News

Christmas is truly the gift that keeps on giving for the television business and for viewers.

Dating back to the 1940s, there have been nearly 2,500 TV episodes and specials with Christmas themes according to a list on Wikipedia. Sitcoms have provided the most content with 813 episodes dating back to 1952.

For the variety show treatment, Perry Como got things rolling with the first of his The Perry Como Chesterfield Supper Club — Christmas Special in 1948. Old Blue Eyes himself joined the party in 1950 with The Frank Sinatra Show: Christmas Show in 1950. The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show’s Gracie’s Christmas dropped that same year.

Sitcoms and dramas followed soon thereafter. CBS crime drama Suspense (“Dancing Dan’s Christmas”) aired in 1950. NBC’s Dragnet (“The Big .22 Rifle for Christmas”) and CBS’ Racket Squad (“The Christmas Caper”) followed in 1952. Amos ‘n Andy (“The Christmas Story”) and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet...

She actually passed on December 7, but I only just got word of it over the weekend. Jeni LeGon (August 14, 1916 – December 7, 2012) was one of the first African American women in tap dance to develop a career as a soloist. She also had a lengthy onscreen (in film and TV), one that spanned over 65 years, starting in 1936 appearing as a cabaret dancer in Dishonour Bright, to 2001's Ernest Dickerson-directed horror movie, Bones. She also did a 2-season stint on The Amos 'n Andy Show, from 1951 to 1953, appearing in 6 episodes in total. But she'll liekly be best remembered for her musical and dance talents. From the American Tap Dance Foundation:...

Now a Soap Opera About Negroes

By Tony May

Associated Press

September 24, 1968

Philadelphia (AP) -- A recent television survey claims some 22 million persons watch television soap operas and of them, about 13.6 million are Negroes--watching how the white world lives.

They really had no choice until a few weeks ago when a petite suburban Philadelphia mother of four debuted her ABC network sudser called, One Life To Live.

The new show features not one, not two, but three Negroes who face the daily tribulations of Sudsville side by side with whites.

"I thought it was time to get the soap operas out of Wasp (White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant) Valley," said the writer, Mrs. Agnes Eckhardt Nixon.

Mrs. Nixon, who writes her daily scripts in her home in the Philadelphia "Main Line" suburb of Rosemont, added:

"Obviously black people watch soap operas, but that's not why I did this. I just felt it...