September 27: This Day in TV History

[Stanislav]

Just a few random TV related events that happened on September 27. (Busy day -- check out all the stations that happened to sign on this day in 1953!) Discuss or comment as you please……

1920: Actor/narrator William Conrad (The Fugitive, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Cannon, Jake and the Fatman) is born (as William Cann) in Louisville, Kentucky.

1932: Character actor Roger C. Carmel is born in Brooklyn, New York.

1934: Actor Wilford Brimley (Our House) is born in Salt Lake City, Utah. In spite of the vast majority of his career having been played out on the big screen, TV viewers know his mustachioed mug best for his long association with commercials for Quaker Oats and Liberty Medical Supply.

1953: WTOK-TV (channel 11) begins broadcasting in Meridian as Mississippi’s second TV station, and its first on VHF. (WJTV in Jackson was the first station, but started out on a UHF channel.)

1953: KCMO-TV (channel 5, now KCTV) debuts in Kansas City, Missouri.

1953: WMAZ-TV (channel 13) signs on for the first time in Macon, Georgia. It is the first TV station in the state outside Atlanta

1953: WHBQ-TV (channel 13) begins operating in Memphis, Tennessee.

1953: WEHT (channel 50) brings TV to the tri-state Evansville, Indiana area for the first time. 11 years later, the station would move down the dial to channel 25.

1953: KFEQ-TV (channel 2, now KQTV) begins broadcasting in St. Joseph, Missouri.

1953: KNOE-TV sings on in Monroe, Louisiana on channel 8.

1954: The Tonight Show premieres on NBC with host Steve Allen and announcer Gene Rayburn. It is a safe bet that no one on this date ever thought that the late-night network experiment would still be going strong 54 years later.

1954: Caesar’s Hour, the successor to Your Show of Shows, debuts on NBC.

1961: Top Cat premieres on ABC.

1970: The final edition of Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour is broadcast on CBS. Mack himself voluntarily ended the show before CBS had a chance to cancel it in the great purge that axed several long-running rural and older-skewing shows.

1973: Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert premieres in syndication with a performance by The Rolling Stones.

1976: The Muppet Show premieres on ITV in the U.K. and in syndication in the U.S.

1977: A small aircraft crashes into the tower of CKVR-TV (Barrie, Ontario) in foggy conditions, collapsing the tower and killing all aboard the plane.

1982: Square Pegs debuts on CBS.

1986: Out with the old, in with the new: Mrs. Garrett (Charlotte Rae) leaves the girls on The Facts of Life, and is replaced by the character’s sister Beverly Stickle (Cloris Leachman).

1986: Amen debuts on NBC.

1988: One of the most offbeat of all the “Peanuts” specials airs: It’s the Girl in the Red Truck, Charlie Brown. Despite the title, neither ol’ Chuck nor any of the other classic characters appear in the show. It stars Snoopy’s desert-dwelling brother Spike in a mixture of live action and animation. He is befriended by a girl who drives a red truck (played by Charles Schulz’ daughter, Jill). [Was this oddball special ever repeated?]

1996: Sabrina the Teenage Witch debuts on ABC.

2005: The short-lived (18 episodes) ABC series Commander in Chief premieres.

(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…..)

 

[RicoGregg]

Re: The Girl in the Red Truck:

To the best of my knowledge, it hasn't seen the light of day ever again. Peanuts lovers seem to agree that this was by far the worst of the Peanuts TV specials. It would certainly get my vote. Jill's acting left something to be desired, and for something that was supposed to be humorous and amusing, it seemed to have a grimness to it, especially the ending. As the Monty Python troupe would say, so much for pathos.

Snoopy did make a very brief appearance at the beginning, reading a letter from brother Spike, which was narrated by the voice of Charlie Brown.

Nobody's perfect, but approving this special had to be one of Charles Schultz's biggest mistakes.

 

[Stanislav]

Re: The Girl in the Red Truck:

To the best of my knowledge, it hasn't seen the light of day ever again. Peanuts lovers seem to agree that this was by far the worst of the Peanuts TV specials. It would certainly get my vote. Jill's acting left something to be desired, and for something that was supposed to be humorous and amusing, it seemed to have a grimness to it, especially the ending. As the Monty Python troupe would say, so much for pathos.

The same reason why I shudder at What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown? A little too "heavy" and serious for the gang. Schulz never shied away from important topics, but always remembered to make with the funny along the way. The original A Charlie Brown Christmas, for example, in spite of the humor, really made a biting statement about the commercialization of Christmas, something Schulz felt very strongly about. Yet the only really "serious" parts are Linus' quoting from Matthew, and the ending with the "miracle tree" and the gang -- the rest is vintage "Peanuts;" i.e., humor, but with a message. But there's not much humor he could have injected into a WWII themed special -- the message pretty much precludes humor (unless you degenerate into Hogan's Heroes type farce). I can see the special working as an educational film for young kids, but as a general entertainment outing, not even close.

Nobody's perfect, but approving this special had to be one of Charles Schultz's biggest mistakes.

Well...I at least give him credit for going out on a limb and trying something different. And who knows -- maybe Jill was in financial straits and just needed a nice paycheck -- even Schulz was not above a little nepotism.

What I wonder is what the reaction was at CBS when they viewed that thing. I mean, Schulz had pretty much carte blanche at the network, given the success of his previous outings. I'm sure by that point they probably didn't even look seriously at storyboards or synopses, figuring whatever had "Peanuts" branded on it meant money in the bank. Ya suppose there was more than a little head-scratching when the execs got a glimpse of the results?

 

[Tim L]

1954: The Tonight Show premieres on NBC with host Steve Allen and announcer Gene Rayburn. It is a safe bet that no one on this date ever thought that the late-night network experiment would still be going strong 54 years later.

Here is a You Tube Link a part of Steve Allen's first Tonight episode. In this clip he stats "This Show is gonna go on forever"..Later on he recounts the fact that Pat Weaver already has "Today" and "Home" on the air, in addition to Tonight...His comment:

"If this show is successful, then you'll have "Son Of Tonight", which he had know way of knowing would happen about 20 years later with "Tomorrow". "Late night", etc..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8AYUfBt1dE

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

1921: Producer and director Milton Subotsky (d. 1991) is born in New York City. His credits include serving as producer of the 1954 series "Junior Science," and co-producing the 1980 TV series adaptation of Ray Bradbury's book, "The Martian Chronicles."

 

[radioman148]

1954: The Tonight Show premieres on NBC with host Steve Allen and announcer Gene Rayburn. It is a safe bet that no one on this date ever thought that the late-night network experiment would still be going strong 54 years later.

Here is a You Tube Link a part of Steve Allen's first Tonight episode. In this clip he stats "This Show is gonna go on forever"..Later on he recounts the fact that Pat Weaver already has "Today" and "Home" on the air, in addition to Tonight...His comment:

"If this show is successful, then you'll have "Son Of Tonight", which he had know way of knowing would happen about 20 years later with "Tomorrow". "Late night", etc..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8AYUfBt1dE

Steve Allen was a very smart man. He often saw things that would happen in the future.

 

[mleach]

Steve Allen was a very smart man. He often saw things that would happen in the future.

I totally agree..Steve Allen was a very smart man..at least in his early years anyway. In his later years..well...some years back late one night I was checking out the Steve Lavelle overnight show on Boston's WBZ-AM 1030. Some caller for some reason I have since forget had brought up the name Steve Allen during the broadcast. Anyway from what I can remember the show had brought up the time shortly after the public learned that their long time evening host, the late David Brudnoy had AIDS ( 1994 ) , WBZ had received a letter from Steve Allen demanding that Brudnoy be fired due to him having AIDS and his private lifestyle saying pretty much that by allowing David Brudnoy to continue to do his radio show that will put the listeners of WBZ "at risk". What exactly was the "risk" that concerned Steve Allen?

Anyway despite that letter, WBZ didn't fire David Brudnoy.

 

[Stanislav]

Steve Allen was a very smart man. He often saw things that would happen in the future.

I totally agree..Steve Allen was a very smart man..at least in his early years anyway. In his later years..well...some years back late one night I was checking out the Steve Lavelle overnight show on Boston's WBZ-AM 1030. Some caller for some reason I have since forget had brought up the name Steve Allen during the broadcast. Anyway from what I can remember the show had brought up the time shortly after the public learned that their long time evening host, the late David Brudnoy had AIDS ( 1994 ) , WBZ had received a letter from Steve Allen demanding that Brudnoy be fired due to him having AIDS and his private lifestyle saying pretty much that by allowing David Brudnoy to continue to do his radio show that will put the listeners of WBZ "at risk". What exactly was the "risk" that concerned Steve Allen?

Anyway despite that letter, WBZ didn't fire David Brudnoy.

Steverino unfortunately became more prudish and uptight in his later years; witness his campaign against "vulgar" and "immoral" TV shows. While I agree that there is a considerable amount of TV programming that can be considered to be in poor taste, or just plain bad, the way Steve ranted and raved one would have thought that the barbarians were about to storm the castle and utterly destroy civilization.

 

[radioman148]

Steve Allen was a very smart man. He often saw things that would happen in the future.

I totally agree..Steve Allen was a very smart man..at least in his early years anyway. In his later years..well...some years back late one night I was checking out the Steve Lavelle overnight show on Boston's WBZ-AM 1030. Some caller for some reason I have since forget had brought up the name Steve Allen during the broadcast. Anyway from what I can remember the show had brought up the time shortly after the public learned that their long time evening host, the late David Brudnoy had AIDS ( 1994 ) , WBZ had received a letter from Steve Allen demanding that Brudnoy be fired due to him having AIDS and his private lifestyle saying pretty much that by allowing David Brudnoy to continue to do his radio show that will put the listeners of WBZ "at risk". What exactly was the "risk" that concerned Steve Allen?

Anyway despite that letter, WBZ didn't fire David Brudnoy.

Steverino unfortunately became more prudish and uptight in his later years; witness his campaign against "vulgar" and "immoral" TV shows. While I agree that there is a considerable amount of TV programming that can be considered to be in poor taste, or just plain bad, the way Steve ranted and raved one would have thought that the barbarians were about to storm the castle and utterly destroy civilization.

You're right Steve was much more liberal in his early years. For some reason age changed him quite a bit toward the prudish mentality.

 

[mleach]

Steverino unfortunately became more prudish and uptight in his later years; witness his campaign against "vulgar" and "immoral" TV shows. While I agree that there is a considerable amount of TV programming that can be considered to be in poor taste, or just plain bad, the way Steve ranted and raved one would have thought that the barbarians were about to storm the castle and utterly destroy civilization.

And this appeared in the LA Times the day after Steve Allen had died....

http://findadeath.com/Deceased/a/steveallen/paper.jpg

Shortly before his death I believe Steve Allen was going to team up with Michael Medved to go after local radio as well...mainly local disc jockies and their "sex talk". No doubt had Allen lived, chances are he and Medved would had taken "credit" themselves as to why so many local radio stations today are jockless..claiming its the "will of the people" as they want "high moral standards" from their djs...even if they do play such "family tunes" like George Michael's "I Want Your Sex", Accept's "Balls To The Walls" or Frank Zappa's "Dinah Moe Humm".

 

[bpatrick]

A few days before Allen's death I received a form letter
signed by he and Shirley Jones, asking to help stamp out
four-letter words on television. Yet if you read "Funny People"
and "More Funny People," two of his books which profile comedians
past and present, there seems to be nothing but raunchy stories;
invariably Allen will say he has an aversion to such language but has
to put it in for the record (how else can you talk about a Richard Pryor
or George Carlin or Lenny Bruce?).

But all I care is the body of work he left behind; I still come out of
my chair at the vintage-'50s clip of Steve as sportscaster Big Bill
Allen. When he sees his rumpled appearance on the monitor, Steve
can't stop laughing...and the laughter becomes contagious. I also
get a kick of his 1980 skit with Steve Martin as Martin's halfwit fictional
brother Billy (a satire on Billy Carter).

 

[mleach]

A few days before Allen's death I received a form letter
signed by he and Shirley Jones, asking to help stamp out
four-letter words on television. Yet if you read "Funny People"
and "More Funny People," two of his books which profile comedians
past and present, there seems to be nothing but raunchy stories;
invariably Allen will say he has an aversion to such language but has
to put it in for the record (how else can you talk about a Richard Pryor
or George Carlin or Lenny Bruce?).

Interesting that Shirley Jones was against the use of four letter words on TV since Shirley had no problem with the use of such stuff on the radio and in books since I can remember hearing an interview with Shirley Jones on Denver's KHOW-AM 630 not that long ago where she had said that she was a fan of not only Howard Stern but even Tom Leykus..no shortage of four letter words on their shows. Plus some ten years ago I can remember hearing an uncensored tape of Shirley Jones from the early 90's where some radio morning jock ( Florida? ) as a prank called up her hotel room at 5 in the morning pretending to be a hotel employee making a "wake-up call for Shirley". When the jock said it was a joke, well the language Shirley Jones used over the telephone to the jock well it wasn't exactly "ladylike" LOL. I don't think that bit was ever actually aired though..too much censoring had to be done I suppose even though after listening to that tape I have a gut feeling that Shirley had the idea the conversation was going out live on the air.

Also Shirley Jones I am pretty sure endorsed David Cassidy's tell-all bio that came out back in 1994..and that book was chock full of four letter words and very very raunchy stories.

 

[radioman148]

A few days before Allen's death I received a form letter
signed by he and Shirley Jones, asking to help stamp out
four-letter words on television. Yet if you read "Funny People"
and "More Funny People," two of his books which profile comedians
past and present, there seems to be nothing but raunchy stories;
invariably Allen will say he has an aversion to such language but has
to put it in for the record (how else can you talk about a Richard Pryor
or George Carlin or Lenny Bruce?).

But all I care is the body of work he left behind; I still come out of
my chair at the vintage-'50s clip of Steve as sportscaster Big Bill
Allen. When he sees his rumpled appearance on the monitor, Steve
can't stop laughing...and the laughter becomes contagious. I also
get a kick of his 1980 skit with Steve Martin as Martin's halfwit fictional
brother Billy (a satire on Billy Carter).

The "Bill Allen" bit was great and his laughter was very infectious. Do you remember his Westinghouse Show from the early 60s? Lot's of hysterical stuff. I wish there were videos of that show.

 

[Ultimajock]

Steverino unfortunately became more prudish and uptight in his later years; witness his campaign against "vulgar" and "immoral" TV shows. While I agree that there is a considerable amount of TV programming that can be considered to be in poor taste, or just plain bad, the way Steve ranted and raved one would have thought that the barbarians were about to storm the castle and utterly destroy civilization.

...from what I hear, that was pretty much Jayne Meadows' influence on him. He even cranked on the TV sitcom of Uncle Buck even tho sister-in-law Audrey Meadows was on it...

 

[The King Bee]

FYI...William Conrad played Matt Dillon for the entire 1950-57 radio run of "Gunsmoke." Andy Griffith Show ensemble players Howard ("Floyd Lawson") McNear played Doc Galen Adams, and Parley ("Mayor Stoner") Baer played Deputy Chester Goode on "Gunsmoke,' as well.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

1965: Radio personality and daughter of Martha Stewart, Alexis Stewart (of Hallmark Channel's "Whatever with Alexis") is born in NYC.

 

[wbhist]

Parley ("Mayor Stoner") Baer played Deputy Chester Goode on "Gunsmoke,' as well.

Only one qualifier: On the radio series, the character's name was "Chester Proudfoot."