September 15, 1965 –
This was an incredibly busy day in TV History:
Danger Will Robinson, danger. Dr. Smith is attempting to inappropriately stimulate your young pulsating bulbous nether region!
The Robinson Family gets Lost in Space for the first time on CBS-TV on this date.
(sorry for the colorized version)
Irwin Allen pitched his idea for the series to CBS programmer James Aubrey, who immediately snapped it up. A few weeks later Gene Roddenberry pitched his idea for Star Trek: The Original Series to Aubrey, who turned him down. He felt that this show was the more commercial of the two.
The Big Valley premiered on this date.
Victoria (Barbara Stanwyck) is the only Barkley who was never shot throughout the run of the series. Heath (Lee Majors) was shot the most, while Nick (Peter Breck) was shot twice in the same episode.
American started really liking Sally Fields when Gidget premiered on ABC-TV on this date.
The show was the TV debut for Sally Field. She auditioned for the role on a lark and was astonished when they offered her the part.
Green Acres premiered on this date.
Pat Buttram based his portrayal of Mr. Haney on Tom Parker— aka “Col. Tom Parker“, Elvis Presley’s manager–whom he met a decade or so earlier when Parker was a carnival barker.
And last, but not least, the first American television drama to feature an African-American actor in a lead role, I Spy, starring Bill Cosby and Robert Culp, premiered on NBC-TV on this date.
Bill Cosby’s character, Alexander Scott, was originally intended to be an older mentor to Robert Culp’s trainee agent, Kelly Robinson. Executive producer Sheldon Leonard cast Cosby in the role after seeing one of his routines (Scott was originally intended to be a Caucasian). Due to this casting change, the writers thought an occasional reference to Cosby’s race would be a necessity, given the tumult of the times.
The Haus of Dcaligari 