Just a few random TV related events that happened on March 25. Discuss or comment as you please……
1918: Sportscaster HOW-ahd CO-sell is born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
1925: John Logie Baird holds his first public demonstration of television at Selfridge’s Department Store on Oxford Street in London, England. In this demonstration, he had not yet obtained adequate half-tones in the moving pictures, so only silhouettes are visible.
1940: Beauty queen/singer/anti-gay crusader/orange sucker Anita Bryant is born in Barnsdall, Oklahoma.
1943: Actor Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky and Hutch, Third Watch) is born (as Paul Manfred Glaser) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1953: Comedian/actress Mary Gross (Saturday Night Live) is born in Chicago.
1954: Production of RCA's first commercial color TV sets – the venerable model CT-100, equipped with a 15-inch picture tube -- commences at a plant in Bloomington, Indiana. The initial run totals 5000 sets, priced at a whopping $1000 (roughly $8000 in today’s dollars), though they would be discounted to “only” $495 by August. (This represented a huge investment for potential owners, considering that NBC would only broadcast 68 hours of color programming all year!) The CT-100 was one of the few consumer receivers to utilize the full color capabilities of the NTSC signal, producing richer and more saturated reds and greens than the cheaper, compromise color phosphors of later sets.
1962: Actress Marcia Cross (Melrose Place, Desperate Housewives) is born in Marlborough, Massachusetts.
1965: Actress Sarah Jessica Parker (Square Pegs, Sex and the City) is born in Nelsonville, Ohio.
1968: The final first-run episode of The Monkees airs on NBC.
1968: KLVX (channel 10) begins broadcasting in Las Vegas as Nevada's first educational/public television station.
1974: Actress Lark Voorhies (Saved by the Bell) is born in Nashville, Tennessee.
1978: The critically acclaimed but low-rated Tony Randall Show is sentenced to death after 44 episodes (one season on ABC, one on CBS).
1979: Actor Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies, Wonderfalls) is born in Chickasha, Oklahoma.
1982: Cagney & Lacey debuts as a weekly series on CBS. Christine Cagney (the role originated by Loretta Swit in the 1981 TV-movie) is now played by Meg Foster. Ms. Foster’s tenure would only last for the initial 6 episodes (as a mid-season replacement series) – the character would be played by Sharon Gless beginning with the new fall season. Reportedly, the change was made because CBS deemed Foster “too aggressive, too similar in appearance to Tyne Daly, and too likely to be perceived as lesbian by viewers.”
1986: Perfect Strangers premieres on ABC.
1989: Actress/singer Alyson Michalka (Phil of the Future) is born in Torrance, California.
1992: Actress Nancy Walker (Rhoda, McMillan and Wife, and about a thousand Bounty commercials) dies in Studio City, California of lung cancer, aged 69.
2002: The Bachelor debuts on ABC.
2005: Producer Paul Henning (The Beverly Hillbillies. Petticoat Junction, Green Acres) dies in Burbank, California, aged 93.
2006: Singer Buck Owens (Hee Haw) dies in Bakersfield, California of an apparent heart attack, aged 76.
2006: It wasn’t just a show, it was an institution: after 1,117 episodes, Soul Train pulls into the last station on its long trip.
(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…..)
1918: Sportscaster HOW-ahd CO-sell is born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
1925: John Logie Baird holds his first public demonstration of television at Selfridge’s Department Store on Oxford Street in London, England. In this demonstration, he had not yet obtained adequate half-tones in the moving pictures, so only silhouettes are visible.
1940: Beauty queen/singer/anti-gay crusader/orange sucker Anita Bryant is born in Barnsdall, Oklahoma.
1943: Actor Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky and Hutch, Third Watch) is born (as Paul Manfred Glaser) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1953: Comedian/actress Mary Gross (Saturday Night Live) is born in Chicago.
1954: Production of RCA's first commercial color TV sets – the venerable model CT-100, equipped with a 15-inch picture tube -- commences at a plant in Bloomington, Indiana. The initial run totals 5000 sets, priced at a whopping $1000 (roughly $8000 in today’s dollars), though they would be discounted to “only” $495 by August. (This represented a huge investment for potential owners, considering that NBC would only broadcast 68 hours of color programming all year!) The CT-100 was one of the few consumer receivers to utilize the full color capabilities of the NTSC signal, producing richer and more saturated reds and greens than the cheaper, compromise color phosphors of later sets.
1962: Actress Marcia Cross (Melrose Place, Desperate Housewives) is born in Marlborough, Massachusetts.
1965: Actress Sarah Jessica Parker (Square Pegs, Sex and the City) is born in Nelsonville, Ohio.
1968: The final first-run episode of The Monkees airs on NBC.
1968: KLVX (channel 10) begins broadcasting in Las Vegas as Nevada's first educational/public television station.
1974: Actress Lark Voorhies (Saved by the Bell) is born in Nashville, Tennessee.
1978: The critically acclaimed but low-rated Tony Randall Show is sentenced to death after 44 episodes (one season on ABC, one on CBS).
1979: Actor Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies, Wonderfalls) is born in Chickasha, Oklahoma.
1982: Cagney & Lacey debuts as a weekly series on CBS. Christine Cagney (the role originated by Loretta Swit in the 1981 TV-movie) is now played by Meg Foster. Ms. Foster’s tenure would only last for the initial 6 episodes (as a mid-season replacement series) – the character would be played by Sharon Gless beginning with the new fall season. Reportedly, the change was made because CBS deemed Foster “too aggressive, too similar in appearance to Tyne Daly, and too likely to be perceived as lesbian by viewers.”
1986: Perfect Strangers premieres on ABC.
1989: Actress/singer Alyson Michalka (Phil of the Future) is born in Torrance, California.
1992: Actress Nancy Walker (Rhoda, McMillan and Wife, and about a thousand Bounty commercials) dies in Studio City, California of lung cancer, aged 69.
2002: The Bachelor debuts on ABC.
2005: Producer Paul Henning (The Beverly Hillbillies. Petticoat Junction, Green Acres) dies in Burbank, California, aged 93.
2006: Singer Buck Owens (Hee Haw) dies in Bakersfield, California of an apparent heart attack, aged 76.
2006: It wasn’t just a show, it was an institution: after 1,117 episodes, Soul Train pulls into the last station on its long trip.
(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…..)
