May 8: This Day in TV History

[Stanislav]

Just a few random TV related events that happened on May 8. Discuss or comment as you please……

1926: Comedian Don Rickles is born in Queens, New York.

1945: New York’s WNBT broadcasts hours of news coverage of V-E Day celebrations, including live remotes from around the city. The broadcast had been pre-promoted by NBC as they began to prepare for full service upon the war's end, with direct-mail cards sent to television set owners in the New York area.

1964: Actress Melissa Gilbert (Little House on the Prairie) is born in Los Angeles.

1994: Actor George Peppard (Banacek, The A-Team) dies in Los Angeles of chemotherapy-induced leukemia, aged 65.

1999: Actress Dana Plato (Diff’rent Strokes) dies in Moore, Oklahoma of an overdose of Vanadom (Soma) and Vicodin, aged 35. The death is officially ruled a suicide, but this has been disputed by family and friends. Her death comes one day after a relatively upbeat interview on radio’s Howard Stern Show, in which Plato had discussed future plans and upcoming events, adding question to the suicide ruling.

2002: TV Land dedicates a statue of Mary Tyler Moore near the corner of 7th Street and Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It captures her iconic hat toss from The Mary Tyler Moore Show's opening montage, and is placed near the spot where it occurred (the actual location was in the middle of the street).

(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…..)

 

[mleach]

Just a few random TV related events that happened on May 8. Discuss or comment as you please……


1999: Actress Dana Plato (Diff’rent Strokes) dies in Moore, Oklahoma of an overdose of Vanadom (Soma) and Vicodin, aged 35. The death is officially ruled a suicide, but this has been disputed by family and friends. Her death comes one day after a relatively upbeat interview on radio’s Howard Stern Show, in which Plato had discussed future plans and upcoming events, adding question to the suicide ruling.

Didn't Plato's then husband/boyfriend actually take a photo of the dead body BEFORE the authorites were called? Hmmmmmm..if this was the case I would question the death being a suicide too.

 

[LKellerIII]

Just a few random TV related events that happened on May 8. Discuss or comment as you please……


1999: Actress Dana Plato (Diff’rent Strokes) dies in Moore, Oklahoma of an overdose of Vanadom (Soma) and Vicodin, aged 35. The death is officially ruled a suicide, but this has been disputed by family and friends. Her death comes one day after a relatively upbeat interview on radio’s Howard Stern Show, in which Plato had discussed future plans and upcoming events, adding question to the suicide ruling.

Didn't Plato's then husband/boyfriend actually take a photo of the dead body BEFORE the authorites were called? Hmmmmmm..if this was the case I would question the death being a suicide too.

I don't know Plato's diagnosis - or even if she had one - but if you've ever knowm somebody that is truly out of control, you know that it's very possible to feel positive about life one day, the try to commit suicide the next day. And at that level - dying from a reckless accidental overdose, or intending to commit suicide - there's a fiine line between the two.

 

[Stanislav]

Just a few random TV related events that happened on May 8. Discuss or comment as you please……


1999: Actress Dana Plato (Diff’rent Strokes) dies in Moore, Oklahoma of an overdose of Vanadom (Soma) and Vicodin, aged 35. The death is officially ruled a suicide, but this has been disputed by family and friends. Her death comes one day after a relatively upbeat interview on radio’s Howard Stern Show, in which Plato had discussed future plans and upcoming events, adding question to the suicide ruling.

Didn't Plato's then husband/boyfriend actually take a photo of the dead body BEFORE the authorites were called? Hmmmmmm..if this was the case I would question the death being a suicide too.

I don't know Plato's diagnosis - or even if she had one - but if you've ever knowm somebody that is truly out of control, you know that it's very possible to feel positive about life one day, the try to commit suicide the next day. And at that level - dying from a reckless accidental overdose, or intending to commit suicide - there's a fiine line between the two.

True...she may have been extremely bipolar and bounced from highs of optimism and energy to deep, deep suicidal lows.

I happened to be listening to Stern the morning she was on (the day before her death) and she did seem pretty "up." She did get upset by a few of the callers who were rather callous and cruel to her, but that was more than balanced by supporters calling in to give her encouragement, and even by Stern himself, who was being uncharacteristically supportive and defending her. Listening to her, I felt she was a little hyper and emotional, but I had the feeling that she was getting her life together. Of course, as you say that may well have been how she genuinely felt at that moment, and the next day the demons took over again.

She just seemed like a sweet kid, and one can only wonder if she had experienced a normal childhood, maybe she would have turned out OK. Then again, if you subscribe to these things as being more organic than environmental, maybe she would have had problems even if she had taken a more conventional path. The sad part is, we'll never know.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

1999: Actress Dana Plato (Diff’rent Strokes) dies in Moore, Oklahoma of an overdose of Vanadom (Soma) and Vicodin, aged 35. The death is officially ruled a suicide, but this has been disputed by family and friends. Her death comes one day after a relatively upbeat interview on radio’s Howard Stern Show, in which Plato had discussed future plans and upcoming events, adding question to the suicide ruling.

And Plato's death in Moore occurred five days after the F5 tornado in that city which killed 36 people and caused $1.1 billion in damage.

Interestingly, another "Diff'rent Strokes" star, Danny Cooksey (Sam) was born in Moore, OK on Nov. 2, 1975.