Today in 1976 “Kojak” won the Golden Globe for best Television Drama. It beat out the following: “Baretta,” “Police Story,” “Columbo,” and “Petrocelli”.  Excuse me, but those are all five the exact same show. Okay, Petrocelli was a lawyer, and the show had guest turns from both Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford (pre Star Wars), but still.

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Today in 1981, Mike Bossy became just the second NHLer to score 50 goals in the first 50 games of the season, tying Rocket Richard’s mark. Wayne Gretzky would demolish that record the very next season, getting to 50 in just 39 games.

“Prefontaine,” the first of two theatrical releases on the life of distance runner Steve Prefontaine, came out today in 1997. It was good, but not as good as the other one, “Without Limits.”

Happy Birthdays to Mary Lou Retton (45) and Neil Diamond (72). Neil’s top 10:

1. Sweet Caroline
2. Cherry Cherry (watch this clip, the guy is an all time great)
3. I Am… I Said
4. Forever In Blue Jeans
5. Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show
6. Cracklin’ Rosie
7. Shilo
8. Beautiful Noise
9. Play Me
10. September Morn

— Bill Hubbell

“Let me tell ya something. Nowadays, everybody’s gotta go to shrinks, and counselors, and go on “Sally Jessy Raphael” and talk about their problems. What happened to Gary Cooper? The strong, silent type. That was an American. He wasn’t in touch with his feelings. He just did what he had to do. See, what they didn’t know was once they got Gary Cooper in touch with his feelings that they wouldn’t be able to shut him up!”— Tony Soprano

“The Sopranos” debuted on HBO tonight in 1999. David Chase’s morality tale set in the New Jersey mob life, dealt with the personal and professional struggles of Tony Soprano, a capo in the DiMeo crime family.

The show won two Emmys for Best Prime Time Drama and its stars, James Gandolfini and Edie Falco also won two and three Emmys respectively.

Writer and creator David Chase won a slew of Emmys as well. Chase won his first Emmy as a writer in 1978 for “The Rockford Files,” which aired it’s last original episode tonight in 1980.

Today in 1776, Thomas Paine published, “Common Sense” a pamphlet that outlined why those in America wanted their freedom from Great Britain. Consider it the first blog to go viral.

Teenagers all over the country woke up today in 1984 with a ringing in their ears after listening to “1984” by Van Halen all night long. Arguably just as thought provoking as “Common Sense,” Van Halen’s sixth album was the biggest seller, moving over 12 million copies. “Jump,” “Panama,” “Hot For Teacher,” and “I’ll Wait” all belong in the pantheon of VH songs. It was the last David Lee Roth era album for the band, who, after being re-buffed by Patty Smyth of Scandal (now Mrs. John McEnroe), took on Sammy Hagar as their new singer.

Dwight Clark made “The Catch” today in 1982. With the 49ers down 27-21 to the Cowboys in the NFC Championship game, Joe Montana and the 49ers got the ball with just under five minutes left and drove down the field. The drive was capped off by a third down and three play that saw Montana roll to his right and find Clark in the back of the end zone. The play kicked off the 49ers dominant era of the ’80s.

Happy birthday to rockers Rod Stewart (68) and Pat Benatar (60) and their top tens:

Stewart:

1. Tonight I’m Yours
2. Young Turks
3. The First Cut is the Deepest
4. The Killing of Georgie Pt I and II
5. I Was Only Joking
6. Forever Young
7. Tonight’s The Night
8. Maggie May
9. You Wear It Well
10. Downtown Train

Benatar:

1. We Belong
2. Promises in the Dark
3. All Fired Up
4. Shadows of the Night
5. Love is a Battlefield
6. Hit Me With Your Best Shot
7. Sex as a Weapon
8. Hell is For Children
9. Invincible
10. Heartbreaker

— Bill Hubbell

And speaking of the Grinch, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” made its debut on tonight on CBS in 1966. CBS aired it annually in December until 1987, when it moved to the Turner Networks. The moral of the story is that the only way to appreciate the true meaning of Christ’s birth is to have someone steal all your stuff.

A little more of a highbrow entertainment debuted tonight in 1892 in the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. Tchaikovsky’s ballet, “The Nutcracker” got a mediocre reaction the first night, but has also become a Christmas classic. The moral of the story is that if you stay up way too late drinking, weird stuff will start to happen.

And to think that the old AOL voice was charming and a part of all of our lives way back in the olden days. “You’ve Got Mail” came out today in 1998. The moral of the story was that it doesn’t matter how outdated your dream job is, whether it be cobbler, maker of popcorn balls, or owner of a boutique book store… well, you’ll probably fail, but if you’re cute enough a rich guy will scoop you up and you’ll laugh about your failed business at some Upper East Side Christmas party and you’ll lie to people and even work up a tear or two when you tell them you were actually friends with Nora Ephron and not just a character in one of her movies.

Eleven years earlier on this date saw the debut of “Overboard.” Very simple moral in this one: If you’re Kurt Russell, you can get anyone.

Our third classic December 18th movie came out way back in 1957. “The Bridge on the River Kwai” won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture. The moral is that war is bad.

Happy Birthdays to two movie icons: Steven Spielberg (66) and Brad Pitt (49).

Spielberg’s top 10:

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark

2. E.T.

3. Schindler’s List

4. Saving Private Ryan

5. Jaws

6. Lincoln

7. Close Encounters of the Third Kind

8. Jurassic Park

9. Munich

10. Catch Me If You Can

— Bill Hubbell

To John’s last point, watch this scene from “The Wrestler,” which hit theaters today in 2008. It’s heartbreaking at how embarrassed each character is of themselves and it’s also uplifting in that both of them have chosen to soldier on rather than give in. Which was ultimately the theme of the whole movie. And of course, that scene led to this scene, which was just a tiny piece of awesome. It didn’t get up for Best Picture, but “The Reader” did.

Tonight in 1989 FOX debuted, “The Simpsons.” The first episode was called, “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire” and received two Emmy nominations. It’s the longest running sitcom in TV history.

50 million people tuned into “The Tonight Show” tonight in 1969, the most to date, to watch Tiny Tim get married to Miss Vickie.

Today in 1971, “A Clockwork Orange” hit movie screens. It was weird.

Today in 1777, France officially recognized the United States. I’m not sure they still do.

This scene may look like the start of this year’s Scientology Christmas party, but it’s actually from “Magnolia,” which came out today in 1999.

“Tootsie” came out today in 1982 and would probably hold the crown for best December 17th release ever, if it wasn’t for this coming out in 2003:

— Bill Hubbell