Events

• January 14 – TWW
  Television Wales and the West
  Television Wales and the WestTelevision Wales and the WestTelevision Wales and the West , accessed 19 August 2006, accessed 19 August 2006 was the British "Independent Television" contractor for the franchise area serving 'South Wales and West of England' 1956–68 Television Wales and the...
  
  , the first ITV
  ITV
  ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
  
   franchise for South Wales
  South Wales
  South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
  
   and West of England
  West of England
  The West of England is a loose and locationally unspecific term sometimes given to the area surrounding the city and county of Bristol, England, and also sometimes applied more widely and in other parts of South West England.-Use in the Bristol area:...
  
  , went on the air.
• 17 February 1958 – Pope Pius XII designates St. Clare of Assisi the patron saint of television. Thereafter, placing her icon on a television set was said to improve reception.http://www.cbc.ca/hdtv/history.html
• July 1 – The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
  Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
  The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
  
   links television
  Television
  Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
  
   broadcasting across Canada
  Canada
  Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
  
  . The CBC's microwave network between Nova Scotia and British Columbia, completed this year, makes it the longest in the world.
• August 30 – Southern Television
  Southern Television
  Southern Television was the first ITV broadcasting licence holder for the south and south-east of England from 30 August 1958 until the night of 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited and the title Southern Television was consistently used on-air throughout its life...
  
  , the ITV franchise for South Central and South East England
  South East England
  South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, designated in 1994 and adopted for statistical purposes in 1999. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex...
  
  , went on the air.
• October 17 – Fred Astaire
  Fred Astaire
  Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
  
   makes his TV starring debut in the NBC special, An Evening with Fred Astaire, which goes on to win 9 Emmys and is one of the first TV specials to be preserved on videotape.
• November 30 – During the live broadcast of the Armchair Theatre
  Armchair Theatre
  Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series, which ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television after 1968....
  
  play Underground on the ITV network in the UK
  United Kingdom
  The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
  
  , actor
  Actor
  An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
  
   Gareth Jones
  Gareth Jones (actor)
  Gareth Jones was a British actor, chiefly remembered for the circumstances of his death....
  
   suffers a fatal heart attack between two of his scenes while in make-up.
• Senator Estes Kefauver
  Estes Kefauver
  Carey Estes Kefauver July 26, 1903 – August 10, 1963) was an American politician from Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S...
  
   holds congressional hearings on the rising rates of juvenile crime and publishes an article in Reader's Digest
  Reader's Digest
  Reader's Digest is a general interest family magazine, published ten times annually. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, its headquarters is now in New York City. It was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace...
  
   called "Let's Get Rid of Tele-Violence." Kefauver held hearings on pharmacutical companies that year. And the article cited appeared in the April 1956 issue of Reader's Digest; it was written by Don Wharton and originally appeared in Parents' Magazine. My source: I checked the actual issue in the Library of Congress's stacks.
• Ampex
  Ampex
  Ampex is an American electronics company founded in 1944 by Alexander M. Poniatoff. The name AMPEX is an acronym, created by its founder, which stands for Alexander M. Poniatoff Excellence...
  
   demonstrates their design for a color Video Tape Recorder
  Video tape recorder
  A video tape recorder is a tape recorder that can record video material, usually on a magnetic tape. VTRs originated as individual tape reels, serving as a replacement for motion picture film stock and making recording for television applications cheaper and quicker. An improved form included the...
  
  .
• In the United Kingdom, the top-rated show of the year was the ITV game show Dotto
  Dotto
  Dotto is an American television quiz show which aired on CBS from January 6 to August 15, 1958 and was hosted by Jack Narz. Although it quickly became the highest-rated daytime game show on television, its end came when it became the unexpected first casualty – and ignition – of the...
  
  , adapted from an American game show which in turn was based on children's Connect the Dots
  Connect the dots
  Connect the dots, also known as dot to dot or join the dots is a form of puzzle containing a sequence of numbered dots. When a line is drawn connecting the dots the outline of an object is revealed. The puzzles often contain simple line art to enhance the image created or to assist in rendering a...
  
   game.
• The original American version of "Dotto" was the first game show to be implicated in the Scandals
  Quiz show scandals
  The American quiz show scandals of the 1950s were a series of revelations that contestants of several popular television quiz shows were secretly given assistance by the show's producers to arrange the outcome of a supposedly fair competition....
  
  , and was abruptly cancelled in August.
• Top-rated prime-time game show "Twenty One"
  Twenty One (game show)
  Twenty One is an American game show which aired in the late 1950s. While it included the most popular contestant of the quiz show era, it became notorious for being a rigged quiz show which nearly caused the demise of the entire genre in the wake of United States Senate investigations...
  
   was abruptly dropped by NBC in October after former contestant Herb Stempel
  Herb Stempel
  Herbert Milton "Herb" Stempel is a television game show contestant and subsequent whistle blower on the fraudulent nature of the industry, in what became known as the quiz show scandals...
  
   charged that the show was rigged and that he had been ordered to lose a match to the popular Charles Van Doren
  Charles Van Doren
  Charles Lincoln Van Doren is an American intellectual, writer, and editor who was involved in a television quiz show scandal in the 1950s...
  
  .
• Fall
  Autumn
  Autumn is one of the four temperate seasons. Autumn marks the transition from summer into winter usually in September or March when the arrival of night becomes noticeably earlier....
  
   – The Scandals
  Quiz show scandals
  The American quiz show scandals of the 1950s were a series of revelations that contestants of several popular television quiz shows were secretly given assistance by the show's producers to arrange the outcome of a supposedly fair competition....
  
   involving rigged network quiz shows spread, resulting in the cancellation of the original big-money game show, CBS' "The $64,000 Question", and creating havoc within the US television industry.
• DuMont
  Dumont
  - People :Dumont or DuMont is a common family name in France that has spread to many other countries. It is the name of:* Dumont de Montigny , French explorer and author...
  
   sells its television manufacturing assets to Emerson
  Emerson
  -People:* Ralph Waldo Emerson , American Transcendentalist author* Emerson Moisés Costa , Brazilian footballer commonly known solely by his first name* Emerson , a surname...
  
  . The quality drops.

Debuts

• January 4 – Sea Hunt
  Sea Hunt
  Sea Hunt was an American adventure television series that was aired in syndication by Ziv Television Programs from 1958 to 1961 and was popular in syndication for decades afterwards. The series originally aired for four seasons, with 155 episodes produced...
  
  premieres in syndication (1958–1961).
• June 19 - Jack Wyatt
  Jack Wyatt
  John Francis Minford "Jack" Wyatt was an advertising executive and television host from New York City and Dallas, Texas, who, during his early fifties, was ordained as an Episcopalian priest...
  
  's Confession
  Confession (TV series)
  Confession is a short-lived ABC crime/police reality show which aired from June 19, 1958, to January 13, 1959, with interviewer Jack Wyatt questioning criminals from assorted backgrounds. The program was carried by videotape from WFAA-TV, the network affiliate in Dallas, Texas, the first station to...
  
  premieres on ABC
  American Broadcasting Company
  The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
  
   (1958–1959).
• August 25 – Concentration
  Concentration (game show)
  Concentration was an American TV game show based on the children's memory game of the same name. Matching cards represented prizes that contestants could win...
  
  premieres on NBC
  NBC
  The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
  
   (1958–1973).
• September 22 – Peter Gunn
  Peter Gunn
  Peter Gunn is an American private eye television series which aired on the NBC and later ABC television networks from 1958 to 1961. The show's creator was Blake Edwards...
  
  premieres on NBC (1958–1961).
• September 24 – The Donna Reed Show
  The Donna Reed Show
  The Donna Reed Show is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the upper middle class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz appears as her pediatrician husband Alex, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children Mary and Jeff. The show originally aired on ABC at 10 pm from September...
  
  premieres on ABC (1958–1966).
• September 30 – The Rifleman
  The Rifleman
  The Rifleman is an American Western television program that starred Chuck Connors as homesteader Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show, filmed in black-and-white with a half hour running time, ran...
  
  premieres on ABC (1958–1963).
• October 2 – The Huckleberry Hound Show premieres, Hanna Barbera's second television series (1958–1962).
• October 5 - Lawman
  Lawman (tv series)
  Lawman is an American Western television series originally telecast from 1958 to 1962 starring John Russell as Marshal Dan Troop and featuring Peter Brown as Deputy Marshal Johnny McKay on the ABC Television Network. The series was set in Laramie, Wyoming during the mid to late 1870s. Warner Bros....
  
  premieres on ABC
  American Broadcasting Company
  The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
  
  (1958–1962).
• October 5 - Encounter
  Encounter (TV series)
  Encounter is a five-week anthology television series aired from Toronto, Canada, and carried by both the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and ABC from October 5 to November 2, 1958.The one-hour dramas were either romance, adventure, or mystery stories...
  
  , an anthology series originating from Toronto, Canada, began a five-week run on ABC, having been cancelled after the November 2 episode.
• October 8 – Bat Masterson
  Bat Masterson (TV series)
  Bat Masterson is an American Western television series which showed a fictionalized account of the life of real-life marshal/gambler/dandy Bat Masterson. The title character was played by Gene Barry and the half-hour black and white shows ran on NBC from 1958 to 1961...
  
  premieres on NBC (1958–1961).
• October 10 – 77 Sunset Strip
  77 Sunset Strip
  77 Sunset Strip is an hour-length American television private detective series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd Byrnes....
  
  premieres on ABC (1958–1964).
• October 10 – Grandstand
  Grandstand (BBC)
  Grandstand was a British television sport programme. Broadcast between 1958 and 2007, it was one of the BBC's longest running sports shows, alongside BBC Sports Personality of the Year.Its first presenter was Peter Dimmock...
  
  (UK) debuts on BBC Television
  BBC Television
  BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
  
   (1958–2007).
• October 16 – Blue Peter
  Blue Peter
  Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
  
  (UK), the world's longest-running children's TV programme, debuts on BBC
  BBC
  The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
  
   Television (1958–present).
• October 17 - An Evening With Fred Astaire
  An Evening With Fred Astaire
  An Evening with Fred Astaire is a one-hour live television special starring Fred Astaire, broadcast on NBC on October 17, 1958. It was highly successful, winning nine Emmy awards and spawning three further specials, and technically innovative, as it was one of the first major television shows to be...
  
  on NBC; first show prerecorded on color videotape, wins nine Emmy Award
  Emmy Award
  An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
  
  s.
• December 22 – Quatermass and the Pit
  Quatermass and the Pit
  Quatermass and the Pit is a British television science-fiction serial, originally transmitted live by BBC Television in December 1958 and January 1959. It was the third and last of the BBC's Quatermass serials, although the character would reappear in a 1979 ITV production simply entitled Quatermass...
  
  (UK) premieres on BBC Television (1958–1959).
• Don Messer's Jubilee
  Don Messer's Jubilee
  Don Messer's Jubilee was a television folk musical variety show produced at station CBHT in Halifax, Nova Scotia and broadcast by CBC Television nationwide from 1957 until 1969....
  
  premieres (1958–1969).
• The Friendly Giant
  The Friendly Giant
  The Friendly Giant is a popular Canadian children's television program that aired on CBC Television from September 1958 through to March 1985...
  
  premieres (1958–1985).
• Your Life in Their Hands
  Your Life in Their Hands
  Your Life in Their Hands is a long-running BBC TV documentary series on the subject of surgery, examining surgical practice from the point of view of both surgeons and patients. Its first run lasted from 1958 to 1964 and was presented by Dr. Charles Fletcher...
  
  (UK) premieres on BBC Television (1958–1964 and many revivals).

Television shows

• Gillette Cavalcade of Sports
  Gillette Cavalcade of Sports
  The Gillette Cavalcade of Sports was an American network radio program and later television program that included broadcasts of a variety of sports, although it is primarily remembered by many for its focus on boxing.-Overview and background:...
  
  (1946–1960).
• Howdy Doody
  Howdy Doody
  Howdy Doody is an American children's television program that was created and produced by E. Roger Muir and telecast on NBC in the United States from 1947 until 1960. It was a pioneer in children's television programming and set the pattern for many similar shows...
  
  (1947–1960).
• Meet the Press
  Meet the Press
  Meet the Press is a weekly American television news/interview program produced by NBC. It is the longest-running television series in American broadcasting history, despite bearing little resemblance to the original format of the program seen in its television debut on November 6, 1947. It has been...
  
  (1947–present).
• Candid Camera
  Candid Camera
  Candid Camera is a hidden camera/practical joke reality television series created and produced by Allen Funt, which initially began on radio as Candid Microphone June 28, 1947...
  
  (1948–present).
• The Ed Sullivan Show
  The Ed Sullivan Show
  The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
  
  (1948–1971).
• Bozo the Clown
  Bozo the Clown
  Bozo the Clown is a clown character very popular in the United States, peaking in the 1960s as a result of widespread franchising in early television.Originally created by Alan W...
  
  (1949–present).
• Come Dancing
  Come Dancing
  Come Dancing was a BBC TV ballroom dancing competition show that ran on and off from 1949 to 1998, becoming one of television's longest-running shows....
  
  (UK) (1949–1995).
• The Voice of Firestone
  The Voice of Firestone
  The Voice of Firestone, is a long-running radio and television program of classical music. The show featured leading singers in selections from opera and operetta. Originally titled The Firestone Hour, it was first broadcast on the NBC Radio network December 3, 1928 and was later also shown on...
  
  (1949–1963).
• The Jack Benny Show (1950–1965).
• Truth or Consequences
  Truth or Consequences
  Truth or Consequences is an American quiz show originally hosted on NBC radio by Ralph Edwards and later on television by Edwards , Jack Bailey , Bob Barker , Bob Hilton and Larry Anderson . The television show ran on CBS, NBC and also in syndication...
  
  (1950–1988).
• What's My Line (1950–1967).
• Your Hit Parade
  Your Hit Parade
  Your Hit Parade, is an American radio and television music program that was broadcast from 1935 to 1955 on radio, and seen from 1950 to 1959 on television. It was sponsored by American Tobacco's Lucky Strike cigarettes. During this 24-year run, the show had 19 orchestra leaders and 52 singers or...
  
  (1950–1959).
• Dragnet (1951–1959).
• Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
  Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
  Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse is an American television anthology series produced by Desilu Productions. The show ran on CBS television between 1958 and 1960...
  
  (1958–1960)
• "I Love Lucy
  I Love Lucy
  I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...
  
  " (1951–1960)
• Love of Life
  Love of Life
  Love of Life is an American soap opera which aired on CBS Daytime from September 24, 1951 to February 1, 1980. It was created by Roy Winsor, whose previous creation Search for Tomorrow had premiered three weeks before Love of Life, and who would go on to create The Secret Storm two and a half years...
  
  (1951–1980).
• Search for Tomorrow
  Search for Tomorrow
  Search for Tomorrow is an American soap opera which premiered on September 3, 1951 on CBS. The show was moved from CBS to NBC on March 29, 1982. It continued on NBC until the final episode aired on December 26, 1986, a run of thirty-five years. At the time of its final broadcast it was the...
  
  (1951–1986).
• Hallmark Hall of Fame
  Hallmark Hall of Fame
  Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The second longest-running television program in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2011...
  
  (1951–present).
• American Bandstand
  American Bandstand
  American Bandstand is an American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer...
  
  (1952–1989).
• The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
  The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
  The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet is an American sitcom, airing on ABC from October 3, 1952 to September 3, 1966, starring the real life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television where it continued its success, running on both radio and TV for a couple of years...
  
  (1952–1966).
• The Guiding Light
  Guiding Light
  Guiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
  
  (1952–2009).
• The Today Show (1952–present).
• This Is Your Life
  This Is Your Life
  This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
  
  (US
  United States
  The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
  
  ) (1952–1961).
• Panorama
  Panorama (TV series)
  Panorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme, which was first broadcast in 1953, and is the longest-running public affairs television programme in the world. Panorama has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby...
  
  (UK) (1953–present).
• The Good Old Days
  The Good Old Days
  The Good Old Days is a popular BBC television light entertainment programme which ran from 1953 to 1983.It was performed at the Leeds City Varieties and recreated an authentic atmosphere of the Victorian–Edwardian music hall with songs and sketches of the era performed by present-day...
  
  (UK) (1953–1983).
• Disneyland (1954–1958) ends on September 3, to resume on September 12 as Walt Disney Presents (1958–1961).
• Face the Nation
  Face the Nation
  Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer is an American Sunday-morning political interview show which premiered on the CBS television network on November 7, 1954. It is one of the longest-running news programs in the history of television...
  
  (1954–present).
• The Brighter Day
  The Brighter Day
  The Brighter Day is an American daytime soap opera which aired on CBS from January 4, 1954 to September 28, 1962. Originally created for NBC radio by Irna Phillips in 1948, the radio and television versions ran simultaneously from 1954-1956...
  
  (1954–1962).
• The Milton Berle Show (1954–1967).
• The Secret Storm
  The Secret Storm
  The Secret Storm is a soap opera which ran on CBS from February 1, 1954 to February 8, 1974. The series was created by Roy Winsor, who also created the long-running soap operas Search for Tomorrow and Love of Life...
  
  (1954–1974).
• The Tonight Show
  The Tonight Show
  The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
  
  (1954–present).
• Zoo Quest
  Zoo Quest
  Zoo Quest was a series of multi-part nature documentaries broadcast on BBC television between 1954 and 1963. It was the first major programme to feature David Attenborough....
  
  (UK) (1954–1964).
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents
  Alfred Hitchcock Presents
  Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades...
  
  (1955–1962).
• Captain Kangaroo
  Captain Kangaroo
  Captain Kangaroo is a children's television series which aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for nearly 30 years, from October 3, 1955 until December 8, 1984, making it the longest-running children's television program of its day...
  
  (1955–1984).
• Cheyenne (1955–1962).
• Dixon of Dock Green
  Dixon of Dock Green
  Dixon of Dock Green was a popular BBC television series that ran from 1955 to 1976, and later a radio series. Despite being a drama series, it was initially produced by the BBC's light entertainment department.-Overview:...
  
  (UK) (1955–1976).
• Gunsmoke
  Gunsmoke
  Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
  
  (1955–1975).
• Jubilee USA
  Ozark Jubilee
  Ozark Jubilee is the first U.S. network television program to feature country music's top stars, and was the centerpiece of a strategy for Springfield, Missouri to challenge Nashville, Tennessee as America's country music capital...
  
  (1955–1960)
• Mickey Mouse Club
  Mickey Mouse Club
  The Mickey Mouse Club is an American variety television show that began in 1955, produced by Walt Disney Productions and televised by the ABC, featuring a regular but ever-changing cast of teenage performers. The Mickey Mouse Club was created by Walt Disney...
  
  (1955–1959).
• The Lawrence Welk Show
  The Lawrence Welk Show
  The Lawrence Welk Show is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years , then nationally for another 27 years via the ABC network and first-run syndication .In the years since first-run syndication...
  
  (1955–1982).
• This Is Your Life (UK) (1955–2003).
• Armchair Theatre (UK) (1956–1968).
• As the World Turns
  As the World Turns
  As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
  
  (1956–2010).
• The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford
  The Ford Show
  The Ford Show is a half-hour comedy/variety program, starring singer and folk humorist Tennessee Ernie Ford, which aired in color on NBC television on Thursday evenings from October 4, 1956 to June 29, 1961....
  
  (1956–1961).
• Hancock's Half Hour
  Hancock's Half Hour
  Hancock's Half Hour was a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy, series of the 1950s and 60s written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock, with Sid James; the radio version also co-starred, at various times, Moira Lister, Andrée Melly, Hattie Jacques, Bill Kerr...
  
  (1956–1962).
• Opportunity Knocks (UK) (1956–1978).
• The Edge of Night
  The Edge of Night
  The Edge of Night is an American television mystery series/soap opera produced by Procter & Gamble. It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that network until November 28, 1975; the series then moved to ABC, where it aired from December 1, 1975, until December 28, 1984...
  
  (1956–1984).
• The Gale Storm Show, Oh! Susanna (1956–1960).
• The Price Is Right (1956–1965).
• The Steve Allen Show
  Steve Allen (comedian)
  Stephen Valentine Patrick William "Steve" Allen was an American television personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. Though he got his start in radio, Allen is best known for his television career. He first gained national attention as a guest host on Arthur Godfrey's Talent...
  
  (1956–1960).
• What the Papers Say
  What the Papers Say
  What The Papers Say is a BBC radio programme that originally ran for many years on British television.Its first incarnation was the second longest-running programme on British television after Panorama...
  
  (UK) (1956–2008).
• Leave It to Beaver
  Leave It to Beaver
  Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...
  
  (1957–1963).
• The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom
  The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom
  The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom is a half-hour variety show that aired on ABC from October 3, 1957 to June 23, 1960, starring the young singer Pat Boone and a host of top-name guest stars. The program was of course sponsored by Chevrolet...
  
  (1957–1960).
• The Army Game
  The Army Game
  The Army Game is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 1957 to 1961. Made in black-and-white, it is about National Service conscription to the post-war British Army. It was created by Sid Colin...
  
  (UK) (1957–1961).
• The Sky at Night
  The Sky at Night
  The Sky at Night is a monthly documentary television programme on astronomy produced by the BBC. The show has had the same permanent presenter, Sir Patrick Moore, from its first airing on 24 April 1957, making it the longest-running programme with the same presenter in television history.The...
  
  (UK) (1957–present).
• General Motors Presents
  General Motors Theatre
  General Motors Theatre was a Canadian television anthology series, which ran on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation under its various titles from 1953 until 1961. First transmitted under the sponsored title on October 5 1954, a new 60-minute drama would be presented each week...
  
  (Can) (1953–1956, 1958–1961)

Ending this year

• April 28 – Adventures of Superman
  Adventures of Superman (TV series)
  Adventures of Superman is an American television series based on comic book characters and concepts created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The show is the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California...
  
  (1952–1958).
• May 31 - The Polly Bergen Show
  The Polly Bergen Show
  The Polly Bergen Show is a half-hour 18-episode comedy/variety show, starring then 27-year-old Polly Bergen, which aired on NBC in the 1957-1958 television season. The program is remembered for its impressive guest-star lineup as well as its closing theme song, "The Party's Over" .The Polly Bergen...
  
  (1957–1958)
• June – Climax! (1954–1958).
• Hey, Jeannie!
  Hey, Jeannie!
  Hey, Jeannie! is a 32-episode half-hour situation comedy starring Jeannie Carson as a young Scottish woman living in New York City. Twenty-six segments aired on CBS from September 8, 1956 to May 4, 1957 in the Saturday slot following The Gale Storm Show and preceding the western series Gunsmoke.Six...
  
  (1956–1957; syndication in 1958).
• Kraft Television Theater (1947–1958).
• Life of Riley (1949–1950 and 1953–1958).
• The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
  Burns and Allen
  Burns and Allen, an American comedy duo consisting of George Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen, worked together as a comedy team in vaudeville, films, radio and television and achieved great success over four decades.-Vaudeville:...
  
  (1950–1958).
• Club Oasis
  Club Oasis
  Club Oasis is a 24-episode half-hour comedy-variety show, set in a chic simulated nightclub, which appeared on NBC in the 1957–1958 television season. The series alternated with The Polly Bergen Show in the 9 p.m. EST time slot on Saturday evenings...
  
  (1957–1958)

Births

• January 4 – Matt Frewer
  Matt Frewer
  Matthew "Matt" Frewer is a Canadian American stage, TV and film actor. Acting since 1983, he is known for portraying the 1980s icon Max Headroom and the retired villain Moloch in the film adaptation of Watchmen.-Life and career:...
  
  , actor
• January 20 - Lorenzo Lamas
  Lorenzo Lamas
  Lorenzo Lamas y de Santos is an American actor. Lamas is known for playing Lance Cumson on the popular 1980s soap opera Falcon Crest, Reno Raines on the 1990s crime drama Renegade, and Hector Ramirez on the daytime soap opera The Bold and The Beautiful...
  
  , actor, Falcon Crest
  Falcon Crest
  Falcon Crest is an American primetime television soap opera which aired on the CBS network for nine seasons, from December 4, 1981 to May 17, 1990. A total of 227 episodes were produced....
  
  .
• January 25 - Dinah Manoff
  Dinah Manoff
  Dinah Beth Manoff is an American stage, film and television actress and television director best known for her roles as Elaine Lefkowitz on Soap, Marty Maraschino in the film Grease, Libby Tucker in both the stage and film adaptations of I Ought to Be in Pictures, for which she won a Tony award,...
  
  , actress & director
• January 26 - Ellen DeGeneres
  Ellen DeGeneres
  Ellen Lee DeGeneres is an American stand-up comedienne, television host and actress. She hosts the syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and was also a judge on American Idol for one year, having joined the show in its ninth season....
  
  , actress & comedienne.
• January 30 – Brett Butler
  Brett Butler (comedian)
  Brett Butler is an American actress, writer, and stand-up comedian, best known for playing the title role in the comedy series Grace Under Fire.-Early life:...
  
  , actress, Grace Under Fire.
• March 3 – Miranda Richardson
  Miranda Richardson
  Miranda Jane Richardson is an English stage, film and television actor. She has been nominated for two Academy Awards, and has won two Golden Globes and a BAFTA during her career....
  
  , English actress.
• March 7 - Donna Murphy
  Donna Murphy
  Donna Murphy is an American stage, film, television actress and singer.Murphy has won two Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Musical for her roles in Passion as Fosca and in The King and I as Anna Leonowens...
  
  , actress & singer.
• March 10 – Sharon Stone
  Sharon Stone
  Sharon Vonne Stone is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She achieved international recognition for her role in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct...
  
  , actress.
• March 21 – Gary Oldman
  Gary Oldman
  Gary Leonard Oldman is an English actor, voice actor, filmmaker and musician.A member of the 1980s Brit Pack, Oldman came to prominence via starring roles in British films Meantime , Sid and Nancy and Prick Up Your Ears , with his performance in the latter bringing him his first BAFTA Award...
  
  , English actor & filmmaker.
• April 3 – Alec Baldwin
  Alec Baldwin
  Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons before his character was killed off...
  
  , actor.
• April 29 – Michelle Pfeiffer
  Michelle Pfeiffer
  Michelle Marie Pfeiffer is an American actress. She made her film debut in 1980 in The Hollywood Knights, but first garnered mainstream attention with her performance in Brian De Palma's Scarface . Pfeiffer has won numerous awards for her work...
  
  , actress.
• April 29 – Eve Plumb
  Eve Plumb
  Eve Aline Plumb is an American actress and painter. She is best known for her portrayal of Jan Brady in the iconic television sitcom The Brady Bunch.-Early career:...
  
  , actress, The Brady Bunch
  The Brady Bunch
  The Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz and starring Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis. The series revolved around a large blended family...
  
  .
• May 23 - Drew Carey
  Drew Carey
  Drew Allison Carey is an American actor, singer, comedian, photographer, sports executive, and game show host. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, Carey eventually gained popularity starring on his own sitcom, The Drew Carey Show, and serving as...
  
  , actor, comedian & game show host
• May 30 – Ted McGinley
  Ted McGinley
  Theodore Martin "Ted" McGinley is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Jefferson D'Arcy on the television series Married... with Children and as Charley Shanowski on the ABC sitcom Hope & Faith...
  
  , actor.
• June 12 - Rebecca Holden
  Rebecca Holden
  Rebecca Holden is an American actress and singer.-Early life and career:Born in Dallas, Texas, Holden was discovered in New York City by an agency and started appearing on magazine covers and did commercials...
  
  , actress & singer.
• June 22 – Bruce Campbell
  Bruce Campbell
  Bruce Lorne Campbell is an American film and television actor. As a cult movie actor, Campbell starred as Ashley J. "Ash" Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series of films and he has starred in many low-budget cult films such as Crimewave, Maniac Cop, Bubba Ho-tep, Escape From L.A. and Sundown:...
  
  , actor & director.
• July 6 – Jennifer Saunders
  Jennifer Saunders
  Jennifer Jane Saunders is an English comedienne, screenwriter, singer and actress. She has won two BAFTAs, an International Emmy Award, a British Comedy Award, a Rose d'Or Light Entertainment Festival Award, two Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards, and a Peoples Choice Award.She first came into...
  
  , English actress, comedienne & singer.
• August 16 – Angela Bassett
  Angela Bassett
  Angela Evelyn Bassett is an American actress. She has become well known for her biographical film roles portraying real life women in African American culture, including singer Tina Turner in the motion picture What's Love Got to Do with It, as well as Betty Shabazz in the films Malcolm X and...
  
  , actress.
  • Madonna
    Madonna (entertainer)
    Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
    
    , pop singer & actress.
• August 29 – Michael Jackson
  Michael Jackson
  Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
  
  , pop singer (d. 2009)
• August 31 – Julie Brown
  Julie Brown
  Julie Ann Brown is an American actress, comedienne, screen/television writer, singer-songwriter, television director. Brown is perhaps best known for her work in the 1980s, where she often played a quintessential valley girl character...
  
  , actress, comedienne & singer.
• September 24 - Kevin Sorbo
  Kevin Sorbo
  Kevin David Sorbo is an American actor best known for the roles of Hercules in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Captain Dylan Hunt in Andromeda and Kull in Kull the Conqueror.-Early life:...
  
  , actor.
• October 9 - Michael Pare
  Michael Paré
  - Early life :Paré was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Joan, a homemaker, and Francis Paré, who owned print shops. He had six sisters and three brothers. Paré's father was of French-Canadian ancestry and his mother of Irish ancestry....
  
  , actor.
• November 16 – Marg Helgenberger
  Marg Helgenberger
  Mary Marg Helgenberger is an American film and television actress known for her roles as Catherine Willows in the CBS drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and as K.C...
  
  , actress.
• November 22 – Jamie Lee Curtis
  Jamie Lee Curtis
  Jamie Lee Curtis is an American actress and author. Although she was initially known as a "scream queen" because of her starring roles in several horror films early in her career, such as Halloween, The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train, Curtis has since compiled a body of work that spans many...
  
  , actress.
• December 1 - Charlene Tilton
  Charlene Tilton
  Charlene L. Tilton is an American actress and singer. She is best known for playing Lucy Ewing in the television series Dallas.-Career:...
  
  , actress & singer, Dallas
  Dallas (TV series)
  Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...