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 13 - The Rolling Stones make another appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
• February 15 – Citing circumstances beyond his control, Fred Friendly resigns from CBS News.
• February 18 – An Evening with Carol Channing airs on CBS.
• February 23 – Television comes to Greece with the launch of ERT.
• 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 air in color for the first time, on ABC.
• 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 – The Beatles make a taped appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, debuting 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.
• July 30 - An all-time record United Kingdom television audience of more than 32,000,000 watches the England national football team beat West Germany 4-2 to win the FIFA World Cup at Wembley.
• August 6 – In a post-fight interview, Howard Cosell honors Muhammad Ali's wishes to no longer be referred to as Cassius Clay, contrasting with the approach of most other sports reporters of 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 – A night of firsts for the Miss America Pageant—its first color TV broadcast and its first airing on NBC.
• September 11 - The Rolling Stones make another appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
• September 19 – Color television comes to Alaska as KENI-TV airs the premiere episode of 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 – After quickly cancelling The Tammy Grimes Show, ABC fills the void by launching a prime-time edition of The Dating Game. The show's success leads to The Newlywed Game's own prime-time edition in January 1967.
• October 15 – A TV version of the musical Brigadoon is telecast on ABC as a special, using an updated script and story line and re-introducing some of the songs cut from the 1954 movie. The production stars Robert Goulet, Peter Falk and Sally Ann Howes, also featuring Edward Villella and Marlyn Mason. The special airs only one other time, in 1967, before disappearing completely.
• October 17 – All of NBC's news programming begins airing in full-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, one of the best-known plays ever to be televised in the UK, 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, a recounting of Truman Capote's childhood experiences as captured in his 1956 memoir, is adapted for television on ABC Stage 67. Frank Perry directs, Capote himself narrates, and Geraldine Page (in an Emmy-winning performance) stars.
• December 24 – WPIX in New York City premieres the Yule Log Christmas special which ran every year from 1966 to 1989, but returned in 2001.

Also in 1966

• The 1951–1953 CBS sitcom Amos & Andy is pulled from syndication broadcast 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 death.

Debuts

• January 2 – Ultra Q premieres on TBS in Japan (1966).
• January 3 - Eye Guess debuts on NBC-TV Daytime (1966–1969)
• 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 4 - Showdown & Chain Letter both debuted on NBC Daytime (Canceled on October 14)
• 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); Tarzan premieres on NBC (1966–1968).
• September 9 – The Green Hornet premieres on ABC (1966–1967); The Time Tunnel premieres on ABC (1966–1967)
• 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 13 - The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. premieres on NBC (1966–1967).
• 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)
• July 18 – The Australian version of Play School premieres on that country's ABC (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).
• Top of the Pops (1964–2006).
• 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).
• March 21 - Ben Casey (1961–1966).
• 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 4 - The Patty Duke Show, (1963–1966)
• 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).
• October 14 - Showdown & Chain Letter.
• December 16 – WJW-TV's Shock Theater (1963–1966). Replaced by Hoolihan & Big Chuck Show
• 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.
• June 30 – Mike Tyson, boxer.
• July 3 - Sandra Lee, author, chef and television presenter.
• 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.