1960 in television

The year 1960 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events during 1960.

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Events

• February 10 – Jack Paar temporarily quits his television program in the United States because his monologue had been edited the night before, in favor of a three-minute news update. Parr walks out to the audience at the beginning of the show, announces that he is quitting, says "There's got to be a better way to make a living," and then walks off the stage. After network executives apologize personally, Parr resumed hosting the program a month later. His first show back starts with the words "As I was saying before I was interrupted...".[1]
• February–September – In a first for US Audiences, CBS broadcasts the 1960 Winter Olympics and Summer Olympics, on an exclusive basis, for $60,000. From Squaw Valley, American viewers are treated to 31 hours of coverage, which includes a mix of alpine skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, speed skating, and ski jumping. The Winter Olympic broadcast is hosted by Walter Cronkite while a young Jim McKay, who will go on to host ABC's Olympic coverage, does the Rome Games.
• March 1 – Philippines's third television station DZTV Channel 13 (now owned by the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation) started broadcasts on March 1, 1960, at 6:30 pm under the Inter-Island Broadcasting Corporation through the tri-media conglomerate of RMN-IBC-Philippine Herald owned by Andrés Soriano, Sr., the then owner of San Miguel Corporation.
• March 2 – Lucille Ball files for divorce from Desi Arnaz, ending their 20-year marriage and the I Love Lucy franchise on CBS.
• June 1 – Auckland TV2, as predecessor for TVNZ 1 (Television New Zealand), a first television station in New Zealand, officially regular broadcasting service to start in Auckland.[2]
• June 11 - CBS broadcasts the Monaco Grand Prix Formula 1 race (which took place on May 29th), possibly first broadcast of any F1 race in the United States.
• June 20 – Nan Winton becomes the first national female newsreader on BBC television in the United Kingdom.[3]
• June 29 – The BBC Television Centre is opened in London.
• July 21 – ERTU Al Oula, a member for Egyptian Radio and Television Union, a first television broadcasting service was launched in Egypt.
• August 20 – NRK1, a first television station in Norway, an officially regular broadcasting service to start in Oslo.[4]
• September 24 – After thirteen seasons of entertaining American children, NBC children's show Howdy Doody ends with Clarabell the Clown saying the final two words of the show ("Goodbye Kids") after being assumed to only be mute.
• September 25 – First Japanese colour television broadcast.
• September 26 – American presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon debate live by television. The candidates behavior and/or appearance during the debate may have altered the outcome of the election. In addition to being the first presidential debates to be televised, the debates also marked the first time "split screen" images were used by a network.
• October 1 – Argentine television station, El Trece, a first officially regular broadcasting service to start in Buenos Aires.
• October 12 – Inejiro Asanuma, chairman of the Japan Socialist Party, is assassinated by Otoya Yamaguchi using a wakizashi (samurai sword) during a political debate in Tokyo being taped by Japanese television broadcaster NHK.
• November 4 – The University of Chile inaugurates its TV station over Channel 9 in Santiago, Chile. Its first broadcast marks the very first live broadcast of a TV show in Chile.
• December 9 – The first episode of soap opera Coronation Street, made by Granada Television in Manchester, England, is aired on ITV.[5] Intended as a 13-week pilot and disfavoured by critics, it has continued past its 10,000th episode in 2020 (its 60th anniversary year) as Britain's longest running soap.
• December 31 – Norma Zimmer officially becomes Lawrence Welk's "Champagne Lady" on The Lawrence Welk Show.

Undated

• Frank and Doris Hursley start their soap opera writing career, taking the jobs of joint head writers for the series Search for Tomorrow.
• Nearly 90% of homes in the United States now have a television set, and over one hundred million television sets are in use worldwide.

Programs/programmes

Debuts

• January 9 – Baseball competition Home Run Derby from Wrigley Field (Los Angeles) begins a six-month run in syndication.
• January 25 – Series The Kate Smith Show begins a six-month run on CBS.
• February 7 – Series Overland Trail begins a four-month run on NBC.
• June 1 – TV One is initiated in Auckland. This is the first television transmission in New Zealand.
• June 8 – Series Happy premieres on NBC (1960–1961).
• September 6 – Series Coronado 9 begins a six-month run on NBC (1960–61).
• September 11 – Series Danger Man premieres on ITV in UK; broadcast also by CBS in USA (1960–1961, 1964–1966).
• September 17 – Series Checkmate premieres on CBS (1960–1962).
• September 18 – Series The Tab Hunter Show premieres on NBC (1960–1961).
• September 23 – Series Dan Raven premieres on NBC (1960–1961).
• September 29 – Series My Three Sons premieres on ABC (1960–1972).
• September 29 – Series Outlaws premieres on NBC (1960–1962).
• September 30 – Hanna Barbera's series The Flintstones debut on ABC (1960–1966).
• October 1 – NBC commences airings of The Shari Lewis Show and Popeye the Sailor (Both 1960–1963)
• October 3 – Series The Andy Griffith Show premieres on CBS (1960–1968).
• October 4 – Series Stagecoach West premieres on CBS (1960–1961).
• October 7 – Series Route 66 premieres on CBS (1960–1964).
• October 10 – Klondike premieres on NBC (1960–1961).
• October 11 – The Bugs Bunny Show, Looney Tunes' first television series (1960–2000).
• October 12 – Series Peter Loves Mary premieres on NBC (1960–1961).
• December 9 – Soap opera Coronation Street premieres on Granada Television in UK (1960-present).
• Comedy show Radio Rochela (previously the La Cruzada del Buen Humor segment of El Show de las Doce) debuts on RCTV in Venezuela (1960–2010).

1940s

• Meet the Press (1947–present).
• Howdy Doody (1947–1960).
• 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).

1950s

• The Jack Benny Show (1950–1965).
• Men into Space (1959–1960).
• Truth or Consequences (1950–1988).
• What's My Line (1950–1967).
• Love of Life (1951–1980).
• I Love Lucy (1951–1960)
• Search for Tomorrow (1951–1986).
• Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951–present).
• American Bandstand (1952–1989).
• The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952–1966).
• The Guiding Light (1952–2009).
• The Today Show (1952–present).
• This Is Your Life (US) (1952–1961).
• Panorama (UK) (1953–present).
• The Good Old Days (UK) (1953–1983).
• Face the Nation (1954–present).
• 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).
• Dixon of Dock Green (UK) (1955–1976).
• Gunsmoke (1955–1975).
• Jubilee USA (1955–1960).
• The Lawrence Welk Show (1955–1982).
• This Is Your Life (UK) (1955–2003).
• Armchair Theatre (UK) (1956–1968).
• As the World Turns (1956–2010).
• Hancock's Half Hour (1956–1962).
• Opportunity Knocks (UK) (1956–1978).
• The Edge of Night (1956–1984).
• The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford (1956–1961).
• The Price Is Right (1956–1965).
• What the Papers Say (UK) (1956–2008).
• Leave It to Beaver (1957–1963).
• The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom (1957–1960).
• The Army Game (UK) (1957–1961).
• Perry Mason (1957–1966).
• The Sky at Night (UK) (1957–present).
• Blue Peter (UK) (1958–present).
• General Motors Presents (Can) (1953–1956, 1958–1961)
• Grandstand (UK) (1958–2007).
• Peter Gunn (1958–1961).
• The Donna Reed Show (1958–1966).
• The Huckleberry Hound Show (1958–1962).
• Walt Disney Presents (1958–1961).
• Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse (1958–1960)
• Bonanza (1959–1973).
• Hawaiian Eye (1959–1963).
• Juke Box Jury (1959–1967, 1979, 1989–1990).
• The Bell Telephone Hour (1959–1968).
• The Twilight Zone (1959-1964, 1985–1988, 2002).
• The Rebel (1959–1961).

Ending this year

Date	Show	Debut
January 25	Love and Marriage	1959
April 1	The Troubleshooters
June 11	The Man and the Challenge

Births

Date	Name	Notability
January 4	Julia St. John	British actress
	April Winchell	American voice actress, daughter of Paul Winchell
January 6	Howie Long	American football player, commentator
January 30	Tony O'Dell	American actor (Head of the Class)
February 7	Robert Smigel	American actor, comedian (Saturday Night Live)
	James Spader	American actor (Boston Legal, The Blacklist)
February 19	Leslie Ash	English actress (Men Behaving Badly)
February 20	Wendee Lee	American voice actress
February 22	Paul Abbott	English screenwriter (Shameless)
February 28	Dorothy Stratten	Canadian model (Playboy) and actress (d. 1980)
March 12	Jason Beghe	American actor (Chicago P.D.)
	Courtney B. Vance	American actor (Law & Order: Criminal Intent)
March 17	Vicki Lewis	American singer, actress (NewsRadio)
March 25	Haywood Nelson	American actor (What's Happening!!, What's Happening Now!!)
	Brenda Strong	American actress (Desperate Housewives)
March 26	Ellia English	American singer, actress (The Jamie Foxx Show)
April 7	Elaine Miles	American actress (Northern Exposure)
April 8	John Schneider	American actor (The Dukes of Hazzard)
April 11	Jeremy Clarkson	English journalist and presenter (Top Gear)
April 14	Brad Garrett	American actor (Everybody Loves Raymond, 'Til Death)
	Brian Forster	American actor (The Partridge Family)
April 16	Stan Foster	American actor (Tour of Duty)
	Michel Gill	American actor (House of Cards, Mr. Robot)
April 23	Valerie Bertinelli	American actress (One Day at a Time, Hot in Cleveland)
May 6	Julianne Phillips	American model, actress (Sisters)
May 17	Fiona Hutchison	American actress (One Life to Live, Guiding Light)
May 20	John Billingsley	American actor (Star Trek: Enterprise)
	Tony Goldwyn	American actor, director (Scandal)
May 31	Chris Elliott	American actor, comedian (Saturday Night Live, Get a Life)
June 5	Leslie Hendrix	American actress (All My Children, Law & Order)
June 17	Thomas Haden Church	American actor (Wings)
July 8	Valarie Pettiford	American actress (Half & Half)
July 10	Jeff Bergman	American voice actor (The Looney Tunes Show)
July 11	Caroline Quentin	English actress (Men Behaving Badly)
July 14	Jane Lynch	American actress (Glee)
July 15	Willie Aames	American actor (Eight is Enough, Charles in Charge)
July 16	Leila Kenzle	American actress (Mad About You)
July 17	Nancy Giles	American actress (China Beach), commentator (CBS News Sunday Morning)
July 18	Anne-Marie Johnson	American actress
July 21	Matt Mulhern	American actor (Major Dad)
August 6	Grant Aleksander	American actor (Guiding Light)
August 7	David Duchovny	American actor (The X-Files)
August 10	Antonio Banderas	Spanish actor, director (Interview with the Vampire, Shrek)
August 16	Timothy Hutton	American actor, producer (Ordinary People, Leverage)
August 28	Emma Samms	British actress (General Hospital, Dynasty)
	Jodi Carlisle	American actress (The Wild Thornberrys)
September 4	Damon Wayans	American actor, comedian (In Living Color, My Wife and Kids, Lethal Weapon)
September 11	Anne Ramsay	American actress (Mad About You)
September 14	Radames Pera	American actor (Kung Fu)
	Melissa Leo	American actress (All My Children, The Young Riders)
September 16	Jayne Brook	American actress (Chicago Hope)
September 21	David James Elliott	Canadian actor (JAG)
	Mary Mara	American actress (Law & Order, ER, Nash Bridges)
September 22	Scott Baio	American actor (Happy Days, Charles in Charge, Diagnosis: Murder)
October 24	BD Wong	American actor (Oz, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit)
October 25	Tom Eplin	American actor (Another World, As the World Turns)
October 28	Mark Derwin	American actor (The Young and the Restless)
October 30	Charnele Brown	American actress (A Different World)
November 4	Kathy Griffin	American actress (Suddenly Susan, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List)
November 8	Michael Nyqvist	Swedish actor (Millennium) (d. 2017)
November 13	Neil Flynn	American actor (Scrubs, The Middle)
December 9	Jeff "Swampy" Marsh	American voice actor (Major Monogram on Phineas and Ferb)
December 14	Don Franklin	American actor (The Young Riders, seaQuest DSV, Seven Days)
December 19	Mike Lookinland	American actor (The Brady Bunch)
December 25	Ron Bottitta	British actor (Lost)
December 27	Harry Goaz	American actor (Twin Peaks)

See also

• 1960–61 United States network television schedule

References

1. "Jack Paar's Water Closet Joke". Censorship & Scandals. TV ACRES. Archived from the original on February 5, 2013. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
2. TVNZ 1#History#1960 – 1975: NZBC TV Retrieved January 13, 2017.
3. Hill, Jane. "Remembering Nan Winton". About the BBC. BBC. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
4. NRK1 Retrieved January 13, 2017.
5. Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.