''TV Shopper'', also known as ''Your Television Shopper'' or ''Kathi Norris' Television Shopper,'' was an early American
daytime television series which aired on the
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being ...
at 10:30 am ET from November 1, 1948 to December 1, 1950.
[''Billboard'' (November 13, 1948)]
The show was hosted by
Kathi Norris
Kathleen Norris Stark Caruso, professionally known as Kathi Norris (June 1, 1919 – June 15, 2005) was an American writer and television presenter.
Career
Born in Newark, Ohio, Norris was the daughter of Edwin Oliver (or Earl) Norris by his m ...
, also host of DuMont's ''
Spin the Picture
''Spin the Picture'' is an American game show that aired on the DuMont Television Network.
Format
The hosts telephoned home viewers to see if they could identify a famous person within a spinning photograph that was accompanied by a verbal clu ...
'', and was an early example of a TV shopping show.
Johnny Stearns
John Stearns (October 13, 1916 – December 1, 2001) was an American actor, producer and director, active from the 1940s until the 2000s. He also performed in several Broadway plays.
Stearns was best known for co-starring with his wife Mary Kay S ...
recalled that his wife
Mary Kay
Mary Kay Inc. is an American privately owned multi-level marketing company. According to '' Direct Selling News'', Mary Kay was the sixth largest network marketing company in the world in 2018, with a wholesale volume of US$3.25 billion. had received an offer to be a model for this or a similar program, but, at his request, refused and instead did television's first sitcom, ''
Mary Kay and Johnny
''Mary Kay and Johnny'' is an American situation comedy starring real-life married couple Mary Kay and Johnny Stearns. It was the first sitcom broadcast on a network television in the United States. ''Mary Kay and Johnny'' initially aired live o ...
''.
[Mary Kay Stearns, 93, a Star of One of TV’s Earliest Shows, Dies]
/ref>
Episode status
As with most DuMont Network programs, no episodes of ''TV Shopper'' are known to survive today.
See also
*List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network
This is a list of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network, which operated in the United States from 1942 to 1956. All regularly scheduled programs which were aired on the DuMont network are listed below, regardless of whether they orig ...
*List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts
The DuMont Television Network was launched in 1946 and ceased broadcasting in 1956. Allen DuMont, who created the network, preserved most of what it produced in kinescope format. By 1958, however, much of the library had been destroyed to recover ...
* 1948–49 United States network television schedule (daytime)
* 1949–50 United States network television schedule (daytime)
References
Bibliography
*David Weinstein, ''The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television'' (Philadelphia: Temple University Press
Temple University Press is a university press founded in 1969 that is part of Temple University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). It is one of thirteen publishers to participate in the Knowledge Unlatched pilot, a global library consortium approach t ...
, 2004)
*Alex McNeil, ''Total Television'', Fourth edition (New York: Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.[Ballantine Books
Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains ...]
, 1964)
External links
''TV Shopper'' at IMDb
DuMont Television Network original programming
Black-and-white American television shows
1948 American television series debuts
1950 American television series endings
Lost television shows
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