March 21, 1980…In "A House Divided," the season finale cliffhanger episode of the CBS-TV series "Dallas," J.R. Ewing, played by actor Larry Hagman, was shot. Viewers had to wait all summer, and most of the autumn because of a Hollywood actors' strike (and Hagman's own holdout), to learn whether J.R. would survive, and which of his many enemies was responsible for the shooting.
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Dallas was an American soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries.  I Love, LOVE, LOVED that show.  Never missed an episode and back in those days there was no way to tape and save it.

Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing. The show debuted in April 1978 as a five-part miniseries on the CBS network, and then was subsequently broadcast for thirteen seasons from April 2, 1978 to May 3, 1991. Dallas was included in Time magazine's 2007 list of "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME."^[1] The show was also famous for its cliffhangers, including the "Who shot J.R.?" mystery, and the "Dream Season", in which the entirety of season eight was revealed to have been a dream of one of the characters.

Today In History...

...May 21, 1819…Bicycles were first seen in the U.S. in New York City. They were originally known as "swift walkers."

I have two memories of bicycles that I had.

The first bicycle was when I was 9 years old.  We were living in Poquson, Virginia and when we moved into this home out on the island, I discovered an old men's bicycle.  It was old and rusted and didn't even have a seat, but it didn't stop me from riding it.  I would to park it up side the steps or a tree truck or some high object to be able to climb on board.  I would just sit on the bar and peddle around the yard happy as could be.











The second bicycle was when I was about 12 or 13 years old and we were living on base at Johnson Air Station.  It was my pride and joy because I had saved up my allowance and bought this bike similar to the one in the picture below.  It was painted blue and had a pink plaid seat and I even purchased me a white woven bicycle basket that was decorated with a flower similar to the one shown below.  Because of that basket, Mom would send me on errands for her which I loved because as long as I could ride my bike, I didn't care what the reason was.

This was our on base housing.  My family lived in the left hand side of this duplex.

May 21, 1990

…The last episode of "Newhart," starring Bob Newhart as a Vermont innkeeper, aired on CBS-TV, one of the most memorable series finales in television history. At the end of the show, viewers saw Dr. Bob Hartley wake up in bed saying, "Honey, you won't believe the dream I just had." Then Emily (Suzanne Pleshette, Hartley's wife from The Bob Newhart Show) rolled over to speak with him. The bedroom was a recreation from "The Bob Newhart Show," and the entire "Newhart" series was revealed to have been a dream in the mind of Bob Newhart's 1970s character.

This was one of my favorite television during the latter part of the 1980's.