Just a few random TV related events that happened on July 17. Discuss or comment as you please……
1902: TV personality Art Linkletter (People Are Funny, House Party, Kids Say the Darndest Things) is born (as Gordon Arthur Kelly) in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
1928: Musician/composer Vince Guaraldi is born in San Francisco. His delightful jazz scores would enliven a total of 16 “Peanuts” TV specials (beginning with the very first, A Charlie Brown Christmas), as well as the full-length movie “A Boy Named Charlie Brown.”
1935: Actress Diahann Carroll (Julia, Dynasty, A Different World, Grey’s Anatomy) is born (as Carol Diahann Johnson) in The Bronx, New York.
1947: Actress Phyllis Davis (Vegas$) is born in Port Arthur, Texas. In addition to many guest starring roles, she was part of the unheralded group of actors who performed in the short “blackout” sketches between segments of ABC’s Love, American Style. (She was the voluptuous, often bikini-clad brunette.)
1951: Actress Lucie Arnaz (Here's Lucy) is born in Los Angeles.
1952: Actor David Hasselhoff (Knight Rider, Baywatch) is born in Baltimore, Maryland.
1954: CFCM (channel 4) begins broadcasting as Quebec’s first privately owned TV station. Originally a bilingual station, it switched to French-only 3 years later when CKMI-TV signed on.
1955: The opening of Disneyland is televised in a live TV special, hosted by Walt Disney, assisted by Art Linkletter, Ronald Reagan, and Bob Cummings.
1960: Producer Mark Burnett is born in London, England. He is blamed for…er…I mean credited with introducing the “reality TV” genre to the U.S., producing the American version of Survivor.
1961: KUSD-TV (channel 2) signs on in Vermillion, South Dakota, as that state’s first educational TV station.
1965: WLCY (channel 10) begins broadcasting in Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida. The sign-on follows a decade-long court battle between five prospective owners seeking the license. The station affiliates with ABC, but then spends its first month and a half as an independent station, while previous ABC affiliate WSUN-TV (channel 38) fights in court to keep the affiliation. WLCY ultimately wins, and formally switches to ABC on September 1, spelling the doom and quick demise of WSUN.
1983: Ponch and Jon doff their helmets for good as CHiPs airs its final original network episode on NBC.
1984: W*A*L*T*E*R, a M*A*S*H spin-off (and unsold pilot), gets its one and only airing as a “CBS Special Presentation.” The premise had former 4077th Company Clerk Walter “Radar” O’Reilly moving from his native Iowa after his mother’s death to St. Louis, where he becomes a police officer.
1998: Family Matters ends a 9-year network run (ABC/CBS).
(Just a little featurette I hope to do as time permits…..don’t expect it every single day. 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…..)
1902: TV personality Art Linkletter (People Are Funny, House Party, Kids Say the Darndest Things) is born (as Gordon Arthur Kelly) in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
1928: Musician/composer Vince Guaraldi is born in San Francisco. His delightful jazz scores would enliven a total of 16 “Peanuts” TV specials (beginning with the very first, A Charlie Brown Christmas), as well as the full-length movie “A Boy Named Charlie Brown.”
1935: Actress Diahann Carroll (Julia, Dynasty, A Different World, Grey’s Anatomy) is born (as Carol Diahann Johnson) in The Bronx, New York.
1947: Actress Phyllis Davis (Vegas$) is born in Port Arthur, Texas. In addition to many guest starring roles, she was part of the unheralded group of actors who performed in the short “blackout” sketches between segments of ABC’s Love, American Style. (She was the voluptuous, often bikini-clad brunette.)
1951: Actress Lucie Arnaz (Here's Lucy) is born in Los Angeles.
1952: Actor David Hasselhoff (Knight Rider, Baywatch) is born in Baltimore, Maryland.
1954: CFCM (channel 4) begins broadcasting as Quebec’s first privately owned TV station. Originally a bilingual station, it switched to French-only 3 years later when CKMI-TV signed on.
1955: The opening of Disneyland is televised in a live TV special, hosted by Walt Disney, assisted by Art Linkletter, Ronald Reagan, and Bob Cummings.
1960: Producer Mark Burnett is born in London, England. He is blamed for…er…I mean credited with introducing the “reality TV” genre to the U.S., producing the American version of Survivor.
1961: KUSD-TV (channel 2) signs on in Vermillion, South Dakota, as that state’s first educational TV station.
1965: WLCY (channel 10) begins broadcasting in Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida. The sign-on follows a decade-long court battle between five prospective owners seeking the license. The station affiliates with ABC, but then spends its first month and a half as an independent station, while previous ABC affiliate WSUN-TV (channel 38) fights in court to keep the affiliation. WLCY ultimately wins, and formally switches to ABC on September 1, spelling the doom and quick demise of WSUN.
1983: Ponch and Jon doff their helmets for good as CHiPs airs its final original network episode on NBC.
1984: W*A*L*T*E*R, a M*A*S*H spin-off (and unsold pilot), gets its one and only airing as a “CBS Special Presentation.” The premise had former 4077th Company Clerk Walter “Radar” O’Reilly moving from his native Iowa after his mother’s death to St. Louis, where he becomes a police officer.
1998: Family Matters ends a 9-year network run (ABC/CBS).
(Just a little featurette I hope to do as time permits…..don’t expect it every single day. 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…..)
