On November 21, 1980, 350 million people around the world tuned
in to television’s popular primetime drama “Dallas” to find out
who shot J.R. Ewing, the character fans loved to hate. J.R. had
been shot on the season-ending episode the previous March 21,
which now stands as one of television’s most famous cliffhangers.

The November 21 episode solved the mystery, identifying Kristin Shepard, J.R.’s wife’s sister-in-law and his former mistress, as
the culprit.

The CBS television network debuted the first five-episode pilot
season of “Dallas” in 1978; it went on to run for another 12 full-
length seasons.

Ronald Pierce Ely
(June 21, 1938 – September 29, 2024)

Ron Ely died at the home of one of his daughters in
Santa Barbara on September 29, 2024. His death
was not made public until his daughter Kristen
revealed it today.

Ely is best known for having portrayed Tarzan in the
1966–1968 NBC series Tarzan and for playing the
lead role in the film Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze
(1975). He hosted the Miss America pageant telecast
in 1980 and 1981.

The show’s premiere was hosted by George Carlin on NBC on
October 11, 1975, under the original title NBC’s Saturday Night.

The topical comedy sketch show featuring Chevy Chase, John
Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Garrett Morris, Jane Curtin
and Laraine Newman, made its debut on NBC.

The 90-minute program, which from its inception has been aired
live from Studio 8H at Rockefeller Center, included a different
guest host and musical act each week. The opening sketch of
each show ends with the saying… “Live from New York, It’s
Saturday Night.”
    
    
    
   

ED DANAHUE

Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen
(December 26, 1921 – October 30, 2000)

On September 26, 1960, for the first time in U.S. history, a
debate between major party presidential candidates was
broadcast on live television.

The presidential hopefuls, John F. Kennedy, a Democratic
senator of Massachusetts, and Richard M. Nixon, the vice
president of the United States, met in a Chicago studio to
discuss U.S. domestic matters.

Kennedy emerged the apparent winner from this first of
four televised debates.