June 20: This Day in TV History

[Stanislav]

Just a few random TV related events that happened on June 20 (another busy day). Discuss or comment as you please……

1929: Actress Bonnie Bartlett (St. Elsewhere) is born in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin.

1931: Actor Martin Landau (Mission: Impossible, Space: 1999) is born in Brooklyn, New York.

1944: Actress Cheryl Holdridge, one of the original Mousketeers on The Mickey Mouse Club, is born in New Orleans.

1946: Cash and Carry, one of the first TV game shows, debuts on DuMont, with Dennis James as host.

1946: TV home improvement guru Robert J. "Bob" Vila (This Old House, Bob Vila's Home Again) is born in Miami, Florida.

1948: Toast of the Town, later to be renamed The Ed Sullivan Show, premieres on CBS. Guests on the inaugural episode were Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis

1951: Voice artist Tress MacNeille (The Simpsons, Futurama, many others) is born in California.

1952: Actor John Goodman (Roseanne, The West Wing) is born in Affton, Missouri. DYN: Goodman was the first guest on the debut episode of Late Night with Conan O’Brien. DYN II: Prior to his many guest appearances on Saturday Night Live, Goodman had actually auditioned to be part of the regular cast for the disastrous 1980-81 season, but was rejected.

1963: Leave It to Beaver broadcasts its final network episode on CBS. The episode, “Family Scrapbook,” features the family looking through a photo album and recalling events from previous shows (illustrated with clips from those episodes). It is said to be the first time a prime-time series specifically filmed an intended “finale” episode.

1980: The daytime network version of The Hollywood Squares airs its 3,536th (!!) and final episode on NBC. Fun fact: If every episode were broadcast back-to-back, 24/7, it would take about 3 1/2 months to watch them all!

1980: Vanna White makes her first TV appearance -- as a contestant on The Price is Right! 2 ½ years later, she would hit the big time and be hired as the spokesmodel and Chief Letter Turner on Wheel of Fortune.

1984: Actress Estelle Winwood dies in Woodland Hills, California, aged 101. In addition to countless stage and film roles, she made many guest appearances on such TV shows as The Twlight Zone, Dr. Kildare, Perry Mason, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Name of the Game, Bewitched, Batman, Love, American Style, Cannon and Police Story. Her final TV role at the age of 96 in a 1979 episode of Quincy gave her the official title of oldest working actor in the U.S. (At the time of her death, she was still a member of the Screen Actors Guild, the oldest active member in its history).

2006: CBS News president Sean McManus announces that Dan Rather is leaving the network after 44 years.

2007: SkyNews 6, the news helicopter of KOTV (Tulsa, Oklahoma) crashes after its rotors clip the dish of a satellite truck while shooting a promo. The two people aboard survive with minor injuries, while the helicopter is a total loss.

(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…..)

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

1963: Leave It to Beaver broadcasts its final network episode on CBS. The episode, “Family Scrapbook,” features the family looking through a photo album and recalling events from previous shows (illustrated with clips from those episodes). It is said to be the first time a prime-time series specifically filmed an intended “finale” episode.

Wasn't only the first season of the Beaver on CBS ('57-58), then the series spent the rest of its run on ABC? (although I would think some areas still lacking an ABC station in '63 might have had a CBS station that picked up selected ABC shows like "Leave it to Beaver")

 

[Stanislav]

1963: Leave It to Beaver broadcasts its final network episode on CBS. The episode, “Family Scrapbook,” features the family looking through a photo album and recalling events from previous shows (illustrated with clips from those episodes). It is said to be the first time a prime-time series specifically filmed an intended “finale” episode.

Wasn't only the first season of the Beaver on CBS ('57-58), then the series spent the rest of its run on ABC? (although I would think some areas still lacking an ABC station in '63 might have had a CBS station that picked up selected ABC shows like "Leave it to Beaver")

Yes, yes, yes, you are correct. (*Sigh*) This is what happens when I compile these things at 3 am on sleepless nights..... :'(

 

[firepoint525]

1952: Actor John Goodman (Roseanne, The West Wing) is born in Affton, Missouri. DYN: Goodman was the first guest on the debut episode of Late Night with Conan O’Brien. DYN II: Prior to his many guest appearances on Saturday Night Live, Goodman had actually auditioned to be part of the regular cast for the disastrous 1980-81 season, but was rejected.

The earliest appearance by him (that I can recall, anyway) was in the Talking Heads' "Wild Wild Life" video! 8)

1980: Vanna White makes her first TV appearance -- as a contestant on The Price is Right! 2 ½ years later, she would hit the big time and be hired as the spokesmodel and Chief Letter Turner on Wheel of Fortune.

That footage saw the light of day (or night!) again in 1989 or so when Pat Sajak showed it on his short-lived late-night talk show on CBS, on an episode when Vanna was his guest. And to borrow from another thread, that late-night spot on CBS belongs to David Letterman now! ;D

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

1980: Vanna White makes her first TV appearance -- as a contestant on The Price is Right! 2 ½ years later, she would hit the big time and be hired as the spokesmodel and Chief Letter Turner on Wheel of Fortune.

That footage saw the light of day (or night!) again in 1989 or so when Pat Sajak showed it on his short-lived late-night talk show on CBS, on an episode when Vanna was his guest. And to borrow from another thread, that late-night spot on CBS belongs to David Letterman now! ;D

One of those "Before they Were Stars" specials on ABC in 1994 did have a clip of Vanna's TPIR appearance (she was one of the first four contestants to "Come On Down" and IIRC, never got out of Contestants' Row). Before they lost the TPIR rights, did GSN ever show the Vanna TPIR apperance in its entirety? (I also need to check if highlights of that show are on YouTube too).

 

[fortmill]

1963: Leave It to Beaver broadcasts its final network episode on CBS. The episode, “Family Scrapbook,” features the family looking through a photo album and recalling events from previous shows (illustrated with clips from those episodes). It is said to be the first time a prime-time series specifically filmed an intended “finale” episode.

Wasn't only the first season of the Beaver on CBS ('57-58), then the series spent the rest of its run on ABC? (although I would think some areas still lacking an ABC station in '63 might have had a CBS station that picked up selected ABC shows like "Leave it to Beaver")

Yes, yes, yes, you are correct. (*Sigh*) This is what happens when I compile these things at 3 am on sleepless nights..... :'(

I thought Leave It To Beaver started out on CBS, switched to ABC, then moved back to CBS for its final run, but maybe I'm wrong--but I thought I knew everything about Beaver...

 

[Ultimajock]

--but I thought I knew everything about Beaver...

...we all say that sooner or later ;D ...

...BTW, Linda Ellerbee claims in her book ...And So It Goes that, because such a high level of its staff were women, the nickname for "NBC News Overnight" around the commissary at 30 Rock was "Leave it to Beaver"...

 

[Stanislav]

--but I thought I knew everything about Beaver...

...we all say that sooner or later ;D ...

...BTW, Linda Ellerbee claims in her book ...And So It Goes that, because such a high level of its staff were women, the nickname for "NBC News Overnight" around the commissary at 30 Rock was "Leave it to Beaver"...

Of course, there are numerous lines from that show that, taken out of context, can produce a leering chuckle. Such as when June answers the phone and says something like, "Ward's not here -- he's out looking for Beaver..."

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

1980: Vanna White makes her first TV appearance -- as a contestant on The Price is Right! 2 ½ years later, she would hit the big time and be hired as the spokesmodel and Chief Letter Turner on Wheel of Fortune.

That footage saw the light of day (or night!) again in 1989 or so when Pat Sajak showed it on his short-lived late-night talk show on CBS, on an episode when Vanna was his guest. And to borrow from another thread, that late-night spot on CBS belongs to David Letterman now! ;D

One of those "Before they Were Stars" specials on ABC in 1994 did have a clip of Vanna's TPIR appearance (she was one of the first four contestants to "Come On Down" and IIRC, never got out of Contestants' Row). Before they lost the TPIR rights, did GSN ever show the Vanna TPIR apperance in its entirety? (I also need to check if highlights of that show are on YouTube too).

Just found, on YouTube, clips of Vanna's visit to TPIR on this day in '80 (and how she never made it out of Contestant's Row)--apparently the contributor taped this over an ESPN Little League World Series game (which appeared on the first 3 seconds of the video):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e27GD9WjWc

 

[radioman148]

--but I thought I knew everything about Beaver...

...we all say that sooner or later ;D ...

...BTW, Linda Ellerbee claims in her book ...And So It Goes that, because such a high level of its staff were women, the nickname for "NBC News Overnight" around the commissary at 30 Rock was "Leave it to Beaver"...

Of course, there are numerous lines from that show that, taken out of context, can produce a leering chuckle. Such as when June answers the phone and says something like, "Ward's not here -- he's out looking for Beaver..."

Or, "Ward, don't be so hard on the Beaver"

 

[bpatrick]

Or, "Ward, I'm worried about the Beaver."

Aside to fortmill, if you were living in the Charlotte
market in 1963, you would probably have watched
"Leave It To Beaver" on WSOC (then an NBC primary/
ABC secondary). The only CBS primary affiliate in
North Carolina carrying "Beaver" was WNCT Greenville/
New Bern/Washington. Had "Beaver" gone to a seventh
season, WGHP Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point
and WNBE (WCTI) Greenville/New Bern/Washington would
almost certainly have carried him, since they both signed
on in the fall of 1963 and became the fulltime ABC affiliates
for their respective markets.

 

[Ultimajock]

...a cyberacquaintance of mine, the actor Jim Beaver (Deadwood, Supernatural, Harper's Island), says his very favourite TV show when he was a kid was -- you guessed it -- Leave it to Beaver ;D ...

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

--but I thought I knew everything about Beaver...

...we all say that sooner or later ;D ...

...BTW, Linda Ellerbee claims in her book ...And So It Goes that, because such a high level of its staff were women, the nickname for "NBC News Overnight" around the commissary at 30 Rock was "Leave it to Beaver"...

Of course, there are numerous lines from that show that, taken out of context, can produce a leering chuckle. Such as when June answers the phone and says something like, "Ward's not here -- he's out looking for Beaver..."

Or, "Ward, don't be so hard on the Beaver"

Speaking of The Beaver--and also with June 20, 2010 being Father's Day, the portion of the 1983 CBS TV-movie "Still the Beaver" where Beaver returns home for the first time after his father's death (Hugh Beaumont had passed away in real life in 1982) has been posted on YouTube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYvlvQ5KGuA

Very touching tribute to Ward on this Father's Day weekend.

 

[jwgreek8606]

Also in 1980, was Game Show Death Day Chain Reaction, High Rollers, and Hollywood Squares all got canned on NBC.