September
26th, 1982
The
first episode of Knight Rider was aired.
Knight
Rider is an American television series created and
produced by Glen A. Larson.
The series was originally broadcast on NBC from
1982 to 1986. The show stars David Hasselhoff as Michael
Knight, a high-tech modern crime fighter assisted
by KITT, an advanced artificially
intelligent, self-aware and nearly
indestructible car.
Self-made billionaire Wilton Knight rescues police Detective Lieutenant Michael Arthur Long after a near fatal shot to the face, giving him a new identity (by plastic surgery) and a new name: Michael Knight. Wilton selects Michael to be the primary field agent in the pilot program of his public justice organization, the Foundation for Law and Government (FLAG). The other half of this pilot program is the Knight Industries Two Thousand (KITT), a heavily modified, technologically advanced Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with numerous features including an extremely durable shell and frame, controlled by a computer with artificial intelligence. Michael and KITT are brought in during situations where "direct action might provide the only feasible solution".
Heading FLAG is Devon Miles, who provides Michael
with directives and guidance. Dr. Bonnie Barstow is the chief engineer in
charge of KITT's care, as well as technical assistant to Devon (April Curtis
fills this role in Season 2).
September 26th, 1987
Jake and the Fatman first aired.
The television crime drama starring William
Conrad as prosecutor J. L. (Jason Lochinvar) “Fatman” McCabe and Joe Penny as
investigator Jake Styles. The series ran on CBS for five seasons from 1987 to
1992. Diagnosis: Murder was a spin-off of
this series. Conrad guest starred as an aging prosecutor in a two-part episode
of Matlock during its first season
on NBC. Executive
producers Fred Silverman and Dean
Hargrove decided to use this character as a model for one of the main
characters in a new show they were creating for CBS. Penny also guest starred
in these episodes, but his character was not on the same side as Conrad’s
character in the storyline’s legal case.
Following the departure of Hargrove, executive
producers David Moessinger and Jeri Taylor were
brought on to run the series with Silverman. They also hired J. Michael Straczynski as story editor
and, later, co-producer. Taylor and Moessinger ran the show for two years
before finally leaving in a dispute over control over the show.
September 28, 1987
The first episode
of Star Trek: The Next Generation
aired.
The series involves a starship named Enterprise and is set
in the nearby regions of the Milky Way
galaxy, the Alpha Quadrant. The first episode takes place in the
year 2364, 100 years after the start of the five-year mission described in the
original series, which began in 2264. It features a new cast and a
new starship Enterprise, the fifth to bear the namewithin the franchise's
storyline. An introductory statement, performed by Patrick
Stewartand featured at the beginning of each episode's title sequence,
stated the starship's purpose in language similar to the opening statement
of the original series, but was updated
to reflect an ongoing mission, and to be gender-neutral:
Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise.
Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and
new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.
TNG premiered the week of September 28, 1987, drawing
27 million viewers, with the two-hour pilot "Encounter at Farpoint". In total, 176
episodes were made, ending with the two-hour finale "All Good Things..."
the week of May 23, 1994.
The series (1987–94) was broadcast in first-run syndication with dates and
times varying among individual television stations. Three additional Star
Trek spin-offs followed The Next Generation: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993–99), Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001), and Star Trek: Enterprise (2001–2005). The
series formed the basis for the seventh through to the tenth of the Star Trek films, and is also the
setting of numerous novels, comic books, and video games.
In its seventh season, Star
Trek: The Next Generation became the first and only syndicated
television series to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series. The series received a number of accolades including
19 Emmy Awards, two Hugo Awards,
five Saturn Awards, and a Peabody Award.
September 29, 1987
Thirtysomething (stylized as thirtysomething) is an American drama television series created by Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz for ABC that aired from 1987 to 1991. It tells of baby boomers living in their thirties who reside in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and examines how this group of friends learn to negotiate their prior involvement with the early 1970s counterculture as young adults, in contrast to the yuppie lifestyle which dominated American culture during the 1980s.
The title of the show was designed
as thirtysomething (with a lowercase "t") by Kathie Broyles, who
combined the words of the original title, Thirty Something. It premiered in the
United States on September 29, 1987, and lasted four seasons until it was
cancelled in May 1991 because the ratings had dropped and the executive
producers Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz moved on to other projects. The
series earned 13 out of its' total 41 nominated Primetime Emmy Awards, and
received 2 Golden Globe Awards.
Although seen as an ensemble drama,
the series revolves around husband and wife Michael Steadman (Ken Olin) and Hope Murdoch (Mel Harris) and their baby Janie. Michael's cousin is
photographer Melissa Steadman (Melanie
Mayron) who used to date his
college friend Gary Shepherd (Peter
Horton). Gary eventually marries
Susannah (Patricia Kalember). Michael's business partner is Elliot Weston (Timothy
Busfield), who has a troubled
marriage with his wife Nancy (Patricia
Wettig), a painter. Hope's
childhood friend is local politician Ellyn Warren (Polly
Draper).
Thirtysomething was influenced by the 1980 film Return of the Secaucus 7 and the 1983 film The Big Chill. The show reflected the angst felt by baby
boomers and yuppies in the United States during the
1980s, such as the changing expectations related to masculinity and femininity introduced during the era of second-wave feminism.[19] It also introduced "a new kind of
hour-long drama, a series that focused on the domestic and professional lives
of a group of young urban professionals, a socio-economic category of
increasing interest to the television industry [...] its stylistic and
story-line innovations led critics to respect it for being 'as close to the
level of an art form as weekly television ever gets,' as the New York
Times put it." During its four-year run, Thirtysomething "attracted
a cult audience of viewers who strongly identified with one or more of its
eight central characters, a circle of friends living in
Philadelphia." Even after its cancellation in 1991, it continued to
influence television programming, "in everything from the look and sound
of certain TV advertisements, to other series with feminine sensibilities and
preoccupations with the transition from childhood to maturity (Sisters),
to situation comedies about groups of friends who talk all the time (Seinfeld)." The show also influenced the
British television series Cold Feet, which featured similar storylines and
character types. The creator of Cold Feet wanted his show to
be in the mould of successful American TV series like Thirtysomething and Frasier.
Susan
Faludi, in her 1991
bestseller Backlash, argues that Thirtysomething often
reinforced, rather than dismantled, gender stereotypes. She suggests that it
exhibited a disdainful attitude toward single, working, and feminist women
(Melissa, Ellyn, and Susannah) while at the same time "exalting
homemakers" (Hope and Nancy). In this manner, the series was seen as
"seemingly progressive but substantially conservative in its construction
of reality."
Oxford English Dictionary
Almost immediately after the
introduction of the show, the term "Thirtysomething" became a catchphrase used to designate baby
boomers in their thirties.
This cultural shift was reinforced by the Oxford English Dictionary, which added Thirtysomething in
1993 (under the word thirty) and defined the term as follows:
Draft additions 1993 - n.
[popularized as a catch-phrase by the U.S. television programme
thirtysomething, first broadcast in 1987] colloq. (orig. U.S.) an undetermined
age between thirty and forty; spec. applied to members of the ‘baby boom’
generation entering their thirties in the mid-1980s; also attrib. or as adj.
phr. (hence, characteristic of the tastes and lifestyle of this group).
While it aired, Thirtysomething was
nominated for 41 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning 13. It also won two Golden
Globe awards. Later, by 1997,
"The Go Between" and "Samurai Ad Man" were listed as number
22 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest
Episodes of All Time.[27]Thirtysomething then placed the number 19 spot on TV Guide′s 50 Greatest TV
Shows of All Time in 2002,[28] and in 2013, TV Guideplaced it as No. 10 in its list of The 60
Greatest Dramas of All Time.[29]
1988 Winners:
1.
Drama
Series
2.
Supporting
Actress in a Drama Series — Patricia
Wettig
3.
Writing
in a Drama Series — Paul
Haggis and Marshall Herskovitz (episode: "Business as Usual")
4.
Guest
Performer in a Drama Series — Shirley
Knight (episode "The
Parents Are Coming")
It also received the following
nominations in 1988:
1.
Supporting
Actor in a Drama Series — Timothy
Busfield
2.
Supporting
Actress in a Drama Series — Polly
Draper
3.
Editing
for a Series — Single Camera Production (Victor Du Bois and Richard Freeman for
episode "Therapy")
4.
Main
Title Theme Music
5.
Costuming
for a Series (Marilyn Matthews and Patrick R. Norris for episode
"Pilot") and Marjorie K. Chan, Patrick R. Norris, Anne Hartley and
Julie Glick for episode "Whose Forest is This?")
1989 Winners:
1.
Supporting
Actress in a Drama Series — Melanie
Mayron
2.
Writing
in a Drama Series — Joseph
Dougherty (episode:
"First Day/Last Day")
3.
Editing
for a Series — Single Camera Production (episode: "First Day/Last
Day")
4.
Costuming
for a Series (episode: "We'll Meet Again")
It also received the following
nominations in 1989:
1.
Drama
Series
2.
Supporting
Actor in a Drama Series — Timothy
Busfield
3.
Guest
Actor in a Drama Series (Jack
Gilford for episode "The
Mike Van Dyke Show")
4.
Directing
in a Drama Series (Scott Winant for
episode "We'll Meet Again")
5.
Writing
in a Drama Series (Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick for episode "The
Mike Van Dyke Show")
6.
Art
Direction for a Series (Brandy Alexander and Mary Ann Biddle for episode
"Michael Writes A Story")
7.
Sound
Mixing for a Drama Series (Clark Conrad, Tim Philben, Scott Millan and Will
Yarbroug for episode "Michael Writes A Story")
8.
Special
Visual Effects (episode: "Michael Writes a Story")
9.
Outstanding
Hairstyling for a Series (Carol Pershing for episode "We'll Meet
Again")
1990 Winners:
1.
Lead
Actress in a Drama Series — Patricia
Wettig
2.
Directing
in a Drama Series (episode: "The Go-Between") (tied with Equal Justice).
It also received the following
nominations in 1990:
1.
Drama
Series
2.
Supporting
Actor in a Drama Series — Timothy
Busfield
3.
Supporting
Actress in a Drama Series — Melanie
Mayron
4.
Guest
Actor in a Drama Series (Peter
Frechette for
"Strangers")
5.
Guest
Actress in a Drama Series (Shirley Knight for "Arizona")
6.
Writing
in a Drama Series (episode: "The Go-Between")
7.
Art
Direction for a Series (Brandy Alexander and Mary Ann Biddle for episode
"Michael's Campaign")
8.
Hairstyling
for a Series (Carol Pershing for episode "Strangers")
9.
Costuming
for a Series (Patrick R. Norris and Julie Glick for episode
"Strangers")
1991 Winners:
1.
Lead Actress
in a Drama Series — Patricia
Wettig
2.
Supporting
Actor in a Drama Series — Timothy
Busfield
3.
Costuming
for a Series (episode: "A Wedding")
It also received the following
nominations in 1991:
1.
Drama
Series
2.
Supporting
Actress in a Drama Series — Melanie
Mayron
3.
Supporting
Actor in a Drama Series — David
Clennon
4.
Writing
in a Drama Series (episode: "Second Look")
5.
Guest
Actress in a Drama Series (Eileen
Brennan for "Sifting the
Ashes")
September 29, 1992
The 100th episode of "Roseanne" aired on ABC.
September 29, 2002
The first pilot episode of
"American Chopper" aired. A second pilot was aired on
January
19, 2003.
September 30, 1982
The first episode of “Cheers” aired on NBC.
Cheers is an American sitcom television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC and created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles. The show is set in a bar named Cheers (named after the popular toast) in Boston, Massachusetts, where a group of locals meet to drink, relax, and socialize. The show’s theme song, written and performed by Gary Portnoy, and co-written with Judy Hart Angelo, lent its famous refrain, “Where Everybody Knows Your Name“, as the show’stagline.October 1, 1927
Thomas Edward Bosley is born.
Among his early television appearances was in 1962 as
Assistant District Attorney
Ryan in the episode "The Man Who Wanted to Die" on James Whitmore's legal drama The Law and Mr.
Jones on ABC.
Bosley's best known role is the character Howard Cunningham, Richie Cunningham's father, in the
long-running television sitcom Happy Days. Bosley is also known
for portraying Sheriff Amos Tupper on Murder, She Wrote. He also
portrayed the titular Father Frank Dowling on the TV mystery series, Father
Dowling Mysteries. In 2004, Bosley guest starred as a toy
maker named Ben-Ami on the series finale of the Christian video series K10C:
Kids' Ten Commandments. Among myriad television
appearances, one notable early performance was in the "Eyes" segment
of the 1969 pilot episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery,
directed by Steven Spielberg
and starring Joan Crawford.
In 2008, Bosley starred in the Hallmark Channel television movie Charlie &
Me.
Also notable as a voice actor due
to his resonant, fatherly yet expressive tone, Bosley hosted The
General Mills Radio Adventure Theater, a 1977 radio drama series for children. He went on
to voice many animated cartoon
characters, including Harry Boyle in the animated series Wait
Till Your Father Gets Home. He provided the voice of the title
character in the 1980s cartoon The
World of David the Gnome, and the shop owner Mr. Winkle in the children's Christmas special The
Tangerine Bear. He also narrated the movie documentary series That's
Hollywood. Additionally, he played the narrator B.A.H.
Humbug in the Rankin/Bass
animated Christmas special
The
Stingiest Man In Town. Bosley was also the voice of Gepetto,
Pinocchio's 'dad' in Filmation's Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night,
released in 1987.
October 1, 1952
This is Your Life
began airing on NBC-TV.
This Is Your
Life was an
American reality documentary series broadcast on NBC radio from 1948 to 1952, and on NBC
television from 1952 to 1961. It was originally hosted by its creator and
producer Ralph Edwards.
In the program, the host would surprise guests and then take them through a
retrospective of their lives in front of an audience, including appearances by
colleagues, friends, and family. Edwards revived the show in 1971–1972,
and Joseph Campanella hosted a version in 1983. Edwards returned for some specials in the
late 1980s, before his death in 2005.
October 1, 1962
Johnny Carson becomes the new host of The Tonight Show.
Ed McMahon
was Carson's announcer. The Tonight Show
orchestra was for several years still led by Skitch Henderson. After a brief
stint by Milton DeLugg, beginning in 1967 the "NBC Orchestra" was then
headed by trumpeter Doc Severinsen who played in the Tonight Show Band in the years that
'Skitch' Henderson conducted. For all but a few months of its first decade on
the air, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City. In May 1972
the show moved to Burbank, California into Studio One of NBC Studios
West Coast (although it was announced as coming from nearby Hollywood), for the remainder of his tenure. Carson is often
referred to as "The King of Late-Night" because of the great
influence he has had on so many well-known talk show hosts and comedians.
Carson started each show with a monologue and continued with sketches in which
he played recurring characters "Carnac the Magnificent". In 1965,
Carson insisted on delivering his monologue at 11:30 instead of 11:15, the
show's official starting time, because many stations ran news until 11:30 and
didn't join The Tonight Show until the half hour. In 1967, Carson walked
out over contract differences, returning several weeks later when the network
allegedly offered him a contract worth more than $1 million a year-an
exorbitant salary at that time. The show moved to Burbank in 1972. In March
1978, Carson received a contract reportedly worth $3 million. Frequent guest
hosts included Joan Rivers, who became "permanent guest host" from
1983 to 1986, and Jay Leno, who became permanent guest host in 1987. David
Letterman also served as guest host, appearing more than 50 times.
When
Carson announced he would retire in 1992, a highly publicized battle for the
job ensued between top contenders Jay Leno and David Letterman. When Letterman
lost, he accepted CBS's offer for his own show and launched Late Show with
David Letterman in 1993. Carson died at the age of 79, in 2005.
October 1, 1962
The Lucy Show aired for the first time.
The
earliest scripts were entitled The Lucille Ball Show, but when this
title was rejected by CBS, producers thought of calling the show This
Is Lucy or The New Adventures of Lucy, before deciding on
the title The Lucy Show. Ball won consecutive Emmy Awards as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
for the series' final two seasons, 1966–67 and 1967–68.
October 1, 1982
NBC aired the first
episode of Remington Steele.
Remington Steele's premise is that Laura Holt, a licensed private detective played by Stephanie Zimbalist, opened a detective agency under her own name but found potential clients refused to hire a woman, no matter how qualified. To solve the problem, Laura invents a fictitious male superior she names Remington Steele. Through a series of events in the first episode, "License to Steele," Pierce Brosnan's character, a former thief and con man (whose real name even he proves not to know, and is never revealed), assumes the identity of Remington Steele. Behind the scenes, a power struggle ensues between Laura and Steele as to who is really in charge, while the two carry on a casual romantic relationship.
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Tony Figueroa
