September 14: This Day in TV History

[Stanislav]

Just a few random TV related events that happened (a lot) on September 14. Discuss or comment as you please……

1936: Actor Walter Koenig (Star Trek, Babylon 5) is born in Chicago.

1953: The first media reports of what would become known as “The KLEE Mystery” begin to surface. Allegedly, some British TV viewers are mystified at receiving an ID slide from KLEE-TV in Houston, Texas. Some even send reception reports to the station. However, not only are British TV standards and channels totally incompatible with those of the U.S., but KLEE had changed calls to KPRC three years earlier! The incident found its way into many Fortean “unexplained phenomena” trivia books and compilations before the true nature of the story was ultimately revealed. (Read about it at Snopes.)

1957: CHAT-TV (channel 6) hits the airwaves in Medicine Hat, Alberta. In its earliest days, the station would not even sign on until 5:30 pm, with its 6 pm newscast the only local live programming. (Everything else came on film or kinescope from the CBC.)

1958: WTAE-TV (channel 4) beings broadcasting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is one of the few TV stations to have maintained both its network affiliation (ABC) and ownership (Hearst) throughout its history.

1959: Actress Mary Crosby is born in Los Angeles.

1961: The ITV franchise Wales (West and North) Television begins operating, completing the independent ITV system in the U.K.

1964: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea debuts on ABC.

1964: Actress Faith Ford (Murphy Brown, Hope and Faith) is born in Alexandria, Louisiana.

1965: My Mother the Car premieres on NBC. So does Please Don’t Eat the Daisies.

1966: Actress Gertrude Berg (The Goldbergs) dies in New York City, aged 66.

1967: Ironside debuts on NBC.

1968: Wacky Races premieres on CBS.

1972: The Waltons debuts on CBS, beginning a 9-season, 221-episode franchise that also spawned 6 made-for-TV movies.

1972: KYUK-TV (channel 4) signs on in Bethel, Alaska.

1977: Yolanda Bowsley, a contestant on The Price is Right, enters the Blooper Hall of Fame when her tube top pops off as she runs and bounces her way to Contestants’ Row. Jumping up and down in glee at being chosen, at first she doesn’t even realize that her ta-tas have been released into the wild. (As Bob Barker frequently commented in later interviews, “She came on down, and they came on out!”) The anatomical features in question were covered with a blue bar for broadcast, but the uncensored footage has circulated on bootleg bloopers compilations.

1978: Mork and Mindy debuts on ABC, beginning Robin Williams’ rise to stardom.

1981: Entertainment Tonight premieres in syndication. Still on the air, it is the longest running syndicated program in history, and was also the first syndie to be distributed to affiliates via satellite.

1985: 227 debuts on NBC, as does The Golden Girls.

1986: WPXT (channel 51) signs on in Portland, Maine, the first new commercial station in that market in over 30 years.

1996: Dancer and actress Juliet Prowse (Mona McCluskey) dies in Los Angeles, aged 59, after a 2-year battle with pancreatic cancer. DYK: In 1989, she survived being mauled by an 80-pound leopard – twice! The first time while filming a scene for Circus of the Stars, then later that same year during a promotional stint, when the same leopard attacked her. The latter attack was more serious, requiring upwards of 20 stitches to reattach her ear.

2002: Actress LaWanda Page (Sanford & Son) dies in Hollywood, aged 81.

2004: In New York City, a road leading to Pier 62 at Chelsea Piers is renamed "Law & Order Way" in tribute to the TV series that frequently does location shoots there.

(Just a little featurette I hope to do as time permits…..don’t expect it every single day. 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…..)

 

[KML0224]

I vividly remember when WPXT-TV signed on, as I was living in Old Orchard Beach at that time. Local Shaw's supermarkets were selling a little round UHF loop antenna for $1, which went to a local charity. I had to have been within 20 miles of their Gray, ME site. However, their signal would be crap every time the wind blew strong enough. How that happened with an indoor UHF loop, I'll never know. WPXT-TV is also legendary for when Pegasus Communications, ended their 15 year run as a charter FOX affiliate in 2001 and switched to WB (they're a CW affiliate now). It meant nobody could get FOX's NFL coverage in southern Maine without FOX-NET on cable or a big antenna that could pull in WFXT-TV channel 25 from Boston. When the New England Patriots won Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002 (New Orleans), the game would end up airing locally on WGME-TV (CBS) channel 13 of Portland, who wound up catching a huge break with that one. WGME's management insisted that they were cleared to air the game no matter who was in it.

If I'm not mistaken, WTWS-TV (IND) channel 26 of New London, CT also signed on that day. They were once a thriving independent that had their own 10 PM newcast, beating WTIC-TV (FOX) channel 61 of Hartford by a good 2 years. They also aired WWF and AWA wrestling along with Yankees baseball games from WPIX-TV. Today, the station is a shell of its former self, known now as WHPX-TV/DT (ION) [digital channel 34].

 

[Corky Marlowe]

1996: Dancer and actress Juliet Prowse (Mona McCluskey) dies in Los Angeles, aged 59, after a 2-year battle with pancreatic cancer. DYK: In 1989, she survived being mauled by an 80-pound leopard – twice! The first time while filming a scene for Circus of the Stars, then later that same year during a promotional stint, when the same leopard attacked her. The latter attack was more serious, requiring upwards of 20 stitches to reattach her ear.
I forgot she had passed away! She was also Elvis' co-star in "GI Blues", and was married for quite a while to John McCook (Eric on "The Bold And The Beautiful").

 

[wbhist]

1996: Dancer and actress Juliet Prowse (Mona McCluskey) dies in Los Angeles, aged 59, after a 2-year battle with pancreatic cancer. DYK: In 1989, she survived being mauled by an 80-pound leopard – twice! The first time while filming a scene for Circus of the Stars, then later that same year during a promotional stint, when the same leopard attacked her. The latter attack was more serious, requiring upwards of 20 stitches to reattach her ear.

I forgot she had passed away! She was also Elvis' co-star in "GI Blues", and was married for quite a while to John McCook (Eric on "The Bold And The Beautiful").

It should be noted, however, that Juliet was of no relation to Dave Prowse (a.k.a. the body of "Darth Vader" in the first three [released] Star Wars movies, as well as appearing uncredited in two separate sketches over a 15-year period on The Benny Hill Show).

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

September 14 is also a sad day in sports history--with adverse effects on TV history as well:

1994: With Major League Baseball on strike since that Aug. 12 and with no resolution in sight, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig orders the rest of the 1994 season and that year's postseason cancelled, marking the first year since 1904 that no World Series was played.

And in a cruel coincidence/irony, four days later the Ken Burns "Baseball" documentary begins a nine-part run on PBS.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

Also in 1985: Disney debuts two new cartoon series on rival networks (and originally in the same time slot of 8:30/7:30CT): Adventures of the Gummi Bears on NBC, and The Wuzzles on CBS. The "Gummi Bears" would enjoy a four-year, 1985-89, run on NBC before spending 1989-90 on ABC (followed by runs in syndication and on the Disney Channel), while the Wuzzles would move to ABC Saturday morning in 1986-87 (with reruns of the 13 episodes originally aired on CBS the previous season) before being cancelled.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

2009: Sadly, Patrick Swayze's passing today adds another chapter in today's TDITVH. In addition to "Dirty Dancing" fame among many other roles, he is remembered for his role as Orry Main in the ABC miniseries "North and South" (1985) and "North and South: Book II" (1986), plus also a 1981 guest appearance on M*A*S*H.

 

[radioman148]

2009: Sadly, Patrick Swayze's passing today adds another chapter in today's TDITVH. In addition to "Dirty Dancing" fame among many other roles, he is remembered for his role as Orry Main in the ABC miniseries "North and South" (1985) and "North and South: Book II" (1986), plus also a 1981 guest appearance on M*A*S*H.

Very sadly

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

1985: 227 debuts on NBC, as does The Golden Girls.

Also in 1985: Disney debuts two new cartoon series on rival networks (and originally in the same time slot of 8:30/7:30CT): Adventures of the Gummi Bears on NBC, and The Wuzzles on CBS. The "Gummi Bears" would enjoy a four-year, 1985-89, run on NBC before spending 1989-90 on ABC (followed by runs in syndication and on the Disney Channel), while the Wuzzles would move to ABC Saturday morning in 1986-87 (with reruns of the 13 episodes originally aired on CBS the previous season) before being cancelled.

Happy 25th anniversary tomorrow to all of the forementioned shows: "Gummi Bears," "Wuzzles," "227," and "The Golden Girls" (WOW on the latter--can't believe it's already been that long since it premiered).

 

[Stanislav]

1977: Yolanda Bowsley, a contestant on The Price is Right, enters the Blooper Hall of Fame when her tube top pops off as she runs and bounces her way to Contestants’ Row. Jumping up and down in glee at being chosen, at first she doesn’t even realize that her ta-tas have been released into the wild. (As Bob Barker frequently commented in later interviews, “She came on down, and they came on out!”) The anatomical features in question were covered with a blue bar for broadcast, but the uncensored footage has circulated on bootleg bloopers compilations.

If you've ever seen the full version of this clip, Bob's immediate reaction was quite funny, too. He apparently was not looking at a monitor while waiting for his cue, and emerged clueless as to what had transpired. The audience reaction was way over the top in both intensity and duration, and Bob could not quiet them down. With a puzzled and suspicious look, he intoned, "There's something going on here.....I know you love me, but you don't love me that much!" ;D