Just a few random TV related events that happened on February 11. Discuss or comment as you please……
1919: Actress Eva Gabor (Green Acres) is born in Budapest, Hungary.
1934: Actress Tina Louise (Gilligan’s Island) is born (as Tina Blacker) in New York City.
1938: The first known science fiction program on television anywhere in the world is broadcast by the BBC: a 35-minute adaptation of a section of the play “R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)” by Czech writer Karel Čapek. (The work that introduced and popularized the word “robot.”)
1958: After a two-month hiatus for transmitter relocation, the former WROM-TV (channel 9, Rome, Georgia) returns to the air as WTVC in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The move was precipitated by Columbus station WTVM being granted a move from channel 28 to channel 9, leaving WROM too close for comfort, both propagationally and legally. (The two stations were co-owned, and FCC rules at the time prohibited a single entity from owning two stations whose coverage areas overlapped.)
1960: Jack Paar famously quits The Tonight Show and walks off on-air, commenting, in part, “There must be a better way to make a living than this,” and leaving a surprised co-host Hugh Downs to finish the show. Paar was incensed at NBC’s censoring of a not terribly ribald joke (even by 1960 standards) involving a “W.C.” (an abbreviation for “water closet,” a British term for a bathroom), deleting the joke from the previous night’s videotape. Paar was angered by the network’s action, but even angrier at the fact that the network failed to do the courtesy of informing him of the edit, which he only became aware of while watching the broadcast. His exodus would last less than a month: on March 7, he would return to the show. “I believe the last thing I said was ‘There must be a better way to make a living than this,’” he would comment. “Well, I've looked...and there isn't."
1963: The French Chef debuts on Boston’s WGBH-TV. Soon to be distributed nationally to NET (later PBS) stations, the show makes a cultural icon of Julia Child.
1969: Actress Jennifer Aniston (Friends) is born in Sherman Oaks, California.
1972: The Merv Griffin Show breathes its last on CBS, thenceforth to become a syndicated series.
1976: Actor Brice Beckham (Mr. Belvedere) is born in Long Beach, California.
1979: Some 43 million viewers tune in to watch Elvis!, an ABC TV-movie starring Kurt Russell as Elvis Presley.
1979: Singer/actress Brandy (Moesha) is born (as Brandy Rayana Norwood) in McComb, Mississippi.
1980:Actor Matthew Lawrence (Boy Meets World) is born in Abington, Pennsylvania.
1986: Can you say “stunt casting gone loco?” Boy George makes an improbable guest appearance on The A-Team.
1988: The quirky sitcom The Charmings, with a “fish out of water” premise portraying Snow White and Prince Charming (now a married couple) transported to 1980’s suburbia, airs its 21st and final episode on ABC. Although the show had achieved a cult following, poor time slots and a between-seasons replacement of the leading lady doomed it to failure.
1989: Actor and voice artist George O’Hanlon (The Jetsons) dies of a stroke in Los Angeles, aged 79. He had this very day just completed recording his voice tracks for “Jetsons: The Movie.” The film was released by Universal Pictures in 1990 and dedicated to the memory of both O'Hanlon (George Jetson) and co-star Mel Blanc (Mr. Spacely), who died 5 months after O’Hanlon.
1994: A great actor, a magnificent voice. Actor and narrator William Conrad (The Fugitive, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Cannon, Jake and the Fatman) dies from congestive heart failure in Los Angeles, aged 73.
1994: Actor Sorrell Booke (The Dukes of Hazzard) dies of colorectal cancer in Sherman Oaks, California, aged 64. In marked contrast to the hillbilly persona of his most famous role as “Boss Hogg,” Booke was educated at Columbia and Yale, served as a counterintelligence officer during the Korean War, and spoke five languages, including Japanese.
1995: The "just a dream" scenario of the finale of Newhart is parodied on Saturday Night Live when at the end of the program guest host Bob Newhart (as Bob Hartley) wakes up with wife Emily (Suzanne Pleshette), telling her that he just dreamt he had hosted SNL. (To which Emily responds, "That show's not still on, is it?")
1997: Actor Don Porter (Private Secretary/The Ann Sothern Show, Gidget) dies in Beverly Hills, California, aged 84.
(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…..)
1919: Actress Eva Gabor (Green Acres) is born in Budapest, Hungary.
1934: Actress Tina Louise (Gilligan’s Island) is born (as Tina Blacker) in New York City.
1938: The first known science fiction program on television anywhere in the world is broadcast by the BBC: a 35-minute adaptation of a section of the play “R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)” by Czech writer Karel Čapek. (The work that introduced and popularized the word “robot.”)
1958: After a two-month hiatus for transmitter relocation, the former WROM-TV (channel 9, Rome, Georgia) returns to the air as WTVC in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The move was precipitated by Columbus station WTVM being granted a move from channel 28 to channel 9, leaving WROM too close for comfort, both propagationally and legally. (The two stations were co-owned, and FCC rules at the time prohibited a single entity from owning two stations whose coverage areas overlapped.)
1960: Jack Paar famously quits The Tonight Show and walks off on-air, commenting, in part, “There must be a better way to make a living than this,” and leaving a surprised co-host Hugh Downs to finish the show. Paar was incensed at NBC’s censoring of a not terribly ribald joke (even by 1960 standards) involving a “W.C.” (an abbreviation for “water closet,” a British term for a bathroom), deleting the joke from the previous night’s videotape. Paar was angered by the network’s action, but even angrier at the fact that the network failed to do the courtesy of informing him of the edit, which he only became aware of while watching the broadcast. His exodus would last less than a month: on March 7, he would return to the show. “I believe the last thing I said was ‘There must be a better way to make a living than this,’” he would comment. “Well, I've looked...and there isn't."
1963: The French Chef debuts on Boston’s WGBH-TV. Soon to be distributed nationally to NET (later PBS) stations, the show makes a cultural icon of Julia Child.
1969: Actress Jennifer Aniston (Friends) is born in Sherman Oaks, California.
1972: The Merv Griffin Show breathes its last on CBS, thenceforth to become a syndicated series.
1976: Actor Brice Beckham (Mr. Belvedere) is born in Long Beach, California.
1979: Some 43 million viewers tune in to watch Elvis!, an ABC TV-movie starring Kurt Russell as Elvis Presley.
1979: Singer/actress Brandy (Moesha) is born (as Brandy Rayana Norwood) in McComb, Mississippi.
1980:Actor Matthew Lawrence (Boy Meets World) is born in Abington, Pennsylvania.
1986: Can you say “stunt casting gone loco?” Boy George makes an improbable guest appearance on The A-Team.
1988: The quirky sitcom The Charmings, with a “fish out of water” premise portraying Snow White and Prince Charming (now a married couple) transported to 1980’s suburbia, airs its 21st and final episode on ABC. Although the show had achieved a cult following, poor time slots and a between-seasons replacement of the leading lady doomed it to failure.
1989: Actor and voice artist George O’Hanlon (The Jetsons) dies of a stroke in Los Angeles, aged 79. He had this very day just completed recording his voice tracks for “Jetsons: The Movie.” The film was released by Universal Pictures in 1990 and dedicated to the memory of both O'Hanlon (George Jetson) and co-star Mel Blanc (Mr. Spacely), who died 5 months after O’Hanlon.
1994: A great actor, a magnificent voice. Actor and narrator William Conrad (The Fugitive, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Cannon, Jake and the Fatman) dies from congestive heart failure in Los Angeles, aged 73.
1994: Actor Sorrell Booke (The Dukes of Hazzard) dies of colorectal cancer in Sherman Oaks, California, aged 64. In marked contrast to the hillbilly persona of his most famous role as “Boss Hogg,” Booke was educated at Columbia and Yale, served as a counterintelligence officer during the Korean War, and spoke five languages, including Japanese.
1995: The "just a dream" scenario of the finale of Newhart is parodied on Saturday Night Live when at the end of the program guest host Bob Newhart (as Bob Hartley) wakes up with wife Emily (Suzanne Pleshette), telling her that he just dreamt he had hosted SNL. (To which Emily responds, "That show's not still on, is it?")
1997: Actor Don Porter (Private Secretary/The Ann Sothern Show, Gidget) dies in Beverly Hills, California, aged 84.
(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…..)
