Today in History: Tuesday, October 2, 2024

Television
Showtime drama “Homeland” debuted in 2011 and ultimately ended the four year Emmy Award winning streak for Outstanding Drama Series for AMC’s “Mad Men.“,,Other series premieres: 1) “Faraway Hill” on the DuMont Network in 1946, which was the first network soap opera historically; 2) NBC sitcom “The Aldrich Family” in 1949, which was based on the radio series; 3) CBS interview series “Person to Person” in 1953; 4) suspense anthology “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” in 1955, which began on CBS and ended on NBC in 1965; 5) the original “The Twilight Zone” hosted by Rod Serling on CBS in 1959; 6) CBS game show “Password” hosted by Allen Ludden in 1961; 7) ABC medical drama “Ben Casey,“ starring Vince Edwards in 1961; 8)  “Soul Train” in first-run syndication in 1971, and 9) “Scrubs” on NBC in 2001.

TV movie “A Cry for Help: The Tracey Thurman Story” premieres on NBC in 1989. It starred Nancy McKeon.

Movies:
“The Bridge on the River Kwai,” directed by David Lean and starring William Holden and Alec Guinness, opened in theaters in 1957. It won seven Academy Awards, including Best Motion Picture.

The original version of thriller “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” starring Walter Matthau opened in 1974…Two films were released in 1992: classic hockey flick “The Mighty Ducks” starring Emilio Estevez, and “Glengarry Glen Ross” starring Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Ed Harris and Alan Arkin…DreamWorks’ first animated film “Antz” featuring the voices of Woody Allen, Gene Hackman, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Lopez and Sylvester Stallone opened in wide release in 1997.

Music:
“Jack and Diane” by John Mellencamp hit No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1982… British band Oasis released their second studio album “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?” in 1995.

Sports:
38 year old Muhammad Ali came out of 2-year retirement to challenge undefeated world heavyweight champion Larry Holmes at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas in 1980.

Books:
Beatrix Potter’s “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” was published by Frederick Warne & Co. in London in 1902.

News:
The first comic strip of Charlie Brown, “Li’l Folks,“ later “Peanuts” by Charles M. Schulz was published in seven nationwide papers in 1950.

Celebrity Birthdays:
Movie critic Rex Reed is 86; singer Don McLean is 79; photographer Annie Leibovitz is 75; singer Gordon Sumner aka Sting is 73; actress Lorraine Bracco (“The Sopranos”) is 70; actor Esai Morales (“NYPD Blue”) is 62; “Live’s” Kelly Ripa is 54; singer Tiffany Darwish aka Tiffany is 53; actor Efren Ramirez (“Napoleon Dynamite”) is 51.

Did You Know?
NBC revived “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” in 1985, combining newly filmed stories with colorized footage of Alfred Hitchcock from the original series to introduce each segment. When NBC canceled it after one season, it moved to USA for three more seasons.