September 26: This Day in TV History

[Stanislav]

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

1914: TV fitness guru Jack LaLanne is born in San Francisco. Turning 94 today, the apparently indestructible nonagenarian still spends 90 minutes in the weight room and 30 minutes swimming every day. He has quipped “I can’t afford to die; it would ruin my image.”

1933: Actress Donna Douglas (The Beverly Hillbillies) is born (as Dorothy Smith) in Pride, Louisiana.

1954: TV comes to the Green Mountain State as Burlington’s WMVT (later WCAX-TV) begins broadcasting on channel 3 from a transmitter atop Mt. Mansfield.

1954: KSWN-TV (now KODE-TV) begins operating on channel 12 in Joplin, Missouri.

1956: Actress Linda Hamilton (Beauty and the Beast) is born in Salisbury, Maryland.

1960: The first of the Kennedy-Nixon debates is aired. We all know the story: Kennedy, looking healthy, confident, and speaking eloquently; and Nixon, looking nervous and sweating profusely with a poorly-covered five-o’clock shadow. Guess who won. (Interestingly, a poll would show that those who only heard the debate on radio gave it to Nixon.)

1962: The Beverly Hillbillies premieres on CBS (on Donna Douglas’ 29th birthday – see above).

1962: Actress Melissa Sue Anderson (Little House on the Prairie) is born in Berkeley, California.

1966: WVIA-TV (channel 44) signs on in Scranton, Pennsylvania, bringing educational TV to northeastern Pennsylvania for the first time. The new outlet is helped along by other stations in the market, with WNEP-TV donating their old transmitter and tower, and WBRE-TV and WDAU-TV donating studio time and facilities for local productions.

1968: Book him, Danno.....Hawaii Five-O premieres on CBS. Exotic locations, a star with a perfect helmet of hair, and one of the coolest instrumental theme songs ever.

1968: A new version of Blondie premieres on CBS, with Will Hutchins and Patricia Harty as the Dagwoods, and Jim Backus and his wife Henny as the Dithers. The show would only manage to crank out 14 episodes (one unaired), 12 fewer than its also short-lived 1957 predecessor, before getting the cancellation axe.

1969: Here’s the story.....The Brady Bunch debuts on ABC.

1969: Get Smart begins its final season on its new home (CBS).

1981: How to Piss-off Baseball Fans 101: WGR-TV in Buffalo (now WGRZ-TV) cuts away from NBC’s weekly baseball game (Dodgers vs. Astros) to start its scheduled 5 pm program (an Army promotional film!) on time. Unfortunately, the game in question turns out to be pitcher Nolan Ryan’s record 5th no-hitter. Imagine the light show on the switchboard.....

1982: Doomed CBS spin-off #1: Gloria debuts on CBS. Though it ranked as high as #18 in the Nielsens over the season, CBS pulls the plug after 22 episodes.

1983: Doomed CBS spin-off #2: AfterMASH premieres on CBS. Managing to last 30 episodes, the show had actually garnered respectable ratings at first, then was moved opposite NBC’s Top Ten hit The A-Team. ‘Nuff said.

1986: After waiting for over 4 months for the 9th season premiere, puzzled Dallas fans finally get the explanation of allegedly-deceased Bobby Ewing’s last-minute appearance in the 8th season finale.....um.....it was just a dream.....the whole season....yeah, that’s the ticket!

1990: TV's first (and last) musical police drama, the infamous Cop Rock, premieres on ABC. The show would die a merciful death after just 11 episodes.

2000: Actor Richard Mulligan (Soap, Empty Nest) dies in Los Angeles of colon cancer, aged 67.

2001: Enterprise (later renamed Star Trek: Enterprise) premieres as the crown jewel of the fledgling UPN network’s schedule.

(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…..)

 

[Ultimajock]

1960: The first of the Kennedy-Nixon debates is aired. We all know the story: Kennedy, looking healthy, confident, and speaking eloquently; and Nixon, looking nervous and sweating profusely with a poorly-covered five-o’clock shadow. Guess who won. (Interestingly, a poll would show that those who only heard the debate on radio gave it to Nixon.)

...excerpted audio of that and the other three Kennedy-Nixon Debates are up for a few days at my podcast page, http://kingdaevid.podbean.com...there's an interesting question that pops up in (I think) the third debate about President Truman's derogatory comments about Nixon, which gives Nixon the opportunity to spout off about how Ike "restored good language" to the White House. So much for those expletives that had to be deleted from the Watergate transcripts ;-) ...

1968: A new version of Blondie premieres on CBS, with Will Hutchins and Patricia Harty as the Dagwoods, and Jim Backus and his wife Henny as the Dithers. The show would only manage to crank out 14 episodes (one unaired), 12 fewer than its also short-lived 1957 predecessor, before getting the cancellation axe.

...also in the regular cast was Pamelyn Ferdin as Cookie. Interesting that, as ubiquitous as Ferdin was in episodic TV in the '60s and '70s, she was a regular on six different series -- Blondie, Curiosity Shop, The Roman Holidays, The Paul Lynde Show, Lassie* and Space Academy -- and only worked on each for a single year...

*although scenes incorporating her character on Lassie were spread over two seasons, it's my understanding that they were filmed within a single 12-month period.

2000: Actor Richard Mulligan (Soap, Empty Nest) dies in Los Angeles of colon cancer, aged 67.

...I still find it interesting that, in the theatrical film S.O.B., William Holden, Robert Preston and Robert Webber plot to steal Mulligan's corpse from a funeral home -- and in real life Mulligan outlived all three of the other actors...

 

[wbhist]

Also on this day in 1964, the first edition of Jackie Gleason's American Scene Magazine to originate from the Miami Beach Auditorium is transmitted over CBS. He had moved there after spending the first 14 years (in time span) of his career as a comedy/variety show attraction in New York. While Miami's then-CBS affiliate, WTVJ, provided the technical facilities, the cameras - whether monochrome Marconi Mark IV pre-1966 or color Norelco PC-60 post-1966 - still had pertinent CBS markings.

 

[Stanislav]

1968: A new version of Blondie premieres on CBS, with Will Hutchins and Patricia Harty as the Dagwoods, and Jim Backus and his wife Henny as the Dithers. The show would only manage to crank out 14 episodes (one unaired), 12 fewer than its also short-lived 1957 predecessor, before getting the cancellation axe.

...also in the regular cast was Pamelyn Ferdin as Cookie. Interesting that, as ubiquitous as Ferdin was in episodic TV in the '60s and '70s, she was a regular on six different series -- Blondie, Curiosity Shop, The Roman Holidays, The Paul Lynde Show, Lassie* and Space Academy -- and only worked on each for a single year...

She also voiced Lucy for several "Peanuts" projects, and was perfectly cast as Felix' daughter Edna on The Odd Couple. (The chick who replaced her wasn't nearly as talented IMHO.) Reportedly, Tony Randall chided her with playful mock indignation when she left the show for the chance to be a regular cast member on The Paul Lynde Show, and afterwards never let her forget what a "turkey" THAT show turned out to be!

Ms. Ferdin retired from acting in the 80's to become a nurse and, later, a very committed PETA activist. (She's been arrested a few times while participating in animal rights protests.)

 

[RicoGregg]

1968: A new version of Blondie premieres on CBS, with Will Hutchins and Patricia Harty as the Dagwoods, and Jim Backus and his wife Henny as the Dithers. The show would only manage to crank out 14 episodes (one unaired), 12 fewer than its also short-lived 1957 predecessor, before getting the cancellation axe.

...also in the regular cast was Pamelyn Ferdin as Cookie. Interesting that, as ubiquitous as Ferdin was in episodic TV in the '60s and '70s, she was a regular on six different series -- Blondie, Curiosity Shop, The Roman Holidays, The Paul Lynde Show, Lassie* and Space Academy -- and only worked on each for a single year...

She also voiced Lucy for several "Peanuts" projects, and was perfectly cast as Felix' daughter Edna on The Odd Couple. (The chick who replaced her wasn't nearly as talented IMHO.) Reportedly, Tony Randall chided her with playful mock indignation when she left the show for the chance to be a regular cast member on The Paul Lynde Show, and afterwards never let her forget what a "turkey" THAT show turned out to be!

Ms. Ferdin retired from acting in the 80's to become a nurse and, later, a very committed PETA activist. (She's been arrested a few times while participating in animal rights protests.)

If they had cast Pamelyn Ferdin into something with Jerry Van Dyke, another chronic tv bomb actor, you would have had either a complete disaster area, or a case of two negatives making a positive.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

1926: Actress/singer Julie London (d. 2000) is born as Gayle Peck in Santa Rosa, CA. Her TV roles include guest appearances on "Rawhide" and "The Big Valley," and a starring role on "Emergency!"

 

[radioman148]

>>1968: A new version of Blondie premieres on CBS, with Will Hutchins and Patricia Harty as the Dagwoods, and Jim Backus and his wife Henny as the Dithers. The show would only manage to crank out 14 episodes (one unaired), 12 fewer than its also short-lived 1957 predecessor, before getting the cancellation axe.>>

Patricia Harty co starred in "Occasional Wife" (1966) an underrated show IMO.

 

[71dude]

1984: The Jason Bateman cult favorite It's Your Move premieres on NBC.

 

[Kurt Toy]

Also, Gilligan's Island debuts on CBS.

 

[Kurt Toy]

Forgot to mention 1964. My boo-boo.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

1948: Singer/actress Olivia Newton-John, whose television appearances include the 1982 ABC special "Let's Get Physical" (after the '81 mega-hit of that same name) and 1983's "Olivia in Concert" on HBO, is born in Cambridge, England (but raised in Australia).