Today in History: Wednesday, November 3, 2021

Television and Radio
There were three different debuts on this day: “Good Morning America” on ABC in daytime in 1975 with hosts David Hartman and Nancy Dussault; “Diff’rent Strokes” on NBC in 1978; and “The Nanny” starring Fran Drescher on CBS in 1993. “Diff’rent Strokes” replaced the short-lived Joe Namath in the Friday 8 p.m. ET half-hour, ultimately moving to Wednesday one season later. “The Facts of Life,“ of course, was spun off from “Diff’rent Strokes,” which remained on NBC through 1985…Classic theatrical “The Wizard of Oz” was first televised on CBS in 1956…Geraldo Rivera‘s nose was broken during a half-minute brawl with white supremacists on his talk show “The Geraldo Rivera Show” in 1988…By trying to hot-wire a second cable box in the bedroom, Jamie Buchman (Helen Hunt) caused a blackout in New York City on “Mad About You” in 1994. The blackout storyline extended to NBC’s other two sitcoms that evening, “Friends” and “Madman of the People“

Movies:
“Shakespeare in Love” starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes premiered in 1998. It won seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Actress (Paltrow) and Supporting Actress (Judi Dench).

Music:
John Lennon’s “Menlove Avenue” album was released posthumously in 1986…Single “I Will Always Love You” was released by Whitney Houston in 1992. It was named the Billboard Song of the Year in 1993.

Sports:
Chris Evert became the first tennis player to achieve the No. 1 ranking as the WTA Tour rankings debuted in 1975… 18-year-old Kobe Bryant made his NBA debut with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1996.

News:
Democrat Bill Clinton was elected President of the United States, defeating incumbent President George W. Bush in 1992; also that year, Carol Moseley Braun, a Democrat from Illinois, became the first Black woman to be elected to the United States Senate.
 
Celebrity Birthdays:
Singer Lulu is 73; actress-comedienne Roseanne Barr is 69; actress Kate Capshaw (“Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”) is 68; actress Kathy Kinney (“The Drew Carey Show”) is 68; former “SNL” Weekend Update anchor Dennis Miller is also 68; singer Adam Ant is 67; former New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms is 66; activist Elizabeth Smart is 34; model Kendall Jenner is 26.

Did You Know?
After a seven season run on NBC, “Diff’rent Strokes” moved to ABC for one final season in the fall of 1985…The set of “The Nanny” was recycled from the short-lived NBC sitcom “The Powers That Be,” which aired in the 1992-93 season and starred John Forsythe and Holland Taylor.