Writer of Pop Culture

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This Day in Pop Culture

This Day in Pop Culture for March 10

A vampire slayer named Buffy and the first telephone.

March 15, 2020

2–3 minutes

1997: Buffy Slays Some Vampires

Five years after the 1992 film, Buffy the Vampire Slayer became a TV series which debuted on The WB network on this day in 1997. Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, this show followed the adventures of Buffy and her friends as they battled various creatures and “forces of darkness.” The show also starred Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan Charisma Carpenter, Anthony Stewart Head and David Boreanaz.

Just like the movie which inspired it, the Buffy TV series was created by Joss Whedon who also served as executive producer and showrunner. Ratings for the show were pretty good for a network that wasn’t part of the “big four”. It ran for five years on The WB and two more on UPN ending on May 20, 2003. A spin-off series, Angel, which starred Boreanaz, ran from 1999-2004. (Image: The WB)

2024: The Oscars Second Streaker … Almost

Never afraid of to do a dare, actor John Cena agreed to do a crazy stunt during the 96th Annual Oscars ceremony. The bit was that host Jimmy Kimmel had talked Cena into streaking across the stage of the award show much like Robert Opel did in 1974 with David Niven on the stage.

However, a “nude” Cena sheepishly walked out on the stage with a large envelope covering his nether region. Cena was then given the tasks of announcing the winner for best costume design. When he told Kimmel that he wouldn’t be able to move the envelope to open it, Kimmel covered him up with a stage curtain, tassels and all. No, he wasn’t really nude, just a little movie magic so to speak. And by the way, Holly Waddington won the award for her work on Poor Things. (Image: ABC)

1876: Speech is Transmitted by Telephone

Teenage girls in the late 1800’s had no idea what would be in store for them in the future. On this day in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell transmitted the first speech given over a telephone system. It wasn’t a very exciting piece of gossip though. He called his assistant in another room saying “Mr. Watson, come here; I want you.”

Bell wasn’t the only one working on a phone at the time. Another inventor, Elisha Gray filed for a patent on his similar device, but Bell filed first, so he was awarded the patent and all the glory. The following year he created the Bell Telephone Company, which later became led by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) and later yet, became one of the largest corporations in the world.