1966 in television

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The year 1966 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events in 1966.

For the American TV schedule, see: 1966-67 American network television schedule.

Events

• January 3 - Hullabaloo shows promotional videos of The Beatles songs "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work It Out".
• January 8 - Shindig! airs for the last time on ABC, with musical guests the Kinks and the Who.
• January 11 - Dorothy Malone resumes the role of Constance Carson on Peyton Place. (She had been temporarly replaced by Lola Albright.)
• January 13 - Tabitha is born on the Bewitched episode titled, "And Then There Were Three."
• February 1 - KFBB-TV in Great Falls, Montana becomes the first station in that state to affiliate primarily with ABC.
• February 5 - ABC Scope begins to devote itself exclusively to coverage of the Vietnam war.
• February 15 - Fred Friendly resigns from CBS News, due to circumstances beyond his control.
• February 18 - An Evening with Carol Channing airs on CBS.
• February 23 - Television is first broadcast in Greece when ERT went on the air.
• February 27 - Perry Mason airs its only color episode, "The Case of the Twice-Told Twist."
• March 30 - The special Color Me Barbra, with Barbra Streisand, airs on CBS.
• April 18 - The Academy Awards go color.
• May 15 - The first Japanese popular Owarai variety show program, Shoten, debuts on Nippon Television Network, and will be watched by more than 25 million Japanese every week.
• June 5 - A taped appearance by The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. The band debuts their music videos for "Rain" and "Paperback Writer".
• June - ABS-CBN introduces color television to the Philippines, using NTSC.
• July 1 - Color television is launched in Canada in both English and French, also using NTSC.
• July 10 - Ultraman debuts on TBS in Japan. The character would spawn over 16 television adaptions over the next 40 years.
• July 16 - The Miss Universe pageant goes color.
• August 6 - In a post-fight interview, Howard Cosell honors Muhammad Ali's wishes to no longer be referred to as Cassius Clay. This contrasts with most other sports reporters at the time.
• Summer - Patrick McGoohan quits the popular spy series Danger Man (aired in the US as Secret Agent) after filming only two episodes of the fourth season, in order to produce and star in The Prisoner, which begins filming in September.
• September 8 - The first episode of Star Trek ("The Man Trap") is aired.
• September 10 - The Miss America pageant goes color (and is televised by NBC for the first time).
• September 19 - KENI-TV (now KTUU) launches color television in Alaska with the premiere episode of the ABC sitcom That Girl ("Don't Just Do Something, Stand There", which had aired in the "lower 48" on September 8).
• October 2 - The four-part serial Talking to a Stranger, acclaimed as one of the finest British television dramas of the 1960s, begins transmission in the Theatre 625 strand on BBC2.
• October 6 - ABC launches a prime-time edition of The Dating Game to replace the catastrophic Tammy Grimes Show. It is so successful that a prime-time edition of The Newlywed Game is added in January 1967.
• October 15 - A TV version of Brigadoon is telecast on ABC as a special using an updated script and story line and re-introducing some of the songs cut in the 1954 movie. It starred Robert Goulet, Peter Falk and Sally Ann Howes, also featuring Edward Villella and Marlyn Mason. After a second showing in 1967, it disappeared completely.
• October 17 - As of this date, all of NBC's newscasts are in color.
• October 27 - It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown airs for the first time on CBS.
• October 29 - Actor William Hartnell makes his last regular appearance as the First Doctor in the concluding moments of Episode 4 of the Doctor Who serial The Tenth Planet. Actor Patrick Troughton briefly appears as the Second Doctor at the conclusion of the serial.
• November 5 - Actor Patrick Troughton appears in his first full Doctor Who serial The Power of the Daleks as the Second Doctor.
• November 16 - Cathy Come Home, possibly the best-known play ever to be broadcast on British television, is presented in BBC1's The Wednesday Play anthology strand.
• November 19 - First live 2-way satellite telecasts between Hawaii (KHVH-TV, now KITV) and the Mainland (ABC), via the Lani Bird satellite.
• December 18 - CBS airs the television adaptation of How the Grinch Stole Christmas for the first time.
• December 21 - A Christmas Memory, Truman Capote's childhood experiences, captured in the 1956 memoir, adapted for television and narrated by Capote himself. Directed by Frank Perry on ABC Stage 67 and featuring Geraldine Page in an Emmy Award-winning performance.

Also in 1966 (no date specified)

• The 1951-1953 CBS sitcom Amos & Andy is pulled from circulation due to complaints from civil rights organizations.
• Macdonald Carey starts reciting the epigram "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives" at the beginning of his dramatic serial, Days of our Lives, a tradition that continues today, over a decade after his passing.

Debuts

• January 2 - Ultra Q premieres on TBS in Japan (1966).
• January 12 - Batman debuts on ABC (1966-1968).
• April 5 - The Money Programme debuts on BBC2 (1966-present).
• June 6 - Till Death Do Us Part debuts on BBC1.
• June 27 - Dark Shadows premieres on ABC (1966-1971).
• July 11 - The Newlywed Game premieres on ABC (1966-1974).
• July 17 - Ultraman premieres on TBS in Japan (1966-1967).
• September 8 - Star Trek premieres on NBC (1966-1969); That Girl premieres on ABC (1966-1971).
• September 12 - The Monkees premieres on NBC (1966-1968); Family Affair premieres on CBS (1966-1971); The Iron Horse and The Rat Patrol premiere on ABC (both 1966-1968).
• September 17 - Mission: Impossible premieres on CBS (1966-1973).
• September 20 - Rue des Pignons premieres on SRC (1966-1977).
• October 9 - Rocket Robin Hood premieres (1966-1969).
• October 11 - SRC launches its first made-in-Quebec sitcom, Moi et l'autre (1966-1971).
• October 17 - The Hollywood Squares premieres on NBC daytime (1966-1980).
• December 23 - Hoolihan & Big Chuck premieres on WJW-TV, Cleveland, Ohio, United States (1966-1979)
• Play School premieres (1966-present).
• The 700 Club premieres (1966-present).
• W-FIVE premieres (1966-present).
• Wojeck premieres (1966-1968).

Television shows

1940s

• Meet the Press (1947-present).
• Candid Camera (1948-present).
• The Ed Sullivan Show (1948-1971).
• Bozo the Clown (1949-present).
• Come Dancing (UK) (1949-1995).

1950s

• Truth or Consequences (1950-1988).
• What's My Line (1950-1967).
• Love of Life (1951-1980).
• Search for Tomorrow (1951-1986).
• Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951-present).
• American Bandstand (1952-1989).
• The Guiding Light (1952-present).
• The Honeymooners (1952-1970).
• The Today Show (1952-present).
• Panorama (UK) (1953-present).
• The Good Old Days (UK) (1953-1983).
• Face the Nation (1954-present).
• The Milton Berle Show (1954-1967).
• The Secret Storm (1954-1974).
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962-1992).
• Captain Kangaroo (1955-1984).
• Dixon of Dock Green (UK) (1955-1976).
• Gunsmoke (1955-1975).
• The Lawrence Welk Show (1955-1982).
• This Is Your Life (UK) (1955-2003).
• Armchair Theatre (UK) (1956-1968).
• As the World Turns (1956-present).
• Opportunity Knocks (UK) (1956-1978).
• The Edge of Night (1956-1984).
• What the Papers Say (UK) (1956-present).
• The Sky at Night (UK) (1957-present).
• Perry Mason (1957-1966)
• Blue Peter (UK) (1958-present).
• Grandstand (UK) (1958-2007).
• Bonanza (1959-1973).
• Juke Box Jury (1959-1967, 1979, 1989-1990).
• The Bell Telephone Hour (1959-1968).

1960s

• My Three Sons (1960-1972).
• The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968).
• Four Corners (Australia) (1961-present).
• The Mike Douglas Show (1961-1981).
• Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color(1961-1969).
• Combat! (1962-1967).
• Match Game (1962-1969, 1973-1984, 1990-1991, 1998-1999).
• The Beverly Hillbillies (1962-1971).
• The Late Late Show (Ireland) (1962-present).
• The Lucy Show (1962-1968).
• General Hospital (1963-present).
• Petticoat Junction (1963-1970).
• The Doctors (1963-1982).
• Another World (1964-1999).
• Bewitched (1964-1972).
• Daniel Boone (1964-1970).
• Flipper (1964-1967)
• Gilligan's Island (1964-1967).
• Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (1964-1970).
• Jeopardy! (1964-1975, 1984-present).
• Peyton Place (1964-1969).
• Days of our Lives (1965-present).
• Get Smart (1965-1970).
• Green Acres (1965-1971).
• Hogan's Heroes (1965-1971).
• I Dream of Jeannie (1965-1970).
• Lost In Space (1965-1968).
• The Dean Martin Show (1965-1974).
• Tom and Jerry (1965-1972, 1975-1977, 1980-1982).

Ending this year

• January 4 - Rawhide (1959-1966)
• January 8 - Shindig! (1964-1966). Replaced by Batman.
• February 6 - Mister Ed (1961-1966).
• March 19 - The Donna Reed Show (1958-1966).
• April 1 - The Flintstones (1960-1966).
• April 7 - Danger Man (UK) (1960-1961; 1964-1966).
• April 8 - The Addams Family (1964-1966).
• April 12 - McHale's Navy (1962-1966).
• May 12 - The Munsters (1964-1966).
• June 1 - The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966).
• July 3 - Ultra Q (Japan) (1966).
• August 29 - Hullabaloo (1965-1966). Replaced by The Monkees.
• September 3 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952-1966).
• September 4 - My Favorite Martian (1963-1966).
• December 16 - WJW-TV's Shock Theater (1963-1966). Replaced by Hoolihan & Big Chuck Show
• Ben Casey (1961-1966).
• Ready Steady Go! (1963-1966).
• This Hour Has Seven Days (1964-1966).

Births

• January 2 - Rosie Millard, UK television news reporter.
• January 9 - Giselle Blondet, Puerto Rican actress and show host.
• February 19 - Justine Bateman, actress on Family Ties.
• May 20 - Mindy Cohn, actress on The Facts of Life.
• June 26 - Sara Stewart, actress.
• July 11 - Debbe Dunning, actress.
• August 14 - Halle Berry, actress.
• September 9 - Adam Sandler, actor.
• November 2 - David Schwimmer, actor, Friends.
• December 21 - Kiefer Sutherland, Canadian actor 24
• December 27 - Bill Goldberg, wrestler

Deaths

• March 3 - William Frawley, actor who co-starred in I Love Lucy and My Three Sons.
• March 3 - Alice Pearce, actress (Gladys Kravitz #1 on Bewitched)
• June 19 - Ed Wynn, comedian
• September 14 - Gertrude Berg, actress (The Goldbergs)
• December 15 - Walt Disney.