"I'd rather be a has-been than a might-have-been, by far; for a might have-been has never been, but a has was once an are," Milton Berle was once quoted as saying. It turned out that he got his wish---perhaps a little sooner that he might have wished to get it. NBC took the chance and named Berle the permanent host of Texaco Star Theater---and launched an American icon. The show and its host owned Tuesday nights for the next several years, hitting the number one slot in the Nielsen ratings and keeping it with as much as an 80 percent share of the recorded viewing audience. Berle individually and the show itself each won Emmy Awards after the first season. Theaters, restaurants, and other businesses either closed completely or simply shut down for the hour so their customers wouldn't miss Berle's antics. He was credited with a huge spike in television set sales (many believe Berle helped sell more television sets in the U.S. than anyone else in the medium's early years), and between that and his stature as the medium's first superstar Berle earned the nickname "Mr. Television." He earned his slightly more familiar nickname after ending a 1949 broadcast with a brief remark to children watching the show: "Listen to your Uncle Miltie and go to bed." And he was so popular, at the height of the show's success, that NBC signed him to an exclusive, thirty-year contract in 1951.

The only problem with that deal was that NBC (and practically everyone else) couldn't know just how short would be the average lifespan of any comedian on television, compared to radio comics whose careers went on for two decades and often longer. In part, this was due to the more ephemeral nature of visual comedy: they who don't adapt faster don't survive longer. And, indeed, Berle ended up wearing out his welcome almost as rapidly as he had built it up in the first place. Texaco pulled out of sponsorship of the show in 1953; Buick picked it up, prompting the renaming to The Buick-Berle Show, but Berle's ratings continued to fall and Buick pulled out after one season. By the time the again-renamed Milton Berle Show finished its one full season under that name, Berle already seemed like ancient history---though this final season did provide some of the earliest television appearances by a young rock and roll singing star named Elvis Presley. NBC had no choice but to cancel the original Berle show at last. He later appeared in the Kraft Music Hall series, but NBC was finding increasingly fewer roles for its one-time superstar. By 1960, he was reduced to hosting a game show, Jackpot Bowling, delivering his quips in-between the on-screen efforts of bowling contestants.