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 to remember the who, when, and where of some tucked-away memories from those years.
POINTS OF REFERENCE
2004: Seattle Mariner's Ichiro Suzuki gets his 258th hit for the season on October 1st, breaking an 84-year-old record. Speaking of baseball, on the 2nd, the Montreal Expos get their final win as a team before losing their last game ever 8-1 against the New York Mets on the 3rd. They would move to Washington, D.C., and become the Nationals at the start of the next season. Also on the 3rd, Desperate Housewives premiers on ABC. On the 5th, Chicago Bulls legend Scottie Pippen retires. On the 8th, Martha Stewart begins her 5-month sentence in Federal Prison for insider trading. Poor Martha, people get away with so much worse every day. On October 20, the Red Sox defeated the Yankees for the American League Championship after being down 0-3. The next night, the Cardinals defeated the Astros to become National League Champions. On the 23rd, a powerful earthquake hit Japan, killing 35, injuring 2,000, and leaving 55,000 homeless or evacuated. On the 24th, ten people, including driver Ricky Hendrick, were killed in a plane crash near Martinsville Speedway in Virginia. Cuba's Fidel Castro announced on the 25th that any transaction using the American dollar would be banned. On the 29th, Al Jazeera airs new footage of a video with Osama bin Laden taking credit for the September 11, 2001 attacks.
1999: On the 1st, the Edmonton Oilers retired Wayne Gretzky's number 99 before the game ended in a 1-1 tie against the New York Rangers, the final team Gretzky played for. On the 2nd, ranked 21st, the University of Alabama football team beats #3 Florida, 40-39 in overtime, to snap the Gators' 30-game home win streak. Also, on the 2nd, the Atlanta Thrashers played their first-ever game as an NHL franchise. They lost to the New Jersey Devils. That night, Ray Bourque became the NHL's highest-scoring defenseman with 386 goals, moving ahead of Paul Coffey. On October 3rd, St Louis 1st baseman Mark McGwire hit his 65th homer of the season in a rain-shortened 9-5 win over the Cubs, winning his 2nd straight home run title over Sammy Sosa. Faith Hill releases "Breath" on the 4th. The SR-71 Blackbird has its final flight on October 9th. Cher releases the hit single "Believe" on the 19th. On the 29th, the deadliest ever Indian tropical cyclone hits Odisha, India, killing 9,885 people. On the 31st, EgyptAir flight 990 crashes off the coast of Nantucket, killing over 200 people aboard. It was later deemed a terroristic suicide by the pilot. Earlier that day, the Roman Catholic Church and Lutheran Church leaders signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, ending a centuries-old doctrinal dispute over the nature of faith and salvation.
1994: The NHL owners begin a 108-day-long lockout on the 1st while seeking a salary cap. In Shanghai, the Oriental Pearl Tower is completed at 1,536 feet tall on the same day. On the 2nd, Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula defeats his son, David, the head coach of Cincinnati, in the NFL's first-ever father-son coaching matchup. On the 3rd, "The Far Side," cartoonist Gary Larson announces his retirement. On the 4th, financial advisor Kieth Moore is arrested for stealing $5million from singer Sting. Vince Gill and Pam Tillis won bigly at the Country Music Awards on the 5th. Also, on the 5th, the NBA shortens the 3-point line to 22 feet to help create more offense. Michael Jordan responds with a season that nearly triples his 3-point game. On the 10th, the MPAA holds meetings to determine new movie ratings. On the 12th, NASA lost contact with the Magellan satellite, which orbits Venus. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Palestine's Yassar Arafat and Israel's Yitzhak Rabin. Because that lasted... On October 17th, Billy Joel opens Cleveland's new Gund Arena with the first performance. On the 22nd, a giant statue of Sam Houston was unveiled in Texas. The New York Lotto pays out a record $60 million on the 29th. On the 30th, Pink Floyd played their final concert in London, England. On the 31st, Venus Williams made her professional tennis debut at 14.
TOP MOVIES
2004: "Shark Tale"
Shark Tale is a digitally animated comedy by DreamWorks Pictures, featuring an ensemble cast that includes the voices of Will Smith, Robert De Niro, Renée Zellweger, Angelina Jolie, Jack Black, and Martin Scorsese. Shark Tale tells the story of an underachieving fish named Oscar (Smith) who falsely claims to have killed the son of a shark mob boss, Don Lino (De Niro), in an attempt to advance his community standing. Oscar teams up with the mobster's younger son, Lenny (Black), to keep up the facade.
Shark Tale was theatrically released in the United States on October 1. It made $374.6 million worldwide against its $75 million budget, finishing its theatrical run as the ninth-highest-grossing film in 2004. The film received mixed reviews from critics, while advocacy groups criticized the movie for using Italian-American stereotypes. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 77th Academy Awards.
The film was produced concurrently with Pixar's Finding Nemo, a similar animated movie set underwater, released a year and a half earlier. DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg defended the film, saying that "any similarities are mere coincidence. We've been open with the Pixar people, so we don't step on each other's toes."
1999: "Double Jeopardy"
Double Jeopardy is an adventure/crime thriller directed by Bruce Beresford. It stars Ashely Judd, Tommy Lee Jones, and Bruce Greenwood and was released on September 24, 1999.
Wealthy residents of Whidbey Island, Washington, Libby, and Nick Parsons allow their friend Angela to look after their four-year-old son Matty while they spend a romantic weekend. Libby wakes up to find blood everywhere and her husband missing. When the Coast Guard arrives, Libby is holding the bloody knife. Her husband's body isn't found, and she's convicted of murder under the assumption she was motivated by a $ 2 million life insurance policy and the knowledge Nick was under investigation for embezzling money. Libby asks Angela to adopt Matty while she's in prison so that he doesn't become a ward of the state. When she stops bringing him to visit, Libby tracks her to San Francisco and calls her. During the phone call, Nick enters, and Matty yells, "Daddy!" Libby soon realizes that Nick faked his death. A fellow inmate and former lawyer tells Libby to get paroled for good behavior by falsely claiming remorse for "killing" Nick and then actually killing him where she couldn't be tried under the "Double Jeopardy" clause. After 6 years in jail, she gets out, and the hunt begins.
Michelle Pfeiffer, Meg Ryan, and Brooke Shields turned down the starring role. Jodie Foster was attached to the script as Libby for several months before declining to play the role that went to Ashley Judd.
The film received poor reviews from critics, holding a current 28% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, it eventually grossed $177 million, making it a "financial success."
1994: "The Specialist"
In it, Captain Ray Quick (Stallone) is an explosives expert for the CIA. On a mission to blow up a car transporting a South American cocaine dealer, Ray discovers a little girl inside the vehicle with the dealer. He insists the mission be aborted, but his partner, Ned, intends to see it through, killing the dealer and little girl. Furious, Ray resigns from the CIA. Years later, he works as a freelance hitman in Miami, where he answers an ad placed by a woman named May Munro, who persuades him to accept the job of infiltrating a gang run by mobster Tomas Leon. Ray's old partner, Ned, now works for Leon, and the two will finally settle an old score.
The Specialist opened in the U.S. on October 7 and grossed $170 million worldwide on a $57 million budget. million in its opening weekend. It was Stallone's third highest-grossing movie at the box office in the 1990s and his second-highest (at the time) overall gross next to Cliffhanger.
Over the years, it has come out that Steven Seagal was offered to star and direct the film. He liked the script but wanted $9 million plus eliminating several sex scenes. The studio didn't want to pay him that much and offered it to Sly Stallone instead. In his autobiography, James Bond actor Roger Moore claims he was offered the starring role in the film but turned it down and was even "happier" to have turned down the film after seeing the finished product.
TOP SONGS
2004: "Goodies" by Ciara ft. Petey Pablo
1999: "Heartbreaker" by Mariah Carey with Jay Z
1994: "I'll Make Love To You" by Boyz II Men
TOP TV NEWS
October 2004:
2nd - Amy Pohler takes over for Jimmy Fallon as Tina Fey's co-anchor for Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update, making the first female duo on the "news" program.
- Nickelodeon and its affiliated networks begin debuting special educational programming called "The Worldwide Day of Play," after its "Let's Just Play" campaign designed to make kids more active.
3rd - Desperate Housewives and Boston Legal debut on ABC.
5th - The Vice Presidential Debate between Vice President Dick Cheney and Senator John Edwards takes place.
8th - Charles Gibson moderates the second Presidential debate (between George W. Bush and John Kerry) at Washington University in St. Louis.
11th - PBS Kids debuts a new programming block targeted at children ages 6-10 called "PBS Kids Go!" with new shows Maya and Miguel and Postcards from Buster, a spinoff of Arthur.
- SpongeBob SquarePants was canceled by Nickelodeon. It would return over a year later.
13th - The final 2004 Presidential debate airs from Arizona State University.
15th - Comedian Jon Stewart appears on Crossfire with Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala. He makes waves when he grows angry and calls the show out for what he felt was "partisan" politics.
19th - The Biggest Loser debuts on NBC.
-The ALCS Game 6 is broadcast on FOX, in which Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling famously pitched seven innings, during which time his right sock became soaked in blood due to an ankle injury.
20th - Game 7 of the ALCS is broadcast on FOX. The Red Sox reverse-sweep the Yankees and became the first and only team in baseball history to come back from any 0-3 deficit. I remember my dorm building (at a college in New York) going nuts that the Yankees blew it. As a Mets fan, I was secretly happy. :) The Red Sox would win their first World Series since 1918, ending the mythical Curse of the Bambino.
October 1999:
5th - Angel debuts on The CW.
6th - Roswell debuts on The CW.
7th - House Hunters debuts on HGTV, ruining home buying expectations for everyone.
10th - The professional wrestling pay-per-view "Heroes of Wrestling" is broadcast from Casino Magic Hotel in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The event was very heavily promoted but was only purchased by 29,000 households. Additionally, the event was of terrible quality, rated as the worst major event of 1999 by The Wrestling Observer. Plans for the franchise were abandoned following the event, which suffered from a poor buy rate and several controversies, most notably a disastrous main event featuring an extremely inebriated Jake Roberts, who teamed up with Yokozuna in the main event, only to lose to Jim Neidhart and King Kong Bundy in a tag team match.
27th - The fourth and final game of the World Series airs on NBC as the Yankees defeat the Atlanta Braves for the second title in a row. This was NBC's final World Series to date.
29th - CBS This Morning was canceled. It returned in 2012.
October 1994:
1st - One of the original Nickelodeon sitcoms, Clarissa Explains it All, starring Melissa Joan Hart, ends after four years.
3rd - Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills debuts on USA. I've never heard of this, but I had to include it based on the title. You can read about it here.
7th - NBC airs the two-hour television movie "Saved By The Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas," which follows the lead-up to Zack and Kelly's wedding. This film was, in effect, the series finale for Saved by the Bell: The College Years and the original "Bayside Gang" story. When aired in syndication, it is commonly split into four episodes.
8th - The Secret World of Alex Mack (starring Larissa Oleynik) debuts on Nickelodeon.
22nd - The cartoon Aaah! Real Monsters debuts on Nickelodeon.
24th - Allegra's Window and Gullah Gullah Island debut on Nick, Jr.
- The iconic Disney cartoon "Gargoyles" debuts in syndication.
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