TV History

Oh, Now I See How They Do It! Ever wonder how they got a lot of driving sequence shots? Me too, but now we see how it’s done. This is called a ‘Process Trailer’. When the platforms on each side of the car are let down, the rig is 15 feet wide, but with…

Bridge to Captain Pike? It could have been! In a very unusual twist, NBC ordered a second pilot of Star Trek. In the original, the captain’s name was Christopher Pike and was played by Jeff Hunter. In the second pilot, James T Kirk appeared as William Shatner was now free from obligations that prevented…

Law & Order: A Quick Look Behind The Scenes Nice look at some of the sets and locations and a look back at the cast members that have played the principal rolls. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gQYHYP_m-g Take a quick behind the scenes look at NBC’s Law & Order, which is celebrating its 20th season. The show’s new…

Grenoble Winter Olympics: 1968…One Of The Few Bright Spots 1968 was a hard year in America. Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King were assassinated. Riots were everywhere after the King killing, there were riots over the war in Vietnam and riots in Chicago at the Democratic Convention. Bras and draft cards were burned, but,…

First Grammy Telecast: 1971 on ABC Although the Grammy Awards began in 1958, it took an unbelievable 13 years for the show to come to television. ABC broadcast the first two, but since, CBS has had the show. Andy Williams was the host and presenters even included John Wayne. Below, ABC’s promo for the…

Funny Stuff! ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ Outtakes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAOGRAfVMKg Everybody Loves Raymond Bloopers – Season 3 Source

The Cussin’ Cowboys From The Ponderosa! First, this clip appears to freeze a few times, but let it play…it’s not your computer…just the way is was recorded. Second, the ‘good hard cussin’ is in the last half. Interesting to see Hoss without his hair piece. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0Yso9Vwh_A Bloopers from the hit western Bonanza. Be…

The First Major ‘Shrinkage’: 1977 The RCA TK760 was the fist ‘light weight’ color camera that could handle a box lens. In essence, it was a TK76 ENG camera modified to be used with a big viewfinder and lens. Some broadcasters used them in the studio while NBC chose to use them on their…

The Kraft Television Theater: NBC, May 1947 – October 1958 After the Kraft Television Theater ended, TV Guide did a tribute article about the series. The article stated that the series had aired more than 650 plays that were chosen from 18,845 scripts. The rehearsals for the 6,750 roles took 26,000 hours on 5,236…

The Whole Story In Detail: Ed Sullivan and The Beatles! There are a number of stories regarding exactly how The Beatles came to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show. The most popular is that in 1963, while arriving at London’s Heathrow airport, Ed Sullivan and his wife Sylvia encountered thousands of youngsters waiting excitedly…

Beatles Prelude: A Few SURPRISES! In 1964, today February 8th, would have been Saturday. The first Beatles rehearsal for Ed Sullivan began at 1:30 PM Saturday afternoon at Studio 50. Here is a rundown of the day and a few BIG SURPRISES! Surprise 1…The Beatles ‘THIRD’ appearance was actually their FIRST appearance! The Sunday…

Heavy Metal Flashback: 1971 With football and TK41s on my mind, I thought this would be an excellent time for a second visit to Texas Tech with ABC! Enjoy! Amazingly, till now, there are only 5 or 6 photos of TK41s showing them at football games. In this great 8 photo array, we see…

Dumont Iconoscope Camera Chains Pictured here are two complete chains for studio and field use. Everything on the cart can be placed in a truck or control room, but notice the two elements at the foot of each tripod. Those had to be with the camera head…one element is an amplifier and the other,…

Did She Really Say That? Yep! This is funny and you’ll hear some words from George Carlin’s ‘7 Words You Can’t Say’ routine…even from Mary! Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4XHXeiMRSk This is the original gag reel from the final season of the MTM Show. Enjoy! Source

Up Close And Personal Here is a good look at the Chapman Hi-Lo sideline camera rig. It was built a couple of years back for ESPN but saw duty at this year’s Super Bowl. The weights under the lenses are counterbalances for the cameraman’s weight. The top platform can swivel 360 degrees and the…

The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, had an interesting beginning in Bristol, Connecticut, and believe it or not, came to be with the help of Getty Oil. The whole story is at the link and this photo is from Day 1 and shows their first cameras, the Norelco PC70s on the Sports Center set.…

The Very Last RCA Cameras Ever Made Both of these cameras are RCA TKP 47s. The blue version was introduced at the NAB in 1982…the grey version is the final configuration of the TKP 47 and appeared in 1983. Production stopped in 1984. In 81, the last studio cameras had been made in Camden…

Last Of The RCA Studio Cameras: The TK47 From 1979 till 1981, RCA made 238 TK47s. In ’79, 36 were built, 118 built in ’80 and in ’81, the final run of 84 cameras were built. It would be interesting to know who the last TK47s were sold to. This photo is at WBNS…

The RCA Orthicon Tube Harley Ambrose Iams and Albert Rose of RCA developed the tube in 1938. Although it was a simpler design than the Iconoscope, building this tube was much more difficult. This 4 Inch RCA Orthicon tube was 18 inches long. Source