TV History

September 12, 1954…’Lassie’ Debuts On CBS The video clips here are part one and two of the first ever episode of ‘Lassie’ which debuted Sunday, September 12, 1954, at 7:00 p.m. EST…a time slot the show would call home on CBS for the next seventeen years. Between 1943 and 1951, Lassie, was the inspiration…

Remembering Bob Crewe…Take A Look At This List Of Hits Bob Crewe, the writer-producer behind Frankie Valli‘s biggest hits, has died. He was 82. Bob was best known for producing, and co-writing (with Bob Gaudio), a long string of Top 10 singles for The Four Seasons, but Crew has a long and proud history…

FANTASTIC! Behind The Scenes…ABC Sports, October 4, 1975 With college football back in the air, it’s time to replay this best ever look at how 60 men brought 30 million viewers these great games every Saturday. “Second’s To Play” is presented here in two 15 minute segments. This is the most extensive look you’ll…

Rare! ‘Lucky Partners’…NBC Studio 8H, 1958 If you blinked, you missed this short lived daytime game show. It debuted June 30, 1958 and by August 22, it was gone and these few photos are all that remain. The host was Carl Cardell. I want to ask a question…does anyone know if the cameraman standing…

A Rare Look At NBC Studio 8H…1954 ‘Saturday Night Live’ fans and staff will get a kick out of this too as this will look quite familiar. The opens with the studio doors of 8H bursting open and the singing cast making it’s way to the 8th floor elevators to welcome the show’s star,…

A Classic Candid And What It Tells Us… This is NBC cameraman George Kiyak goofing with the photographer in a photo shared by his son, Mark, but let’s look closer…there is something to learn here. Notice the turret handle is at a 45 degree angle and not at it’s usual 90 degree taking position.…

Hey CBS…Buck Rogers Wants His Truck Back! In August of 1951, this one of a kind creation was the latest and greatest thing in mobile radio units. For the time, this was actually quite a feat of engineering design with all that molded plexiglass. This CBS unit is shown here in Central Park and…

Speaking Of ‘Gunsmoke’…How About Some Great Outtakes? Long before blooper shows came to television, this reel was put together by CBS for one of their fall season kick off meetings for their affiliates in the early ’60s. It’s hosted by James Arness and features a lot of gags from his show, but we’ll also…

What A Lesson! D W Griffith Was An Editing Pioneer Too! From the Filmmakers IQ library, here is another great history lesson and today’s subject is editing and how it came to be. In this, I was surprised to learn one of the first great directors was actually one of editing’s leading men and…

More CGI Magic…’Boardwalk Empire’ As promised, here is more on the amazing ability editors now have with Computer Generated Imagery. Period shows like HBO’s ‘Boardwalk Empire’ have to take a great deal of care to keep the 1920s look intact and free from modern skylines and backgrounds, but that’s only half of the challenge.…

The Old Shoe…Seth Meyers Desk Platform Last week, ‘Late Night With Seth Meyers’ debuted their new set, but in case you never saw this up close, here is the old desk platform. Around Studio 8G, this was called “the shoe” because it kind of looks like one and works like one. The “heal” is…

September 9, 1926…NBC Was Incorporated By RCA The incorporation process was the first step on a very long and profitable road for the nation’s first broadcasting network which came to life on November 15, 1926, with a gala four-hour radio program originating from the ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. Here…

Speaking Of ‘Star Trek’…. On this 48th anniversary of the series debut, here’s an idea of just how wildly popular the show was. Mad Magazine did a parody! Our friend Dick DeBartolo wrote “Star Blecch” for Mad’s December ’67 issue and here is Shatner and Nimoy reading it on location. Dick’s story was beautifully…

MUST SEE! The History Of Visual Trickery… This is the best presentation and history of visual effects I have ever seen! If you have ever wondered where it all started and how it was done, here are the answers. Starting in 1898, this comes all the way to today and lays out the evolution…

MIND BLOWING! Prepare To Be Astonished! The question is, can you believe your eyes? After seeing this…you may wonder if you ever can again! Especially at the movies. The computer generated visual effects in this clip from ‘The Wolf Of Wall Street’ are simply stunning. See for yourself! Tomorrow, more stunning CGI effects but…

NBC Television Logos…1926 – 2000 As part of today’s 57th Anniversary of the NBC Peacock logo, I thought I’d add this montage. Someone did a good job with this, which is actually pretty accurate and inclusive…especially the first three minutes or so. I always thought the Snake logo was the best. What’s your favorite?…

September 7, 1956…NBC Debuts The Animated Peacock 57 years ago today, this animated film clip rolled at NBC for the first time at the start of ‘Your Hit Parade’ which at the time, was originating live and in living color from NBC Studio 8H. The voice belongs to legendary NBC announcer Ben Grauer. The…

Barbra Streisand’s Network Television Debut…April 5, 1961 Filling in for the vacationing Jack Paar, Orson Bean hosts ‘Tonight’ and introduces the world to Barbara. The actual video will start about a minute into this, but the visuals leading up to it are interesting photos and newspaper clips about the rise of this budding singer.…