Today in History: Thursday, May 16, 2024

Television
Seven series of note concluded: 1) Syndicated “The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok” in 1958; 2) drama “In the Heat of the Night” (which began on NBC and ended on CBS) in 1995; 3) detective drama “Cagney & Lacey” on CBS in 1988; 4) western “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” on CBS in 1998; 5) sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond” on CBS in 2005; 6) NBC comedy “The Office” in 2013; and, 7) CBS sitcom “The Big Bang Theory” in 2019.

“Motown’s 25th Anniversary Special” originally aired on NBC in 1983. It most notably featured the debut of The Moon Walk dance by Michael Jackson…In the infamous seventh season finale of NBC sitcom “Seinfeld” in 1996, George Costanza’s fiancé Susan (Heidi Swedberg) died from licking the wedding invitation envelopes that were tainted with toxic glue…Sandra Diaz-Twine became the first two-time Sole Survivor in “Survivor” history on the 20th season finale of the hit CBS reality franchise in 2010, entitled “Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains.” Parvati Shallow placed runner-up, receiving three of the nine available jury votes. Russell Hantz reached a season’s final three for the second consecutive season (following Samoa), but in this edition, he received zero jury votes. Yet, Hantz won the public fan vote for the second straight season… in 2013, Candice Glover was named the winner of the 12th season of “American Idol” which had aired on Fox. It was also the last episode to feature Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj as judges.

Movies
The first Academy Awards were presented in 1929. “Wings” was named Outstanding Picture; Janet Gaynor and Emil Jannings won for best actress and actor, respectively.

Music
In 1966, The Beach Boys released their masterwork, “Pet Sounds”, a bittersweet pastiche of songs recalling the pangs of unrequited love and other coming-of-age trials.

News
U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was nominated to run for U.S. Senator in New York. She was the first U.S. first lady to run for public office in 2000.

Celebrity Birthdays
Actor Danny Trejo is 80; actor Bill Smitrovich (“Life Goes On”) is 77; actor Pierce Brosnan is 71; actress Debra Winger (“Terms of Endearment”) is 69; Belarusian Olympic gymnast Olga Korbut is also 69; actress Mare Winningham is 65; singer Janet Jackson is 58; Hall of Fame running back Thurman Thomas is 58; “SEAL Team” star David Boreanaz is 55; actress Tracey Gold (“Growing Pains”) is also 55; Argentine tennis player Gabriela Sabatini is 54; “The Apprentice” season one champion Bill Rancic is 53; actress Tori Spelling (“Beverly Hills, 90210”) is 51; actress Melanie Lynskey (“Two and a Half Men”) is 47; actress Megan Fox (“Transformers”) is 38; actor-comedian Jermaine Fowler (“Superior Donuts”) is 36.

Did You Know?
Talks of a spin-off series from “Everybody Loves Raymond” focused on Robert (Brad Garrett) and Amy Barone (Monica Horan) never surfaced. Instead, the sitcom simply signed-off after 210 episodes with the family eating at the kitchen table together.