Here’s some of what was doing in show business and the media this week in history…

On January 11 1940, Howard Hawks’ His Girl Friday opened in Los Angeles.

That same night, a two-hour special aired on all TV networks to celebrate the linking of the Eastern and Midwestern networks via coaxial cable.

On January 11 1969, ABC premiered two new comedies: An anthology, Love, American Style, and the high school-set Room 222. Each series will remain on the air for five years.

On the January 11 1972 edition of the ABC Tuesday Movie of the Week, Darren McGavin made his debut as vampire-hunting newspaper reporter Carl Kolchak in The Night Stalker.

The WB Television Network launched for an eleven-year run beginning on January 11, 1995

On January 12 1961, Francois Truffaut began shooting his first English-language film, Fahrenheit 451, based on Ray Bradbury’s novel.

Batman debuted on ABC on January 12 1966, battling Special Guest Bat-Villain, The Riddler.

The police procedural Dragnet returned to TV as a series on January 12 1967 with an episode entitled “The Big LSD.”

CBS airs the first episode of Norman Lear’s All in the Family on January 12 1971. A network disclaimer warning the audience about potentially offensive content precedes it.

On January 12 2006, the cast and crew of Will and Grace broadcast the second live episode of the show to both the East and West coasts over NBC.

Samantha and Darren Steven’s daughter Tabitha was born on January 13 1966 in the Bewitched episode entitled “And Then There Were Three.”

On January 13 1984, KMBC-TV anchor Christine Craft wins $325,000 in her case against Metromedia. Craft was removed from her anchor desk after a focus group determined that she was “too old, too unattractive and wouldn’t defer to men.”

The daytime drama Ryan’s Hope ended a 13-year run on ABC on January 13, 1980.

January 13 1991 saw the rise of Ben Cross as vampire Barnabas Collins in NBC’s remake of the gothic drama, Dark Shadows. Twelve episodes later, it was canceled.

“This is Today on NBC!” The Today Show premieres on January 14 1952 on NBC, with host Dave Garroway, newsreader Jim Fleming and announcer Jack Lescoulie.

NBC’s Sanford and Son starring Redd Foxx premiered on January 14 1972.

On January 14 1973, Elvis Presley was seen by 1 billion viewers all around the world via his first satellite TV special, Aloha from Hawaii

CBS Late Show host David Letterman underwent quintuple heart bypass surgery at New York-Presbyterian Hospital on January 14 2000.

The first ever Super Bowl was simulcast from Los Angeles by CBS and NBC on January 15 1967.

Later that evening on CBS, The Rolling Stones appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. At Sullivan’s prompting, the band changes their lyrics from “Let’s spend the night together” to “Let’s spend some time together”

United States Customs agents seize a copy of Jack Smith’s avant-garde film Flaming Creatures on January 15 1968, declaring it obscene. The Justice Department begins proceedings against the film’s distributor.

Happy Days premieres on ABC on January 15 1974. It will spawn a record eight spin-off series (five live-action, three animated).

On January 15 1977, Second City alum Bill Murray joins the cast of Saturday Night Live, replacing Chevy Chase.

Sergeant Phil Esterhaus said “Let’s be careful out there” for the first time when Hill Street Blues premiered on NBC on January 15 1981

January 16 1942: Actress Carole Lombard died in a plane crash west of Las Vegas while returning to Hollywood after a War Bond tour.

The Screen Writers Guild called for a strike on January 16 1960, demanding its members receive payment for motion pictures sold to television.

Darren McGavin returns as newspaperman turned paranormal investigator Carl Kolchak on January 16 1973 when the movie The Night Strangler premieres on ABC.

After 14 years, the western series Bonanza airs its last episode on January 16 1973. Two years later, the Raymond Burr crime drama Ironside retires after eight seasons.

January 17 1929: Popeye the Sailor Man, created by E.C. Segar, first appeared in the Thimble Theatre comic strip.

TV’s first sitcom, The Goldbergs, premieres January 17 1949.

Underwater explorer and adventurer Jacques Cousteau’s first network television documentary airs on the CBS series Omnibus on January 17 1954.

Baretta, a detective series created by Stephen J. Cannell, premiered on ABC on January 17 1975. Starring Robert Blake as a streetwise undercover cop, the series is re-make of the previous season’s Toma, starring Tony Mustante.

The New Mickey Mouse Club premieres in syndication on January 17 1977.

On January 17 1984, a 5 to 4 Supreme Court ruling says that the private use of home video recorders to tape TV programs for later viewing does not violate federal copyright laws.

BORN THIS WEEK: Mystery writer Manfred B Lee, (Ellery Queen); actor Lionel Stander (New York, New York); screenwriter Jerome Bixby (The Twilight Zone, Star Trek); television executive Grant Tinker (NBC, MTM); producers David L. Wolper (Roots, L.A. Confidential); actor Rod Taylor (The Birds); director Wayne Wang (Chan is Missing); actress Kirstie Alley (Cheers); novelist Walter Mosley (Devil in a Blue Dress): radio personality and King of All Media Howard Stern; screenwriter Rockne S. O’Bannon (Alien Nation); produce-director John Lasseter (Toy Story); adult film star and model Cherokee; actor Robert Stack (The Untouchables. The Name of the Game); actor and director Charles Nelson Reilly (The Ghost and Mrs. Muir); television and film executive Brandon Tartikoff (NBC, Paramount); actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Seinfeld); screenwriter Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy); game show producer Mark Goodson (The Price is Right); journalist Andy Rooney (60 Minutes); actor Guy Williams (Zorro, Lost in Space); actress Faye Dunaway (Chinatown, Network); Carl Weathers (Rocky 1, 2 & 3); director Lawrence Kasdan (Body Heat); director Steven Soderbergh (Out of Sight, Traffic); Jason Bateman (Arrested Development); actress Phyllis Coates (The Adventures of Superman); screenwriter Stirling Silliphant (Longstreet, The Poseidon Adventure); director John Carpenter (Halloween, Escape from New York); producer and director Mack Sennett (Keystone Kops); cartoonist Antonio Prohias (Mad’s Spy vs. Spy); singer and actress Eartha Kitt (1966 Batman TV series); actor James Earl Jones (The Man, Star Wars); screenwriter Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential); actress Zooey Deschanel (Weeds)

DIED THIS WEEK: Actor and music Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. (Alvin & The Chipmunks); actor Ted Cassidy (The Addams Family); actor Bernard Lee (James Bond’s M); actor Jack Soo (Barney Miller); comedian Ernie Kovacs; mystery writer Agatha Christie (Murder on the Orient Express); Keye Luke (The Charlie Chan series, Kung Fu), movie producer Jesse L. Lasky (The Squaw Man); actor Joe Spinell (Taxi Driver. Rocky); director Ted Demme (Blow); actor and director Patrick McGoohan (The Prisoner, Columbo); actor Humphrey Bogart (The African Queen); actor Peter Finch (Network); actor Ron O’Neal (Superfly); Shelley Winters (The Poseidon Adventure); Ray Bolger (The Wizard of Oz); actor Richard Crenna (Rambo, Body Heat); producer Ray Stark, (The Goodbye Girl); Allan Melvin (The Brady Bunch, All in the Family)