Monday, September 11, 2023

This Week in Television History: September 2023 PART II

 September 10, 1993

The science fiction series The X-Files premiered. 

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson stared. Duchovny played FBI agent Fox Mulder and Anderson played Dana Scully, a skeptical doctor. A cult hit, the show attracted an enormous following of loyal viewers. An X-Files movie was released in 1998. David Duchovny left the show in the 2001 season and was replaced by Robert Patrick, who played agent John Doggett.

September 12, 1963

Leave It to Beaver aired its last episode. 


The typical 1950s "wholesome family" comedy presented the lives of the Cleaver family from the perspective of young Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver (Jerry Mathers). The clan included parents June (Barbara Billingsley) and Ward (Hugh Beaumont), and older brother Wally (Tony Dow). The show enjoyed much popularity in reruns and a revival in the 1980s as The New Leave It to Beaver .


September 14, 1958

The Invisible Man (1958 TV series) first aired


September 14, 1968

The Archies premiered on CBS. 


The cartoon was based on the comic book series. 


September 14, 1978

The first episode of Mork and Mindy aired on ABC. 


September 16, 1963

The Outer Limits premiered on ABC-TV. 



September 16, 1968

The Andy Griffith Show was seen for the final time on CBS. 




September 16, 1968

U.S. Presidential candidate Richard Nixon appeared on episode 15 of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In

He spoke the show signature line "Sock it to me." 

September, 16, 1993

Frasier makes its debut on NBC. 

Frasier starred Kelsey Grammer as the erudite, snobbish Dr. Frasier Crane, a radio psychiatrist who relocates from Boston to his hometown of Seattle following the breakup of his marriage. The main characters in Frasier’s life are his father Martin (John Mahoney), a down-to-earth retired cop; his younger brother, Niles (David Hyde Pierce), a psychiatrist who shares Frasier’s taste for the finer things in life; his father’s kooky caretaker, Daphne Moon (Jane Leeves); his radio show producer, Roz Doyle (Peri Gilpin) and his father’s dog, Eddie.

Kelsey Grammer, who was born on February 21, 1955, studied drama at New York City’s Juilliard School and began his professional acting career in theater. In 1984, he made his first appearance on Cheers as the fiance of one of the main characters, Diane (Shelley Long). Although Frasier Crane was originally only supposed to appear on Cheers for a few episodes, the popular character became a permanent member of the show. Set in a Boston-based bar called Cheers, the show debuted on September 30, 1982. Dr. Frasier Crane was one of the regulars who, along with Norm Peterson (George Wendt) and Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger) drank at Cheers, which was run by Sam Malone (Ted Danson). When the final episode of Cheers aired on May 20, 1993, more than 80 million viewers tuned in, making it one of the most-watched last episodes in TV history.

Grammer went on to star in Frasier from September 1993 to May 13, 2004. After making an Emmy Award-nominated guest appearance as Crane on the 1990s sitcom Wings, Grammer became the only actor in TV history to earn Emmy nominations for playing the same character on three separate shows.

Grammer’s other acting credits include a recurring role as the voice of Sideshow Bob on Fox’s hit animated series The Simpsons. More recently, he and Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond) co-starred as a pair of news anchors at a Pittsburgh TV station on the short-lived sitcom Back to You, which aired from 2007 to 2008 and was directed by Cheers co-creator James Burrows.


In solidarity


Tony Figueroa



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