TV
Meet The Simpsons
RETRO
The debut episode of the world’s longest-running animated sitcom – ‘Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire’ – aired in the U.S. on 17th December, 1989; attracting the Fox network’s highest ever Sunday night ratings. It was an instant sensation, with many contemporary critics remarking that the ‘dysfunctionality’ of The Simpsons was in-keeping with other 90s …
Morecambe, Wise & Mr Preview
RETRO
Oscar-winning conductor André Previn was an unlikely choice of celebrity guest for the Christmas special of ‘The Morcambe and Wise Show’ recorded on 7th December, 1971 – but the 13-minute sketch they taped together remains one of Britain’s all-time favourites. The music hall-style caper – which revolves around a comically catastrophic interpretation of Grieg’s Piano …
Joyce Brothers, $64,000 Swot
RETRO
A female contestant had never scooped the jackpot on an American TV quiz show before New York psychologist Dr Joyce Brothers won $64,000 on 6th December, 1955. Her specialist subject was boxing – a topic about which she knew little, until she devoted herself to studying the annals of the sport in preparation for multiple …
Signal-Jamming Aliens
RETRO
Your TV signal wobbles. An alien voice (albeit one with a Southern English accent…) seizes control of your set. And, instead of newsreader Andrew Gardner reporting on the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army, you hear a voice claiming to be ‘Vrillon’, of Ashtar Galactic Command, with a message for humanity. Such was the experience for …
Star Trek’s Interracial Kiss
RETRO
Capt. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Lt. Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) embraced and kissed on “Plato’s Stepchildren”; an episode of ‘Star Trek’ broadcast on 22nd November, 1968 – just a year after the Supreme Court declared interracial marriage to be legal. However, despite popular belief that this was TV’s first interracial kiss, it wasn’t. …
Scott and Charlene Get Hitched
RETRO
Kylie Minogue and Jason Donavan’s characters in hit soap opera ‘Neighbours’ were wed in 1988, causing a shopping mall riot in Australia, and attracting an astonishing 20 million viewers to the UK transmission on 8th November. Soundtracked entirely by Angry Anderson’s surging power ballad ‘Suddenly’, the ceremony quickly became an iconic moment in 80s telly …