Today in History: Friday, November 10, 2023

Television 
Kids classic “Sesame Street” debuted on PBS in 1969 with a fast paced combination of live shorts, humor, music, celebrity appearances and, of course, Jim Henson’s Muppets. A survey completed in 1996 found that 95 percent of all American preschoolers had watched the show by the time they were three years old. In 2016, HBO signed a five year deal to become its primary broadcaster…Remember that classic scene on ABC’s “The Brady Bunch” when TV’s favorite family competed in a potato sack contest? It happened in 1972 when troubled middle girl Jan (Eve Plumb) declared she wanted to become an only child. Oh Jan!

Movies:
John Hughes’ film “Home Alone,“ directed by Chris Columbus and starring Macaulay Culkin, premiered in Chicago in 1990. “Home Alone” was the number-one film at the box office for 12 consecutive weeks, from its official release the weekend of November 16–18, 1990 through the first weekend of February 1991. It grossed $285.8 million in the United States and Canada and $190.9 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $476.7 million, against a production budget of $18 million…“Star Trek: Insurrection” film directed by Jonathan Frakes and starring Patrick Stewart opened in 1998…“The Hunger Games” Mockingjay – Part 1″ starring Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson premiered in London in 2014.

Music:
Single “Uptown Funk” was released by Bruno Mars in 2014. It won Grammys for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, and the Billboard Song of the Year.

Sports:
St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Joe Torre was announced as the National League Most Valuable Player in 1971. Nearly 25 years later, Torre was the manager of the World Series-winning New York Yankees, the first of four world titles the team would win within a five-year span.

Celebrity Birthdays:
Lyricist Tim Rice is 79; actor Jack Scalia (“All My Children”) is 73; “A Different World” star Sinbad is 66; actress Mackenzie Phillips (“One Day At A Time”) is 64; actor Hugh Bonneville (“Downton Abbey”) is 60; actor-comedian Tommy Davidson (“In Living Color”) is also 60; actor Michael Jai White (“Why Did I Get Married?”) is 59; comedian Tracy Morgan is 54; “Grey’s Anatomy” star Ellen Pompeo is 53; actor Walton Goggins (“The Unicorn”) is 52; Rapper Eve is 44; actress Heather Matarazzo (“Welcome to the Dollhouse”) is 41; country singer Miranda Lambert is 40.

Did You Know?
By 2006, “Sesame Street” became the most widely viewed children’s television show in the world, with 20 international independent versions and broadcasts in over 120 countries.