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1954 in television

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List of years in television (table)
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1952
1953
1954
1955
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The year 1954 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events in 1954.

Events

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  • January 1 – NBC broadcasts the Rose Parade from Pasadena, California in NTSC color. The broadcast uses a new mobile color TV studio (truck) and the program is carried across the continent on 21 stations. RCA strategically places Color TV sets in public viewing areas such as hotel lobbies because the first sets only become available to the public in the spring.
  • January 3 – Programma Nazionale began transmissions in Italy, making it the first TV network in Italian television.
  • January 5 – WAYS-TV, predecessor of WCCB, signed on the air. It was North Carolina's second UHF station (after WNAO-TV in Raleigh), as well as the second television station in the Charlotte market.
  • January 10 – CBMT opens in Montreal, making that city the first in Canada to have 2 stations operating. The new station uses the English language, leaving CBFT to continue entirely in French.
  • January 11 – The first weather forecast with an in-vision presenter is televised in the UK.
  • January 12 – Experimental television begins in Norway.
  • February 28 – Telma became the first television station in Morocco. It was closed down after 15 months on the air and was left without an official TV station until 1962.
  • March 28 – WKAQ-TV became the first television station in Puerto Rico.
  • April – The American Broadcasting Company broadcasts the Army-McCarthy hearings live and in their entirety.
  • May 1
  • May 17–23 – One week (the so-called "Sandrewsveckan" or "Sandrews week") of experimental television broadcasts are aired in Sweden, the first such programs in the country.
  • June 5 – The last new episode of the comic variety program, Your Show of Shows, airs.
  • June 6 – The Eurovision network makes its first official transmission: it broadcasts the Narcissus Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, followed by an evening program from Rome, including a tour of the Vatican City, an address from Pope Pius XII and an apostolic blessing.[1][2]
  • June 13 – Canal Nacional, predecessor of Canal 1, launched as the first Colombian television station.
  • July 5 – First actual news bulletin, News and Newsreel, aired on BBC Television, replacing Television Newsreel.
  • September 11 – The Miss America Beauty Contest airs for the first time on national television in the United States. 27 million viewers watched as Lee Ann Meriwether wins the title. Meriwether would later become a television actress, co-starring in Barnaby Jones (1973–1980).
  • September 16 – CBET-DT began transmissions as CKLW-TV at 2:50 p.m., it was the first television station in Windsor.
  • September 26 – WCAX-TV signs on the air as WMVT, making it the first television station in Vermont.
  • October 2 – The Jimmy Durante Show premieres on NBC (1954–1956).
  • October 29 – Sveriges Radio begins broadcasting TV in Sweden and apart from news and a weather forecast, the first Swedish TV programme is "En skål för televisionen" ("A Toast to Television") led by Lennart Hyland. For the first few months (until spring 1955), Swedish TV is broadcast one evening a week and for about an hour each time.
  • November 3 – Disney's Alice in Wonderland airs on ABC in the United States.
  • November 6 – LTV began broadcasting for the first time in Latvia and the oldest in the Baltic countries.
  • November 19 – Télé Monte-Carlo launched in Monaco, the first microstate to have a television network.
  • December 12 – BBC Television broadcasts its famous, and controversial, adaptation of George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.[3]
  • The Television Act 1954 authorises setting up the infrastructure for British commercial television.
  • The British Academy Television Awards, the most prestigious awards of the British television industry, are first awarded.
  • The RCA CT-100 and Westinghouse 15" color sets hit the market. Neither are big sellers.

Programs/programmes

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Series on the air in 1954

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Debuts

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Ending this year

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Date Show Debut
January 11 Of Many Things 1953
February 5 The Comeback Story
February 24 Answers for Americans
March 9 This Is Show Business 1949
March 28 Jukebox Jury 1953
May 11 Judge for Yourself
June 5 Your Show of Shows 1950
June 17 Martin Kane, Private Eye 1949
July 2 The Pride of the Family 1953
Television Newsreel (UK) 1948
August 1 Juvenile Jury 1947
August 2 The Dennis Day Show 1953
August 21 Bank on the Stars
September 3 The Best in Mystery 1954
October 3 The Man Behind the Badge 1953
October 10 Author Meets the Critics 1947
November 20 The Paul Winchell Show 1950
December 5 The Martha Wright Show 1954
December 26 Rocky King Detective 1950
December 30 The Mail Story 1947

Births

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Date Name Notability
January 2 Cynthia Sikes Yorkin Actress (St. Elsewhere)
January 5 Alex English NBA basketball player
January 6 Trudie Styler Actress
January 7 Jodi Long Actress
January 8 Jerry Vivino American musician
January 12 Howard Stern Radio and TV personality (America's Got Talent)
January 17 Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Politician[6]
January 19 Katey Sagal Actress and singer (Married... with Children, Futurama, Sons of Anarchy)
January 24 William Allen Young Actor (Moesha)
January 27 Ed Schultz Talk show host and sportscaster (d. 2018)
Adrian Taylor Producer (d. 2014)
January 28 Simon Templeman Actor
January 29 Oprah Winfrey Actress and talk-show host (The Oprah Winfrey Show)
February 1 Bill Mumy Actor and musician (Lost in Space)
February 2 Christie Brinkley Model and actress
February 6 David Hart Actor (In the Heat of the Night)
February 9 René Balcer Writer
February 15 Matt Groening Creator of The Simpsons and Futurama
February 17 Rene Russo Actress
February 18 John Travolta Actor (Welcome Back, Kotter)
John Mankiewicz Director
February 20 Anthony Head English actor (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Patty Hearst Actress
March 1 Catherine Bach Actress (Daisy Duke on The Dukes of Hazzard)
Ron Howard Actor (Opie Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show, Richie Cunningham on Happy Days) and director
March 3 Robert Gossett Actor
March 4 Catherine O'Hara Actress
March 5 Marsha Warfield Actress and comedian (Night Court)
Marla Pennington Actress (Small Wonder)
March 9 Michele Marsh Journalist (d. 2017)
Martin P. Robinson Puppeteer
Kevin Wade Producer
March 12 Eugene Robinson Journalist
March 13 Robin Duke Canadian actress and comedian (Saturday Night Live)
March 14 Adrian Zmed Actor (T.J. Hooker)
March 15 Craig Wasson Actor (One Life to Live)
March 17 Lesley-Anne Down Actress (The Bold and the Beautiful)
March 24 Donna Pescow Actress and director (Out of This World, Even Stevens)
Robert Carradine Actor (Lizzie McGuire)
March 29 Dianne Kay Actress (Eight is Enough)
April 3 Glenn Gordon Caron Writer
April 7 Jackie Chan Hong Kong-born Chinese actor, filmmaker, martial artist and stuntman
April 9 Dennis Quaid Actor
April 10 Peter MacNicol Actor (Chicago Hope, Ally McBeal, Numb3rs)
Deborah Rush Actress
April 16 Ellen Barkin Actress
April 17 Roddy Piper Actor (d. 2015)
April 18 Cynthia Ettinger Actress
April 21 James Morrison Actor (24)
Janet Zarish Actress
April 28 John Pankow Actor (Mad About You, Episodes)
April 29 Jerry Seinfeld Actor and comedian (Seinfeld)
April 30 Thom Bray Actor (Riptide)
David Bohrman American news executive (died 2023)
May 8 Pam Arciero American voice artist
David Keith American actor
Stephen Furst American actor (Babylon 5, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, St. Elsewhere) (d. 2017)[7]
May 10 Mike Hagerty Actor (d. 2022)
May 15 John Blyth Barrymore Actor
May 18 Patrick St. Esprit Actor
May 21 Janice Karman Actress
Jean Kasem Actress
May 28 Townsend Coleman Actor (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Tick)
June 2 Dennis Haysbert Actor (24, The Unit)
June 5 Nancy Stafford Actress (Matlock)
June 7 Bobby Di Cicco Actor
June 10 Rich Hall Writer
June 11 Greta Van Susteren Television news anchor
June 12 Ella Joyce Actress (Roc)
June 14 Kim Lankford Actress (Knots Landing)
Will Patton Actor
June 15 Jim Belushi Actor (According to Jim)
June 17 Mark Linn-Baker Actor (Larry Appleton on Perfect Strangers)
June 22 Chris Lemmon Actor (Duet)
Freddie Prinze Actor and comedian (Chico and the Man) (d. 1977)
June 28 Alice Krige Actress
July 2 Wendy Schaal Actress (It's a Living, American Dad!)
July 5 Don Stark Actor (That '70s Show)
Debra McGrath Actress
July 7 Ron Jones Composer
July 9 Kevin O'Leary Television personality
July 10 Lee David Zlotoff Producer
July 13 Danitra Vance Actress and comedian (Saturday Night Live) (d. 1994)
July 19 Mark O'Donnell Writer (d. 2012)
Steve O'Donnell Writer
July 22 Dianne Houston Screenwriter
July 28 Bruce Abbott Actor
Andrew Adelson Producer
July 29 Jeannetta Arnette Actress (Head of the Class)
July 30 Ken Olin Actor, director and producer (thirtysomething, Brothers & Sisters)
July 31 Rainer Bock Actor
August 2 Lisa Brown Actress (d. 2021)
August 12 Sam J. Jones Actor
August 16 James Cameron Canadian filmmaker
August 20 Al Roker American weather presenter
August 23 Marc Vann Actor (Early Edition, Angel, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation)
August 30 Jim Vallely Writer
September 2 Vance DeGeneres Actor
September 7 Corbin Bernsen Actor and director (L.A. Law, Psych)
Michael Emerson Actor (Lost, Person of Interest)
September 8 Anne Diamond Television presenter (The Wright Stuff)
Joe Cipriano Voice actor
September 10 Clark Johnson Actor (Homicide: Life on the Street, The Wire)
September 11 Reed Birney Actor
September 14 Barry Shabaka Henley Actor
Michael Patrick King American director, writer, and producer of television and film
September 15 Barry Shabaka Henley Actor
September 16 Mark McEwen TV host
September 21 John Mengatti Actor (The White Shadow)
September 22 Shari Belafonte Actress (Hotel), daughter of Harry Belafonte
September 29 Cindy Morgan Actress (Falcon Crest) (d. 2023)
September 30 Barry Williams Actor (The Brady Bunch)
Patrice Rushen Singer
October 1 Richard Schlesinger Journalist
October 2 Lorraine Bracco Actress
October 3 Al Sharpton Civil rights activist
October 9 Scott Bakula Actor (Quantum Leap, Star Trek: Enterprise, NCIS: New Orleans)
John O'Hurley Actor
October 14 Elizabeth Sung Actress (d. 2018)
October 15 Ingrid Tarrant Wife of Chris Tarrant
Jere Burns Actor
October 18 Arliss Howard Actor
October 24 Doug Davidson Actor (The Young and the Restless)
October 26 D. W. Moffett Actor (For Your Love, Friday Night Lights, Switched at Birth)
James Pickens, Jr. Actor (The X-Files, Grey's Anatomy)
November 3 Kathy Kinney Actress and comedian (The Drew Carey Show)
November 6 Catherine Crier American journalist
November 7 Gil Junger Director
November 12 Rhonda Shear TV personality, actress
November 13 Chris Noth Actor (Law & Order, Sex and the City, The Good Wife)
November 14 Yanni Composer
November 15 Kevin S. Bright Producer
November 19 Kathleen Quinlan Actress
November 23 Bruce Hornsby Composer
November 24 Emir Kusturica Actor
November 27 Patricia McPherson Actress (Knight Rider)
Kimmy Robertson Actress (Twin Peaks)
November 28 Marty Grabstein Actor (Courage the Cowardly Dog)
December 1 Bob Goen Game show host
Alan Dedicoat English announcer
December 2 Dan Butler Actor (Frasier, Hey Arnold!)
Patty Petersen Actress
Stone Phillips American television reporter
December 4 Tony Todd Actor and producer
December 7 Priscilla Barnes Actress (Three's Company)
December 10 Jeff Fager American producer
December 18 Ray Liotta Actor (d. 2022)
December 20 Michael Badalucco Actor (The Practice)
December 26 Tony Rosato Actor (Saturday Night Live, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World) (d. 2017)
December 28 Gayle King Television personality
Denzel Washington Actor (St. Elsewhere, Malcolm X, Training Day)
Lanny Poffo Actor (d. 2023)

Deaths

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Date Name Age Notability
September 28 Bert Lytell 69 Actor (One Man's Family, 1949–52, 1954)

Television debuts

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References

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  1. ^ "50 Years of Eurovision" (PDF). January 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-08-13. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
  2. ^ "'Eurovision' Bows Ushering in Era". Variety. 1954-06-02. p. 1 – via Archive.org.
  3. ^ "George Orwell's 1984 broadcast". bbc.com. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  4. ^ "TV star Muffin the Mule turns 60". BBC News. 30 October 2006. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  5. ^ "How Ed Sullivan Brought Culture To America". NPR.org. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  6. ^ "What to know about Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr". ABC News. September 27, 2023. Retrieved 2024-08-09.
  7. ^ "Stephen Furst, who played Flounder in the hit comedy 'Animal House', dies at 63". Washington Post. June 19, 2017. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved June 25, 2023.