Today in History: Saturday, May 27, 2023

Television:
Variety half-hour “The Red Buttons Show,“ which began on CBS and moved to NBC, concluded its three season run in 1955…The second variety hour hosted by Jerry Lewis ended its two season run in 1969. A final version also of the same name aired in first-run syndication for one week in June 1984…The start of a 20-hour telethon promoting highway safety, hosted by Sammy Davis Jr., aired across many stations nationwide in 1973…Six notable series runs concluded: NBC’s horror anthology “Night Gallery” after three seasons in 1973; ABC sitcom “Mork & Mindy” after four-seasons in 1982; ABC sitcom “Bosom Buddies” after two seasons in 1982; original run of NBC/syndicated comedy “Punky Brewster” after four seasons in 1988; CBS fantasy comedy-drama “Early Edition” after four seasons in 2000; CBS legal drama “Family Law” after three seasons in 2002…MTV debuted “House of Style” in 1989. Supermodel Cindy Crawford hosted the fashion news program thru 1995. The show’s original run ended in 2000…The last telecast of the syndicated late-night talker “The Arsenio Hall Show” aired in 1994. It launched on January 3, 1989 and proved there was room in the daypart for someone outside of Johnny Carson. Hall had served as a guest host for Fox’s “The Late Show” following the dismissal of its host, Joan Rivers, which led to his own show…Heather Locklear starred as a woman with multiple-personality disorder in the premiere of NBC TV-movie “Shattered Mind” in 1996… In 2019, meteorologist Jamie Simpson from WKEF, the ABC affiliate in Dayton, Ohio, called out viewers on-air complaining on social media about continuous severe weather coverage preempting that evening’s episode of “The Bachelorette“…”The Hot Zone“, the six-part miniseries starring Julianna Margulies about a pending epidemic outbreak, debuted on National Geographic Channel in 2019… The HBO Max streaming service launched in 2020, along with the debut of the Anna Kendrick romantic comedy “Love Life.”

Movies:
Walt Disney’s short film “3 Little Pigs” was released in 1933 and ultimately won the Academy Award for Best Animated film that year. In 1994, it was voted #11 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field..”Smokey and the Bandit” starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field and Jackie Gleason opened in theaters in 1977…The live-action version of “The Flintstones” starring John Goodman, Elizabeth Perkins, Rick Moranis and Rosie O’Donnell opened in 1994.

Music:
The Chi-Lites hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Oh Girl” in 1972…The Sex Pistols released “God Save the Queen” in 1977, sparking major controversy and leading to a ban on the song by the BBC…In 2018, South Korean boy band BTS are the first K-pop group to top the US Billboard 200 with their album “Love Yourself: Tear.”

News:
The Chrysler Building in New York City opened to the public in 1930…Construction began on Walt Disney World at Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida in 1969..

Sports:
In 1994, Stéphane Matteau’s goal in double overtime gave the New York Rangers a 2-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils in the deciding Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, sending the Rangers to the NHL Stanley Cup Finals. Radio play-by-play announcer Howie Rose immortalized the moment yelling “Matteau! Matteau! Matteau! Stéphane Matteau! And the Rangers have one more hill to climb, baby!“… The Indianapolis 500 auto race aired for the final time on ABC in 2018, after 53 years on the network.

Celebrity Birthdays
Politician Henry Kissinger is 100; actress Lee Meriwether (“Barnaby Jones”) is 88; actor Louis Gossett Jr. is 87; former child star Ralph Hart (“The Lucy Show”) is 71; actor Richard Schiff (“The Good Doctor”, “The West Wing”) is 68; pro wrestling promoter Eric Bischoff is also 68; actress Peri Gilpin (“Frasier”) is 62; actress Cathy Silvers (“Happy Days”) is also 62; comedian Adam Carolla is 58; actor Todd Bridges (“Diff’rent Strokes”) is 58; Hall of Fame baseball player and Fox Sports baseball analyst Frank Thomas is 55; actor Joseph Fiennes (“Shakespeare in Love”) is 53; actor Paul Bettany (“A Beautiful Mind”) is 52; “30 Rock” star Jack McBrayer is 50; Chef Jamie Oliver is 48; rapper André 3000 (aka André Benjamin) is 48; actor Ben Feldman (“Superstore”, “Mad Men”) is 43; “Glee” star Chris Colfer is 33.

-Did You Know?:
NBC canceled sitcom “Punky Brewster” after just two seasons in March 1986. But it was revived for another two seasons in first-run syndication beginning in October 1987. The kids-themed comedy was rebooted for Peacock for one new season…A winning stint on NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice” in 2012 resulted in a new syndicated talk show for Arsenio Hall, but it only lasted for one season in 2012-13…Lee Meriwether is remembered for stepping in for Julie Newmar as Catwoman in the 1966 theatrical “Batman,“ based on the ABC series. But she was also Lily Munster #2 in sitcom “The Munsters Today,“ which aired in first-run syndication from 1988 to 1991.