March 28: This Day in TV History

[Stanislav]

Just a few random TV related events that happened on March 28. Discuss or comment as you please……

1892: Actor Philip Loeb (The Goldbergs) is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of the many actors caught up in the anti-communist “blacklist” of the 50’s, Loeb would eventually commit suicide in 1955.

1905: Zoologist Marlin Perkins (Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom) is born in Carthage, Missouri.

1910: Actor/musician Jimmy Dodd (The Mickey Mouse Club) is born in Cincinnati, Ohio. DYK: Besides being the host of MMC, he also wrote its famous theme song.

1920: Actor Patrick Troughton (Doctor Who) is born in Mill Hill, London, England. He would die just 3 days past his 67th birthday of a heart attack in Columbus, Georgia. (Troughton was in the States as a guest at the Magnum Opus Con II science fiction convention.)

1921: Director/producer Kirk Browning is born in New York City. Among his many credits are the premiere of the first opera written specifically for television (Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors in 1951); Frank Sinatra's first special in 1957; numerous Hallmark Hall of Fame productions between 1951 and 1958; and Live from the Met, Great Performances, and Live From Lincoln Center (185 broadcasts of the latter) for PBS.

1944: Actor Ken Howard (The White Shadow) is born in El Centro, California.

1950: The first incarnation of The Life of Riley (starring Jackie Gleason in the role of Chester Riley) airs its final episode on DuMont.

1952: The classic I Love Lucy episode “Lucy Does a TV Commercial” first airs on CBS. The scene featuring Lucy’s increasingly drunken attempts at pitching "Vitameatavegamin" has been consistently rated as one of the best by fans of the show.

1954: Puerto Rico gains its first TV station as WKAQ-TV signs on to channel 2.

1971: The final original Ed Sullivan Show (#1071) airs on CBS. Featured musical acts are Melanie, Joanna Simon, Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass, and Sandler and Young. Reruns of the series would continue until summer. Sullivan and his staff received no notice of the impending cancellation until after this show was completed; thus, there would be no opportunity to do a formal series finale.

1995: Actor Hugh O’Connor (In the Heat of the Night) calls his father (Carroll O’Connor) to tell him he intends to take his own life, believing he would never be able to conquer his addiction to drugs. The police, after being summoned by the elder O’Connor, arrive at Hugh's home just as he fatally shoots himself in the head. He is just 32 years old.

1997: The City, a short-lived ABC soap that rose from the ashes of Loving, airs its final episode.

1999: Futurama debuts on Fox.

2000: As an F3 tornado is ripping through downtown Fort Worth, Texas, a KXAS-TV (channel 5) newscast catches sight of the twister live on-air as meteorologist David Finfrock is reporting a tornado warning for Tarrant County.

2001: My Wife and Kids premieres on ABC.

(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…..)

 

[bpatrick]

There has long been a misconception, started by either
Vincent Terrace or Rick Mitz, that Gleason's version of
"Life Of Riley" aired on DuMont (where "Cavalcade Of Stars,"
which really established Gleason, aired). But check "The TV
Schedule Book" by Castleman and Podrazik, or Brooks and Marsh,
and you'll find that "Riley" aired Tuesdays at 9:30 (ET) on NBC.
The later version, with William Bendix, aired on Friday nights on
NBC from 1953 to 1958.

 

[mleach]

Just a few random TV related events that happened on March 28. Discuss or comment as you please……


1910: Actor/musician Jimmy Dodd (The Mickey Mouse Club) is born in Cincinnati, Ohio. DYK: Besides being the host of MMC, he also wrote its famous theme song.

Over the years this has been debate as to how Jimmy Dodd had died. Today most if not all sources claim Dodd had died from cancer in 1964. However...back in the 70's ( mainly 1978 when the Mickey Mouse character had turned 50 ), many sources at the time including some books written by and those for Disney had reported that Dodd was actually killed in a car crash. Wonder why the change of death over the years ?

Anyway at the time of his death in 64 ( car crash and/or cancer ) Jimmy Dodd was working I believe at a Honolulu TV station about to star on some children's program. I would like to say he was involved in Checkers & Pogo ( The Honolulu version of the very popular Phoenix kids show Wallace & Ladmo ) but I am not totally sure on that one.

 

[mleach]

There has long been a misconception, started by either
Vincent Terrace or Rick Mitz, that Gleason's version of
"Life Of Riley" aired on DuMont (where "Cavalcade Of Stars,"
which really established Gleason, aired). But check "The TV
Schedule Book" by Castleman and Podrazik, or Brooks and Marsh,
and you'll find that "Riley" aired Tuesdays at 9:30 (ET) on NBC.
The later version, with William Bendix, aired on Friday nights on
NBC from 1953 to 1958.

Both the Gleason & Bendix versions of Riley were filmed shows and I am pretty show most if not all of them still exist. The website
www.archive.org has several episodes of both versions on their site.

The old CBN cable channel used to show the Bendix version late at night. Looking back now remembering when Bendix aired on CBN I am not sure exactlywhich was better. The show itself or those grade Z commercials that aired within Riley ( and the other late night b/w sitcoms ) like the one about how to create you own do-it-yourself power company..by installing a windmill on your roof. I wonder how many actually did that back then?

 

[Firebird]

1975: WKBF/61 in Cleveland signs off after 7 years on the air. Kaiser Broadcasting merged WKBF with United Artists WUAB/43. As a result, the Channel 61 license was returned to the FCC. Channel 61 would return in 1981 as WCLQ, first owned by Balaban Studios, then Channel Communications in 1984. With cheap programming and poor ratings, the station was sold again in 1986 to become WQHS with programming from the Home Shopping Network. The station is now owned by Univision.

 

[bpatrick]

There has long been a misconception, started by either
Vincent Terrace or Rick Mitz, that Gleason's version of
"Life Of Riley" aired on DuMont (where "Cavalcade Of Stars,"
which really established Gleason, aired). But check "The TV
Schedule Book" by Castleman and Podrazik, or Brooks and Marsh,
and you'll find that "Riley" aired Tuesdays at 9:30 (ET) on NBC.
The later version, with William Bendix, aired on Friday nights on
NBC from 1953 to 1958.

Both the Gleason & Bendix versions of Riley were filmed shows and I am pretty show most if not all of them still exist. The website
www.archive.org has several episodes of both versions on their site.

The old CBN cable channel used to show the Bendix version late at night. Looking back now remembering when Bendix aired on CBN I am not sure exactlywhich was better. The show itself or those grade Z commercials that aired within Riley ( and the other late night b/w sitcoms ) like the one about how to create you own do-it-yourself power company..by installing a windmill on your roof. I wonder how many actually did that back then?

TV Land used to occasionally show the Gleason episodes (shows you how far
TV Land has sunk), and while they were produced on the cheap, Gleason is
somewhat more realistic--sort of an embryonic Ralph Kramden--than Bendix,
who comes off as a bumbling idiot. The public, however, was conditioned to
Bendix, who had played the role on radio since 1943, and Gleason didn't fit
the public's perception of the character. So I guess you could say that while
Gleason gave it his all, the public preferred Bendix. But not to worry: "The
Honeymooners" was only a year or two in the future, and Gleason could really
shine.

 

[Stanislav]

There has long been a misconception, started by either
Vincent Terrace or Rick Mitz, that Gleason's version of
"Life Of Riley" aired on DuMont (where "Cavalcade Of Stars,"
which really established Gleason, aired). But check "The TV
Schedule Book" by Castleman and Podrazik, or Brooks and Marsh,
and you'll find that "Riley" aired Tuesdays at 9:30 (ET) on NBC.
The later version, with William Bendix, aired on Friday nights on
NBC from 1953 to 1958.

Both the Gleason & Bendix versions of Riley were filmed shows and I am pretty show most if not all of them still exist. The website
www.archive.org has several episodes of both versions on their site.

The old CBN cable channel used to show the Bendix version late at night. Looking back now remembering when Bendix aired on CBN I am not sure exactlywhich was better. The show itself or those grade Z commercials that aired within Riley ( and the other late night b/w sitcoms ) like the one about how to create you own do-it-yourself power company..by installing a windmill on your roof. I wonder how many actually did that back then?

TV Land used to occasionally show the Gleason episodes (shows you how far
TV Land has sunk), and while they were produced on the cheap, Gleason is
somewhat more realistic--sort of an embryonic Ralph Kramden--than Bendix,
who comes off as a bumbling idiot. The public, however, was conditioned to
Bendix, who had played the role on radio since 1943, and Gleason didn't fit
the public's perception of the character. So I guess you could say that while
Gleason gave it his all, the public preferred Bendix. But not to worry: "The
Honeymooners" was only a year or two in the future, and Gleason could really
shine.

What always strikes me is how (relatively) thin he is in Riley. He wasn't yet quite "The Great One" -- more like "The Slightly Bigger Than Average One." I guess with greater success came more regular meals... ;D

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

1975: Kate Gosselin, of Jon and Kate Plus 8 and Dancing with the Stars fame (or infamy, depending on your opinion) is born (as Katie Irene Kreider) in Philly.

 

[Rob Jason]

What always strikes me is how (relatively) thin he is in Riley. He wasn't yet quite "The Great One" -- more like "The Slightly Bigger Than Average One." I guess with greater success came more regular meals... ;D

His weight in those years went up and down. You can see a difference in his weight among some of the 1955-56 Honeymooner episodes.

I first saw those 1949 life of riley episodes in the 70s on WPIX. I don't remember hearing a laugh track.

 

[easttxtv]

What always strikes me is how (relatively) thin he is in Riley. He wasn't yet quite "The Great One" -- more like "The Slightly Bigger Than Average One." I guess with greater success came more regular meals... ;D

His weight in those years went up and down. You can see a difference in his weight among some of the 1955-56 Honeymooner episodes.

I first saw those 1949 life of riley episodes in the 70s on WPIX. I don't remember hearing a laugh track.

Wasn't there a scene in Gleason, the CBS special/movie from several years ago, where Jackie was told he'd be more popular or get more parts if he drank and was bigger in size (or was that a print interview? ...>ugh<, too many dust bunnies up in the brain these days 8) )?

 

[LKellerIII]

What always strikes me is how (relatively) thin he is in Riley. He wasn't yet quite "The Great One" -- more like "The Slightly Bigger Than Average One." I guess with greater success came more regular meals... ;D

His weight in those years went up and down. You can see a difference in his weight among some of the 1955-56 Honeymooner episodes.

I first saw those 1949 life of riley episodes in the 70s on WPIX. I don't remember hearing a laugh track.

Gleason was probably his biggest from The Honeymooners in the 50s through his variety show in the 60s. He slimmed way down in his last decade or more, too. Sheriff Buford Justice wasn't all that fat. I imagine his doctors read him the riot act, and it finally stuck. But I remember from interviews he did before he died that his cigarettes never left him. He was probably lucky to make 71.

 

[easttxtv]

2000: As an F3 tornado is ripping through downtown Fort Worth, Texas, a KXAS-TV (channel 5) newscast catches sight of the twister live on-air as meteorologist David Finfrock is reporting a tornado warning for Tarrant County.

The local DFW stations have been talking about the tornado a LOT this week. Still weird and trippy to think about it. I know David's long-time legendary predecessor, the late/great Harold Taft, would have liked to have been in on that action.