M*A*S*H actress Loretta Swit snagged the role of the haughty, by-the-book chief nurse, Major Margaret (Hot Lips) Houlihan for the TV series, and made it all her own.
television
Larry Hagman has a juicy, lip-smacking role, and he plays it to campy perfection. His J.R. Ewing on Dallas is rotten to the core. If he had a redeeming feature, he’d probably swap it for cash.
Few people thought Bonanza would last long, but the mythical Ponderosa, the larger-than-life inhabitants and the horseback morality plays will glow on tubes around the world for years to come.
Magnum PI, an ’80s adventure-crime drama set in Hawaii, turned Tom Selleck from an in-demand male model into a full-fledged TV actor. Here’s how it happened, and more about the show!
After moving to a new house, a man named Wilbur finds the previous owner left behind a horse. It’s Mister Ed, a talking horse! But Ed will talk only to Wilbur, meaning confusion and hijinks soon ensue.
For 7 seasons, the original Fantasy Island TV show featured Ricardo Montalban as the mysterious Mr Roarke, the overseer of a mystical island where people could live out their fantasies,
The Twist was one of the first big dance crazes, and dozens of artists recorded copycat songs. But there was a question: Is The Twist immoral? Religious leaders weighed in.
Gilligan’s Island was the hit sitcom that ran for a total of 98 episodes over three seasons – from 1964 to 1967. Find out more about the show and sing along to the theme song here!
Each episode of Adam-12 portrayed a day in the life of an LAPD ‘policeman’ as realistically as possible, with officers Malloy and Reed facing the tragic and amusing events of life in a big city.
Featuring stars like Morgan Freeman and Rita Moreno, ‘The Electric Company’ was a fab ’70s TV show for kids too old for Sesame Street. With lots of humor and music, this troupe made reading fun.
When Dr Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! originally aired in December 1966 no one expected the cartoon to become a part of American pop culture legend.
Eight Is Enough premiered on March 15, 1977, and ran for five seasons before wrapping up in August of 1981. Starring Dick Van Patten, the show focused on Tom Bradford and his eight children.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show stars Mary in the role of Mary Richards, a small-town single girl who moves to the big city and lands a job as associate producer of a news program on a local TV station.
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was innovative Saturday morning TV with a message for kids (1972-1985)
In the ’70s & ’80s, many parents didn’t mind Saturday mornings at home with the kids. One reason was “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids,” one of the best examples of how television had improved for children.
Leave it to the kids if you want an honest opinion of TV’s effect on family life (1955) by Jack Cluett – June 1955 When
The Addams Family TV series portrayed the everyday life of one kooky and spooky family. Although the show had a huge impact on pop culture, it only ran for two seasons – from 1964 to 1966. Meet the cast and hear the snappy theme here!
In the popular ’80s sitcom Silver Spoons, a child-like millionaire meets the son he never knew – and that kid (Ricky Schroder) teaches his newfound dad how to be a grown-up.
MTV, a ’round-the-clock television channel for viewers who grew up on rock ‘n’ roll, started with a library of 400 80s music videos, and went on to delight millions of viewers.
In the mid-80s, Dallas actress Linda Gray & Ed Thrasher had an open, informal ranch house north of Los Angeles – complete with a dog, two horses, three cats, and five adopted peacocks.
‘The Greatest American Hero’ swooped in to save America with laughs – and a catchy theme song (1981)
On the ’80s TV show The Greatest American Hero, an average guy got a suit that gave him superpowers… but then he loses the instruction book. Believe it or not, the show was a hit.
After ‘That Girl’ proved a comedy success for the actress who played the title role, TV executives suggested the series be called ‘The Marlo Thomas Show.’
For nearly 30 years, Captain Kangaroo said good morning to kids across the country. Here, meet Bob Keeshan, the man behind the beloved character!
‘The Cosby Show’ enters millions of American living rooms precisely because it so well mirrors those living rooms. Sure, the Huxtable family is funnier, wealthier and more idealized than most.
Find out about the classic TV sitcom Rhoda, and meet the star, Valerie Harper, in two different vintage interviews!
It would be hard to find anyone between the ages of 30 and 50 who didn’t watch Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood as a kid. And there’s a good reason for that.
Do you remember these groovy TV catchphrases of the ’70s? Are there any that you still find yourself saying every now and then?
Remember the old Palmolive dish soap ads, featuring Madge the Manicurist (actress Jan Miner), who was always telling women how terrible their hands looked?
After a long day on the set, actress Linda Evans rushes home to her 15-room haven in Beverly Hills. Here’s a look at her beautiful house from 1982!
I am at loss for the proper word to use to describe what television has done with Haley’s book Roots. “Enhance” will not do, nor is “heightened” sufficient. There is no word that is adequate.
Get a blast from the past with this 1978 article about the popular TV sitcom, “What’s Happening!!”, which soared past expectations and entertained millions.
Maude was a groundbreaking television series starring Bea Arthur that broke all the molds when it first aired in 1972.
The popular and highly-acclaimed ‘Little House on the Prairie’ TV series was based on the beloved books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, about the pioneer days.
In animated segments between Saturday morning cartoon shows, Schoolhouse Rock was on TV from 1973-1985. Here’s a Grammar Rock classic, Verb: That’s What’s Happenin’!
Maybe she’s no little darling on the set, but then Kristy McNichol never intended to be America’s sweetheart. All she wants is to work hard — and play hard.
By the time A Game of Thrones was published, George R R Martin had written millions of words over thousands of hours. Here, see where his long career began.
The Flintstones TV cartoon sitcom ran for 6 seasons in the ’60s. Find out how the story began, plus see the opening credits & the catchy theme song lyrics!
If you’re in the mood to get some laughs from a physical comedian with brilliant timing & improv skills, see these videos starring the late, great Tim Conway!
A Date with Jet Screamer was the second episode of The Jetsons, and portrayed the era’s affection for rock ‘n’ roll music, and introduced the earworm, Eep Opp Ork Ah Ah.
Take a look back at ABC television’s family-friendly Friday night offerings back in 1970, which included the hit sitcoms Brady Bunch, Nanny and the Professor & The Partridge Family… and total of 14 kids between the shows.
The early-70s TV sitcom ‘Nanny and the Professor’ starred Juliet Mills, Richard Long, and a very young Kim Richards – best known now for The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
Here’s one of the most unforgettable songs from Schoolhouse Rock: Conjunction Junction. One of the first in the “Grammar Rock” series, it made its debut on televisions nationwide in 1973.
Although the story below was the topic of the 1994 made-for-TV movies Death of a Cheerleader/A Friend to Die For, this story has personal meaning, because I was another teen girl at the same school.
For six years, the NBC series St Elsewhere literally set the standard for network programming, offering a consistently high level of realistic writing, ensemble acting, narrative experimentation and outrageous humor.
This TV movie debuted in 1973, and played occasionally in reruns at least until the 1980s. The Incredible, Indelible, Magical, Physical, Mystery Trip: Musical fantasy
Take a look back at one of America’s favorite comedic couples in this article with Lucy’s byline from April 1950. The focus of her story? Her favorite husband at the time: Desi Arnaz.
See a collection of newspaper clippings immediately after the murder of Kirsten Costas, chroniciling the immediate news reports about the crime and the community’s shock, and some of the police work involved in the effort to find the killer.
The top-rated TV show, I Love Lucy, ran from 1951 to 1957 – around the time these magazines with Lucille Ball on the cover were published.
The alert Watergate TV addict should have spotted it by now: a catchy word here, a switchable phrase there. Here’s a look at the linguistic splendors of Watergate.
Can you guess what was the #1 evening pastime according to nearly half of the people interviewed in a 1974 Gallup survey?
Forever Krystle & Carrington were his and hers fragrances created to capitalize on the popularity of the TV show Dynasty.
This widely-beloved cartoon music video for ‘I’m Just A Bill’ came out in 1975 as part of Schoolhouse Rock, a memorable series of animated shorts that ran with the Saturday morning cartoons.
Michael Landon’s ‘Big House in Beverly Hills’ is a far cry from the ‘Little House on the Prairie’ featured in his hit TV series.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the 1985 TV season is the success of ABC’s “Growing Pains,” a family sitcom starring former talk-show host Alan Thicke as psychiatrist Jason Seaver.
Playing off the popularity of the traveling exhibit of the Treasures of Tutankhamen, actor and comedian Steve Martin debuted his parody song ‘King Tut’ on an episode of Saturday Night Live in the spring of 1978.
Bewitched ‘is for viewers who want to have the fun of losing themselves in fantasy. Our witches, Samantha and Endora, are believable. The audience can identify with them. They are treated as much as possible as humans with special gifts.’
Jerry Mathers and Tony Dow grew up in somewhat of a fairytale world on television’s ‘Leave It to Beaver.’ 20 years later, in 1977, both actors talked about what it was like to be childhood stars who had to grow up and cope with the adult world.
Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, with their progeny David and Rick, are synonymous with the American family image both on and off television. The Nelson boys are perhaps the only people who have literally grown up before the eyes of millions of weekly viewers.
Do you remember these classic TV catchphrases of the ’60s — and are there any that you still find yourself saying sometimes?
Opulent enough even for fashionable Linda Gray – Dallas’ superspender Sue Ellen Ewing – she models these high-style silk dresses were stylish in the eighties.
In 1976, Kojak actor Telly Savalas took a little time out to pose for a few ads for Gillette razor blades. Here’s how it went, baby.
On The Andy Griffith Show in 1964, Nabors let loose with his deep natural voice, and stunned America. Here’s Gomer Pyle astonishing the citizens of Mayberry with his voice.
Explore the rise of vintage video games in the 1970s and their impact on home entertainment!
Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood a television show aimed at preschoolers, debuted in the US on February 19, 1968, and original episodes aired until August 31, 2001.
Johnny Carson is a slender, good-looking looking man with an uptilted nose and a casual comedy manner. When his Thursday night CBS show first premiered, here’s what happened.
Dick Clark’s career — from American Bandstand to New Year’s Rockin’ Eve — helped shape American music and television. See his vintage This Is Your Life segment and his lasting impact.
Darling, do you know what 500 women said they like a man to do? (1965) We made this research, darling… that’s what you call it
How to enjoy your GE Porta-Color Television receiver (1967) Introduction Because of the outstanding engineering developments and manufacturing skill of General Electric, you may be assured that
