1954 in television
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The year 1954 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events in 1954.
Events[]
- January 1 – NBC broadcasts the Rose Parade from Pasadena, California in NTSC color. The broadcast uses a new mobile color TV studio (truck) and the program is carried across the continent on 21 stations. RCA strategically places Color TV sets in public viewing areas such as hotel lobbies because the first sets only become available to the public in the spring.
- January 3 – RAI launched in Italy.
- January 10 – CBMT opens in Montreal, making that city the first in Canada to have 2 stations operating. The new station uses the English language, leaving CBFT to continue entirely in French.
- January 11 – The first weather forecast with an in-vision presenter is televised in the UK.
- March 28 – WKAQ-TV became the first television station in Puerto Rico.
- April – The American Broadcasting Company broadcasts the Army-McCarthy hearings live and in their entirety.
- May 1 – WAPA-TV becomes the second television station in Puerto Rico.
- May 17–23 – One week (the so-called "Sandrewsveckan" or "Sandrews week") of experimental television broadcasts are aired in Sweden, the first such programs in the country.
- June 5 – The last new episode of the comic variety program, Your Show of Shows, airs.
- June 13 – Canal Nacional, predecessor of Canal 1, launched as the first Colombian television station.
- July 5 – First actual news bulletin, News and Newsreel, aired on BBC Television, replacing Television Newsreel.
- September 11 – The Miss America Beauty Contest airs for the first time on national television in the United States. 27 million viewers watched as Lee Ann Meriwether wins the title. Meriwether would later become a television actress, co-starring in Barnaby Jones (1973–1980).
- October 2 – premieres on NBC (1954–1956).
- October 29 – Sveriges Radio begins broadcasting TV in Sweden and apart from news and a weather forecast, the first Swedish TV programme is "En skål för televisionen" ("A Toast to Television") led by Lennart Hyland. For the first few months (until spring 1955), Swedish TV is broadcast one evening a week and for about an hour each time.
- November 3 – Disney's Alice in Wonderland airs on ABC in the United States.
- November 19 – TMC Monte Carlo launched in Monaco, the first microstate television
- December 12 – BBC Television broadcasts its famous, and controversial, adaptation of George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.[1]
- The Television Act 1954 authorises setting up the infrastructure for British commercial television.
- The British Academy Television Awards, the most prestigious awards of the British television industry, are first awarded.
- The RCA CT-100 and Westinghouse 15" color sets hit the market. Neither are big sellers.
Programs/programmes[]
Series on the air in 1954[]
- Adventures of Superman (1952–1958)
- American Bandstand (1952–1989)
- Bozo the Clown (1949–present)
- Buick-Berle Show (1953–1954); the show was renamed The Milton Berle Show (1954–1967) this year
- Candid Camera (1948–present)
- Cisco Kid (1950–1956)
- The Colgate Comedy Hour (1950-1955)
- Come Dancing (UK) (1949–1995)
- Death Valley Days (1952–1975)
- Dragnet (1951–1959)
- General Motors Theatre (Can) (1953–1956, 1958–1961)
- Gillette Cavalcade of Sports (1946–1960)
- Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951–present)
- Hawkins Falls (1950, 1951–1955)
- Hockey Night in Canada (1952–present)
- Howdy Doody (1947–1960)
- I Love Lucy (1951–1960)
- Kraft Television Theater (1947–1958)
- Kukla, Fran and Ollie (1947–1957)
- Life is Worth Living (1952–1957)
- Life with Elizabeth (1952–1955)
- Love of Life (1951–1980)
- Meet the Press (1947–present)
- Muffin the Mule (1946–1955)[2]
- My Little Margie (1952–1955)
- Our Miss Brooks (1952-1956)
- Panorama (UK) (1953–present)
- Search for Tomorrow (1951–1986)
- The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952–1966)
- The Betty White Show (1954)
- The Colgate Comedy Hour (1950-1955)
- The Ed Sullivan Show (1948–1971)[3]
- The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950–1958)
- The Goldbergs (1949–1955)
- The Good Old Days (UK) (1953–1983)
- The Guiding Light (1952–2009)
- The Jack Benny Program (1950–1965)
- The Roy Rogers Show (1951–1957)
- The Today Show (1952–present)
- The Voice of Firestone (1949–1963)
- This Is Your Life (US) (1952–1961)
- Truth or Consequences (1950–1988)
- What's My Line (1950–1967)
- Where's Raymond? or The Ray Bolger Show (1953–1955)
- Your Hit Parade (1950–1959)
Debuts[]
- January 1 – Annie Oakley (1954–1957)
- January 4 – The Brighter Day (1954–1962)
- January 23 – Stories of the Century (1954–1955)
- February 1 - The Secret Storm (1954–1974)
- March 11 – on CBS (1954–1955)
- April 2 – The Grove Family, on BBC Television (1954–1957); generally considered the first British TV soap opera
- April 8 – on NBC (1954–1956)
- April 18 – The Martha Wright Show on ABC
- April 26 – on NBC
- July 5 - Concerning Miss Marlowe on NBC.
- July 16 - The Best in Mystery on NBC. (1954)
- August 5 – So You Want to Lead a Band on ABC (1954–1955)
- August 28 – on NBC (1954–1955)
- September 7
- Stop the Music premiered for the second time on ABC after a two-year hiatus
- It's a Great Life on NBC (1954–1956)
- September 10 – Dear Phoebe on NBC (1954–1955)
- September 12 – Lassie on CBS (1954–1973)
- September 18 – Willy on CBS (1954–1955)
- September 27 – The Tonight Show on the NBC (1954–present)
- October 2
- on NBC (1954–1955)
- on NBC (1954–1956)
- October 3 - Father Knows Best on CBS (1954-60)
- October 5 - The Elgin Hour on ABC (1954-1955)
- October 7 – The Mail Story, subtitled Handle with Care, on ABC (1954)
- October 14 – Flash Gordon (1954–1955), starring Steve Holland
- October 15 – The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin on ABC (1954–1959)
- October 21 – The CBS anthology series, Climax! (1954–1958) airs an adaptation of Ian Fleming's novel, Casino Royale, starring Barry Nelson as an Americanized version of spy James Bond; the first dramatic adaptation of a Bond novel
- October 22 - The Jack Carson Show on NBC (1954-1955)
- October 27 – The Walt Disney anthology series debuts as Disneyland (1954–present; as Disneyland 1954–1958)
- November 13 – Fabian of the Yard, the first British TV police procedural, debuts on BBC (1954–1956)
- December 21 – Zoo Quest on BBC Television (1954–1964)
- Face the Nation on CBS (1954–present)
- The Jo Stafford Show, a 15-minute primetime variety series, on CBS (1954–1955)
- The National premieres as The National News on CBC (1954–present)
- That's My Boy on CBS
Ending this year[]
Date | Show | Debut |
---|---|---|
January 11 | Of Many Things | 1953 |
February 5 | ||
February 24 | Answers for Americans | |
March 9 | This Is Show Business | 1949 |
March 28 | 1953 | |
May 11 | ||
June 5 | Your Show of Shows | 1950 |
June 17 | Martin Kane, Private Eye | 1949 |
July 2 | 1953 | |
Television Newsreel (UK) | 1948 | |
August 1 | Juvenile Jury | 1947 |
August 2 | 1953 | |
August 21 | Bank on the Stars | |
September 3 | The Best in Mystery | 1954 |
October 3 | The Man Behind the Badge | 1953 |
October 10 | Author Meets the Critics | 1947 |
November 20 | The Paul Winchell Show | 1950 |
December 5 | The Martha Wright Show | 1954 |
December 26 | Rocky King Detective | 1950 |
December 30 | The Mail Story | 1947 |
December 31 | The Betty White Show | 1952 |
Births[]
Date | Name | Notability |
---|---|---|
January 2 | Cynthia Sikes | Actress (St. Elsewhere) |
January 12 | Howard Stern | Radio and TV personality (America's Got Talent) |
January 14 | Vernee Watson-Johnson | Actress (Welcome Back, Kotter, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) |
January 19 | Katey Sagal | Actress and singer (Married... with Children, Futurama, Sons of Anarchy) |
January 27 | Ed Schultz | Talk show host and sportscaster |
January 29 | Oprah Winfrey | Actress and talk-show host (The Oprah Winfrey Show) |
William Allen Young | Actor (Moesha) | |
February 1 | Bill Mumy | Actor and musician (Lost in Space) |
February 2 | Christie Brinkley | Model and actress |
February 6 | David Hart | Actor (In the Heat of the Night) |
February 15 | Matt Groening | Creator of The Simpsons and Futurama |
February 17 | Rene Russo | Actress |
February 18 | John Travolta | Actor (Welcome Back, Kotter) |
February 20 | Anthony Head | English actor (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) |
March 1 | Catherine Bach | Actress (Daisy Duke on The Dukes of Hazzard) |
Ron Howard | Actor (Opie Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show, Richie Cunningham on Happy Days) and director | |
March 5 | Marsha Warfield | Actress and comedian (Night Court) |
Marla Pennington | Actress (Small Wonder) | |
March 13 | Robin Duke | Canadian actress and comedian (Saturday Night Live) |
March 14 | Adrian Zmed | Actor (T.J. Hooker) |
March 15 | Craig Wasson | Actor (One Life to Live) |
March 17 | Lesley-Anne Down | Actress (The Bold and the Beautiful) |
March 24 | Donna Pescow | Actress and director (Out of This World, Even Stevens) |
Robert Carradine | Actor (Lizzie McGuire) | |
March 29 | Dianne Kay | Actress (Eight is Enough) |
April 10 | Peter MacNicol | Actor (Chicago Hope, Ally McBeal, Numb3rs) |
April 21 | James Morrison | Actor (24) |
April 28 | John Pankow | Actor (Mad About You, Episodes) |
April 29 | Jerry Seinfeld | Actor and comedian (Seinfeld) |
April 30 | Thom Bray | Actor (Riptide) |
June 2 | Dennis Haysbert | Actor (24, The Unit) |
June 5 | Nancy Stafford | Actress (Matlock) |
June 12 | Ella Joyce | Actress (Roc) |
June 15 | James Belushi | Actor (According to Jim) |
June 17 | Mark Linn-Baker | Actor (Larry Appleton on Perfect Strangers) |
June 22 | Chris Lemmon | Actor (Duet) |
Freddie Prinze | Actor and comedian (Chico and the Man) (d. 1977) | |
June 24 | Richard Newman | Voice actor |
June 28 | Alice Krige | Actress |
July 2 | Wendy Schaal | Actress (It's a Living, American Dad!) |
July 5 | Don Stark | Actor (That '70s Show) |
July 13 | Danitra Vance | Actress and comedian (Saturday Night Live) (d. 1994) |
July 29 | Jeannetta Arnette | Actress (Head of the Class) |
July 30 | Ken Olin | Actor, director and producer (thirtysomething, Brothers & Sisters) |
August 12 | Sam J. Jones | Actor |
August 23 | Marc Vann | Actor (Early Edition, Angel, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation) |
September 4 | Tyler Mathisen | Television presenter |
September 7 | Corbin Bernsen | Actor and director (L.A. Law, Psych) |
Michael Emerson | Actor (Lost, Person of Interest) | |
September 8 | Anne Diamond | Television presenter (The Wright Stuff) |
September 10 | Clark Johnson | Actor (Homicide: Life on the Street, The Wire) |
September 21 | John Mengatti | Actor (The White Shadow) |
September 22 | Shari Belafonte | Actress (Hotel), daughter of Harry Belafonte |
September 30 | Barry Williams | Actor (The Brady Bunch) |
October 9 | Scott Bakula | Actor (Quantum Leap, Star Trek: Enterprise, NCIS: New Orleans) |
October 24 | Doug Davidson | Actor (The Young and the Restless) |
October 26 | D. W. Moffett | Actor (For Your Love, Friday Night Lights, Switched at Birth) |
James Pickens, Jr. | Actor (The X-Files, Grey's Anatomy) | |
October 31 | Ken Wahl | Actor (Wiseguy) |
November 3 | Kathy Kinney | Actress and comedian (The Drew Carrey Show) |
November 12 | Rhonda Shear | TV personality, actress |
November 13 | Chris Noth | Actor (Law & Order, Sex and the City, The Good Wife) |
November 26 | Yvonne Hudson | Actress (Saturday Night Live) |
November 27 | Patricia McPherson | Actress (Knight Rider) |
Kimmy Robertson | Actress (Twin Peaks) | |
November 28 | Marty Grabstein | Actor (Courage the Cowardly Dog) |
December 2 | Dan Butler | Actor (Frasier, Hey Arnold!) |
December 4 | Tony Todd | Actor and producer |
December 20 | Michael Badalucco | Actor (The Practice) |
December 26 | Tony Rosato | Actor (Saturday Night Live, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World) (d. 2017) |
December 28 | Denzel Washington | Actor (St. Elsewhere) |
Deaths[]
Date | Name | Age | Notability |
---|---|---|---|
September 28 | Bert Lytell | 69 | Actor (One Man's Family, 1949–52, 1954) |
References[]
- ^ "George Orwell's 1984 broadcast". bbc.com. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
- ^ "TV star Muffin the Mule turns 60". BBC News. 30 October 2006. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
- ^ "How Ed Sullivan Brought Culture To America". NPR.org. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
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- 1954 in television