This Day in Pop Culture for October 6

1986: Kid’s Messiest Game Show Premieres

Next to Ellen’s Game of Games, America’s next messiest game show ever made has got to be Double Dare. For years, Double Dare was a Nickelodeon staple. It was the network’s first game show and also the longest running. Right after the show premiered, it had tripled its viewership and became the most-watched original daily program on cable TV.

Hosted by Marc Summers, the original series began on this day in 1986 and continued through February 6, 1993. For a brief time, there was a Family Double Dare show that aired on FOX in 1988. The show was revived as Double Dare 2000 and was hosted by Jason Harris. It lasted for one season.

Then in April of 2012, Nickelodeon Suites Resort in Orlando, Florida announced that the show would be revived again, but as a nightly stage show called Double Dare Live. (It ran at the hotel until it was re-branded as a Holiday Inn Resort in 2016.) A Double Dare reunion special aired on Nick at Nite on November 23, 2016.

The most recent version of the show debuted off-Broadway of all places. The Life and Slimes of Marc Summers ran in 2024 from February 22 to June 2. Not only did it star the real Marc Summers, but it also featured a replica of the Double Dare set. The audience members coming up to compete made the show all that more real.

2006: Spy vs. Spy

Directed by Martin Scorsese, The Departed is a remake of a movie made in Hong Kong called Infernal Affairs. It’s also loosely based on the very real Boston Winter Hill Gang. The star-studded spectacle starred Jack Nicholson as Irish Mob boss Frank Costello who assigns Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) to serve as a spy within the Massachusetts State Police. But he’s not the only one working undercover. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Billy Costigan, a state trooper trying to sneak into the mob. The movie also starred Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Vera Farmiga, Alec Baldwin, Anthony Anderson and James Badge Dale.

The Departed was nominated for five Academy Awards and won four for Best Picture, Director, Film Editing and Adapted Screenplay Writing. For Scorsese, it was his first Oscar after being nominated five other times. It was also his fourth movie to debut in theaters as the #1 film.

1999: The TV Series That was Saved by Tabasco Sauce

Roswell, a series about aliens living among the human race debuted on The WB but was cancelled after one year. However, the fans were having none of it. The story goes that they sent six thousand bottles of the aliens’ favorite beverage, Tabasco sauce to the network. But apparently, The WB wasn’t impressed with the gesture.

Ultimately though, the fans got their way when they then sent twice as much of the hot stuff to rival network, UPN who then picked up the series. Unfortunately, the show didn’t last much longer.

1927: The First Movie with Synchronized Dialogue

The first full-length movie with synchronized dialogue was The Jazz Singer which led to the decline of silent films. Directed by Alan Crosland, it starred Al Jolson and was recorded with the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system.

The film was based on the play, The Day of Atonement by Samson Raphaelson. The story is about Jackie, a young Jewish man who is thrown out of his home by his father for singing in local beer garden which went against his heritage and family’s wishes. To hide the fact that he was Jewish, Jackie decides to go blackface and hides his ancient with a southern one.

A remake of the film (sans blackface) was made in 1980 which starred Neil Diamond, Lucie Arnaz, and Laurence Olivier. It was a huge flop, but the soundtrack album did very well.