Today in History: Monday, March 4, 2024

Television
“Chico and the Man” in 1977 featured the final episode with Freddie Prinze, who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound five weeks earlier. The producers considered ending the sitcom, but opted for a fourth – and final – season featuring a 12-year old stowaway (Gabriel Melgar)…A pre-“Dallas” Patrick Duffy starred as the “Man from Atlantis,” which began as a TV movie on NBC in 1977.

Two similarly-titled short-lived CBS sitcoms debuted: “Stockard Channing in Just Friends” in 1979; “Suzanne Pleshette Is Maggie Briggs” in 1984…Short-lived variety hour “The Big Show” premiered on NBC in 1980… Short-lived comedy “Police Squad!“, starring Leslie Nielsen and created by the makers of the movie “Airplane!“, premiered on ABC in 1982. Six-and-a-half years later (in 1988), it was revived as the feature film “The Naked Gun” which became a box office success and spawned two sequels in the summers of 1991 and 1994.

ABC debuted two shows in 1983: Jimmie Walker (“Good Times”) returned to sitcom television (albeit unsuccessfully) in the Army-based “At Ease;” and Patrick Swayze starred in the limited series “Renegades” about youth-gang members who work undercover for the police…The telefilm version of Tennessee Williams’ famed 1947 play “A Streetcar Named Desire” premiered on ABC in 1984. It starred Ann-Margret (in her Golden Globe-winning role as Blanche DuBois), Treat Williams, Beverly D’Angelo and Randy Quaid. It was a ratings hit, delivering a 23.1 household rating, topping that Sunday evening and ranking sixth of all telecasts for that week…Japanese animated program “Robotech” premiered on U.S. television (in syndication) in 1985…The comedy “Harry,” starring Alan Arkin, started its brief seven-episode run on ABC in 1987. The series also starred Richard Lewis and Holland Taylor.

Renowned movie star Walter Matthau returned to network television (since NBC’s “Profiles in Courage” from 1965) in 1990 in the Emmy-winning and highly-rated CBS telefilm “The Incident.” He portrayed a broken-down attorney in the 1940’s forced to defend a German P.O.W. accused of murdering an American citizen. It also starred Peter Firth, Susan Blakely, Robert Carradine and Harry Morgan… “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles“, the series version about the renowned archaeologist from the blockbuster film franchise by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, debuted on ABC in 1992. It starred Sean Patrick Flannery and ran for 28 episodes across two condensed seasons along with four telefilms from 1994 through 1996…Two successful series debuted in 1997: ABC’s Emmy-winning law drama “The Practice” from David E. Kelley, which spun-off “Boston Legal” effective on Oct. 4, 2004, and NBC sitcom “Just Shoot Me!” starring Laura San Giacomo, Wendie Malick, Enrico Colantoni, David Spade and George Segal.

“Pimp My Ride“, the car makeover show hosted by rapper Xzibit, debuted on MTV in 2004. Six seasons were produced across nearly four years… ESPN’s college sports-focused cable network ESPNU launched in 2005…Docuseries “Little People, Big World” about the lives of Amy and Matt Roloff debuted on TLC in 2006. A total of 25 seasons, to-date, have aired (including the current six episode season)…Comedy “The Winner” starring Rob Corddry and Erinn Hayes premiered its first two episodes on Fox in 2007. The series that was executive produced by Seth MacFarlane aired only six episodes, concluding just two weeks after its launch…Crime drama “New Amsterdam” (not related to NBC’s hospital drama of the same name) about an immortal police detective in New York City premiered on Fox in 2008. While the series only lasted eight episodes, its lead star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau achieved global fame as knight Jaime Lannister in the 2011-19 fantasy epic “Game of Thrones.“

Serialized drama “GCB” (“Good Christian Belles“) debuted on ABC in 2012. It starred Leslie Bibb, Kristin Chenoweth, Annie Potts and David James Elliott and was primed to be the network’s successor to the then-concluding “Desperate Housewives.” But it only lasted 10 episodes…Forensic drama “CSI: Cyber“, the third spin-off from the “Crime Scene Investigation” franchise, debuted on CBS in 2015. The series starred Patricia Arquette, James Van Der Beek, Peter MacNicol and Shad Moss (aka Lil Bow Wow). Ted Danson joined the cast in its second season as D.B. Russell from the original “CSI” but the addition did not stop the series from concluding in March 2016.

Talk show “Sundays with Alec Baldwin” debuted on ABC in late night in 2018, the night of the 90th Academy Awards. Baldwin’s guests were Jerry Seinfeld and Kate McKinnon. It was then retitled as “The Alec Baldwin Show” for the fall of 2018 as a Sunday prime time entry but after four episodes, ABC relegated it to its low-rated Saturday nights in December 2018. Only eight episodes overall had aired…Comedy “Dave” starring Dave Burd (aka rapper Lil Dicky) launched on FXX in 2020. Comedian Kevin Hart and music executive Scooter Braun are two of the series’ executive producers. 30 episodes aired across its three-season run… the streaming service Paramount+ officially launched as a replacement for CBS All Access in 2021…”The Real World Homecoming: New York“, the reality series that reunited the original cast of MTV’s inaugural season of “The Real World” after nearly three decades, premiered on Paramount+ in 2021. The casts of Los Angeles and New Orleans followed in subsequent “Homecoming” seasons.

Movies:
“The Shape of Water” was the winner of four Oscars at the 90th Academy Awards in 2018, including for Best Picture (the first-ever science fiction film to earn the honor) and Best Director (Guillermo del Toro). Other winners included Gary Oldman (“Darkest Hour”), Frances McDormand (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri”), Sam Rockwell (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri”), Allison Janney (“I, Tonya”) and Jordan Peele (Best Original Screenplay for “Get Out”).

Music:
Reaching No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart: “Ruby Tuesday” by The Rolling Stones in 1967; “(Love Is) Thicker Than Water” by Andy Gibb in 1978; “Lost In Your Eyes” by Debbie Gibson in 1989; “Amazed” by Lonestar in 2000.

Periodicals:
The first issue of People magazine, then called People Weekly, was published by Time-Life Inc. in 1974. On the cover was actress Mia Farrow. A newsmagazine version of the same name, hosted by Phyllis George and Mark Shaw, aired briefly on CBS in the fall of 1978.

News:
Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the 16th U.S. President in 1861…Ulysses S. Grant was inaugurated as the 18th U.S. President in 1869…Grover Cleveland was inaugurated as the first U.S. Democratic President since the Civil War in 1885… in 1927, Babe Ruth became the highest paid player in Major League Baseball at the time by signing a 3-year, $70,000 contract with the New York Yankees…Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated as the 32nd U.S. President  in 1933… in 2005, Martha Stewart was released from federal prison in West Virginia after serving five months for conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements to federal investigators about her sale of ImClone Systems stock four years prior.

Celebrity Birthdays:
Actress Paula Prentiss (“He & She”) is 86; film director Adrian Lyne (“Fatal Attraction”) is 83; musician Emilio Estefan is 71; actress Kay Lenz (“Breezy”) is also 71; actress Catherine O’Hara (“Schitt’s Creek”) is 70; actor Mykelti Williamson (“Forrest Gump”) is 67; actress Patricia Heaton (“Everybody Loves Raymond”) is 66; actor Steven Weber (“Wings”) is 63; actress Stacy Edwards (“Chicago Hope”) is 59; actress Patsy Kensit (“Lethal Weapon 2”) is 56; activist Chaz Bono is 55; actress Andrea Bendewald (“Suddenly Susan”) is 54; American soccer player Landon Donovan is 42; actor Scott Michael Foster (“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”) is 41; actress Jessica Heap (“The Young and the Restless”) is also 41; reality personality Whitney Port (“The Hills”) is 39; actress Josh Bowman (“Revenge”) is 36; Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green is 34; actor Andrea Bowen (“Desperate Housewives”) is also 34; actress Jenna Boyd (“The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”) is 31.

Did You Know?
Prior to “Everybody Loves Raymond,” Patricia Heaton was featured in three short-lived comedies: “Room For Two” with Linda Lavin from 1992 to 1993; “Someone Like Me” in 1994; and “Women of the House,“ a spin-off from “Designing Women,” in 1995.