Today in History: Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Television
Early daytime drama “A Woman to Remember” premiered on the DuMont network in 1947. It moved from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. ET in May in that first season (out of “Captain Video and His Video Rangers”) and aired through July 15, 1949…The Jackson 5 made their debut on ABC’s “American Bandstand” in 1970…On ABC’s “Three’s Company” in 1978, Stanley Roper (Norman Fell) mistakenly believed his wife Helen (Audra Lindley) had used a cannabis plant for her flower arrangement class…The trilon-style puzzle board made its final appearance on syndicated game show “Wheel of Fortune” in 1997. It had been in use since its 1975 NBC daytime launch…David Letterman returned to his CBS talker, “The Late Show with David Letterman,” in 2000 after a five-week absence for successful quintuple bypass surgery…Weekly live political talk show “Real Time with Bill Maher” debuted on HBO in 2003. The series followed the 2002 cancellation of Maher’s ABC series, “Politically Correct” (which originally debuted on Comedy Central)…Showtime’s first-ever late night series “Desus & Mero” debuted in 2019. Showtime’s first-ever late night series “Desus & Mero” debuted in 2019.  The half-hour talk show, hosted by the New York comedy duo, aired for four seasons.

News
Malcolm X was assassinated in New York City at the age of 39 by assassins identified as Black Muslims in 1965.

Celebrity Birthdays
Actor Gary Lockwood (“2001: A Space Odyssey”) is 87; actor Peter McEnery is 84; record company executive David Geffen is 81; actress Tyne Daly is 78; actor Anthony Daniels (C3P0 in “Star Wars” films) is 78; actress Christine Ebersole is 71; actor William Petersen (“C.S.I.”) is 71; actor Kelsey Grammer is 69; singer Mary Chapin Carpenter is 66; actor Kim Coates (“Bad Blood,” “Sons of Anarchy”) is 66; actor Jack Coleman (“Heroes”) is 66; actor Christopher Atkins is 63; actor William Baldwin is 61; actress Aunjanue Ellis (“Quantico”) is 55; actor Tituss Burgess (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”) is 45; actress Jennifer Love Hewitt is 45; comedian-director Jordan Peele of Key and Peele is 45; actor Brendan Sexton III (“Boys Don’t Cry”) is 44; opera/pop singer Charlotte Church is 38; actress Ashley Greene (“Twilight”) is 37; actor Elliot Page (“Inception,” ″Juno”) is 37; actor Corbin Bleu (“High School Musical,” ″Jump In!”) is 35; actress Hayley Orrantia (“The Goldbergs”/former contestant “The X Factor”) is 30; actress Sophie Turner (“Game of Thrones”) is 28.

Did You Know?:
“A Woman to Remember” is considered the second daytime soap opera in the history of television. The first was an entry called “Faraway Hill,” which launched on the DuMont network on Oct. 2, 1946.