50-Year-Old TV Tradition to End

An almost 50-year TV tradition has come to an end. The Muscular Dystrophy Association announced Friday that it will no longer hold an annual fundraising telethon.

The organization's annual telethon, hosted by comedian Jerry Lewis from its inception in 1956, has seen its broadcast cut from its standard 21 and a half hours, last seen during Lewis' final hosting stint in 2010, to just two hours last year.

The MDA website says, "The new realities of television viewing and philanthropic giving have made this the right time for the organization to move beyond its historic Labor Day telethon."

It's something I've grown up always hearing about. An end of an era.