1975 in Television - Events

Events

• January 3, 1975 – The original Jeopardy! ends its run after almost 11 years and 2,753 episodes on NBC
  • Also on NBC, the biggest prize in American daytime television game shows at the time was won on Jackpot, $38,750, won between two contestants
• January 6 – Another World becomes the first American soap opera to start airing hour-long telecasts
  • Wheel of Fortune aired its first episode on NBC's daytime schedule with host Chuck Woolery and assistant Susan Stafford
  • The ORTF was dislocked into 7 societies : TF1, Antenne 2, FR3, INA, SFP, Radio France & TDF
• January 11 – On All in the Family, a tearful Edith says goodbye to her neighbor, Louise Jefferson as The Jeffersons moved on up to their own sitcom
• March 1 – "C-Day" in Australia, when full-time colour broadcasting took effect
• March 4 – The first "People's Choice Awards" were presented on CBS
• March 18 – McLean Stevenson's character dies in the M*A*S*H episode "Abyssinia, Henry", its third season finale
• April 3 – Meg Richardson (Noele Gordon) married Hugh Mortimer (John Bentley) on the soap opera Crossroads
• April 12 – On The Jeffersons, Mike Evans makes his last appearance (until 1979) on Good Times, with Damon Evans (no relation to Michael) joining the cast
• April 21 – Days of our Lives became the second American soap opera to expand from thirty minutes to an hour in length
• April 28 – Tom Snyder interviewed John Lennon on The Tomorrow Show
• May 7 – Matt Helm was shown as a pilot episode in the US but the actual television series would not be shown until later that same year
• In June, Fred Silverman becomes the head of ABC Entertainment, whose programming choices resulted in ABC achieving ratings dominance (and initiating an era of what was disparagingly called "T&A" or "Jiggle television")
• September 5 – A bomb exploded in the wine bar/delicatessen on Number 96, in an attempt to shake up the cast and earn back lost viewers
• September 8 – Match Game started airing weekly episodes in syndicated primetime as Match Game PM
• September 29 – WGPR-TV, channel 62 in Detroit, became the first television station in the U. S. to be owned and operated by blacks (It is now CBS-owned WWJ-TV)
• September 30 – The Muhammad Ali–Joe Frazier title fight from the Philippines (the "Thrilla in Manila") was sent by satellite to the U. S. and shown on HBO
• October 28 – A James Bond film was shown on British television for the first time, Dr. No on ITV
• November – Sony introduced the Betamax video recorder in the US, which came in a teakwood console with a 19" color TV set and retailed for $2,495
• November 3 – The Price is Right expanded to an hour in length to its current six-game, two Showcase Showdown, and Showcase format
• November 7 – The New Original Wonder Woman TV movie aired as a pilot for the series, Wonder Woman (which premiered in 1976)
• November 10 – The Guiding Light changed its name to Guiding Light, in an attempt to modernize the show's image (The show's announcer, however, continued to call the series The Guiding Light in his announcements until the early 1980s)
• November 23 – Memories of the "Heidi Game" returned to haunt NBC as that network was forced to join Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory in progress at the conclusion of an overtime NFL game
• December 1 – Top-rated As the World Turns, bowing to competition from NBC, expanded to one hour in length; The Edge of Night moves to ABC