TV History

BREAKING NEWS! COLBERT TO REPLACE LETTERMAN! http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/stephen-colbert-to-replace-david-letterman-1201155423/ Stephen Colbert to Replace David Letterman The CBS Television Network today announced that Stephen Colbert, the host, writer and executive producer of the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning “The Colbert Report,” will succeed David Letterman as … Source

It’s True…Timing Is Everything, Especially In Television Here’s an interesting read from “Variety” that gives us a close up view of some of the business behind show business deals. What David Letterman Did That Will Never Be Done Again David Letterman’s sign-off from CBS’ “Late Show” next year will not only mark the end…

Yet Another Magic Moment! The Photo AND The Video In the NBC 5H story, just before this, I mention ‘Wide, Wide World With Dave Garroway’. This show debuted almost two years after 5H went into service, but below is a photo from 5H taken of the WWW debut broadcast on Sunday, October 16, 1955.…

NBC Television’s First “Ingest” Center…Studio 5H In video production, ingest is a relatively new term which simply means to bring a new program or it’s elements into a studio or facility. In December of 1953, NBC completed Studio 5H to do just that. It was a control room into which breaking news stories and…

Another Magic Moment! The Photo AND The Video To Match! Just before the video clip, which will start at 6:44, there is a classic live Ajax commercial, complete with the “bubba buma bum bum” lyric many of us still remember. This beautiful color photo was taken during rehearsal of ‘The Photographer’ sketch on the…

‘The Comedian’…Remembering Mickey Rooney This ‘Playhouse 90’ is a must see for several reasons. First, it’s Mickey Rooney at his best, second…there are RCA TK11s everywhere as this is a “show within a show”. It was directed by one of live television’s best…John Frankenheimer, on February 14, 1957. This originated from Television City and…

‘The Price Is Right’…Episode 8,000 Airs Today, April 7! Congratulations to ‘The Price Is Right’, daytime’s #1-rated series and the longest-running game show in television history, celebrates its milestone 8,000th episode, today, so set your DVR! In the special occasion’s honor, the show is looking back at the most memorable moments and games from…

‘The Perry Como Show’…Zeigfeld Theater, 1961 This is one of my all time favorite photos which I’ve had since Katheryn S. Cole at NBC sent it to me in 1962. After posting this, a few NBC vets have helped me with the crew names, and as best I know, the crew pictured here includes…

The Masters At Work…Perry Como Welcomes Bob Hope This great video clip starts with Hope “waiting in the wings” in front of at RCA TK41. This was just two months after the debut of The Ziegfeld Theater as NBC’s newest color studio. As you can see, Perry is a cool a customer as you…

Remembering Mickey Rooney With a look back at their many films together, here is Mickey as Judy Garland’s guest on the first episode of ‘The Judy Garland Show’, taped June 24, 1963. I’ve started the video at the point where they reminisce about old MGM photos of them together. Here are two old friends…

The Sid Caesar – Imogene Coca Split…What Really Happened? It’s amazing that at the height of their popularity as co stars of ‘Your Show Of Shows’, anyone would even think about tinkering with that kind of success, but…it happened. I’m not sure, but I think this may have been Robert Sarnoff’s handiwork. In this…

The Final Four…Behind The Scenes With CBS & Turner http://sportsvideo.org/main/blog/2014/04/live-from-final-four-cbs-turner-a-happy-family-in-massive-three-pronged-production/ A total of 17 cameras fill the inside of AT&T Stadium to cover just the game action, with another 13 are in place to capture two separate on-site studio sets. Included in that arsenal are slash cameras in the lower left and right corners…

Director Joseph Cates…The Man Who Introduced Ralph To Norton A year or so back, I was fortunate meet actor Kevin Kline, and of all things, we talked mostly about television history…and you will not believe his connection to a True Pioneer! In case you had forgotten, Kevin is married to actress Phoebe Cates, whose…

‘The Twilight Zone’…The Six Video Tape Episodes It’s been a while since we covered this historic variation from the normal way the show was done, but in revisiting the story, we also now know that Television City had Marconi Mark IV cameras as early as 1960. These were thought to have come into service…

The ‘Home’ Show’s Home…Studio A, 67th Street, “Radio Age” At the link, you can see the two page story starting on page 26 of the April 1954 edition of “Radio Age”. Among the set’s 10 work areas is the “weather maker” which can make snow, fog and rain as seen on the right. There…

THIS JUST IN! http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/david-letterman-to-retire-from-cbs-in-2015-1201152380/ David Letterman to Retire from CBS in 2015 David Letterman is preparing to announce his retirement from CBS next year. Letterman is expected to discuss his plan to retire in about a year on Thursday’s edition of “The Late Show.” Source

Just For Fun…’The Jonathan Winters Show’ with Art Carney On February 28, 1968, Carney took his life in his hands and did a five minute set with Jonathan that was totally improvised. No script…no rehearsal…no problem! Here are two of comedy’s best winging it. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR4m0pO1WRQ Jonathan Winters is in my opinion the greatest…