Events

• January 20 – John F. Kennedy
  John F. Kennedy
  John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
  
   is the first U.S. president to be sworn in, in a color telecast. NBC
  NBC
  The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
  
   covers the inauguration in color.
• February 19 – CFTM-TV
  CFTM-TV
  CFTM-DT channel 10, is the flagship of the TVA television network, located in Montreal, Quebec.-History:It opened on February 19, 1961, a few weeks after CFCF-TV went on the air for the first time. It was owned by Joseph Alexandre DeSève and his company, Télé-Métropole...
  
  , future flagship of Quebec's TVA
  TVA (TV network)
  TVA is a privately owned French language television network in Canada. The network is currently owned by Groupe TVA Inc. , a publicly traded subsidiary of Quebecor Media...
  
   network, opens in Montreal.
• April 29 – Westward Television
  Westward Television
  Westward Television was the first ITV franchise holder for the South West of England from 29 April 1961 until 31 December 1981. After a difficult start, Westward provided a popular, distinctive and highly regarded service to its region, until public boardroom squabbles led to its franchise not...
  
  , the first ITV
  ITV
  ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
  
   franchise for South West England
  South West England
  South West England is one of the regions of England defined by the Government of the United Kingdom for statistical and other purposes. It is the largest such region in area, covering and comprising Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. ...
  
  , goes on air.
• July 1 – The soap opera
  Soap opera
  A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
  
   The Brighter Day
  The Brighter Day
  The Brighter Day is an American daytime soap opera which aired on CBS from January 4, 1954 to September 28, 1962. Originally created for NBC radio by Irna Phillips in 1948, the radio and television versions ran simultaneously from 1954-1956...
  
  airs its first episode after moving taping locations from New York City
  New York City
  New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
  
   to Los Angeles
  Los Ángeles
  Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
  
  . As a result, key character Babby Dennis and her love interest are mysteriously written out of the show; the actor
  Actor
  An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
  
  s who played them didn't want to move.
• September 1 – Border Television
  Border Television
  Border Television is the ITV franchise holder for the Border region, spanning the England/Scotland border and covering Dumfries & Galloway region, a small part of the south-west area of Ayrshire, the Scottish Borders, parts of north and west Northumberland and the majority of Cumbria...
  
  , the ITV franchise for the English-Scottish Border and Isle of Man
  Isle of Man
  The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
  
  , goes on air.
• September 30 – Grampian Television
  Grampian Television
  Grampian Television is the ITV franchisee for the North and North East of Scotland. Its coverage area includes the Scottish Highlands , Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and parts of north Fife...
  
  , the ITV franchise for North East Scotland, goes on air.
• September – NBC
  NBC
  The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
  
   begins its long-running NBC Saturday Night at the Movies
  NBC Saturday Night at the Movies
  NBC Saturday Night at the Movies, was the first continuing weekly prime time network television series to show relatively recent feature films from major studios in color...
  
   participating, with an airing of the 1953 Marilyn Monroe
  Marilyn Monroe
  Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
  
   picture How to Marry a Millionaire
  How to Marry a Millionaire
  How to Marry a Millionaire is a 1953 romantic comedy film made by 20th Century Fox, directed by Jean Negulesco and produced and written by Nunnally Johnson. The screenplay was based on the plays The Greeks Had a Word for It by Zoe Akins and Loco by Dale Eunson and Katherine Albert. The music score...
  
  .
• 1 October – CTV
  CTV television network
  CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
  
   is launched in Canada, the first privately owned network in the country.
• November 4 – RAI
  RAI
  RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...
  
  's second television channel (now called Rai Due
  Rai Due
  Rai 2 is one of the three main television channels broadcast by Italian public television company RAI alongside with Rai 1 and Rai 3. Rai 2 first started transmissions on November 4, 1961...
  
  ) first airs to 52% of the available households in Italy
  Italy
  Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
  
  .
• December 31 – RTÉ
  Raidió Teilifís Éireann
  Raidió Teilifís Éireann is a semi-state company and the public service broadcaster of Ireland. It both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television, radio and the Internet. The radio service began on January 1, 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on December 31, 1961, making...
  
   starts television broadcasts, bringing television to the Republic of Ireland
  Republic of Ireland
  Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
  
   for the first time.
• January 25 – John F. Kennedy
  John F. Kennedy
  John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
  
   holds the first live televised Presidential
  President of the United States
  The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
  
   press conference.
• Danger Man
  Danger Man
  Danger Man is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again between 1964 and 1968. The series featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. Ralph Smart created the program and wrote many of the scripts...
  
  (UK
  United Kingdom
  The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
  
  ) (1960–1961, 1964–1966) is cancelled due to lack of interest from Australian broadcasters. The series would be revived and revamped in 1964.
• May 9 – Newton Minow uncovers a "vast wasteland".
• May 29 – Dave Garroway
  Dave Garroway
  David Cunningham "Dave" Garroway was the founding host of NBC's Today from 1952 to 1961. His easygoing, relaxed, and relaxing style belied a battle with depression that may have contributed to the end of his days as a leading television personality—and, eventually, his life...
  
   announces his decision to leave the Today show.
• November 19 – Lucille Ball
  Lucille Ball
  Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
  
   marries Gary Morton
  Gary Morton
  Gary Morton was the second husband of Lucille Ball. He was a stand-up comedian, whose primary venues were the hotels and resorts of the Borscht Belt in upstate New York.-Relationship with Lucille Ball:...
  
  .
• WBNB brings television to the Virgin Islands
  Virgin Islands
  The Virgin Islands are the western island group of the Leeward Islands, which are the northern part of the Lesser Antilles, which form the border between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean...
  
   for the first time. (It would be destroyed by Hurricane Hugo in 1989.)

Debuts

• January 7 – The Avengers
  The Avengers (TV series)
  The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
  
  premieres on ITV (1961–1969).
• March 17 – Five Star Jubilee
  Five Star Jubilee
  Five Star Jubilee was an American country music variety show carried by NBC-TV from March 17–September 22, 1961. The live program, a spin-off of ABC-TV's Jubilee USA, was the first network color television series to originate outside New York City or Hollywood.From March 17 to May 5, the...
  
  premieres on NBC
• April 29 – ABC's Wide World of Sports debuts (1961–2006).
• August 19 – Four Corners, Australia
  Australia
  Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
  
  's first current affairs program, premieres (1961–present).
• September 9 – The Jo Stafford Show
  The Jo Stafford Show (1961 TV series)
  The Jo Stafford Show is a nine-episode British television programme which aired in the United Kingdom on a fortnightly basis starting 9 September 1961. It was presented by the singer Jo Stafford, who was joined on stage by guests from the world of music and television; each episode was based on a...
  
  premieres on ITV (1961).
• September 17 – Car 54, Where Are You?
  Car 54, Where Are You?
  Car 54, Where Are You? is an American sitcom that ran on NBC from 1961 to 1963. Episodes had various directors, the most recognized being Al De Caprio. Stanley Prager and Nat Hiken also directed several episodes. Most of its filming was on location in The Bronx, and at Biograph...
  
  premieres on NBC (1961–1963).
• September 23 – The Stairlit Starways premieres (1961–1968).
• October 1 - Bus Stop
  Bus Stop (TV series)
  Bus Stop is a 26-episode drama which aired on ABC from October 1, 1961, until March 25, 1962, starring Marilyn Maxwell as Grace Sherwood, the owner of a bus station and diner in the fictitious town of Sunrise in the Colorado Rockies...
  
  premieres on ABC (1961-1962).
• October 2 – Ben Casey
  Ben Casey
  Ben Casey is an American medical drama series which ran on ABC from 1961 to 1966. The show was known for its opening titles, which consisted of a hand drawing the symbols "♂, ♀, *, †, ∞" on a chalkboard, as cast member Sam Jaffe intoned, "Man, woman, birth, death, infinity." Neurosurgeon Joseph...
  
  premieres on ABC (1961–1966). Password debuts on CBS (1961–1967). Robert Young
  Robert Young (actor)
  Robert George Young was an American television, film, and radio actor, best known for his leading roles as Jim Anderson, the father of Father Knows Best and as physician Marcus Welby in Marcus Welby, M.D. .-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Young was the son of an Irish immigrant father...
  
  's short-lived second series, Window on Main Street
  Window on Main Street
  Window on Main Street is an American comedy-drama series starring Robert Young, which aired on CBS during the 1961-1962 season. The series was created by Roswell Rogers and produced by series star Robert Young.-Synopsis:...
  
  debuts on CBS (1961–1962).
• October 3 – The Dick Van Dyke Show
  The Dick Van Dyke Show
  The Dick Van Dyke Show is an American television sitcom that initially aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System from October 3, 1961, until June 1, 1966. The show was created by Carl Reiner and starred Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. It was produced by Reiner with Bill Persky and Sam Denoff....
  
  premieres on CBS (1961–1966).
• October – Songs of Praise
  Songs of Praise
  Songs of Praise is a BBC Television programme based around traditional Christian hymns. It is a widely watched and long-running religious television programme, one of the few peak-time free-to-air religious programmes in Europe Songs of Praise is a BBC Television programme based around traditional...
  
  debuts on BBC (1961–present).

• CTV National News
  CTV National News
  CTV National News is CTV's flagship newscast, which airs at 11:00 p.m. local time on the CTV stations across Canada, and live at 10:00pm ET, with repeats hourly up until 2 a.m. ET on CTV News Channel, CTV's 24-hour cable news television channel, and the previous day's can be seen on the Internet. ...
  
  premieres (1961–present).
• It's Academic
  It's Academic
  It's Academic is a televised academic quiz competition for high school students, currently airing on two NBC affiliates in Washington, D.C. and Central Virginia and one CBS affiliate Baltimore, Maryland . The show has been on the air since October 7, 1961, making it the longest...
  
  (1961–present).
• The Mike Douglas Show
  The Mike Douglas Show
  The Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that aired in syndication from 1961 to 1982, distributed by Westinghouse Broadcasting and for much of its run, originated from studios of two of the company's TV stations.The program featured light banter with...
  
  premieres (1961–1981).
• Mister Ed
  Mister Ed
  Originally produced in late 1960, Mister Ed is an American television situation comedy produced by Filmways that first aired in syndication from January 5 to July 2, 1961, and then on CBS from October 1, 1961, to February 6, 1966....
  
  debuts (1961–1966).
• Reach for the Top
  Reach for the Top
  Reach for the Top is a Canadian game show in which teams of high school students participate in local, provincial and eventually national trivia tournaments...
  
  premieres on CBC (1961–1984).

1940s

• Meet the Press
  Meet the Press
  Meet the Press is a weekly American television news/interview program produced by NBC. It is the longest-running television series in American broadcasting history, despite bearing little resemblance to the original format of the program seen in its television debut on November 6, 1947. It has been...
  
  (1947–present).
• Candid Camera
  Candid Camera
  Candid Camera is a hidden camera/practical joke reality television series created and produced by Allen Funt, which initially began on radio as Candid Microphone June 28, 1947...
  
  (1948–present).
• The Ed Sullivan Show
  The Ed Sullivan Show
  The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
  
  (1948–1971).
• Bozo the Clown
  Bozo the Clown
  Bozo the Clown is a clown character very popular in the United States, peaking in the 1960s as a result of widespread franchising in early television.Originally created by Alan W...
  
  (1949–present).
• Come Dancing
  Come Dancing
  Come Dancing was a BBC TV ballroom dancing competition show that ran on and off from 1949 to 1998, becoming one of television's longest-running shows....
  
  (UK) (1949–1995).
• The Voice of Firestone
  The Voice of Firestone
  The Voice of Firestone, is a long-running radio and television program of classical music. The show featured leading singers in selections from opera and operetta. Originally titled The Firestone Hour, it was first broadcast on the NBC Radio network December 3, 1928 and was later also shown on...
  
  (1949–1963).

1950s

• The Jack Benny Show (1950–1965).
• Truth or Consequences
  Truth or Consequences
  Truth or Consequences is an American quiz show originally hosted on NBC radio by Ralph Edwards and later on television by Edwards , Jack Bailey , Bob Barker , Bob Hilton and Larry Anderson . The television show ran on CBS, NBC and also in syndication...
  
  (1950–1988).
• What's My Line (1950–1967).
• Love of Life
  Love of Life
  Love of Life is an American soap opera which aired on CBS Daytime from September 24, 1951 to February 1, 1980. It was created by Roy Winsor, whose previous creation Search for Tomorrow had premiered three weeks before Love of Life, and who would go on to create The Secret Storm two and a half years...
  
  (1951–1980).
• Search for Tomorrow
  Search for Tomorrow
  Search for Tomorrow is an American soap opera which premiered on September 3, 1951 on CBS. The show was moved from CBS to NBC on March 29, 1982. It continued on NBC until the final episode aired on December 26, 1986, a run of thirty-five years. At the time of its final broadcast it was the...
  
  (1951–1986).
• Hallmark Hall of Fame
  Hallmark Hall of Fame
  Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The second longest-running television program in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2011...
  
  (1951–present).
• American Bandstand
  American Bandstand
  American Bandstand is an American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer...
  
  (1952–1989).
• The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
  The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
  The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet is an American sitcom, airing on ABC from October 3, 1952 to September 3, 1966, starring the real life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television where it continued its success, running on both radio and TV for a couple of years...
  
  (1952–1966).
• The Guiding Light
  Guiding Light
  Guiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
  
  (1952–2009).
• The Today Show (1952–present).
• Panorama
  Panorama (TV series)
  Panorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme, which was first broadcast in 1953, and is the longest-running public affairs television programme in the world. Panorama has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby...
  
  (UK) (1953–present).
• The Good Old Days
  The Good Old Days
  The Good Old Days is a popular BBC television light entertainment programme which ran from 1953 to 1983.It was performed at the Leeds City Varieties and recreated an authentic atmosphere of the Victorian–Edwardian music hall with songs and sketches of the era performed by present-day...
  
  (UK) (1953–1983).
• Face the Nation
  Face the Nation
  Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer is an American Sunday-morning political interview show which premiered on the CBS television network on November 7, 1954. It is one of the longest-running news programs in the history of television...
  
  (1954–present).
• The Brighter Day (1954–1962).
• The Milton Berle Show (1954–1967).
• The Secret Storm
  The Secret Storm
  The Secret Storm is a soap opera which ran on CBS from February 1, 1954 to February 8, 1974. The series was created by Roy Winsor, who also created the long-running soap operas Search for Tomorrow and Love of Life...
  
  (1954–1974).
• The Tonight Show
  The Tonight Show
  The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
  
  (1954–present).
• Zoo Quest
  Zoo Quest
  Zoo Quest was a series of multi-part nature documentaries broadcast on BBC television between 1954 and 1963. It was the first major programme to feature David Attenborough....
  
  (UK) (1954–1964).
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents
  Alfred Hitchcock Presents
  Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades...
  
  (1955–1962).
• Captain Kangaroo
  Captain Kangaroo
  Captain Kangaroo is a children's television series which aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for nearly 30 years, from October 3, 1955 until December 8, 1984, making it the longest-running children's television program of its day...
  
  (1955–1984).
• Cheyenne (1955–1962).
• Dixon of Dock Green
  Dixon of Dock Green
  Dixon of Dock Green was a popular BBC television series that ran from 1955 to 1976, and later a radio series. Despite being a drama series, it was initially produced by the BBC's light entertainment department.-Overview:...
  
  (UK) (1955–1976).
• Gunsmoke
  Gunsmoke
  Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
  
  (1955–1975).
• The Lawrence Welk Show
  The Lawrence Welk Show
  The Lawrence Welk Show is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years , then nationally for another 27 years via the ABC network and first-run syndication .In the years since first-run syndication...
  
  (1955–1982).
• This Is Your Life
  This Is Your Life
  This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
  
  (UK) (1955–2003).
• Armchair Theatre
  Armchair Theatre
  Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series, which ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television after 1968....
  
  (UK) (1956–1968).
• As the World Turns
  As the World Turns
  As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
  
  (1956–2010).
• Hancock's Half Hour
  Hancock's Half Hour
  Hancock's Half Hour was a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy, series of the 1950s and 60s written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock, with Sid James; the radio version also co-starred, at various times, Moira Lister, Andrée Melly, Hattie Jacques, Bill Kerr...
  
  (1956–1962).
• Opportunity Knocks (UK) (1956–1978).
• The Edge of Night
  The Edge of Night
  The Edge of Night is an American television mystery series/soap opera produced by Procter & Gamble. It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that network until November 28, 1975; the series then moved to ABC, where it aired from December 1, 1975, until December 28, 1984...
  
  (1956–1984).
• The Price Is Right (1956–1965).
• What the Papers Say
  What the Papers Say
  What The Papers Say is a BBC radio programme that originally ran for many years on British television.Its first incarnation was the second longest-running programme on British television after Panorama...
  
  (UK) (1956–2008).
• Leave It to Beaver
  Leave It to Beaver
  Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...
  
  (1957–1963).
• The Sky at Night
  The Sky at Night
  The Sky at Night is a monthly documentary television programme on astronomy produced by the BBC. The show has had the same permanent presenter, Sir Patrick Moore, from its first airing on 24 April 1957, making it the longest-running programme with the same presenter in television history.The...
  
  (UK) (1957–present).
• Blue Peter
  Blue Peter
  Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
  
  (UK) (1958–present).
• Grandstand
  Grandstand (BBC)
  Grandstand was a British television sport programme. Broadcast between 1958 and 2007, it was one of the BBC's longest running sports shows, alongside BBC Sports Personality of the Year.Its first presenter was Peter Dimmock...
  
  (UK) (1958–2007).
• The Donna Reed Show
  The Donna Reed Show
  The Donna Reed Show is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the upper middle class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz appears as her pediatrician husband Alex, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children Mary and Jeff. The show originally aired on ABC at 10 pm from September...
  
  (1958–1966).
• The Huckleberry Hound Show
  Huckleberry Hound
  The Huckleberry Hound Show is a 1958 syndicated animated series and the second from Hanna-Barbera following The Ruff & Reddy Show, sponsored by Kellogg's. Three segments were included in the program: one featuring Huckleberry Hound; another starring Yogi Bear and his sidekick Boo Boo; and a third...
  
  (1958–1962).
• Walt Disney Presents (1958–1961) ends on September 17 to resume on September 24 on NBC as Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (1961–1969).
• Bonanza
  Bonanza
  Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
  
  (1959–1973).
• Hawaiian Eye
  Hawaiian Eye
  Hawaiian Eye is an American television series that ran from October 1959 to September 1963 on the American Broadcasting Company television network.-Premise:...
  
  (1959–1963).
• Juke Box Jury
  Juke Box Jury
  Juke Box Jury was a musical panel show which originally ran on BBC Television from 1 June 1959 until December 1967. The programme was based on the American show Jukebox Jury, itself an offshoot of a long-running radio series....
  
  (1959–1967, 1979, 1989–1990).
• The Bell Telephone Hour
  The Bell Telephone Hour
  The Bell Telephone Hour is a long-run concert series which began April 29, 1940 on NBC Radio and was heard on NBC until June 30, 1958. Sponsored by Bell Telephone, it showcased the best in classical and Broadway music, reaching eight to nine million listeners each week. It continued on television...
  
  (1959–1968)
• The Twilight Zone
  The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
  The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
  
  (1959–1964, 1985–1989, 2002–2003).

1960s

• Bringing Up Buddy
  Bringing Up Buddy
  Bringing Up Buddy is a 39-episode situation comedy television series which aired on CBS during the 1960–1961 season. In the story line, Frank Aletter, a native of Queens, New York, plays the orphaned Buddy Flower, a bachelor stockbroker, who is reared by his overprotective and meticulous aunts,...
  
  , 1960–1961
• Coronation Street
  Coronation Street
  Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
  
  (UK) (1960–present).
• Danger Man (UK) (1960–1961, 1964–1966).
• Margie
  Margie (TV series)
  Margie is a television situation comedy starring Cynthia Pepper that was broadcast on ABC from October 12, 1961 to April 12, 1962 in the 9:30 Eastern Thursday time slot, sponsored by Procter & Gamble. The series was adapted from a 1946 film of the same name starring Jeanne Crain.- Plot :The show...
  
  , 1961–1962.
• My Three Sons
  My Three Sons
  My Three Sons is an American situation comedy. The series ran from 1960 to 1965 on ABC, and moved to CBS until its end on August 24, 1972. My Three Sons chronicles the life of a widower and aeronautical engineer named Steven Douglas , raising his three sons.The series was a cornerstone of the CBS...
  
  (1960–1972).
• The Andy Griffith Show
  The Andy Griffith Show
  The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
  
  (1960–1968).
• The Flintstones
  The Flintstones
  The Flintstones is an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that screened from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966, on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones was about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next-door neighbor and best friend. It...
  
  (1960–1966).
• Window on Main Street
  Window on Main Street
  Window on Main Street is an American comedy-drama series starring Robert Young, which aired on CBS during the 1961-1962 season. The series was created by Roswell Rogers and produced by series star Robert Young.-Synopsis:...
  
  (1961–1962).

Ending this year

• September – Peter Gunn
  Peter Gunn
  Peter Gunn is an American private eye television series which aired on the NBC and later ABC television networks from 1958 to 1961. The show's creator was Blake Edwards...
  
  (1958–1961).
• The Army Game
  The Army Game
  The Army Game is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 1957 to 1961. Made in black-and-white, it is about National Service conscription to the post-war British Army. It was created by Sid Colin...
  
  (UK) (1957–1961).
• The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford
  The Ford Show
  The Ford Show is a half-hour comedy/variety program, starring singer and folk humorist Tennessee Ernie Ford, which aired in color on NBC television on Thursday evenings from October 4, 1956 to June 29, 1961....
  
  (1956-1961).
• General Motors Presents
  General Motors Theatre
  General Motors Theatre was a Canadian television anthology series, which ran on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation under its various titles from 1953 until 1961. First transmitted under the sponsored title on October 5 1954, a new 60-minute drama would be presented each week...
  
  (Can) (1953–1956, 1958–1961)
• This Is Your Life (US) (1952–1961).
• Five Star Jubilee
  Five Star Jubilee
  Five Star Jubilee was an American country music variety show carried by NBC-TV from March 17–September 22, 1961. The live program, a spin-off of ABC-TV's Jubilee USA, was the first network color television series to originate outside New York City or Hollywood.From March 17 to May 5, the...
  
  (1961).

Changes of network affiliation

• Walt Disney Presents moves from ABC
  American Broadcasting Company
  The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
  
   to NBC
  NBC
  The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
  
   to take advantage of the latter network's color broadcasting abilities. It is renamed "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.

Births

• January 3 – Judy Flynn
  Judy Flynn
  Judy Flynn is a British actress most notably known for her role as Julie in the sit-com The Brittas Empire.-Filmography:*Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom as Mrs...
  
  , actress.
• January 13 – Julia Louis-Dreyfus
  Julia Louis-Dreyfus
  Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus is an American actress and comedienne, widely known for her sitcom roles in Seinfeld and The New Adventures of Old Christine....
  
  , actress
• January 19 – Paul McCrane
  Paul McCrane
  Paul David McCrane is an American film, television and theatre actor, as well as an occasional television director. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Montgomery MacNeil in the 1980 film Fame and Dr. Robert Romano on the NBC medical drama television series ER.-Early life:McCrane was...
  
  , actor.
• February 2 – Lauren Lane
  Lauren Lane
  Lauren Lane is a television and stage actress. She is best known for her role as C. C. Babcock on The Nanny.-Biography:Lane was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and raised in Texas....
  
  , actress
• February 5 – Tim Meadows, actor.
• February 21 – Christopher Atkins
  Christopher Atkins
  Christopher Atkins is an American actor, who became famous with his costarring debut role in the 1980 film The Blue Lagoon.-Early life:...
  
  , actor.
• February 2 – Trent Lehman
  Trent Lehman
  Trenton Lawson "Trent" Lehman was an American child actor, best known for his role as Butch Everett on Nanny and the Professor...
  
  , actor (d. 1982
  1982 in television
  The year 1982 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1982.For the American TV schedule, see: 1982-83 American network television schedule.-Events:...
  
  )
• March 3 – Mary Page Keller
  Mary Page Keller
  Mary Page Keller is an American actress known for roles on both daytime and primetime television.-Career:On daytime, Keller played the role of Amanda Kirkland on Ryan's Hope and the role of Sally Frame on Another World...
  
  , actress.
• March 4 – Steven Weber
  Steven Weber (actor)
  Steven Robert Weber is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the television show Wings which aired throughout the 1990s on NBC.-Early life:...
  
  , actor.
• March 8 – Camryn Manheim
  Camryn Manheim
  Camryn Manheim is an American actress known primarily for her roles as attorney Ellenor Frutt on ABC's The Practice and Delia Banks on CBS's Ghost Whisperer and as Elvis's mother, Gladys Presley in the 2005 mini-series Elvis....
  
  , actress.
• March 17 – Casey Siemaszko
  Casey Siemaszko
  Casey Siemaszko is an American actor and the brother of actress Nina Siemaszko. He was born in Chicago, Illinois on March 17, 1961 to a Polish American father, a fighter in the Polish Underground who survived the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and an English mother.Siemaszko's best known film...
  
  , actor.
• March 18 – Geoffrey Owens
  Geoffrey Owens
  Geoffrey Owens is an American actor. He currently teaches an acting class at HB Studio in New York City.-Roles:...
  
  , actor.
• April 3 – Eddie Murphy
  Eddie Murphy
  Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, and musician....
  
  , actor, comedian.
• April 6 – Gene Eugene Andrusco
  Gene Eugene
  Gene "Eugene" Andrusco was a Canadian born actor, record producer, engineer, composer and musician. Andrusco was best known as the leader of the funk/rock band Adam Again, a member of The Swirling Eddies and as a founding member of the roots music supergroup Lost Dogs.-Acting:Andrusco was a child...
  
  , actor, lead singer of Adam Again
  Adam Again
  Adam Again was a rock band founded and led by vocalist Gene Eugene, with Riki Michele on vocals, Paul Valadez on bass, Jon Knox on drums, Greg Lawless on guitar...
  
   (d. 2000)
• April 18 – Jane Leeves
  Jane Leeves
  Jane Leeves is an English film, stage, and television actress, comedienne and dancer.Leeves made her screen debut with a small role in the 1983 popular British comedy television show The Benny Hill Show. Leeves moved to the United States, where she performed in small roles until she secured a...
  
  , actress.
• April 21 – Nicholas Lyndhurst
  Nicholas Lyndhurst
  Nicholas Simon Lyndhurst is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Rodney Trotter in Only Fools and Horses, Gary Sparrow in Goodnight Sweetheart, and as Adam Parkinson in Carla Lane's series Butterflies...
  
  , actor
• April 23 – George Lopez
  George Lopez
  George Lopez is an American comedian, actor, and talk show host. He is mostly known for starring in his self-produced ABC sitcom George Lopez. His stand-up comedy examines race and ethnic relations, including the Mexican American culture...
  
  , comedian.
• April 30 – Isiah Thomas
  Isiah Thomas
  Isiah Lord Thomas III , nicknamed "Zeke",is the men's basketball coach for the FIU Golden Panthers, and a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association from 1981 until 1994. He led the "Bad Boys" to the NBA...
  
  , former basketball player and coach.
• May 6 – George Clooney
  George Clooney
  George Timothy Clooney is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award...
  
  , actor.
• May 12 – Lar Park Lincoln
  Lar Park Lincoln
  Lar Park Lincoln is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles in the 1987 film House II: The Second Story as Kate, and in the 1988 horror film Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood as Tina Shepard.-Biography:...
  
  , actress
• May 29 – Melissa Etheridge
  Melissa Etheridge
  Melissa Lou Etheridge is an American rock singer-songwriter and musician.Etheridge is known for her mixture of confessional lyrics, pop-based folk-rock, and raspy, smoky vocals...
  
  , singer
• May 30 – Ralph Carter
  Ralph Carter
  Ralph Carter is an American actor, and singerCarter is best known for his work as a child and teenager, both in the Broadway musical Raisin and as the character Michael Evans, the youngest member of the Evans family, on the 1970s sitcom Good Times...
  
  , actor.
• May 31 – Lea Thompson
  Lea Thompson
  Lea Katherine Thompson is an American actress and director. She is best known for her 1990s NBC situation comedy Caroline in the City and her portrayal of Lorraine Baines McFly, Marty McFly's mother, in the Back to the Future trilogy...
  
  , actress.
• June 9 – Michael J. Fox
  Michael J. Fox
  Michael J. Fox, OC is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy ; Alex P...
  
  , actor
• June 25 – Ricky Gervais
  Ricky Gervais
  Ricky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, director, radio presenter, producer, musician, and writer.Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator...
  
  , actor, comedian.
• June 29 – Sharon Lawrence
  Sharon Lawrence
  Sharon Elizabeth Lawrence is an American television actress. She is best known for the role of Sylvia Costas Sipowicz in the Television series NYPD Blue...
  
  , actress.
• July 23 – Woody Harrelson
  Woody Harrelson
  Woodrow Tracy "Woody" Harrelson is an American actor.Harrelson's breakthrough role came in the television sitcom Cheers as bartender Woody Boyd...
  
  , actor.
• July 27 – Gabrielle Glaister
  Gabrielle Glaister
  Gabrielle Glaister is an English actress.-Early life:She was a school friend of Ben Elton at Godalming Grammar School on Tuesley Lane in Godalming, Surrey; Glaister was in the year below Elton...
  
  , actress
• August 4 – Lauren Tom
  Lauren Tom
  Lauren Tom is an American actress and voice actress perhaps best known for her roles as Lena St Clair in The Joy Luck Club, Julie in the TV series Friends, and for providing the voices for both mother and daughter characters on two animated TV comedy series: on Futurama she voices Amy Wong and her...
  
  , actress.
• August 13 – Dawnn Lewis
  Dawnn Lewis
  Dawnn Lewis is an American actress and singer, perhaps best known for her roles on sitcoms such as A Different World and in the first season of Hangin' with Mr. Cooper.-Career:...
  
  , actress.
• August 14 – Susan Olsen
  Susan Olsen
  Susan Marie Olsen is a former American child television actress and current animal welfare advocate. Olsen is best known for her role as Mike and Carol Brady's youngest daughter, Cindy Brady, on the 1970s television sitcom The Brady Bunch for the full run of the show, from 1969-1974.-Early...
  
  , actress.
• September 15 – Dan Marino
  Dan Marino
  Daniel Constantine "Dan" Marino, Jr. is a retired American football quarterback who played for the Miami Dolphins in the National Football League...
  
  , football player.
• September 22 – Scott Baio
  Scott Baio
  Scott Vincent James Baio is an American actor and television director, best known for his roles as Chachi Arcola on the sitcom Happy Days and its spin-off, Joanie Loves Chachi, and as the title character on the sitcom Charles in Charge....
  
  , actor.
• September 23 – Chi McBride
  Chi McBride
  Kenneth "Chi" McBride is an American actor. He starred as Steven Harper on the series Boston Public, as Emerson Cod on Pushing Daisies, and recently appeared in Fox's drama Human Target.-Early life:...
  
  , actor.
• September 25 – Heather Locklear
  Heather Locklear
  Heather Deen Locklear is an American actress best known for her television roles as Sammy Jo Carrington on Dynasty, Officer Stacy Sheridan on T.J...
  
  , actor.
• September 30 – Crystal Bernard
  Crystal Bernard
  Crystal Lynn Bernard is an American actress and singer, most widely known for her seven-year-long role on the situation comedy Wings. While her main work has been on television, she has appeared in some films, and also attempted to pursue a music career as a songwriter/performer.-Early...
  
  , actress.
• October 4 – David W. Harper
  David W. Harper
  David William Harper is an American actor.Harper is most noted for the role of Jim Bob Walton, which he first portrayed in the 1971 movie The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, and subsequently in the series The Waltons...
  
  , actor.
• November 3 – Kari Michaelsen
  Kari Michaelsen
  Kari Michaelsen is an American actress. She is most associated with the role she played from 1981 to 1986 as Katie Kanisky on the television sitcom Gimme a Break!....
  
  , actress
• November 4 – Jeff Probst
  Jeff Probst
  Jeffrey Lee "Jeff" Probst is an American game show host, executive producer and a reporter. He is best known as the host of the U.S. version of the reality show Survivor.-Biography:...
  
  , emcee.
• December 30 – Sean Hannity
  Sean Hannity
  Sean Hannity is an American radio and television host, author, and conservative political commentator. He is the host of The Sean Hannity Show, a nationally syndicated talk radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks. Hannity also hosts a cable news show, Hannity,...
  
  , talk show host.

Deaths

• February 2 – Anna May Wong
  Anna May Wong
  Anna May Wong was an American actress, the first Chinese American movie star, and the first Asian American to become an international star...
  
  , 56, American actress
• February 17 – Nita Naldi, 63, American actress
• March 6 – George Formby, 56, British actor, entertainer
• March 12 – Belinda Lee
  Belinda Lee
  Belinda Lee was an English actress.Born in Budleigh Salterton, England, Lee was signed to a film contract in 1954 by the Rank Studios after being seen performing as a student of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art...
  
  , 25, British actress
• May 4 – Anita Stewart
  Anita Stewart
  Anita Stewart was an American actress and film producer of the early silent film era.-Early life and career:...
  
  , 66, American actress
• May 13 – Gary Cooper
  Gary Cooper
  Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
  
  , 60, American actor
• May 22 – Joan Davis
  Joan Davis
  Joan Davis was an American comedic actress whose career spanned vaudeville, film, radio and television. Remembered best for the 1950s television comedy, I Married Joan, Davis had a successful earlier career as a B-movie actress and a leading star of 1940s radio comedy.Born as Madonna Josephine...
  
  , 53, American actress
• June 17 – Jeff Chandler
  Jeff Chandler (actor)
  Jeff Chandler was an American film actor and singer in the 1950s.-Early life:Chandler was born Ira Grossel to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, the only child of Anna and Phillip Grossel. He attended Erasmus Hall High School, the alma mater of many stage and film personalities...
  
  , 42, American actor
• August 4 – Maurice Tourneur
  Maurice Tourneur
  Maurice Tourneur was an important international film director and screenwriter.-Life:Born Maurice Thomas in the Belleville district of Paris, France, his father was a jeweler. As a young man, Maurice Thomas first trained as a graphic designer and a magazine illustrator but was soon drawn to the...
  
  , 88, French film director
• August 27 – Gail Russell
  Gail Russell
  Gail Russell was an American film and television actress.-Career:She was born Elizabeth L. Russell to George and Gladys Russell in Chicago, Illinois, and then moved to the Los Angeles, California, area when she was a teenager. Russell's extraordinary beauty brought her to the attention of...
  
  , 36, American actress
• August 30 – Charles Coburn
  Charles Coburn
  Charles Douville Coburn was an American film and theater actor.-Biography:Coburn was born in Macon, Georgia, the son of Scots-Irish Americans Emma Louise Sprigman and Moses Douville Coburn. Growing up in Savannah, he started out doing odd jobs at the local Savannah Theater, handing out programs,...
  
  , 84, American actor
• September 10 – Leo Carrillo
  Leo Carrillo
  Leopoldo Antonio Carrillo , was an American actor, vaudevillian, political cartoonist, and conservationist.-Family roots:...
  
  , 81, American actor
• September 22 – Marion Davies
  Marion Davies
  Marion Davies was an American film actress. Davies is best remembered for her relationship with newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, as her high-profile social life often obscured her professional career....
  
  , 64, American actress
• October 11 – Chico Marx
  Chico Marx
  Leonard "Chico" Marx was an American comedian and film star as part of the Marx Brothers. His persona in the act was that of a dim-witted albeit crafty con artist, seemingly of rural Italian origin, who wore shabby clothes, and sported a curly-haired wig and Tyrolean hat.As the first-born of the...
  
  , 74, American actor, member of the Marx Brothers
  Marx Brothers
  The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
  
  
• October 18 – Tsuru Aoki
  Tsuru Aoki
  was a popular Japanese-American stage and screen actress whose career was most prolific during the silent film era of the 1910s through the 1920s. Aoki may have been the first Asian actress to garner top-billing in American motion pictures.-Life and career:...
  
  , 69, Japanese-born American actress
• October 22 – Joseph Schenck
  Joseph Schenck
  Joseph Michael Schenck was a pioneer executive who played a key role in the development of the United States film industry.Born in Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia to a Jewish household, he and his family-including younger brother Nicholas- emigrated to New York City in 1893, he and Nicholas...
  
  , 82, Russian-born American pioneer motion picture executive
• November 15 – Elsie Ferguson
  Elsie Ferguson
  Elsie Louise Ferguson was an American stage and film actress.-Early life:Born in New York City, Elsie Ferguson was the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Hiram Benson Ferguson, a successful attorney...
  
  , 78, American stage and film actress
• November 24 – Ruth Chatterton
  Ruth Chatterton
  Ruth Chatterton was an American actress, novelist, and early aviatrix.- Early life :Chatterton was born in New York City, on Christmas Eve 1892, to Walter Smith and Lillian Reed Chatterton...
  
  , 67, American actress