Today in History: Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Television
“My Three Sons,” the second longest live action network sitcom in the history of television (behind “The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet” and tied with “The Big Bang Theory” and “Two and a Half Men”) debuted in 1960. After five seasons on ABC, it relocated to CBS for an additional seven seasons. It made the move without Tim Considine and William Frawley (who had already been replaced by William Demarest)…Other notable series premieres: “Make Room for Daddy” on ABC in 1953; “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” on CBS in 1959; “My Favorite Martian” and one-hour variety-themed “The Judy Garland Show” on CBS in 1963; ABC’s “Love, American Style” in 1969; NBC’s “McMillan and Wife” in 1971, which was part of the “NBC Mystery Movie;” NBC’s “Amazing Stories” and ABC’s “MacGyver” in 1985; CBS’ “Designing Women” in 1986; ABC’s “thirtysomething” in 1987; ABC’s “Grace Under Fire” in 1993 and WB drama “Felicity” in 1998….Judy Garland also opened on this day in 1963 in her one season self-titled CBS variety hour…Burt Reynolds joined the cast of CBS western “Gunsmoke” in 1963…On NBC in daytime was the launch of game show “Sale of the Century” in 1969.

Movies:
Robert De Niro’s directorial debut of the feature film version of Chazz Palminteri’s “A Bronx Tale” opened in theaters in 1993…High school football drama “Remember the Titans” starring Denzel Washington premiered in 2000.

Books:
“Millie’s Book” by First Lady Barbara Bush was the best-selling non-fiction book in the U.S. in 1990.

Sports:
The first network football game was televised by CBS-TV in color in 1951. The game was between the University of California and the University of Pennsylvania….Olympics legend Mary Lou Retton announced that she was quitting gymnastics in 1986…Magic Johnson announced that he was returning to professional basketball. The comeback ended the following November in 1992.

Celebrity Birthdays
Singer Jerry Lee Lewis is 86; “Deadwood” star Ian McShane is 79; TV theme composer Mike Post is 77; “Real Sports” host Bryant Gumbel is 73; “comedian Andrew Dice Clay is 63; actress Jill Whelan (“The Love Boat”) is 55; actress Erika Eleniak (“Baywarch”) is 52; Natasha Gregson Wagner is 51; “Chuck” star Zachary Levi is 41; actress Chrissy Metz (“This Is Us”) is also 41; Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson is 36; 2-time NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant is 33; “American Idol” season 11 winner Phillip Phillips is 31; pop singer Ashley Nicolette Frangipane (aka Halsey) is 27.

Did You Know?
After three seasons, “Make Room for Daddy” was re-titled “The Danny Thomas Show.“ It aired for 11 seasons and was briefly revived as “Make Room From Granddaddy” on ABC in the 1970-71 season…“thirtysomething” on ABC, which ran for four seasons, was one of the first series historically to be judged by the demographics and not the total number of viewers watching it.