Classic Clips Online

Here’s what you can expect weekly at www.theboomermagazine.com

February 8th: Current Week - click cameras above or links below to view videos

2009

• CASTLE
  Comedy, drama and romantic tension blended in this series about Richard Castle, a popular mystery writer who falls in love with determined detective Kate Beckett.
• LIE TO ME
  Dr. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) and his colleagues at The Lightman Group applied psychiatry, body language and their own Facial Action Coding System to solve difficult cases.
• THE BEAST
  The crime drama starring Patrick Swayze (of Dirty Dancing fame) debuted on A&E in January. Four months later, it was canceled because of the advanced pancreatic cancer that would claim Swayze’s life by year’s end.

February 1st: Clinks below to view videos

2008

• SOUTHLAND
  Southland took a raw and authentic look at Los Angeles and the lives of is police officers. Debuting on NBC, the series was canceled before year’s end. TNT has carried it since.
• THE MOMENT OF TRUTH
  This game show, based on the Colombian show Nothing More Than the Truth, had contestants answer increasingly personal and embarrassing questions. The result could be sick and destructive.
• TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES
  A spinoff from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator movies, this series revolved around two characters from Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Sarah and John Connor.

January 25th: Click links below to view videos

2007

• SAMANTHA WHO?
  Christina Applegate played a 30-year-old hit-and-run victim who emerged from amnesia determined to be a better person. Here’s the first episode — with Dutch subtitles.
• PRIVATE PRACTICE
  A spinoff of Grey’s Anatomy, this series chronicled the life of Dr. Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh), who left Seattle’s Grace Hospital for private practice in Los Angeles.
• RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
  Two couples and their single friend dealt with dating, commitments and marriage in this series guided by former writers of Everybody Loves Raymond.

January 18th: Click cameras links below to view videos

2006

• 30 ROCK
  “30 Rock” is NBC’s Manhattan headquarters (30 Rockefeller Plaza) where Saturday Night Live originates. Tina Fey, former SNL cast member, based the series on her experiences. Outtakes from 30 Rock.
• Ugly Betty
  ABC — the network that broadcast The Ugliest Girl in Town series in 1968 — scored with this “fish out of water” sitcom about a plain girl in the world of high fashion.
• DEAL OR NO DEAL
  Comic Howie Mandel hosted this hit game show. Contestants merely played the odds to win a million dollars. Very rarely did that happen. This clip, though, captures the first time.

January 11th: Click links below to view videos

2005

• THE OFFICE
  Steve Carell starred in this quirky comedy based on a British series of the same title. A collection of blooper outtakes.
• DANCING WITH THE STARS
  This celebrity dance competition — this clip features Donny Osmond — was based on the British hit series Strictly Come Dancing. Say, didn’t Arthur Murray’s Dance Party showcase the same idea in the ’50s?
• GREY’S ANATOMY
  This hit medical soap opera focused on the lives and loves of first-year interns at Seattle Grace Hospital. This tear-jerking scene was one of the most moving.

January 4th: Click links below to view videos

2004

• BLUE COLLAR TV
  The Blue Collar Comedy Tour by Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall and others morphed into a weekly TV showcase for their broad, good ol’ boy humor.
• THE APPRENTICE
  The O’Jays’ 1974 hit “For the Love of Money” was the theme for this highly competitive business series. If contestants didn’t make the grade, they heard host Donald Trumpbark, “You’re fired!”
• DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
  This hit comedy-drama focused on the housewives of Wisteria Lane, an idealized suburban locale. Here’s the first scene of the debut episode — dubbed in French.

December 28:Click links below to view videos

2003

• AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL
  When the first-season competition on this beauty pageant was whittled to four contestants, they were asked to pose nude. Two refused — and walked out.
• NCIS
  In this spinoff from JAG, military murders were the focus of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Here’s the series’ first episode — dubbed in German.
• TWO AND A HALF MEN
  Two very different brothers — Charlie and Alan — lived together with Alan’s young son in this CBS sitcom. From the first episode.

December 21: Click links below to view videos

2002

• 8 SIMPLE RULES FOR DATING MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER
  When series star John Ritter died one year after the debut, his character also died. James Garner was brought in to fill the father figure role.
• THE BACHELOR
  WPBF-TV’s Lisa Hayward followed up on what happened to singles featured on The Bachelor and its 2003 follow-up series, The Bachelorette.
• GEORGE LOPEZ
  Stand-up comic George Lopez played a family man and manager of an airplane parts plant in this breakthrough sitcom. Here he drives the Batmobile.

December 14: Click links below to view videos

2001

• SCRUBS
  Scrubs, a surreal medical series, was filmed in a real (but closed) hospital (L.A.’s North.Hollywood Medical Center). Some classic outtakes.
• ACCORDING TO JIM
  Jim Belushi — brother of Saturday Night Live’s John Belushi — starred in this sunny sitcom about a lovable-lug dad, his far smarter wife and their kids.
• FEAR FACTOR
  One of the grossest and highest-rated “reality” programs was Fear Factor, in which contestants tested their greatest fears. Some stunts were dangerous; others, humiliating.

December 2: Click links below to view videos

2000

• SURVIVOR
  Survivor stranded 16 people on a remote island to fend for themselves. One fell face-first into a fire; another wound up in federal prison.
• CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION
  William Petersen played senior forensics officer Gil Grissom, who investigated grisly murders.Taylor Swift is a guest in this episode.

November 30: Click links below to view videos

1999

• FAMILY GUY
  The series has fun with “Surfin’ Bird,” a real-life hit in 1963 for The Trashmen.
• THE WEST WING
  While The West Wing was a serious drama, set goofs did take place.

November 23: Click links below to view videos

1998

• THAT ’70S SHOW
  You could say that That ’70s Show was Happy Days 20 years later, but Happy Days would have never included a kissing scene like this.
• WILL AND GRACE
  This show had its share of bloopers, too.
• THE KING OF QUEENS
  A collection of funny moments from Season

November 16: Current Week - click cameras above or links below to view videos

1997

• BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
  To save money, the pilot episode was shot in black and white — and has never been broadcast.
• JUST SHOOT ME
  A clip from the episode “Secretary’s Day.”
• KING OF THE HILL
  Greg Daniels, former writer of The Simpsons, helped Mike Judge create this series. Here King of the Hill pays tribute to The Simpsons.

November 9: Click links below to view videos

1996

• THE O’REILLY FACTOR
  Bill O’Reilly’s show has remained TV’s highest-rated cable news program since its debut on theFox News Channel’s very first day.
• EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND
  And if you’re a Raymond lover, you’ll enjoy these unaired outtakes.
• SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH
  The first scene from the first episode.

November 2: Click links below to view videos

1995

• CAROLINE IN THE CITY
  Lea Thompson played the title role in this romantic comedy.
• THE DREW CAREY SHOW
  A clip from the pilot episode.

October 26: Click links below to view videos

1994

• TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL
  How the very first episode began.
• FRI ENDS
  Yes, there were loads of bloopers edited out of Friends. A sampling:
• E.R.
  The first scene of the debut episode.

October 19: Click links below to view videos

1992

• MELROSE PLACE
  A typical steamy scene.
• MAD ABOUT YOU
  You may enjoy these blooper outtakes.

1993

• NYPD BLUE
  The first season of this gritty cop series’ opener.
• THE X-FILES
  Yes, the show was a creepy, spooky drama, but that didn’ t prevent bloopers from occurring.
• BOY MEETS WORLD
  Ben Savage, the star of this series, is the brother of Fred Savage, who played a similar role onThe Wonder Years. Here are some of the funniest moments.

October 12: Click links below to view videos

1991

• HOME IMPROVEMENT
  It’s hard to believe the cast survived these slapstick stunts — which look genuinely dangerous.
• THE COMMISH
  The first season opened like this.
• BABY TALK
  Tony Danza supplied the baby’s voice on this sitcom, which featured as its title theme a new version of “Bread and Butter,” a song The Newbeats first made famous in 1964.

October 5: Click links below to view videos

1990

• SEINFELD
  One fan's favorite moments.
• LAW & ORDER
  The first season opened like this.
• THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR
  A favorite basketball sequence.

September 28: Click links below to view videos

1989

• MAJOR DAD
  What happens when a dedicated career Marine marries a left-wing newspaper
  reporter who’s a widow with three children? Well, you just might get a
  sitcom like this.
• DOOGIE HOWSER, M.D.
  This series was about a child prodigy who becomes a resident physician at
  16. While certainly smart, Doogie had a lot of growing up to do, as this
  clip illustrates.

September 21: Click links below to view videos

1988

• MURPHY BROWN
  Candice Bergen starred in this sitcom set in the world of broadcast news. Bette Midler made a guest appearance in the last episode.
• ROSEANNE
  This series was pure blue-collar comedy, in the tradition of The
  Honeymooners and All in the Family with more than a few contemporary
  twists. Here’s the opening scene from the pilot .
• EMPTY NEST
  NBC rewarded the producers of the mega hit The Golden Girls by picking up
  their Empty Nest to run on the same night (Saturday). It starred Richard
  Mulligan, formerly of Soap.

September 14: Click links below to view videos

1987

• THIRTYSOMETHING
  Baby boomers and their young families were the target audience of this
  series, which tracked interconnected stories involving several couples.
  Here’s the opening title sequence.
• FULL HOUSE
  Take three young men and three young kids, pack them into a San Francisco
  residence, and you have the premise of Full House. Here is a typical scene
  featuring preschooler Michelle, played by twin sisters Mary-Kate and Ashley
  Olsen.
• A DIFFERENT WORLD
  This series focused on college life was intended as a showcase for Cosby
  Show star Lisa Bonet. After the first season, though, Bonet left the cast
  and the focus shifted to others.

September 07: Click links below to view videos

1986

• LIFE WITH LUCY
  Lucille Ball hadn’t had a series in 12 years when two of her writers, Madelyn Davis and Bob Carroll Jr., suggested she portray an energetic grandmother. Lucy was game, but her final sitcom bombed. Less than three years later, “The Queen of TV Comedy” was dead.
• ALF
  ALF — an “Alien Life Form” — was a furry little creature from space who
  crash-landed into the Tanner family’s garage. Here are a few typical
  moments
• DESIGNING WOMEN
  This sitcom about four outspoken interior decorators featured Delta Burke,
  Dixie Carter, Jean Smart and Annie Potts. This clip is from the “Miss
  Trial” episode.

August 31: Click links below to view videos

1985

• THE GOLDEN GIRLS
  Thank You for Being a Friend was a 1978 hit for Andrew Gold and the theme
  song of this series, which featured four women over 50. Here’s the start of
  the “Fiddler on the Ropes” episode.
• ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS
  Legendary film director Alfred Hitchcock brought his spooky tales of
  suspense to TV (1955-65) and to theaters. The 1985 revival of his series
  recycled Hitch’s vintage episode intros, freshly colorized.
• THE TWILIGHT ZONE
  Sadly, the creator of The Twilight Zone, Rod Serling, died a decade before
  his classic 1959-64 science fiction series concept was revived in 1985.
  Here’s how the later edition opened.

August 24: Current Week - click cameras above or links below to view videos

1983

• MAMA’S FAMILY
  Vicki Lawrence joined The Carol Burnett Show because she looked like
  Burnett. Lawrence played Burnett’s elderly “Mama” so well Mama’s Family
  became a separate series in 1983 — the year Lawrence turned 34.
• THE A-TEAM
  The A-Team was a weekly high-octane demolition derby — one that made a
  star out of the man with the Mohawk haircut, Mr. T (Laurence Tureaud).
• WEBSTER
  Forty-inch-tall Emmanuel Lewis played the title role in this sitcom, in
  which a young black child is adopted by his white godparents.

1984

• MIAMI VICE
  Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas starred and Jan Hammer had the hit
  theme song. And yes, the girl in the yellow bikini in this clip is wearing
  a top.
• HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN
  Former Bonanza star Michael Landon played a probationary angel who helped
  people living on Earth. Here’s how the “Song of the Wild West” episode
  opened.

August 17: Click links below to view videos

1982

• RIPLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT
  Jack Palance had the time of his life hosting the best TV version of Ripley’s Believe It or Not. Here’s how ABC promoted the show.
• CAGNEY & LACEY
  All three networks originally rejected this show before it became a hit TV movie —which green-lighted the series in 1982. Mary Beth Lacey (Tyne Daly) is taken hostage in this episode.
• NEWHART
  Bob Newhart portrayed Dick Loudon, owner of a New England inn, in this sitcom that ended in 1990 with a truly surprising finale. Here it is — to the delight of fans of his previous series, in which Newhart played psychologist Bob Hartley.

August 10: Click links below to view videos

1980

• MAGNUM, P.I.
  The theme song from Magnum, P.I., became a hit for Mike Post in 1982.
• TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT
  This sitcom ran until Ted Knight’s death in 1986 (although it continued a short while in syndication). Here’s the opening of the pilot.
  

1981

• HILL STREET BLUES
  Aside from Magnum, P.I., Mike Post also had hits with themes from The Rockford Files and this series. Here’s a Hill Street Blues opening scene.
• THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO
  A teacher became a superhero, and Joey Scarbury’s theme became a million-seller.
• DYNASTY
  Onetime Bachelor Father star John Forsythe headed the cast of Dynasty.

July 20: Click links below to view videos

1979

• Wayne Rogers’ sitcom House Calls was based on the 1978 movie starring Walter Matthau.
• The theme song of Angie, Different Worlds, became a Top 20 hit for Maureen McGovern.
  

July 13: Click links below to view videos

1978

• Mork & Mindy (1978-82) took space aliens to ridiculous new heights – and
  made Robin Williams a star.
• Howard Hesseman and Loni Anderson were regulars on WKRP in Cincinnati.
• A classic Taxi clip with Christopher Lloyd.

July 6: Click links below to view videos

1977

• Allan Jones had a Top 10 hit with The Donkey Serenade in 1938. He
  reprised it almost 40 years later with his son Jack on The Love Boat.
• Only once in TV history did a comic character spin off a sitcom into a
  hard-hitting drama. That was Lou Grant, as played by Ed Asner

June 29: Click links below to view videos

1976

• On The Muppet Show, Steve Martin reprised a balloon animal act he performed at Disneyland before he was famous.
• Laverne and Shirley, whose show was spun off from Happy Days, were 1950s bottle cappers in a Milwaukee brewery.

June 22: Click links below to view videos

1975

• Gabriel Kaplan’s Brooklyn classroom of “Sweathogs” on Welcome Back, Kotter included John Travolta.
• David Soul, a plainclothes cop on Starsky & Hutch, scored a No. 1 hit in
  1977 with Don’t Give Up on Us.
• One Day at a Time featured Bonnie Franklin, Valerie Bertinelli (future
  wife of Eddie Van Halen) and Mackenzie Phillips (daughter of Mamas & Papas
  founder John Phillips).

June 15:Click links below to view videos

1974

• Fonzie was introduced in the first episode of Happy Days and became the
  most popular character.
• Rhoda starred Valerie Harper and Julie Kavner. Kavner today is the voice
  of Marge on The Simpsons.
• From the first Christmas episode of Little House on the Prairie,
  starring Michael Landon.

June 9: Click links below to view videos

1972

• The opening of The Waltons.
• Just as Maude was spun off from All in the Family, Good Times was spun
  off from the character shown in this clip of Maude.
• The opening of Sanford and Son.

1973

• The opening of Barnaby Jones.
• The “Birthday Party” episode of Kojak.
• The Six Million Dollar Man was a badly injured astronaut rebuilt into
  the first bionic man.
  

June 2:Click links below to view videos

1970

• The Partridge Family reached No.1 with "I Think I Love You"
• Flip Wilson as the ever-outrageous Geraldine Jones.
• Sonny Curtis, former member of Buddy Holly's band The Crickets, wrote ad sang the Mary Tyler Moore Show theme song.

1971

• Opening of the first All in the Family
• Peter Falk as Columbo.
• Future President Ronald Reagan was a guest on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.

May 26: - Click links below to view videos

1969

• The Brady Bunch not only lasted five seasons but also spawned five sequels — including a TV movie, a variety series and a Saturday morning cartoon.
• The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour opened with Glen singing his theme song, Gentle on My Mind. Here he sings with the song’s composer, John Hartford.
• An installment of the comedy anthology series Love American Style.

May 19: Click links below to view videos

1968

• A few typical closing jokes on Laugh-In, a fast-moving mix of sight gags, one-liners, loopy dialogue and unusual guest appearances (including President Nixon).
• Hawaii Five-O, TV’s longest-running crime series, was shot entirely on location. Does the last shot in this clip remind you of the Naked Gun movies?
• The Mod Squad was composed of three young criminals who chose to become undercover agents for the L.A. police department over spending time in prison.
• The Christmas ’68 episode of Here Come the Brides
• After the 1968 death of her husband, Doris Day discovered that he had left her deeply in debt. To recover, Doris agreed to undertake a TV series. After it ended in 1973, she retired.

May 12: Click links below to view videos

1967

• Tom and Dick Smothers were harmless comic folk singers when their Comedy Hour debuted. Soon after, though, they turned political, upsetting their sponsors, viewers and CBS.
• Dragnet began on radio in 1949, became a TV icon from 1951 to 1959 and then successfully returned to TV in 1967. Here’s Jack Webb’s famous “One Fatal Second” speech.
• Emmy and Oscar winner Sally Field starred in four TV series in the ’60s and ’70s: Gidget (1965-66), The Flying Nun (1967-70), Alias Smith and Jones (1971-72) and The Girl With Something Extra (1973-74).
• Mike Connors, who’d played a private eye before (on Tightrope in 1959 and 1960), returned as another (Joe Mannix) on one of the most violent crime shows of its time.
• Rugged, intense Roy Thinnes starred as David Vincent, the man who knew there were space aliens among us, on The Invaders (1967-68). Here’s how a typical episode opened.

May 5: Click links below to view videos

1966

• Diana Rigg gave The Avengers a cool sexual tension, which vanished after Linda Thorson replaced her in 1968. Here are title sequences featuring both with dapper Patrick Macnee.
• The Monkees sold eight million albums in less than three months. Neil Diamond wrote the biggest of their 21 hits, I’m a Believer, the largest-selling single of 1967.
• Adam West was wonderfully wooden as TV’s campy Batman. Neal Hefti’s title theme became a hit single for him in 1966, while Jan & Dean scored with a parody.
• Lalo Schifrin had a hit in 1968 with his theme from Mission: Impossible. Here, clips from six episode title sequences have been edited together over that music.

Apr. 24: Click cameras above or links below to view videos

1965

• Don Adams developed what became Maxwell Smart while playing a house detective on The Bill Dana Show. Barbara Feldon (Agent 99) was a former winner on The $64,000 Question.
• Bing Crosby’s company produced Hogan’s Heroes, which made a star of former DJ Bob Crane and featured Robert Clary, who had been a child prisoner in a real Nazi concentration camp.
• Dick Van Dyke’s brother, Jerry, starred in My Mother the Car. Paul Hampton’s theme song was so catchy that Sammy Davis Jr. sang a live version on one of his albums.
• Green Acres was conceived as the reverse of The Beverly Hillbillies — in this case, city folks coping with country life. The show shared its setting and cast with Petticoat Junction.
• Barbara Eden’s bellybutton was considered too sexy to show during the network run of I Dream of Jeannie. Fans didn’t get to see it until the cast reunited for a 1985 TV movie.

Apr. 21: Click cameras above or links below to view videos

1964

• A little background on Gilligan’s Island resident Mary Ann, played by a former Miss Nevada, Dawn Wells. She drew far more fan mail than the series’ “movie star,” Tina Louise.
• Charles Addams’ creepy cartoons in The New Yorker inspired The Addams Family, which featured John Astin, Carolyn Jones and former silent screen child actor Jackie Coogan.
• The Honeycombs turned up on Shindig to sing their 1964 British Invasion hit Have I The Right. Check out Honey Lantree on drums.
• After more than 250 appearances on live TV, Elizabeth Montgomery (the daughter of movie star Robert Montgomery) made the most of her only TV series, Bewitched.

Apr. 14: Click links below to view videos

1962

• I’m Dickens, He’s Fenster was a Leonard Stern creation before he teamed with Mel Brooks to develop Get Smart.
• How the story of The Beverly Hillbillies actually began.
• Busby Berkeley could have choreographed the openings of Jackie Gleason’s American Scene Magazine. Instead, it was June Taylor, who won an Emmy for her efforts.

1963

• Although best known as the host of Let’s Make a Deal for 28 years, Monty Hall also emceed quiz shows (such as Keep Talking) and introduced westerns on Cowboy Theatre.

Apr. 07: Click links below to view videos

1960

• You’ll never guess what the first sponsor of The Flintstones was.
  
• There was life after I Love Lucy for William Frawley. One-third of the way through My Three Sons’ network run, though, he died. He was replaced by William Demarest.
  
• Video Village featured Monty Hall (later of Let’s Make a Deal) and TV’s first life-size game board.
  
• After Andy Griffith left his show in 1968, the series continued for three more years as Mayberry R.F.D.

1961

• Remember the opening of each Ben Casey episode?
• The second comic masterwork of Nat Hiken, the creator-writer of Bilko, was Car 54, Where Are You? Series star Fred Gwynne went on to play Herman Munster.
• A brief clip from The Bullwinkle Show features the pun ending of one segment and Rocky, Bullwinkle and Boris Badenov in another.

Mar. 26: Sorry, Videos not available

• The very first episode of "Dobie Gillis" featured "Dennis the Menace"'s father (Herb Anderson) as the teacher and 16-year-old Tuesday Weld as Thalia Menninger. Off camera, Dwayne Hickman tried to date Tuesday without luck. He later wrote that she was perfectly cast "as Tuesday personified Thalia in real life."
• Jack Benny went Christmas shopping in the same store with most of his regular cast. This is actually from 1960, but you get the idea.

Mar. 19: Sorry, Videos not available

• Here's Edd "Kookie" Byrnes (the prototype of "Happy Days'" Fonzie) with Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. on "77 Sunset Strip."

Mar. 12: Click link below to view videos

• Three-time Oscar winner Walter Brennan not only starred in "The Real McCoys" but scored a hit record in 1962 with "Old Rivers."

Mar. 5: Click link below to view videos

• How about Nat "King" Cole with the 11 year old Billy Preston - 16 years before Billy topped the charts with "Will It Go Round In Circles?"

Feb. 26: Click link below to view videos

• Watch lovable con man Bilko on "The Phil Silvers Show" with future "Car 54" stars Joe E. Ross and Beatrice Pons.

Feb 19: Click link below to view videos

• And here's the opening titles of "Lassie," featuring June Lockhart before SHE became "Lost In Space."

Feb. 12:Click link below to view videos

• Here's Make Room For Daddy's Rusty Hamer and Angela Cartwright (long before she wound up "Lost In Space").

Feb. 5: Click link below to view videos

• Abbott & Costello built their career on classic vaudeville routines which they polished often with the help of Sid Fields (who played their landlord and many other parts on their TV series). Here's Sid in jail.

JAN. 22: Click links below to view videos

• Perry Como and The Fontane Sisters had a hit (and a bit of TV fun) in 1949 with “I Wanna Go Home With You.” 
• Lights Out was pretty scary for 12 years on radio and three on TV. Frank Gallop was the creepy host.

JAN. 15: Click links below to view videos

• The first episode of Crusader Rabbit from 1949. Creator Jay Ward later reshaped Crusader and his sidekick, Ragland T. Tiger, into Rocky and Bullwinkle.  
• Vaudevillian Ed Wynn helped honey-voiced Dinah Shore make her TV debut. 

JAN. 8: Click links below to view videos

• Hi-yo, Silver! Here’s episode 1 of The Lone Ranger starring Clayton Moore.
• Remember when Ed Norton dressed up as Captain Video on The Honeymooners? Here’s the real Captain Video — a sort of Star Trek on a shoestring budget. 

JAN. 1: Click links below to view videos

• Comic Kenny Delmar, who’d played blustery Senator Claghorn on The Jack Benny Show, starred in The School House with Arnold Stang. 
• The 1949 version of The Life of Riley with Jackie Gleason. Despite winning an Emmy, it lasted only one season with Gleason.
  

DEC. 25: Click links below to view videos

• The classic thriller Suspense stirred controversy when a character in one episode appeared to be drinking blood. This one, though, features Boris Karloff. 
• Mike Stokey’s Pantomime Quiz won the first Emmy given out for Most Popular Television Program in 1948.
  

DEC. 18:Click links below to view videos

• Milton Berle with Arnold Stang and Berle’s singer-dancers.
• Arthur Godfrey moved from radio to TV in 1948 to host Talent Scouts, the series that introduced Pat Boone, The McGuire Sisters and other budding stars.
• Morey Amsterdam, “The Human Joke Machine,” hosted his own series set in the Golden Goose Café.

DEC. 11: Click links below to view videos

• Juvenile Jury featured Jack Barry, who’d go on to create game shows such as Tic Tac Dough, Twenty-One and The Joker’s Wild.  
• How a typical episode of Howdy Doody (originally known as Puppet Playhouse) began.
• The Chicago-based Kukla, Fran and Ollie featured Fran Allison and puppeteer Burr Tillstrom. (“Kukla” is Russian for “doll.”)

DEC. 4: Click links below to view videos

• The advent of kineoscopes. - 1949
• How RCA explained television in 1939.
• In 1941, a short film called Magic in the Air showcased advances.
  
• Jon Gnagy started teaching people to draw in 1946 on You Are an Artist.