FLASHBACK

Entertainment highlights during the week of Aug. 31-Sept. 6.

1963: "The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite" expanded from 15 to 30 minutes, becoming network television's first half-hour nightly newscast.

1964: "Gilligan's Island" premiered on CBS.

1977: Blondie signed with Chrysalis Records.

1987: The album "Bad" by Michael Jackson was released in North America. It was the long-awaited follow-up to "Thriller."

1988: Actor Kevin Bacon married actress Kyra Sedgwick.

1989: The Rolling Stones' "Steel Wheels" tour kicked off in Philadelphia.

1991: Garth Brooks released the album "Ropin' the Wind."

1994: R. Kelly married Aaliyah in Rosemont, Ill. He was 25, but she was 15 — a year under the state legal age for marriage. The marriage was later annulled.

2002: Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar married actor Freddie Prinze Jr. in Mexico.

2002: Kelly Clarkson was named the winner on "American Idol," beating out Justin Guarini and winning a recording contract. Nearly 22.5 million people tuned in to watch.

2005: Kanye West went off the script during an NBC telethon to raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina. He said, among other things, "George Bush doesn't care about black people."

2006: Steve Irwin of the TV show "Crocodile Hunter" was killed when a stingray's barb hit him in the heart while Irwin was filming an underwater documentary. Irwin was 44.