1951 in television

The year 1951 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events during 1951.

• March 21 – XEW-TV began transmissions, being the second oldest in Mexico City, with the first one being XHTV.
• March 22 – RCA introduces an eight-pound (3.6 kg) monochrome television camera with a 53-pound (24 kg) backpack transmitter, both operated by batteries. It is the first portable television camera.
• May 28 – The US Supreme Court upholds the Federal Communications Commission's approval of the CBS color television system.
• May 31 – Nederlandse Televisie Stichting (NTS), as predecessor of Nederlandse Omroep Stichting Televisie (NOS), a first regular television broadcasting service started in Amsterdam, Netherlands.^[1]
• June 25 – CBS presents its first commercial color telecast featuring Arthur Godfrey, Ed Sullivan, and Faye Emerson.
• June – RCA demonstrates its new electronic color system.
• August 11 – The first baseball game is televised in color, a double-header between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston Braves.
• September 4 – The first live transcontinental television broadcast occurs in San Francisco, California from the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference.
• September 29
  • The first live sporting event broadcast coast-to-coast, a college football game between Duke University and the University of Pittsburgh, is televised by NBC.
  • CBS broadcasts the first American football game in color, between the University of California and the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia.
• September 30 – WXIA-TV signed on the air at 5 p.m., as WLTV on channel 8. It was the first full time ABC affiliate for Atlanta, taking it over from WSB-TV (channel 2) and WAGA-TV (channel 5).
• October 2
  • Danish language television station, DR1, first launched in Copenhagen.^[2]
  • NTS, The first television network in the Netherlands was launched at 8:15 pm.
• October 3 – The first live coast-to-coast network telecast of a World Series baseball game.
• October 12 – The Holme Moss transmitter is initiated in Northern England, making BBC Television available to the region for the first time.
• October 17 – Television broadcasts begin in Argentina from Primera Televisora Argentina on channel 7, Buenos Aires.
• October 20 – The CBS Eye logo makes its television debut.
• November 11 – Bing Crosby Enterprises demonstrates black-and-white video recording using a modified Ampex tape recorder.
• November 18 – Edward R. Murrow on See It Now presents a split screen view of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City and the Bay Bridge in San Francisco. It has erroneously been referred to as the first live transcontinental telecast.
• December – TV Tupi in São Paulo (Brazil) begins broadcasting Sua Vida Me Pertence ("Your Life Belongs To Me") starring Vida Alves, pioneering the telenovela genre.
• December 24 – The first televised opera composed for television, Amahl and the Night Visitors by Gian Carlo Menotti, is broadcast by NBC.
• Ernie Kovacs' Time for Ernie and Ernie in Kovacsland television series premiere. Kovacs explores the boundaries of television technology with his use of camera tricks and special effects.

• January 3 – Dragnet, crime drama, on NBC (1951–1959 Series One B&W, 1967-1970 Series Two Color)
• January 8 - Say It with Acting, game show, on NBC.
• January 20 - Two Girls Named Smith, situation comedy, on ABC.^[3]: 873
• March 3 – Watch Mr. Wizard on NBC (1951–1965)^[4]
• March 12 - Miss Susan, soap opera on NBC (1951)^[5]
• June 2 - The daytime version of A Date with Judy debuts on ABC.
• June 16 – Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town, variety show, with Faye Emerson and Skitch Henderson, on CBS
• July 1 - G. E. Guest House debuts on CBS.
• July 6 – Front Page Detective debuts on Dumont.^[6]
• July 16 – A British version of the What's My Line?, game show, on BBC (Like its American counterpart, it became one of the top-rated programs for the rest of the decade and made a celebrity of its host, Eamonn Andrews)
• August 3 - The Ad-Libbers, comedy sketch game show, on CBS. (1951)
• August 3 - Tales of Tomorrow, a science fiction anthology series on ABC (1951-1953)
• September 3 – The first long-running soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, on CBS (1951–1986)
• September 11 - The Bill Goodwin Show, a talk/variety program on NBC. (1951-1952)^[7]
• September 24 – Love of Life on CBS (1951–1980)
• October 15 – Situation comedy I Love Lucy, starring Lucille Ball with her real-life husband, Desi Arnaz, on CBS (1951–1957); produced on film in front of a studio audience, using three film cameras, instead of being broadcast live, and making Ball the world's first major female television star
• October 28 - Out There, a science fiction program on CBS (1951-1952)
• Television version of Amos & Andy (1951–1953)
• The Roy Rogers Show (1951–1957), on NBC, starring Roy Rogers and his wife, Dale Evans
• Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951–present)

• Rico Alaniz – The Adventures of Kit Carson
• Mel Brooks – The Milton Berle Show
• Raymond Burr – Stars Over Hollywood
• Joseph Calleia – Pulitzer Prize Playhouse
• Wendell Corey – Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
• Robert Coote – Robert Montgomery Presents
• James Fox – Parent-Craft
• Ben Gazzara – Danger
• Stacy Harris – Chesterfield Sound Off Time
• Pat Hingle – Suspense
• Rochelle Hudson – Racket Squad
• Barry Kelley – Stars Over Hollywood
• Don Knotts – Search for Tomorrow
• Robert Loggia – Search for Tomorrow
• Vera Miles – Fireside Theatre
• Elizabeth Montgomery – Robert Montgomery Presents
• Alvy Moore – Space Patrol
• Kathleen O'Malley – The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
• Joan Plowright – Sara Crewe
• Denver Pyle – The Cisco Kid
• Lee Remick – Armstrong Circle Theatre
• George C. Scott – The Bigelow Theatre
• Lois Smith – Love of Life
• Charles Starrett – Faith Baldwin Romance Theatre
• Jan Sterling – Pulitzer Prize Playhouse
• Jack Weston – Out There