Today in History: Saturday, December 9, 2023

Television
Long-running British soap opera “Coronation Street” debuted on network ITV in 1960. On February 7, 2020, the show aired its 10,000th episode…Emmy and Peabody Award winning animated holiday special, “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” debuted on CBS in 1965. It finished No. 2 overall for that week (behind NBC’s “Bonanza”), with a 45 percent share of the audience…CBS premiered the first part of two night miniseries “Alice in Wonderland” in 1985.  It featured nine-year old Natalie Gregory and a cast that included Sherman Hemsley, Donald O’Connor, Shelley Winters, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Donna Mills.

Movies:
“Star Trek: Nemesis,” starring Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes opened in theaters in 2002…“Brokeback Mountain,“ directed by Ang Lee and starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhall, was released in 2005. It won three Academy Awards, including Best Director…“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” starring Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Adam Driver premiered in Los Angeles in 2017.
 
Celebrity Birthdays:
Oscar winner Judi Dench is 89 actor Beau Bridges is 82; actor Michael Nouri (“Flashdance”) is 73; actor Michael Dorn (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”) is 71; actor John Malkovich is 70; Donny Osmond is 66; comedian Mario Cantone (“Sex and the City”) is 64; actor Joe Lando (“Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman”) is 62; actor David Anthony Higgins (“B Positive”) is also 62; actress Felicity Huffman (“Desperate Housewives”) is 61; “Shark Tank’s” Lori Greiner is 54; The Wallflowers singer-guitarist Jakob Dylan (son of Bob Dylan) is also 54; former “American Idol” judge Kara DioGuardi is 53; actress Reiko Aylesworth (“24”) is 51; actor Jesse Metcalfe (“Desperate Housewives,” “Dallas”) is 45; “The Big Bang Theory’s” Simon Helberg is 43.

Did You Know?
“A Charlie Brown Christmas” is the second longest-running TV Christmas special historically behind “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” which premiered in 1964. At the time of its debut, creator Charles Schulz would not allow CBS executives to insert a laugh-track in the hour.