Today in History: Sunday, October 6, 2024

Television
ABC’s “The Dating Game” moved into primetime in 1966 in place of canceled sitcom “The Tammy Grimes Show”…Nickelodeon debuted its first game show “Double Dare” in 1986…“Dear John,” based on the British comedy of the same name, premiered on NBC in 1988. The sitcom, starring Judd Hirsch, ran for four seasons, thanks to initially following “Cheers” on Thursday nights…Lois (Teri Hatcher) and Clark (Dean Cain) faced the “Wedding Destroyer” (Delta Burke) on the day of their marriage on ABC’s “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” in 1996. The episode coincided with the publication of the comic book “Superman: The Wedding Album,“ where Clark Kent finally married Lois Lane — 58 years after the characters debuted in Action Comics #1…“CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” began its 15-season run on CBS in 2000. To-date, there have been four scripted spin-offs: “CSI: Miami” (2002-1), “CSI: NY” (2004-13), “CSI: Cyber” (2015-16) and “CSI: Vegas” (2021-24). CBS also recently aired the non-scripted entry, “The Real CSI Miami”…Paranormal docuseries “Ghost Hunters” launched on Syfy in 2004. Its original run ran for twelve years. Since Aug. 2019, A&E has revived the show…”Batwoman” premiered on The CW in 2019. Ruby Rose starred in the title role, making history as the first lesbian superhero to be cast in a scripted live-action TV series. Rose left the series after its inaugural season due to physical ailments she had suffered during filming. Javicia Leslie has since taken over the Batwoman position while Wallis Day now stars in Rose’s former role of Kate Kane.

Movies:
“The Jazz Singer” starring Al Jolson opened in New York in 1927. Its release marked the beginning of sound films and ended the silent film era…“Spartacus,“ directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Kirk Douglas and Laurence Olivier premiered in New York City in 1960..,“Midnight Express” starring Brad Davis, Randy Quaid and John Hurt premiered in theaters in 1978…“Days of Heaven” starring Richard Gere also opened in 1978.

Songs:
The Supremes released single “I Hear a Symphony” in 1965…The single “Faith” by George Michael was released in 1987. It was named the Billboard Song of the Year.

Celebrity Birthdays
Actress Ellen Travolta (“Charles in Charge”) is 85; actress Britt Ekland (“The Man with the Golden Gun”) is 82; REO Speedwagon lead singer Kevin Cronin is 73; former NFL head coach Tony Dungy is 69; actress Elisabeth Shue (“Adventures in Babysitting”) is 61; actress Amy Jo Johnson (“Felicity”) is 54; actor Ioan Gruffudd (“UnREAL”) is 51; former WNBA player Rebecca Lobo is also 51; actor Jeremy Sisto (“Law & Order”) is 50.

Did You Know?
“CSI” initially aired in the Friday 9 p.m. hour out of the remake of “The Fugitive” with Tim Daly. Three months after debuting, “CSI” moved to Thursday and by the 2002-03 season it was the top-rated series in all of primetime.