Just a few random TV related events that happened on March 22. Discuss or comment as you please……
1910: Actor Herb Rudley (The Californians, The Mothers-in-Law) is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1920: Actor Werner Klemperer (Hogan’s Heroes) is born in Cologne, Germany.
1924: Announcer Bill Wendell is born in New York City. The longtime NBC staff announcer (one of about half a dozen who held lifetime contracts) is best known today for his 13-year stint with David Letterman. He also announced for or hosted game shows (including Tic Tac Dough and To Tell the Truth), did the announcing for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for many years, and worked briefly with Ernie Kovacs in the 1950’s (as both announcer and sometime sketch participant).
1931: Actor William Shatner (Star Trek, T.J. Hooker, Boston Legal) is born in Montreal, Quebec.
1935: Germany begins regular television service in Berlin using a 180-line electronic television system. It is initially seen only in public viewing rooms seating 30 people each.
1952: Sportscaster Bob Costas is born in Queens, New York.
1954: CHSJ-TV (channel 4, now CBAT-TV) signs on in Saint John, New Brunswick.
1954: KFBC-TV (channel 5, later KGWN-TV) begins operating in Cheyenne, Wyoming. As did many early solitary stations in small markets, KFBC carried programming from all four commercial networks; however, it was also (unusually for such a situation) initially a primary ABC affiliate, largely due to co-owned KFBC radio being an established ABC outlet.
1978: Eric Idle’s Beatles spoof The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash airs on NBC. It earns the lowest rating of any U.S. TV show this week, but would fare better when it premieres in the U.K. on BBC2 less than one week later.
1991: The short-lived revival of the classic cult soap opera Dark Shadows breathes its last on NBC after just 12 episodes. The lavish prime-time remake suffered from frequent preemption and rescheduling due to breaking news reports on the Gulf War, and despite initially excellent ratings (largely due to curiosity), it was soon panned as lacking the charm and quirkiness of the original.
1994: Animator/cartoonist Walter Lantz (The Woody Woodpecker Show) dies of heart failure in Burbank, California, aged 94.
1995: Sliders premieres on Fox.
1996: The transmitting tower of WCOV-TV (channel 20) in Montgomery, Alabama is destroyed when a massive tornado sweeps through the area. Two days later, the station would return to the air on a temporary 350-foot mast, and would activate a new tower in Grady, Alabama in January 2007.
2001: Animator/director Bill Hanna (of Hanna-Barbera) dies in North Hollywood, California from throat cancer, aged 90.
(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…..)
1910: Actor Herb Rudley (The Californians, The Mothers-in-Law) is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1920: Actor Werner Klemperer (Hogan’s Heroes) is born in Cologne, Germany.
1924: Announcer Bill Wendell is born in New York City. The longtime NBC staff announcer (one of about half a dozen who held lifetime contracts) is best known today for his 13-year stint with David Letterman. He also announced for or hosted game shows (including Tic Tac Dough and To Tell the Truth), did the announcing for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for many years, and worked briefly with Ernie Kovacs in the 1950’s (as both announcer and sometime sketch participant).
1931: Actor William Shatner (Star Trek, T.J. Hooker, Boston Legal) is born in Montreal, Quebec.
1935: Germany begins regular television service in Berlin using a 180-line electronic television system. It is initially seen only in public viewing rooms seating 30 people each.
1952: Sportscaster Bob Costas is born in Queens, New York.
1954: CHSJ-TV (channel 4, now CBAT-TV) signs on in Saint John, New Brunswick.
1954: KFBC-TV (channel 5, later KGWN-TV) begins operating in Cheyenne, Wyoming. As did many early solitary stations in small markets, KFBC carried programming from all four commercial networks; however, it was also (unusually for such a situation) initially a primary ABC affiliate, largely due to co-owned KFBC radio being an established ABC outlet.
1978: Eric Idle’s Beatles spoof The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash airs on NBC. It earns the lowest rating of any U.S. TV show this week, but would fare better when it premieres in the U.K. on BBC2 less than one week later.
1991: The short-lived revival of the classic cult soap opera Dark Shadows breathes its last on NBC after just 12 episodes. The lavish prime-time remake suffered from frequent preemption and rescheduling due to breaking news reports on the Gulf War, and despite initially excellent ratings (largely due to curiosity), it was soon panned as lacking the charm and quirkiness of the original.
1994: Animator/cartoonist Walter Lantz (The Woody Woodpecker Show) dies of heart failure in Burbank, California, aged 94.
1995: Sliders premieres on Fox.
1996: The transmitting tower of WCOV-TV (channel 20) in Montgomery, Alabama is destroyed when a massive tornado sweeps through the area. Two days later, the station would return to the air on a temporary 350-foot mast, and would activate a new tower in Grady, Alabama in January 2007.
2001: Animator/director Bill Hanna (of Hanna-Barbera) dies in North Hollywood, California from throat cancer, aged 90.
(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…..)
