January 14, 2015 Tweet Bright and early on Monday morning, January 14, 1952, The Today Show debuted on TV with Dave Garroway as its host and Jack Lescoulie as his sidekick. One of televisions longest running shows, Today is still going strong. Although it certainly had its lighthearted moments (see section on J. Fred Muggs below), Today and its host Dave Garroway were much more focused on hard news than the celebrity gossip and lifestyle discussions that have gradually come to dominate much of the morning TV scene. As Garroway said on the opening broadcast of Today, ¨an informed people tends to be a free people.¨ He said he hoped the show would be helpful in keeping its viewers informed and free ¨without being stuffy about it.¨ The brainchild of NBC Vice President Sylvester B. ¨Pat¨ Weaver Jr. (father of actress Sigourney Weaver), the show was broadcast from NBCs world communications center in Rockefeller Center and was designed to utilize NBCs network of international correspondents to help keep the viewing public informed. On the debut show, Garroway made much of the ability to check in live with NBCs man in London to see what was going on in that part of the world. For a show that has endured and grown in popularity over the years, initial critical reaction was surprisingly harsh. In an article marking the shows 35th anniversary, Chicago Tribune columnist Barbara Szul recalled that when it first debuted ¨the experimental news magazine was considered a folly by its critics.¨ Introduced by Garroway in late January 1953, J. Fred Muggs was a chimpanzee, initially decked out in baby diapers, that for the next several years served as an unofficial mascot for the show. Pat Weaver spotted the chimp during an appearance it made on the Perry Como TV show and decided J. Fred Muggs was just what Today needed to ramp up its sagging ratings. Interestingly, the Soviet newspaper Izvestia described the chimp as ¨a symbol of the American way of life.¨
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 17:15:20 +0000