This Week in Television History: February 2025 PART I

   

February 6, 1940

Thomas John "Tom" Brokaw is born. 

Television journalist and author best known as the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News from 1982 to 2004. He is the author of The Greatest Generation (1998), a runaway bestseller, and other books and the recipient of numerous awards and honors. He is the only person to host all three major NBC News programs: The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, and, briefly, Meet the Press. He currently serves as a Special Correspondent for NBC News and works on documentaries for other outlets.

February 8, 1985

The last episode of The Dukes of Hazzard aired.

Boss Hogg grudgingly agrees to participate in Rosco's magic act during a talent revue at the Boar's Nest. Boss plans to use the "disappearing lady" act as a way to get to a scheduled appointment, but it works out too well. A pair of escaped felons, whom Boss helped put away, kidnap Boss and hold him for ransom. When Rosco is unable to make Boss "reappear," Bo and Luke investigate and determine foul play was involved. Rosco is convinced Boss really did disappear into thin air, leaving the Duke boys to ride to Boss' rescue.

Guest Starring

• Peggy Rea as Lulu Coltrane Hogg
• Kevin Peter Hall as Floyd Malone
• Ji-Tu Cumbuka as Bubba Malone

February 9, 2010

The Jay Leno Show aired for the last time in primetime.

The show aired at 10 p.m. from September 14, 2009, to February 9, 2010, on NBC, after Leno's initial retirement from hosting The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. In January 2010, NBC announced that due to affiliate concerns about its effect on their newscasts, The Jay Leno Show would be shortened to 30 minutes and moved from primetime to 11:35 p.m., the timeslot that had been occupied by The Tonight Show for nearly 60 years.

The Tonight Show host Conan O'Brien released a public statement saying that he would not participate in moving Tonight to 12:05 a.m., asserting that it would damage the highly respected franchise. Despite much support for O'Brien from both the public and media professionals alike NBC maintained its plan to move Leno to 11:35. On January 21, 2010, NBC reached a $45 million settlement with O'Brien in order to end his contract. Leno ended on February 9, 2010, after being on the air for only four months, with Entertainment Weekly calling the program television's "Biggest Bomb of All Time." Leno resumed his duties as host of Tonight on March 1, 2010, which lasted until 2014

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

This Week in Television History: January 2025 PART IV

  

January 27, 1980

Galactica 1980 first aired. 

A spin-off from the original Battlestar Galactica television series. It was first broadcast on the ABC network in the United States from January 27 to May 4, 1980, lasting for 10 episodes. Set during the year 1980, and a generation after the original series, the Galactica and its fleet of 220 civilian ships have finally discovered Earth, only to find that its people are not as scientifically advanced and that the planet can neither defend itself against the Cylons nor help the Galactica as originally hoped. Therefore, teams of Colonial warriors arecovertly sent to the planet to work incognito with various members of the scientific community, hoping to advance Earth's technology.

Commander Adama and Colonel Boomer — now second-in-command — on the advice of Doctor Zee, a teenage prodigy serving as Adama's counsellor, sends Captain Troy, who is the adopted son of Adama's own son Apollo, and Lieutenant Dillon to North America, where they become entangled with TV journalist Jamie Hamilton. After an initial, epictime travel adventure to Nazi Germany in the 1940s (to stop rebel Galactican Commander Xavier, trying to change the future to improve Earth's technology level), the three friends devise ways to help Earth's scientists and outwit the Cylons in the present day. Meanwhile, Adama sends a group of children from the Galactica fleet (the Super Scouts) to Earth in order to begin the process of integrating with the population. However, due to differences in gravity and physiology, the children must deal with the fact they have nearly super-human powers on Earth.

The fates of several characters from the original series are explained during the course of the series. Apollo is apparently dead, the cause of his seeming death not addressed. Starbuck was marooned on a desert planet, although the script for the episode "The Wheel of Fire" (unfilmed at the time of cancellation) indicated that Starbuck was eventually rescued from the planet by the inhabitants of the Ships of Light and became one of their inhabitants. Captain Troy is revealed to be Boxey, and Lt. Boomer has risen to the rank of Colonel and has become Adama's second in command. Baltar was apparently rescued from the planet he was marooned on in "Hand of God", and is now Commandant Baltar of the Cylon fleet pursuing the Galacticans. The fates of several other characters, including Adama's daughter Athena, Colonel Tigh, Starbuck's girlfriend Cassiopeia, and Muffit the robot dog are not revealed. These characters are absent from the second series.

 

January 27, 1980

Tenspeed and Brown Shoe preimered on the ABC network. 

The series was created and executive produced by Stephen J. Cannell. The one-hour program revolved around two detectives who had their own detective agency in Los Angeles. E. L. ("Early Leroy") "Tenspeed" Turner (Ben Vereen) was a hustler who worked as a detective to satisfy his parole requirements. His partner Lionel "Brownshoe" Whitney (Jeff Goldblum) was an archetypal accountant, complete with button-down collars and a nagging fiancee (at least for the pilot episode), who had always wanted to be a 1940s-style Bogart P.I. A running joke was his penchant for reading a series of hard-boiled crime novels, sub-titled, "A Mark Savage Mystery", written by Stephen J. Cannell (though he never wrote such a series of novels), with Goldblum reading particularly purple passages in voice-over. He was sharper than he seemed, although a little naïve and more reasonable than his career path demanded, and had picked up karate to Black Belt standard.

This was the first series to come from Stephen J. Cannell Productions as an independent company (it was distributed throughParamount Television, one of only two such collaborations - the other was Riptide) and is also the only one not to carry the famed Cannell logo on any episodes, having "A Stephen J. Cannell Production" appearing in-credit (the logo was introduced in 1981 whenThe Greatest American Hero began airing). It was heavily promoted by ABC at the time it premiered in late January 1980. The series attracted a substantial audience for its first few episodes (indeed, the series was the 29th most-watched program of the 1979–80 U.S. television season, according to Nielsen ratings), but viewership dropped off substantially after that and the series was not renewed for the 1980–81 season.

January 28, 1985

American recording artists gather to record "We Are the World"

February 2, 1950

What's My Line debuted on CBS television.

What's My Line? is a panel game show which originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, with several international versions and subsequent U.S. revivals. The game tasks celebrity panelists with questioning contestants in order to determine their occupations. It is the longest-running U.S. primetime network television game-show. Moderated by John Charles Daly and with panelists Dorothy Kilgallen, Arlene Francis, and Bennett Cerf, What's My Line? won three Emmy Awards for "Best Quiz or Audience Participation Show" in 1952, 1953, and 1958 and the Golden Globefor Best TV Show in 1962.

After its cancellation by CBS in 1967, it returned in syndication as a daily production which ran from 1968 until 1975. There have been several international versions, radio versions, and a live stage version.In 2013, TV Guide ranked it #9 in its list of the 60 greatest game shows ever.

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

This Week in Television History: January 2025 PART III

 

January 22, 2010

Conan O’Brien makes final appearance as The Tonight Show host. 

Conan O’Brien hosts his final episode of The Tonight Show, following an announcement by NBC earlier in the month that Jay Leno would return as the host of the long-running, late-night program. The decision to replace O’Brien was met with protests by his fans and became a public-relations debacle for the network. 

In its early years The Tonight Show, which debuted in 1954, was hosted by entertainers including Steve Allen and Jack Paar. Under Johnny Carson, who assumed hosting duties in 1962, the program, with its opening monologue, celebrity interviews, musical performances and comedy sketches, became a late-night institution for millions of Americans. When Carson retired in 1992 he was replaced by Leno. On September 27, 2004, the 50th anniversary of the show’s launch, NBC announced O’Brien would take over from Leno in 2009.

Born in Massachusetts in 1963, O’Brien graduated from Harvard University and went on to work as a writer for such television shows as Saturday Night Live and “The Simpsons.” In 1993, the lanky redhead began hosting his own TV show on NBC, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, which followed The Tonight Show. After recording the final Late Night show on February 20, 2009, O’Brien and his staff relocated from New York City to Los Angeles for The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, which premiered on June 1, 2009.

Meanwhile, Leno went on to helm his own weeknight comedy series in primetime. However, the program earned less-than-stellar ratings, and after a strong start O’Brien’s Tonight Show ratings also slumped. In early January 2010, NBC executives proposed rearranging the late-night lineup: Leno would host a half-hour show at 11:35 p.m. ET (the long-standing start time for Tonight Show) while The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien would move to 12:05 a.m. O’Brien objected to this plan, publicly stating on January 12:  "I sincerely believe that delaying The Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t The Tonight Show."

O’Brien’s fans held rallies outside NBC studios in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities and organized an “I’m with CoCo” online support movement. Nevertheless, on January 21 it was reported that O’Brien had reached a deal with NBC worth more than $30 million to leave “The Tonight Show.” His last episode aired the following night and included guests Tom Hanks, Will Ferrell and Neil Young. During the program O’Brien said: “Walking away from The Tonight Show is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. …Every comedian dreams of hosting ‘The Tonight Show’ and, for seven months, I got to. I did it my way, with people I love, and I do not regret a second.”

Leno returned as host of “The Tonight Show” on March 1, 2010. On November 8 of that year, O’Brien launched a new late-night program, “Conan,” on cable channel TBS. A book about the Tonight Show conflict, titled “The War for Late Night: When Leno Went Early and Television Went Crazy” by New York Times reporter Bill Carter, was published that same month.

 

January 23, 1975

Barney Miller first aired.

Set in a New York City police station in Greenwich Village. The series originally was broadcast from January 23, 1975, to May 20, 1982, on ABC. It was created byDanny Arnold and Theodore J. Flicker. Noam Pitlik directed the majority of the episodes.

January 23, 2005

Johnny Carson Died. 

On March 19, 1999, Carson, then 73, suffered a severe heart attack at his home in Malibu, California. Carson was sleeping when he suddenly awoke with severe chest pains. He was rushed to a hospital in nearby Santa Monica where he underwent quadruple-bypass surgery.

At 6:50 AM PST on January 23, 2005, Carson died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, of respiratory arrest arising from emphysema. He was 79 years old. Carson had revealed his illness to the public in September 2002. Following Carson's death his body was cremated, and the ashes were given to his wife. In accordance with his family's wishes, no public memorial service was held. There were numerous tributes paid to Carson upon his death, including a statement by then President George W. Bush, recognizing the deep and enduring affection held for him.

On January 24, 2005, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno paid tribute to Carson with guests Ed McMahon, Bob Newhart, Don Rickles, Drew Carey and k.d. lang. Letterman followed suit on January 31 with former Tonight Show executive producer Peter Lassally and bandleader Doc Severinsen. During the beginning of this show, Letterman said that for 30 years no matter what was going on in the world, no matter whether people had a good or bad day, they wanted to end the day by being "tucked in by Johnny." Letterman also told his viewers that the monologue he had just given had consisted entirely of jokes sent to him by Carson in the last few months of his life. Doc Severinsen ended the Letterman show that night by playing one of Carson's two favorite songs, "Here's That Rainy Day" (the other was "I'll Be Seeing You"). It had been reported over the decades of Carson's fame that he was, off-camera, so intensely private that he had never once invited McMahon to his home. After Carson's death, though, McMahon disputed those rumors and claimed that a close friendship existed. On his final Tonight Show appearance, Carson himself said that while sometimes people who work together for long stretches of time on television don't necessarily like each other, this was not the case with him and McMahon: They were good friends who would have dinner together, and the camaraderie that they had on the show could not be faked. Carson and McMahon were friends for 30 years.

A week or so after the tributes, Dennis Miller was on the Tonight Show and told Jay Leno about the first time he tried to host a talk show, and how miserably it went. He said that he got a call immediately after the first show, from Carson, telling him, "It's not as easy as it looks, is it, kid?"

The 2005 film The Aristocrats was dedicated to Carson, as well as The Simpsons episode Mommie Beerest.

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

Bob Uecker “Mr. Baseball”

Sporting goods companies pay me not to endorse their products.

-Bob Uecker

Robert George Uecker

January 26, 1934 – January 16, 2025

Bob Uecker was an American professional baseball catcher and sportscaster who served as the primary broadcaster for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB) for 54 seasons.

Uecker signed with his hometown Milwaukee Braves in 1956, spending several years in the minor leagues with various affiliate clubs before making his major league debut in 1962. As a backup catcher, he played for the Milwaukee Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, and Atlanta Braves from 1962 to 1967. He won a World Series with the Cardinals in 1964.

After retiring, Uecker started a broadcasting career and served as a play-by-play announcer for Milwaukee Brewers radio broadcasts since 1971. Uecker became known for his self-deprecating wit and became a regular fixture on late night talk shows in the 1970s and 1980s, facetiously dubbed "Mr. Baseball" by TV talk show host Johnny Carson. He hosted several sports blooper shows and had an acting career that included his role as George Owens on the TV show Mr. Belvedere and as play-by-play announcer Harry Doyle in the film Major League and its two sequels.

Uecker was honored by the National Baseball Hall of Fame with its 2003 Ford C. Frick Award in recognition of his broadcasting career.

Good Night “Mr. Baseball”

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa 

This Week in Television History: October 2024 PART II

 

January 14, 1990

The Simpsons began airing regularly.

The Simpsons is an American adult animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional town of Springfield and parodies American culture, society, television, and many aspects of the human condition.

The family was conceived by Groening shortly before a solicitation for a series of animated shorts with the producer James L. Brooks. Groening created a dysfunctional family and named the characters after members of his own family, substituting Bart for his own name. The shorts became a part of The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. After a three-season run, the sketch was developed into a half-hour prime time show and was an early hit for Fox, becoming the network's first series to land in the Top 30 ratings in a season (1989–1990).

Since its debut on December 17, 1989, the show has broadcast 561 episodes, and the 26th season began on September 28, 2014. The Simpsons is thelongest-running American sitcom, the longest-running American animated program, and in 2009 it surpassed Gunsmoke as the longest-running American scripted primetime television series. The Simpsons Movie, a feature-length film, was released in theaters worldwide on July 26 and 27, 2007, and grossed over $527 million. On October 28, 2014, executive producer Al Jean announced that Season 27 had started production, renewing the series through the 2015–16 season.

Time magazine's December 31, 1999, issue named it the 20th century's best television series, and on January 14, 2000, the Simpson family was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It has won dozens of awards since it debuted as a series, including 31 Primetime Emmy Awards, 30 Annie Awards, and a Peabody Award. Homer's exclamatory catchphrase "D'oh!" has been adopted into the English language, while The Simpsons has influenced many adult-oriented animated sitcoms.

January 15, 1995

The first episode of Star Trek: Voyager aired.

Star Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe.

The show takes place during the 2370s, and begins on the far side of the Milky Way galaxy, 75,000 light-years from Earth. It follows the adventures of theStarfleet vessel USS Voyager, which became stranded in the Delta Quadrant while pursuing a renegade Maquis ship.  The two ships' crews merge aboardVoyager to make the estimated 75-year journey home.

The show was created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor, and is the fifth incarnation of Star Trek, which began with the 1960s series Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry. It was produced for seven seasons, from 1995 to 2001, and is the only Star Trek TV series with a female captain, Kathryn Janeway, as a main character.

Star Trek: Voyager aired on UPN and was the network's second longest running series, as well as the final show from its debut lineup to end.

January 17, 1975

The television show Baretta debuted on ABC.

Baretta is an American detective television series which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1978. The show was a milder version of a successful 1973–74 ABC series, Toma, starring Tony Musante as chameleon-like, real-life New Jersey police officer David Toma. While popular, Toma received intense criticism at the time for its realistic and frequent depiction of police and criminal violence. When Musante left the series after a single season, the concept was retooled asBaretta, with Robert Blake in the title role.

Detective Anthony Vincenzo "Tony" Baretta is an unorthodox plainclothes cop (badge #609) with the 53rd precinct, who lives with Fred, his Triton sulphur-crested cockatoo, in apartment 2C at the run-down King Edward Hotel in an unnamed Eastern city (presumably Newark, New Jersey). Like his model David Toma, Tony Baretta wore many disguises on the job. When not in disguise, Baretta usually wore a short-sleeve sweatshirt, casual slacks, a brown suede jacket and a newsboy cap. He often carried an unlit cigarette in his lips or behind his ear. His catchphrases included "You can take dat to da bank" and "And dat‘s the name of dat tune." When exasperated he would occasionally speak in asides to his late father, Louie Baretta.

Baretta drove a rusted-out Mist Blue 1966 Chevy Impala four-door sport sedan nicknamed "The Blue Ghost" (license plate 532 BEN). In the series Baretta hung out at Ross’s Billiard Academy and referred to his numerous girlfriends as his "cousins".

Supporting characters include:

• Billy Truman (Tom Ewell), the elderly hotel manager/house detective, who used to work with Tony’s father Louie at the 53rd Precinct.
• Rooster (Michael D. Roberts), a streetwise pimp and Tony's favorite informant.
• Tony's supervisors Inspector Shiller (Dana Elcar) and Lieutenant Hal Brubaker (Edward Grover).
• Detective Foley (John Ward), an irritating stick-in-the-mud.
• "Fats" (Chino 'Fats' Williams), a gravelly-voiced black detective who goes on stakeouts with Tony.
• Detective Nopke (Ron Thompson), a rookie who admires Baretta‘s street smarts.
• Little Moe (Angelo Rossitto), a shoeshine man and informant.
• Mr. Nicholas (Titos Vandis), a mob boss.
• Mr. Muncie (Paul Lichtman), the owner of a liquor store at 52nd and Main.

January 18, 1975

 The Jeffersons began its ten-year run on CBS. 

A spin-off, the series had its "pilot" episode air on All in the Family (on Jan. 11). The Jeffersons began in a period in TV history when African-American characters were becoming the leads of their own shows. Isabel Sanford, in fact, was the first African-American Emmy winner as Best Actress in a Comedy Series (in 1981). The series broke ground in its inclusion of an interracial marriage (in Tom and Helen Willis) and explored the same types of topical issues as All in the Family. Although, as the Museum of Broadcast Communications' Encyclopedia of Television notes, "America's black community remained divided in its assessment of the program," the show was unique in the television landscape for its portrayal of an affluent African-American family.

January 19, 1955

Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the first president to hold news conferences to be filmed by TV and newsreels. 

On this day in 1955, Eisenhower gave a 33-minute conference in the treaty room at the State Department, recorded by NBC and shared with CBS, ABC, and the DuMont Network.

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa