 Now, while that program would spend more than two decades on radio, it only very briefly made it to television. And that one-season attempt in 1959 did not even feature the Jordans, but rather Bob Sweeney and Kathy Lewis as the McGees. In marked contrast, our first performer was a huge TV star. For a time, the hugest. Milton Berle's Texaco Star Theater debuted on early television in June of 1948, and for the next eight years, Berle would host shows that consistently finished near the top of the ratings.