January 12: This Day in TV History

[Stanislav]

Just a few random TV related events that happened on January 12. Discuss or comment as you please……

1950: CBS begins the first demonstrations of color television to the American general public, showing an hour of color programs daily Mondays through Saturdays over WOIC-TV (channel 9) in Washington, D.C., where they could be viewed on eight 16-inch color receivers in a public building. (Home viewers, of course, see nothing but static on their black-and-white sets.)

1951: Actress Kirstie Alley (Cheers, Veronica’s Closet) is born in Wichita, Kansas.

1965: Hullabaloo debuts on NBC.

1966: Batman premieres on ABC.

1969: The AFL finally gets some respect as Joe Namath leads the New York Jets to a 16-7 upset victory over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III in Miami. A nationwide audience (except in Miami, where the then-unconditional blackout rules applied even with a sellout in the Orange Bowl) watches the game on NBC, with Curt Gowdy, Al DeRogatis, and Kyle Rote in the booth. DYK: This is the earliest Super Bowl that survives in its entirety on videotape.

1971: All in the Family debuts on CBS, and begins breaking new TV ground for controversial subject matter and language. So nervous was CBS about the topics to be covered that the network preceded the first broadcast with a disclaimer: “The program you are about to see is 'All in the Family.' It seeks to throw a humorous spotlight on our frailties, prejudices, and concerns. By making them a source of laughter we hope to show, in a mature fashion, just how absurd they are.”

1979: XHRIO-TV begins transmitting on channel 2 in the Mexican estado of Tamaulipas. Although the channel is allocated to serve the city of Matamoros, the station is a U.S. venture beaming English-language programming into the Brownsville-Harlingen-McAllen, Texas market from a transmitter just a few miles south of the border. (It is now the Fox affiliate for the market.) The station’s Wikipedia page has some interesting highlights of its early, quasi-legal history.

1981: Dynasty premieres on ABC.

1982: American Playhouse debuts on PBS.

1997: King of the Hill premieres on Fox.

2001: Lizzie McGuire debuts on the Disney Channel.

(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…..)

 

[easttxtv]

1965: Hullabaloo debuts on NBC.

1966: Batman premieres on ABC.

1971: All in the Family debuts on CBS...

1981: Dynasty premieres on ABC.

1982: American Playhouse debuts on PBS.

1997: King of the Hill premieres on Fox.

2001: Lizzie McGuire debuts on the Disney Channel.

Interesting to see so many show debuts on a single date that isn't on a typical fall/season-premiere timeframe.

 

[bpatrick]

IIRC, the disclaimer at the beginning of "All In The Family"
was used all through the first thirteen weeks but had been
eliminated by the fall of 1971. The show was such a radical
departure from the sitcoms of that era that CBS was afraid
of a huge national backlash. It didn't come; most people who
called CBS or its affiliates after that first show thought it was
a breath of fresh air. "AITF" went on to become, arguably, the
most popular show of the '70s.

 

[stevezodiac]

Just a few random TV related events that happened on January 12. Discuss or comment as you please……

1950: CBS begins the first demonstrations of color television to the American general public, showing an hour of color programs daily Mondays through Saturdays over WOIC-TV (channel 9) in Washington, D.C., where they could be viewed on eight 16-inch color receivers in a public building. (Home viewers, of course, see nothing but static on their black-and-white sets.)

If you haven't already read it, here's some interesting info about that early non-NTSC color programing from Ed Reitan:
http://novia.net/~ereitan/CBS_Chronology_rev_h_edit.htm

And also from Ed, a programing schedule of those colorcasts:
http://novia.net/~ereitan/CBS_Color_Programming_rev_h.htm

 

[Stanislav]

Just a few random TV related events that happened on January 12. Discuss or comment as you please……

1950: CBS begins the first demonstrations of color television to the American general public, showing an hour of color programs daily Mondays through Saturdays over WOIC-TV (channel 9) in Washington, D.C., where they could be viewed on eight 16-inch color receivers in a public building. (Home viewers, of course, see nothing but static on their black-and-white sets.)

If you haven't already read it, here's some interesting info about that early non-NTSC color programing from Ed Reitan:
http://novia.net/~ereitan/CBS_Chronology_rev_h_edit.htm

And also from Ed, a programing schedule of those colorcasts:
http://novia.net/~ereitan/CBS_Color_Programming_rev_h.htm

Warning: you could easily find yourself spending a couple of hours exploring Ed Reitan's site -- he's got a lot of fascinating stuff there!

 

[stevezodiac]

Warning: you could easily find yourself spending a couple of hours exploring Ed Reitan's site -- he's got a lot of fascinating stuff there!
[/quote]

Well Stanislav, that makes you the enabler!
Here is something else I found: http://earlytelevision.org/tv_color_controversy.html

When you get down to the photos of the RCA system, note "Bulky converrters would be needed for color conversion (on B&W sets)." Did they ever produce or sell any of these?

 

[Stanislav]

That site also has Bob Cooper's VERY detailed history of the color wars -- I don't think there's a better account out there:

http://www.earlytelevision.org/color_tv_cooper.html

 

[Corky Marlowe]

It indeed is easy to forget how big a deal "All In The Family" was when it premiered...It was such a departure from the standard sitcom, not just in subject matter, but in style and mechanics (videotape and live audience as opposed to film and laugh track). It's also interesting how well a live audience served the show, with instances like the audience growling at Edith's would-be rapist, especially when compared to later live audiences cheering whenever a character came on stage during "Happy Days", or probably the worst example, the on-cue "Awwwww" from "Full House".

 

[Joe_Capitano]

And you may remember that for one season - the last, AITF actually took the "laugh track" route, in a sense, by taping the episode separately and then playing it back to a live studio audience, whose response was also recorded and then married to the show in "post".

 

[Stanislav]

And you may remember that for one season - the last, AITF actually took the "laugh track" route, in a sense, by taping the episode separately and then playing it back to a live studio audience, whose response was also recorded and then married to the show in "post".

Which is yards removed from a "laugh track." (Norman Lear hated canned laughter.) It was still real people genuinely reacting to the specifics of the episode, with the only difference being that they were not physically present when the show was taped. It did, though, IMHO, make for a rather more stilted style in the later seasons and on Archie Bunker's Place. Timing is bound to be off when you are not reacting to audience responses in real time.

 

[bpatrick]

David Dukes, who played the rapist on that memorable
"AITF" episode, once said it was the only time in his career
that he got a hostile reception from an audience. Dukes,
though, seems to be thoroughly secure as an actor; he once
said he had no desire to be a star, he just wanted to be able
to work with good people.

For years Kirstie Alley claimed she was born in 1955 (actors
are prone to shave years off their ages if it means whether or
not they work); a high-school classmate came forward and
said they graduated together in 1969. So 1951 is the correct
year of her birth.

 

[LKellerIII]

David Dukes, who played the rapist on that memorable
"AITF" episode, once said it was the only time in his career
that he got a hostile reception from an audience. Dukes,
though, seems to be thoroughly secure as an actor; he once
said he had no desire to be a star, he just wanted to be able
to work with good people.

For years Kirstie Alley claimed she was born in 1955 (actors
are prone to shave years off their ages if it means whether or
not they work); a high-school classmate came forward and
said they graduated together in 1969. So 1951 is the correct
year of her birth.

Not so fast! Maybe Kirstie is a high IQ overachiever, and graduated high school at age 14...kind of a Doogie Houser of the acting world.

 

[ShawnHill1]

And you may remember that for one season - the last, AITF actually took the "laugh track" route, in a sense, by taping the episode separately and then playing it back to a live studio audience, whose response was also recorded and then married to the show in "post".

To expand a little further...they would tape two versions of the same episode (one at 5:30pm, the other at 7pm), and in the finished product, they would use the best takes from both tapings, and blend them in.

If I remember correctly, it was Rob Reiner who once explained in one of those "AITF" specials that he and Carroll O'Connor basically re-wrote an entire dialouge of one episode after the first taping because they were both unhappy with the initial taping. He said that the second taping got much better response, and that one was used for broadcast. However, he never mentioned (as far as I remember) what particular episode that was for.

 

[bpatrick]

Nope. Seems her classmate was able to prove
she was 18 in 1969; besides, I don't know of anyone
in real life, although there may be some I've never
heard of, who could skip four grades. Somehow I
don't think Kirstie is one of them.

 

[Ultimajock]

1971: All in the Family debuts on CBS, and begins breaking new TV ground for controversial subject matter and language. So nervous was CBS about the topics to be covered that the network preceded the first broadcast with a disclaimer: “The program you are about to see is 'All in the Family.' It seeks to throw a humorous spotlight on our frailties, prejudices, and concerns. By making them a source of laughter we hope to show, in a mature fashion, just how absurd they are.”

...in one of the first installments of his Los Angeles Free Press TV column The Glass Teat (later collected into a single paperback volume under that name), Harlan Ellison enthusiastically reported on what he saw at the ABC taping of one of the two pilots for All in the Family, then under the working title Those Were the Days, in 1969...

 

[RicoGregg]

Just a few random TV related events that happened on January 12. Discuss or comment as you please……

1969: The AFL finally gets some respect as Joe Namath leads the New York Jets to a 16-7 upset victory over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III in Miami. A nationwide audience (except in Miami, where the then-unconditional blackout rules applied even with a sellout in the Orange Bowl) watches the game on NBC, with Curt Gowdy, Al DeRogatis, and Kyle Rote in the booth. DYK: This is the earliest Super Bowl that survives in its entirety on videotape.

This topic cannot disappear without some mention of Super Bowl III.

From attending my first San Diego Charger game in old Balboa Stadium in 1965, I became an AFL fan immediately, if not sooner. In the very first game I saw, the opposition was the New York Jets, with rookie Joe Namath at QB.

I had survived verbal taunts of NFL fans for the years leading up to Super Bowl III. It was one of the happiest days of my life as a sports fan when the scoreboard read JETS 16, COLTS 7. A lot of things in pro football changed after that day.

The game video gets shown occasionally on ESPN Classic and the NFL Network, for those lucky enough to receive the latter. Also seen is the SBIII highlight film, which was produced by NFL Films. The executive producer is Steve Sabol, son of NFL Films founder Ed Sabol. Steve Sabol was also one of the cinematographers that day. He was ultimately responsible for putting the highlight film together. Whenever the SBIII film is shown nowadays, an insert featuring Steve Sabol is included. He mentions that, in his words, "I blew it!" Sabol admitted to being a die-hard Colts fan, and being in denial badly about his beloved Colts losing the game.

The film of SBIII is basically a highlight film of the Colts, and a tribute to Johnny Unitas. After it's over, you ask yourself "Just who the hell won that game?" Sabol is now remorseful about how the film came out, and apologized to AFL fans for his mishandling of the production.

I wonder if he still has footage that was edited out leftover, such as scenes of the Jets scoring, and Jet highlights, and scenes indicating that there were two teams playing that day, so that he could perhaps do a makeover, and make things right? He's only had forty years to do that.

 

[AH3RD]

1966: Batman premieres on ABC.

And television would never, ever again be the same!!!!!! 8)

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

January 12 is also the birthdays for two radio hosts with television backgrounds:

1951: Rush Limbaugh, born in Cape Girardeau, MO.

1954: Howard Stern, born in Jackson Heights, NY.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

1966: Batman premieres on ABC.

And television would never, ever again be the same!!!!!! 8)

Or as Ben Stiller's "Tom Cruise" character would have thought on SNL's "Celebrity Jeopardy!" back in October 1998, in response to an Audio Daily Double with the "Batman" theme, "What is M*A*S*H?" (Sorry I couldn't help myself today--ever since I first saw that skit any time I hear or read something about "Batman" I sometimes think of "M*A*S*H"). ;D ;D

Transcript of the above Celebrity Jeopardy skit:

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/98/98djeopardy.phtml

 

[bpatrick]

1955: Last primetime broadcast of the game show "Strike It Rich"
(although the daytime show will continue until 1958). For its entire
run it was in and out of trouble with the city of New York, which
claimed it should be registered as a welfare agency; numerous
contestants wound up stranded in the city and had to go on welfare
(much like losers on "Major Bowes' Amateur Hour" in the '30s who had
sold everything to afford bus fare to NYC, been turned away, and had
been forced to join the city's welfare rolls). The following week another
show where (fictional) people "strike it rich" debuts and becomes one of
the era's biggest hits: "The Millionaire."