Nielsen ratings for network TV for the week ending April 22, 1990 and for syndication for the week ending April 15, 1990 (Full rankings: www.facebook.com/share/p/1KsZ... )

💪 April 18, 1938: Superman made his debut when he appeared in the first issue of Action Comics. It is widely considered to be both the beginning of the superhero genre and the most valuable comic book in the world.

📺 April 18, 1979: “Real People,” a combination of comedy, reality and talk, debuted on NBC. It aired for five seasons and the regular hosts included Sarah Purcell, Byron Allen, John Barbour, Skip Stephenson, Bill Rafferty, Mark Russell, Peter Billingsley and Fred Willard.

📺 April 17, 2012: The Sarah Michelle Gellar drama “Ringer” concluded after one season on The CW. It was originally in development at CBS.

📺 April 17, 1967: Late-night talk show “The Joey Bishop Show” debuted on ABC. Hosted by Joey Bishop and featuring Regis Philbin as the announcer and sidekick, it was created to challenge “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” but it only aired thru Dec. 26, 1969.

📺 April 17, 1967: “Gilligan’s Island” concluded its three-season run on CBS. It wasn’t until the first of three television movies, “Rescue From Gilligan’s Island” in 1978, that the castaways finally left the island.

Daffy Duck made his first appearance in the animated short “Porky’s Duck Hunt” in 1937.

📺 April 16, 1993: "Dudley" starring Dudley Moore as a divorced pianist debuted on CBS. The sitcom, which also starred Joanna Cassidy, Joel Brooks, Max Wright and Harley Cross, had aired for five episodes before its cancellation.

📺 April 16, 2019: "Bless This Mess" debuted on ABC. The modern day "Green Acres" comedy starred Dax Shepard, Lake Bell (who also co-created the show with Elizabeth Meriwether), Pam Grier, Ed Begley Jr., David Koechner and Lennon Parham. It ran two seasons.

📺 April 16, 1984: Capitalizing on the craze of the hit film “Flashdance,” the animated “Peanuts” special “It’s Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown” premiered on CBS.

📺 April 16, 1990: Legal drama "Shannon's Deal," starring Jamey Sheridan and Elizabeth Peña, officially began as a series on NBC. Only 14 episodes aired across two spring seasons.

📺 April 16, 2018: The ensemble dramedy “Scorpion” concluded its four-season run on CBS. The series starred Elyes Gabel, Katharine McPhee, Eddie Kaye Thomas, and Robert Patrick.

📺 🍇 April 16, 1956: While visiting Italy, Lucy (Lucille Ball) worked in a vineyard to “soak up a little color” for a role in a film called “Bitter Grapes” in this classic episode of “I Love Lucy”.

Laurel and Hardy at their best. Short film "The Music Box," starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, opened in theaters in 1932. It won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.

Remember Peter Billingsley from the holiday TV movie classic "A Christmas Story"? Today, we wish Peter a Happy 55th Birthday.

Before she became a household name on the big screen, Sandra Bullock starred in the sitcom "Working Girl," which premiered on NBC in 1990. The series, based on the 1988 film of the same name, produced 12 episodes, but only 8 aired.

The actors who have portrayed the legendary figure on television have been John Lafayette, Andre Braugher, Blair Underwood, Antonio Todd and Robert Hamilton.

⚾️ April 15, 1947: The Brooklyn Dodgers started Jackie Robinson at first base, officially making him the first Black player in Major League Baseball and breaking the sport’s color barrier. Robinson’s entry into the majors has since been a primary symbol for the inclusion of minorities in U.S. sports.

📺 April 15, 1997: Sitcom “Soul Man,” from the creators of “Home Improvement” and starring Dan Aykroyd, launched on ABC. It aired for two condensed seasons.

📺 April 15, 2005: The sitcom “8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter” with John Ritter, Katey Sagal and Kaley Cuoco concluded on ABC after three seasons. James Garner and David Spade joined the cast following the passing of Ritter from season two.

📺 April 15, 1990: Sketch comedy “In Living Color” launched on Fox and initially featured Keenen, Damon and Kim Wayans, Kelly Coffield, Kim Coles, Tommy Davidson, David Alan Grier and Jim Carrey. The show introduced Jennifer Lopez and Carrie Ann Inaba as members of dance troupe The Fly Girls.

The most recent season of "Fargo" — its fifth — was released in fall 2023 and starred Juno Temple and John Hamm.

📺 April 15, 2014: "Fargo", Noah Hawley's award-winning dark comedic crime anthology series inspired by the 1996 feature film of the same name, debuted on FX. Its inaugural season starred Billy Bob Thornton, Allison Tolman, Colin Hanks and Martin Freeman.

📺 April 15, 2012: “Girls”, the comedy-drama created by and starring Lena Dunham about the lives of four young women in New York City, debuted on HBO. It also starred Allison Williams, Zosia Mamet, Adam Driver and Andrew Rannells. It ran for 62 episodes across six seasons.

Musical "Flashdance," starring Jennifer Beals and Michael Nouri, opened in theaters in 1983. It was the first collaboration of producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson, and the presentation of some sequences in the style of music videos was an influence on other 1980s films.

Law school drama "The Paper Chase," starring James Stephens and John Houseman, made its Showtime cable network debut in 1983. It originally aired for one season on CBS from 1978 to 1979. A total of 37 original episodes across three condensed seasons aired on Showtime.

Also at the 52nd Academy Awards, Sally Field won the Oscar for Best Actress for her starring role in "Norma Rae".

🏆 April 14, 1980: "Kramer vs. Kramer" won five Oscars at the 52nd Academy Awards. It won for Best Picture, Best Actor (Dustin Hoffman), Best Supporting Actress (Meryl Streep), Best Director and Adapted Screenplay (Robert Benton).

📰 April 14, 1997: Ellen DeGeneres declared “Yep, I’m Gay” on the cover of Time Magazine.

📺 April 14, 2013: Travel and food series "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown" debuted on CNN. It was a follow-up to his similarly-themed "No Reservations” from the Travel Channel from 2005-12. It ran for 104 episodes across five years, having increased CNN's Sunday night viewership throughout.