1957 in television

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

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 were no TV broadcasts between 6 PM and 7 PM, to allow parents to put their children to bed) is abolished. It had 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.
• 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.
• 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 – NBC introduces an animated version of its "living color" peacock logo.
• 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 began 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 were withdrawn from the market. The first successful rectangular color tubes were sold first during the mid-1960s.

Programs/Programmes

Series on the air in 1957

• Gillette Cavalcade of Sports (1946–1960)
• Howdy Doody (1947–1960)
• Kraft Television Theater (1947–1958)
• Meet the Press (1947–present)
• Candid Camera (1948–present)
• The Ed Sullivan Show (1948–1971)
• Bozo the Clown (1949–present)
• Come Dancing (UK) (1949–1995)
• The Voice of Firestone (1949–1963)
• The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950–1958)
• The Jack Benny Show (1950–1965)
• Truth or Consequences (1950–1988)
• What's My Line (1950–1967)
• Your Hit Parade (1950–1959)
• Dragnet (1951–1959)
• I Love Lucy (1951–1957)
• Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951–present)
• Love of Life (1951–1980)
• Search for Tomorrow (1951–1986)
• American Bandstand (1952–1989)
• The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952–1966)
• Adventures of Superman (1952–1958)
• The Guiding Light (1952–2009)
• The Today Show (1952–present)
• This Is Your Life (US) (1952–1961)
• "The Danny Thomas Show" (1953-1964)
• Panorama (UK) (1953–present)
• The Good Old Days (UK) (1953–1983)
• Climax! (1954–1958)
• Disneyland (1954–1958)
• Face the Nation (1954–present)
• "Father Knows Bwst" (1954-1960)
• The Brighter Day (1954–1962)
• The Milton Berle Show (1954–1967)
• The Secret Storm (1954–1974)
• The Tonight Show (1954–present)
• Zoo Quest (UK) (1954–1964)
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1962)
• Captain Kangaroo (1955–1984)
• Cheyenne (1955–1962)
• Country Music Jubilee (1955–1960)
• Dixon of Dock Green (UK) (1955–1976)
• Gunsmoke (1955–1975)
• Mickey Mouse Club (1955–1959)
• The Lawrence Welk Show (1955–1982)
• This Is Your Life (UK) (1955–2003)
• Armchair Theatre (UK) (1956–1968)
• As the World Turns (1956–2010)
• The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford (1956–1961)
• Hancock's Half Hour (1956–1962)
• Opportunity Knocks (UK) (1956–1978)
• The Edge of Night (1956–1984)
• The Gale Storm Show, Oh! Susanna (1956–1960)
• The Price Is Right (1956–1965)
• The Steve Allen Show (1956–1960)
• What the Papers Say (UK) (1956–2008)
• "Bachelor Father" (1957-1962)

Debuts

• April 24 – The Sky at Night (UK) presented by Patrick Moore (1957–present)
• May 1 – Junior Television Club
• May 7 – In Melbourne Tonight with Graham Kennedy on GTV-9
• June 19 – The Army Game (UK) on ITV (1957–1961)
• June 24 – Front Page Challenge (1957–1995)
• July – Tivoli Party Time (1957) on HSV-7 (Melbourne, Australia)
• August 15 – Australia's Amateur Hour (1957–1958) on TCN-9 and HSV-7
• September 18 – Wagon Train (1957–1965)
• September 21 – Perry Mason on CBS (1957–1966), The Polly Bergen Show on NBC
• September 22 – Maverick on ABC (1957–1961)
• October 3 – The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom on ABC (1957–1960)
• October 4 – Leave It to Beaver (1957–1963)
• October 10 – Zorro on ABC (1957–1959)
• October 13 – The Edsel Show, first full-length show to be recorded on videotape, first of many Bing Crosby specials
• November 6 – The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour on CBS (1957–1960)
• November 17 – Scotland Yard on ABC (1957–1958)
• November – Swallow's Juniors (1957–1970) on HSV-7 (Melbourne, Australia)
• December 25 – Royal Christmas Message first televised with a message from Elizabeth II
• Astor Showcase (1957–1959) on ATN-7 (Sydney, Australia)
• Divorce Court (US) (1957–1969, 1985–1992, 1999–present)

Ending this year

Date	Show	Debut
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
June 9	The Roy Rogers Show	1951
Unknown	The Grove Family (UK)	1954
	The Three Stooges	1934

Births

Date	Name	Notability
January 7	Katie Couric	Journalist, talk show host (60 Minutes)
January 17	Steve Harvey	Actor & comedian, host (The Steve Harvey Show)
February 16	LeVar Burton	Actor, host (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Reading Rainbow)
February 18	Vanna White	Game show hostess (Wheel of Fortune)
March 30	Paul Reiser	Actor & comedian (Mad About You)
April 13	Gary Kroeger	Actor, announcer (Saturday Night Live)
May 5	Richard E. Grant	English actor
June 12	Timothy Busfield	Actor & director (thirtysomething)
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)
August 16	Laura Innes	Actress (ER)
August 18	Denis Leary	Actor & comedian (Rescue Me)
August 24	Stephen Fry	English actor & comedian (Pocoyo)
September 23	Rosalind Chao	Actress
September 29	Andrew Dice Clay	Comedian, actor (Bless This House)
September 30	Fran Drescher	Actress & comedian (The Nanny)
October 5	Bernie Mac	Actor (The Bernie Mac Show) & comedian (d. 2008)
October 11	Dawn French	Welch-born English actress & comedian (French and Saunders)
October 29	Dan Castellaneta	Actor & comedian (Homer Simpson on The Simpsons)
November 7	Christopher Knight	Actor (The Brady Bunch)
December 9	Donny Osmond	Singer, actor & game show host (The Donny & Marie Show)
December 21	Ray Romano	Stand-up comedian & actor (Everybody Loves Raymond)

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.