Here is your
a little spark of madness
that we could use to momentarily forget about those
things that leave a bad taste in our mouths.
|
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Tony Figueroa
I represent the first generation who, when we were born, the television was now a permanent fixture in our homes. When I was born people had breakfast with Barbara Walters, dinner with Walter Cronkite, and slept with Johnny Carson. Read the full "Pre-ramble"
Friday, November 21, 2025
Your HOLIDAY SOR-BAY: The Mary Tyler Moore Show - Not a Christmas Story
Monday, November 17, 2025
This Week in Television History: November 2025 PART III
November 17, 1925
Roy Harold Scherer-later known as Rock Hudson-is born
in Winnetka, Illinois.
As a
child, Hudson auditioned for school plays but never landed a role. Later, he
worked as a navy mechanic and a truck driver, then pursued an acting career
after World War II. After extensive grooming, which included acting, dancing,
and fencing lessons, Hudson became a leading actor with Universal. In the late
1940s and early 1950s, he frequently starred in action films and melodramas,
including The Desert Hawk (1950) and The Iron Man (1951). Later,
he shone in comedies like Pillow Talk (1959), the first of his three
pictures with Doris Day. He later worked in television, starring in the series McMillan
and Wife from 1971 to 1977 and appearing in Dynasty in 1984 and
1985. Hudson died of AIDS in 1985, at the age of 59. As one of the first major
celebrities to admit to having AIDS, Hudson boosted awareness about the
epidemic.November 18, 1985
The adults on Sesame Street
finally meet Mr. Snuffleupagus.
Since Mr.
Snuffleupagus made
his first appearance in the Season 3 premiere, the adults had thought that Mr. Snuffleupagus was just an
imaginary friend of Big
Bird's. Big Bird
would often try to arrange for them to see Mr. Snuffleupagus, face-to-face, but
Snuffy would always be gone by the time they finally chose to look at him.
After years of not seeing him and many near-misses, the adults finally got to
see Mr. Snuffleupagus for the first time in this episode, and finally find out
that he is real.November 20, 1955
Bo Diddley makes
his national television debut on The Ed Sullivan Show.
Bo Diddley opened
his appearance on Ed Sullivan with the eponymously titled song
“Bo Diddley,”. This now-famous number set portions of the children’s rhyme
“Mockingbird” to what is now known as “the Bo Diddley beat”—a syncopated rhythm
in 4/4 time that is the foundation of such rock-and-roll classics as Buddy
Holly’s “Not Fade Away” and the Stangeloves’ “I Want Candy,” among countless
others. Five months before Elvis Presley would make his famous Ed
Sullivandebut, Diddley’s performance gave many Americans their first
exposure to rock and roll, though that term was not yet familiar to mainstream
audiences. Neither was the Bo Diddley beat, yet within just a few seconds of
the drum-and-maraca opening of “Bo Diddley,” the live Ed Sullivan audience
can be heard spontaneously clapping along to the distinctive rhythm in the
surviving kinescope recording of the performance.
As Diddley would later tell the story, Ed Sullivan had expected him to
perform only a cover version of “Tennessee” Ernie Ford’s “Sixteen Tons” and was
furious enough with him for opening with “Bo Diddley” that Sullivan banned him
from future appearances on his show. Be that as it may, Diddley’s appearance on
this day in 1955 introduced a sound that would influence generations of
followers. As blues-rock artist George Thorogood—who performed and recorded
many Bo Diddley covers during his own career—once told Rolling Stone:
“[Chuck Berry's] ‘Maybellene’ is a country song sped up… ‘Johnny B. Goode’ is
blues sped up. But you listen to ‘Bo Diddley,’ and you say, ‘What in the Jesus
is that?'”
November 21
World Television Day
World Television Day celebrates the daily value of
television as a symbol of communication and globalization. Television is one of
the single greatest technological advances of the 20th century, serving to
educate, inform, entertain and influence our decisions and opinions. It is estimated that approximately 90% of
homes around the world have televisions, however, with the introduction of
internet broadcasting, the number is declining in favor of computers.
World Television Day was proclaimed by the United
Nations in 1996. It is celebrated annually on November 21.
November 17, 1925
Roy Harold Scherer-later known as Rock Hudson-is born
in Winnetka, Illinois.
As a
child, Hudson auditioned for school plays but never landed a role. Later, he
worked as a navy mechanic and a truck driver, then pursued an acting career
after World War II. After extensive grooming, which included acting, dancing,
and fencing lessons, Hudson became a leading actor with Universal. In the late
1940s and early 1950s, he frequently starred in action films and melodramas,
including The Desert Hawk (1950) and The Iron Man (1951). Later,
he shone in comedies like Pillow Talk (1959), the first of his three
pictures with Doris Day. He later worked in television, starring in the series McMillan
and Wife from 1971 to 1977 and appearing in Dynasty in 1984 and
1985. Hudson died of AIDS in 1985, at the age of 59. As one of the first major
celebrities to admit to having AIDS, Hudson boosted awareness about the
epidemic.
November 18, 1985
The adults on Sesame Street
finally meet Mr. Snuffleupagus.
Since Mr.
Snuffleupagus made
his first appearance in the Season 3 premiere, the adults had thought that Mr. Snuffleupagus was just an
imaginary friend of Big
Bird's. Big Bird
would often try to arrange for them to see Mr. Snuffleupagus, face-to-face, but
Snuffy would always be gone by the time they finally chose to look at him.
After years of not seeing him and many near-misses, the adults finally got to
see Mr. Snuffleupagus for the first time in this episode, and finally find out
that he is real.
November 20, 1955
Bo Diddley makes his national television debut on The Ed Sullivan Show.
Bo Diddley opened
his appearance on Ed Sullivan with the eponymously titled song
“Bo Diddley,”. This now-famous number set portions of the children’s rhyme
“Mockingbird” to what is now known as “the Bo Diddley beat”—a syncopated rhythm
in 4/4 time that is the foundation of such rock-and-roll classics as Buddy
Holly’s “Not Fade Away” and the Stangeloves’ “I Want Candy,” among countless
others. Five months before Elvis Presley would make his famous Ed
Sullivandebut, Diddley’s performance gave many Americans their first
exposure to rock and roll, though that term was not yet familiar to mainstream
audiences. Neither was the Bo Diddley beat, yet within just a few seconds of
the drum-and-maraca opening of “Bo Diddley,” the live Ed Sullivan audience
can be heard spontaneously clapping along to the distinctive rhythm in the
surviving kinescope recording of the performance.
As Diddley would later tell the story, Ed Sullivan had expected him to
perform only a cover version of “Tennessee” Ernie Ford’s “Sixteen Tons” and was
furious enough with him for opening with “Bo Diddley” that Sullivan banned him
from future appearances on his show. Be that as it may, Diddley’s appearance on
this day in 1955 introduced a sound that would influence generations of
followers. As blues-rock artist George Thorogood—who performed and recorded
many Bo Diddley covers during his own career—once told Rolling Stone:
“[Chuck Berry's] ‘Maybellene’ is a country song sped up… ‘Johnny B. Goode’ is
blues sped up. But you listen to ‘Bo Diddley,’ and you say, ‘What in the Jesus
is that?'”
November 21
World Television Day
World Television Day was proclaimed by the United Nations in 1996. It is celebrated annually on November 21.
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Monday, November 10, 2025
This Week in Television History: November 2025 PART II
November 11, 1980
Too Close for Comfort debuted on ABC.
This
American sitcom which ran on the ABC network
from November 11, 1980, to May 5, 1983, and in first-run syndication from April 7, 1984, to February 7, 1987. It was modeled after
the British seriesKeep It in the Family, which premiered nine
months before Too Close for Comfort debuted in the United States. Its name was changed
to The Ted Knight Show when the show was retooled for
what would turn out to be its final season.Ted
Knight and Nancy Dussault star as respective
characters Henry and Muriel Rush, owners of a two-family house in Mill Valley, California.[1] The two story red
house, seen at the opening and closing of each episode, was shot at 171–173
Buena Vista East Avenue in San Francisco, California.
Henry
is a conservative cartoonist who authors a comic strip called Cosmic
Cow. During scenes in which Henry draws in his bedroom, Knight used
his earlier acquired ventriloquism talents for comical conversations with a
hand-puppet version of "Cosmic Cow." Muriel is a laid back freelance
photographer, having been a band singer in her earlier days. They have two
grown children, older daughter, brunette Jackie (Deborah Van Valkenburgh) who works for a bank and younger daughter Sara (Lydia Cornell), a blonde bombshell and a
college student atSan Francisco State University.
At
the start of the premiere episode, Jackie and Sara are living with their
parents in a cramped, awkward arrangement. Their longtime downstairs tenant,
Myron (later called Neville) Rafkin, recently died. The family discovers Rafkin
was a transvestite and the many strange
women Henry had been opening the door for all those years were actually Rafkin
himself. Jackie and Sara convince their parents to allow them to move into the
now-vacant downstairs apartment. In a running gag, Henry falls off the girls'
ultra-modern chairs or couch every time he attempts to sit down. Despite the
daughters' push for independence and moving into the downstairs apartment,
Henry proves to be a very protective father and constantly meddles in their
affairs.
November 12, 1990
Actress Eve Arden, best known for playing the title
role in the radio and TV series Our Miss Brooks, dies at age 78.
Arden was born in Mill Valley, California, and began
acting as a teenager. By age 22, she was appearing in the Ziegfeld Follies. She
made two films under her birth name-Eunice Quedens-before her first picture as
Eve Arden (Oh, Doctor! in 1937). She frequently played the
kind-but-sarcastic girlfriend of the lead female role. Her films included No,
No, Nanette (1940), Mildred Pierce (1945), and Anatomy of a
Murder (1959). Her last film was Grease II (1982). She published an
autobiography, The Three Phases of Eve, in 1985.
November 11, 1980
Too Close for Comfort debuted on ABC.
This American sitcom which ran on the ABC network from November 11, 1980, to May 5, 1983, and in first-run syndication from April 7, 1984, to February 7, 1987. It was modeled after the British seriesKeep It in the Family, which premiered nine months before Too Close for Comfort debuted in the United States. Its name was changed to The Ted Knight Show when the show was retooled for what would turn out to be its final season.Ted
Knight and Nancy Dussault star as respective
characters Henry and Muriel Rush, owners of a two-family house in Mill Valley, California.[1] The two story red
house, seen at the opening and closing of each episode, was shot at 171–173
Buena Vista East Avenue in San Francisco, California.
Henry
is a conservative cartoonist who authors a comic strip called Cosmic
Cow. During scenes in which Henry draws in his bedroom, Knight used
his earlier acquired ventriloquism talents for comical conversations with a
hand-puppet version of "Cosmic Cow." Muriel is a laid back freelance
photographer, having been a band singer in her earlier days. They have two
grown children, older daughter, brunette Jackie (Deborah Van Valkenburgh) who works for a bank and younger daughter Sara (Lydia Cornell), a blonde bombshell and a
college student atSan Francisco State University.
At
the start of the premiere episode, Jackie and Sara are living with their
parents in a cramped, awkward arrangement. Their longtime downstairs tenant,
Myron (later called Neville) Rafkin, recently died. The family discovers Rafkin
was a transvestite and the many strange
women Henry had been opening the door for all those years were actually Rafkin
himself. Jackie and Sara convince their parents to allow them to move into the
now-vacant downstairs apartment. In a running gag, Henry falls off the girls'
ultra-modern chairs or couch every time he attempts to sit down. Despite the
daughters' push for independence and moving into the downstairs apartment,
Henry proves to be a very protective father and constantly meddles in their
affairs.
November 12, 1990
Actress Eve Arden, best known for playing the title role in the radio and TV series Our Miss Brooks, dies at age 78.
Arden was born in Mill Valley, California, and began acting as a teenager. By age 22, she was appearing in the Ziegfeld Follies. She made two films under her birth name-Eunice Quedens-before her first picture as Eve Arden (Oh, Doctor! in 1937). She frequently played the kind-but-sarcastic girlfriend of the lead female role. Her films included No, No, Nanette (1940), Mildred Pierce (1945), and Anatomy of a Murder (1959). Her last film was Grease II (1982). She published an autobiography, The Three Phases of Eve, in 1985.
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Monday, November 03, 2025
This Week in Television History: November 2025 PART I
November 3, 1975
Good Morning America premiered
on ABC-TV.
GMA expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday
edition on January 3, 1993. The Sunday edition was later canceled in 1999;
weekend editions returned on both Saturdays and Sundays on September 4, 2004.
The weekday program airs from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. in all U.S. time
zones (live in the Eastern Time Zone and on tape delay elsewhere
across the country); the Saturday and Sunday editions are one hour long and is
transmitted to ABC's stations live at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time, although
stations in some markets air
the weekend broadcasts either one hour earlier or later than the 7:00 a.m.
slot. A third hour of the weekday broadcast aired from 2007 to 2008,
exclusively on ABC News Now.The program features news,
interviews, weather forecasts, special-interest stories, and feature segments
such as "Pop News" (featuring pop culture and
entertainment news, and viral videos),
the "GMA Heat Index" (featuring a mix of entertainment, lifestyle and
human-interest stories) and "Play of the Day" (featuring a selected
viral video or television program clip). It is produced by ABC News and
broadcasts from the Times Square
Studios in New York City's Times Square district.
The primary anchors are Robin Roberts, George
Stephanopoulos and Lara Spencer,
along with newsreader Amy Robach,
social media anchor Tony Reali and
weather anchor Ginger Zee.
Good Morning America has been the most watched morning show in total
viewers and key demos each year since Summer 2012. GMA generally
placed second in the ratings, behind NBC's Today from 1995 to 2012. It
overtook its rival for a period from the early to mid-1980s with anchors David
Hartman and Joan Lunden,
from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s with Charles Gibson and
Lunden, and in April 2012 with Roberts and Stephanopoulos.
Good Morning America won the first three Daytime Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Morning Program",
sharing the inaugural 2007 award with Today and winning the
2008 and 2009 awards outright.
November 4, 1950
Marjorie Armstrong
“Markie” Post is born.
Best known for her roles as bail bondswoman Terri Michaels in The Fall Guy on ABC from 1982 to 1985, as public defender Christine
Sullivan on the NBC sitcom Night Court from 1985 to 1992, and as Georgie Anne Lahti
Hartman on the CBS sitcom Hearts Afire from 1992 to 1995. November 7, 1965
The “Pillsbury Dough Boy” aka Poppin’ Fresh debuted on
TV.
Poppin' Fresh, more widely known as the Pillsbury
Doughboy, is an advertising icon and mascot of the Pillsbury Company, appearing in many of their commercials. Many
commercials from 1965 until 2004 (returned in 2009 to 2011 and 2013 in a Geico Commercial)
conclude with a human finger poking the Doughboy's stomach. The Doughboy
responds when his stomach is poked by giggling (Hoo-Hoo!, or earlier on,
a slight giggle "hee hee").
November 7, 1975
Wonder Woman first
aired.
Based on the DC Comics comic
book superheroine of the same name. Starring Lynda Carter as
Wonder Woman/Diana Princeand Lyle Waggoner as Steve Trevor Sr.
& Jr., the show originally aired from 1975 to 1979.The show had its origins in a
November 1975 American television movie entitled The New, Original
Wonder Woman starring Carter. It followed a 1974 TV movie
entitled Wonder Woman starring blond actress Cathy Lee Crosby, who neither resembled the super-hero character nor exhibited any
apparent super-human powers. (John D. F. Black wrote and produced the 1974 TV movie.) In this second movie, set
during World War II and produced by Douglas S. Cramer and Wilford Lloyd "W.L." Baumes, who were working from
a script by Stanley Ralph Ross, Carter as Wonder Woman matched the original comic
book character. Its success led the ABC
television network to order two
more one-hour episodes which aired in April 1976. That success led ABC to order
an additional 11 episodes which the network aired weekly (for the most part)
during the first half of the 1976–77 television season. The episodes ran on Wednesday
nights between October 1976 and February 1977.
Wonder Woman achieved solid ratings on ABC during its first
season, but the network was reluctant to renew the series for another
season. Wonder Woman was a period piece, and as such, it was
more expensive to produce than a series set in the present day. Also, ABC
thought that the 1940s setting limited possible storylines, with the major
villains being Nazis. ABC did not renew the series, so Jerry Lieder,
then-president of Warner Bros. Television, went to CBS with the notion of shifting the series to the
present-day 1970s, which would cost less to produce and allow for more creative
storylines. Unlike 20th Century
Fox Television's Batman, the series was produced without having a theatrical
feature film in the middle of its production. In addition, none of the villains
had recurring appearances. CBS agreed and picked up the show in 1977, and it
continued for another two seasons.
November 8, 1920
Esther Rolle was born
in Pompano Beach,
Florida.
She was the tenth of 18
children (children who included siblings and fellow actresses Estelle Evans and Rosanna Carter). Rolle
is best known for her television role as Florida Evans, the character she played
on two 1970s sitcoms. The character was
introduced as Maude Findlay's housekeeper on Maude, and was spun off in the show's second
season into Good
Times,
a show about Florida's family. Rolle was nominated in 1975 for the Best Actress
in a Musical/Comedy Golden Globe Award for her role in Good Times. Rolle was 19 years older
than the actor (John
Amos) who
played her husband James Evans. The James Evans character was only added after
Esther Rolle fought hard for a father figure and husband to be added to the
show. Rolle had fought for the father character on the show, more relevant
themes and scripts and was unhappy when the success of Jimmie Walker's character, J.J. Evans,
took the show in what she thought was a frivolous direction. John Amos agreed
with Rolle about Walker's character and was fired from the show after the third
season ended. Later on, in a stand-off with Good Times producer Norman Lear, Rolle also quit when her
contract ended. Although the show continued without her for the fifth season,
she returned for the show's final season. In 1979 she won an Emmy for her role in Summer of My German Soldier, a made-for-television
movie.
Among
her guest star roles was one on The Incredible Hulk in an episode entitled
"Behind the Wheel" where she played a taxicab business owner. In
the 1990s, Rolle was a surprise guest on RuPaul's VH-1 talk show. Her Maude co-star Bea Arthur was the guest, and
Rolle was brought out to surprise Arthur. The two had not seen each other in
years, Arthur said, and embraced warmly. Rolle also appeared in a series
of psychic hotline TV commercials
in the 1990s. "Tell them Esther sent you," was her trademark line.
Rolle
died on November 17, 1998 in Culver City, California, from complications of diabetes, nine days after her 78th
birthday. Her body was flown back to her hometown ofPompano Beach, Florida. A devout Methodist, Rolle requested that her
funeral be held at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. The family
requested that any flower donations be sent to such organizations as the
African American Chapter of the American Diabetes Association, The Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Florida, The Black Academy
of Arts and Letters in Dallas, Texas, The Jenesse Center in Los Angeles, and
Marcus Garvey Elementary and Junior High School in Los Angeles.
November 8, 1965
Days of our Lives first aired on November 8, 1965. The series was created by husband-and-wife team Ted Corday
and Betty Corday along with Irna Phillips
in 1964, and many of the first stories were written by William J. Bell.
The original title sequence voiced by MacDonald Carey
is still used to this day. The series expanded from 30 minutes to a full hour
on April 21, 1975. The co-creator and original executive producer, Ted Corday,
was only at the helm for eight months before dying of cancer in 1966. His
widow, Betty, was named executive producer upon his death. She
continued in that role, with the help of H. Wesley Kenney and Al Rabin as supervising producers, before she semi-retired in
1985. When Mrs. Corday semi-retired in 1985, and later died in 1987, her son,
Ken, became executive producer and took over the full-time, day-to-day running
of the show, a title he still holds today.
When Days of our Lives
debuted the cast consisted of seven main characters (Tom Horton, Alice Horton,
Mickey Horton, Marie Horton,
Julie Olson,
Tony Merritt, and Craig Merritt). The series first focused on its core family,
the Hortons. Several other families have been added to the cast, and many of
them still appear on the show. Frances Reid
the matriarch of the series' Horton family remained with the show from its
inception to her death on February 3, 2010.
The Cordays and Bell combined the "hospital soap" idea with the
tradition of centering a series on a family, by making the show about a family
of doctors, including one who worked in a mental hospital. Storylines in the
show follow the lives of middle and upper-class professionals in Salem, a middle-America town, with the
usual threads of love, marriage, divorce, and family life, plus the medical
storylines and character studies of individuals with psychological problems.
Former executive producer Al Rabin took pride in the characters' passion, saying
that the characters were not shy about "sharing what's in their gut."
Critics originally praised the show for its non-reliance on nostalgia and its
portrayal of "real American contemporary families." By the 1970s,
critics deemed Days to be the most daring daytime drama, leading the way in
using themes other shows of the period would not dare touch, such as artificial insemination and interracial romance. The January 12, 1976
cover of Time magazine featured Days of our Lives' Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes, the first daytime actors
to ever appear on its cover. The Hayeses themselves were a couple whose
onscreen and real-life romance (they met on the series in 1970 and married in
1974) was widely covered by both the soap opera magazines and the mainstream press.
One of the longest-running storylines involved the rape of Mickey
Horton's wife Laura by Mickey's brother Bill.
Laura confides in her father-in-law Dr. Tom, and the two agree that her husband
Mickey should never know. The secret, involving the true parentage of Michael
Horton (a product of the rape) and Mickey's subsequent health issues as a
result of the revelation, spanned episodes from 1968 to 1975. The storyline was
the first to bring the show to prominence, and put it near the top of the Nielsen
daytime ratings. Another love triangle, between lounge singer Doug Williams, Tom and Alice's
daughter Addie, and Addie's own daughter, Julie,
proved to be very popular around the same time. The storyline culminated in the
death of Addie in 1974 and the marriage of Doug and Julie in 1976.
In the 1980s, the Brady and DiMera
families were introduced, and their rivalry quickly cemented their places as
core families in Salem beside the Hortons. Around the same time, with the help
of head writers Sheri Anderson, Thom Racina,
and Leah
Laiman, action/adventure storylines and supercouples
such as Bo
and Hope, Shane and Kimberly, and Patch
and Kayla reinvigorated the show, previously focused primarily on the domestic
troubles of the Hortons.November 8, 2010
Conan premiered
on TBS.
Describing
itself as a traditional late-night talk show, Conan draws its
comedy from recent news stories, political figures and prominent celebrities,
as well as aspects of the show itself. The show typically opens with a monologue from
Conan O'Brien relating to recent headlines and frequently features exchanges
with his sidekick, Andy Richter,
and members of the audience. The next segment is devoted to a celebrity
interview, with guests ranging from actors and musicians to media personalities
and political figures. The show then closes with either a musical or comedy
performance.On
TBS, Conan airs Monday through Thursday beginning at
11:00 p.m. eastern time. Comedian and actor Andy Richter continues
his role as sidekick to O'Brien, and as the show's announcer. Conan's long-time
house band continues with the host under the new moniker Jimmy
Vivino and the Basic Cable Band,
with Max Weinberg being replaced as bandleader by guitarist Jimmy Vivino and
as drummer by regular substitute James Wormworth,
both of whom regularly substituted for Weinberg during his brief departures.
November 3, 1975
Good Morning America premiered
on ABC-TV.
GMA expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday
edition on January 3, 1993. The Sunday edition was later canceled in 1999;
weekend editions returned on both Saturdays and Sundays on September 4, 2004.
The weekday program airs from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. in all U.S. time
zones (live in the Eastern Time Zone and on tape delay elsewhere
across the country); the Saturday and Sunday editions are one hour long and is
transmitted to ABC's stations live at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time, although
stations in some markets air
the weekend broadcasts either one hour earlier or later than the 7:00 a.m.
slot. A third hour of the weekday broadcast aired from 2007 to 2008,
exclusively on ABC News Now.
The program features news,
interviews, weather forecasts, special-interest stories, and feature segments
such as "Pop News" (featuring pop culture and
entertainment news, and viral videos),
the "GMA Heat Index" (featuring a mix of entertainment, lifestyle and
human-interest stories) and "Play of the Day" (featuring a selected
viral video or television program clip). It is produced by ABC News and
broadcasts from the Times Square
Studios in New York City's Times Square district.
The primary anchors are Robin Roberts, George
Stephanopoulos and Lara Spencer,
along with newsreader Amy Robach,
social media anchor Tony Reali and
weather anchor Ginger Zee.
Good Morning America has been the most watched morning show in total
viewers and key demos each year since Summer 2012. GMA generally
placed second in the ratings, behind NBC's Today from 1995 to 2012. It
overtook its rival for a period from the early to mid-1980s with anchors David
Hartman and Joan Lunden,
from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s with Charles Gibson and
Lunden, and in April 2012 with Roberts and Stephanopoulos.
Good Morning America won the first three Daytime Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Morning Program",
sharing the inaugural 2007 award with Today and winning the
2008 and 2009 awards outright.
November 4, 1950
Marjorie Armstrong “Markie” Post is born.
Best known for her roles as bail bondswoman Terri Michaels in The Fall Guy on ABC from 1982 to 1985, as public defender Christine
Sullivan on the NBC sitcom Night Court from 1985 to 1992, and as Georgie Anne Lahti
Hartman on the CBS sitcom Hearts Afire from 1992 to 1995.
November 7, 1965
The “Pillsbury Dough Boy” aka Poppin’ Fresh debuted on
TV.
Poppin' Fresh, more widely known as the Pillsbury
Doughboy, is an advertising icon and mascot of the Pillsbury Company, appearing in many of their commercials. Many
commercials from 1965 until 2004 (returned in 2009 to 2011 and 2013 in a Geico Commercial)
conclude with a human finger poking the Doughboy's stomach. The Doughboy
responds when his stomach is poked by giggling (Hoo-Hoo!, or earlier on,
a slight giggle "hee hee").
November 7, 1975
Wonder Woman first
aired.
Based on the DC Comics comic
book superheroine of the same name. Starring Lynda Carter as
Wonder Woman/Diana Princeand Lyle Waggoner as Steve Trevor Sr.
& Jr., the show originally aired from 1975 to 1979.
The show had its origins in a
November 1975 American television movie entitled The New, Original
Wonder Woman starring Carter. It followed a 1974 TV movie
entitled Wonder Woman starring blond actress Cathy Lee Crosby, who neither resembled the super-hero character nor exhibited any
apparent super-human powers. (John D. F. Black wrote and produced the 1974 TV movie.) In this second movie, set
during World War II and produced by Douglas S. Cramer and Wilford Lloyd "W.L." Baumes, who were working from
a script by Stanley Ralph Ross, Carter as Wonder Woman matched the original comic
book character. Its success led the ABC
television network to order two
more one-hour episodes which aired in April 1976. That success led ABC to order
an additional 11 episodes which the network aired weekly (for the most part)
during the first half of the 1976–77 television season. The episodes ran on Wednesday
nights between October 1976 and February 1977.
Wonder Woman achieved solid ratings on ABC during its first
season, but the network was reluctant to renew the series for another
season. Wonder Woman was a period piece, and as such, it was
more expensive to produce than a series set in the present day. Also, ABC
thought that the 1940s setting limited possible storylines, with the major
villains being Nazis. ABC did not renew the series, so Jerry Lieder,
then-president of Warner Bros. Television, went to CBS with the notion of shifting the series to the
present-day 1970s, which would cost less to produce and allow for more creative
storylines. Unlike 20th Century
Fox Television's Batman, the series was produced without having a theatrical
feature film in the middle of its production. In addition, none of the villains
had recurring appearances. CBS agreed and picked up the show in 1977, and it
continued for another two seasons.
November 8, 1920
Esther Rolle was born in Pompano Beach, Florida.
She was the tenth of 18
children (children who included siblings and fellow actresses Estelle Evans and Rosanna Carter).
Rolle
is best known for her television role as Florida Evans, the character she played
on two 1970s sitcoms. The character was
introduced as Maude Findlay's housekeeper on Maude, and was spun off in the show's second
season into Good
Times,
a show about Florida's family. Rolle was nominated in 1975 for the Best Actress
in a Musical/Comedy Golden Globe Award for her role in Good Times. Rolle was 19 years older
than the actor (John
Amos) who
played her husband James Evans. The James Evans character was only added after
Esther Rolle fought hard for a father figure and husband to be added to the
show. Rolle had fought for the father character on the show, more relevant
themes and scripts and was unhappy when the success of Jimmie Walker's character, J.J. Evans,
took the show in what she thought was a frivolous direction. John Amos agreed
with Rolle about Walker's character and was fired from the show after the third
season ended. Later on, in a stand-off with Good Times producer Norman Lear, Rolle also quit when her
contract ended. Although the show continued without her for the fifth season,
she returned for the show's final season. In 1979 she won an Emmy for her role in Summer of My German Soldier, a made-for-television
movie.
Among
her guest star roles was one on The Incredible Hulk in an episode entitled
"Behind the Wheel" where she played a taxicab business owner. In
the 1990s, Rolle was a surprise guest on RuPaul's VH-1 talk show. Her Maude co-star Bea Arthur was the guest, and
Rolle was brought out to surprise Arthur. The two had not seen each other in
years, Arthur said, and embraced warmly. Rolle also appeared in a series
of psychic hotline TV commercials
in the 1990s. "Tell them Esther sent you," was her trademark line.
Rolle died on November 17, 1998 in Culver City, California, from complications of diabetes, nine days after her 78th birthday. Her body was flown back to her hometown ofPompano Beach, Florida. A devout Methodist, Rolle requested that her funeral be held at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. The family requested that any flower donations be sent to such organizations as the African American Chapter of the American Diabetes Association, The Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Florida, The Black Academy of Arts and Letters in Dallas, Texas, The Jenesse Center in Los Angeles, and Marcus Garvey Elementary and Junior High School in Los Angeles.
November 8, 1965
Days of our Lives first aired on November 8, 1965.
The series was created by husband-and-wife team Ted Corday
and Betty Corday along with Irna Phillips
in 1964, and many of the first stories were written by William J. Bell.
The original title sequence voiced by MacDonald Carey
is still used to this day. The series expanded from 30 minutes to a full hour
on April 21, 1975. The co-creator and original executive producer, Ted Corday,
was only at the helm for eight months before dying of cancer in 1966. His
widow, Betty, was named executive producer upon his death. She
continued in that role, with the help of H. Wesley Kenney and Al Rabin as supervising producers, before she semi-retired in
1985. When Mrs. Corday semi-retired in 1985, and later died in 1987, her son,
Ken, became executive producer and took over the full-time, day-to-day running
of the show, a title he still holds today.
When Days of our Lives
debuted the cast consisted of seven main characters (Tom Horton, Alice Horton,
Mickey Horton, Marie Horton,
Julie Olson,
Tony Merritt, and Craig Merritt). The series first focused on its core family,
the Hortons. Several other families have been added to the cast, and many of
them still appear on the show. Frances Reid
the matriarch of the series' Horton family remained with the show from its
inception to her death on February 3, 2010.
The Cordays and Bell combined the "hospital soap" idea with the
tradition of centering a series on a family, by making the show about a family
of doctors, including one who worked in a mental hospital. Storylines in the
show follow the lives of middle and upper-class professionals in Salem, a middle-America town, with the
usual threads of love, marriage, divorce, and family life, plus the medical
storylines and character studies of individuals with psychological problems.
Former executive producer Al Rabin took pride in the characters' passion, saying
that the characters were not shy about "sharing what's in their gut."
Critics originally praised the show for its non-reliance on nostalgia and its
portrayal of "real American contemporary families." By the 1970s,
critics deemed Days to be the most daring daytime drama, leading the way in
using themes other shows of the period would not dare touch, such as artificial insemination and interracial romance. The January 12, 1976
cover of Time magazine featured Days of our Lives' Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes, the first daytime actors
to ever appear on its cover. The Hayeses themselves were a couple whose
onscreen and real-life romance (they met on the series in 1970 and married in
1974) was widely covered by both the soap opera magazines and the mainstream press.
One of the longest-running storylines involved the rape of Mickey
Horton's wife Laura by Mickey's brother Bill.
Laura confides in her father-in-law Dr. Tom, and the two agree that her husband
Mickey should never know. The secret, involving the true parentage of Michael
Horton (a product of the rape) and Mickey's subsequent health issues as a
result of the revelation, spanned episodes from 1968 to 1975. The storyline was
the first to bring the show to prominence, and put it near the top of the Nielsen
daytime ratings. Another love triangle, between lounge singer Doug Williams, Tom and Alice's
daughter Addie, and Addie's own daughter, Julie,
proved to be very popular around the same time. The storyline culminated in the
death of Addie in 1974 and the marriage of Doug and Julie in 1976.
In the 1980s, the Brady and DiMera
families were introduced, and their rivalry quickly cemented their places as
core families in Salem beside the Hortons. Around the same time, with the help
of head writers Sheri Anderson, Thom Racina,
and Leah
Laiman, action/adventure storylines and supercouples
such as Bo
and Hope, Shane and Kimberly, and Patch
and Kayla reinvigorated the show, previously focused primarily on the domestic
troubles of the Hortons.
November 8, 2010
Conan premiered
on TBS.
Describing
itself as a traditional late-night talk show, Conan draws its
comedy from recent news stories, political figures and prominent celebrities,
as well as aspects of the show itself. The show typically opens with a monologue from
Conan O'Brien relating to recent headlines and frequently features exchanges
with his sidekick, Andy Richter,
and members of the audience. The next segment is devoted to a celebrity
interview, with guests ranging from actors and musicians to media personalities
and political figures. The show then closes with either a musical or comedy
performance.
On TBS, Conan airs Monday through Thursday beginning at 11:00 p.m. eastern time. Comedian and actor Andy Richter continues his role as sidekick to O'Brien, and as the show's announcer. Conan's long-time house band continues with the host under the new moniker Jimmy Vivino and the Basic Cable Band, with Max Weinberg being replaced as bandleader by guitarist Jimmy Vivino and as drummer by regular substitute James Wormworth, both of whom regularly substituted for Weinberg during his brief departures.
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Monday, October 27, 2025
This Week in Television History: October 2025 PART IV
October 28, 1950
Popular radio personality Jack Benny moves to
television with The Jack Benny Program. The TV version of the show ran for the next 15 years.
Jack Benny was born
Benjamin Kubelsky in 1894. His father, a Lithuanian immigrant, ran a saloon in
Waukegan, Illinois, near Chicago. Benny began playing violin at age six and
continued through high school. He began touring on the vaudeville circuit in 1917.
In 1918, he joined the navy and was assigned to entertain the troops with his
music but soon discovered a flair for comedy as well. After World War I, Benny
returned to vaudeville as a comedian and became a top act in the 1920s. In
1927, he married an actress named Sadye Marks; the couple stayed together until
Benny's death in 1974.Benny's success in
vaudeville soon won him attention from Hollywood, where he made his film debut
in Hollywood Revue of 1929. Over the years, he won larger roles, notably
in Charley's Aunt (1941) and To Be or Not to Be (1942). Movies
were only a sideline for Benny, though, who found his natural medium in radio
in 1932.
In March 1932,
then-newspaper columnist Ed Sullivan, dabbling in radio, asked Benny to do an
on-air interview. Benny reluctantly agreed. His comedy, though, was so
successful that Benny was offered his own show almost immediately, which
debuted just a few months later. At first a mostly musical show with a few
minutes of Benny's comedy during interludes, the show evolved to become mostly
comedy, incorporating well-developed skits and regular characters. In many of
these skits, Benny portrayed himself as a vain egomaniac and notorious
pinchpenny who refused to replace his (very noisy) antique car and who kept his
money in a closely guarded vault. His regulars included his wife, whose
character, Mary Livingstone, deflated Benny's ego at every opportunity; Mel
Blanc, who used his famous voice to play Benny's noisy car, his exasperated
French violin teacher, and other characters; and Eddie Andersen, one of radio's
first African American stars, who played Benny's long-suffering valet,
Rochester Van Jones. The program ran until 1955.
In
the 1950s, Benny began experimenting with television, making specials in 1950,
1951, and 1952. Starting in 1952, The Jack Benny Show aired regularly,
at first once every four weeks, then every other week, then finally every week
from 1960 to 1965. Benny was as big a hit on TV as on the radio. Despite the
stingy skinflint image he cultivated on the air, Benny was known for his
generosity and modesty in real life. He died of cancer in Beverly Hills in
1974.
October 30, 1945
Henry Franklin Winkler is born.
Winkler is best known for his role as Fonzie on the 1970s American sitcom Happy Days.
"The Fonz", a leather-clad greaser
and auto mechanic, started out as a minor character
at the show's beginning, but had achieved top billing by the time the show
ended. Winkler started acting by appearing in a number of television
commercials. In October 1973, he was cast for the role of Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli,
nicknamed The Fonz or Fonzie, in the TV show Happy Days. The show was first aired in
January 1974. During his decade on Happy Days, Winkler also starred in a
number of movies, including The Lords of
Flatbush (1974), playing a troubled Vietnam veteran
in Heroes (1977), The One and Only (1978), and a morgue
attendant in Night Shift
(1982), which was directed by Happy Days co-star Ron
Howard.In 1979 Winkler appeared in the made-for-TV movie An American Christmas Carol, which was
a modern remake of the Charles Dickens
classic A Christmas Carol.
An American Christmas Carol was set in Concord,
New Hampshire during the Great Depression. Winkler played the role
of Benedict Slade, the Ebenezer Scrooge
equivalent of that film.
After Happy Days, Winkler put his acting career on the back burner,
as he began concentrating on producing and directing. He quickly worked on
developing his own production company and, within months, he had opened Winkler-Rich
Productions.
He produced several television shows including MacGyver, So Weird and Mr. Sunshine, Sightings, and the game shows Wintuition
and The Hollywood
Squares (the latter from 2002–2004 only). He also directed
several movies including the Billy Crystal movie Memories of Me
(1988) and Cop and a Half
(1993) with Burt Reynolds.
As the 1990s continued, Winkler began a return to acting. In 1994 he
returned to TV with the short-lived right-wing comedy Monty on Fox
which sank in mere weeks. Also in 1994, he co-starred with Katharine Hepburn in
the holiday TV movie "One Christmas", her last film. In 1998, Adam Sandler asked Winkler to play a
college football coach, a supporting role in The Waterboy (1998). He would later
appear in three other Sandler films, Little Nicky
(2000) where he plays himself and is covered in bees, Click (2006, as the main character's
father), and You
Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008). He has also played small roles
in movies such as Down to You
(2000), Holes (2003), and I Could
Never Be Your Woman (2007).
Winkler recently had a recurring role as incompetent lawyer Barry Zuckerkorn in the Fox Television comedy Arrested
Development. In one episode, his character hopped over a dead
shark lying on a pier, a reference to his role in the origin of the phrase
"jumping the shark".
After that episode, Winkler in interviews stated that he was the only person to
have "jumped the shark" twice.
When Winkler moved to CBS for one season to star in 2005–06's Out of Practice, his role as the Bluth
family lawyer on Arrested Development was taken over by Happy Days
co-star Scott Baio in the fall of 2005, shortly
before the acclaimed but Nielsen-challenged show ceased production.
In October 2008, Winkler appeared in a video on funnyordie.com with Ron Howard, reprising their roles as Fonzie
and Richie Cunningham, encouraging people to vote for Barack Obama. The video
entitled "Ron
Howard’s Call to Action" also features Andy Griffith.
October 30, 2010
The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.
The gathering that took place on October 30, 2010 at the National
Mall in Washington, DC. The rally was led by Jon Stewart,
host of the satirical news program The
Daily Show, and Stephen Colbert, in-character as a conservative political
pundit. About 215,000 people
attended the rally, according to aerial photography analysis by AirPhotosLive.com
for CBS
News.
The rally was a combination of what initially were
announced as separate events: Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity" and
Colbert's counterpart, the "March to Keep Fear Alive." Its stated
purpose was to provide a venue for attendees to be heard above what Stewart
described as the more vocal and extreme 15–20% of Americans who "control
the conversation" of American
politics, the argument being that
these extremes demonize each other and engage in counterproductive actions,
with a return to sanity intended to promote reasoned discussion. Despite
Stewart's insistence to the contrary, news reports cast the rally as a spoof of
Glenn Beck's
Restoring Honor
rally and Al Sharpton's
Reclaim
the Dream rally.
Miami Vice soundtrack begins an 11-week run at
#1
Almost from its beginnings, television showed a
remarkable ability to influence the pop charts, and not only by giving exposure
to popular musical artists on programs like American Bandstand and The
Ed Sullivan Show. Many television programs also launched legitimate pop
hits in the form of their theme songs—songs like "The Peter Gunn Theme,"
"Welcome Back" and "Theme from S.W.A.T." But prior
to 1985, no television program had ever launched a smash-hit, movie-style
soundtrack album. The first one to do so was NBC's Miami Vice, a show
that not only altered the landscapes of television and fashion, but also sent
the soundtrack album of the same name to the top of the Billboard 200 on
this day in 1985—a spot it would hold for the next 11 weeks
The genesis of Miami Vice is the stuff of
television legend. It came about in the form of a memo from NBC head of
programming Brandon Tartikoff in which he documented one of his brainstorms
simply as "MTV Cops." Inspired by MTV's growing influence on the
music industry, Tartikoff reasoned that a slickly produced, visually arresting
cop show could become to television essentially what Duran Duran was to music.
Under the creative guidance of producer Michael Mann, Tartikoff's vision took
shape in 1984, when it debuted on NBC's fall schedule.
Scheduled opposite the ratings juggernaut Falcon
Crest on Friday nights at 10 pm, Miami Vice struggled in its first
season but catapulted into the Nielson Top 10 in the autumn of 1985.
Simultaneous with the television show's rise to popularity, its instrumental
theme song, by Czech composer Jan Hammer, was climbing the Billboard pop
singles chart. The popularity of that single, in turn, drove sales of the
soundtrack album Miami Vice, which featured not only Jan Hammer's theme
song and other examples of his incidental soundtrack music, but also several
original songs written expressly for the show's fall season, including
"Smuggler's Blues" and "You Belong To The City" by Glenn
Frey. The album also featured previously released songs that had been featured
prominently in the program's signature musical montages—songs such as Phil
Collins' "In The Air Tonight" and Tina Turner's "Better Be Good
To Me."
In demonstrating how five scenes' worth of difficult
expository dialogue could easily be replaced with a 90-second visual montage
set to mood-appropriate pop music, Miami Vice made a significant
creative impact on the future of American television. In demonstrating how much
additional revenue a television show could generate by releasing soundtrack
albums of pre-existing popular music, it had a significant business impact as well.
October 28, 1950
Popular radio personality Jack Benny moves to
television with The Jack Benny Program. The TV version of the show ran for the next 15 years.
Benny's success in
vaudeville soon won him attention from Hollywood, where he made his film debut
in Hollywood Revue of 1929. Over the years, he won larger roles, notably
in Charley's Aunt (1941) and To Be or Not to Be (1942). Movies
were only a sideline for Benny, though, who found his natural medium in radio
in 1932.
In March 1932,
then-newspaper columnist Ed Sullivan, dabbling in radio, asked Benny to do an
on-air interview. Benny reluctantly agreed. His comedy, though, was so
successful that Benny was offered his own show almost immediately, which
debuted just a few months later. At first a mostly musical show with a few
minutes of Benny's comedy during interludes, the show evolved to become mostly
comedy, incorporating well-developed skits and regular characters. In many of
these skits, Benny portrayed himself as a vain egomaniac and notorious
pinchpenny who refused to replace his (very noisy) antique car and who kept his
money in a closely guarded vault. His regulars included his wife, whose
character, Mary Livingstone, deflated Benny's ego at every opportunity; Mel
Blanc, who used his famous voice to play Benny's noisy car, his exasperated
French violin teacher, and other characters; and Eddie Andersen, one of radio's
first African American stars, who played Benny's long-suffering valet,
Rochester Van Jones. The program ran until 1955.
In
the 1950s, Benny began experimenting with television, making specials in 1950,
1951, and 1952. Starting in 1952, The Jack Benny Show aired regularly,
at first once every four weeks, then every other week, then finally every week
from 1960 to 1965. Benny was as big a hit on TV as on the radio. Despite the
stingy skinflint image he cultivated on the air, Benny was known for his
generosity and modesty in real life. He died of cancer in Beverly Hills in
1974.
October 30, 1945
Henry Franklin Winkler is born.
Winkler is best known for his role as Fonzie on the 1970s American sitcom Happy Days. "The Fonz", a leather-clad greaser and auto mechanic, started out as a minor character at the show's beginning, but had achieved top billing by the time the show ended. Winkler started acting by appearing in a number of television commercials. In October 1973, he was cast for the role of Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli, nicknamed The Fonz or Fonzie, in the TV show Happy Days. The show was first aired in January 1974. During his decade on Happy Days, Winkler also starred in a number of movies, including The Lords of Flatbush (1974), playing a troubled Vietnam veteran in Heroes (1977), The One and Only (1978), and a morgue attendant in Night Shift (1982), which was directed by Happy Days co-star Ron Howard.In 1979 Winkler appeared in the made-for-TV movie An American Christmas Carol, which was
a modern remake of the Charles Dickens
classic A Christmas Carol.
An American Christmas Carol was set in Concord,
New Hampshire during the Great Depression. Winkler played the role
of Benedict Slade, the Ebenezer Scrooge
equivalent of that film.
After Happy Days, Winkler put his acting career on the back burner,
as he began concentrating on producing and directing. He quickly worked on
developing his own production company and, within months, he had opened Winkler-Rich
Productions.
He produced several television shows including MacGyver, So Weird and Mr. Sunshine, Sightings, and the game shows Wintuition
and The Hollywood
Squares (the latter from 2002–2004 only). He also directed
several movies including the Billy Crystal movie Memories of Me
(1988) and Cop and a Half
(1993) with Burt Reynolds.
As the 1990s continued, Winkler began a return to acting. In 1994 he
returned to TV with the short-lived right-wing comedy Monty on Fox
which sank in mere weeks. Also in 1994, he co-starred with Katharine Hepburn in
the holiday TV movie "One Christmas", her last film. In 1998, Adam Sandler asked Winkler to play a
college football coach, a supporting role in The Waterboy (1998). He would later
appear in three other Sandler films, Little Nicky
(2000) where he plays himself and is covered in bees, Click (2006, as the main character's
father), and You
Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008). He has also played small roles
in movies such as Down to You
(2000), Holes (2003), and I Could
Never Be Your Woman (2007).
Winkler recently had a recurring role as incompetent lawyer Barry Zuckerkorn in the Fox Television comedy Arrested
Development. In one episode, his character hopped over a dead
shark lying on a pier, a reference to his role in the origin of the phrase
"jumping the shark".
After that episode, Winkler in interviews stated that he was the only person to
have "jumped the shark" twice.
When Winkler moved to CBS for one season to star in 2005–06's Out of Practice, his role as the Bluth
family lawyer on Arrested Development was taken over by Happy Days
co-star Scott Baio in the fall of 2005, shortly
before the acclaimed but Nielsen-challenged show ceased production.
In October 2008, Winkler appeared in a video on funnyordie.com with Ron Howard, reprising their roles as Fonzie
and Richie Cunningham, encouraging people to vote for Barack Obama. The video
entitled "Ron
Howard’s Call to Action" also features Andy Griffith.
October 30, 2010
The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.
The gathering that took place on October 30, 2010 at the National Mall in Washington, DC. The rally was led by Jon Stewart, host of the satirical news program The Daily Show, and Stephen Colbert, in-character as a conservative political pundit. About 215,000 people attended the rally, according to aerial photography analysis by AirPhotosLive.com for CBS News.
The rally was a combination of what initially were announced as separate events: Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity" and Colbert's counterpart, the "March to Keep Fear Alive." Its stated purpose was to provide a venue for attendees to be heard above what Stewart described as the more vocal and extreme 15–20% of Americans who "control the conversation" of American politics, the argument being that these extremes demonize each other and engage in counterproductive actions, with a return to sanity intended to promote reasoned discussion. Despite Stewart's insistence to the contrary, news reports cast the rally as a spoof of Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally and Al Sharpton's Reclaim the Dream rally.
Miami Vice soundtrack begins an 11-week run at
#1
Almost from its beginnings, television showed a
remarkable ability to influence the pop charts, and not only by giving exposure
to popular musical artists on programs like American Bandstand and The
Ed Sullivan Show. Many television programs also launched legitimate pop
hits in the form of their theme songs—songs like "The Peter Gunn Theme,"
"Welcome Back" and "Theme from S.W.A.T." But prior
to 1985, no television program had ever launched a smash-hit, movie-style
soundtrack album. The first one to do so was NBC's Miami Vice, a show
that not only altered the landscapes of television and fashion, but also sent
the soundtrack album of the same name to the top of the Billboard 200 on
this day in 1985—a spot it would hold for the next 11 weeks
The genesis of Miami Vice is the stuff of
television legend. It came about in the form of a memo from NBC head of
programming Brandon Tartikoff in which he documented one of his brainstorms
simply as "MTV Cops." Inspired by MTV's growing influence on the
music industry, Tartikoff reasoned that a slickly produced, visually arresting
cop show could become to television essentially what Duran Duran was to music.
Under the creative guidance of producer Michael Mann, Tartikoff's vision took
shape in 1984, when it debuted on NBC's fall schedule.
Scheduled opposite the ratings juggernaut Falcon
Crest on Friday nights at 10 pm, Miami Vice struggled in its first
season but catapulted into the Nielson Top 10 in the autumn of 1985.
Simultaneous with the television show's rise to popularity, its instrumental
theme song, by Czech composer Jan Hammer, was climbing the Billboard pop
singles chart. The popularity of that single, in turn, drove sales of the
soundtrack album Miami Vice, which featured not only Jan Hammer's theme
song and other examples of his incidental soundtrack music, but also several
original songs written expressly for the show's fall season, including
"Smuggler's Blues" and "You Belong To The City" by Glenn
Frey. The album also featured previously released songs that had been featured
prominently in the program's signature musical montages—songs such as Phil
Collins' "In The Air Tonight" and Tina Turner's "Better Be Good
To Me."
In demonstrating how five scenes' worth of difficult expository dialogue could easily be replaced with a 90-second visual montage set to mood-appropriate pop music, Miami Vice made a significant creative impact on the future of American television. In demonstrating how much additional revenue a television show could generate by releasing soundtrack albums of pre-existing popular music, it had a significant business impact as well.
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
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