Just a few random TV related events that happened on May 23. Discuss or comment as you please……
[NOTE: Some of these May dates are full of series finales and last episodes. Rather than devote separate lines to each, I will just mention that some of the better-known series that had a May 23 swan song include Father Knows Best, Life Goes On, Full House; Sister, Sister; and Star Trek: Voyager.]
1910: Singer/dancer/actor/voice artist Scatman Crothers (Chico and the Man, Hong Kong Phooey, The Harlem Globetrotters, The Transformers) is born (as Benjamin Sherman Crothers) in Terre Haute, Indiana.
1919: Actress Betty Garrett (All in the Family, Laverne and Shirley) is born in St. Joseph, Missouri.
1931: Actress Barbara Barrie (Barney Miller, Suddenly Susan, Dead Like Me) is born (as Barbara Ann Berman) in Chicago.
1932: Actress Mary Fickett (All My Children) is born in Bronxville, New York.
1933: Actress Joan Collins (Dynasty) is born in London, England.
1945: Actress Lauren Chapin (Father Knows Best) is born in Los Angeles.
1948: Philadelphia’s third TV station, WCAU-TV, begins broadcasting on channel 10.
1950: Actress Linda Thompson (Hee Haw) is born in Memphis, Tennessee.
1953: WHIZ-TV (channel 50) signs on in Zanesville, Ohio. Barely able at first to cover even the 500 or so TV households in Zanesville, WHIZ would move to channel 18 and increase power a year and a half later, as well as establish two translators: on channel 71 (W71AB) in Coshocton, and on channel 80 (W80AA) in Cambridge.
1959: KPLR-TV (channel 11, St. Louis) begins broadcasting Wrestling at the Chase, a professional wrestling program that featured some of the most famous wrestlers in the National Wrestling Alliance (including Ric Flair, Harley Race, former NFL player Dick the Bruiser, and Ted DiBiase, among others). It is considered one of pro wrestling history’s most successful and popular local programs, producing about 1,100 episodes during the show's run, which ended on September 10, 1983.
1960: WGTV (channel 8 ) begins broadcasting in Athens, Georgia. Originally owned by the University of Georgia, ownership of WGTV would be transferred to the Georgia Public Telecommunications Commission, the oversight board for GPTV (now GPB-TV) in 1982.
1975: Comedian Jackie “Moms” Mabley dies in White Plains, New York from heart failure, aged 81.
1999: Wrestler Owen Hart falls to his death in Kansas City, Missouri during the WWF “Over the Edge” pay-per-view event. In the process of being lowered via harness and rappel line into the ring from the rafters of Kemper Arena, something goes wrong with the stunt harness, triggering the release mechanism too early. Hart falls 78 feet into the ring, landing chest-first on the top rope, about a foot from the nearest turnbuckle, throwing him into the ring. He is 34 years old.
2004: The last incarnation of Candid Camera airs its last episode on PAX.
(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…..)
[NOTE: Some of these May dates are full of series finales and last episodes. Rather than devote separate lines to each, I will just mention that some of the better-known series that had a May 23 swan song include Father Knows Best, Life Goes On, Full House; Sister, Sister; and Star Trek: Voyager.]
1910: Singer/dancer/actor/voice artist Scatman Crothers (Chico and the Man, Hong Kong Phooey, The Harlem Globetrotters, The Transformers) is born (as Benjamin Sherman Crothers) in Terre Haute, Indiana.
1919: Actress Betty Garrett (All in the Family, Laverne and Shirley) is born in St. Joseph, Missouri.
1931: Actress Barbara Barrie (Barney Miller, Suddenly Susan, Dead Like Me) is born (as Barbara Ann Berman) in Chicago.
1932: Actress Mary Fickett (All My Children) is born in Bronxville, New York.
1933: Actress Joan Collins (Dynasty) is born in London, England.
1945: Actress Lauren Chapin (Father Knows Best) is born in Los Angeles.
1948: Philadelphia’s third TV station, WCAU-TV, begins broadcasting on channel 10.
1950: Actress Linda Thompson (Hee Haw) is born in Memphis, Tennessee.
1953: WHIZ-TV (channel 50) signs on in Zanesville, Ohio. Barely able at first to cover even the 500 or so TV households in Zanesville, WHIZ would move to channel 18 and increase power a year and a half later, as well as establish two translators: on channel 71 (W71AB) in Coshocton, and on channel 80 (W80AA) in Cambridge.
1959: KPLR-TV (channel 11, St. Louis) begins broadcasting Wrestling at the Chase, a professional wrestling program that featured some of the most famous wrestlers in the National Wrestling Alliance (including Ric Flair, Harley Race, former NFL player Dick the Bruiser, and Ted DiBiase, among others). It is considered one of pro wrestling history’s most successful and popular local programs, producing about 1,100 episodes during the show's run, which ended on September 10, 1983.
1960: WGTV (channel 8 ) begins broadcasting in Athens, Georgia. Originally owned by the University of Georgia, ownership of WGTV would be transferred to the Georgia Public Telecommunications Commission, the oversight board for GPTV (now GPB-TV) in 1982.
1975: Comedian Jackie “Moms” Mabley dies in White Plains, New York from heart failure, aged 81.
1999: Wrestler Owen Hart falls to his death in Kansas City, Missouri during the WWF “Over the Edge” pay-per-view event. In the process of being lowered via harness and rappel line into the ring from the rafters of Kemper Arena, something goes wrong with the stunt harness, triggering the release mechanism too early. Hart falls 78 feet into the ring, landing chest-first on the top rope, about a foot from the nearest turnbuckle, throwing him into the ring. He is 34 years old.
2004: The last incarnation of Candid Camera airs its last episode on PAX.
(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…..)