1964: Samantha’s Nose Begins to Twitch
Inspired by the 1942 film I Married a Witch and the Broadway play, Bell, Book and Candle, ABC presented the first episode of Bewitched on this day. The sitcom involved advertising executive Darren Stephens (Dick York) who accidentally falls in love and marrying Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery), a witch and only hears the truth during their honeymoon.
From the very first episode, Samantha vows to never use her magic skills ever again, only to “slip up” every now and then. The main villain of the series is Samantha’s mother, Endora (Agnes Moorehead) who can’t stand to see her daughter fall for a mortal man who she felt was clearly beneath her. And while Samantha agreed to serving as an all-American housewife who would cook and clean, she clearly wasn’t a doormat.
In this series, witches and warlocks were basically another race of people (not an activity or religion that one subscribes to) and many of the episodes were allegorical in nature about the trials of living in a mixed marriage.
Danny Arnold, the show’s head writer and producer, dreamed up Bewitched as a romantic comedy, so he kept the “witchcraft and spells” down to a minimum. However, despite it being the #2 show during its first year, ABC wanted more spells and magic which may have been the show’s undoing. Though it stayed on the air for an impressive eight seasons, Bewitched ended its run on March 25, 1972 having dropped down to the #72 spot.
The show is also famous for having two different actors portraying the same character without negatively affecting the show. After sustaining a terrible back injury during the filming of the movie They Came to Cordura in 1959, York didn’t appear in eight of that season’s episodes and by the end of the year, his pain was so great that he had to quit the series entirely. For seasons 6-8, the role of Darren was played by Dick Sargent who many fans ended up liking better.
A spinoff series based on the Stephen’s daughter Tabitha (played by Lisa Hartman), aired on ABC from September 10, 1977, to January 14, 1978. In 2005, a movie version of Bewitched opened in theaters. The film was co-written, co-produced, and directed by Nora Ephron and starred Nicole Kidman, Will Ferrell, Shirley MacLaine. (Images: Wikimedia)
1986: Smarties Unite in ‘Head of the Class’
Before becoming an actor, Michael Elias served as a substitute teacher. What he learned then help prepare him when he created the TV show, Head of the Class. Set at Millard Fillmore High School in Manhattan, the show followed a group of gifted students led by history teacher Charlie Moore (Hesseman).
The students included nerdy Arvid Engen (Frischman), smart aleck computer whiz Dennis Blunden (Schneider), preppy, politically-minded Alan Pinkard (O’Dell), spoiled rich kid Darlene Merriman (Givens), perfectionist Maria Borges (Bega), exchange student Jawaharlal Choudhury (Jory Husain), 10-year-old Janice Lazarotto (Vallely), poetry-loving Simone Foster (Haje), tough guy Eric Mardian (Robbins) and Sarah Nevins (Russell), the down-to-Earth student of the bunch.
Although the show was a reasonable hit and the show had its fans, Hesseman wasn’t one of them. He even called it a “disposable frivolity.” Hesseman left the show after the fourth season. The character of Charlie Moore was replaced by Billy McGregor (Connolly) explaining that Mr. Moore had gotten his big break to appear in a touring show of Death of a Salesman. Connolly starred the spinoff Billy in 1992 which aired for only one season. (Image: ABC)
1949: The Coyote and the Road Runner’s First Race
Movie-goers were first introduced to cartoon characters Wile E. Coyote and the simply named Road Runner in their first short film titled, Fast and Furry-ous. Before the cartoon premiered, Warner Bros. cartoonists toyed with calling the coyote “Don Coyote”. In one Looney Tunes comic book, it was revealed that the “E” in his name stands for “Ethelbert”.
The characters were created by Chuck Jones and have appeared together 48 times. Wile is known for building outrageous traps in hopes of capturing the fast bird for dinner buying many of his supplies from ACME. He mostly appears mute, but occasionally speaks describing himself as a genius. Wile has co-starred in five Bugs Bunny shorts and in 2013, TV Guide named him one of the nastiest of villains of all time.
The duo’s most recent film, Flash in the Pain was released way back on June 10, 2014, but will appear again in the upcoming live action/animation movie, Coyote vs. Acme expected to open in theaters on August 28, 2026. (Image: Wikimedia)
1983: The First Black Miss America
Vanessa Williams is a singer, actress, producer and former fashion model, but she might not have become as famous as she is today if she didn’t win the Miss America crown in 1983.
Williams was the first African American to win the title, but it was short-lived. Ten months after being crowned she learned while doing an interview that Penthouse magazine had purchased compromising photographs of Williams and planned to release them. Shortly after, the pageant officials told her that she had 72 hours to resign.
In interviews, Williams has explained that the photos had been taken two years before the pageant. At the time, she was a teenager working as a photographer’s assistant and the photographer asked her to pose sans clothes. He assured her that they would only be silhouettes and that the photos would never leave the studio. Well, they did.
For the first time ever, a Miss America was targeted with hate mail and even death threats. Williams stepped down from her title on July 23, 1984, and was succeeded by the first runner-up, Suzette Charles of New Jersey. She is recognized as “Miss America 1984-b.”
Despite all of this, Williams has been noted to have become the most successful Miss America of all time. On September 13, 2015, during the live telecast of the 88th pageant, Miss America CEO Sam Haskell apologized to Williams “for anything that was said or done that made you feel any less than the Miss America you are and the Miss America you always will be.”
2009: TV’s First Community College Sitcom
Similar to the roots of Welcome Back Kotter and Freaks and Geeks, Community was inspired by the creator’s own community college experiences. Dan Harmon also served as the showrunner for the show’s first three seasons. The sitcom took place at the fictional Glendale Community College in Glendale, Colorado.
The cast of school clowns included Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) a former lawyer suspended for falsely claiming to have a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University, atheist Britta Perry (Gillian Jacobs), film student Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi), divorced mother and devoted Christian Shirley Bennett (Nicole Brown), overachiever Annie Edison (Alison Brie), former high school quarterback Troy Barnes (Donald Glover), unstable Spanish teacher Ben Chang (Ken Jeong), the dean of Greendale Craig Pelton (Jim Rash) and millionaire Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy Chase).
Community was praised by critics and has been nominated for many awards. However, like other great shows, the series struggled with the ratings. Even so, there is still talk of a new Community movie in the works.
Saturday Morning TV
Remember watching your favorite cartoons with a bowl of cold cereal? Here are some that began airing on this day. How many do you remember?
1983: The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show
Created by Charles M. Schulz, this show was similar to the popular CBS Peanuts specials of the day, but instead of one storyline, each episode featured numerous shorts based on storylines from the Peanuts comic strip.
1983: Mr. T
Former wrestler Mr. T played a gymnastics coach who solved mysteries around the world with his team of teens. Mr. T voiced his own character for this Ruby-Spears Enterprises show. He also introduced each episode and finished with a moral lesson.
1983: Benji, Zax & the Alien Prince
This live action CBS show was bizarre. Created by Joe Camp (who made a number of Benji films) and produced by Hanna-Barbera, the show starred the stray Benji who befriends alien Prince Yubi and Zax, his droid protector.
1983: Alvin and the Chipmunks
This NBC show is based on Ross Bagdasarian’s gimmick of speeding up his voice to become three Chipmunks in the 1960’s. The show starred Alvin, Theodore and Simon (all voiced by Ross Bagdasarian Jr.) and introduced the Chipettes.
1988: Garfield and Friends
This CBS show was based on the comic strips Garfield and U.S. Acres. Garfield’s storylines often included Jon and his simple-minded dog Odie. U.S. Acres featured stories on the farm with book-loving Orson the pig and prankster Roy the Rooster.
- 1983: The Biskitts, Saturday Supercade, Dungeons & Dragons
- 1988: The Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy, Superman, Hey Vern, It’s Ernest!
- 1994: Skeleton Warriors
(Images: TVDB)
Movies Released
- 1999: Blue Streak
- 2010: Catfish
- 2010: Easy A
- 2010: The Town
- 2012: Cry Macho
- 2012: The Mob Doctor
- 2014: The Guest
- 2015: Captive
TV Series Debuts
- 1972: M.A.S.H.
- 1986: Head of the Class
- 1991: Home Improvement
- 1996: Spin City
- 2002: Eight Simple Rules
- 2005: Johnny Test
- 2009: Archer
- 2009: Community
- 2012: Revolution
- 2013: Brooklyn Nine-Nine
- 2014: Red Band Society
- 2021: Squid Game
Famous Birthdays
- 1859: Billy the Kid (gangster)
- 1923: Hank Williams (singer)
- 1928: Roddy McDowell (actor)
- 1931: Anne Bancroft (actress)
- 1947: Jeff MacNelly (cartoonist)
- 1953: Rita Rudner (comedian)
- 1962: Baz Luhrmann (film director)
- 1962: BeBe Winans (singer)
- 1965: Bryan Singer (film director)
- 1971: Nate Berkus (interior designer)
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