The Edsel Show

Not the first, but currently the oldest surviving show on videotape. It was aired live in 1957 in prime time, and simultaneously taped and filmed in kinescope for the sole purpose of broadcasting for the three-hour time delay on the West coast. In those days, shows which were taped (and not erased later) were ALSO kinescoped because the thought was that the tape might malfunction in the middle of the broadcast, but a kinescope film- which was all recorded off of a monitor and developed like motion picture film- would remain intact. Most TV retrospectives only air the kinescope, but a clip of the very pristine tape can be seen in the 2002 documentary "CBS: 50 Years from Television City."