This Week in Television History: January 2017 PART II

As always, the further we go back in Hollywood history,
the more that fact and legend become intertwined.
It's hard to say where the truth really lies.

January 8, 1923

Lawrence Samuel "Larry" Storch is born. 

Actor best known for his comic television roles, including voice-over work for cartoon shows, such as Mr. Whoopee on Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales, and his live-action role of the bumbling Corporal Randolph Agarn on F Troop. In 1975, Storch co-starred with Bob Burns (who was disguised as a gorilla) and Forrest Tucker on the short-lived but popular Saturday morning children's show The Ghost Busters. He also appeared on The Love Boat, was Al Bundy's childhood hero on Married... with Children, and was a semi-regular on Car 54, Where Are You?. He co-starred on the short-lived series The Queen and I.

January 11, 1958

Seahunt debuted on CBS-TV.

Mike Nelson (Lloyd Bridges) is a free-lance scuba diver who has various adventures. Nelson, a former U.S. Navy frogman (having left the service about four years before the series began), is a well-known expert on diving who is often called on for difficult or dangerous projects. Traveling on his boat the Argonaut, Nelson outmaneuvers villains, salvages everything from a bicycle to a nuclear missile, rescues children trapped in a flooded cave, and even a dog. In the pilot episode, Mike rescues a downed Navy pilot from his sunken jet. Since no dialogue was possible during the underwater sequences, Bridges provided voice-over narration for all the installments. Nelson also educated non-diving characters (and the audience) in various aspects of diving and the underwater world.

The series made frequent references to Marineland of the Pacific, which provided facilities, resources and technical advice to the production company.

At the end of each episode, Bridges would appear as himself to deliver a brief comment. These comments sometimes included a plea to viewers to understand and protect the marine environment, along with gems of wisdom from Bridges' own experiences.

The show was aired on the network for four years.

January 11, 1963

The Beatles made their first national TV appearance in the U.K. 

They performed the song "Please Please Me" on the show "Thank Your Lucky Stars."

January 11, 1983

The Joy of Painting aired for the first time.

The half-hour instructional television show hosted by painter Bob Ross which ran from January 11, 1983 until May 17, 1994. In each episode, Ross taught techniques for landscape oil painting, completing a painting in each session. The program followed the same format as its predecessor, The Magic of Oil Painting, hosted by Ross's mentor Bill Alexander. In its running it won three Emmy Awards.

January 13, 1928

Experimental Television sets are installed in three homes in Schenectady, New York. 

RCA and General Electric installed the sets, which displayed a 1.5-inch-square picture. However, televisions did not become common household appliances until the late 1940s.

January 13, 1973

ABC aired the final episode of Alias Smith and Jones.

To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa