1963 in television

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The year 1963 involved some significant events in television. Below are lists of notable TV-related events.

Events

• January 1 – Osamu Tezuka's Tetsuwan Atomu (Astro Boy), Japan's first serialized animated series based on the popular manga, is broadcast for the first time, on the Japanese television station Fuji Television.
• January 13 – BBC Television broadcasts the play Madhouse on Castle Street in the Sunday-Night Theatre series. The play co-stars a young American folk music singer named Bob Dylan.
• March 12 – Television broadcasts begin in the Nakhichevan ASSR (present-day Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic within Azerbaijan) with the launch of Nakhchivan TV.
• April 1 – German terrestrial channel ZDF (pronounced tseht-day-ehf) begins broadcasting.
• April 15 - Three months after the first test broadcast, Television Singapura Channel 5 (now Mediacorp Channel 5) signs on as Singapore's first TV station.
• May 15 – First television pictures transmitted from a US manned space capsule ("Faith 7"). Due to the poor picture quality, only NBC carries the transmission, and on tape-delay, not live.
• July 8 – The English comedy sketch Dinner for One with Freddie Frinton, having been shown live on Peter Frankenfeld's show GutenAbend in 1962, is recorded in English by Norddeutscher Rundfunk before an audience at the Theater am Besenbinderhof, Hamburg, West Germany. Regularly repeated on New Year's Eve in Germany and elsewhere, it is not seen in its entirety on British television until 2018.
• July 22 – Bob Crane quits his DJ job at radio station KNX to become a regular on The Donna Reed Show after dividing time between the Screen Gems TV show and the CBS Radio affiliate. Crane had been a top five morning drive radio DJ since the mid-1950s in the Los Angeles market.
• August 28 – Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his I Have a Dream speech which is covered by major American networks.
• September 2 – CBS Evening News becomes network television's first half-hour weeknight news broadcast, when the show is lengthened from 15 to 30 minutes.
• September 9 – One week later, NBC also expands its evening network news program, The Huntley-Brinkley Report, to 30 minutes.
• September 27 – The Littlest Hobo makes its debut on TV across North America with the first episode entitled "Blue Water Sailor".
• September 29 – The Judy Garland Show makes its debut on CBS, which later got cancelled in 1964 after one season (due to competition with the ever popular NBC western Bonanza airing in the same time slot).
• September 30 – BBC Television begins using a globe as its symbol. They will continue to use it in varying forms until 2002.
• October 1 – ABC News at last drops its dependence on outside sources of news film and begins to rely on its own camera crews.
• October 14 − ABC affiliate WGHP in High Point, North Carolina signs on the air.
• November 22 – All three major U.S. networks start pre-emptions for a week following the news of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The pre-emptions unofficially begin a few minutes after President Kennedy is shot: on the top-rated American soap opera As the World Turns, Nancy Hughes (Helen Wagner) is in the middle of a discussion with Grandpa (Santos Ortega) about Bob's (Don Hastings) decision to invite Lisa (Eileen Fulton) to Thanksgiving dinner when Walter Cronkite interrupts Wagner mid-speech to deliver the bulletin. As the World Turns continues for one more scene (at this time, the show is transmitted live) before Cronkite cuts in permanently. News of the assassination, and later the funeral procession, are the first television broadcasts across the Pacific Ocean (via Relay 1 satellite).
• November 23 – On BBC Television in the United Kingdom:
  • William Hartnell stars as the First Doctor in the very first episode of science fiction series Doctor Who (first of the 4-part serial An Unearthly Child). So many people complain of having missed it (because of the disruption to schedules caused by the assassination of John F. Kennedy) that the following Saturday episode 1 is repeated before the broadcast of episode 2. Doctor Who runs until 1989 and is revived from 2005.
  • That Was the Week That Was broadcasts a serious Kennedy tribute episode.
• November 24 – Jack Ruby murders John F. Kennedy's suspected assassin Lee Harvey Oswald live on television.
• November 28 - CBS' Huntsville television station WHNT begins on the air.
• December 7 – Instant Replay is used for the first time during the live transmission of the Army Navy Game by its inventor, director, Tony Verna.
• December 28 – The launch of television broadcasting service in Malaysia, TV Malaysia, as predecessor of RTM TV1, member of Radio Televisyen Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, presided by government leaders from studios in Ampang Road in the capital.
• In Blanchard, North Dakota, construction on the KTHI TV transmitter mast (now KVLY-TV) was completed. Upon completion, its height of 2,063 ft (629m) made it the tallest structure in the world until 1966, when the nearby KXJB-TV mast (now KRDK) was completed. It still stands today, but at 1,987 ft tall due to an FCC spectrum repack.
• For the first time, most Americans say that they get more of their news from television than newspapers.
• The television remote control is authorized by the FCC.

Programs/programmes

• ABC's Wide World of Sports (1961–98)
• American Bandstand (1952–89)
• Armchair Theatre (1956–68)
• As the World Turns (1956–2010)
• Ben Casey (1961–66)
• Blue Peter (UK) (1958–present)
• Bonanza (1959–73)
• Bozo the Clown (1949–present)
• Candid Camera (1948–2004)
• Captain Kangaroo (1955–1984)
• Combat! (1962–67)
• Come Dancing (UK) (1949–95)
• Coronation Street, UK (1960–present)
• Death Valley Days (1952–75)
• Dixon of Dock Green (UK) (1955–76)
• Doctor Who, UK (1963–89, 1996, 2005–present)
• Face the Nation (1954–present)
• Four Corners, Australia (1961–present)
• Grandstand (UK) (1958–2007)
• Gunsmoke (1955–75)
• Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951–present)
• Have Gun Will Travel (1957–63)
• Hockey Night in Canada (1952–present)
• It's Academic (1961–present)
• Juke Box Jury (1959–67, 1979, 1989–90)
• Lassie (1954–74)
• Love of Life (1951–80)
• Mack & Myer for Hire (1963–64)
• Match Game (1962–1969, 1973–84, 1990–91, 1998–99, 2016–present)
• Meet the Press (1947–present)
• Mister Ed (1961–66)
• My Three Sons (1960–72)
• Opportunity Knocks (UK) (1956–78)
• Panorama (UK) (1953–present)
• Petticoat Junction, (1963–70)
• Professional Bowlers Tour (1962–97)
• Search for Tomorrow (1951–86)
• The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952–66)
• The Amos 'n Andy Show (1951–53)
• The Andy Griffith Show (1960–68)
• The Avengers, UK (1961–69)
• The Bell Telephone Hour (1959–68)
• The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–71)
• The Danny Kaye Show (1963–1967)
• The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–66)
• The Donna Reed Show (1958–66)
• The Ed Sullivan Show (1948–71)
• The Edge of Night (1956–84)
• The Flintstones (1960–66)
• The Fulton Sheen Program (1961–1968)
• The Good Old Days (UK) (1953–83)
• The Greatest Show on Earth (1963–64)
• The Guiding Light (1952–2009)
• The Jack Benny Program (1950–65)
• The Jetsons (1962–63, 1984–85, 1987)
• The Judy Garland Show (1963–64)
• The Late Late Show, Ireland (1962–present)
• The Lawrence Welk Show (1955–82)
• The Lucy Show (1962–68)
• The Mike Douglas Show (1961–81)
• The Milton Berle Show (1954–67)
• The Patty Duke Show, (1963–66)
• The Price Is Right (1956–65)
• The Saint, UK (1962–69)
• The Secret Storm (1954–74)
• The Sky at Night (UK) (1957–present)
• The Today Show (1952–present)
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962–1992)
• The Tonight Show (Steve Allen, 1954–57; Jack Paar, 1957–62)
• The Twilight Zone (1959–64)
• The World Tonight, Philippines (1962–present)
• This Is Your Life (UK) (1955–2003)
• Truth or Consequences (1950–88)
• Twelve O'Clock High (1964–67)
• Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (1961–69)
• What the Papers Say (UK) (1956–2008)
• What's My Line (1950–67)
• Z-Cars, UK (1962–78)
• Zoo Quest (UK) (1954–1964)

Debuts

• January 1 – Astro Boy (known as Mighty Atom in Japanese), on Fuji TV
• January 6 – Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom on NBC (1963–88, 2002–2011)
• January 7 – World in Action, investigative current affairs series, on Granada Television (UK) (1963–98)
• January 14 –
• April 1 – General Hospital (created by Frank and Doris Hursley) and The Doctors ABC (1963–) and NBC (1963–82) respectively
• August 9 – Ready Steady Go! on ITV (1963–66)
• September 16 – The Outer Limits on ABC (1963–65)
• September 17 – The Fugitive on ABC (1963–67)
• September 18 – The Patty Duke Show on ABC (1963–66)
• September 20 – Burke's Law on ABC (1963–65)
• September 24
  • The Littlest Hobo in Canada (1963–65; 1979–85)
  • Petticoat Junction on CBS (1963–70)
• September 25 - The Danny Kaye Show on CBS (1963–1967)
• September 28 - The New Phil Silvers Show (1963–64) and Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales on CBS (1963–66)
• September 29 – The Judy Garland Show (1963–64) and My Favorite Martian (1963–66), both on CBS
• October 5 – Le Manège enchanté on la Première chaîne de la RTF (1963–1971, 1989)
• October 7 – Hafenpolizei on Deutsches Fernsehen (1963–66)
• October 20 – Ritorna il tenente Sheridan on Programma Nazionale
• October 27 – Memorandum van een dokter (1963–65)
• November 23 – Doctor Who on BBC Television (1963–89, 1996, 2005–); with William Hartnell as the Doctor (1963–66)
• December 1 – Den tänkande brevbäraren on SVT
• December 30 – Let's Make a Deal on NBC (1963–1977, 1980–81, 1984–1986, 1990–1991, 2003, 2009–present)
• Mack & Myer for Hire this year in syndication (1963–64)

Ending this year

Date	Show	Debut
January 25	Don't Call Me Charlie!	1962
March 17	The Jetsons (returned in 1985)
April 2	Hawaiian Eye	1959
April 14	Car 54, Where Are You?	1961
May 5	Ensign O'Toole	1962
May 14	Empire
May 21	Laramie	1959
	The Voice of Firestone	1949
June 20	Leave It to Beaver	1957
June 23	The Real McCoys
August 26	Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har	1962
	Touché Turtle and Dum Dum
August 30	Wally Gator
September 28	The Shari Lewis Show	1960

Births

Date	Name	Notability
January 3	New Jack	American professional wrestler (died 2021)
January 4	Dave Foley	Canadian comedic actor (The Kids in the Hall, NewsRadio)
January 9	Bob Gosse	Actor
January 16	James May	English presenter (Top Gear)
January 19	Martin Bashir	British journalist
January 20	James Denton	Actor (Desperate Housewives)
January 21	Hakeem Olajuwon	NBA basketball player
	Detlef Schrempf	NBA basketball player
January 23	Gail O'Grady	Actress (NYPD Blue, American Dreams)
	Tony Daniels	Actor
January 25	Jim Axelrod	National Correspondent
	Don Mancini	Screenwriter
January 29	Monica Horan	Actress (Everybody Loves Raymond)
February 10	Philip Glenister	Actor
February 12	John Michael Higgins	Actor
February 14	Enrico Colantoni	Canadian actor (Just Shoot Me!, Veronica Mars, Flashpoint)
February 15	Steven Michael Quezada	Actor
February 17	Michael Jordan	NBA basketball player (Space Jam)
	Larry the Cable Guy	American stand-up comedian
	Rene Syler	American broadcast television journalist
February 19	Seal	British singer
	Jessica Tuck	Actress (One Life to Live, Judging Amy, True Blood)
February 20	Charles Barkley	NBA basketball player and TV analyst
February 21	William Baldwin	Actor
February 26	Chase Masterson	Actress (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
March 1	Bryan Batt	Actor
	Russell Wong	Actor
March 5	Joel Osteen	Televangelist
March 6	D. L. Hughley	Actor and comedian (The Hughleys)
March 7	Bill Brochtrup	Actor (NYPD Blue)
March 9	David Pogue	TV presenter
March 11	Alex Kingston	Actress (ER)
March 12	Jake Weber	English actor (Medium)
March 15	Greg Nicotero	American special make-up effects creator
March 16	Jerome Flynn	English actor
March 17	Jane Tranter	English television executive
March 18	Geoffrey Lower	Actor (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman)
	Vanessa Williams	Actress and singer (Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives)
March 19	Mary Scheer	Actress and comedian (Mad TV, iCarly)
March 20	Gregg Binkley	Actor (Raising Hope)
	Kathy Ireland	Actress and model
March 31	Paul Mercurio	Actor
April 3	Sarah Woodward	Actress
April 4	Graham Norton	TV presenter
April 8	Dean Norris	Actor (Breaking Bad)
April 9	Joe Scarborough	Television host
April 14	Steve Hartman	Broadcast journalist
April 15	Paula Pell	Actress
April 16	Jimmy Osmond	Actor
April 17	Joel Murray	Actor (Dharma & Greg)
April 18	Eric McCormack	Canadian-American actor (Will & Grace, Perception)
	Conan O'Brien	Television host and comedian (Late Night, Conan)
	Don McGill	American television producer
April 21	Erik King	Actor (Oz, Dexter)
	Roy Dupuis	Actor
April 26	Olivia Birkelund	Actress (All My Children)
April 29	Bruce Harwood	Actor
May 9	Justin Vivian Bond	Actor
May 10	Darryl M. Bell	Actor (A Different World)
May 11	Roark Critchlow	Canadian actor (Drake & Josh, Zoey 101)
May 21	Richard Appel	American writer
May 24	Joe Dumars	NBA basketball player
May 25	Mike Myers	Comic actor (Saturday Night Live)
May 29	Tracey E. Bregman	Soap opera actress (The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful)
	Lisa Whelchel	Actress (The Facts of Life)
	Mitchell Hurwitz	Writer
May 31	Hugh Dillon	Canadian musician and actor (Flashpoint)
June 1	Kevin A. Ross	American host
	Brian Goodman	American actor
June 6	Jason Isaacs	English actor
June 9	Johnny Depp	Actor (21 Jump Street)
June 10	Jeanne Tripplehorn	Actress (Criminal Minds, Big Love)
June 12	Tim DeKay	Actor
June 13	Greg Daniels	Writer
June 15	Helen Hunt	Actress (Mad About You)
June 17	Greg Kinnear	Actor (Talk Soup)
June 19	Laura Ingraham	American conservative television host
June 20	Jeff Beal	Composer
June 22	Randy Couture	Actor
June 25	John Benjamin Hickey	Actor
June 27	Jay Karnes	Actor
June 28	Charlie Clouser	Composer
June 29	Cathy Konrad	American film and television producer
June 30	Rupert Graves	Actor
July 5	Dorien Wilson	Actor (The Parkers)
	Edie Falco	Actress
July 8	Rocky Carroll	Actor (Roc, Chicago Hope, NCIS)
July 13	Kenny Johnson	Actor
July 14	Maureen O'Boyle	Reporter
July 15	Brigitte Nielsen	Actress
July 16	Duane Clark	Writer
July 17	John Ventimiglia	Actor
July 22	Rob Estes	Actor (Silk Stalkings, Melrose Place, 90210)
	Joanna Going	Actress
July 24	Karl Malone	NBA basketball player
July 27	Donnie Yen	Actor
July 29	Alexandra Paul	Actress and model (Baywatch)
July 30	Lisa Kudrow	Actress (Phoebe on Friends)
	Chris Mullin	NBA basketball player
July 31	Larry Romano	Actor
August 1	Coolio	Rapper (died 2022)
	John Carroll Lynch	Actor
	Demián Bichir	Actor
August 3	Isaiah Washington	Actor (Grey's Anatomy)
August 5	Mark Strong	Actor
August 6	Charles Ingram	Quiz show winner
August 7	Harold Perrineau	Actor (Oz, Lost, Constantine)
	Julia Ford	English actress
	Ramon Estevez	American actor
August 8	Jon Turteltaub	Producer
August 9	Whitney Houston	Singer and actress (died 2012)
	Lonnie Quinn	Anchor
August 13	Steve Higgins	Actor
August 16	Christine Cavanaugh	Voice actress (Rugrats, Darkwing Duck, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Dexter's Laboratory) (died 2014)
August 19	John Stamos	Actor (Jesse on Full House)
	Matthew Glave	Actor
	Martin Daniels	English magician entertainer
August 30	Michael Chiklis	Actor (The Commish, The Shield)
	John King	News anchor
September 3	Beth McCarthy-Miller	Director
	Holt McCallany	Actor
September 5	Kristian Alfonso	Actress (Days of Our Lives)
September 7	W. Earl Brown	American actor
September 8	Brad Silberling	American television and film director
September 10	Sean O'Bryan	American actor
September 12	Ramón Franco	American actor (Tour of Duty)
	Norberto Barba	American director
September 14	Tony Becker	Actor (Tour of Duty)
September 15	Beth Cahill	Actress (Saturday Night Live)
September 16	Richard Marx	Singer
	Dino Andrade	Voice actor
September 17	James Urbaniak	Actor
September 18	Dan Povenmire	Voice actor (Heinz Doofenshmirtz on Phineas and Ferb)
	Christopher Heyerdahl	Actor
September 19	Jarvis Cocker	Presenter
September 25	Tate Donovan	Actor (The O.C., Damages)
September 27	Scott Lawrence	Actor (JAG)
	Marc Maron	Actor
September 28	Susan Walters	Actress (Loving, The Young and the Restless) and model
September 29	Les Claypool	Musician
October 1	Beth Chamberlin	Actress (Guiding Light)
October 6	Elisabeth Shue	Actress (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation)
October 9	Sheila Kelley	American actress (L.A. Law, Sisters)
October 12	JoAnn Willette	Actress (Just the Ten of Us)
October 13	Chip Foose	TV host
	Hiro Kanagawa	Actor
October 14	Lori Petty	Actress
October 25	Jon Dixon	Actor (Felicity, Alias, Lost)
	Melinda McGraw	Actress
October 26	Tom Cavanagh	Canadian actor (Ed, The Flash)
October 27	Marla Maples	Actress
October 28	Lauren Holly	Actress (Picket Fences, NCIS)
	Sheryl Underwood	Actress
October 29	Tim Minear	Screenwriter
October 30	Michael Beach	Actor (ER, Third Watch)
October 31	Rob Schneider	Actor and comedian (Saturday Night Live)
November 3	Brian Henson	Voice actor
November 5	Tatum O'Neal	Actress
November 8	Eric B.	DJ
November 10	Hugh Bonneville	English actor (Downton Abbey)
	Tommy Davidson	Comedian and actor (In Living Color, The Proud Family)
November 12	Sam Lloyd	Actor (Scrubs) (died 2020)
November 17	Felice Schachter	Actress (The Facts of Life)
	Dylan Walsh	Actor
November 19	Terry Farrell	Actress and model (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Becker)
November 20	Ming-Na Wen	Actress (ER, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
November 21	Nicollette Sheridan	Actress (Knots Landing, Desperate Housewives)
November 23	Armando Iannucci	Writer
November 25	Kevin Chamberlin	Actor
	Sonja Morgan	American television personality
	Bernie Kosar	Sportscaster
November 27	Fisher Stevens	Actor (Early Edition)
December 2	Dan Gauthier	Actor (One Life to Live)
December 5	Doctor Dré	Former MTV VJ
	Kerry Brown	Musician
December 7	Randall Einhorn	Director
December 8	Wendell Pierce	Actor
December 16	Benjamin Bratt	Actor (Law & Order, Private Practice)
	James Mangold	Television director
December 18	Brad Pitt	Actor (Glory Days)
December 19	Jennifer Beals	Actress
December 20	Joel Gretsch	Actor
December 23	Jess Harnell	Voice actor (Animaniacs, Doc McStuffins, Sofia the First)
	Jim Harbaugh	Coach
December 26	Roger Neill	Composer
December 28	Willow Bay	American television journalist

Deaths

Date	Name	Age	Notability
June 10	Timothy Birdsall	27	English cartoonist (That Was the Week That Was)

Television debuts

• Ian Abercrombie – General Hospital
• Alun Armstrong – Compact
• Tom Atkins – The Doctors
• Erick Avari – General Hospital
• Henry Gibson – 77 Sunset Strip
• Michael Lerner – Dr. Kildare
• Ian McShane – First Night
• Michael Murphy – Combat!
• Jerry Orbach – The Doctors and the Nurses
• Ian Richardson – As You Like It
• Jon Voight – Naked City
• David Warner – BBC Sunday-Night Play
• Lesley Ann Warren – The Doctors
• Jacki Weaver – Hansel and Gretel
• Johnny Whitaker – General Hospital
• Anthony Zerbe – Naked City

See also

• 1963–64 United States network television schedule