Showing posts with label TV host. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TV host. Show all posts

January 29 - Happy Birthday, Oprah Winfrey

Posted on January 29, 2020

Born on this date in 1954...
Born into poverty in rural Mississippi...
Born to a teenage single mother...
Raised in inner-city Milwaukee...

She didn't have a chance for success, did she?

Yet Oprah Winfrey was smart enough, talented enough, ambitious enough, and persistent enough to become one of the richest, most famous, and most respected African American people ever!

She's even one of the few people recognized by just her first name: Oprah! (Cher and Madonna and Beyoncé are in the same situation.)

Check out her job titles:

Oprah started out in radio while she was in high school, and she was co-anchor for local evening news at just 19 years old! Since then she has been a talk show host, actor, television producer, and media executive - as well as a philanthropist and activist! She has co-authored five books, and she publishes her own magazine (O, The Oprah Magazine). AND she has even started her own network (OWN - the Oprah Winfrey Network).



Oprah's show was the highest-rated TV program of its kind in history and ran for 25 years! Here are a few of the honors she has received:
  • Inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame
  • Presidential Medal of Freedom
  • NAACP Image Award Hall of Fame
  • Honorary doctorate degrees from Duke and Harvard 
  • Appearing on lists, sometimes as #1, such as "Most influential woman" / "Most influential people" / "Most powerful celebrity" / "Greatest Americans" / etc. - TIME, Life, Forbes, and more!








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March 20 – Happy Birthday, Mr. Rogers!


Posted on March 20, 2016

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'”

“I like you just the way you are.”

“It always helps to have people we love beside us when we have to do difficult things in life.”

Today is a great day to celebrate the life of beloved TV personality Fred Rogers. Born on this date in 1928, Mr. Rogers created and hosted a preschool TV series called Mister Rogers' Neighborhood...a show that featured field trips, educational films about how things like bulldozers work or how things like crayons are made, make-believe segments, and earnest conversations with the TV audience and live guests. Mr. Rogers' loving, gentle wisdom was delivered with a soft-spoken voice and with a respectful directness – I love to see adults with that sort of respectful attitude toward kids.



Mr. Rogers, in turn, earned a lot of respect, from kids and adults. And he earned around 40 honorary degrees, a Peabody Award, an induction into the Television Hall of Fame, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom!


Did you know...?

  • All 895 episodes of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood began with Mr. Rogers coming home and changing into his sneakers and zippered cardigan. He said that all of his sweaters were knitted by his mother.
  • One of his sweaters is on display at the Smithsonian Institution, labeled as one of the “Treasures of American History.”
  • Mr. Rogers wore tennis shoes because they were quieter than “work shoes” as he moved around behind the set.
  • An asteroid is named after Mr. Rogers: 26858 Misterrogers.
  • Michael Keaton, the actor famous for movies as varied as Beetlejuice, Batman, and Multiplicity, was a stagehand for Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood before he became an actor!
  • Some people celebrate Mr. Rogers' birthday by holding “Won't You Wear a Sweater?” Day or holding a Sweater Drive to give to neighbors in need.

Celebrate by watching episodes, still available on PBS Kids! 

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November 27 – Happy Birthday, Bill Nye (the Science Guy)

Posted on November 27, 2013

A lot of “science guys” aren't famous. Perhaps especially the mechanical engineers who apply every few years to NASA to become astronauts, but are rejected each and every time!

But Bill Nye crafted an entertainer / educator role for himself, somehow, and has become one of the most famous science educators around.

Perhaps he was inspired by one of his college professors, who also became a science educator and media darling, Carl Sagan. Perhaps he realized that he liked being in front of a camera when he worked at Boeing starring in training films. Perhaps it was because a television show host teased him and created that famous rhyming name, Bill Nye the Science Guy.

Why would a TV show host tease a mechanical engineer? Well, the host of Almost Live! mispronounced a word, gigawatt, pronouncing it jigawatt. Bill Nye called in to correct the mistake. And the host asked him, “Who do you think you are—Bill Nye the Science Guy?”

Perhaps the host didn't like being corrected. Or perhaps the host was a genius who knew how to use a call-in to recruit a new actor for the sketch comedy show.

Because Nye became “the Science Guy” on the show. From there he earned a nonspeaking role as an assistant and demonstrator on Back to the Future: The Animated Series, and eventually his own show—called, of course, Bill Nye the Science Guy. That show lured a wider audience than expected, including adults, and became popular as a teaching aid in schools. And Nye wasn't just the eager science buff on-camera—he wrote for the show and became a producer as well. Nye's Science Guy persona became popular enough to be the subject of parody, and Nye joked right back.
Nye is sometimes called
"a firebrand for science."

Becoming a cultural icon

Even though Nye's show ended after 100 episodes, in 1998, Nye continued to act and teach science and act some more. From acting in movies to being the voice-over in features at Walt Disney World, from hosting TV specials to guest starring in shows such as Numb3rs and The Big Bang Theory, from being one of the “stars” on Dancing with the Stars to being an on-camera expert on television news programs, Nye has continued to help people understand science, help people laugh, or both at once!


Bill Nye is very involved with two organizations I like to promote. He is a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, and he is the Executive Director of The Planetary Society.


Also on this date:













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