Today in History: Sunday, February 4, 2024

Television and Radio
CBS sitcom “Co-Ed Fever”, inspired by blockbuster 1979 theatrical “Animal House”, came and went after one episode in 1979…Alex Trebek in 1991 became the first person to host three game shows at the same time (“Jeopardy!“, “Classic Concentration”, “To Tell the Truth”)…Part one of NBC miniseries “Gulliver’s Travels” debuted on NBC in 1996…Kathy Bates made her first appearance on NBC’s “The Office” in 2010 as Jo Bennett, the new CEO of Dunder Mifflin…”Fresh Off the Boat“, the comedy loosely based on the childhood of food personality Eddie Huang, debuted on ABC in 2015. The series starred Randall Park, Constance Wu and Hudson Yang, and it ran for six seasons. After hearing of the series being renewed for a sixth season, Constance Wu, then riding the success of theatrical “Crazy Rich Asians”, sent out a series of angry tweets because this meant she had to give up another project…On a special episode of NBC’s “This Is Us” following “Super Bowl LII”, it was revealed that Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) passed away from a heart attack induced by the smoke he had inhaled from the burning of their family house. Nearly 27 million tuned in that night, making it the most-watched episode of a TV drama since the “House” post-“Super Bowl” episode in 2008.

Movies
“Patton”, starring George C. Scott, opened in New York in 1970. It won seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Scott for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and Franklin J. Schaffner for Best Director.

News
Randolph Hearst’s 19-year-old daughter, Patty Hearst, was kidnapped from her apartment in California by the Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974. The group’s main intention was to leverage the Hearst family’s political influence to free two SLA members who had been arrested for Marcus Foster’s killing.

Celebrity Birthdays
Actor Jerry Adler (“The Good Wife,” ″The Sopranos”) is 95; actor Gary Conway (“Burke’s Law”) is 88; singer Florence LaRue of the Fifth Dimension is 82; singer Alice Cooper is 76; actor Michael Beck is 75; actress Lisa Eichhorn is 72; country singer Clint Black is 62; actress Gabrielle Anwar (“Burn Notice”) is 54; “Daily Show” correspondent Rob Corddry is 53; MSNBC personality Nicolle Wallace (“The View”) is 52; singer Natalie Imbruglia is 49; rapper Cam’ron is 48; singer Gavin DeGraw is 47.

Did You Know?
George C. Scott was the first actor to decline the Oscar, following a Best Actor win for his performance in “Patton.” He believed that actors shouldn’t compete, and that the Academy Awards are “a two-hour meat parade, a public display with contrived suspense for economic reasons…“Gulliver’s Travels” is notable for being one of the very few adaptations of Jonathan Swift’s novel to feature all four voyages. The miniseries featured Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, Peter O’Toole, John Gielgud, Omar Sharif, Geraldine Chaplin, Isabelle Huppert, Shashi Kapoor, Warwick Davis, Kristin Scott Thomas and Alfre Woodard.