Lopez Tonight is an American late-night television talk show that was hosted by the comedian George Lopez . The hour-long program premiered on November 9, 2009, on cable network TBS . Lopez was the first Mexican-American to host a late-night talk show on an English-language network in the United States. The show featured audience interaction using a high-energy format. The program aired Monday through Thursday at midnight Eastern and Pacific , immediately following Conan . On August 10, 2011, TBS announced that Lopez Tonight would be canceled. The final episode aired two days later on August 12, 2011.
196-620: Phillip Kent, the chief executive of TBS , announced in March 2009 that George Lopez had signed a contract to host his own late-night talk show on TBS in November of that year. During interviews, Lopez said that he would bring the change to late-night television and that he wants the show to reach a diverse audience. He also stated that he would become the first Hispanic American to host a late-night talk show. The show debuted on November 9, 2009, with guests Kobe Bryant and Eva Longoria , as well as
392-455: A country-and-western performer, and worked part-time at Sears . She was a Jehovah's Witness . His father, Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson , a former boxer, was a crane operator at US Steel and played guitar with a local rhythm and blues band, the Falcons, to supplement the family's income. Joe's great-grandfather, July "Jack" Gale, was a US Army scout ; family lore held that he was also
588-528: A main street setting flocking to a TBS-branded theater, which transitions to a panning shot stopping at a couch in the front row of the theater's seating area where either a family or a couple (depending on the daypart presentation, as identified at the end of the sequence) sit down in time for the start of the film. On September 10, 1990, the word "Superstation" was removed from the cable channel's on-air branding and promotions, rebranding it as simply " TBS ", which had been used verbally in on-air promotions since
784-460: A "fat nose", and physically and emotionally abused him during rehearsals. He recalled that Joe often sat in a chair with a belt in his hand as he and his siblings rehearsed, ready to punish any mistakes. Joe acknowledged that he regularly whipped Michael. Katherine said that although whipping came to be considered abuse, it was a common way to discipline children when Michael was growing up. Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon denied that their father
980-567: A 15-minute news program. In July 1969, Rice Broadcasting reached an agreement to merge with the Turner Communications Corporation—an Atlanta-based group owned by entrepreneur Robert E. "Ted" Turner III , who ran his late father's billboard advertising business and had also expanded his interests to include radio stations in Chattanooga, Tennessee ( WGOW ), Charleston, South Carolina ( WTMA-AM-FM ,
1176-582: A 200-mile (320 km) radius. Further changes to signal importation regulations occurred with the August 1975 passage of a policy allowing unlimited importation of distant signals either following a local " must carry " station's final daily sign-off or at 1:00 a.m. ( Eastern and Pacific Time ) and 12:00 a.m. (in all other time zones), and the December 1975 repeal of the agency's 1972 "leapfrogging" rules (which restricted cable systems from selecting
1372-727: A CBS owned-and-operated station) in Dallas , KTVU (now a Fox owned-and-operated station) in San Francisco and KTLA (now a CW affiliate) in Los Angeles were uplinked to satellite as well, primarily being carried on a regional basis. The expansion of WTCG into a superstation would serve as the linchpin for what would later be renamed the Turner Broadcasting System to eventually launch or acquire other cable-originated channels in subsequent years, including
1568-531: A Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for 1979 with "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". In 1981, Jackson was the American Music Awards winner for Favorite Soul/R&B Album and Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist. Jackson felt Off the Wall should have made a bigger impact, and was determined to exceed expectations with his next release. In 1980, he secured the highest royalty rate in
1764-587: A Native American medicine man . Michael grew up with three sisters ( Rebbie , La Toya , and Janet ) and five brothers ( Jackie , Tito , Jermaine , Marlon , and Randy ). A sixth brother, Marlon's twin Brandon, died shortly after birth. In 1964, Michael and Marlon joined the Jackson Brothers—a band formed by their father which included Jackie, Tito and Jermaine—as backup musicians playing congas and tambourine . Michael said his father told him he had
1960-440: A cast member on Saturday Night Live ) among its repertory cast. Starcade , a game show that ran from 1982 to 1983 (with a further run in syndication via Turner Program Services until 1984), featured contestants competing to win their very own arcade cabinet by playing various games. Other programming efforts included The Catlins (a Dynasty -style prime time soap opera which ran for two seasons from 1983 to 1985, and
2156-507: A chamber. DiLeo added "I don't know if he sleeps in it. I'm not for it. But Michael thinks it's something that's probably healthy for him. He's a bit of a health fanatic." When Jackson took his pet chimpanzee Bubbles to tour in Japan, the media portrayed Jackson as an aspiring Disney cartoon character who befriended animals. It was also reported that Jackson had offered to buy the bones of Joseph Merrick (the "Elephant Man"). In June 1987,
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#17327900952342352-530: A common carrier from having involvement in program origination, Turner decided to sell SSS to former Western Union vice president of marketing Edward L. Taylor for $ 1 and sold the transmitting station to RCA American Communications . Upon the sale's consummation in March 1976, Turner reached an agreement with Taylor to have the firm uplink the WTCG signal to the Satcom 1 satellite. Turner's plans to turn WTCG into
2548-434: A compressed format, with content sped up to accommodate additional time slots for advertising sales. From 2004 to 2023, programming from sister network Adult Swim also appeared on TBS. Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the " King of Pop ", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of
2744-531: A cover of " It's Your Thing ". Rolling Stone later described the young Michael as "a prodigy" with "overwhelming musical gifts" who "quickly emerged as the main draw and lead singer". In January 1970, " I Want You Back " became the first Jackson 5 song to reach number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 ; it stayed there for four weeks. Three more singles with Motown topped the chart: " ABC ", " The Love You Save ", and " I'll Be There ". In May 1971,
2940-598: A distant signal from among stations in the top-25 media markets beyond those closest to the licensed system). Furthermore, the Congressional passage of the Copyright Act of 1976 on October 1 of that year provided compulsory licenses to cable systems and "passive" satellite carriers, allowing them to retransmit any broadcast television station throughout the country, regardless of prior consent, without incurring copyright liability; this legislation also granted
3136-478: A distinctive monotone; he would become the voice heard during Headline News' half-hourly network IDs by the mid-1980s. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, WTBS continued to acquire second-hand programming such as made-for-TV Popeye cartoons, The Brady Bunch , The Munsters , and other programs. The station acquired reruns of All in the Family and Sanford and Son in 1979, as well as Little House on
3332-466: A film, Moonwalker , which featured live footage and short films starring Jackson and Joe Pesci . In the US it was released direct-to-video and became the bestselling video cassette in the country. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified it as eight times Platinum in the US. In March 1988, Jackson purchased 2,700 acres (11 km ) of land near Santa Ynez, California , to build
3528-517: A focus on comedy , along with some sports events through TNT Sports , including Major League Baseball , Stanley Cup playoffs , and the NCAA men's basketball tournament . As of September 2018, TBS was received by approximately 90.391 million households that subscribe to a pay television service throughout the United States. By June 2023, this number has dropped to 71.3 million households. TBS
3724-498: A global solo star with his 1979 album Off the Wall . His music videos , including those for " Beat It ", " Billie Jean ", and " Thriller " from his 1982 album Thriller , are credited with breaking racial barriers and transforming the medium into an art form and promotional tool. He helped popularize MTV and continued to innovate with videos for his albums Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995), and Invincible (2001). Thriller
3920-622: A horrific little girl appears on the stage to deliver bad news, The Jersey Shore Presents , a mocking piece where cast members of Jersey Shore star in hit movies, Sweet Tweets where Lopez answers questions submitted from Twitter , WWE Superstars Karaoke where many WWE Superstars performed karaoke songs, Justin Bieber's Memories a segment that mocks Justin Bieber and his childhood, and "Eric Estrada" where colored lights flash and various guests, including Benjamin Bratt and Jon Cryer come out of
4116-541: A joint purchase, McCartney did not want to be the sole owner of the Beatles' songs, and did not pursue an offer on his own. Jackson's agents were unable to come to a deal, and in May 1985 left talks after having spent more than $ 1 million and four months of due diligence work on the negotiations. In June 1985, Jackson and Branca learned that Charles Koppelman 's and Marty Bandier 's The Entertainment Company had made
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#17327900952344312-572: A lack of evidence without Jordan's testimony, the state closed its investigation on September 22, 1994. Jackson had been taking painkillers for his reconstructive scalp surgeries, administered due to the Pepsi commercial accident in 1984, and became dependent on them to cope with the stress of the sexual abuse allegations. On November 12, 1993, Jackson canceled the remainder of the Dangerous World Tour due to health problems, stress from
4508-559: A lack of funding and interest. (The other partners in the venture, Zenith Electronics and Taft Broadcasting [formerly known as Taft Television & Radio Company during its earlier existence as both an electronics manufacturer and broadcaster] had respectively stopped manufacturing TV sets with teletext capability and had undergone several corporate buyouts). In the early 1990s, shows such as The Flintstones , The Brady Bunch , Scooby-Doo , The Jetsons , Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies shorts, Gilligan's Island , and others remained on
4704-485: A large rotating glass pane, which could display the TBS logo, change to or from a slogan (depending on the promotional spot) to the logo, or be used to show the airtime of programs mentioned in a specific promotion or summarize the next three programs set to air. Title sequences for movies and special presentations—which were accompanied by music incorporating variants of the "TBYes" promotional theme's signature —showed people in
4900-519: A male act", and the "Most Successful Entertainer of All Time", among other awards . Michael Joseph Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana , on August 29, 1958. He was the eighth of ten children in the Jackson family , a working-class African-American family living in a two-bedroom house on Jackson Street. His mother, Katherine Esther Jackson ( née Scruse), played clarinet and piano, had aspired to be
5096-609: A massive new self-supporting transmission tower (later known as the Turner Broadcasting tower ), which, at a height of 1,031 feet (314 m), was the tallest freestanding structure ever built in Atlanta and provided Channel 17 a stronger signal than other UHF stations, which was particularly beneficial as television sets of that era were often equipped with low-sensitivity tuners and substandard antennas. Under Rice, WJRJ—the first independent station to begin operation in
5292-720: A mix of movies, sitcoms and drama series—removed all of its remaining cartoon shorts and animated series (which at the time were running under the Disaster Area banner), migrating those shows exclusively to Cartoon Network . (Many of these series also later became the core of a new channel devoted to classic cartoons, Boomerang , which launched in April 2000.) In 1999, TBS Superstation also refocused its original program offerings, removing documentaries and National Geographic specials—which were shifted over to CNN—in favor of carrying original made-for-TV movies and weekly series such as
5488-530: A national cable service were made possible through various FCC deregulatory actions on signal importation during the 1970s, among them was a cable rules package passed in March 1972 that allowed cable systems in the 100 largest markets the right to carry imported signals (including the addition of two distant signals not already available in the market), restricted cable systems in smaller markets to carrying only three network stations and one independent station (except for undefinable markets that would not be limited in
5684-420: A nearly identical program schedule as the national feed, aside from FCC -mandated public affairs and educational programming that only aired on the local signal. By the early 2000s, TBS had begun to focus more intensively on comedic programming, including sitcoms and other series. On October 1, 2007, TBS was converted by Turner into a conventional basic cable network, at which time it began to be carried within
5880-538: A new Guinness World Record . In 1988, Jackson released his autobiography, Moonwalk , with input from Stephen Davis and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis . It sold 200,000 copies, and reached the top of the New York Times bestsellers list. Jackson discussed his childhood, the Jackson 5, and the abuse from his father. He attributed his changing facial appearance to three plastic surgeries, puberty, weight loss,
6076-529: A new home, Neverland Ranch , at a cost of $ 17 million (equivalent to $ 44 million in 2023). He installed a Ferris wheel , a carousel , a movie theater and a zoo. A security staff of 40 patrolled the grounds. Shortly afterwards, he appeared in the first Western television advertisement in the Soviet Union . Jackson became known as the " King of Pop ", a nickname that Jackson's publicists embraced. When Elizabeth Taylor presented him with
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6272-525: A part of a late-night lineup with George, and I wish that this could've continued. So, tonight, all of our thoughts are with George and his entire staff and crew. We understand, believe me, how hard this is for all of you, and we wish you all the best." The show followed the established six-piece format established by the likes of Steve Allen and Johnny Carson . The first segment included a monologue by Lopez, sometimes accompanied by several one-liners, or several brief comedy sketches. Most episodes also included
6468-714: A precedent for today's basic cable television and signaled the start of the revolution of basic cable programming in the United States. Soon after, an increasing number of cable television providers throughout the United States sought to carry WTCG on their systems. Within three years of WTCG achieving national status, the signals of fellow independent stations WOR-TV (now MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated station WWOR-TV ) in New York City and WGN-TV in Chicago were also uplinked to satellite for distribution as national superstations; eventually, other independents such as KTVT (now
6664-454: A purchase option that Time Warner chose to exercise on September 16. Time Warner held out on an option to acquire SSS through a common stock buyout and instead chose a cash payment citing the "strong overall financial performance of its businesses and its belief that its stock remains undervalued" in spite of price appreciation having been appreciated. The purchase gave Time Warner control over uplink responsibilities for TBS. On January 1, 1998,
6860-432: A recurring problem later in his life. After his death, Jackson's mother said that he first turned to cosmetic procedures to remedy his vitiligo, because he did not want to look like a "spotted cow". She said he had received more than the two cosmetic surgeries he claimed and speculated that he had become addicted to them. In 1986, it was reported that Jackson slept in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to slow aging. He denied
7056-404: A second segment, immediately after the monologue, with a full comedy sketch. An interview with either one or two guests followed, as well as a musical or comedy performance. Sketches introduced on the show include Bullet Wound or Not a Bullet Wound , a stereotypical game show similar to Jay Leno's "Jaywalking" where guests must answer seemingly racist questions, Creepy Little White Girl in which
7252-506: A separate cable/satellite channel that retained the TBS name. In addition, the channel 17 changeover allowed Atlanta-area cable and IPTV subscribers—including those of Comcast and Charter Communications —that previously were only able to receive WTBS's local Atlanta signal to begin receiving the national TBS feed for the first time since the early 1980s. (Despite the separation of TBS and its former Atlanta parent station, some local television listings publications have continued to refer to
7448-767: A separate schedule exclusively catering to the Atlanta market. TBS originated as a terrestrial television station in Atlanta , Georgia that began operating on UHF channel 17 on September 1, 1967, under the WJRJ-TV call letters . That station—which its original parent originally filed to transmit UHF channel 46, before modifying it to assign channel 17 as its frequency in February 1966—was founded by Rice Broadcasting Inc. (owned by Atlanta entrepreneur Jack M. Rice, Jr., owner of locally based pay television firms Atlanta Telemeter Inc. and Home Theaters of Georgia Inc.). Rice built
7644-752: A show among the 50 highest-rated cable programs. The channel's third late-night talk show, The Pete Holmes Show , debuted on October 28, 2013, hosted by comedian Pete Holmes (like Lopez Tonight , it could not capitalize on Conan as its lead-in and was cancelled in May 2014). On May 14, 2015, at the Turner Upfront presentation, president Kevin Reilly announced a major shift within the next few years for TBS and TNT. The expanded development slate would see TBS feature more original live-action comedies, original animated series, more late-night talk shows, and lots more of "big unscripted ideas with attitude". One of
7840-454: A small independent television station that regularly placed near the bottom of the ratings among Atlanta's television stations well into the 1970s and was available only in Georgia and neighboring states to a major coast-to-coast operation, pioneering the distribution of broadcast television stations via satellite transmission to pay television subscribers nationwide. Ted Turner's innovation set
8036-603: A song dedicated to White, and "Heal the World" at the gala. Jackson visited Africa in early 1992; on his first stop in Gabon he was greeted by more than 100,000 people, some of them carrying signs that read "Welcome Home Michael", and was awarded an Officer of the National Order of Merit from President Omar Bongo . During his trip to Ivory Coast, Jackson drew larger crowds than Pope John Paul II on his previous visits. He
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8232-481: A special appearance from Ellen DeGeneres and a musical performance from Carlos Santana . The 2010 Tonight Show conflict resulted in Conan O'Brien 's departure from NBC and The Tonight Show . Jay Leno returned to The Tonight Show , abandoning his prime time experiment, The Jay Leno Show . As a part of his severance deal, O'Brien was given a $ 32-million payout, a $ 12-million payout for his show's staff, and
8428-596: A strict vegetarian diet, a change in hairstyle, and stage lighting. In June, Jackson was honored with the Grand Vermeil Medal of the City of Paris by the then Mayor of Paris Jacques Chirac during his stay in the city as part of the Bad World Tour . On July 20, he became the first commoner in history to enter London's Guildhall through the building's Royal Entrance. In October, Jackson released
8624-597: A tentative offer to buy ATV Music for $ 50 million; in early August, Holmes à Court contacted Jackson and talks resumed. Jackson's increased bid of $ 47.5 million (equivalent to $ 135 million in 2023) was accepted because he could close the deal more quickly, having already completed due diligence. Jackson agreed to visit Holmes à Court in Australia, where he would appear on the Channel Seven Perth Telethon . His purchase of ATV Music
8820-441: A time and rarely renewed their contractual rights to continue airing them, after which WTCG bought the syndicated programs second-hand at much lower rates. By the mid-1970s, The Andy Griffith Show , The Flintstones , Leave It to Beaver , The Little Rascals , My Three Sons , Star Trek , The Three Stooges , and many others were added to the station's schedule. By the time Turner acquired WTCG, most U.S. cities below
9016-506: A version of " Who's Lovin' You ". After signing with Motown, the Jackson family relocated to Los Angeles. In 1969, Motown executives decided Diana Ross should introduce the Jackson 5 to the public — partly to bolster her career in television — sending off what was considered Motown's last product of its "production line". The Jackson 5 made their first television appearance in 1969 in the Miss Black America pageant, performing
9212-573: A year. They lasted a year and a half." Presley later said she and Jackson had attempted to reconcile intermittently for four years following their divorce, and that she had traveled the world to be with him. Jackson composed music for the Sega Genesis video game Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994), but left the project around the time the sexual abuse allegations surfaced and went uncredited. The Sega Technical Institute director Roger Hector and
9408-417: Is shared with sister network Adult Swim . The channel's daytime schedule is heavily dominated by reruns of current and former network comedies, with these shows also airing in the evening and sporadically during the overnight hours. As of 2023, these programs consist of Family Matters , Friends , The Big Bang Theory , Young Sheldon , and Modern Family . Most reruns shown on TBS are broadcast in
9604-416: Is the best-selling album of all time , while Bad was the first album to produce five US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles. From the late 1980s, Jackson became a figure of controversy and speculation due to his changing appearance , relationships , behavior, and lifestyle. In 1993, he was accused of sexually abusing the child of a family friend. The lawsuit was settled out of civil court; Jackson
9800-607: The Chicago Tribune reported Jackson's publicist bidding $ 1 million for the skeleton to the London Hospital Medical College on his behalf. The college maintained the skeleton was not for sale. DiLeo said Jackson had an "absorbing interest" in Merrick, "purely based on his awareness of the ethical, medical and historical significance." In September 1986, using the oxygen chamber story,
9996-498: The ATV Music Publishing catalog comprising the publishing rights to nearly 4,000 songs, including most of the Beatles' material. In 1981, McCartney had been offered the catalog for £20 million ($ 40 million) (equivalent to $ 134 million in 2023). Jackson submitted a bid of $ 46 million (equivalent to $ 135 million in 2023) on November 20, 1984. When Jackson and McCartney were unable to make
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#173279009523410192-544: The Cable News Network (CNN) (launched on June 1, 1980), HLN (launched as CNN2 on January 1, 1982, and later known as CNN Headline News from 1983 to 2007), Turner Network Television (TNT) (launched on October 3, 1988), Cartoon Network (launched on October 1, 1992), Turner Classic Movies (TCM) (launched on April 14, 1994), and TruTV (folded into Turner, as Court TV , following the closure of parent Time Warner's acquisition of Liberty Media 's 50% interest in
10388-686: The East Coast , they won a weekly amateur night concert at the Apollo Theater in Harlem . The Jackson 5 recorded several songs for a Gary record label, Steeltown Records ; their first single, " Big Boy ", was released in 1968. Bobby Taylor of Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers brought the Jackson 5 to Motown after they opened for Taylor at Chicago's Regal Theater in 1968. Taylor produced some of their early Motown recordings, including
10584-724: The Heal the World Foundation in 1992. The charity brought underprivileged children to Jackson's ranch to use the theme park rides, and sent millions of dollars around the globe to help children threatened by war, poverty, and disease. That July, Jackson published his second book, Dancing the Dream , a collection of poetry. The Dangerous World Tour ran between June 1992 and November 1993 and grossed $ 100 million (equivalent to $ 210 million in 2023); Jackson performed for over 3.5 million people in 70 concerts, all of which were outside
10780-464: The Jackson family , Michael at age six made his public debut in 1964 with his older brothers Jackie , Tito , Jermaine , and Marlon as a member of the Jackson 5 (later known as the Jacksons). The Jackson 5 signed with Motown in 1968 and achieved worldwide success with Michael as lead singer. Jackson began his solo career in 1971 while at Motown and recorded multiple successful singles. He became
10976-816: The Midwestern and Southeastern United States : Multi-Vue TV in Grand Island, Nebraska , Hampton Roads Cablevision in Newport News, Virginia , Troy Cablevision in Troy, Alabama , and Newton Cable TV in Newton, Kansas . At that moment, approximately 24,000 additional households began receiving the WTCG signal. The station's first national broadcast was the 1948 Dana Andrews – Cesar Romero film Deep Waters , which had been in progress for 30 minutes on channel 17 in Atlanta. With this move, WTCG would become one of
11172-486: The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship —which it shares with Turner-owned sister channels TNT and TruTV, along with the tournament's longtime over-the-air broadcaster, CBS . During the first quarter of 2012, TBS's viewership in the 18-49 adult demographic beat all other advertiser-supported channels, in spite of the fact that TBS did not air any original programs in prime time during that period nor had it aired
11368-465: The Studio 54 nightclub, where he heard early hip hop ; this influenced his beatboxing on future tracks such as " Working Day and Night ". In 1978, Jackson unsatisfied with his nose, decided to have a rhinoplasty . He was referred to Steven Hoefflin , who performed Jackson's operations. Jackson's fifth solo album, Off the Wall (1979), established him as a solo performer and helped him move from
11564-486: The Thriller video, which Michael denounced in a Witness publication in 1984. In 2001, Jackson told an interviewer he was still a Jehovah's Witness. Jackson's first album in five years, Bad (1987), was highly anticipated, with the industry expecting another major success. It became the first album to produce five US number-one singles: " I Just Can't Stop Loving You ", " Bad ", " The Way You Make Me Feel ", " Man in
11760-639: The U.S. Copyright Office the ability to charge cable systems royalty fees to be compensated to the owners of a copyrighted program. The station would still be subjected to program duplication restrictions covered under the original 1972 incarnation of the Syndication Exclusivity Rules (or "SyndEx"), which—prior to its repeal in July 1980—allowed television stations to claim local exclusivity over syndicated programs and required cable systems to either black out or secure an agreement with
11956-716: The Vocal Group Hall of Fame , the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Dance Hall of Fame (making him the only recording artist to be inducted). His honors include 15 Grammy Awards including the Grammy Legend Award , six Brit Awards , 24 American Music Awards , a Golden Globe Award and 39 Guinness World Records , including " Youngest artist to top the Hot 100 ", "Longest span of number ones for
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#173279009523412152-601: The best-selling music artists of all time , with estimated sales of over 500 million records worldwide. He had 13 Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles ( the chart's fourth-highest of any artist ) and was the first artist to have a top-ten single on the Billboard Hot 100 in five different decades. Jackson's inductions include the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (twice), the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame ,
12348-671: The bubblegum pop of his youth to more complex sounds. It produced four top 10 entries in the US: " Off the Wall ", " She's Out of My Life ", and the chart-topping singles " Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough " and " Rock with You ". The album reached number three on the US Billboard 200 and sold over 20 million copies worldwide. In 1980, Jackson won three American Music Awards for his solo work: Favorite Soul/R&B Album, Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist, and Favorite Soul/R&B Single for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". He also won
12544-500: The robot dance . The Jackson 5 left Motown in 1975, signing with Epic Records and renaming themselves the Jacksons. Their younger brother Randy joined the band around this time; Jermaine stayed with Motown and pursued a solo career. The Jacksons continued to tour internationally, and released six more albums between 1976 and 1984. Michael, the group's main songwriter during this time, wrote songs such as " Shake Your Body (Down to
12740-558: The " Thrilla in Manila " boxing match. In December 1975, Ted Turner unveiled plans to distribute his station over communications satellite, enabling WTCG to extend distribution of its programming to cable and C-band satellite subscribers throughout the United States, especially in markets lacking even a distant independent station. With a more cost-effective and expeditious distribution method in place than would be capable through setting up microwave and coaxial telephone relay systems across
12936-521: The "Non-Stop Comedy Block", a late-afternoon block of mostly adult-targeted comedy series that debuted in January 2002. In September 2003, TBS Superstation dropped Little House on the Prairie and other dramatic programming as a part of a format shift toward comedic programs, such as sitcom reruns, original reality television series, and theatrically released comedy films. As part of this refocusing,
13132-485: The "Sunday Morning In Front of the TV" block. Following Turner's acquisition by Time Warner, among the programming changes instituted after the merger was the addition of Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons that were released after August 1, 1948, which began airing on TBS as well as sister channel Cartoon Network in April 1997. On September 22, 1995, Time Warner —a New York City -based media company formed in 1990 through
13328-415: The "Superstation" sub-brand was once again dropped in February 2004, with the channel reverting to being branded as simply TBS . Subsequently, on June 4, 2004, to signify the channel's new comedy programming focus, TBS introduced a new logo (designed by Publicis New York) that rendered the channel's name in lowercase and incorporated a semicircle made to resemble a mouth open as if it were laughing and adopted
13524-565: The 17-minute $ 30 million 3D film Captain EO , which ran from 1986 at Disneyland and Epcot , and later at Tokyo Disneyland and Euro Disneyland . After having been removed in the late 1990s, it returned to the theme park for several years after Jackson's death. In 1987, Ebony reported that Jackson had disassociated himself from the Jehovah's Witnesses. Katherine Jackson said this might have been because some Witnesses strongly opposed
13720-485: The 1930s and 1940s, sitcoms (such as Father Knows Best , Green Acres , Hazel , I Love Lucy , and The Lucy Show ), and Japanese animated series (such as Astro Boy , Kimba the White Lion , Marine Boy , The Space Giants , Speed Racer , and Ultraman ). The station also carried sports, such as Atlanta Braves baseball, Atlanta Hawks basketball, Atlanta Flames hockey, and Georgia Championship Wrestling . WTCG also made very low bids to acquire
13916-523: The 1989 revamp of Headline News and the 1991 redesign of WTBS itself (handled by Burns' brother James). John Young, an Atlanta-area radio DJ at WZGC , became the voice of SuperStation WTBS during this time and would go on to provide promotional voiceover services for other local and national clients as a direct result of his work for the channel. Other voiceovers were handled by Turner employees, most notably music director Bill "Troll" Tullis, who generally voiced station IDs and other miscellaneous work with
14112-419: The 20th century . Over a four decade career, his world record music achievements and publicized personal life made him a global figure. Jackson's songs, stages and fashion proliferated visual performance for singers in pop music. His innovations changed the music video as an art form and popularized street dance moves including the moonwalk , which he named, the robot , and the anti-gravity lean . As part of
14308-535: The AT&;T–Time Warner merger, when on February 20, 2017, the Meredith Corporation —which had assumed operational responsibilities for WPCH from Turner/Time Warner in January 2011 to form a virtual duopoly with CBS affiliate WGCL-TV (channel 46)—announced that it would acquire WPCH-TV's license assets from Turner for $ 70 million. (The sale of WPCH to Meredith received FCC approval on April 17, 2017, and
14504-548: The Atlanta area on channel 17. (Promos for WTCG/WTBS programs referenced airtimes for both the Eastern and Central Time Zones until 1987, and the Eastern and Pacific time zones thereafter until 1992 and occasionally beforehand for certain scheduled live sports and event telecasts). In May 1979, Turner made a $ 25,000 donation to a group associated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to fund
14700-405: The Atlanta market on area cable providers alongside its existing local carriage on satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network . The former parent station in Atlanta was concurrently relaunched as WPCH-TV (branded as "Peachtree TV", which Turner sold to the Meredith Corporation in 2017, and later acquired by Gray Television in 2021) and reformatted as a traditional independent station with
14896-413: The Atlanta market since WQXI-TV (channel 36, allocation now occupied by MyNetworkTV affiliate WATL ) ceased operations on May 31, 1955—operated on a shoestring budget, general entertainment format with a schedule consisting of a few off-network reruns (such as Father Knows Best , The Danny Thomas Show , The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and The Rifleman ) and older feature films as well as
15092-524: The Atlanta parent station changed its call letters to WTBS (for "Turner Broadcasting System", the name its parent company adopted in accordance with the callsign change). Concurrently, Turner began branding the station as " SuperStation WTBS "—the prefix word was re-rendered in mixed case in October 1980, with both "S"s capitalized—with occasional references within the logo to the channel 17 frequency in Atlanta. (Accordingly, many cable providers throughout
15288-603: The British tabloid The Sun branded Jackson "Wacko Jacko", a name Jackson came to despise. The Atlantic noted that the name "Jacko" has racist connotations, as it originates from Jacko Macacco , a monkey used in monkey-baiting matches at the Westminster Pit in the early 1820s, and "Jacko" was used in Cockney slang to refer to monkeys in general. Jackson worked with George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola on
15484-623: The DOJ's antitrust claims in the lawsuit. The merger closed two days later on June 14, with the company becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T under the renamed parent company WarnerMedia . The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington unanimously upheld the lower court's ruling in favor of AT&T on February 26, 2019. On March 4, 2019, AT&T announced a major reorganization of its broadcasting assets, in which WarnerMedia's television properties would be divided among three divisions within
15680-574: The FM station is now WSSX-FM ), and Jacksonville, Florida (WMBR, now WQOP )—in an all-stock transaction. Under the sale terms, Rice would acquire Turner in an exchange of stock and adopt the Turner Communications name; however, Turner would acquire about 75% of the merged company and own 48.2% of its stock, receiving 1.2 million shares of Rice stock worth an estimated $ 3 million. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted approval of
15876-466: The Grammy for Best Engineered – Non Classical. In August 1993, Jackson was accused of child sexual abuse by a 13-year-old boy, Jordan Chandler, and his father, Evan Chandler. Jordan said he and Jackson had engaged in acts of kissing, masturbation and oral sex . While Jordan's mother initially told police that she did not believe Jackson had molested him, her position wavered a few days later. Evan
16072-665: The Ground) " (1978), " This Place Hotel " (1980), and " Can You Feel It " (1980). In 1977, Jackson moved to New York City to star as the Scarecrow in The Wiz , a musical film directed by Sidney Lumet , alongside Diana Ross , Nipsey Russell , and Ted Ross. The film was a box-office failure. Its score was arranged by Quincy Jones , who later produced three of Jackson's solo albums. During his time in New York, Jackson frequented
16268-461: The Jackson family moved into a large house at Hayvenhurst , a 2-acre (0.81 ha) estate in Encino, California . During this period, Michael developed from a child performer into a teen idol . Between 1972 and 1975, he released four solo studio albums with Motown: Got to Be There (1972), Ben (1972), Music & Me (1973) and Forever, Michael (1975). " Got to Be There " and " Ben ",
16464-440: The Jacksons and other Motown stars. Jackson's solo performance of "Billie Jean" earned him his first Emmy Award nomination. Wearing a glove decorated with rhinestones , he debuted his moonwalk dance , which Jeffrey Daniel had taught him three years earlier, and it became his signature dance in his repertoire. Jackson had originally turned down the invitation to the show, believing he had been doing too much television. But at
16660-584: The Jacksons and showcased Jackson's new solo material to more than two million Americans. It was the last tour he did with his brothers. Following controversy over the concert's ticket sales , Jackson donated his share of the proceeds, an estimated $ 3 to 5 million , to charity. During the last concert of the Victory Tour at the Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Jackson announced his split from
16856-405: The Jacksons during "Shake Your Body". With Lionel Richie , Jackson co-wrote the charity single " We Are the World " (1985), which raised money for the poor in the US and Africa. It earned $ 63 million (equivalent to $ 178 million in 2023), and became one of the best-selling singles of all time , with 20 million copies sold. It won four Grammy Awards in 1985, including Song of
17052-456: The Mirror ", and " Dirty Diana ". Another song, " Smooth Criminal ", peaked at number seven. Bad won the 1988 Grammy for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical and the 1990 Grammy Award for Best Music Video , Short Form for " Leave Me Alone ". Jackson won an Award of Achievement at the American Music Awards in 1989 after Bad generated five number-one singles, became the first album to top
17248-508: The Mirror" went to charity. His rendition of "You Were There" at Sammy Davis Jr. 's 60th birthday celebration won Jackson a second Emmy nomination. Jackson was the bestselling artist of the 1980s. In March 1991, Jackson renewed his contract with Sony for $ 65 million (equivalent to $ 145 million in 2023), a record-breaking deal , beating Neil Diamond 's renewal contract with Columbia Records . In 1991, he released his eighth album, Dangerous , co-produced with Teddy Riley . It
17444-515: The Prairie and CHiPs in 1981. Other older shows would eventually be removed from the schedule. WTCG also mixed more movie releases from the 1950s through the 1970s into its schedule. By July 1979, WTCG/WTBS was available to 1,000 cable systems throughout the United States, with a total of 4.8 million cable subscribers receiving the signal. In 1981, Turner decided to split the WTBS satellite feed from its terrestrial signal; under this structure, all of
17640-691: The Soul Train Heritage Award in 1989, she called him "the true king of pop, rock and soul." President George H. W. Bush designated him the White House's "Artist of the Decade". At the 38th BMI Awards in 1990, Jackson was the first person to be honored with an award named after its recipient. From 1985 to 1990, Jackson donated $ 455,000 to the United Negro College Fund , and all profits from his single "Man in
17836-492: The TBS national feed—although continuing to operate as a superstation by technicality—began operating under the conventions of a basic cable channel. At that time, the Turner Broadcasting System began to collect subscriber fees (averaging 26¢ per subscriber per month) directly from cable and satellite providers that had previously paid a 30¢-per-month licensing fee to Southern Satellite Systems for access to
18032-503: The TBS signal and a 10¢-per-month copyright fee to a federal copyright tribunal (which, in turn, paid the fee directly to program distributors) for rights to carry its programming. The additional revenue was intended to be used for programming acquisitions, particularly rights to first-run theatrical films. In exchange, TBS began to lease two minutes of advertising time per hour to multichannel subscription television providers to allow them to locally insert commercials catering to viewers in
18228-623: The Temptations ' " My Girl ". From 1966 to 1968, the Jacksons 5 toured the Midwest ; they frequently played at a string of black clubs known as the Chitlin' Circuit as the opening act for artists such as Sam & Dave , the O'Jays , Gladys Knight and Etta James . The Jackson 5 also performed at clubs and cocktail lounges, where striptease shows were featured, and at local auditoriums and high school dances. In August 1967, while touring
18424-553: The Time"), and was the first to win the International Artist Award of Excellence. In February, he won the "Living Legend Award" at the 35th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. He attended the award ceremony with Brooke Shields . Dangerous was nominated for Best Vocal Performance (for "Black or White"), Best R&B Vocal Performance ("Jam") and Best R&B Song ("Jam"), and Bruce Swedien and Teddy Riley won
18620-612: The Time-Warner Communications merger six years prior. (Time Warner and predecessor Warner Communications had owned an 18% interest in Turner Broadcasting since 1987, as part of a cable television industry-backed bailout of the company amid severe financial issues.) Under the terms, Turner would acquire an approximate 10% interest in Time Warner as well as oversee its cable network group—comprising
18816-409: The Turner Broadcasting System announced that WTBS would change its callsign to WPCH-TV , and would be rebranded as "Peachtree TV." The rebranded channel 17 would offer sitcoms and movies geared specifically toward the station's Atlanta audience, and would also broadcast 45 Braves baseball games starting with the team's 2008 season . The change occurred on October 1, 2007, with the national feed becoming
19012-534: The Turner Broadcasting System from its purchase of the film studio ), WTBS gained the rights to the entire MGM/UA film library (including certain acquisitions by MGM). It gave WTBS the rights to air many theatrical cartoon shorts such as Tom and Jerry , as well as shows like Gilligan's Island and CHiPs . Along with Tom and Jerry , WTBS began to run The Little Rascals , Looney Tunes / Merrie Melodies cartoons released prior to August 1948, theatrical Popeye cartoon shorts, and Three Stooges shorts under
19208-591: The Turner and Home Box Office units and its minority interests in Comedy Central and E! —and hold a position on the company's board of directors (which he retained until he stepped down from the company in February 2006) upon the merger's closure. The merger received regulatory approval on September 12, 1996; the Turner–Time Warner deal was finalized one month later on October 10, forming what at
19404-489: The US. Part of the proceeds went to Heal the World Foundation. Jackson sold the broadcast rights of the tour to HBO for $ 20 million, a record-breaking deal that still stands. Following the death of HIV/AIDS spokesperson and friend Ryan White , Jackson pleaded with the Clinton administration at Bill Clinton's inaugural gala to give more money to HIV/AIDS charities and research and performed " Gone Too Soon ",
19600-406: The WTCG signal to their lineups; by 1978, WTCG was carried on cable providers in all 50 U.S. states, reaching over 2.3 million subscribers, a total that would substantially double each year into the next decade. Because it utilized a broadcast television station as the origination point for its programming, throughout its existence as a superstation, all programs on WTCG/WTBS—which transmitted exactly
19796-629: The WarnerMedia umbrella. TBS, along with TNT, truTV and HBO would be reassigned to WarnerMedia Entertainment. The move would effectively dissolve the Turner Broadcasting System umbrella as part of a wind-down of the Turner name from the reorganized parent company's corporate structure. AT&T did not specify any timetable for the changes to take effect, although WarnerMedia had begun to remove all Turner references in corporate communications and press releases, referring to that unit's networks as "divisions of WarnerMedia". On April 8, 2022, WarnerMedia
19992-451: The Year for Jackson and Richie. Jackson, Jones, and the promoter Ken Kragen received special awards for their roles in the song's creation. Jackson collaborated with Paul McCartney in the early 1980s, and learned that McCartney was making $ 40 million a year from owning the rights to other artists' songs. By 1983, Jackson had begun buying publishing rights to others' songs, but he
20188-498: The ability to pursue options on other channels after September 1, 2010. Hours before O'Brien's Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour , O'Brien officially announced he had signed with TBS to create his own late-night talk show at 11:00 pm beginning in November 2010, thus pushing Lopez Tonight back to midnight. O'Brien was hesitant at first, saying he didn't want to do that to Lopez after what NBC had done to him, but Lopez himself called him and persuaded him to take
20384-439: The acquisition on December 10, 1969, giving Turner its first television property. Soon after Turner received approval of its purchase of WJRJ-TV in January 1970, Turner changed the station's call letters to WTCG (which officially stood for Turner Communications Group, although the station used "Watch This Channel Grow" as a promotional slogan). The sale was formally completed four months later on April 6, 1970, at which time Turner
20580-612: The advertisement, and suggested using his song "Billie Jean", with revised lyrics, as its jingle . On January 27, 1984, Michael and other members of the Jacksons filmed a Pepsi commercial overseen by Phil Dusenberry , a BBDO ad agency executive, and Alan Pottasch , Pepsi's Worldwide Creative Director, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. During a simulated concert before a full house of fans, pyrotechnics accidentally set Jackson's hair on fire, causing second-degree burns to his scalp. Jackson underwent treatment to hide
20776-466: The album's artist and Jones as its co-producer), and the single won Best Pop Vocal Performance (Male) award for Jackson. "Beat It" won Record of the Year and Best Rock Vocal Performance (Male). "Billie Jean" won two Grammy awards: Best R&B Song and Best R&B Vocal Performance (Male), with Jackson as songwriter and singer respectively. Thriller won the Grammy for Best Engineered Recording (Non Classical), acknowledging Bruce Swedien for his work on
20972-502: The album. At the 11th Annual American Music Awards , Jackson won another eight awards and became the youngest artist to win the Award of Merit. He also won Favorite Male Artist, Favorite Soul/R&B Artist, and Favorite Pop/Rock Artist. "Beat It" won Favorite Soul/R&B Video, Favorite Pop/Rock Video and Favorite Pop/Rock Single. The album won Favorite Soul/R&B Album and Favorite Pop/Rock Album. Thriller ' s sales doubled after
21168-496: The allegations and painkiller addiction. He thanked his close friend Elizabeth Taylor for support, encouragement and counsel. The end of the tour concluded his sponsorship deal with Pepsi. In late 1993, Jackson proposed to Lisa Marie Presley , the daughter of Elvis Presley, over the phone. They were married in La Vega, Dominican Republic , in May 1994 by civil judge Hugo Francisco Álvarez Pérez. The tabloid media speculated that
21364-403: The banner The TBS Tom & Jerry Funhouse running for either one hour or 90 minutes during the morning hours and for an hour (later, half-hour) in the afternoon from 1986 to 1995. In the late 1980s, WTBS decreased the number of movies broadcast during the day slightly and began to add sitcoms from the 1970s (such as Happy Days , The Jeffersons , Good Times , and One Day at a Time ) to
21560-522: The basis for Turner to develop Cable Music Channel , an attempt at a competitor to MTV that operated for five weeks from October 26 to November 30, 1984, and was one of the shortest-lived channels in American cable television history.) Beginning in 1991, a handful of shows (mostly movies) that were shown nationally were pre-empted in the Atlanta market in order to broadcast FCC-mandated news, public affairs , and children's programming; this continued until
21756-480: The beginning of that year. By 1992, TBS was available in 58 million households with cable and satellite television service, accounting for more than half of all homes in the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands —and carried by 14,815 cable systems throughout the country. During the 1980s, WTBS focused heavily on movies—running two films during the day, and a largely movie-exclusive schedule during
21952-667: The bestselling album of all time in the US and the best-selling album of all time worldwide , selling an estimated 70 million copies. It topped the Billboard 200 chart for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the 200 for 80 consecutive weeks. It was the first album to produce seven Billboard Hot 100 top-10 singles, including " Billie Jean ", " Beat It ", and " Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' ". On March 25, 1983, Jackson reunited with his brothers for Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever , an NBC television special. The show aired on May 16 to an estimated audience of 47 million , and featured
22148-582: The body can cause psychological distress. Jackson used fair-colored makeup, and possibly skin-bleaching prescription creams, to cover up the uneven blotches of color caused by the illness. The creams would depigment the blotches, and, with the application of makeup, he could appear very pale. Jackson said he had not purposely bleached his skin and could not control his vitiligo, adding, "When people make up stories that I don't want to be who I am, it hurts me." He became friends with Klein and Klein's assistant, Debbie Rowe . Rowe later became Jackson's second wife and
22344-599: The bones of the Elephant Man, slept in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, or bleached his skin, and stated for the first time that he had vitiligo. After the interview, Dangerous re-entered the US albums chart in the top 10, more than a year after its release. The interview itself became the most-watched television interview in United States history to date, with more than 90 million viewers. In January 1993, Jackson won three American Music Awards : Favorite Pop/Rock Album ( Dangerous ), Favorite Soul/R&B Single ("Remember
22540-482: The books' content and claimed if they were there, someone had to have sent them to him and he did not open them. Jordan Chandler gave police a description of Jackson's genitals. A strip search was made, and the jurors felt the description was not a match. In January 1994, Jackson settled with the Chandlers out of court for a reported total sum of $ 23 million. The police never pressed criminal charges. Citing
22736-666: The channel as an Atlanta station in their channel charts and/or by that station's former WTBS call letters in said charts and as an identifier in listings grids). Following the change, Canadian subscription television providers were legally required to continue carrying the local Peachtree TV signal, instead of switching to the national TBS feed. Beginning with the 2008 season , TBS began airing Major League Baseball postseason games, with regular season baseball coverage expanding to include games from other MLB teams. In November 2009, TBS debuted its first late-night talk show , Lopez Tonight , hosted by comedian George Lopez . One year later,
22932-417: The channel expanded its late-night offerings with the November 8, 2010, debut of Conan , after TBS struck a deal to give Conan O'Brien a show on the channel on the heels of his controversial exit as host of NBC 's The Tonight Show . Lopez Tonight ended its run on August 12, 2011, after it was cancelled due to a steep decline in ratings. In 2011, TBS also obtained a portion of the television rights to
23128-490: The channel in May 2006). Turner and station management treated WTCG as an "active" superstation, directly asserting national promotional responsibilities, investing in programming, and charging advertising rates at the national and local levels. This resulted in the station paying for syndicated programming at (albeit reasonably cheaper) rates comparable to other national networks, rather than merely receiving royalty payments from cable systems for programs to which it held
23324-467: The channel's national programming prominence, with the WTBS Atlanta signal continuing to use the separate "SuperStation 17" branding; this coincided with a major promotional campaign positioning the channel as "Great American Television". By 1987, SuperStation WTBS was available to 41.6 million households with a cable or satellite subscription nationwide; this total jumped to 49 million cable homes by
23520-424: The charts in 25 countries and the bestselling album worldwide in 1987 and 1988. By 2012, it had sold between 30 and 45 million copies worldwide. The Bad World Tour ran from September 12, 1987, to January 27, 1989. In Japan, the tour had 14 sellouts and drew 570,000 people, nearly tripling the previous record for a single tour. The 504,000 people who attended seven sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium set
23716-473: The claimant station or a syndication distributor to continue carrying a claimed program through an out-of-market station. At 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time on December 17, 1976, WTCG became America's first " superstation "—independent stations distributed to cable providers throughout their respective regions, or the entire country—when its signal began to be beamed via the Satcom 1 satellite to four cable systems in
23912-472: The construction of a new transmitter, in exchange for acquiring the WTBS call letters that had been assigned to the university's Cambridge -based student radio station for use on the channel 17 license; Turner also agreed to donate an additional $ 25,000 to the group if the FCC agreed to assign the WTBS calls to Turner Communications. (MIT subsequently changed the radio station's calls to WMBR .) On August 27, 1979,
24108-634: The copyright as "passive" superstations—like WGN and WWOR, which opted to take a neutral position on their national distribution and left national promotional duties to the satellite carriers that retransmitted their signals—did. (Unlike WTCG, most other superstations had their signals redistributed without their owner's express permission under a provision in Section 111 of the Copyright Act of 1976, which allowed local cable systems to "retransmit copyrighted programming from any over-the-air stations across
24304-438: The country even carried it on channel 17 during some part of its existence as a superstation). However, the national feed continued to occasionally use the same on-air branding as the Atlanta area signal (which was referred to on-air at the time as "WTBS Channel 17") until October 1980. By 1981, the Atlanta station would be branded as "SuperStation 17", on the national feed available outside of the Atlanta area, though, references to
24500-436: The country to their subscribers under a compulsory license"). WTCG initially was identified as "Channel 17" or "Super 17" both locally in Atlanta and on cable providers outside of that area; by 1979, the station identified primarily by its call letters locally and nationally. Over time, as WTCG was also beginning to gain traction in the Atlanta market, the station also began to gain traction nationally as more cable systems added
24696-491: The dance. Gordy described being "mesmerized" by the performance. At the 26th Annual Grammy Awards , Thriller won eight awards, and Jackson won an award for the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial storybook. Winning eight Grammys in one ceremony is a record he holds with the band Santana . Jackson and Quincy Jones won the award for Producer of the Year (Non-Classical). Thriller won Album of the Year (with Jackson as
24892-470: The double doors in a California Highway Patrol motorcycle uniform. The show was taped at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California , near The Ellen DeGeneres Show studio. The stage layout followed a street-party theme. The show differed from many other late-night talk shows, most notably for not featuring a desk or background of the city in which the show is taped. Lopez Tonight ' s house band
25088-577: The early 1970s to serve such areas lacking an independent station, as many cable television systems in middle and southern Georgia and surrounding areas of the Southeastern United States —particularly Alabama , Tennessee and South Carolina —began picking up the UHF signal off-air and retransmitted the Atlanta studio/transmitter link feed to microwave relay towers (sometimes several times) back to their headends . (By June 1976, WTCG
25284-598: The end of 1992, Dangerous was the bestselling album of the year worldwide and "Black or White" the bestselling single of the year worldwide at the Billboard Music Awards . In 1993, he performed "Remember the Time" at the Soul Train Music Awards in a chair, saying he twisted his ankle during dance rehearsals. In the UK, " Heal the World " made No. 2 on the charts in 1992. Jackson founded
25480-472: The entire country, Turner got his idea off the ground by founding Southern Satellite Systems (SSS)—a common carrier uplink provider based in Tulsa, Oklahoma —to serve as the station's satellite redistributor, and subsequently purchased an earth-to-satellite transmitting station to be set up outside of WTCG's Peachtree Street studios in Atlanta. In order to get around FCC rules in effect at the time that prohibited
25676-539: The evening lineup; Little House on the Prairie aired during the late mornings continuously from 1986 to 2003. Music videos also aired during its late night lineup on weekends from June 1983 to May 1992 as part of the program Night Tracks , which aired in the form of two three-hour-long blocks (later reduced to two two-hour blocks in August 1989, and then to two 90-minute blocks in the spring of 1990), barring pre-emptions from sporting events that ran over their scheduled end-time. (The success of Night Tracks served as
25872-826: The expense of blacking out or substituting non-compliant programs. On September 28, 1989, the channel's name was changed to TBS SuperStation to reflect the strong national standing of the channel. Debuting concurrently with the name change was a promotional campaign utilizing the slogan "TBYes!", featuring various stars of programs seen on TBS—including, among others, Bob Denver and Alan Hale of Gilligan's Island (as their respective characters Gilligan and Captain Jonas Grumby aka "The Skipper" ), Al Lewis of The Munsters (as his character Grandpa ), Buddy Ebsen of The Beverly Hillbillies (as his character J.D. "Jed" Clampett) and Jimmie Walker of Good Times (appearing as himself)—with graphical elements of fireworks and
26068-419: The first success stories out of this effort was the satirical news series Full Frontal with Samantha Bee , hosted by the former correspondent for Comedy Central 's The Daily Show (which served as a basis for Full Frontal ' s format). A new logo, which was previously revealed on social media six weeks prior on September 16, made its official debut on the evening of October 31, 2015. Bumpers featured
26264-432: The first television stations, and only the second U.S. broadcaster—after HBO—to be transmitted via satellite, instead of the then-standard method of using microwave relay to distribute a programming feed. Turner's decision to turn his television station into a national programming service was an expensive gamble on his part, given that he spent about $ 6 million of the $ 14 million that the station made in annual gross revenue at
26460-485: The job. On the April 12 edition of Lopez Tonight , George addressed the situation by saying, "I was on Team Coco, now I'm on Team Loco !". However, the move caused a steep decline in ratings. On August 10, 2011, TBS canceled Lopez Tonight effective at the end of the week. O'Brien said of the announcement on his show, taping just hours after it was confirmed: "I want to take one second right now and talk about something serious. Today, not long ago—a couple of hours ago—it
26656-418: The logo being formed into different shapes, objects, structures, and surroundings (such as a gravestone , a flag on a submarine sandwich , and a monster eating the former logo, etc.). On October 22, 2016, AT&T announced an offer to acquire Time Warner for $ 108.7 billion, including debt it would assume from the latter, the merger would bring Time Warner's various media properties, including TBS, under
26852-487: The merger of Time Inc. and Warner Bros. corporate parent Warner Communications —reached an agreement to acquire the Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) and its associated properties (including TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, CNN and CNN Headline News as well as Turner Entertainment ) for $ 7.5 billion; the deal would also expand Time Warner's pay television holdings, as it had owned HBO and sister premium service Cinemax as well as cable television provider Time Warner Cable since
27048-420: The mother of his first two children. In his 1988 autobiography and a 1993 interview, Jackson said he had had two rhinoplasty surgeries and a cleft chin surgery but no more than that. He said he lost weight in the early 1980s because of a change in diet to achieve a dancer's body. Witnesses reported that he was often dizzy, and speculated he was suffering from anorexia nervosa . Periods of weight loss became
27244-429: The music industry: 37 percent of wholesale album profit. Jackson recorded with Queen 's lead singer Freddie Mercury from 1981 to 1983, recording demos of " State of Shock ", "Victory" and " There Must Be More to Life Than This ". The recordings were intended for an album of duets but, according to Queen's manager Jim Beach , the relationship soured when Jackson brought a llama into the recording studio, and Jackson
27440-516: The national feed "100% blackout-free." Combined with the utilization of indemnification provisions designed to protect against monetary damages if a superstation has "a reasonable basis for concluding that[...] programing deletion is not required," this ensured that the TBS national feed would be absolved from potential blackouts necessitated by any local syndication exclusivity claims and, therefore, prevent defections by cable affiliates that indicated it would remove any distant signals rather than shoulder
27636-554: The national feed became known as SuperStation WTBS, and later SuperStation TBS, TBS Superstation, or simply TBS. The channel broadcast a variety of programming during this era, including films, syndicated series, and sports (including Atlanta Braves baseball, basketball games involving the Atlanta Hawks and other NBA teams, and professional wrestling including Georgia Championship Wrestling , Jim Crockett Promotions and later World Championship Wrestling ). WTBS maintained
27832-509: The network's look included a spiral/swirl shape (frequently positioned behind the TBS logo, presumably to depict the superstation's broadcast signal radiating outwards), as well as "Super"-branded blocks (such as Super Prime for prime time movie presentations, "Super TV" for weekday daytime films and series, and Super Weekend for film telecasts on Saturdays and Sundays). On December 17, 1997, Time Warner purchased Southern Satellite Systems from Liberty Media for $ 213 million in cash, as part of
28028-529: The new rules taking effect on January 1, 1990, Turner Broadcasting began to fill the WTBS schedule with additional programming—primarily, off-network syndicated comedy and drama series (such as The Jeffersons and Good Times ) as well as acquired film packages (consisting of both theatrical features and made-for-television films) and original programs (such as Jacques Cousteau specials, and National Audubon Society and National Geographic programs)—for which it would hold exclusive cable rights in order to make
28224-555: The nighttime hours after 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time (with exceptions made for scheduled sporting events, specials, original programs and, in the case of Sunday nights, off-network syndicated series and paid programming). At other times, mainly during the daytime hours each weekday and on weekend mornings, WTBS continued to run mostly classic sitcoms and vintage cartoons. In 1986, when Ted Turner purchased Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / United Artists (MGM/UA, which he would sell back to previous owner Kirk Kerkorian that October due to debt incurred by
28420-407: The number of carried imported signals), and instituted leapfrogging rules that required systems importing distant independent stations from the top-25 markets to choose from one or both of the two markets closest to the provider's city of license and any systems carrying the signal of a third independent being required to pick up a UHF or, if such a station is not available, VHF station located within
28616-655: The provided information services over the feed. SSS began transmitting the United Press International (UPI) teletext news service over the national feed's VBI signal in 1979. 1981 saw the VBI signal begin to carry the Keyfax service out of Chicago. In 1985, SSS repurposed the VBI signal to transmit the Electra teletext service, Electra was transmitted over the VBI until the service was shut down in 1993 due to
28812-444: The provider's service area; as a result, the channel began to broadcast fewer Atlanta Braves regular season games to a national audience, under amended contractual agreements between Turner and Major League Baseball in conjunction with the league's cable-originated rightsholders, ESPN and Fox Sports Net/Liberty Sports , to allow TBS to continue carrying Braves telecasts nationwide. In 1998, TBS Superstation—which continued to run
29008-401: The reach of an independent station's signal that this was not an option. There were cable systems that carried three stations affiliated with each of the major commercial networks and three stations that were PBS member outlets (one station from within the home market and two stations from neighboring markets of each network). WTCG started to reach far beyond the Atlanta television market in
29204-563: The reality show Ripley's Believe It or Not! and the short-lived comedy series The Chimp Channel (a series based on the "Monkey-ed Movies" series of interstitial shorts parodying recent and classic theatrical movies with chimpanzees, voiced by human actors, in the roles). By 2001, several sitcoms from the 1980s and 1990s such as Full House , Family Matters , The Cosby Show , The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air , Friends , Seinfeld , and Home Improvement became part of TBS Superstation's schedule; many of these shows aired as part of
29400-463: The release of an extended music video, Michael Jackson's Thriller , which sees Jackson dancing with a horde of zombies. The success transformed Jackson into a dominant force in global pop culture. Jackson had the highest royalty rate in the music industry at that point, with about $ 2 for every album sold (equivalent to $ 6 in 2023), and was making record-breaking profits. Dolls modeled after Jackson appeared in stores in May 1984 for $ 12 each. In
29596-411: The request of Motown founder Berry Gordy , he performed in exchange for an opportunity to do a solo performance. Rolling Stone reporter Mikal Gilmore called the performance "extraordinary". Jackson's performance drew comparisons to Elvis Presley 's and the Beatles ' appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show . Anna Kisselgoff of The New York Times praised the perfect timing and technique involved in
29792-412: The rights to syndicated programming and film packages, leaving the network-affiliated stations in the market—WAGA-TV, NBC affiliate WSB-TV (channel 2, now an ABC affiliate) and ABC affiliate WXIA-TV (channel 11, now an NBC affiliate)—to acquire the stronger shows. But, because of programming commitments that the affiliates had to their networks, those stations only kept the shows for a few years at
29988-483: The same corporate umbrella as AT&T's telecommunications holdings, including satellite provider DirecTV . Time Warner shareholders approved the merger on February 15, 2017; however, on February 28, 2017, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced that his agency will not review the deal, leaving the review to the U.S. Department of Justice . The merger also resulted in the full separation of TBS from former parent station WPCH (this time by ownership) in an effort to expedite
30184-539: The same schedule nationally as that seen on the local Atlanta broadcast feed—were broadcast on an Eastern Time schedule (with programs shown at earlier or, for those viewing in the Atlantic Time Zone in far eastern Canada and the Maritimes , later times depending on the location), resulting in programs being shown simultaneously in all six continental U.S. and all five Canadian time zones as they did in
30380-478: The same year, The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller , a documentary about the music video, won a Grammy for Best Music Video (Longform). Time described Jackson's influence at that point as "star of records, radio, rock video. A one-man rescue team for the music business. A songwriter who sets the beat for a decade. A dancer with the fanciest feet on the street. A singer who cuts across all boundaries of taste and style and color too." The New York Times wrote "in
30576-907: The scars and had his third rhinoplasty shortly thereafter. Pepsi settled out of court, and Jackson donated the $ 1.5 million (equivalent to $ 4.4 million in 2023) settlement to the Brotman Medical Center in Culver City, California ; its now-closed Michael Jackson Burn Center was named in his honor. Jackson signed a second agreement with Pepsi in the late 1980s for $ 10 million (equivalent to $ 26.8 million in 2023). The second campaign covered 20 countries and provided financial support for Jackson's Bad album and 1987–88 world tour. Jackson had endorsements and advertising deals with other companies, such as LA Gear , Suzuki , and Sony , but none were as significant as his deals with Pepsi. The Victory Tour of 1984 headlined
30772-694: The schedule as other older shows such as The Three Stooges and Little Rascals shorts and Leave it to Beaver were dropped from the channel to make way for more sitcoms from the 1980s such as Three's Company , Who's the Boss? , Growing Pains , Family Ties , Mama's Family , and Saved by the Bell . Original animated programs such as Captain Planet and the Planeteers , 2 Stupid Dogs , and SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron were also added as part of
30968-539: The second "s" rendered in lower case). (Promotions for the channel's programming beginning at this time until 2004 often verbally referred to the national feed only as "the Superstation", a moniker that had previously been used in certain on-air promotions on an alternating basis or in conjunction with the WTBS/TBS name from its national launch as a superstation in December 1976 until December 1989). During this time,
31164-559: The show's opening and closing theme, bumpers into and out of commercial breaks. The show's opening theme was "Lowrider" by the band War , which was also the theme song for George Lopez . The show has been critically panned. Metacritic scored the show with a 39/100 based on six reviews. Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe claims " Lopez has a full-throated energy and a weakness for sophomoric guy humor that can be grating, especially since his show will air Monday through Thursday nights." The New York Times says "Mr. Lopez said he
31360-540: The shows seen on WTBS continued to air nationally over its superstation feed (in a move that preceded fellow superstations WGN-TV and WWOR-TV doing the same thing, though only after the FCC's re-implementation of the Syndication Exclusivity Rights rule in 1990). Although, separate national advertising or per inquiry ads replaced the local commercials intended for broadcast in the Atlanta area—which became exclusively carried by channel 17 locally—on
31556-480: The slogan "veryfunny." The semicircle element took on a motif with half a baseball or basketball rendered within it for Turner Sports programming. From October 1, 2004 to May 30, 2008, TBS had a block called "Too Funny to Sleep" that aired from 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m., and aired Mr. Show with Bob and David along with reruns of some shows from Adult Swim , such as Family Guy , Futurama , Baby Blues , The Oblongs , and Mission Hill . The refocusing
31752-418: The split of the TBS national feed from the Atlanta station in October 2007. In addition to offering conventional television programming over the main video-audio feed viewable to all multichannel television subscribers receiving the channel, Southern Satellite Systems transmitted two teletext services over the TBS superstation feed's vertical blanking interval (VBI) that required a special decoder to receive
31948-571: The station moved to new studio facilities a few blocks west at the former site of the Progressive Club, along with overflow offices on Williams Street, across Interstate 75/85, those facilities now house Adult Swim and Williams Street Productions. (It shared the ex-Progressive Club studios with CNN and Headline News until the latter two moved their operations into the CNN Center downtown in 1987). Early programming included movies from
32144-463: The station's over-the-air channel number were completely removed—outside of minor technical issues where local ads and promos aired erroneously on the national feed. The on-air look of the station by this time was heavily reliant on then state-of-the-art Quantel Paintbox graphics, with slick animation created by a team of in-house graphic designers, led by creative services director John Christopher Burns. He and others would develop this look further in
32340-518: The story, although it was alleged that Jackson leaked an image of him sleeping in a glass chamber (according to Jackson, this was a promotional shot from an upcoming space opera featuring himself ) to The National Enquirer . It was also reported that Jackson took female hormone shots to keep his voice high and facial hair wispy, proposed to Elizabeth Taylor and possibly had a shrine of her, and had cosmetic surgery on his eyes. Jackson's manager Frank DiLeo denied all of them, except for Jackson having
32536-641: The summer of 1988. On May 18, 1988, the FCC reinstated syndication exclusivity restrictions through the passage of a new version of the Syndication Exclusivity Rights Rule. This version granted cable systems and satellite carrier firms the ability to secure an agreement to air a claimed syndicated program with the claimant local rightsholder or a syndication distributor, effectively allowing for superstations to acquire national cable rights for syndicated programs (either directly or through their satellite carrier). In preparation for
32732-412: The superstation feed. The 1980s also saw WTBS begin to venture into original programming, in 1980, the station premiered Tush , a late night sketch comedy and variety series hosted and developed by comedian Bill Tush (who had hosted newsbriefs and, occasionally, movie presentations for WTBS, in addition to serving as a staff announcer), with Jan Hooks (who would later gain fame during her stint as
32928-431: The time on satellite transmission. SSS initially charged prospective cable systems 10¢ per subscriber to transmit the WTCG signal as a 24-hour channel and 2¢ per subscriber to carry it as a part-time, overnight-only service (with the intent of acting as a timeshare feed on a cable channel otherwise occupied by a local or out-of-market broadcast station during their normal sign-off period). Instantly, WTCG went from being
33124-458: The time was the largest media company in the world. In September 1996, TBS replaced religious programs and infomercials that had aired on Sunday mornings and late nights with animated series and feature films, respectively, in those time slots. On December 17, 1996, when TBS celebrated its 20th anniversary as a national service, the channel reincorporated the "Superstation" moniker into its name, rebranding as " TBS Superstation " (this time with
33320-430: The title tracks from his first two solo albums, sold well as singles, as did a cover of Bobby Day 's " Rockin' Robin ". Michael maintained ties to the Jackson 5. The Jackson 5 were later described as "a cutting-edge example of black crossover artists ". They were frustrated by Motown's refusal to allow them creative input. Jackson's performance of their top five single " Dancing Machine " on Soul Train popularized
33516-611: The top 20 media markets lacked independent stations running general entertainment programs, and largely only had access to television stations affiliated with ABC, NBC, and CBS, along with a non-commercial educational station. Cable providers in these areas carried network-affiliated commercial and non-commercial television stations from neighboring markets—usually to serve as default outlets where one or more networks were not available locally—and if possible, an independent station (often located anywhere between 60 and 200 miles [97 and 322 km] away). Still, many places were far enough out of
33712-468: The wedding was a publicity stunt to deflect away from Jackson's sexual abuse allegations and jump-start Presley's career as a singer. Their marriage ended little more than a year later, and they separated in December 1995. Presley cited "irreconcilable differences" when filing for divorce the next month and only sought to reclaim her maiden name as her settlement. After the divorce, Judge Pérez said, "They lasted longer than I thought they would. I gave them
33908-485: The world of pop music, there is Michael Jackson and there is everybody else". In November 1983, Jackson and his brothers partnered with PepsiCo in a $ 5 million promotional deal that broke records for a celebrity endorsement (equivalent to $ 15.3 million in 2023). The first Pepsi campaign, which ran in the US from 1983 to 1984 and launched its "New Generation" theme, included tour sponsorship, public relations events, and in-store displays. Jackson helped to create
34104-420: The years that followed, eventually forming the design firm Television by Design to provide services to other television stations around the country (including WXIA-TV, rival independent WGNX [channel 46, now CBS affiliate WANF ] and PBS member station WPBA [channel 30, now WABE-TV ] within the Atlanta market). Burns would leave TVbD, but continued to be employed by Turner Broadcasting for other projects, including
34300-466: Was convicted in 2011 of involuntary manslaughter for his involvement in Jackson's death. His death triggered reactions around the world, creating unprecedented surges of internet traffic and a spike in sales of his music. Jackson's televised memorial service , held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, was estimated to have been viewed by more than 2.5 billion people. Jackson is one of
34496-460: Was 'bringing change to late-night TV,' but the only significant change was a coarsening of the already crass atmosphere." TBS (American TV channel) TBS (originally an initialism of Turner Broadcasting System ), stylized as tbs , is an American basic cable television network owned by the Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery . It carries a variety of programming , with
34692-520: Was Michael Bearden and the Ese Vato's, who are famous for performances with Michael Jackson and Shakira . The band consisted of leader and keyboard player Michael Bearden, guitarist Tommy Organ , bass player Alex Al, percussionist Lenny Castro, trumpeter Bill Churchville, drummer Robin DiMaggio, and saxophonist Sean Holt. As in common talk show format, Michael Bearden and the Ese Vato's would perform
34888-450: Was abusive and said that the whippings, which had a deeper impact on Michael because he was younger, kept them disciplined and out of trouble. Michael said that during his youth he was lonely and isolated. Later in 1965, Michael began sharing lead vocals with Jermaine, and the group's name was changed to the Jackson 5 . In 1965, the group won a talent show; Michael performed the dance to Robert Parker 's 1965 song " Barefootin' " and sang
35084-433: Was announced that TBS is not renewing George Lopez's show for a third season. I have very strong feelings about this, and I wanted to talk about it. Had it not been for George being so incredibly supportive of me a year and a half ago, I would not have come to TBS and we would not be doing this show right now. I owe that man a lot, and frankly, it makes me very sad that TBS and George could not work this out. I really like being
35280-491: Was assigned as licensee of WJRJ-TV. The channel 17 transmitter was originally located at 1018 West Peachtree Street Northwest (it has since been relocated to the Atlanta suburb of North Druid Hills, Georgia ), with the antenna located on the Turner Broadcasting tower . The building at this site was once home to the studios of CBS affiliate WAGA-TV (channel 5, now a Fox owned-and-operated station ) and, later, channel 17, during its first three years as WJRJ-TV. By 1980,
35476-455: Was canceled by The Disney Channel in 1985. (TBS's addition of The New Leave It To Beaver to its lineup also coincided with the original Leave it to Beaver airing in reruns on the channel, as Ted Turner felt that the former would make a good programming fit with the latter.) On September 7, 1987, the "W" from the "WTBS" callsign was dropped from the superstation's on-air branding—changing its name to SuperStation TBS —in order to emphasize
35672-458: Was careful with his acquisitions, only bidding on a few of the dozens that were offered to him. Jackson's early acquisitions of music catalogs and song copyrights such as the Sly Stone collection included "Everyday People" (1968), Len Barry 's " 1-2-3 " (1965), and Dion DiMucci 's " The Wanderer " (1961) and " Runaround Sue " (1961). In 1984, Robert Holmes à Court announced he was selling
35868-531: Was carried by 95 cable systems in six Southeastern states, reaching an estimated 440,000 households). Turner began formulating plans to take WTCG national upon hearing of the groundbreaking innovation by premium cable service Home Box Office (HBO) (which would eventually become a sister property to channel 17 as a result of Time Warner's 1996 acquisition of the Turner Broadcasting System ) to retransmit its programming nationwide utilizing communications satellites beginning with its September 30, 1975, telecast of
36064-415: Was certified eight times platinum in the US, and by 2018 had sold 32 million copies worldwide. In the US, the first single, " Black or White ", was the album's highest-charting song; it was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks and achieved similar chart performances worldwide. The second single, " Remember the Time " peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. At
36260-722: Was crowned "King Sani" by a tribal chief in the Ivorian village of Krindjabo , where he thanked the dignitaries in French and English, signed documents formalizing his kingship, and sat on a golden throne while presiding over ceremonial dances. In January 1993, Jackson performed at the Super Bowl XXVII halftime show in Pasadena, California. The NFL sought a big-name artist to keep ratings high during halftime following dwindling audience figures. With 133.4 million viewers, it
36456-599: Was divested by AT&T and merged with Discovery Inc. to form Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). On April 26, it was reported that WBD had suspended original scripted series development at TBS and TNT in order to evaluate the channels' strategies moving forward. At this point, TBS only had three original scripted series still airing first-run episodes, American Dad! , Chad (which itself would be dropped by WBD before its already-filmed second season made it to air; it would later be picked up by streaming service The Roku Channel ), and Miracle Workers . On May 11, Brett Weitz
36652-685: Was finalized four days later on April 21, 2017). On November 20, 2017, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against AT&T and Time Warner in an attempt to block the merger, citing antitrust concerns surrounding the transaction. The proposed merger—which had already been approved by the European Commission and Mexican, Chilean and Brazilian regulatory authorities—was affirmed by court ruling on June 12, 2018, after District of Columbia U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Leon ruled in favor of AT&T, dismissing
36848-568: Was finalized on August 10, 1985. Jackson's skin had been medium-brown during his youth, but from the mid-1980s gradually grew paler. The change drew widespread media coverage, including speculation that he had been bleaching his skin . His dermatologist, Arnold Klein , said he observed in 1983 that Jackson had vitiligo , a condition characterized by patches of the skin losing their pigment. He also identified discoid lupus erythematosus in Jackson. He diagnosed Jackson with lupus that year, and with vitiligo in 1986. Vitiligo's drastic effects on
37044-518: Was intended to position its programming as a direct contrast to sister channel TNT, which had initially focused mainly around older movies and sports but moved toward and now focuses primarily on drama series and films. From April 19, 2013 to February 20, 2015, Turner began to utilize an outside-sourced four-hour block of programming on TBS late Friday nights without the "Too Funny to Sleep" branding, including Family Guy , The Oblongs , The Cleveland Show , and American Dad! . In late June 2007,
37240-426: Was not indicted due to lack of evidence. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of further child sexual abuse allegations and several other charges. The Federal Bureau of Investigation found no evidence of criminal conduct by Jackson. In 2009, while he was preparing for a series of comeback concerts, This Is It , Jackson died from an overdose of propofol administered by his personal physician, Conrad Murray , who
37436-432: Was originally established on December 17, 1976, as the national feed of Turner's Atlanta, Georgia , independent television station , WTCG . The decision to begin offering WTCG via satellite transmission to cable and satellite subscribers throughout the United States expanded the small station into the first nationally distributed " superstation ." With the assignment of WTBS as the broadcast station's callsign in 1979,
37632-496: Was recorded discussing his intention to pursue charges, which Jackson used to argue that he was the victim of a jealous father trying to extort money. Jackson's older sister La Toya accused him of being a pedophile; she later retracted this, saying she had been forced into it by her abusive husband. Police raided Jackson's home in August and found two legal large-format art books featuring young boys playing, running and swimming in various states of undress. Jackson denied knowing of
37828-429: Was removed as general manager for TBS, TNT, and TruTV; the channels are now overseen by Kathleen Finch as head of U.S. Networks. As of December 2023, TBS currently airs a mix of game shows and reality shows and reruns of live-action sitcoms that were originally broadcast on the major broadcast networks. The remaining original scripted first-run program currently seen on TBS is American Dad! , which also airs on and
38024-531: Was the first Super Bowl whose halftime show drew greater audience figures than the game. Jackson played " Jam ", "Billie Jean", "Black or White", and "Heal the World". Dangerous rose 90 places in the US albums chart after the performance. Jackson gave a 90-minute interview with Oprah Winfrey on February 10, 1993. He spoke of his childhood abuse at the hands of his father; he believed he had missed out on much of his childhood, and said that he often cried from loneliness. He denied tabloid rumors that he had bought
38220-444: Was the only Procter & Gamble serial to be produced for cable television), and sitcoms Down to Earth , Rocky Road , and Safe at Home (all three of which were produced by The Arthur Company , and formed a block of first-run comedy series aimed at a family audience). In addition, from 1986 through 1989, TBS also produced more than 70 original episodes of The New Leave It To Beaver , which it picked up after that series
38416-493: Was upset by Mercury's drug use. "There Must Be More to Life Than This" was released in 2014. Jackson went on to record "State of Shock" with Mick Jagger for the Jacksons' album Victory (1984). In 1982, Jackson contributed "Someone in the Dark" to the audiobook for the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial . Jackson's sixth album, Thriller , was released in late 1982. It was the bestselling album worldwide in 1983, and became
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