On February 28, 1983, the celebrated sitcom M*A*S*H bowed
out after 11 seasons, airing a special two-and-a-half hour
episode watched by 77 percent of the television viewing
audience. It was the largest percentage ever to watch a
single TV show up to that time.

All in the Family is an sitcom television series that aired 
on CBS for nine seasons from January 12, 1971, to April
8, 1979, with a total of 205 episodes.

All in the Family has been ranked as one of the best TV
series. The show became the most watched show in the
U.S.during the summer reruns of the first season, and
topped the yearly Nielsen ratings from 1971 to 1976, the
first television series to have held the position for five
consecutive years.

1971

Sally Anne Struthers (77) was born in Portland, Oregon.

NEW YORK (AP — Linda Lavin, a Tony Award-winning stage
actress who became a working class icon as a paper-hat
wearing waitress on the CBS – TV sitcom "Alice," has died.

Her representative, Bill Veloric, said Lavin died in Los
Angeles on Sunday of complications from recently
discovered lung cancer.

Photo shows Linda Lavin (as waitress Alice Hyatt) and Vic Tayback (as Mel Sharples, owner of the diner) from "Alice."

TIM MAGUIRE

I Love Lucy is a television sitcom that originally aired on
CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total
of 180 half-hour episodes spanning six seasons.

The series starred Lucille Ball (1911-1989) and her husband
Desi Arnaz (1917-1986) (above) along with Vivian Vance and William Frawley.

On September 22, 1994, the television sitcom Friends, about
six young adults living in New York City, debuted on NBC.

The show, which featured a group of relatively unknown actors,
went on to become a huge hit and air for 10 seasons. It also
propelled the cast—Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa
Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer—
to varying degrees of stardom and success in Hollywood.