Today in History: Saturday, October 26, 2024

Television 
Long-running “MASH” opened season 10 on CBS in 1981, which was supposed to be its final year. But a 4-to-3 vote from the cast in favor of one final abbreviated season led to 16 more episodes in 1982-83, including the historically top-rated series-finale on Feb. 28, 1983…NBC medical dramedy “St. Elsewhere,” which demonstrated the importance of the adult 18-49 demographic, opened its six season run on this day in 1982. The ensemble cast included William Daniels, Ed Flanders, Denzel Washington, Howie Mandel, Ed Begley, Jr., Mark Harmon, David Morse and Norman Lloyd…Television movie “Children of the Night,“ starring Kathleen Quinlan, Nicholas Campbell and Mario Van Peebles, debuted on CBS in 1985. The film is a fictionalized biopic of Dr. Lois Lee, following her work among young prostitutes in Hollywood and the organization Children of the Night that she founded as a result…Science fiction drama “V” in 1984, which was a continuation of the hit miniseries from one year earlier, opened its one season run as a regularly scheduled series on NBC in 1984.

Movies:
“The Terminator” directed by James Cameron, and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton opened in theaters in the U.S. in 1984.  The franchise currently consists of six films, including the 2019 release of “Terminator: Dark Fate” and several adaptations in other media…“Spectre,“ the 24th James Bond film, directed by Sam Mendes and starring Daniel Craig premiered in London in 2015.

News:
Henry Kissinger declared “Peace is at hand” in Vietnam in 1972.

Sports:
Four teams won the MLB World Series on this day: Los Angeles Dodgers in 1981, New York Yankees in 1996 and in 2000, Florida Marlins in 1997, and the Chicago White Sox in 2005….The St. Louis Cardinals led 1-0 over the Kansas City Royals in Game Six of the World Series in 1985, with three outs to go to clinch the world championship. But in the bottom of the ninth, umpire Don Deckinger infamously called Kansas City’s Jorge Orta safe upon reaching first base to start the bottom of the ninth inning. The incorrect ruling stood (extensive instant replay arrived at MLB in 2014), which led to a series of occurrences that propelled the Royals to a two-run rally that ninth inning and a 2-1 victory to force a Game Seven…The longest World Series game in baseball history took place at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium in 2018. The 7-hour-20-minute contest between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers concluded when the Dodgers’ Max Muncy hit a walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the 18th inning. The 3-2 Game 3 victory would be Los Angeles’ only win of that World Series.

Periodicals:
Newspaper The Village Voice was first published in 1955. It ended after 63 years in August 2018…The “Doonesbury” comic strip debuted in 28 newspapers in 1970. It began as a continuation of “Bull Tales,“ which appeared in the Yale University student newspaper, the “Yale Daily News,” from 1968 to 1970, and initially focused on local campus events at Yale.

Celebrity Birthdays:
Original “Charlie’s Angels” star Jaclyn Smith is 79; former “Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak is 78; Hillary Rodham Clinton is 77; musician Bootsy Collins is 73; actor James Pickens Jr. (“Grey’s Anatomy”) is 72; musician David Was of Was (Not Was) is also 72; guitarist Keith Strickland of The B-52′s is 71; actor Lauren Tewes (“The Love Boat”) is also 71; actor D.W. Moffett (“Chicago Med”) is 70; actress Rita Wilson is 68; actor Patrick Breen (“Madam Secretary”) is 64; “The Practice” star Dylan McDermott is 63; actor Cary Elwes (“Robin Hood: Men in Tights”) is 62;  actor Tom Cavanagh (“The Flash,” “Ed”) is 61; 10,000 Maniacs lead singer Natalie Merchant is also 61; actor Steve Valentine (“Crossing Jordan”) is 58; former Fox Sports studio host Jeanne Zelasko is also 58; singer and “American Idol” judge Keith Urban is 57; actress Rosemarie DeWitt (“The United States of Tara”) is 53; actor Anthony Rapp (“Rent”) is also 53; “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane is 51; TV host Paula Faris (“The View”) is 49; actress Florence Kasumba (“Black Panther”) is 48; actor Jon Heder (“Blades of Glory,” ″Napoleon Dynamite”) is 47; actress Folake Olowofoyeku (“Bob Hearts Abishola”) is 41; American Olympic silver-medalist figure skater Sasha Cohen in 40.

Did You Know?
Most people remember “All in the Family,” “MASH,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Bob Newhart Show” and “The Carol Burnett Show” as CBS’ classic Saturday night line-up in the 1970s. But “MASH” only aired on Saturday in the 1973-74 season. CBS was looking to ignite interest in “MASH” in season two and the lead-in support out of “All in the Family” resulted in a No. 4 ranking overall in all of primetime (behind “All in the Family,” “The Waltons” and “Sanford and Son”).