May 3, 1991
Prime-time soap opera Dallas airs its last
episode. The episode was watched by
33.3 million viewers (38% of all viewers in that time slot)
The show debuted in April of 1978, and broke ratings
records in 1980 when 83.6 million viewers tuned in to find out "Who Shot
J.R.?". In the final episode, titled Conundrum
(An homage to It's a Wonderful Life)
J.R. is contemplating committing suicide. The drunk J.R. walks around the pool
with a bourbon bottle and a loaded gun, when suddenly another person appears, a
spirit named Adam (portrayed by Joel Grey), whose
"boss" has been watching J.R. and likes him. Adam proceeds to take
him on a journey to show him what life would have been like for other people if
he had not been born. At the end of the
episode Adam encourages J.R. on to kill himself. J.R. will not do it, as
he does not want Adam to be sent back to heaven with his job incomplete. At
this point Adam reveals that he's not an angel, but a minion of Satan. Bobby
has returned home. The gun goes off while Bobby is in the hallway, and he
rushes to J.R.'s room. He looks at what has gone down, gasps, "Oh, my
God," and the series ends on that note with the fate of J.R. never settled
(although it eventually would be five years later, in the reunion movie, Dallas: J.R. Returns.).In 2010, cable network TNT announced they had ordered
a pilot for the continuation of the Dallas series. After viewing the completed
pilot episode, TNT proceeded to order a full season of 10 episodes.
The new series premiered on June 13, 2012, centering
primarily around John Ross and Christopher Ewing, the now-grown sons of J.R.
and Bobby. Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray returned in full-time
capacity, reprising their original roles. The series is produced by Warner
Horizon Television, a subsidiary of Warner Bros., which holds the rights to the
Dallas franchise through its acquisition of Lorimar Television and is a sister
company to TNT, both under the ownership of TimeWarner.
The new series is a continuation of the old series,
with the story continuing after a 20-year break. It does not take the events of
the TV movies Dallas: J.R. Returns or Dallas: War of the Ewings as canon.
Instead we find the characters as they are today, 20 years after the events of
the Season 14 cliffhanger.[29] In an interview with UltimateDallas.com, Cynthia
Cidre was asked to describe the new Dallas. She responded, "I tried to be really,
really respectful of the original Dallas because it was really clear to me that
the people who love Dallas are [like] Trekkies, really committed to that show
and I really did not understand that before, so I never wanted to violate
anything that had happened in the past. On the other hand that was the past,
twenty years had gone by, so at the same time I think we're properly balanced
between the characters of Bobby Ewing, J.R. and Sue Ellen. I also have the new
cast and it's John Ross and Christopher, the children of Bobby and J.R., and
their love interests. Total respect and a balance of old and new."
May
8, 1976
The theme song from Welcome
Back, Kotter is the #1 song in America
In
1975, John Sebastian, former member of the beloved 60s pop group the Lovin'
Spoonful, was asked to write and record the theme song for a brand-new ABC
television show with the working title Kotter. As any songwriter would,
Sebastian first tried working that title into his song, but somehow the rhymes
he came up with for "Kotter"—otter, water, daughter, slaughter—didn't
really lend themselves to a show about a middle-aged schoolteacher returning to
his scrappy Brooklyn neighborhood to teach remedial students at his own former
high school. So Sebastian took a more thoughtful approach to the task at hand
and came up with a song about finding your true calling in a life you thought
you'd left behind. That song, "Welcome Back," not only went on to become
a #1 pop single on this day in 1976, but it also led the show's producers to
change its title to Welcome Back, Kotter.
What
Sebastian's sweet, wistful and playfully nostalgic tune did not do, however,
was influence the tone and content of the show. To listen to "Welcome
Back," you'd think that Welcome Back, Kotter was a seriocomic
slice-of-life program in the mold of, say, The Courtship of Eddie's Father—another
70s TV show with a theme song by a great 60s songwriter (Harry Nilsson).
Instead, Welcome Back, Kotter was little more than a flimsy platform for
catchphrase-spouting caricatures, albeit an insanely successful one. Arnold
Horshack's "Oooh, oooh, oooh," Freddie "Boom Boom"
Washington's "Hi therrre," Vinnie Barbarino's "What? What?"
and Gabe Kotter's "Up your nose with a rubber hose" were the
pop-cultural coin-of-the-realm in 1975-76, and though they bore little relation
in tone or spirit to the song that topped the charts on this day in 1976, the
disconnect did nothing to hinder the popularity of all things Kotter-related.
Indeed, if you weren't wearing an Uncle Sam or King Kong T-shirt in the summer
of America's bicentennial year, you were probably wearing one with a picture of
"the Sweathogs" and a colorful phrase like "Off my case, toilet
face" on it.
"Welcome
Back" was the first and only television theme song that John Sebastian
ever wrote, but it was far from the only television theme song of the mid-1970s to become a legitimate pop
hit. Only weeks earlier in 1976, the instrumental "Theme From
S.W.A.T." had topped the Billboard Hot 100, and the excellent Mike
Post-written theme The Rockford Files had made the top 10 the previous
summer.
May 9, 1971
Last Honeymooners
episode airs. The last original
episode of the sitcom The Honeymooners, starring Jackie Gleason as
Brooklyn bus driver Ralph Kramden, airs.
Although a perennial rerun favorite in syndication, The Honeymooners
actually aired only 39 episodes in its familiar sitcom format, running for just
one season in 1955-56. The show debuted on October 5, 1951, as a six-minute
sketch on the variety show Cavalcade of Stars, hosted by Jackie Gleason.
Cavalcade of Stars evolved into The Jackie Gleason Show in 1952,
and Gleason continued the sketches, playing the blustery Ralph Kramden. Regular
cast member Audrey Meadows soon replaced the original casting choice, Pert
Kelton, as Ralph’s long-suffering wife, Alice, who deflated his get-rich-quick
schemes but often saved the day. Art Carney played Gleason’s friend and
sidekick, Ed Norton, from the beginning, and Joyce Randolph was the most
memorable incarnation of Ed’s wife, Trixie.In 1955, Gleason had tired of the hour-long variety-show format and wanted
to try something new. He suggested creating two half-hour programs: The Honeymooners
and Stage Show, a musical-variety show, which Gleason would produce.
Among Stage Show’s many musical guests was the first-time TV performer
Elvis Presley, who visited the show in January 1956.
In a departure from most TV shows of the time, The Honeymooners was
filmed in front of a live audience and broadcast at a later date. To allow
Gleason more time to pursue other producing projects, he taped two episodes a
week, leaving him free for several months at the end of the season. Shows were
taped at New York’s Adelphi Theatre in front of around 1,000 people.
Unfortunately, the two shows did not appeal to audiences as much as Gleason
had hoped. He soon returned to his hour-long variety format, occasionally
including Honeymooners skits. He sold the full Honeymooners episodes
to CBS for $1.5 million, and they would go on to earn the network a windfall in
syndication. In 1966, Gleason began creating hour-long Honeymooners
episodes, which he aired in lieu of his usual variety format. From 1966 to
1970, about half of Gleason’s shows were these hour-long episodes. In 1971, the
episodes were rebroadcast as their own series, until May 9, 1971, when the
final episode aired.
Despite its brief life as a traditional sitcom, The Honeymooners remains
one of the most memorable TV comedies of all time, rivaled only by I Love
Lucy in its pioneering role in television history. Its influence has
stretched into modern-day sitcom classics such as Roseanne (also a show
focused on a working-class American family) and Seinfeld (another sitcom
about wacky New York neighbors). The devotion of Honeymooners fans
throughout the years has bordered on cultish worship, including the formation
of a club known as RALPH: Royal Association for the Longevity and Preservation
of the Honeymooners.
May 9, 1991
Michael Landon appeared on the Tonight Show and talked about condition with cancer.
May 3, 1991
Prime-time soap opera Dallas airs its last
episode. The episode was watched by
33.3 million viewers (38% of all viewers in that time slot)
The show debuted in April of 1978, and broke ratings records in 1980 when 83.6 million viewers tuned in to find out "Who Shot J.R.?". In the final episode, titled Conundrum (An homage to It's a Wonderful Life) J.R. is contemplating committing suicide. The drunk J.R. walks around the pool with a bourbon bottle and a loaded gun, when suddenly another person appears, a spirit named Adam (portrayed by Joel Grey), whose "boss" has been watching J.R. and likes him. Adam proceeds to take him on a journey to show him what life would have been like for other people if he had not been born. At the end of the episode Adam encourages J.R. on to kill himself. J.R. will not do it, as he does not want Adam to be sent back to heaven with his job incomplete. At this point Adam reveals that he's not an angel, but a minion of Satan. Bobby has returned home. The gun goes off while Bobby is in the hallway, and he rushes to J.R.'s room. He looks at what has gone down, gasps, "Oh, my God," and the series ends on that note with the fate of J.R. never settled (although it eventually would be five years later, in the reunion movie, Dallas: J.R. Returns.).
In 2010, cable network TNT announced they had ordered
a pilot for the continuation of the Dallas series. After viewing the completed
pilot episode, TNT proceeded to order a full season of 10 episodes.
The new series premiered on June 13, 2012, centering
primarily around John Ross and Christopher Ewing, the now-grown sons of J.R.
and Bobby. Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray returned in full-time
capacity, reprising their original roles. The series is produced by Warner
Horizon Television, a subsidiary of Warner Bros., which holds the rights to the
Dallas franchise through its acquisition of Lorimar Television and is a sister
company to TNT, both under the ownership of TimeWarner.
The new series is a continuation of the old series,
with the story continuing after a 20-year break. It does not take the events of
the TV movies Dallas: J.R. Returns or Dallas: War of the Ewings as canon.
Instead we find the characters as they are today, 20 years after the events of
the Season 14 cliffhanger.[29] In an interview with UltimateDallas.com, Cynthia
Cidre was asked to describe the new Dallas. She responded, "I tried to be really,
really respectful of the original Dallas because it was really clear to me that
the people who love Dallas are [like] Trekkies, really committed to that show
and I really did not understand that before, so I never wanted to violate
anything that had happened in the past. On the other hand that was the past,
twenty years had gone by, so at the same time I think we're properly balanced
between the characters of Bobby Ewing, J.R. and Sue Ellen. I also have the new
cast and it's John Ross and Christopher, the children of Bobby and J.R., and
their love interests. Total respect and a balance of old and new."
May
8, 1976
The theme song from Welcome
Back, Kotter is the #1 song in America
What
Sebastian's sweet, wistful and playfully nostalgic tune did not do, however,
was influence the tone and content of the show. To listen to "Welcome
Back," you'd think that Welcome Back, Kotter was a seriocomic
slice-of-life program in the mold of, say, The Courtship of Eddie's Father—another
70s TV show with a theme song by a great 60s songwriter (Harry Nilsson).
Instead, Welcome Back, Kotter was little more than a flimsy platform for
catchphrase-spouting caricatures, albeit an insanely successful one. Arnold
Horshack's "Oooh, oooh, oooh," Freddie "Boom Boom"
Washington's "Hi therrre," Vinnie Barbarino's "What? What?"
and Gabe Kotter's "Up your nose with a rubber hose" were the
pop-cultural coin-of-the-realm in 1975-76, and though they bore little relation
in tone or spirit to the song that topped the charts on this day in 1976, the
disconnect did nothing to hinder the popularity of all things Kotter-related.
Indeed, if you weren't wearing an Uncle Sam or King Kong T-shirt in the summer
of America's bicentennial year, you were probably wearing one with a picture of
"the Sweathogs" and a colorful phrase like "Off my case, toilet
face" on it.
"Welcome
Back" was the first and only television theme song that John Sebastian
ever wrote, but it was far from the only television theme song of the mid-1970s to become a legitimate pop
hit. Only weeks earlier in 1976, the instrumental "Theme From
S.W.A.T." had topped the Billboard Hot 100, and the excellent Mike
Post-written theme The Rockford Files had made the top 10 the previous
summer.
May 9, 1971
Last Honeymooners
episode airs. The last original
episode of the sitcom The Honeymooners, starring Jackie Gleason as
Brooklyn bus driver Ralph Kramden, airs.
In 1955, Gleason had tired of the hour-long variety-show format and wanted
to try something new. He suggested creating two half-hour programs: The Honeymooners
and Stage Show, a musical-variety show, which Gleason would produce.
Among Stage Show’s many musical guests was the first-time TV performer
Elvis Presley, who visited the show in January 1956.
In a departure from most TV shows of the time, The Honeymooners was
filmed in front of a live audience and broadcast at a later date. To allow
Gleason more time to pursue other producing projects, he taped two episodes a
week, leaving him free for several months at the end of the season. Shows were
taped at New York’s Adelphi Theatre in front of around 1,000 people.
Unfortunately, the two shows did not appeal to audiences as much as Gleason
had hoped. He soon returned to his hour-long variety format, occasionally
including Honeymooners skits. He sold the full Honeymooners episodes
to CBS for $1.5 million, and they would go on to earn the network a windfall in
syndication. In 1966, Gleason began creating hour-long Honeymooners
episodes, which he aired in lieu of his usual variety format. From 1966 to
1970, about half of Gleason’s shows were these hour-long episodes. In 1971, the
episodes were rebroadcast as their own series, until May 9, 1971, when the
final episode aired.
Despite its brief life as a traditional sitcom, The Honeymooners remains
one of the most memorable TV comedies of all time, rivaled only by I Love
Lucy in its pioneering role in television history. Its influence has
stretched into modern-day sitcom classics such as Roseanne (also a show
focused on a working-class American family) and Seinfeld (another sitcom
about wacky New York neighbors). The devotion of Honeymooners fans
throughout the years has bordered on cultish worship, including the formation
of a club known as RALPH: Royal Association for the Longevity and Preservation
of the Honeymooners.
May 9, 1991
Michael Landon appeared on the Tonight Show and talked about condition with cancer.
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Tony Figueroa
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