Overview of the events of 1974 in television
The year 1974 involved some significant events in television. Below is a list of television-related events of that year.
Events
- January 6 – CKGN-TV begins broadcasting in Brantford, Ontario.
- January 31 – CBS airs a multi-Emmy-winning adaptation of Ernest J. Gaines' novel The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, which follows the 110-year life of a former slave from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement. Cicely Tyson portrays the title role.
- February 1 – KITC (now KIVI-TV) begins broadcasting in Boise, Idaho.
- February 2 – The Filipino government television station GTV 4 (now known as the People's Television Network) begins operations, under the National Media Production Center.
- February 8 – After 20 years, The Secret Storm airs its 5195th and final episode on CBS Daytime. The show is replaced ten days later by Tattletales, a game show hosted by Bert Convy.
- March 11 – The children's special Free to Be... You and Me, produced by comedic actress Marlo Thomas, airs on ABC.
- March 13 – The Execution of Private Slovik airs on NBC. A made-for-television film, it told the story of Pvt. Eddie Slovik, the only American soldier to be executed for desertion since the American Civil War.
- March 18 – Lucille Ball ends her 23-year consecutive television reign when Here's Lucy is cancelled.
- April 5 – After 264 hour-long episodes, The Dean Martin Show ends its run on NBC, then spins off to 10 years of The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast.
- April 6 – "Waterloo" wins the Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden and launches ABBA on their stellar global career.
- May 4 – Steve Frame (George Reinholt) marries Alice Matthews (Jacqueline Courtney) for the second time on a special hour-long broadcast of Another World, coinciding with the show's tenth anniversary.
- June 8 – Jon Pertwee makes his final regular appearance as the Third Doctor in the concluding moments of Part Six of the Doctor Who serial Planet of the Spiders. Tom Baker briefly appears as the Fourth Doctor at the conclusion of this serial.
- August 5 – For the first time on a pre-school children's programme, the UK show Inigo Pipkin covers the death of the main character, Inigo, as the actor who played him (George Woodbridge) had died. The show is renamed Pipkins.
- August 8 – US President Richard Nixon announces pending resignation (effective August 9) live on television.
- September 10 – The controversial TV movie Born Innocent, starring Linda Blair, airs on NBC. The film, which involved a fourteen-year-old being sent to what the television preview deemed a women's prison (when in reality it was a reform school), drew heavy criticism due to an all-female rape scene, the first ever seen on American television. The scene was deleted in subsequent re-airings after a group of girls assaulted an eight-year-old with a pop bottle, influenced by the scene in the film.
- October 6 – Monty Python's Flying Circus, the popular British sketch comedy which aired its final episode this year, is first shown in the U.S. on KERA-TV in Dallas, Texas, at 10pm.[1][2]
- December 28 – Tom Baker makes his first full appearance as the Fourth Doctor in the Doctor Who serial Robot.
- On the American soap opera Love of Life, Meg Dale (Tudi Wiggins) calls her son Ben (Christopher Reeve) a "bastard", the first time a profanity was spoken on American daytime television.[when?][citation needed]
Programmes
Debuts
- January 5 – Tiswas, a local programme in the Midlands (ATV) in the UK, though not fully automatically networked through ITV until 1979 (1974–82)
- January 7
- January 15 – Happy Days on ABC (1974–84)
- February 1 – Good Times (a spinoff of Maude) on CBS (1974–79)
- February 10 – Apple's Way on CBS (1974–1975)
- February 12 – Bagpuss (12 February – 7 May 1974)
- February 18 – Tattletales, hosted by Bert Convy, on CBS daytime (1974–78, 1982–84)
- March 3 – Nova on PBS (1974–present)
- March 13 – Clyde Frog Show on PBS (1974–1976)
- April 12 – Ultraman Leo on TBS in Japan (1974–75)
- May 6 – The $10,000 Pyramid moves to ABC, with Dick Clark as host
- July 1
- July 4 – CBS airs its first Bicentennial Minute (They will continue until the end of 1976)
- July 29 – Name That Tune on NBC daytime with Dennis James hosting, and in nighttime syndication with Tom Kennedy hosting
- September 4 – That's My Mama on CBS (1974–1975)
- September 7 (Saturday)
- September 9 (Monday)
- September 11 – Little House on the Prairie on NBC (1974–83)
- September 12
- September 13 (Friday)
- September 14 (Saturday)
- September 23 – Dr. Zonk and the Zunkins on CBC (1974–75)
- October 20 – Derrick, German Krimi written by Herbert Reinecker, starring Horst Tappert, on ZDF (1974–1988)
- November 8 – Countdown on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1974–87)
- December 20 – Chéri-Bibi on ORTF (1974–75)
- December 23 – The Big Showdown and The Money Maze on ABC daytime
- Unknown date – House of Pride on CBC (1974–76)
Ending this year
Births
Deaths
Television debuts
See also
References
- ^ McCall, Douglas (2014). Monty Python : a chronology, 1969–2012 (Second ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p. 36. ISBN 078647811X.
- ^ Young, Bill. "Monty Python, 1969-2014". Tellyspotting: Your Brit TV Pub. KERA. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
- ^ "About Us", CBS News, Retrieved August 26, 2016
- ^ "16 Cutting-Edge Facts", Mental Floss, Retrieved August 26, 2016
- ^ "MNF History: 1970", ESPN, Retrieved August 26, 2016
- ^ Blakely, Rhys (2024-06-26). "Omarosa Manigault Newman: 'Yeah, I came to realise that Donald Trump is a misogynist and a bigot'". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 2024-06-26.