Today in History: Wednesday, July 3, 2024

Television
ABC introduced variety half-hour “The Andy Williams Show” as a summer replacement for “The Pat Boone – Chevy Showroom” in 1958. The following summer, the series expanded to one-hour and shifted to CBS as a replacement for “The Garry Moore Show.“ In 1962, Williams was upgraded to his own regular season show, this time on NBC…CBS debuted the variety hour “Tony Orlando and Dawn” starring the popular music trio in 1974. It aired for two years.

Game show “Tic-Tac-Dough” was revived for CBS daytime and debuted with host Wink Martindale in 1978. Although it unimpressed as a lead-in to “The Price is Right” and was canceled by CBS after nine weeks, the game show continued on in syndication later that year and lasted for eight years. It was the program that featured contestant Thom McKee in 1980 who defeated 43 opponents and won $312,700 in cash and prizes.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation in 1978 by a 5-4 vote that reprimanded New York radio station WBAI for broadcasting comedian George Carlin‘s “Filthy Words” monologue…The western “The Magnificent Seven,” based on the 1960 theatrical of the same name with Steve McQueen, Yul Brynner and Charles Bronson, concluded in 2000 after two seasons on CBS. Michael Biehn, Eric Close and Dale Midkiff starred…The 10th season of “The Real World” entitled “The Real World: Back to New York” premiered on MTV in 2001. One of its cast members was Mike Mizanin who’s currently known as WWE professional wrestler “The Miz.”

Movies:
“Double Indemnity,“ the film noir entry directed by Billy Wilder and starring Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck, was released in Baltimore, Maryland in 1944. It received seven Academy Award nominations but did not win anything.

“Back to the Future,” starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, was released in theaters in 1985. In total, “Back to the Future” was the number one film for eleven of its twelve first weeks and remained in the top ten highest-grossing films for a total of twenty-four

Music:
“Human Nature” — the fifth released single from Michael Jackson‘s mega-hit album “Thriller” — was released in 1983…”Forever Young” by Rod Stewart was released as a single in 1988… Bronx-born Cardi B became the first female rapper in music history to score two No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100; her second No. 1 “I Like It” (with Bad Bunny and J Balvin) hit No. 1 in 2018.

Celebrity Birthdays
Actor Michael Cole (“The Mod Squad”) is 84; celebrity attorney Gloria Allred is 83; reporter Geraldo Rivera is 81; actor Kurtwood Smith (“That 70’s Show”) is 81; actress Betty Buckley is 77; author Dave Barry is 77; talk show host Montel Williams is 70; Tom Cruise is 62; actor Thomas Gibson (“Dharma & Greg”) is 62; Yeardley Smith, the voice of Lisa on “The Simpsons,” is 60; actress Connie Nielsen (“Gladiator”) is 59; actress Shawnee Smith (“Becker”) is 55; actress and Broadway star Audra McDonald (“Private Practice”) is 54; actress Patrick Wilson (“The Conjuring”) is 51; “Full House” and “Fuller House” star Andrea Barber is 48; actress Olivia Munn (“The Newsroom”) is 44.

Did You Know?
Andrea Barber (aka Kimmy Gibbler) from “Full House” and “Fuller House,” appeared for four seasons as the original Carrie Brady on NBC daytime drama“Days of Our Lives” from 1982 to 1986.