1.
Shrine Auditorium
–
The Shrine Auditorium is a landmark large-event venue in Los Angeles, California. It is also the headquarters of the Al Malaikah Temple, a division of the Shriners and it was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1975. Opened in 1926, the current Shrine Auditorium replaced an earlier 1906 Al Malaikah Temple which had destroyed by a fire on January 11,1920. The fire gutted the building in just 30 minutes. The new auditorium was designed in the Moorish Revival style by San Francisco-based theater architect G. Albert Lansburgh, with local architects John C. Austin, when built, the auditorium could hold 1,200 people on stage and seat an audience of 6,442. An engineer who consulted on the said that the steel truss supporting the balcony was the largest ever constructed. The entire complex follows a Moroccan architectural motif, the Shrine Auditorium seats approximately 6,300 people and has a stage 194 feet wide and 69 feet deep. The Auditorium features two boxes above the orchestra level holding 40 people each and seven loges on the balcony holding between 36 and 47 seats each, of the remaining seats,2,964 are on the orchestra level and 2,982 on the balcony level. The Shrine Auditorium has hosted a number of events, mainly for entertainment, the Academy Awards were held at the Shrine from 1947 to 1948 and eight times between 1988 and 2001 until it moved to the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. The Shrine hosted several Grammy ceremonies until 2000 when the Grammys moved to the nearby Staples Center, the Primetime Emmy Awards were also held at the venue for a decade beginning in 1998. However, the Primetime ceremony moved to the nearby Microsoft Theater, for 33 years, the Shrine Auditorium was home to the University of Southern California Trojans basketball team. The Trojans home court was on the Shrines stage, the Los Angeles Lakers also briefly played some playoff games in the theatre, when the nearby Los Angeles Sports Arena was unavailable. The Shrine Circus, concerts, stage shows and other events are held here. The Shrine Auditorium was also the venue for the 55th Miss Universe beauty pageant, the 1933 movie King Kong filmed the audience in the Shrine Auditorium for the scenes where Kong was displayed manacled on stage. In 1953, segments of Judy Garlands movie classic A Star Is Born were filmed at the Shrine, in 1955, The Great Shrine Auditorium Concert took place, which is considered a major event in the histories of both American gospel and secular music. The event also featured a young Sam Cooke who was at the time performing with the gospel group The Soul Stirrers. Ray Charles recorded his landmark Live in Concert album at the Shrine in 1964, in the late 1960s, the Shrine was referred to as The Pinnacle by the audiences of rock concerts. On August 24,1968, The Grateful Dead performed there and recorded their show, on January 24,1975, Genesis, then led by singer Peter Gabriel, gave a live performance of the conceptual progressive rock show, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway at the Shrine
2.
Los Angeles
–
Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
3.
California
–
California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
4.
Garry Shandling
–
Garry Emmanuel Shandling was an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer, best known for his work in Its Garry Shandlings Show and The Larry Sanders Show. Shandling began his writing for sitcoms, such as Sanford and Son and Welcome Back. He made a successful performance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Shandling was for a time considered the contender to replace Carson. In 1986, he created Its Garry Shandlings Show for Showtime and it was nominated for four Emmy Awards and lasted until 1990. His second show titled The Larry Sanders Show, which began airing on HBO in 1992, was more successful. In film, he had a role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in Iron Man 2 and Captain America. He also lent his voice to Verne in DreamWorks Animations Over the Hedge, during his three-decade career, Shandling was nominated for nineteen Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, along with many other awards and nominations. He served as host of the Grammy Awards four times and as host of the Emmy Awards two times, Shandling was born Garry Emmanuel Shandling on November 29,1949 in Chicago, Illinois to a Jewish family. He grew up in Tucson, Arizona, one of two sons of Irving Shandling, a print shop owner, and Muriel Estelle, a pet store proprietor, the family moved to Tucson so that Garrys older brother Barry could receive treatment for cystic fibrosis. Barry died when Garry was 10, Shandling attended Palo Verde High School. In 1973, Shandling moved to Los Angeles and he worked at an advertising agency for a time, and then sold a script for the popular NBC sitcom Sanford and Son. In addition to Sanford and Son, Shandling wrote scripts for the sitcoms Welcome Back, Kotter, in 1977, Shandling was involved in an auto accident in Beverly Hills that left him in critical condition for two days and hospitalized for 2 weeks with a crushed spleen. The accident inspired him to pursue a career in comedy, Shandling became a stand-up comedian because he was frustrated by situation comedys formulaic writing. In 1978, Shandling performed his first stand-up routine at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles and this was the same time Jerry Seinfeld began performing at The Comedy Store, where the two developed a legendary friendship. In fact, their careers paralleled one another as time moved on, according to William Knoedelseder, Shandling was the scion of a family with … decidedly antiunion views. He had not shared the struggling comic experience and he was a successful sitcom writer trying to break into stand-up, and prior to the strike, Shore had refused to put him in the regular lineup because she didnt think he was good enough. Of course, that changed the minute he crossed the picket line and his persona was an anxiety-ridden, grimacing, guarded, confused man on the verge of losing control
5.
American Broadcasting Company
–
The network is headquartered on Columbus Avenue and West 66th Street in Manhattan, New York City. There are additional offices and production facilities elsewhere in New York City, as well as in Los Angeles and Burbank. Since 2007, when ABC Radio was sold to Citadel Broadcasting, ABC originally launched on October 12,1943, as a radio network, separated from and serving as the successor to the NBC Blue Network, which had been purchased by Edward J. Noble. It extended its operations to television in 1948, following in the footsteps of established broadcast networks CBS, in the mid-1950s, ABC merged with United Paramount Theatres, a chain of movie theaters that formerly operated as a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures. Leonard Goldenson, who had been the head of UPT, made the new television network profitable by helping develop, in 1996, most of Capital Cities/ABCs assets were purchased by The Walt Disney Company. The television network has eight owned-and-operated and over 232 affiliated television stations throughout the United States, most Canadians have access to at least one U. S. ABC News provides news and features content for radio stations owned by Citadel Broadcasting. In the 1930s, radio in the United States was dominated by three companies, the Columbia Broadcasting System, the Mutual Broadcasting System and the National Broadcasting Company. The last was owned by electronics manufacturer Radio Corporation of America, in 1938, the FCC began a series of investigations into the practices of radio networks and published its report on the broadcasting of network radio programs in 1940. The report recommended that RCA give up control of either NBC Red or NBC Blue, at that time, the NBC Red Network was the principal radio network in the United States and, according to the FCC, RCA was using NBC Blue to eliminate any hint of competition. Once Mutuals appeals against the FCC were rejected, RCA decided to sell NBC Blue in 1941, the newly separated NBC Red and NBC Blue divided their respective corporate assets. Investment firm Dillon, Read & Co. offered $7.5 million to purchase the network, Edward John Noble, the owner of Life Savers candy, drugstore chain Rexall and New York City radio station WMCA, purchased the network for $8 million. Due to FCC ownership rules, the transaction, which was to include the purchase of three RCA stations by Noble, would require him to resell his station with the FCCs approval, the Commission authorized the transaction on October 12,1943. Soon afterward, the Blue Network was purchased by the new company Noble founded, Noble subsequently acquired the rights to the American Broadcasting Company name from George B. Meanwhile, in August 1944, the West Coast division of the Blue Network, both stations were then managed by Don Searle, the vice-president of the Blue Networks West Coast division. The ABC Radio Network created its audience slowly, the network also became known for such suspenseful dramas as Sherlock Holmes, Gang Busters and Counterspy, as well as several mid-afternoon youth-oriented programs. S. From Nazi Germany after its conquest, to pre-record its programming, while its radio network was undergoing reconstruction, ABC found it difficult to avoid falling behind on the new medium of television. To ensure a space, in 1947, ABC submitted five applications for television station licenses, the ABC television network made its debut on April 19,1948, with WFIL-TV in Philadelphia becoming its first primary affiliate
6.
55th Primetime Emmy Awards
–
The 55th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 21,2003. The ceremony was broadcast on Fox, the Sci Fi channel received its first major nomination this year for Outstanding Miniseries for Taken, for which it won. For its seventh season, Everybody Loves Raymond won its first Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series and it led all comedies with four major wins and ten major nominations. The West Wing won Outstanding Drama Series for the fourth consecutive year, for the first time since 1991, the Outstanding Drama Series field did not include Law & Order, it was nominated 11 times in the category, a record for drama series that still stands. The mark tied the record held by comedy series M*A*S*H. Notes Emmys. com list of 2003 Nominees & Winners 2003 Emmy Awards at the Internet Movie Database
7.
57th Primetime Emmy Awards
–
The 57th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 18,2005 and was hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. The ceremony was broadcast on CBS, BBC America received its first major nomination this year. Opening the ceremony was the famous 1970s band Earth, Wind & Fire with a version of September. Also, the show featured Emmy Idol, five segments in which famous TV stars performed popular TV theme songs in a format like American Idol. Everybody Loves Raymond became the first comedy to have its final season win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series since Barney Miller in 1982, everybody Loves Raymond tied for the lead in major nominations and wins with ten and three, respectively. In the drama field, new series Lost won Outstanding Drama Series, defending champion The Sopranos was on hiatus and had not aired any new episodes during the eligibility period. Actress Angela Lansbury received her eighteenth and most recent nomination, however, she failed to win causing her record losing streak to be extended. com list of 2005 Nominees & Winners 2005 Emmy Awards at the Internet Movie Database
8.
HBO
–
Home Box Office is an American premium cable and satellite television network that is owned by Time Warner through its respective flagship company Home Box Office, Inc. HBO is the oldest and longest continuously operating pay television service in the United States, in 2014, HBO had an adjusted operating income of US$1.79 billion, compared to the US$1.68 billion it accrued in 2013. HBO has 49 million subscribers in the United States and 130 million worldwide as of 2016, the network provides seven 24-hour multiplex channels, including HBO Comedy, HBO Latino, HBO Signature and HBO Family. It launched the streaming service HBO Now in April 2015, and has over 2 million subscribers in the United States as of February 2017. In addition to its U. S. subscriber base, HBO distributes content in at least 151 countries, HBO subscribers generally pay for an extra tier of service that includes other cable- and satellite-exclusive channels even before paying for the channel itself. Cable providers can require the use of a converter box – usually digital – in order to receive HBO, many HBO programs have been syndicated to other networks and broadcast television stations, and a number of HBO-produced series and films have been released on DVD. The new system, which Dolan named Sterling Information Services, became the first urban underground cable system in the United States. In that same year, Time-Life, Inc. purchased a 20% stake in Dolans company, in the summer of 1971, while on a family vacation in France, Charles Dolan began to think of ideas to make Sterling Manhattan profitable. He came up with the concept for a television service. Dolan later presented his idea to Time-Life management, though satellite distribution seemed only a distant possibility at the time, he persuaded Time-Life to back him on the project. To gauge whether consumers would be interested in subscribing to a pay television service, in a meeting of Dolan and some Time-Life executives who were working on the project, various other names were discussed for the new service. Home Box Office launched on November 8,1972, however, HBOs launch came without fanfare in the press, as it was not covered by any local or national media outlets. Home Box Office distributed its first sports event immediately after the film, Four months later in February 1973, Home Box Office aired its first television special, the Pennsylvania Polka Festival. Home Box Office would use a network of relay towers to distribute its programming to cable systems throughout its service area. Sterling Manhattan Cable continued to lose money because the company had only a small base of 20,000 customers in Manhattan. Time-Life dropped the Sterling name and the company was renamed Manhattan Cable Television under Time-Lifes control in March 1973, Gerald Levin, who had been with Home Box Office since it began operations as its vice president of programming, replaced Dolan as the companys president and chief executive officer. In September 1973, Time-Life, Inc. completed its acquisition of the pay service. HBO would eventually increase its fortunes within two years, by April 1975, the service had around 100,000 subscribers in Pennsylvania and New York state, in 1974, they settled on using a geostationary communications satellite to transmit HBO to cable providers throughout the United States
9.
Angels in America (miniseries)
–
Angels in America is a 2003 American HBO miniseries directed by Mike Nichols and based on the play by the same name written by Tony Kushner. Set in 1985, the film revolves around six desperate New Yorkers whose lives intersect, at its core, it has the fantastical story of Prior Walter, a gay man living with AIDS who is visited by an angel. The film explores a variety of themes, including Reagan era politics, the spreading AIDS epidemic. Angels in America was the most-watched made-for-cable film in 2003, garnering critical acclaim and multiple Golden Globe and Emmy awards. In 2006, The Seattle Times listed the series amongst Best of the filmed AIDS portrayals on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of AIDS and it is 1985, Ronald Reagan is in the White House, and AIDS is causing mass death in the Americas. In Manhattan, Prior Walter tells Louis, his lover of four years, as disease and loneliness ravage Prior, guilt invades Louis. Joe Pitt, a Mormon and Republican attorney, is pushed by right-wing fixer Roy Cohn toward a job at the United States Department of Justice, both Pitt and Cohn are in the closet, Pitt out of shame and religious turmoil, Cohn to preserve his power and image. Pitts wife Harper is strung out on Valium, causing her to hallucinate constantly, an angel with ulterior motives commands Prior to become a prophet. Pitts mother and Belize, a friend and drag queen. Joe leaves his wife and goes to live with Louis but the relationship doesnt work out due to ideological differences, Roy is diagnosed with AIDS early on and as his life comes to a close he is haunted by the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg. As the film continues, these lost souls come together to create bonds of love, loss, and loneliness and in the end, discover forgiveness and overcome abandonment. Cary Brokaw, executive producer of the series, worked for ten years to bring the 1991 stage production to television, having first read it in 1989. In 1993, Al Pacino committed to playing the role of Roy Cohn, in the meantime, a number of directors, including Robert Altman, were part of the project. Altman worked on the project in 1993 and 1994, before budget constraints forced him to move out, as few studios could risk producing two successive 150 minute movies at the cost of $40 million. Subsequently, Kushner tried squeezing the play into a film, at which he eventually failed, realizing there was literally too much plot. While Kushner continued adapting the play until the late 1990s, HBO Films stepped in as producer, Brokaw gave Mike Nichols the script while he was working with him on Wit starring Emma Thompson, who also co-adapted the play of the same title. The principal cast, including Meryl Streep, Pacino, and Thompson, jeffrey Wright was the only original cast member to appear in the stage version, having won the 1994 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor for his stage performance. The shooting started in May 2002, and after a 137-day schedule, filming was done primarily at Kaufman Astoria Studios, New York City, with important scenes at Bethesda Fountain, Central Park, Manhattan
10.
Caesar's Hour
–
Caesars Hour is a live, hour-long American sketch comedy television program that aired on NBC from 1954 until 1957. Nanette Fabray replaced Imogene Coca, who opted to star in her own TV series in 1954, the full two-hour special was available on VHS as a pledge premium from PBS. It was released on DVD for the first time on December 12,2011, the reunion featured Caesar with Mel Tolkin, Neil Simon, Danny Simon, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Larry Gelbart, Sheldon Keller, Aaron Ruben and Gary Belkin. The moderator and researcher was Bob Claster, many of the sketches are centered on a domineering star who flames out, prefiguring Caesars post-series personal and career troubles. From July to September 1956, NBC ran The Ernie Kovacs Show as a replacement series for Caesars Hour. As with Your Show of Shows, most of the kinescopes of Caesars Hour do survive. Complete episodes and segments from the series survive at the UCLA Film and Television Archive in Los Angeles, California and The Paley Center for Media in Manhattan and Beverly Hills, Caesars Hour at the Internet Movie Database Caesars Hour at TV. com Caesars Writers
11.
Arrested Development (TV series)
–
Arrested Development is an American television sitcom created by Mitchell Hurwitz, which originally aired on Fox for three seasons from November 2,2003 to February 10,2006. A fourth season of 15 episodes was released on Netflix on May 26,2013, the show follows the fictitious Bluth family, a formerly wealthy and habitually dysfunctional family. It is presented in a format, incorporating handheld camera work and voice-over narration, as well as the use of occasional archival photos. The show also utilizes several long-running Easter egg jokes throughout each season, Ron Howard serves as both an executive producer and the series uncredited narrator. Set in Newport Beach, California, Arrested Development was filmed primarily in Culver City, in 2007, Time listed the show among its All-TIME100 TV Shows, in 2008, it was ranked 16th on Entertainment Weeklys New TV Classics list. In 2011, IGN named Arrested Development the funniest show of all time and its humor has been cited as a key influence on later single-camera sitcoms such as 30 Rock and Community. Despite critical acclaim, Arrested Development received low ratings and viewership on Fox, rumors of an additional season and a feature film persisted until 2011, when Netflix agreed to license new episodes and distribute them exclusively on its video streaming service. These episodes were released in 2013. Netflix has also commissioned a fifth season of Arrested Development, which is expected to premiere in 2017, a script for an Arrested Development film has also been in development, with the main cast reported to reprise their original roles in both the fifth season and the film. Discussion that led to the creation of the began in the summer of 2002. Howard met with David Nevins, the President of Imagine Television, Katie OConnell, a vice president. In light of recent corporate accounting scandals, such as Enron and Adelphia, Howard and Imagine were immediately interested in using this idea, and signed Hurwitz to write the show. The idea was pitched and sold in the fall of 2002, There was a bidding war for the show between Fox and NBC, with the show ultimately selling to Fox as a put pilot with a six-figure penalty. Over the next few months, Hurwitz developed the characters and plot for the series, the script of the pilot episode was submitted in January 2003 and filmed in March 2003. It was submitted in late April to Fox and was added to the fall schedule that May. Alia Shawkat was the first cast in the series, Michael Cera, Tony Hale, and Jessica Walter were cast from video tapes and flown in to audition for Fox. Jason Bateman and Portia de Rossi both read and auditioned for the network and were immediately chosen, the character of Gob was apparently the most challenging to cast. Howard provided the narration for the pilot, and his narrating meshed so well with the tone of the program that the decision was made to keep his voice
12.
Fox Broadcasting Company
–
The Fox Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcast television network that is owned by the Fox Entertainment Group subsidiary of 21st Century Fox. It is the third largest major network in the world based on total revenues, assets. Launched on October 9,1986 as a competitor to the Big Three television networks, Fox and its affiliated companies operate many entertainment channels in international markets, although these do not necessarily air the same programming as the U. S. network. Most viewers in Canada have access to at least one U. S, the network is named after sister company 20th Century Fox, and indirectly for producer William Fox, who founded one of the movie studios predecessors, Fox Film. Fox is a member of the North American Broadcasters Association and the National Association of Broadcasters, 20th Century Fox had been involved in television production as early as the 1950s, producing several syndicated programs. Following the demise of the DuMont Television Network in August of that year after it became mired in financial problems. 20th Century Fox would also produce original content for the NTA network, KTTV in Los Angeles, KRIV in Houston, WFLD-TV in Chicago, and KRLD-TV in Dallas. In October 1985, 20th Century Fox announced its intentions to form a television network that would compete with ABC, CBS. The plans were to use the combination of the Fox studios, organizational plans for the network were held off until the Metromedia acquisitions cleared regulatory hurdles. Then, in December 1985, Rupert Murdoch agreed to pay $325 million to acquire the remaining equity in TCF Holdings from his original partner, Marvin Davis. These first six stations, then broadcasting to a reach of 22% of the nations households. Except for KDAF, all of the original owned-and-operated stations are part of the Fox network today. Like the core O&O group, Foxs affiliate body consisted of independent stations. The Fox Broadcasting Company launched at 11,00 p. m. Eastern and its inaugural program was a late-night talk show, The Late Show, which was hosted by comedian Joan Rivers. By early 1987, Rivers quit The Late Show after disagreements with the network over the creative direction. The network expanded its programming into prime time on April 5,1987, with Children and the sketch comedy series The Tracey Ullman Show. Fox added one new show per week over the several weeks, with the drama 21 Jump Street. On July 11, the network rolled out its Saturday night schedule with the premiere of the drama series Werewolf
13.
The Sopranos
–
The Sopranos is an American crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around the character, New Jersey-based Italian American mobster Tony Soprano. The series portrays the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the requirements of his home life. These are often highlighted during his sessions with psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi. The series features Tonys family members, mafia colleagues and rivals, in prominent roles and story arcs, most notably his wife Carmela and protégé Christopher Moltisanti. After the pilot was ordered in 1997, the show premiered on the cable network HBO in the United States on January 10,1999. The series then went through syndication and has been broadcast on A&E in the United States, the Sopranos was produced by HBO, Chase Films, and Brad Grey Television. It was primarily filmed at Silvercup Studios, New York City, the executive producers throughout the shows run were David Chase, Brad Grey, Robin Green, Mitchell Burgess, Ilene S. Landress, Terence Winter, and Matthew Weiner. The Sopranos is widely regarded as one of the greatest television series of all time, the series also won a multitude of awards, including Peabody Awards for its first two seasons,21 Primetime Emmy Awards and five Golden Globe Awards. A staple of 2000s American popular culture, the series has been the subject of analysis, controversy. It has spawned books, a game, high-charting soundtrack albums. Several members of the shows cast and crew who were largely unknown to the public have had successful careers after The Sopranos. In 2013, the Writers Guild of America named The Sopranos the best-written TV series of all time, before creating The Sopranos, David Chase had worked as a television producer for more than 20 years. He had been employed as a staff writer/producer for several series and had co-created one short-lived original series, Almost Grown. He made his directorial debut in 1986 with the Enough Rope for Two episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents revival. He also directed episodes of Almost Grown and Ill Fly Away in 1988 and 1992, in 1996, he wrote and directed the television film The Rockford Files, Punishment and Crime. He served as showrunner for Ill Fly Away and Northern Exposure in the 1990s, Chase won his first Emmy Award in 1978 for his work on The Rockford Files and his second for writing the 1980 television film Off the Minnesota Strip. By 1996, he was a coveted showrunner, the story of The Sopranos was initially conceived as a feature film about a mobster in therapy having problems with his mother
14.
The West Wing
–
The West Wing is an American serial political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22,1999, to May 14,2006. The West Wing was produced by Warner Bros, for the first four seasons, there were three executive producers, Aaron Sorkin, Thomas Schlamme, and John Wells. The West Wing received acclaim from critics, as well as praise from political science professors, in total, The West Wing won three Golden Globe Awards and 26 Emmy Awards, including the award for Outstanding Drama Series, which it won four consecutive times from 2000 through 2003. In the years since its run, it has appeared on lists of the greatest television dramas ever made. The Writers Guild of America also ranked it #10 in its 101 Best-Written TV Series list, the West Wing employed a broad ensemble cast to portray the many positions involved in the daily work of the federal government. The President, the First Lady, and the Presidents senior staff, numerous secondary characters, appearing intermittently, complement storylines that generally revolve around this core group. Sam Seaborn is the Deputy Communications Director and he departs the White House following the re-election of President Bartlet to run for Congress. He is recruited to become Santos Deputy Chief of Staff at the series end, mandy Hampton is Josh Lymans ex-girlfriend and a media consultant contracted by the Bartlet administration. She departs without explanation following the first season, charlie Young is originally the Personal Aide to the President and later a Deputy Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff. He is in a relationship with Zoey Bartlet, at the series end he begins to study law at Georgetown. She succeeds Leo McGarry as Chief of Staff and departs White House at the end of the Bartlet administration, post-series, she marries Danny Concannon and has a child. He is fired from the Bartlet administration during a leak investigation and he has twin children with his ex-wife who is a congresswoman from Maryland. Leo McGarry, Bartlets close personal friend and Chief of Staff, following a heart attack, he becomes Counselor to the President, and later the Democratic Candidate for Vice President. Josh Lyman, is the Deputy Chief of Staff to Leo McGarry and C. J. Cregg, when Santos is elected, Josh becomes White House Chief of Staff. Josiah Jed Bartlet is the President of the United States, an economist by training, he is a former Congressman and Governor from New Hampshire who unexpectedly won the Democratic Party nomination. He suffers from multiple sclerosis, a fact he hides from the electorate. Donna Moss is the Senior Assistant to Josh Lyman and she later departs to be a spokesperson for the Russell campaign and then the Santos campaign. Upon Santos election, she becomes Chief of Staff to the First Lady, abbey Bartlet is the First Lady, Jeds wife, and a physician
15.
Cable television
–
This contrasts with broadcast television, in which the television signal is transmitted over the air by radio waves and received by a television antenna attached to the television. FM radio programming, high-speed Internet, telephone services, and similar non-television services may also be provided through these cables, analog television was standard in the 20th century, but since the 2000s, cable systems have been upgraded to digital cable operation. A cable channel is a television network available via cable television, alternative terms include non-broadcast channel or programming service, the latter being mainly used in legal contexts. Examples of cable/satellite channels/cable networks available in many countries are HBO, MTV, Cartoon Network, E. Eurosport, the abbreviation CATV is often used for cable television. It originally stood for Community Access Television or Community Antenna Television, in areas where over-the-air TV reception was limited by distance from transmitters or mountainous terrain, large community antennas were constructed, and cable was run from them to individual homes. The origins of cable broadcasting for radio are even older as radio programming was distributed by cable in some European cities as far back as 1924, Cable television has gone through a series of steps of evolution in the United States and Canada. Particularly in Canada, communities with their own signals were fertile cable markets, as viewers wanted to receive American signals. Early systems carried only a maximum of seven channels, using 2,4,5 or 6,7,9,11 and 13, as the equipment was unable to confine the signal discreetly within the assigned channel bandwidth. The reason 4 and 5 along with 6 and 7 could be used together was because of the 4 MHz gap between 4 and 5 and the nearly 90 MHz gap between 6 and 7. Even though eight channels are listed, in systems that maximized 7 channels. As equipment improved, all channels could be utilized, except where a local VHF television station broadcast. Local broadcast channels were not usable for signals deemed to be priority, later, the cable operators began to carry FM radio stations, and encouraged subscribers to connect their FM stereo sets to cable. Before stereo and bilingual TV sound became common, Pay-TV channel sound was added to the FM stereo cable line-ups, about this time, operators expanded beyond the 12-channel dial to use the midband and superband VHF channels adjacent to the high band 7-13 of North American television frequencies. Some operators as in Cornwall, Ontario, used a dual distribution network with Channels 2-13 on each of the two cables, during the 1980s, United States regulations not unlike public, educational, and government access created the beginning of cable-originated live television programming. These stations evolved partially into todays over-the-air digital subchannels, where a main broadcast TV station e. g, many live local programs with local interests were subsequently created all over the United States in most major television markets in the early 1980s. This evolved into todays many cable-only broadcasts of diverse programming, including cable-only produced television movies and miniseries, Cable specialty channels, starting with channels oriented to show movies and large sporting or performance events, diversified further, and narrowcasting became common. By the late 1980s, cable-only signals outnumbered broadcast signals on cable systems, by the mid-1980s in Canada, cable operators were allowed by the regulator to enter into distribution contracts with cable networks on their own. By the 1990s, tiers became common, with customers able to subscribe to different tiers to obtain different selections of additional channels above the basic selection, by subscribing to additional tiers, customers could get specialty channels, movie channels, and foreign channels
16.
Drea de Matteo
–
Tess Nazario in NBCs Shades of Blue. De Matteo, of Italian descent, was born Andrea Donna de Matteo in Whitestone, Queens, New York. Her mother, Donna, is a playwright and playwriting teacher and she grew up in a Roman Catholic family. After graduating from the Loyola School, she studied at New York Universitys Tisch School of the Arts, originally hoping to become a director, De Matteos role in The Sopranos was one of her earliest, helping to launch her career. She has appeared in films including Swordfish, Deuces Wild, The Perfect You, Prey for Rock & Roll. She had the role in Abel Ferraras R Xmas for which she received some very positive reviews. In 2004, de Matteo won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Adriana on The Sopranos and was nominated for a Golden Globe the same year and she was ranked #42 and #56 on the Maxim Hot 100 Women of 2001 and 2002, respectively. From 2004 to 2006, de Matteo portrayed Joey Tribbianis sister Gina in the Friends spin-off Joey, the show was cancelled after two seasons. De Matteo played the role of Wendy Case in the FX original series Sons of Anarchy, the pilot episode aired September 3,2008, and De Matteo continued making regular appearances into the series sixth season. She was promoted to a regular for the seventh and final season. De Matteo played Angie Bolen, the mother of the Bolen family and she officially left Desperate Housewives at the season 6 finale in 2010, due to personal reasons. De Matteo played the stepmother of Steve Wilde, the character of the FOX comedy Running Wilde, appearing in Season 1. De Matteo co-starred as Krissi Cates in the adaptation of Dark Places, with Charlize Theron, Chloë Grace Moretz. In 2015, she was cast as Det, tess Nazario in the NBC drama series Shades of Blue, starring alongside Jennifer Lopez and Ray Liotta. It premiered on January 7,2016, in 1997, de Matteo opened Filth Mart, an East Village clothing store with her then-boyfriend Michael Sportes. They closed the store in 2004, De Matteo started dating musician Shooter Jennings in 2001. They became engaged on June 11,2009, when Jennings proposed onstage at the Stanley Center during a show in Utica and they have two children together, daughter Alabama Gypsyrose Jennings and son Waylon Albert Blackjack Jennings. Jennings and de Matteo eventually ended their relationship without marrying, in July 2015, de Matteo became engaged to Whitesnake bass guitarist Michael Devin
17.
Sarah Jessica Parker
–
Sarah Jessica Parker is an American actress, producer, and designer. She is known for her role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex. She won two Emmy Awards for the show, one for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2001 and another for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2004. For this role, she won four Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. She reprised the role in the films, Sex and the City and Sex, Parker made her Broadway debut at the age of 11 in the 1976 revival of The Innocents, before going on to star in the title role of the Broadway musical, Annie, in 1979. She appeared in the 1984 films Footloose and Firstborn, and returned to Broadway in the 1989 play, The Heidi Chronicles. Other film roles include, L. A. Story, Honeymoon in Vegas, Hocus Pocus, Ed Wood, The First Wives Club, The Family Stone, and Failure to Launch. In 2012, Parker returned to television for the first time since Sex and she is currently starring in the HBO series, Divorce. Sarah Jessica Parker was born in Nelsonville, Ohio, the daughter of Barbara Parker, a school operator and teacher, and Stephen Parker. She was one of a total of eight children from her parents marriage, after her parents divorce, her mother married Paul Forste, a truck driver and account executive who was a part of Parkers life from an early age. Parkers father, a native of Brooklyn, is Jewish, his familys surname was Bar-Kahn. Parkers mother is of German, and some English, descent, through her mother, Parker is descended from Esther Elwell, Parker has identified culturally with her fathers religion, Judaism, although she has had no religious training. She has said that even while her family lived in Cincinnati, as a young girl, Parker trained in singing and ballet, and was soon cast in the Broadway revival of William Archibalds The Innocents. Her family moved to Cincinnati and then to Dobbs Ferry, New York, near New York City, There, her mother and stepfather helped Parker develop her career as a child actress. In 1977, the moved to the newly opened planned community on Roosevelt Island. The family later moved to Englewood, New Jersey, where Parker attended Dwight Morrow High School, Parker and four siblings appeared in a production of The Sound of Music at the outdoor Municipal Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri. Parker held the role for a year, in 1982, Parker was cast as the co-lead of the CBS sitcom Square Pegs. The show lasted just one season, but Parkers performance, as a shy teen who showed hidden depths, was well received
18.
Cynthia Nixon
–
Cynthia Ellen Nixon is an American actress. She is known for her portrayal of Miranda Hobbes in the HBO series, Sex and she reprised the role in the films Sex and the City and Sex and the City 2. Other film credits include Amadeus, The Pelican Brief, Little Manhattan,5 Flights Up, James White, Nixon made her Broadway debut in the 1980 revival of The Philadelphia Story. Other Broadway credits include The Real Thing, Hurlyburly, Indiscretions, The Women, Wit and her other television roles include playing political figures Eleanor Roosevelt in Warm Springs, Michele Davis in Too Big to Fail, and playing Nancy Reagan in the 2016 television film Killing Reagan. Nixon was born in New York City, the child of Anne Elizabeth, originally from Chicago. She is of English and German descent and she is no relation to the late U. S. President Richard Nixon. Nixons parents divorced when she was six years old and she graduated from Hunter College High School and attended Barnard College. In the spring of 1986, she studied abroad with Semester at Sea, Nixons first onscreen appearance was as an imposter on To Tell the Truth, where her mother worked. She began acting at age 12 as the object of a wealthy school mates crush in The Seven Wishes of a Rich Kid and she made her feature debut co-starring with Kristy McNichol and Tatum ONeal in Little Darlings. She made her Broadway debut as Dinah Lord in a 1980 revival of The Philadelphia Story, in 1984, while a freshman at Barnard College, Nixon made theatrical history by simultaneously appearing in two hit Broadway plays directed by Mike Nichols. These were The Real Thing, where Nixon played the daughter of Jeremy Irons and Christine Baranski, and Hurlyburly, the two theaters were just two blocks apart and Nixons roles were both short, so she could run from one to the other. Onscreen, she played the role of Salieris maid/spy, Lorl, in 1985, she appeared alongside Jeff Daniels in Lanford Wilsons Lemon Sky at Second Stage Theatre. She landed her first major supporting role in a movie as an intelligent teenager who aids her boyfriend in building a bomb in Marshall Brickmans The Manhattan Project. She reprised the role for the 2004 sequel Tanner on Tanner and she was the guest star in the second episode of the long running NBC television series Law & Order. She played the role of a woman in a February 1993 episode of Murder, She Wrote titled. Nixon was a member of the Off-Broadway theatrical troupe Drama Dept. Nixon has contributed supporting performances to Addams Family Values, Babys Day Out, Marvins Room. She raised her profile significantly as one of the four regulars on HBOs successful comedy Sex, Nixon received three Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, winning the award in 2004, for the shows final season. In 2002, she landed a role in the indie comedy Igby Goes Down
19.
Frasier
–
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, premiering on September 16,1993, and concluding on May 13,2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, the series was created as a spin-off of Cheers, continuing the story of psychiatrist Frasier Crane as he returned to his hometown of Seattle and started building a new life. Frasier stars Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce, John Mahoney, Jane Leeves, Peri Gilpin, psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane returns to his home town of Seattle, Washington, following the end of his marriage and his life in Boston. Frasier hires Daphne Moon as Martins live-in physical therapist and care giver, Frasier frequently spends time with his younger brother Niles, a fellow psychiatrist. Niles becomes obsessed with, and eventually falls in love with, Daphne, Frasier hosts The Dr. Frasier Crane Show, a call-in psychiatry show on talk radio station KACL. His producer Roz Doyle is very different from Frasier in many ways and she is down-to-earth, has basic tastes and, at least early in the series, has superficial relationships with many men. However, Roz and Frasier share a professional respect and over time they become best friends, Frasier and the others often visit the local coffee shop, Café Nervosa. The Crane sons, who possess fine tastes, intellectual interests, the brothers close relationship is often tense, and their sibling rivalry intermittently results in chaos. Niles Crane, Frasiers younger brother, also a psychiatrist, who works in private practice, Martin Crane, Frasier and Niless father, a police officer who was forced to retire by a gunshot wound to his hip that led to his living with Frasier. Daphne Moon, an English physiotherapist, hired by Frasier to help take care of Martin, Roz Doyle, the producer of Frasiers radio show, who becomes a close family friend. Eddie, Martin Cranes Jack Russell terrier, Bob Bulldog Briscoe, the male chauvinist, horny, boastful host of a sports radio talk show that followed Frasiers daily broadcast at KACL. He became a regular cast member for Seasons 4 through 6, noel Shempsky, KACL technical assistant and avid Star Trek aficionado who speaks Klingon, in love with Roz. Gil Chesterton, KACLs flamboyant, effeminate restaurant critic. Bebe Glazer, Frasiers manipulative, amoral agent, who is loathed by Frasiers family, the main cast remained unchanged for all 11 years. Grammer was briefly the highest paid actor in the United States for his portrayal of Frasier. Grammer had been the voice of Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons since 1990, in a 1997 episode, the characters brother, Cecil Terwilliger, was introduced, played by Pierce, as referenced in the episode title, Brother from Another Series. The episode contained numerous Frasier references, Pierce returned as Cecil for the second time alongside Grammer in the 2007 episode Funeral for a Fiend. The episode introduced the brothers father, Dr. Robert Terwilliger, cast member reunions also occurred on four episodes of Hot in Cleveland, which featured Leeves in the main cast along with Wendie Malick. In the Season 2 episode Unseparated at Birth and Season 3 episode Funeral Crashers, Gilpin appears in the episode I Love Lucci, and Tom McGowan appears in Love Thy Neighbor as a casting director
20.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
–
The program featured American televisions first never-married, independent career woman as the central character. It is one of the most acclaimed television programs in US television history and it received high praise from critics during its run, including Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series three years in a row, and continued to be honored long after the final episode aired. In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked The Mary Tyler Moore Show No.6 in its list of the 101 Best Written TV Series of All Time. Mary Richards is a woman who, at age 30. She applies for a job at television station WJM. She is instead offered the position of associate producer of the stations Six OClock News and she befriends her tough but lovable boss Lou Grant, newswriter Murray Slaughter, and buffoonish anchorman Ted Baxter. Mary later becomes producer of the show, Mary rents a third-floor studio apartment in a 19th-century house from acquaintance and downstairs landlady, Phyllis Lindstrom, and she and upstairs neighbor Rhoda Morgenstern become best friends. Characters introduced later in the series are acerbic, man-hungry TV hostess Sue Ann Nivens, at the beginning of season 6, after both Rhoda and Phyllis have moved away, Mary relocates to a one-bedroom high-rise apartment. In the third season, issues such as pay for women, pre-marital sex. In the fourth season, such subjects as marital infidelity and divorce are explored with Phyllis and Lou, in the fifth season, Mary refuses to reveal a news source and is jailed for contempt of court. While in jail, she befriends a prostitute who seeks Marys help in a subsequent episode, Mary dates several men on and off over the years, two seriously, but remains single throughout the series. In 1995, Entertainment Weekly said that TVs most famous bachelorette pad was Marys apartment, the fictitious address was 119 North Weatherly, but the exterior establishing shots were of a real house in Minneapolis at 2104 Kenwood Parkway. In the real house, an unfinished attic occupied the space behind the window recreated on the studio set of Marys apartment. Once fans of the series discovered where exterior shots had been taken, according to Moore, the woman who lived in the house was overwhelmed by the people showing up and asking if Mary was around. To discourage crews from filming footage of the house, the owners placed an Impeach Nixon sign beneath the window where Mary supposedly lived. The house continued to attract 30 tour buses a day more than a decade after production ended, at the time of Mary Tyler Moores death, on January 25,2017, the Kenwood Parkway house was for sale at $1.7 million. Mary Richards, a single native Minnesotan, moves to Minneapolis in 1970 at age 30 and her sincere, kind demeanor often acts as a foil for the personalities of her co-workers and friends. Lou Grant is the Producer of the news and his tough and grumpy demeanor initially hides his kind-hearted nature which is gradually revealed as the series progresses
21.
Kelsey Grammer
–
Allen Kelsey Grammer is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, producer, director, writer, singer, and activist. Grammer is known for his portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the NBC sitcoms Cheers. Grammer has been married four times and has seven children, Grammer was two years old when his parents divorced. Grammer attended Pine Crest School, a preparatory school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. After leaving Juilliard, he had an internship with the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego in the late 1970s before a stint in 1980 at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. He made his Broadway debut in 1981 as Lennox in Macbeth, Grammer then played Michael Cassio in a Broadway revival of Othello, with James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer. In 1983 he performed on the demo of the Stephen Sondheim–James Lapine production Sunday in the Park with George, in 2000, Grammer again played Macbeth on Broadway, in a production that closed after only 10 days. Grammer originated the roles of Charles Frohman and Captain Hook in the Broadway premiere of the musical Finding Neverland in March 2015 and he returned to the stage from January 19,2016, to April 3. His television career began in the early 1980s when he portrayed Stephen Smith in the NBC miniseries Kennedy, Grammer came to broader public attention as Dr. Frasier Crane in the NBC sitcom Cheers. The character became the center of the spin-off Frasier, one of the most successful spin-offs in TV history. In addition to starring, he directed more than 30 episodes, especially during the second half of the series. Frasier was nominated for and won awards during its 11-year run. In 2001, he negotiated a US$700, 000-per-episode salary for Frasier and his 20-year run playing Dr. Frasier Crane ties a length set by James Arness in playing Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke from 1955 to 1975 but was surpassed by Richard Belzer in playing Det. John Munch on Homicide, Life on the Street and Law & Order, Frasier Crane also had a crossover appearance in 1993 Wings episode Planes, Trains, & Visiting Cranes. In 2005, Grammer returned to television and he produced and appeared in an American adaptation of the British show The Sketch Show, which aired on Fox. The main cast consisted of Malcolm Barrett, Kaitlin Olson, Mary Lynn Rajskub and Paul F. Tompkins, Grammer appeared in only short opening and closing segments in each episode. Many of the sketches from the British version were re-created, such as the California Dreamin, English Course, only six episodes of the show were made, and it was canceled after only four of them had aired. In 2007, Grammer starred with Patricia Heaton in the American sitcom Back to You and it was canceled by Fox after its first season
22.
James Spader
–
James Todd Spader is an American actor. His best-known television roles are those of attorney Alan Shore in The Practice and its spin-off Boston Legal and he currently stars as high-profile criminal-turned-FBI-informant Raymond Red Reddington in the NBC crime drama The Blacklist, for which he has earned two Golden Globe Award nominations. Spader was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and is the youngest of three children and his parents Jean and Stoddard Greenwood Todd Spader were both teachers. Spader grew up in a liberal and progressive home, saying regarding his mother and he later transferred to Phillips Academy before dropping out at the age of seventeen and moving to New York City to pursue his acting career. On his way to becoming an actor, Spader undertook jobs such as bartending, teaching yoga, driving a meat truck, loading railroad cars. Spaders first major role was in the film Endless Love. However, he did not rise to stardom until 1986, when he played the rich and he co-starred in Mannequin and the film adaptation of Less Than Zero, in which he played a drug dealer named Rip. For this performance, he received the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival, in 1994, he starred as Egyptologist Daniel Jackson in the sci-fi film Stargate. In 1996, he played car accident fetishist James Ballard in the controversial Canadian film Crash, in 1997, Spader guest starred in the Seinfeld episode The Apology, as an angry recovering alcoholic who refuses to apologize to George for making fun of him. In 2000, he played a drug-addicted detective tracking down a killer in The Watcher. In 2002, he starred as a boss in Secretary. From 2004 to 2008, Spader starred as Alan Shore in the series Boston Legal and he won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2004 for his portrayal on The Practice and won it again in 2005 and 2007 for Boston Legal. With the 2005 win, he one of only a few actors to win an Emmy award while playing the same character in two different series. Even rarer, he won a second consecutive Emmy while playing the character in two different series. He also won the Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Series, in October 2006, Spader narrated China Revealed, the first episode of Discovery Channels documentary series Discovery Atlas. He has also done the voice-over in several commercials for Acura. He starred in Race, a written and directed by David Mamet. The show closed on August 21,2010 after 297 performances, in March 2011, he was named to star in the film By Virtue Fall, written and to be directed by Sheldon Turner
23.
Allison Janney
–
Allison Brooks Janney is an American actress. A seven-time Primetime Emmy Award winner for her work, her first four Emmy wins were for her role as C. J. Cregg on the NBC drama The West Wing. In 2014, she won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Margaret Scully on the Showtime series Masters of Sex. In 2014 and 2015, she won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Bonnie Plunkett on the CBS sitcom Mom. Janney, who won a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in the summer of 1984 and she won Drama Desk Awards for the 1997 Broadway revival of A View From the Bridge, and the 2009 original Broadway production of the musical 9 to 5. She also received Tony Award nominations for both, Janney was born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in Dayton, Ohio. She is the daughter of Macy Brooks, an actress and homemaker. She is one of three siblings, Janney attended The Miami Valley School in Dayton, where she was named a distinguished alumna in 2004, and the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut. She then attended Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, at Kenyon, she studied with Paul Newman, an alumnus of Kenyon. He directed her in a play as the event of the schools newly dedicated Bolton Theater. Newman and his wife Joanne Woodward encouraged Janney to continue acting and she then went on to train at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York and did summer programs at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. She attended The Neighborhood Playhouse the same years as actor Dylan McDermott, Janneys first role on television was in the short-lived black-and-white faux-1940s comedy Morton & Hayes, she appeared in two episodes of the 1991 CBS series as Eddie Hayes wife. She then moved on to soap operas, she first played Vi Kaminski for a time on As the World Turns, following up with a two-year role as Ginger, one of the Spaulding maids. In the spring of 1994, she appeared in the finale of Law & Order. She was also a cast member on the radio show A Prairie Home Companion, in 2006, she had roles in the feature films Margaret and Over the Hedge. In 1999, she was cast in the role of press secretary C. J. Cregg on the television drama The West Wing. She was also nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in the 2003 and 2006 Primetime Emmys, Janney won two Screen Actors Guild awards for Best Actress in a dramatic series, in 2001 and 2002. The cast of The West Wing won the Screen Actors Guild award for Best Ensemble in a series the same two years
24.
Al Pacino
–
Alfredo James Al Pacino is an American actor of stage and screen, filmmaker, and screenwriter. DeMille Award, and the National Medal of Arts and he is also one of few performers to have won a competitive Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony Award for acting, dubbed the Triple Crown of Acting. He achieved international acclaim and recognition for his role as Michael Corleone in Francis Ford Coppolas The Godfather. He received his first Oscar nomination and would reprise the role in the successful sequels The Godfather Part II. Pacinos performance as Corleone is now regarded as one of the greatest screen performances in film history, for his performances in The Godfather, Dick Tracy and Glengarry Glen Ross, Pacino was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. A lifelong fan of Shakespeare, Pacino directed and starred in Looking for Richard, a film about the play Richard III. He has also acted as Shylock in a 2004 feature film adaptation, since 1994, Pacino has been the joint president of the Actors Studio with Ellen Burstyn and Harvey Keitel. Pacino was born in New York City, to Sicilian-American parents Salvatore Pacino and Rose and his mother moved to The Bronx to live with her parents, Kate and James Gerardi, who, coincidentally, had come from a town in Sicily named Corleone. His father, who was from San Fratello in the Province of Messina, moved to Covina, California, in his teen years Sonny, as he was known to his friends, aimed to become a baseball player, and was also nicknamed The Actor. Pacino went through Herman Ridder Junior High School, but in secondary school dropped out of many classes and he attended the High School of Performing Arts, but dropped out of school at age 17. His mother disagreed with his decision, they argued and he left home and he worked at low-paying jobs, messenger, busboy, janitor, and postal clerk, to finance his acting studies. He once worked in the room for Commentary magazine. He began smoking and drinking at age nine, and took up casual cannabis use at age 13 and his two closest friends died from drug abuse at the ages of 19 and 30. Growing up in The Bronx, he got into fights and was considered something of a troublemaker at school. He acted in basement plays in New Yorks theatrical underground but was rejected for the Actors Studio while a teenager, Pacino then joined the Herbert Berghof Studio, where he met acting teacher Charlie Laughton, who became his mentor and best friend. In this period, he was unemployed and homeless, and sometimes slept on the street, in theaters. In 1962, his mother died at the age of 43, the following year, Pacinos grandfather James Gerardi, one of the most influential people in his life, also died. After four years at HB Studio, Pacino successfully auditioned for the Actors Studio, the Actors Studio is a membership organization of professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights in the Hells Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City
25.
Meryl Streep
–
Mary Louise Meryl Streep is an American actress and philanthropist. Nominated for 20 Academy Awards, Streep has more nominations than any actor or actress. Streep has also received 30 Golden Globe nominations, winning eight—more nominations, Streep made her professional stage debut in Trelawny of the Wells in 1975, and in 1976 received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play for 27 Wagons Full of Cotton. She made her debut in the 1977 television film The Deadliest Season. In 1978, she won an Emmy Award for her role in the miniseries Holocaust and she went on to win Best Supporting Actress for Kramer vs. Kramer, and Best Actress for Sophies Choice and The Iron Lady. President Barack Obama awarded her the 2010 National Medal of Arts, in 2003, the government of France made her a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters. In 2017, Streep was awarded the Golden Globe Cecil B. Mary Louise Streep was born on June 22,1949, in Summit, New Jersey, the daughter of Mary Wolf Wilkinson, a commercial artist and art editor, the eldest child, she has two younger brothers, Dana David and Harry William III. Streeps father Harry was of German and Swiss ancestry and her fathers lineage traces back to Loffenau, Germany, from where her second great-grandfather, Gottfried Streeb, immigrated to the United States, and where one of her ancestors served as mayor. Another line of her fathers family was from Giswil, Switzerland and her mother had English, German, and Irish ancestry. Some of Streeps maternal ancestors lived in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island and were descended from 17th-century immigrants from England and her eighth great-grandfather, Lawrence Wilkinson, was one of the first Europeans to settle in Rhode Island. Streep is also a distant relative of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, Streeps maternal great-great-grandparents, Manus McFadden and Grace Strain, the namesake of Streeps second daughter, were natives of the Horn Head district of Dunfanaghy, Ireland. Streeps mother, whom she has compared in both appearance and manner to Dame Judi Dench, strongly encouraged her daughter and instilled confidence in her from a young age. Streep has said, She was a mentor because she said to me, Meryl and she was saying, You can do whatever you put your mind to. If youre lazy, youre not going to get it done, but if you put your mind to it, you can do anything. Although Streep was naturally more introverted than her mother, at times when she later needed an injection of confidence in adulthood, she would consult her mother, asking her for advice. Streep was raised as a Presbyterian in Basking Ridge, New Jersey and attended Cedar Hill Elementary School and the Oak Street School, in her Junior High debut, she starred as Lousie Heller in the play The Family Upstairs. In 1963 the family moved to Bernardsville, New Jersey, where she attended Bernards High School
26.
David Hyde Pierce
–
David Hyde Pierce is an American actor, director, and comedian. Pierce also has appeared on and directed for the stage and he won the 2007 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for his performance in the musical Curtains. He also played Dr. Jones in When We Rise. Pierce was born David Pierce in Saratoga Springs and his father, George Hyde Pierce, was an aspiring actor, and his mother, Laura Marie, was an insurance agent. He added his middle name Hyde to avoid confusion with another actor named David Pierce, as a child, Pierce frequently played organ at the local Bethesda Episcopal Church. While attending Yale, Pierce performed in and directed student productions and he also directed the Gilbert & Sullivan Societys operetta Princess Ida. Among other roles Pierce played at Yale were in Waiting for Godot, Saint Joan, during this period he played Laertes in a popular off-Broadway production of Hamlet and made his Broadway debut in 1982 in Christopher Durangs Beyond Therapy. Pierces first big break came in the early 1990s with Norman Lears political comedy, The Powers That Be, in which Pierce played Theodore. Despite positive reviews critics, the show was canceled after a brief run. In part due to his physical resemblance to Kelsey Grammer. For his work on Frasier, Pierce was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Emmy a record eleven consecutive years, Pierce also appeared alongside Jodie Foster in Little Man Tate, with Anthony Hopkins in Oliver Stones Nixon, and with Ewan McGregor in Down With Love. He provided the voice for Doctor Doppler in Disneys 42nd animated feature, Treasure Planet, Slim, in 2001, he starred in the cult 1980s summer camp comedy Wet Hot American Summer as the befuddled astrophysicist, Prof. Henry Newman. In his role in Sleepless in Seattle, Pierce played the brother of Meg Ryans character, the movie was released just three months before the start of Frasier. In 2005, Pierce joined Tim Curry and others in the production of Spamalot. In August and September 2006, he starred as Lieutenant Frank Cioffi in Curtains, a new Kander and Ebb musical staged at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. In March 2007, Curtains opened on Broadway and on June 10,2007, in his acceptance speech, Pierce said the first words he spoke on a Broadway stage were, Im sorry, Im going to have to ask you to leave. On November 19,2007, Pierce was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degree from Niagara University in Lewiston, in 1999 he was awarded an Honorary Degree from Skidmore College, located in his native Saratoga Springs. In 2010, Pierce appeared in a revival of David Hirsons play La Bête directed by Matthew Warchus, the production debuted on Londons West End before moving to New York. In 2015 he directed the Manhattan Theater Club production of David Lindsay-Abaires play Ripcord Off-Broadway at City Center, Pierce appears in the Off-Broadway limited engagement of A Life by Adam Bock
27.
Michael Imperioli
–
He also appeared in the TV drama series Law & Order as NYPD Detective Nick Falco. Imperioli spent the 2008-2009 television season as Detective Ray Carling in the US version of Life on Mars and he was starring as Detective Louis Fitch in the ABC police drama Detroit 1-8-7 until its cancellation. He wrote and directed his first feature film, The Hungry Ghosts, in 2015, he starred in Mad Dogs, a dark-comic thriller television series available for viewing on Amazons Amazon Prime subscription service in the U. S and on Shomi in Canada. Imperioli was born in Mount Vernon, New York into an Italian-American family, the son of Dan Imperioli, a bus driver and amateur actor and Claire Imperioli, in his early childhood he attended Lincoln School in Mount Vernon. He graduated from Brewster High School, Brewster, New York in 1983. Imperioli has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards as well as for five Emmy Awards for his work as Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos, he won one Emmy, in addition, he also wrote a number of episodes for The Sopranos. He served as director of Studio Dante, an Off-Broadway theater he formed with his wife. He is also the lead singer/guitarist for a band named La Dolce Vita. He was a guest on episode MB2E08 of Mario Batalis Food Network television show Molto Mario, in 2010, Imperioli was signed on to play the lead in the ABC TV show, Detroit 1-8-7. Working with the writer Gabriele Tinti, he wrote the text Pride for Tintis book New York Shots, in 2016, he guest starred as the angel Uriel on the Fox show Lucifer. Imperioli has been married to Victoria Chlebowski since 1995, lives in Santa Barbara and he and his family are avid practitioners of Tae Kwon Do. Michael Imperioli at the Internet Movie Database Bio and photo of Michael Imperioli — Crains New York Business 40 under 40 —2005
28.
Jeffrey Wright
–
Jeffrey Wright is an American film, television and stage actor. He currently stars as Bernard Lowe in the HBO series Westworld, Wright was born in Washington, D. C. to a mother who worked as a customs lawyer and a father who died when Wright was a child. He graduated from St. Albans School and attended Amherst College, receiving a degree in political science and planned to attend law school, however. After attending New York University for two months, he left to become a full-time actor, Wright began appearing off-Broadway in New York City and Washington DC, and in 1990, he appeared in his first major film as an attorney in Presumed Innocent, which starred Harrison Ford. In 1991, Wright joined John Housemans national touring repertory company The Acting Company with productions of A Midsummer Nights Dream, in 1994, he was cast as Norman Belize Arriaga in Tony Kushners award-winning play Angels in America. His portrayal of a gay nurse forced to care of Roy Cohn as he dies of AIDS won him the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. In 1996, Wright portrayed painter Jean-Michel Basquiat in the film Basquiat, in 2003, Wright reprised his role as Norman Belize Arriaga in HBOs award-winning adaptation of Angels in America. His performance garnered him an Emmy award as well as a Golden Globe award for Best Supporting Actor in a miniseries, in 2004, he appeared in Jonathan Demmes remake of The Manchurian Candidate. In February 2005, Wright returned to HBO Films in Lackawanna Blues and he also guest starred on The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and Homicide, Life on the Street. Among his other roles was Washington attorney Bennett Holiday in Syriana. The same year, he played Bill Murrays eccentric Ethiopian neighbor Winston in Broken Flowers, in 2005, he starred in the play This Is How It Goes. He also appeared as one of the tenants in Lady in the Water, in 2006, Wright was featured as Felix Leiter in the James Bond movie Casino Royale. He reprised the role in Quantum of Solace, in 2007, Wright starred in the alien invasion suspense thriller The Invasion. In 2008, he portrayed Colin Powell in W and he portrayed Muddy Waters in Cadillac Records, a biopic, loosely about the rise and fall of Chess Records. In 2010, Wright played Jacques Cornet in the premiere run of A Free Man of Color at the Vivian Beaumont Theater of the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts in New York City. Wright plays Beetee in The Hunger Games film series, starting with The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and he also landed the role of Dr. Valentin Narcisse in season 4 of Boardwalk Empire, starting in the fall of 2013. In March 2017, Wright appeared in a commercial for Dell Technologies, Wright married actress Carmen Ejogo in August 2000. They have a son named Elijah and a daughter named Juno and lived in Brooklyn, in 2004, Wright received an honorary degree from his alma mater, Amherst College
29.
Mary-Louise Parker
–
Mary-Louise Parker is an American actress and author. Parker is also the recipient of the 2001 Tony Award for Best Actress for her performance in the Broadway play Proof and she also starred in When We Rise. Parker was born in Fort Jackson, South Carolina, the youngest of four children, she is the daughter of Caroline Louise and John Morgan Parker, a judge who served in the U. S. Army. Her ancestry includes Swedish, English, Scottish, Scots-Irish, German, because of her fathers career, Parker spent parts of her childhood in Tennessee and Texas, as well as in Thailand, Germany, and France. She described her childhood as unhappy, further noting that, My parents did everything they could, I had books, clothes, a home and a warm bed. She graduated from Marcos de Niza High School in Tempe, Arizona, Parker majored in drama at the North Carolina School of the Arts and graduated in 1986. Parker got her start in acting with a role on the soap opera Ryans Hope, in the late 1980s, Parker moved to New York. After a few roles, she made her Broadway debut in a 1990 production of Craig Lucas Prelude to a Kiss. She moved with the production when it transferred from its origin Off-Broadway, Parker won the Clarence Derwent Award for her performance and was nominated for a Tony Award. In addition, she appeared alongside Matthew Modine in Tim Hunters The Maker, Parkers theater career continued when she appeared in Paula Vogels 1997 critical smash How I Learned to Drive, with David Morse. In the late 1990s, she appeared in independent films, including Let the Devil Wear Black. She starred alongside Sidney Poitier in the 1999 movie The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn, on December 7,2003, HBO aired a six-and-a-half-hour adaptation of Tony Kushners acclaimed Broadway play Angels in America, directed by Mike Nichols. Parker played Harper Pitt, the Mormon Valium-addicted wife of a closeted lawyer, for her performance, Parker received Golden Globe and Emmy awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries. Parker took the role that had been Mia Farrows on screen. The production, directed by Mark Brokaw, earned Parker another nomination for a Tony Award for Best Actress in 2005, in November 2005, Parker was the subject of a career exhibition at Boston University, where memorabilia from her career were donated to the Universitys library. In that category, she defeated the four leads of Desperate Housewives and she dedicated the award to the late John Spencer, known for his work as Leo McGarry on The West Wing. After receiving the award, Parker stated, Im really in favor of legalizing marijuana, I dont think its that controversial. In March 2007, Parker played the role in the television film The Robber Bride
30.
Elaine Stritch
–
Elaine Stritch was an American actress and singer, known for her work on Broadway. She made her stage debut in 1944 and appeared in numerous stage plays, musicals, feature films. She was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1995 and her one-woman show Elaine Stritch at Liberty, won the 2002 Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event. Stritch relocated to London in the 1970s and starred in several West End productions, including Tennessee Williams Small Craft Warnings and she also starred with Donald Sinden in the ITV sitcom Twos Company, which earned her a 1979 BAFTA TV Award nomination. She won an Emmy Award in 1993 for her guest role on Law & Order and another for the 2004 television documentary of her one-woman show. From 2007 to 2012, she had a role as Colleen Donaghy on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock. Stritch was born on February 2,1925, in Detroit, Michigan, the youngest daughter of Mildred, a homemaker, and George Joseph Stritch and her Roman Catholic family was well-off. Her father was of Irish descent, while her mother had Welsh ancestry, samuel Stritch, Archbishop of Chicago from 1940 to 1958, was one of her uncles. She trained at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York City under Erwin Piscator, alongside Marlon Brando, Stritch made her stage debut in 1944. Stritch understudied Ethel Merman for Call Me Madam, and, at the time, appeared in the 1952 revival of Pal Joey. Stritch later starred in the tour of Call Me Madam. She was the lead in the musical Goldilocks and she starred in Noël Cowards Sail Away on Broadway in 1961. During out-of-town tryouts in Boston, Coward was unsure about the talents of one of the leads. Joe Layton suggested What would happen if. we just eliminated role, the show was very old-fashioned, and the thing that was working was Elaine Stritch. Every time she went on stage was a sensation. The reconstructed Sail Away opened on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre on October 3,1961, with Stritch giving what Howard Taubman of The New York Times said “must be the performance of her career. ”In 1966, she played Ruth Sherwood in the musical Wonderful Town at New Yorks City Center, and appeared in an Off Broadway revival of Private Lives in 1968. Stritch became known as a singer with a brassy, powerful voice and she was the original performer cast in the role of Joanne in Stephen Sondheims Company on Broadway. After over a decade of successful runs in shows in New York, Stritch moved in 1972 to London, where she starred in the West End production of Company
31.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
–
Curb Your Enthusiasm is an American comedy television series produced and broadcast by HBO that premiered on October 15,2000. The series was created by Larry David, who stars as a version of himself. The series follows Larry in his life as a television writer and producer in Los Angeles. Also starring are Cheryl Hines as his wife, Cheryl, Jeff Garlin as his manager, Jeff, Curb Your Enthusiasm often features guest stars, and many of these appearances are by celebrities playing versions of themselves fictionalized to varying degrees. The plots and subplots of the episodes are established in a written by David. The character has a hard time letting such annoyances go unexpressed, the series was developed from a 1999 one-hour special, Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm, which David and HBO originally envisioned as a one-time project. The special was shot as a mockumentary, where the characters were aware of the presence of cameras, the series itself is not a mock documentary but is shot in a somewhat similar, cinéma vérité-like style. Curb Your Enthusiasm has received critical acclaim and has grown in popularity since its debut. It has been nominated for 38 Primetime Emmy Awards, and Robert B, weide received an Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for the episode Krazee Eyez Killa. The show won the 2002 Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy, after season eight finished in 2011, the series went on an indefinite hiatus. In June 2016, after an absence, it was announced the series would return for a ninth season. The series stars Larry David as a fictionalized version of himself. Like the real-life David, the character is known in the entertainment industry as the co-creator. For most of the series, the Larry David character is living a life in Los Angeles with his wife. Davids main confidant on the show is his manager, Jeff Greene, a large portion of the shows many guest stars are celebrities and public figures, such as actors, comedians, sportspeople, and politicians, who play themselves. These include Davids longtime friend Richard Lewis as well as Ted Danson and his wife, Mary Steenburgen, the show is set and filmed in various affluent Westside communities of Los Angeles, as well as in the adjacent cities of Beverly Hills, Culver City and Santa Monica. Davids hometown of New York City is also featured in some episodes, most of the series revolves around Davids interactions with his friends and acquaintances, with David often at odds with the other characters, usually to his detriment. Despite this, the characters do not seem to harbor ill feelings toward each other for any extended period, and this conflicts with his dry style
32.
Everybody Loves Raymond
–
Everybody Loves Raymond is an American television sitcom starring Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton, Brad Garrett, Doris Roberts, Peter Boyle, Madylin Sweeten, and Monica Horan. It premiered on CBS on September 13,1996, and concluded on May 16,2005 after nine seasons, many of the situations from the show could be inspired by the real-life experiences of Romano, creator/producer Phil Rosenthal, and the shows writing staff. The main characters on the series might possibly be loosely based on Romano, the show revolves around the life of everyman Italian-American Raymond Barone, a sportswriter for Newsday living with his family in Long Island. Moany and sarcastic, Raymond takes few things seriously, making jokes in every situation. He often avoids responsibilities around the house and with his kids, Raymond and Debra have a daughter Ally and twin sons Michael and Geoffrey. The Barone children are regular characters but not a major focus, Raymonds parents, Marie and Frank, live across the street with older son Robert. Raymond typically falls in the middle of arguments, incapable of taking any decisive stand. Robert, a gentle giant, jealous of his younger siblings position as favorite son. Robert and Raymond frequently argue like overgrown children, focusing much of their energy on picking on or one upping each other, Barone patriarch Frank is a fiery proletarian prone to insults and merciless put downs directed at any and all targets. Largely an absentee father when the boys were growing up, Frank buries his feelings, as the series progresses, however, several episodes demonstrate that the senior Barone loves his family immensely. Unlike everyone else, Frank has no problem comically criticizing Marie, Raymond and Debras marriage is fraught with conflicts. Raymond prefers sports television over discussions with Debra on marital matters, like his father, Raymond works full-time, leaving most child-rearing responsibilities to his wife, he often has to be forced into helping around the house. One of the recurring elements finds the couple having a long discussion in bed each night before going to sleep. Raymond Ray Barone is a sportswriter for Newsday and he lives in Lynbrook, Long Island with his wife, Debra, and their three children Alexandra, Geoffrey, and Michael. His parents Frank & Marie and brother Robert live across the street, Raymonds character is loosely based on the real-life Romano, as he is the father of twin boys and a girl. Raymonds mother favors him over Robert, Debra Barone is Raymonds wife, and mother of Ally, Michael and Geoffrey. As a housewife, Debra claims she is overworked, under-appreciated and stressed out. On frequent occasions this frustration boils over and is vented towards Raymond, while Debra has a fractious relationship with Marie, she is shown to be fond of her in-laws on many occasions – particularly brother-in-law Robert
33.
CBS
–
CBS is an American commercial broadcast television network that is a flagship property of CBS Corporation. The company is headquartered at the CBS Building in New York City with major facilities and operations in New York City. CBS is sometimes referred to as the Eye Network, in reference to the iconic logo. It has also called the Tiffany Network, alluding to the perceived high quality of CBS programming during the tenure of William S. Paley. It can also refer to some of CBSs first demonstrations of color television, the network has its origins in United Independent Broadcasters Inc. a collection of 16 radio stations that was purchased by Paley in 1928 and renamed the Columbia Broadcasting System. Under Paleys guidance, CBS would first become one of the largest radio networks in the United States, in 1974, CBS dropped its former full name and became known simply as CBS, Inc. In 2000, CBS came under the control of Viacom, which was formed as a spin-off of CBS in 1971, CBS Corporation is controlled by Sumner Redstone through National Amusements, which also controls the current Viacom. The television network has more than 240 owned-and-operated and affiliated stations throughout the United States. The origins of CBS date back to January 27,1927, Columbia Phonographic went on the air on September 18,1927, with a presentation by the Howard Barlow Orchestra from flagship station WOR in Newark, New Jersey, and fifteen affiliates. Operational costs were steep, particularly the payments to AT&T for use of its land lines, in early 1928 Judson sold the network to brothers Isaac and Leon Levy, owners of the networks Philadelphia affiliate WCAU, and their partner Jerome Louchenheim. With the record out of the picture, Paley quickly streamlined the corporate name to Columbia Broadcasting System. He believed in the power of advertising since his familys La Palina cigars had doubled their sales after young William convinced his elders to advertise on radio. By September 1928, Paley bought out the Louchenheim share of CBS, during Louchenheims brief regime, Columbia paid $410,000 to A. H. Grebes Atlantic Broadcasting Company for a small Brooklyn station, WABC, which would become the networks flagship station. WABC was quickly upgraded, and the relocated to 860 kHz. The physical plant was relocated also – to Steinway Hall on West 57th Street in Manhattan, by the turn of 1929, the network could boast to sponsors of having 47 affiliates. Paley moved right away to put his network on a financial footing. In the fall of 1928, he entered talks with Adolph Zukor of Paramount Pictures. The deal came to fruition in September 1929, Paramount acquired 49% of CBS in return for a block of its stock worth $3.8 million at the time
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
_(cropped).jpg)
