1957 in television

The year 1957 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events during 1957.

List of years in television (table)
In radio
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960

Events

  • January 6 – Elvis Presley makes his final appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.[1]
  • January 25 – Steve Allen makes his final appearance as host of NBC's The Tonight Show.[2] He is replaced by Jack Lescoulie and the show is changed from a talk/variety show format to be more like the series Today, with the title Tonight! America After Dark.[3]
  • February 16 – In the United Kingdom, the "Toddlers' Truce" (an arrangement whereby there have been no TV broadcasts between 6 PM and 7 PM, to allow parents to put their children to bed) is abolished. It has been a major obstacle to the success of ITV.
  • March 7 – Portugal begins the Rádio e Televisão de Portugal television service after several months of experimentation.
  • March 31 – The first TV version of Cinderella, starring 21-year-old Julie Andrews, and with songs by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, is broadcast in color by CBS.
  • April 1
    • In Britain, the BBC's Panorama current affairs television programme presented by Richard Dimbleby broadcasts a spaghetti tree hoax report purporting to show spaghetti being harvested in Switzerland, believed to be the first April Fool's Day joke televised.
    • In the United States WYES begins broadcasting on channel 8 in New Orleans. WYES will swap channels with WVUE in 1970.
  • April 4 – Desilu films "The Ricardos Dedicate a Statue", the 180th and final first run episode of I Love Lucy. Its May 6 broadcast marks the end of an era in early television comedy.
  • April 24 – First broadcast of BBC Television astronomy series The Sky at Night in the United Kingdom presented by Patrick Moore. This will be broadcast with the same presenter until his death in December 2012.
  • May 29 In Hong Kong, Rediffusion Television, a predecessor of ATV Home and RTHK TV 31, begins broadcasting as a bilingual subscription cable service, becoming the first television station in a Crown colony of the British Empire[4] as well as the first station in a predominantly Chinese city.
  • June – On Tonight! America After Dark, Jack Lescoulie is unsuccessful, so NBC hires Al "Jazzbo" Collins as master of ceremonies. Collins doesn't last long; NBC is already planning to replace him and restore the original format as The Tonight Show.
  • June 24 – Front Page Challenge, television's longest continuously running panel show, starts broadcasting on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation network. It runs for 38 years.
  • July 29 – Jack Paar becomes the permanent host for NBC's The Tonight Show. The format reverts to a talk/variety show.
  • August 5 – American Bandstand begins its 30-year syndicated run on US network television.
  • August 31 – Central Scotland's independent channel Scottish Television goes on air, the first 7-day-a-week ITV franchise to do so.
  • September 7 – In the United States:
    • NBC introduces an animated version of its "living color" peacock logo.
    • WWL-TV Channel 4 signs on as New Orleans' CBS affiliate.
  • November 26 – WHDH-TV/5-Boston begins broadcasting. It soon becomes involved in controversy about its license. It finally loses its license in 1972.
  • December 25 – The British Royal Christmas Message is televised with the Queen (Elizabeth II) on camera for the first time.
  • When Nat King Cole's television series is unable to get a sponsor, Frankie Laine is the first artist to cross TV's color line, foregoing his usual salary of $10,000.00 to become the first white artist to appear as a guest. Other major performers follow suit, including Mel Tormé and Tony Bennett, but, despite an increase in ratings, the show still fails to acquire a national sponsor.
  • Gorni Kramer makes his first appearance on Italian television, in the program Il Musichiere.
  • Cyprus begins a limited television service, serving only three hours a day, twice-weekly. By 1960 a full service will be initiated.
  • CBC Television begins nationwide broadcasting of NHL games as Canada's microwave network is completed coast-to-coast. Prior to this, broadcasts had been delayed.
  • Westinghouse introduces the first rectangular tube color TV. Due to issues with convergence (aligning the guns to get a single image), the sets are withdrawn from the market. The first successful rectangular color tubes are sold during the mid-1960s.
  • Hollywood takes over New York as the dominant for prime time TV programs, upgrading most of the TV genre, changing from live broadcasts to filmed series.

Programs/programmes

Series on the air in 1957

Debuts

Ending this year

DateShowDebut
February 24 Annie Oakley 1954
February 26 Noah's Ark 1956
April 1 I Love Lucy 1951
April 8 Life Is Worth Living 1952
April 20 The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (UK) 1956
May 1 Kukla, Fran and Ollie 1947
May 5 Air Power 1956
June 9 The Roy Rogers Show 1951
September 24 It's Polka Time 1956
Unknown The Grove Family (UK) 1954
The Three Stooges 1934

Births

DateNameNotability
January 3 Frank Dicopoulos Actor (Guiding Light)
January 7 Katie Couric Journalist, talk show host (Today, CBS Evening News, 60 Minutes)
January 8 Ron Cephas Jones Actor (This Is Us)
January 17 Steve Harvey Actor, comedian, host (The Steve Harvey Show, Family Feud)
January 25 Jenifer Lewis Actress (Black-ish)
January 28 Harley Jane Kozak Actress (Santa Barbara)
February 6 Kathy Najimy Actress (King of the Hill)
Robert Townsend Actor (The Parent 'Hood)
February 16 LeVar Burton Actor, host (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Reading Rainbow)
February 18 Vanna White Game show hostess (Wheel of Fortune)
March 4 Mykelti Williamson Actor (Justified)
March 15 Park Overall Actress (Empty Nest)
March 20 Amy Aquino Actress (ER, Being Human)
March 26 Leeza Gibbons Talk show host (Entertainment Tonight, Leeza)
March 30 Paul Reiser Actor, comedian (Mad About You)
April 12 Suzzanne Douglas Actress (The Parent 'Hood)
April 13 Gary Kroeger Actor, announcer (Saturday Night Live)
Saundra Santiago Actress (Miami Vice)
April 23 Jan Hooks Actress, comedian (Saturday Night Live, Designing Women) (d. 2014)
May 5 Richard E. Grant English actor (Richard E. Grant's Hotel Secrets)
May 29 Ted Levine Actor (Monk)
June 12 Timothy Busfield Actor, director (thirtysomething, The West Wing)
June 17 Jon Gries Actor (Martin, The Pretender)
June 18 Andrea Evans Actress (One Life to Live)
July 20 Donna Dixon Actress (Bosom Buddies), wife of Dan Aykroyd
July 21 Jon Lovitz Actor, comedian (Saturday Night Live)
July 23 Jo Brand English comedian, actress, writer (Getting On)
July 26 Nana Visitor Actress (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Wildfire)
July 28 Brianne Leary Actress (Baa Baa Black Sheep, CHiPs)
July 31 Dirk Blocker Actor (Baa Baa Black Sheep, Brooklyn Nine-Nine)
August 16 Laura Innes Actress (ER)
August 18 Denis Leary Actor, comedian (Rescue Me)
August 24 Stephen Fry English actor, comedian (Jeeves and Wooster, Pocoyo, Kingdom)
September 8 Heather Thomas Actress (The Fall Guy)
September 23 Rosalind Chao Actress (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
September 29 Andrew Dice Clay Comedian, actor (Bless This House)
September 30 Fran Drescher Actress, comedian (The Nanny)
October 1 Yvette Freeman Actress (ER)
October 4 Bill Fagerbakke Actor (Patrick Star on SpongeBob SquarePants)
October 5 Bernie Mac Actor (The Bernie Mac Show), comedian (d. 2008)
October 11 Dawn French Welch-born English actress, comedian (French and Saunders, The Vicar of Dibley)
October 21 Shea Farrell Actor, producer (Hotel)
October 24 John Kassir Actor, comedian (Earthworm Jim, CatDog, Hercules, Rocket Power, The Amanda Show, As Told by Ginger)
October 25 Nancy Cartwright Actress (The Simpsons, Rugrats, Mike, Lu & Og, Kim Possible)
October 29 Dan Castellaneta Actor, comedian (The Simpsons, Rugrats, Darkwing Duck, Hey Arnold!)
November 6 Cam Clarke Voice actor (original voice of Leonardo on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
November 7 Christopher Knight Actor (The Brady Bunch)
November 11 Anne-Marie Martin Actress (Sledge Hammer!)
November 24 Denise Crosby Actress, model (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
December 9 Donny Osmond Singer, actor, game show host (The Donny & Marie Show)
December 13 Steve Buscemi Actor (Boardwalk Empire, Park Bench with Steve Buscemi)
December 21 Ray Romano Actor, comedian (Everybody Loves Raymond)
December 30 Matt Lauer Television host (Today)

References

  1. "Elvis Presley". edsullivan.com. SOFA Entertainment. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  2. Karm, Bob. "Steve Allen's Last Tonight Show Appearance on this Date in 1957". pdxretro.com. PDX RETRO. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  3. "Jack Lescoulie-Hollywood Star Walk". LA Times. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  4. 由麗的到亞視 一個電視台的終結 [From Rediffusion To ATV: The End of a Television Station]. Standnews. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
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