Just a few random TV related events that happened on July 27. Discuss or comment as you please……
1922: Producer Norman Lear (All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times, Maude) is born in New Haven, Connecticut.
1931: Actor Jerry Van Dyke (My Mother the Car, Coach) is born in Danville, Illinois.
1940: Warner Brothers releases the new cartoon “A Wild Hare” to theaters. The short, featuring the battle between a sarcastic, carrot-chomping rabbit and a moronic, speech-impaired hunter would flesh out for the first time the characters that millions would grow to love as Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. While a few earlier shorts had featured various incarnations of a similar rabbit character, “A Wild Hare” established most of the basic elements of what modern viewers would recognize as Bugs: his general appearance, his voice (provided by Mel Blanc), his habitual munching of carrots, his wisecracking personality and, of course, the legendary phrase “What’s up, Doc?” The fictional bunny would go on to conquer television as well, both through various syndicated and local packages of old WB cartoons, as well as the eponymous Bugs Bunny Show starting in 1960 on ABC.
1948: Actor and director Betty Thomas (Hill Street Blues) is born (as Betty Thomas Nienhauser) in St. Louis, Missouri.
1948: Figure skater and TV commentator Peggy Fleming is born in San Jose, California.
1978: WWJ-TV (channel 4, Detroit) changes calls to WDIV-TV. The calls are derived from "D" for Detroit and "IV" for Roman numeral 4. They are also promoted as standing for "Where Detroit Is Vital."
1981: In a specially timed event, characters Ken Barlow and Deirdre Langton marry on ITV’s Coronation Street, just two days before the real-life wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana. The fictional wedding is watched by over 24 million viewers in Britain, actually beating the Royal Wedding in the ratings!
1997: Stargate SG-1 premieres on Showtime.
2003: The great Bob Hope dies at his Toluca Lake home in Los Angeles, aged 100. He had been in poor health for some time, and was the victim of two infamous premature obituaries. In 1998 a prepared AP obituary was accidentally released on the Internet, prompting Hope's death to be announced in the U.S. House of Representatives. And in 2003, not long before his actual demise, he was among several famous figures whose pre-written obits were published on the CNN website due to a lapse in password protection.
2007: News helicopters from Phoenix TV stations KNXV-TV and KTVK collide while covering a police car pursuit. All four people on both helicopters (each carrying a pilot and a reporter) are killed. KNXV’s helicopter is broadcasting live at the time of the collision.
(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…..)
1922: Producer Norman Lear (All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times, Maude) is born in New Haven, Connecticut.
1931: Actor Jerry Van Dyke (My Mother the Car, Coach) is born in Danville, Illinois.
1940: Warner Brothers releases the new cartoon “A Wild Hare” to theaters. The short, featuring the battle between a sarcastic, carrot-chomping rabbit and a moronic, speech-impaired hunter would flesh out for the first time the characters that millions would grow to love as Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. While a few earlier shorts had featured various incarnations of a similar rabbit character, “A Wild Hare” established most of the basic elements of what modern viewers would recognize as Bugs: his general appearance, his voice (provided by Mel Blanc), his habitual munching of carrots, his wisecracking personality and, of course, the legendary phrase “What’s up, Doc?” The fictional bunny would go on to conquer television as well, both through various syndicated and local packages of old WB cartoons, as well as the eponymous Bugs Bunny Show starting in 1960 on ABC.
1948: Actor and director Betty Thomas (Hill Street Blues) is born (as Betty Thomas Nienhauser) in St. Louis, Missouri.
1948: Figure skater and TV commentator Peggy Fleming is born in San Jose, California.
1978: WWJ-TV (channel 4, Detroit) changes calls to WDIV-TV. The calls are derived from "D" for Detroit and "IV" for Roman numeral 4. They are also promoted as standing for "Where Detroit Is Vital."
1981: In a specially timed event, characters Ken Barlow and Deirdre Langton marry on ITV’s Coronation Street, just two days before the real-life wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana. The fictional wedding is watched by over 24 million viewers in Britain, actually beating the Royal Wedding in the ratings!
1997: Stargate SG-1 premieres on Showtime.
2003: The great Bob Hope dies at his Toluca Lake home in Los Angeles, aged 100. He had been in poor health for some time, and was the victim of two infamous premature obituaries. In 1998 a prepared AP obituary was accidentally released on the Internet, prompting Hope's death to be announced in the U.S. House of Representatives. And in 2003, not long before his actual demise, he was among several famous figures whose pre-written obits were published on the CNN website due to a lapse in password protection.
2007: News helicopters from Phoenix TV stations KNXV-TV and KTVK collide while covering a police car pursuit. All four people on both helicopters (each carrying a pilot and a reporter) are killed. KNXV’s helicopter is broadcasting live at the time of the collision.
(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…..)