1973 in television

The year 1973 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events in 1973.

Events

• January 4 – The record breaking, long-running comedy series in the UK and the world "Last of the Summer Wine" starts as a 30-minute pilot on BBC1's Comedy Playhouse show. (The 1st series started on November 12 the same year). This programme is still active 37 years later with a 31st series due in 2010.
• January 13 – The Lawrence Welk Show airs its Salute to Mexico episode where Anacani makes her debut with the Champagne Music Makers. That episode also marks the final time Sandi Griffiths and Sally Flynn appear together as the act of Sandi & Sally
• January 14 – Elvis Presley's Aloha From Hawaii - Via Satellite television special is seen around the world by over 1 billion viewers.
• March 8 – The TV movie The Marcus-Nelson Murders airs on CBS. This serves as the pilot for the iconic crime drama series Kojak, which returns as a weekly series in October 1973.
• March 21 – Are You Being Served? begins first regular series (pilot aired September 8, 1972).
• March 23 – The longest running daytime game show to date — NBC's Concentration — airs its 3,796th and final show, after a run of fourteen years and seven months. The record will be eclipsed in 1987 by The Price is Right; today, Concentration ranks fourth in continual longevity among all daytime/syndicated game shows.
• March 25 – The pilot episode of Open All Hours airs as part of Ronnie Barker's series Seven of One on BBC1.
• April 1 – Prisoner and Escort, the pilot episode of Porridge, airs as part of Seven of One.
• May 17 – U.S. daytime television is interrupted by the Watergate hearings, which would continue until August 7. Each network aired coverage in rotation every third day (ABC was first, then CBS and NBC).
• July 2 – US game show "Match Game" debuts its 1970s version; it soon becomes the #1-rated daytime television program for 1973, 1974, and 1975, as well as #1 game show from 1973–77.
• August 6 – James Beck, who stars as Private Joe Walker in the popular UK sitcom Dad's Army, dies of a burst pancreas at the age of just 44. Although the series continues until 1977, the part of Walker is not recast and the show carries on without him.
• August 11 - Programme One airs the first part of the Soviet television miniseries Seventeen Moments of Spring, which would run until the 24th. With an audience of between fifty and eighty million viewers per episode, it became the most successful television show of its time in the USSR.
• August 17 - CBS presents an adaptation of David Rabe's play Sticks and Bones...but only to about half of its affiliates.
• September 15 — Betty White makes her first appearance as Sue Ann Nivens in The Mary Tyler Moore Show's fourth season opener, "The Lars Affair".
• October 8 – Patricia Phoenix leaves the role of Elsie Tanner on Coronation Street after thirteen years, when she felt that specific length of time was enough to play one character continuously.
• October 20 – George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley) makes his first appearance on All in the Family, at his brother Henry's goodbye party, though he has lived next door to Archie Bunker for the past two years.
• November 12 – The record breaking, long-running comedy series in the UK and the world "Last of the Summer Wine" starts as a series on BBC1 (the pilot had aired on 4 January 1973). This programme is still active 37 years later with a 31st series due in 2010.
• November 20 - A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving airs on CBS for the first time.
• November 23 – Julie on Sesame Street, starring Julie Andrews, airs on ABC.
• November – Color television is launched in New Zealand. (It will go full-time in November 1975).
• December 12 - Kojak's trademark lollipop makes its debut in the episode "Hot Sunday".
• December 19 – After reading a news item that said the federal government had fallen behind in getting bids to supply toilet tissue, Johnny Carson inadvertently triggers an unprecedented three-week panic when he announces, on the "Tonight Show", that there is an acute shortage of toilet paper in the U.S.

Also in 1973

• A pilot for a game show called "Shopper's Bazaar" is produced for - and quickly rejected by - NBC. The pilot is hosted by a then-little-known songwriter named Chuck Woolery. The concept of solving puzzles and using winnings to purchase prizes is subsequently overhauled and becomes Wheel of Fortune.
• Large-screen projection color TVs hit the market.

Debuts

• January 4 – Last of the Summer Wine pilot episode, first series begins on November 12 (1973–present).
• January 6 – Schoolhouse Rock! premieres on ABC (1973–1986).
• January 28 – Barnaby Jones premieres on CBS (1973–1980).
• March 20 – Police Story premieres on NBC (1973–1978)
• March 26 – The Young and the Restless premieres on CBS (1973–present).
• March 26 – The $10,000 Pyramid premieres on CBS with Dick Clark as host.
• April 6 – Ultraman Taro premieres on TBS in Japan (1973–1974).
• July 2 – CBS revives Match Game with more ribald questions. (1962–1969, 1973–1984, 1990–1991, 1998–1999).
• July 17 – The Wizard of Odds, first United States game show hosted by Alex Trebek, premieres on NBC.
• The New Treasure Hunt (syndicated 1973–1976)
• September 8 – An animated revival of Star Trek premieres on NBC (1973–1974). And on ABC the Super Friends (1973–1974) premieres.
• September 14 – Adam's Rib premieres on ABC (1973–1973)
• September 22 – The Starlost premieres (1973–1974).
• October 15 – The Tomorrow Show premieres on NBC (1973–1982).
• October 20 – The Six Million Dollar Man on ABC (1973–1978).
• October 24 – Kojak premieres on CBS (1973–1978, 2005).
• Superstars debuts on BBC1 in the UK (1973–1985, 2003–2005).
• Greatest Sports Legends (syndicated 1973–1993).

Television shows

1940s

• Meet the Press (1947–present).
• Candid Camera (1948–present).
• Bozo the Clown (1949–present).
• Come Dancing (UK) (1949–1995).

1950s

• Truth or Consequences (1950–1988).
• What's My Line (1950–1975)
• Love of Life (1951–1980).
• Search for Tomorrow (1951–1986).
• Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951–present).
• American Bandstand (1952–1989).
• The Guiding Light (1952–2009).
• I've Got a Secret (1972–1973).
• The Today Show (1952–present).
• Panorama (UK) (1953–present).
• The Good Old Days (UK) (1953–1983).
• Face the Nation (1954–present).
• 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).
• As the World Turns (1956–2009).
• Opportunity Knocks (UK) (1956–1978).
• The Edge of Night (1956–1984).
• To Tell the Truth (1956–1968; 1969–1978)
• What the Papers Say (UK) (1956–present).
• The Sky at Night (UK) (1957–present).
• Concentration (1958–1978)
• Blue Peter (UK) (1958–present).
• Grandstand (UK) (1958–2007).
• Bonanza (1959–1973)

1960s

• Coronation Street (UK) (1960–present).
• Four Corners (Australia) (1961–present).
• It's Academic (1961–present).
• The Mike Douglas Show (1961–1981).
• The Late Late Show (Ireland) (1962–present).
• Z-Cars (UK) (1962–1978).
• Doctor Who (UK) (1963–1989, 1996, 2005–present).
• General Hospital (1963–present).
• The Doctors (1963–1982).
• Another World (1964–1999).
• Crossroads (UK) (1964–1988, 2001–2003).
• Jeopardy! (1964–1975, 1984–present).
• Top of the Pops (UK) (1964–2006).
• Days of our Lives (1965–present).
• The Dean Martin Show (1965–1974).
• World of Sport (UK) (1965–1985).
• Play School (1966–present).
• The Money Programme (UK) (1966–present).
• The Newlywed Game (1966–1974).
• Ironside (1967–1975).
• Mannix (1967–1975).
• The Carol Burnett Show (1967–1978).
• 60 Minutes (1968–present).
• Dad's Army (UK) (1968–1977).
• Hawaii Five-O (1968–1980).
• Here's Lucy (1968–1974).
• Magpie (UK) (1968–1980).
• One Life to Live (1968–present).
• Hee Haw (1969–1993).
• Love, American Style (1969–1974).
• Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969–1976).
• Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–1974).
• Room 222 (1969–1974).
• Sesame Street (1969–present).
• The Benny Hill Show (UK) (1969–1989).
• The Brady Bunch (1969–1974).
• The Wonderful World of Disney (1969–1979).

1970s

• All My Children (1970–present).
• Mary Tyler Moore (1970–1977).
• McCloud (1970–1977).
• Monday Night Football (1970–present).
• Play for Today (UK) (1970–1984).
• The Flip Wilson Show (1970–1974).
• The Odd Couple (1970–1975).
• The Partridge Family (1970–1974).
• All in the Family (1971–1979).
• Columbo (1971–1978).
• Masterpiece Theatre (1971–present).
• McMillan & Wife (1971–1977).
• Soul Train (1971–present).
• The New Dick Van Dyke Show (1971–1974) .
• Old Grey Whistle Test (UK) (1971–1987).
• The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour (1971–1974).
• Are You Being Served? (UK) (1972–1985).
• Colditz (UK) (1972–1974)
• Emergency! (1972–1977).
• Emmerdale Farm (UK) (1972–present).
• Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972–1984).
• John Craven's Newsround (UK) (1972–present).
• Rainbow (1972–1992).
• Kung Fu (1972–1975).
• Maude (1972–1978).
• M*A*S*H (1972–1983).
• Sanford and Son (1972–1977).
• The Bob Newhart Show (1972–1978).
• The Price Is Right (1972–present).
• The Waltons (1972–1981).
• Police Story (1973–1978)

Ending this year

• January 16 – Bonanza (1959–1973).
• March 23 – Love is a Many Splendored Thing (1967–1973).
• March 23 – Where the Heart Is (1969–1973).
• March 30 – Ghost Story (1972–1973).
• March 30 – Mission: Impossible (1966–1973).
• March 30 – Ultraman Ace (Japan) (1972–1973).
• May – Laugh-In (1968–1973).
• August – The Mod Squad (1968–1973).
• September – The Doris Day Show (1968–1973).
• September – Bridget Loves Bernie (1972–1973).
• September – Runaround (1972–1973).

Births

• January 1 – Lesley Harcourt, British actress
• January 31 – Portia de Rossi, actress.
• February 12 – Tara Strong, Canadian voice actor.
• March 1 – Chris Webber, basketball player
• March 24 - Jim Parsons, actor, The Big Bang Theory.
• May 5 – Tina Yothers, actress, Family Ties.
• June 15 – Neil Patrick Harris, actor
• June 21 – Juliette Lewis, actress
• August 24 – Dave Chappelle actor
• October 3 – Neve Campbell, actress.
• October 10 – Mario Lopez, actor
• November 5 – Daniella Westbrook, actress.
• December 4 – Tyra Banks,Supermodel and Talk-show host.

Deaths

• January 24 – J. Carrol Naish, character actor
• April 26 – Irene Ryan, actress (Granny on The Beverly Hillbillies)
• December 23 – Irna Phillips, soap opera writer and creator (The Guiding Light, As the World Turns)