TV History

October 3, 1952…Television City Debuts 1 Day Before NBC Burbank Both networks were working hard to finish their new west coast production facilities in the fall of 1952. When NBC announced in late September they had moved up their first broadcast date to October 4, a mad rush to finish CBS Studio 31 at…

October 3, 1961…”The Dick Van Dyke Show” Debuts On CBS If you compare photos of this show’s sets and layout to “I Love Lucy” stage photos, you’ll see that they are strikingly similar. Even today, filmed sitcoms adhere closely to this layout and 3 camera arrangement. Enjoy! -Bobby Ellerbee Source

October 3, 1960…”The Andy Griffith Show” Debuts On CBS This is a very rare shot of the opening sequence being filmed in Los Angles. Go ahead…whistle the theme song…I know you know it. Enjoy! -Bobby Ellerbee Source

October 3, 1955…”Captain Kangaroo” & “Mickey Mouse Club” Debut What a great day for kids! One new morning show and one new afternoon show! Above is the whole story of “The Mickey Mouse Club”…a 50 minute video, full of history and the story of how it came to be for ABC and Disney. At…

October 2, 1953…”Person To Person” Debuts With Technical Marvels https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHuO19Q_KNQ&ab_channel=JT By 1953, television had been using it’s new, two year old ability to reach from coast-to-coast in a number of unique ways, but none were more unique than the challenges this show brought. It took a lot of planning and a three camera crew…

October 1, 1955…”The Honeymooners” Debuts On CBS Setting The Record Straight On “The Honeymooners” Above is a great shot of the cast and writers going over a script at Jackie Gleason’s office. Today is the anniversary of The Classic 39 “Honeymooners” episodes done on film for the 1955-56 season on CBS. but the younger…

October 1, 1962…The Johnny Carson “Tonight” Theme Debuted How Johnny Carson’s ‘Tonight’ Show Theme Song Came About… Today, October 1, 1962, Carson took over as host and that night was the first time this song was played…at least on television. It was written by Paul Anka and here is the backstory on a song…

At the video clip above is the audio of the first 3 minutes of the debut show with Groucho Marx introducing Johnny. The video of those first three minutes has been lost but below, we have the next best thing…rare pictures from that night! Groucho, among a long list of other comedians, had guest…

September 30, 1939…First Televised Football Game Broadcast By NBC All the details are below in my previous post on this occasion. Hope your teams win this weekend! -Bobby Ellerbee College Football Starts This Week…Here’s The First TV Game The first ever telecast of a football game was done from Triborough Stadium in Randall’s Island…

September 30, 1960…”The Flintstones” Debuts On ABC + Demo Video There is much more in my original story below, with the very first animation demo of the show. The X marks and long black lines on the film are grease pencil marks for portions that were later used in on of the first episodes…

September 30, 1951…First West To East Series Debuts On NBC + Rare Color Film…5 “Colgate Comedy Hour” Stars At El Capitan 65 years ago today, NBC’s “Colgate Comedy Hour” became the first regularly scheduled program to originate on the west coast, to be broadcast to the entire network. Only 26 days before this, the…

September 29, 1951…Two College Football Television Firsts Did you know CBS and NBC made television history the same day? On September 29, 1951 NBC gave us the first live sporting event broadcast coast-to-coast, a college football game between Duke University and the University of Pittsburgh. Later the same day, CBS broadcast the first college…

September 27, 1954…”Tonight” Debuts On NBC Below is a rare NBC operations log from October 4, 1954. This log is from one week after the debut, and reveals the origin of “the first 15 minutes”, which confounded both Jack Paar and Johnny Carson until January of 1967, when Carson demanded an 11:30 start time.…

September 26, 1960…America’s First Televised Presidential Debate Tonight is the big night for us in 2016, but 56 years ago today, it was a big night for America and television as the presidential candidates met for a first ever debate on TV. On this day in 1960, John Kennedy and Richard Nixon met at…

A Fond Farewell To Charles Osgood…Today Is His Last Show Later this morning, Charles will bring is 22 year hosting job at “CBS Sunday Morning” to a close, with a very special edition of the show. As a tribute, I’ve laid out some of the many beautiful shots our friend Craig Wilson has shared…

September 25, 1964…Last Black & White Bob Hope Special Airs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkntHZ91WJI At the link above is a Hope special from September 25, 1964. Although it was shot in black and white, it looks spectacular! This was done in Studio 1 at NBC Burbank, which had RCA TK41 color cameras, but they were pushed off…