Today in History: Thursday, May 9, 2024

Television
NBC’s “Hour Glass,” the first hour-long entertainment program of any kind, debuted in 1946…The pricing game “Hole in One” premiered on the CBS daytime game show “The Price Is Right” in 1977. Contestants vied to putt a golf ball into a hole on a miniature putting green for a huge prize (usually, a car). Nine years later, it was re-titled as “Hole in One (or Two)“, which gave players a second chance to win if their first putt did not sink in the hole…ABC aired the special “Trivial Pursuit” in 1985 featuring celebrities who played the famous board game including Ted Knight, Hal Linden, Loretta Swit, Joyce DeWitt, Tony Danza and Heather Locklear…In 1995, former “Bewitched” star Elizabeth Montgomery appeared on-screen for the final time, portraying crime reporter Edna Buchanan in the CBS TV movie “Deadline for Murder“. Just nine days later, Montgomery passed away from cancer at the age of 62…NBC’s “The Golden Girls” concluded in 1992 after seven seasons. CBS tried to keep the franchise alive with spin-off “The Golden Palace” (which included Don Cheadle in the cast) the following season, but without Bea Arthur the center was missing…”CSI: Miami” was introduced via a backdoor pilot on parent series “CSI” in 2002. This first spin-off from “CSI”, starring David Caruso, ran for 10 seasons (from 2002 to 2012).

Movies
“Vertigo”, the film noir psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak, opened in theaters in 1958. In 1989, “Vertigo” was one of the first 25 films selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”…The horror classic “Friday the 13th” opened in theaters on this day in 1980. The film series is the second highest grossing slasher franchise in the United States, with approximately $755.6 million, behind “Halloween” in first place with $813 million.

News
The United States became the first country to legalize a birth control pill in 1960.

Celebrity Birthdays
Producer-director James L. Brooks is 87; actress Candice Bergen (“Murphy Brown”) is 78; singer Clint Holmes is also 78; Billy Joel is 75; actress Alley Mills (“The Wonder Years”) is 73; actress Wendy Crewson (“Air Force One”) is 68; actor John Corbett (“Northern Exposure”) is 63; Depeche Mode lead singer David Gahan is 62; actress Sonja Sohn (“The Wire”) is 60; actress Rosario Dawson (“Sin City”) is 45; professional dancer Sasha Farber (“Dancing with the Stars”) is 40; reality star Audrina Patridge (“The Hills”) is 39; actress Grace Gummer (“The Newsroom”) is 38.

-Did You Know?:
After “The Golden Girls” ended, NBC agreed to 13-episodes of spin-off  “The Golden Palace,” featuring Rose (Betty White), Blanche (Rue McClanahan) and Sophia (Estelle Getty) moving into and running a local hotel. But when CBS offered a full season commitment, “The Golden Place” became the anchor to a two-hour Friday night comedy block on the Eye net. Bea Arthur returned for only two episodes. After “The Golden Girls” was canceled, Estelle Getty joined the cast of the final two seasons of “Empty Nest.” For more on “The Golden Girls,” click here