Today in History: Friday, June 23, 2023

Television
NBC comedy/variety half-hour “The Jimmy Durante Show” ended its two-season run in 1956…ABC variety half-hour “The Pat Boone-Chevy Showroom” concluded in 1960 after three seasons…”American Masters” debuted on PBS in 1986…”The Red Skelton Show” finished its 17-season run on CBS in 1970. It moved to NBC for one final season in 1971-72…“The David Letterman Show” debuted on NBC in daytime in 1980. The talker replaced game shows “High Rollers,“ “Chain Reaction” and the daytime version of “The Hollywood Squares,” but did not fit well outside of Letterman’s eventual late night tenure and was canceled after four months…The Sega company released the video game “Sonic the Hedgehog” in 1991…In 1993 was the debut of the animated comedy “Family Dog” on CBS, which featured the voice of Martin Mull. It aired only 10 episodes over the span of one month…”The Real World: San Francisco,” one of the most notable seasons of the long-running reality franchise, premiered on MTV in 1994. Among its cast was gay activist Pedro Zamora (who died later that year from HIV) and the polarizing David “Puck” Rainey…Mary Hart joined syndicated newsmagazine “Entertainment Tonight” in 1982…USA drama “Suits”, starring Gabriel Macht, began its nine season run in 2011. The show’s success spawned a short-lived spin-off, “Pearson”, centered on Jessica Pearson’s (Gina Torres) entry into Chicago politics…In 2012, the “39th Daytime Emmy Awards” aired on HLN, marking the first time in TV history the ceremony was televised on cable…Two notable cable series debuted in 2013: The first was Lifetime’s mystery comedy-drama “Devious Maids” starring Ana Ortiz, Judy Reyes, Roselyn Sanchez and Dania Ramirez. This was producer Marc Cherry’s first project post-“Desperate Housewives.” And second was Discovery’s unscripted “Naked and Afraid”…“Queen of the South”, the American version of the hit Telemundo telenovela about drug trafficking, debuted on USA Network in 2016. The series, which starred Alice Braga, concluded after five seasons…The first season of the 1980’s-set ladies wrestling comedy-drama “GLOW” was released on Netflix in 2017. It ran for three seasons and featured Alison Brie, Betty Gilpin, Marc Maron and Chris Lowell.

Movies:
Walt Disney’s “Lady & the Tramp” was released in 1955. It was the first animated film to be filmed in the Cinema Scope widescreen film process…Science-fiction film “Logan’s Run” opened in 1976. It starred Michael York, Jenny Agutter and Farrah Fawcett, whose career soared that year with the premiere of ABC series “Charlie’s Angels”…”Batman,“ starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson opened in theaters in 1989. The film, the first in the franchise, took place early in the title character’s war on crime, and depicted the battle with the Joker…Also in 1989, Rick Moranis opened in the Disney family flick “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids“…Jim Carrey re-teamed with “Dumb and Dumber” filmmakers the Farrelly brothers for the comedy “Me, Myself and Irene” which premiered in 2000. It also starred Renée Zellweger…Brothers Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans were featured in the cross-dressing comedy “White Chicks” released in 2004.

Music:
Single “My Sharona” single released by The Knack in 1979…Also in 1979: Supertramp’s “Breakfast in America” (featuring single “Take the Long Way Home”) became the No. 1 album in the country…The debut album of Beyoncé as a solo artist entitled “Dangerously in Love” was released in 2003. It featured the No. 1 hits “Crazy in Love” (with future husband Jay-Z) and “Baby Boy“…Reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100: “The Reflex” by Duran Duran in 1984.

Sports:
In 2011, the Cleveland Cavaliers selected Duke point guard Kyrie Irving as the first pick of the NBA Draft. Five years later, he and LeBron James would help the Cavaliers win the NBA title, the first professional sports championship for the city of Cleveland in 52 years… 2012, ESPN launched the website espnW dedicated to coverage of women’s sports and issues on the pro and college levels.​

Celebrity Birthdays
Singer Diana Trask is 83; actor Ted Shackelford (“Knots Landing”) is 77; actor Bryan Brown (“The Thorn Birds”) is 76; Randy Jackson (“American Idol”) is 67; triple Oscar-winning actress Frances McDormand (“Fargo”) is 66; “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer” creator Joss Whedon is 60; singer Chico DeBarge is 53; actress Selma Blair (“Legally Blonde”) is 51; singer Jason Mraz is 46; Hall of Fame running back LaDainian Tomlinson is 44; Melissa Rauch of “The Big Bang Theory” is 43; singer Duffy is 39.

Did You Know?
The inaugural edition of “American Masters” featured a behind-the-scenes look at a Broadway hit from the year before: Dustin Hoffman as Willy Loman in a revival of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.” Others profiles over the years on “American Masters” have included author Louisa May Alcott, filmmaker Woody Allen, musician Louis Armstrong, music legends Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie, silent film star Buster Keaton, Walter Cronkite, Edward R. Murrow, “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz and “The Twilight Zone” creator Rod Serling..