the first flare-ups occurred at the Florence & Normandie intersection, LAPD Chief Darryl Gates was attending a political fund raiser that was against city measure "F", which would give civilian control over the LAPD. He had left strict instructions that he was not to be disturbed under any circumstances.

The officers at the scene wanted to call not only for back-up, but for the SWAT team. At the time, only the Chief had the authority to call for the SWAT unit, and he couldn't be bothered at that time. It's strongly speculated that if they had been able to summon the SWAT team, the civil disturbance could have been kept to an area of a few square blocks, and would have been over in a matter of a few hours.

Instead, all units in the area wound up abandoning the vicinity, and for all intents and purposes, the city was left to fend for itself. All because Darryl Gates couldn't be bothered to do his job. As a result of this, the National Guard was called in to do what the LAPD couldn't and wouldn't do - restore order to the city of Los Angeles.

Needless to say, the system has changed because of Gates' foolishness, and also because of this, city measure "F" passed overwhelmingly. In my opinion, Darryl Gates was one of the biggest boobs to ever be a police chief.

According to an acquaintance of mine who was working at one of the local TV stations at the time, a field reporter, and unfortunately I can't name her because I promised not to, had a major hissy fit in front of everyone in the newsroom when she found out that her puff piece was being scrubbed due to the civil disturbance. She actually went to the News Director to plead for it to be run anyway. She is no longer with the station.

The gang member who beat Reginald Denny halfway to death, Damien "Football" Williams, is now serving a life sentence on an unrelated charge.

 

[bpatrick]

I was always under the impression that WSPA
signed on on April 8, 1956. But a Google search
confirms you're right.

 

[Stanislav]

I was always under the impression that WSPA
signed on on April 8, 1956. But a Google search
confirms you're right.

We may both be right -- as I've pointed out before, I consider a station's start date to be when they begin a regular schedule of programs, not merely when they first fire up the transmitter to run tests. It's entirely possible that WSPA did some intermittent testing starting the 8th, but officially signed-on 3 weeks later.

 

[LynnW]

Bujold can't possibly be a worse actress than Mulgrew. It simply isn't possible to have less than no talent. And Mulgrew has to be considerably older than that birthdate.

 

[RyanHoward]

Here's one I want to add to it:

1958: Actress Michelle Pfeiffer(Delta House, but probably best known as a
Hollywood film actress), is born in Santa Ana, California.

 

[mleach]

Just a few random TV related events that happened on April 29. Discuss or comment as you please……


1956: WRVA-TV (channel 12, now WWBT) begins operating in Richmond, Virginia.

For many years there was an online story about the history of Richmond, VA televsion on the WWBT site. It seems that WRVA/WWBT was the first ( and maybe the only ) TV station in America that had its own...get this...SWIMMING POOL !!!!!!

I wonder if that pool is still there at WWBT?

 

[LKellerIII]

1992: Touched off by the acquittal of four LAPD officers accused in the videotaped beating of Rodney King, The Los Angeles Riots of 1992 begin. Over the next six days, widespread looting, assault, arson and murder occur, and property damages would ultimately top $1 billion. In all, 53 people would die during the riots and thousands more would be injured. L.A. area TV stations would provide practically 24/7 live coverage of the riots, including much footage from helicopter news crews. (Who can forget the horrifying images of driver Reginald Denny being dragged from his truck and beaten almost to death?)

It didn't have to happen. When the first flare-ups occurred at the Florence & Normandie intersection, LAPD Chief Darryl Gates was attending a political fund raiser that was against city measure "F", which would give civilian control over the LAPD. He had left strict instructions that he was not to be disturbed under any circumstances.

The officers at the scene wanted to call not only for back-up, but for the SWAT team. At the time, only the Chief had the authority to call for the SWAT unit, and he couldn't be bothered at that time. It's strongly speculated that if they had been able to summon the SWAT team, the civil disturbance could have been kept to an area of a few square blocks, and would have been over in a matter of a few hours.

Instead, all units in the area wound up abandoning the vicinity, and for all intents and purposes, the city was left to fend for itself. All because Darryl Gates couldn't be bothered to do his job. As a result of this, the National Guard was called in to do what the LAPD couldn't and wouldn't do - restore order to the city of Los Angeles.

Needless to say, the system has changed because of Gates' foolishness, and also because of this, city measure "F" passed overwhelmingly. In my opinion, Darryl Gates was one of the biggest boobs to ever be a police chief.

Truly. The flip side of "no good deed goes unpunished" must be "incompetence will be rewarded.". After leaving Los Angeles and the LAPD a much worse place, Gates parlayed his infamy into a well-paid gig as a talk show host on KFI radio, or as Tom Leykis referred to the station "KKKFI." Leykis was a bit bitter at the time because the station fired him when they hired Gates as his replacement.

Eventually, Gates himself was fired by Program Director David Hall. A classless jerk to the bitter end, Gates reportedly threatened Hall, and told him to "watch his back"

 

[radioman148]

Here's one I want to add to it:

1958: Actress Michelle Pfeiffer(Delta House, but probably best known as a
Hollywood film actress), is born in Santa Ana, California.

She's definitely worth adding.

 

[firepoint525]

Here's one I want to add to it:
1958: Actress Michelle Pfeiffer(Delta House, but probably best known as a
Hollywood film actress), is born in Santa Ana, California.

She's definitely worth adding.

So she was about 24 by the time she played a high school student in Grease 2. Which was but a mere child compared to Olivia Newton-John, who was a 30-something when she played Sandy in the first Grease.

 

[radioman148]

Here's one I want to add to it:
1958: Actress Michelle Pfeiffer(Delta House, but probably best known as a
Hollywood film actress), is born in Santa Ana, California.

She's definitely worth adding.

So she was about 24 by the time she played a high school student in Grease 2. Which was but a mere child compared to Olivia Newton-John, who was a 30-something when she played Sandy in the first Grease.

Yes that is true Olivia was 30.

 

[Tim L]

1991: Announcer Jay Miltner dies of lung cancer in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, aged 73. For 4 decades, he was “The Voice of WKYC,” working from 1947 to 1986 on Cleveland’s NBC outlet WNBK/KYW-TV/WKYC-TV.

Here is a sign-off from Jay Miltner-1976

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjM18MDqswc

From about 1985-86-On Camera for an intro to "AM Cleveland" with Scott Newell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TWIYRAGOUU

 

[wbhist]

1974: WNBC-TV (Channel 4) in New York City launches the first two-hour local newscast in the nation, NewsCenter4. The initial anchors were Jim Hartz and a newcomer to the station, Charles (later to become Chuck) Scarborough. Among the other early regulars were newsreader Jim Van Sickle and consumer reporter Betty Furness. Only a few months afterward, Mr. Hartz was named co-anchor of the Today show following the death of Frank McGee; and Ms. Furness would remain a fixture on WNBC until her controversial firing in 1992. Mr. Scarborough is still with WNBC today, the only NC4-era mainstay to still be with the station. DYK: About five weeks prior to the premiere, a run-through with Mr. Hartz and Mr. Van Sickle was taped and made part of an NBC "gag reel," in which the latter read a bogus "bulletin" about President and Mrs. Nixon.

 

[hubcity]

DYK: About five weeks prior to the premiere, a run-through with Mr. Hartz and Mr. Van Sickle was taped and made part of an NBC "gag reel," in which the latter read a bogus "bulletin" about President and Mrs. Nixon.

I love that clip (with Van Sickle delivering the punchline with consummate newsman gravitas) and had always wondered what the story was behind its existence. Any further details?

 

[RicoGregg]

Truly. The flip side of "no good deed goes unpunished" must be "incompetence will be rewarded.". After leaving Los Angeles and the LAPD a much worse place, Gates parlayed his infamy into a well-paid gig as a talk show host on KFI radio, or as Tom Leykis referred to the station "KKKFI." Leykis was a bit bitter at the time because the station fired him when they hired Gates as his replacement.

Eventually, Gates himself was fired by Program Director David Hall. A classless jerk to the bitter end, Gates reportedly threatened Hall, and told him to "watch his back"

Another Darryl "What a great guy" Gates story: On the first or second night of the chaos, rioters damaged windows and much of the front entrance to the L.A. Times, which was a frequent critic of Gates. At one of his many "We're doing everything we can" press conferences, Gates congratulated the rioters who damaged and looted the Times.

He later said that he was only kidding, and that he was trying to add some levity to a tense situation. Great timing.

 

[wbhist]

DYK: About five weeks prior to the premiere, a run-through with Mr. Hartz and Mr. Van Sickle was taped and made part of an NBC "gag reel," in which the latter read a bogus "bulletin" about President and Mrs. Nixon.

I love that clip (with Van Sickle delivering the punchline with consummate newsman gravitas) and had always wondered what the story was behind its existence. Any further details?

The punchline had its basis in an actual Nixon quote from a speech he gave in 1960 during his run against John F. Kennedy, in which he was talking about foreign policy challenges facing America. It was one of those things which had some people scratching their heads and wondering about his choice of words.

As for how this clip came about: It was likely one of those things where they were making out the format prior to the official premiere, to see how it would play over 2 hours.

The other thing: The hole at 4:30 left by the cancellation of Movie 4 was filled by repeats of Room 222. After the end of NBC's daytime schedule was shaved from 4:30 to 4:00, WNBC then put in reruns of what was called Robert Young, Family Doctor, since Marcus Welby, M.D. was still running new episodes on ABC at the time.

 

[Ultimajock]

The flip side of "no good deed goes unpunished" must be "incompetence will be rewarded.". After leaving Los Angeles and the LAPD a much worse place, Gates parlayed his infamy into a well-paid gig as a talk show host on KFI radio, or as Tom Leykis referred to the station "KKKFI." Leykis was a bit bitter at the time because the station fired him when they hired Gates as his replacement.

Eventually, Gates himself was fired by Program Director David Hall. A classless jerk to the bitter end, Gates reportedly threatened Hall, and told him to "watch his back"

...ironically, when Leykis got his Westwood One nationally-syndicated show in 1994, aired in Los Angeles on KMPC (bought from Gene Autry by ABC to compete against KFI), one of his first guests was Gates, newly cut from the KFI schedule. Gates and Leykis were in unusually cordial form that day, considering that the riots had kept Leykis away from KFI's Koreatown studios a couple of years earlier. Of course, Leykis' on-air snipings at Hall lasted until Tom's last day on the air at KLSX this past February...

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

1970: Tennis star Andre Agassi, who was married to actress Brooke Shields between 1997-99, is born in Las Vegas.

 

[easttxtv]

1991: Announcer Jay Miltner dies of lung cancer in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, aged 73. For 4 decades, he was “The Voice of WKYC,” working from 1947 to 1986 on Cleveland’s NBC outlet WNBK/KYW-TV/WKYC-TV.

Here is a sign-off from Jay Miltner-1976

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjM18MDqswc

From about 1985-86-On Camera for an intro to "AM Cleveland" with Scott Newell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TWIYRAGOUU

A quick update: the 1st YT sample is gone now, but the 2nd is still there.

 

[LKellerIII]

1974: WNBC-TV (Channel 4) in New York City launches the first two-hour local newscast in the nation, NewsCenter4. The initial anchors were Jim Hartz and a newcomer to the station, Charles (later to become Chuck) Scarborough. Among the other early regulars were newsreader Jim Van Sickle and consumer reporter Betty Furness. Only a few months afterward, Mr. Hartz was named co-anchor of the Today show following the death of Frank McGee; and Ms. Furness would remain a fixture on WNBC until her controversial firing in 1992. Mr. Scarborough is still with WNBC today, the only NC4-era mainstay to still be with the station. DYK: About five weeks prior to the premiere, a run-through with Mr. Hartz and Mr. Van Sickle was taped and made part of an NBC "gag reel," in which the latter read a bogus "bulletin" about President and Mrs. Nixon.

I guess it depends on how you define "2 hour newscast" - but if you're talking about a continuous local news block from 5:00 to 7:00, I'm positive KNBC was doing this a few years earlier. It was being done when I left the LA area in 1973, so I know it was definitely prior to 74. They were still calling it KNBC News Service - they didn't start using the NewsCenter 4 title until a couple of years later. Jess Marlow anchored at 5:00 and Tom Snyder anchored at 6:00. The NBC network news followed at 7:00.

Tom Brokaw anchored at 11:00, by the way - KNBC was very strong in the early 70s.