It's that time for our monthly look at pop culture history from 20 (2004), 25 (1999), and 30 (1994) years ago!
Below, you'll find a little time capsule of what was significant back then. Hopefully, as you read these brief synopses of the past, you'll get a chance to remember the who, when, and where of some tucked-away memories from those years.
POINTS OF REFERENCE
2004: Sexual assault charges against LA Lakers star Kobe Bryant is dropped by Colorado's Eagle County District Attorney on the 1st after the victim chooses to not participate. On the 7th, Hurricane Ivan, a Category 5 hurricane, hit Grenada, killing 39 and damaging 90% of its buildings. On September 15th, NHL's Gary Bettman announces a player lockout for the 2004-2005 season due to ongoing negotiations with the player's union. The lockout went over 10 months and canceled the entire season. On the 17th, Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hit his 700th home run. On the 18th, Farm Aid's 17th concert, with Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and Dave Matthews, is held in Auburn, Washington. The Sopranos wins big at the 56th Emmy Awards on the 19th. Also on the 19th, Jerry Rice, now playing with the Oakland Raiders, ended his streak of 274 consecutive games with a reception in a 13-10 victory over the Buffalo Bills. On the 21st, American idiots Green Day released their album, "American Idiot." On the 22nd, "Lost" debuts on ABC. Also on the 22nd, Barry Bonds set another record when he intentionally walked 4 times in one game, and "Veronica Mars," starring Kristen Bell, debuts on UPN. On the 30th, the first live footage of a giant squid in its natural habitat is taken 600 miles south of Japan.
1999: On the 1st, Mario Lemieux is approved as the new owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins. It's the first time in sports history a team is owned by a former player. The Cincinnati Reds made baseball history on the 4th when they hit 9 home runs in the same game when they went on to defeat Philadelphia 22-3. On the 7th, a 5.9 magnitude earthquake rocks Athens, killing 143, injuring more than 500, and leaving 50,000 people homeless. The classic film "American Beauty," starring Kevin Spacey and Thora Birch, debuts at box offices on the 8th. That same day, former US Attorney General Janet Reno named former Senator John Danforth to head an independent investigation of the 1993 fire at the Branch Davidian church near Waco, Texas, in response to revelations in the film "Waco: The Rules of Engagement." Another classic film, "Fight Club," debuts at the Venice Film Festival on the 10th. On the 12th, the 12th Farm-Aid concert is held in Virginia, with stars like John Mellencamp, Neil Young, and Dave Matthews. On the 13th, the Denver Broncos retired John Elway's number 7. A record 15 inches of rain falls in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on the 16th, thanks to Hurricane Floyd. On the 20th, long-running Law and Order: SVU debuts on NBC with Christopher Meloni and Mariska Haggerty. Two days later on the 22nd, NBC also premiers The West Wing, with Martin Sheen, Allison Janney, and Rob Lowe. On the 23rd, NASA announced that they'd lost contact with the Mars Climate Orbiter.
1994: On the 4th, the Bulgarian government falls. Also, Chinese diver Fu Mingxia becomes the first female to win back-to-back world titles by winning the 10m platform gold medal at the World Swimming Championships in Rome. Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino set an NFL record with his 18th game of 4 or more touchdown throws when he threw 5 against New England, also on the 4th. On the 5th, comedian Jerry Lewis raises over $47 million with his 28th annual telethon. On the 6th, actor Jackson Pinckney was awarded $487,000 for being partially blinded by Jean Claude Van Damme in an accident while filming "Cyborg." On the 8th, newlyweds Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley opened the MTV Music Awards. Comedian George Burns undergoes surgery on the 13th to drain fluid from his brain. On the 14th, MLB team owners vote to cancel the remainder of the season due to a labor dispute, starting the 232-day-long "lockout." Farm Aid holds its 7th concert in New Orleans, featuring Willie Nelson, Neil Young, Spin Doctors, and Gin Blossoms. "E.R." debuts on NBC on the 19th. "Friends" debuts on NBC on the 22nd. On the 23rd, Shawshank Redemption debuts in theaters. The next day, Oliver McCall TKOs Lennox Lewis in the 2nd round to win the heavyweight boxing title at Wembley Arena in London, England. Jury selection for the O.J. Simpson murder trial ends on the 29th. Also on the 29th, the U.S. Congress votes to make buying meals and entertainment by lobbyists illegal. Nice to see they just found other ways to buy them off.
TOP MOVIES
2004: "Resident Evil: Apocolypse"
Resident Evil: Apocalypse is an action horror film directed by Alexander Witt. Written by Paul Anderson, it is a direct sequel to 2002's Resident Evil and is loosely based on the video game series of the same name. The film is Witt's directorial debut, and sees Milla Jovich reprise her role as Alice. She is joined by Sienna Guillory as Jill Valentine and Oded Fehr as Carlos Olivera.
Resident Evil: Apocalypse is set directly after the events of the first film, where Alice escaped from an underground facility overrun by zombies. She now bands together with other survivors to escape the zombie outbreak, which has spread to the nearby Raccoon City. The film borrows elements from several games in the Resident Evil series, such as the characters Valentine and Olivera or the villain Nemesis. Filming took place in Toronto at locations including Toronto City Hall and Prince Edward Viaduct.
Resident Evil: Apocalypse received "generally unfavorable reviews" on Metacritic and became the lowest-rated film in the Resident Evil series on Rotten Tomatoes, with a rating of 19%. Despite this, it earned $129.3 million worldwide on a $45 million budget, surpassing the box office gross of the original film. It was followed by Resident Evil: Extinction in 2007.
1999: "The Sixth Sense"
This psychological thriller, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, stars Bruce Willis as a child psychologist whose patient (Haley Joel Osment) claims he can see and talk to the dead.
Released by Buena Vista Pictures through its Hollywood Pictures label on August 6th, 1999, The Sixth Sense received critical acclaim. It was praised for the cast performances (particularly those of Willis, Osment, and Toni Collette), atmosphere, direction, and its now-famous surprise ending. It was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay for Shyamalan, Best Supporting Actor for Osment, and Best Supporting Actress for Collette.
The film established Shyamalan as a predominant thriller screenwriter/director and introduced the cinema public to his traits, most notably his affinity for twist endings.
It was the second-highest-grossing film of 1999, behind Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace, making roughly $293 million in the US and $379 million worldwide.
1994: "Forrest Gump"
I think nearly everyone has seen Forrest Gump at one time or another. It's a comedy-drama directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Eric Roth as an adaptation of the 1986 novel of the same name written by Winston Groom. It stars Tom Hanks, Gary Sinise, Robin Wright, Sally Field, and Mykelti Williamson.
Filming took place between August and December 1993, mainly in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Extensive visual effects were used to incorporate Hanks into archived footage and develop other scenes in the film. These effects were groundbreaking at the time. The soundtrack features several hit songs that reflect the different periods of time seen in the film.
Forrest Gump was released in the United States on July 6, 1994, and received widespread acclaim by critics and viewers. The film was a major success at the box office, becoming the top-grossing film in the United States that year, and earned over $678.2 million worldwide during its theatrical run, making it the second-highest-grossing film of 1994, behind The Lion King.
The soundtrack sold over 12 million copies. Forrest Gump won six Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Hanks, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Visual Effects, and Best Film Editing. It received many award nominations, including Golden Globes, British Academy Film Awards, and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Various interpretations have been made of the protagonist and the film's political symbolism. In 2011, the Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
TOP SONGS
2004: "Lean Back" by Terror Squad
1999: "Bailamos" by Enrique Iglesias
1994: "I'll Make Love To You" by Boyz II Men
TOP TV NEWS
September 2004:
Sep 8: The Drew Carey Show is canceled on ABC, having aired since 1995. Drew would begin hosting The Price is Right in 2007.
Sep 9: Friend's spinoff sitcom "Joey" debuts on NBC.
Sep 12: In Chicago, the independent station WCIU drops the Kid's "WB" programming block. The city's WB affiliate, WGN, which had previously declined the block in favor of newscasts and syndicated sitcoms, picks up Kid's WB and airs the entire WB schedule for the first time.
Sep 13: Several memorable shows debut on this day, including Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan (National Geographic Channel, later called Nat Geo), The Tony Danza Show (syndication), The Benefactor (ABC), and LAX (NBC).
Sep 21: Drew Daniel is the winner of the US version of Big Brother 5.
Sep 22: The pilot episode of "Lost" airs on ABC while CSI: NY debuts on CBS and Veronica Mars debuts on UPN.
Sep 24: Kathleen Herles retires as the voice of Dora from Nickelodeon's Dora the Explorer.
Sep 26: "Wife Swap" debuts on ABC.
Sep 28: Marcy Walker makes her final appearance on ABC's soap opera "All My Children" after two decades. MTV's hit scripted/reality/drama/whatever show "Laguna Beach: The Real O.C." debuts.
Sep 30: President Bush debates Senator John Kerry for the first time in the 2004 presidential campaign.
September 1999:
Sep 6: UPN replaces its "UPN Kids" block with a new E/I-compliant programming block on weekdays and Sunday mornings named "Disney's One Too," a spin-off of ABC's Disney's One Saturday Morning block. E/I stands for Educational and Informational, a requirement created by the Children's Television Act of 1990.
PBS also launched a 24-hour kids network called "PBS Kids."
Sep 7 - Viacom announced that it would acquire CBS and its parent company, CBS Corporation, resulting in the two companies merging into one mega-media empire.
Sep 10 - News magazine show Hard Copy comes to an end, having been on television since 1989.
Sep 13 - Several talk shows debut, including the Queen Latifah Show and The Martin Short Show. Also, The Dr. Joy Browne Show and Judge Mathis debut.
Sep 20—After four years, WGN's "Superstation" feed will no longer show programming from The WB and Kid's WB. Instead, it will show movies, sports from Chicago's teams, and other syndicated broadcasts.
Law and Order: SVU debuts on NBC.
Sep 21: The Mike O'Malley Show, starring the former host of Nickelodeon's "GUTS," debuts on NBC and lasts two episodes.
Sep 22: The West Wing debuts on NBC.
Sep 24 - The WB begins airing programming on Friday nights.
Sep 25 - Freaks and Geeks debuts on NBC, launching several careers, including James Franco and Seth Rogen.
Sep 27 - The Rock garners the highest cable ratings in WWF history, along with Mick "Mankind" Foley, in a segment remembered by fans titled "This is Your Life" on Monday Night RAW, with a 8.4 rating.
September 1994:
Sep 3 - WJW in Cleveland is the first of the New World stations to switch to the relatively new network, FOX, ending its 40-year affiliation with CBS.
VR Troopers, a Power Rangers knockoff show, enters syndication.
Sep 4 - Fox will cover regular-season NFL games for the first time with the launch of its pre-game show, FOX NFL Sunday.
Sep 5 - The news magazine show "Extra" debuts in syndication. All these years later, I can still hear the synthesized female voice singing the catchphrase "Extraaaaa."
Sep 9 - The National Hockey League reaches a five-year contract with FOX, worth $155 million, starting with the 1994-95 season. The league will also launch the infamous FOX TRAX puck.
Sep 10 - The Magic School Bus debuts on PBS, and "The Tick" debuts on FOX Kids.
Sep 12 - Several New World stations, like DAF in Kansas City (ending a 45-year affiliation with NBC) and SAZ in Phoenix (40 years with CBS) join the FOX network. It's hard to imagine there was a time before every home could get FOX, but it wasn't that long ago.
Party of Five debuts on FOX.
The original host of Family Feud, Richard Dawson, returned to the series after nine years, replacing his deceased successor, Ray Combs.
Sep 19 - ER debuts on NBC.
Sep 21 - Touched by an Angel debuts on CBS. The Cosby Mysteries debuts on NBC.
Sep 22 - The pilot episode of Friends airs on NBC. It ranked as the 15th most-watched show of the week.
Sep 23 - UWF's Blackjack Brawl aired live on SportsChannel America. This would be the first and only major live television wrestling card produced by the infamous Herb Abram's Universal Wrestling Federation
Sep 30 - "Shop 'Til You Drop," the shopping mall spinoff of Supermarket Sweep, is canceled but returns two years later in 1996.
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