American television special
NBC 60th Anniversary Celebration
is an American
television special
that aired on
NBC
on May 12, 1986. The executive producer was
Alexander H. Cohen
and the writer and co-producer was
Hildy Parks
. The same team assembled such famous-faces TV specials as
Night of 100 Stars
. This celebration also marks the debut of the current
peacock
logo of NBC.
Summary
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The opening scene was staged in the corridors of corporate headquarters at
30 Rockefeller Plaza
, where many NBC stars like
Bob Hope
,
Milton Berle
,
Barbara Eden
,
Doris Roberts
and four of the Huxtable kids from
The Cosby Show
arrive on the eighth floor via an elevator. They enter just in time to witness a perky musical number featuring "peacock" dancers and NBC tour guides all singing and dancing an opening theme titled
Hey, Did You Know?
within the lobbies of the building. The program quickly gets to a
parade of stars
in which, as an unseen announcer bellows out their individual names, formally dressed performers appear from behind a curtain, smilingly walk toward the television camera, and disappear to a warm ovation of what appears to be canned applause.
The first appearance of the new NBC peacock logo
The roster proceeds, alphabetically, from
Steve Allen
and
Harry Anderson
to
Jane Wyatt
and
Robert Young
. Heading the list of the significantly absent is the always judicious
Bill Cosby
, whose then-current show has been the main reason that NBC has that season become the top-
rated
network for the first time in its history.
The rest, for the most part, consists of clips from shows down through the years, loosely arranged around categories and themes. The main plot of the special features two of the child stars from
The Cosby Show
,
Malcolm-Jamal Warner
and
Keshia Knight Pulliam
, being given a tour of NBC's facilities in New York and in
Burbank, California
. Much hinges on the question of whether little Keshia will ever get to see
Johnny Carson
in person.
The entire special itself pays tribute to every one of NBC television themes from late-night to daytime programming,
radio days
, earlier entertainment, comedy, drama, sitcoms, specials, movies,
sports
, and
news
, just to name a few. In the end, Malcolm and Keshia meet up with Johnny Carson himself on a stage full of NBC's guest stars singing a closing version of the opening theme,
Hey, Did You Know?
As the camera pans outward to reveal all the stars on screen, a new, modified version of the NBC peacock logo is unveiled, this time with six feathers. This marks the debut of the
"current" NBC logo
(as well as the
NBC Productions
logo with the current logo).
[1]
Cast
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References
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External links
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