Today in History: Thursday, February 4, 2021

Television and Radio
Coverage flooded the airways on kidnapping of Patty Hearst in Berkeley, Calif. by the Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974…“Co-Ed Fever” on CBS, one of the three sitcoms derived from theatrical “Animal House”, came and went after just one episode in 1979. It starred David Keith and Heather Thomas… Singer Karen Carpenter died in 1983 at age 32…Musical special “Cher at the Mirage” aired on CBS in 1991…Also in 1991, Alex Trebek became the first person to host three game shows at one time (“Jeopardy!”, “Classic Concentration” and “To Tell the Truth”)…Part one of NBC miniseries “Gulliver’s Travels” debuted on NBC in 1996…A serial killer (James Van Der Beek) kidnapped FBI agent Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) in the first part of a two-part episode of CBS procedural drama “Criminal Minds” in 2007. Televised immediately following Super Bowl XLI, the telecast drew 26.3 million viewers…Kathy Bates made her first appearance on NBC’s “The Office” in 2010 as Jo Bennett, the new CEO of Dunder Mifflin…In 2013, Twentieth Television canceled daytime talker “The Ricki Lake Show” midway through its first season. This was the revival of Ricki’s first successful chatfest, which aired in first-run syndication from 1993 to 2004…On NBC family drama “This Is Us” in 2018, in an episode entitled “Super Bowl Sunday,” the Pearson family house caught on fire and Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) became hospitalized for smoke inhalation. To the shock of the family, he later passed away from a sudden heart attack. A total of 33.4 million viewed the episode — 27 million in the slot after Super Bowl LII, and an additional 6.4 million within the seven-day period from its initial telecast.

Movies:
“Patton” directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and starring George C. Scott premiered in New York in 1970. The film won seven Oscars including Best Picture, Actor and Director.
 
Music:
Music superstar Prince performed at halftime of Super Bowl XLI in 2007. He performed his popular ballad “Purple Rain” while, fittingly, actual rain came pouring down from the skies of Miami, Fla… Justin Timberlake‘s Super Bowl LII halftime show in 2018 paid tribute to the late Prince during the set. Super Bowl LII had taken place in Prince’s home town of Minneapolis, Minn. nearly two years since Prince’s passing.

Sports:
Highly-regarded quarterback Peyton Manning and head coach Tony Dungy each won their first Super Bowl title in 2007 when they led the Indianapolis Colts to a 29-17 victory in the Miami, Fla. rain versus the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI. Dungy was the first black NFL head coach to win a Super Bowl…The Philadelphia Eagles achieved the first Super Bowl title in their franchise’s history by defeating the New England Patriots 41-33 in Super Bowl LII in 2018. Eagles’ Nick Foles, the backup quarterback who filled in for the injured Carson Wentz near the end of the 2017 regular season, became the game’s most valuable player. For the Patriots, it was Tom Brady‘s eighth Super Bowl appearance and third Super Bowl loss.

News
The first U.S. electoral college chose George Washington as President and John Adams as Vice President in 1789…Comic strip “Hagar The Horrible” by Dik Browne debuted in 1973.

Celebrity Birthdays:
Actor Jerry Adler (“The Good Wife”) is 92; rocker Alice Cooper is 73; Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor is 62; country singer Clint Black is 59; actress Gabrielle Anwar (“Burn Notice”) is 51; former “Daily Show” correspondent Rob Corddry is 50; MSNBC “Deadline: White House” host Nicolle Wallace is 49; boxer Oscar De La Hoya is 48; “Torn” singer Natalie Imbruglia is 46; rapper Cameron Giles aka Cam’ron is 45; singer Gavin DeGraw is 44.

Did You Know?
“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.