October 26: This Day in TV History

[Stanislav]

Just a few random TV related events that happened on October 26. Discuss or comment as you please……

1914: Actor Jackie Coogan (The Addams Family) is born in Woburn, Massachusetts.

1942: Producer/director/screenwriter Kenneth Johnson (V, Alien Nation) is born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

1946: Game show host Pat Sajak (Wheel of Fortune) is born in Chicago.

1947: Actress Jaclyn Smith (Charlie’s Angels) is born in Houston, Texas.

1953: WJHL-TV (channel 11) signs on in Johnson City, Tennessee. Despite the setback of their under construction tower having collapsed just weeks before their scheduled sign-on, the station manages to make it to air by simply mounting the antenna on a telephone pole!

1962: Actress Louise Beavers (Beulah, The Danny Thomas Show) dies in Hollywood, California, aged 60.

1968: KTXL-TV (channel 40) signs on in Sacramento, California. The channel had been previously occupied in the 50’s by a failed UHF outlet (KCCC-TV, later KVUE).

1968: KMIR-TV (channel 42) begins operating in Palm Springs, California. It is the first station exclusively serving the market.

1969: WHMA-TV (channel 40, now WJSU-TV) begins broadcasting in Anniston, Alabama.

1973: Producer/animator/writer Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy, American Dad) is born in Kent, Connecticut. DYK: MacFarlane was booked to fly on American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston on September 11, 2001. A combination of a hangover and a travel agent’s incorrect departure time caused him to miss the flight by 15 minutes.

(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…..)

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

1936: Actress Shelley Morrison (born Rachel Mitrani) ("General Hospital," "Will and Grace") is born in New York City.

 

[bpatrick]

Wasn't Shelley Morrison on "The Flying Nun"?
I think she was Sister Sixto, a Puerto Rican who
had trouble with English (according to Brooks
and Marsh).

 

[mleach]

1973: Producer/animator/writer Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy, American Dad) is born in Kent, Connecticut. DYK: MacFarlane was booked to fly on American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston on September 11, 2001. A combination of a hangover and a travel agent’s incorrect departure time caused him to miss the flight by 15 minutes.

I remember this. However it was quickly overshadowed thanks to actress Anne Heche and her then-husband Coley Laffoon. I believe they were booked on one of the 9/11 flights ( though that has been debated over the years ) only to either skip the flight, mistake in booking or whatever. Because Anne had broke up with Ellen DeGeneres and went on to marry Coley..a man, at the time many people ( mainly the Focus On the Family group and their supporters ) believed what "saved" Anne and kept her off the plane on 9/11 was that she had become an "ex-lesbian". Even Anne's own mother had supported that claim.

A few weeks after 9/11 Anne Heche pretty much killed that "theory" when she had said in a statement to the press "...Just because I married a man does NOT mean I am straight...spare me the ex-lesbian crap..."

I think I still have the AP copy in my collection someplace.

 

[KeithE4]

1968: KMIR-TV (channel 42) begins operating in Palm Springs, California. It is the first station exclusively serving the market.

Slight correction: KMIR-TV is on Channel 36 (RF 46).

 

[Ultimajock]

1968: KMIR-TV (channel 42) begins operating in Palm Springs, California. It is the first station exclusively serving the market.

Slight correction: KMIR-TV is on Channel 36 (RF 46).

...isn't that the station Alex Dreier moved to after quitting KTTV/11 Los Angeles? I recall reading that he was working in Palm Springs TV until just a few weeks before he died in 2000...

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

Wasn't Shelley Morrison on "The Flying Nun"?
I think she was Sister Sixto, a Puerto Rican who
had trouble with English (according to Brooks
and Marsh).

Yes, indeed she was. I guess I didn't list "The Flying Nun" as an example of her work in my birthday post last year.

 

[Mr. Mike]

1968: KTXL-TV (channel 40) signs on in Sacramento, California. The channel had been previously occupied in the 50’s by a failed UHF outlet (KCCC-TV, later KVUE).

Regarding Channel 40, if it's previous incarnation as KCCC-TV had managed to survive in the 1950s to today, I would think that the TV scene in Sacramento would be considerably different. Maybe its them-independent compeditor Channel 31 might've signed on a lot earlier too, as in probably the mid-1960s instead of October 1974, which was the time KMUV-TV 31 signed on.

 

[Firebird]

1957: Bob Golic, Former NFL great for the Cleveland Browns (1982-1988), New England Patriots (1979-1981), and Los Angeles Raiders (1989-1992), star of Saved By The Bell: The College Years (1993-1994) and Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas (1994), NBC analyst for the NFL (1994-1996), co-host of Tailgate 19 on WOIO in Cleveland, and current host of The Bob Golic Show featuring Phil Ferguson, regular callers Old Prospector & Phone Booth Guy on WNIR 100.1 in Akron, OH, is born in Cleveland, OH. ;D