Pick a Day

Music History Events: TV Shows

July 15, 1952 Popular singer Patti Page begins her summer replacement series on CBS, attempting to hold the audience in Perry Como's usual timeslot three times a week for 15 minutes.

October 7, 1950 CBS debuts The Frank Sinatra Show, a variety program and the first TV show for the crooner. Though he has a five-year contract, the show only lasts two seasons.

December 6, 1948 The CBS television show Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts debuts. Plenty of up-and-coming talents appear on the variety program, including Patsy Cline and Tony Bennett.

January 18, 1948 The Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour debuts on the Dumont network, a spinoff of Major Bowes' popular radio series. Teresa Brewer and Pat Boone, among others, are discovered via the program.

September 9, 1946 Two months after making her TV debut on the BBC's Cabaret Cartoons, 13-year-old Petula Clark begins hosting her first television series, titled Petula Clark.

January 4, 1932 NBC begins airing The Carnation Contented Hour (named for the sponsor, Carnation Milk), which features performances by top musical acts. The show runs for 19 years.

May 27, 2022 Season 4 of the Netflix series Stranger Things airs with a scene featuring the 1985 Kate Bush song "Running Up That Hill." The song starts trending and enters the Top 10 in 34 different territories, including America, where it lands at #8. Bush's previous chart peak in the US was #30 when the song was first released.

October 19, 2021 The TV series Queens, starring Brandy and Eve as members of a hip-hop group from the '90s who reunite in the '20s, debuts on ABC.

September 9, 2019 Kelly Clarkson's daytime talk show, The Kelly Clarkson Show, debuts. Every episode starts with "Kellyoke," where Clarkson sings a cover of a popular song.

May 22, 2019 ABC airs live remakes of All in the Family and The Jeffersons, two shows with iconic theme songs. Woody Harrelson and Marisa Tomei (as Archie and Edith Bunker) sing "Those Were The Days," the All in the Family theme; Jennifer Hudson does "Movin' On Up," The Jeffersons theme.More

February 27, 2019 T-Pain, costumed as a one-eyed monster, wins the first season of The Masked Singer, defeating Donny Osmond (peacock) and Gladys Knight (bee).

February 15, 2019 The superhero series The Umbrella Academy, based on a comic by former My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way, premieres to positive reviews on Netflix. The show, starring Ellen Page, also features Mary J. Blige as an assassin.

January 3, 2019 Lifetime airs the first installment of the six-part series Surviving R. Kelly, which documents the singer's alleged sex crimes. John Legend is among those speaking out against Kelly in the series.

October 2, 2017 MTV revives TRL, the iconic music video countdown that ran from 1998 to 2008, with some pretty significant changes. First, there's no countdown. Second, there's no music. Well, there's some music, but it's part of a mixed bag of pop culture topics presented by five hosts, including Vine star DC Young Fly, dubbed the "TRL Squad." Where's Carson Daly when you need him?

May 30, 2017 NBC debuts its dance competition series World Of Dance, with executive producer Jennifer Lopez, Ne-Yo, and Derek Hough on the judging panel. It runs for four seasons.

January 6, 2017 Netflix launches a reboot of the '70s TV series One Day At A Time, this time with a theme song by Gloria Estefan and centered on a Cuban family. Estefan later appears on the show, playing Rita Moreno's sister.

November 7, 2016 Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart star in the first episode of Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party, where they make fried chicken with Wiz Khalifa. The show lasts three seasons, and after it's over, Martha and Snoop remain friends. She helps him land an endorsement with Skechers and he brings her to the Olympics in 2024 to help commentate dressage.

October 3, 2016 Nickelodeon premieres the animated series Kuu Kuu Harajuku, produced by Gwen Stefani, about a group of girls who make music and fight evil. Stefani introduced her "Harajuku Girls," inspired by the neighborhood in Tokyo, on her solo debut, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. and has integrated her love of the culture in her clothing and perfume lines.

August 17, 2016 MTV's Catfish: The TV Show introduces Spencer Morrill, a Tennessee native who insists he's been in an online romance with Katy Perry for six years. He even made a ring for her out of a family heirloom. When hosts Nev and Max lure out the catfish in England and bring him face to face with the singer, he believes the real Perry sent the "imposter" as a joke.

January 26, 2015 Nick Jonas lands a recurring role on Scream Queens, a horror anthology series from Glee creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuck. The cast also includes Ariana Grande as a recurring guest star.

September 16, 2014 At a pop-up shop in New York City that re-creates the Central Perk coffee shop from the TV show Friends, Danny Wilde and Phil Solem of The Rembrandts reunite to perform the show's theme song. The event marks the 20th anniversary of the show's first episode.

July 17, 2014 The short-lived reality show LeAnn & Eddie debuts on VH1. It stars celebrity couple LeAnn Rimes and Eddie Cibrian, who made tabloid headlines after they had an affair while married to other people.

February 25, 2014 Kelis' Saucy and Sweet show premieres on The Cooking Channel. The singer trained part-time as a chef in the late 2000s, eventually graduating from Le Cordon Bleu culinary school.

September 29, 2013 Ten million tune in to the finale of the TV series Breaking Bad, which ends with "Baby Blue," a 1971 song by Badfinger. The song represents lead character Walter White's love of his creation: blue methamphetamine.

December 29, 2011 Alaska: The Last Frontier debuts on the Discovery Channel. The reality-TV series centers on the Kilcher family living in the Alaskan wilderness, including Atz Kilcher, father of folk/country singer Jewel.

November 23, 2011 Lady Gaga's 90-minute A Very Gaga Thanksgiving special airs on ABC. Gaga directed the program, which features her singing, eating, visiting her old school, and being interviewed by Katie Couric.

October 27, 2011 MTV reboots Beavis and Butt-Head, which went off the air in 1997, for another season.

April 22, 2009 Liz Phair wins her first ASCAP award as Top Television Composer for her work on the teen drama 90210.

February 26, 2009 The Biography Channel airs the debut episode of The Chris Isaak Hour, a new talk-show featuring top musical guests. In this episode, presenter Chris Isaak interviews country artist Trisha Yearwood.

May 8, 2008 Crosby Loggins, son of Kenny Loggins, wins the first and only season of MTV's Rock The Cradle, a singing competition featuring the offspring of celebrity musicians. Runners-up are Jesse Blaze Snider, son of Twisted Sister's Dee Snider and Chloe Lattanzi, daughter of Olivia Newton-John.