TV History

September 18, 1927…The Second Radio Network Debuts 87 years ago today, The Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting Company went on the air with a 16 station network (list below). What we now know as CBS actually started on January 27, 1927, as United Independent Broadcasters, Inc., when talent agent Arthur Judson, unable to obtain work for…

‘Wheel Of Fortune’…Pilot Number 2…1974 ‘Wheel Of Fortune’ premiered as a daytime series on NBC on January 6, 1975, and continued to air on the network until June 30, 1989, but not before some major reworking of the original pilot we see in today’s first post. In this second pilot, Ed Byrnes, the actor…

‘Wheel Of Fortune’…Pilot Number 1…1973 Merv Griffin shot three pilot episodes for ‘Wheel Of Fortune’…this is the first and at the time the show was called ‘Shopper’s Bazaar’ and was hosted by Chuck Woolery. In the next post, we’ll see the second pilot hosted by Ed “Kooky” Burns, but here’s how this all came…

The First Hallmark Sponsorship…’Amahl And The Night Visitors’ At 9:30 PM on December 24, 1951, in NBC Studio 8-H, the first opera ever written expressly for television went live on the air. The sponsor for the NBC holiday spectacular was Hallmark Cards. This was their first venture into television and this lead to the…

‘NBC News Overnight’…The Final Minutes & More In Two Video Clips Many have called this “the best written, best executed news program ever produced”. I agree…I watched it every night. Before I get too far along, at the link above, Linda Ellerbee talks about ‘Overnight’ in the same style that endeared her to so…

How Rin Tin Tin Got His Name & More…96th Anniversary & Video If you are like me, you’ve always wondered where this great dog actor got his odd name. After I tell you about the name, we’ll look at some of the history and a full episode of the TV show, but now…let’s go…

The Latest Article From Richard Wirth…”From Kinescopes To Digital” Television’s main technical challenge has always been, how to deliver the best image. That has not been easy given the need for time delays in the broadcast world and in this article, Richard does a fine job of bringing us through the many steps that…

Set Your DVR Now…Barbra Streisand Returns To ‘Tonight’, 51 Years Later! Just two weeks ago, I posted her first ever network appearance on ‘Tonight With Jack Paar’, with Orson Bean as a guest host. That was in 1961. Her next appearance on ‘Tonight’ was during the guest host period between Paar and Carson with…

CBS Television City’s First Series…’My Friend Irma’ Here’s the set of ‘My Friend Irma’ on the brand new Studio 31 stage, but before we get to the studio, take a look at the set. This may have been the first time this horizontal production process was used in television. With all the “rooms” laid out…

NBC Legend Harry Coyle…Power Outage Takes All But One Camera! This amazing video starts a few seconds before the NBC Sports truck loses power. It was shot by NBC producer Rick Reed and here is what Rick wrote about this event: “In 1982, we were producing a pre-game segment for NBC’s Game of the…

Who Knew? Zoomar Long Lenses Were Used In The Studio… The first example I ever saw of this was when I discovered some rare photos of ‘Kukla, Fran And Ollie’ being done at WNBQ in Chicago. That was the first time this was done and the lens inventor, Dr. Frank Back even paid a…

September 13, 1966…’The Monkees’ Debuts On NBC Before the background, a note on the video. At the start is some of the screen test shots of the guys and this is followed by the series pilot which never aired. The theme song is a demo by Boyce and Hart. Don Kirshner was in charge…

‘Law And Order’…A Tour Of The Set With Jerry Orbach Since we are celebrating the September 13, 1990 debut of the show, I thought we should see this again…the best ever set tour with the show’s best ever detective, Lennie Briscoe. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee Source

Very Interesting! ‘Search For Tomorrow’…The LIVE Episode! On August 4, 1983 the master tape and back up copy of one of the show’s daily episodes went missing! By now the show had moved to NBC from CBS and WNBC’s Jack Cafferty is reporting here on the event of doing a live show. Even Don…

September 11, 1967…’The Carol Burnett Show’ Debuts on CBS Missed this one yesterday, but better late than never. Although I would love to show you the first episode of the show, that’s not possible. As a matter of fact, I think the first five years of the show are still locked away and have…

September 12, 1959…’Bonanza’ Debuts On NBC Initially, ‘Bonanza’ aired on Saturday evenings opposite ‘Perry Mason’. The ratings were dismal and the show was soon targeted for cancellation, but NBC kept it because ‘Bonanza’ was one of the first series to be filmed and broadcast in color, including scenes of picturesque Lake Tahoe Nevada. NBC’s…