Date |
Event
|
January 1
|
Cable News Network (CNN) initiates an associated channel, dubbed CNN2, that features a round-the-clock "news wheel" format. The channel would be renamed
CNN Headline News a year later and is now known as
HLN.
|
The
National Association of Broadcasters ends its long-standing
Television Code in response to a
Washington, D.C. circuit court ruling which declared parts of it unconstitutional.
|
January 2
|
American Playhouse on
PBS member station
WNET/
Newark, New Jersey presents
John Cheever's
teleplay The Shady Hill Kidnapping, featuring
George Grizzard,
Polly Holliday,
Judith Ivey, E. Katherine Kerr and
Celeste Holm as The Celebrity.
|
January 4
|
Bryant Gumbel begins his 15-year stint as co-anchor of
NBC's
Today Show.
|
ABC broadcasts a
TV adaptation of
The Elephant Man, with
Philip Anglim and
Kevin Conway reprising the roles they originated for the Broadway version of the story.
|
In
Panama City, Florida,
NBC affiliate
WMBB swaps affiliations with
ABC affiliate
WJHG-TV.
|
January 10
|
CBS televises the
NFC Championship Game between the
San Francisco 49ers and
Dallas Cowboys. In what would become one of the most iconic images in
NFL history, San Francisco
tight end
Dwight Clark makes
"The Catch" to enable the 49ers to defeat the Cowboys, 28–27, and go to their first ever
Super Bowl.
Vin Scully called the game alongside
Hank Stram on television while
Pat Summerall (who would do the play-by-play for Super Bowl XVI with
John Madden two weeks later) called the game with
Jack Buck for
CBS Radio.
|
January 23
|
CBS Reports broadcasts
The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception, a documentary alleging a manipulation of intelligence estimates before the
Tet Offensive in
Vietnam. Retired
Gen.
William Westmoreland, the commander of U.S. military operations at the time of the alleged estimates, would
file a libel suit against
CBS believing the report described him unfairly.
|
January 30
|
The
Golden Globe Awards air for the second consecutive year on
CBS. The ceremony would soon become embroiled into controversy when actress
Pia Zadora won that year's
Golden Globe Award as
Best New Star of the Year amid charges that her husband
Meshulam Riklis had purchased the award with a promotional campaign that included Zadora's image presented prominently on Sunset Boulevard billboards,
[1] an appearance in Playboy magazine, and entertaining Golden Globe voters.
[2]
[3] After CBS decided to negate their broadcasting contract in light of the controversy, the Golden Globes wouldn't be seen on broadcast network television again until
1996, when
NBC picked them up.
|
February 1
|
Late Night with David Letterman debuts on
NBC; Letterman's first guests are
Bill Murray (who dances around to the song
"Physical") and "Mr. Wizard"
Don Herbert.
|
Two months after new owners Pacific Media Corporation changed its call letters from KECC-TV,
CBS affiliate
KECY-TV in
Yuma, Arizona leaves the network to join
ABC. This will leave Yuma without a CBS affiliate for 3 years, until KECY-TV rejoins the network in 1985 (it is now a
Fox affiliate).
[4]
[5]
[6]
|
February 3
|
Singer
Jermaine Jackson guest-features, as
Tootie (
Kim Fields) gets to meet the person she admires on a
very special episode of the
NBC sitcom
The Facts of Life.
|
February 7
|
As part of a two-night event,
ABC airs the network television broadcast premiere of
Superman: The Movie.
|
March 4
|
The crime drama spoof
Police Squad! premieres on
ABC; though it only lasts 6 episodes (the last being broadcast July 8); the comedy would serve as the origin of the
Frank Drebin character and the inspiration for the
Naked Gun movie series.
|
March 8
|
Night of 100 Stars, a benefit for the
Actors' Fund taped at
Radio City Music Hall, is broadcast by
ABC.
|
March 26
|
The soap opera series
Search for Tomorrow is broadcast for the final time by
CBS.
NBC immediately purchases it and begins broadcasting it the following Monday.
|
April 2
|
John Chancellor anchors the
NBC Nightly News for the final time, replaced on April 5 by the team of
Roger Mudd and
Tom Brokaw, a partnership that lasts 17 months.
|
April 21
|
Norman Lear purchases
Avco Embassy Pictures and rechristens his
TAT Communications Company as
Embassy Television.
|
WGXA in
Macon, Georgia signs-on the air, giving the Macon market its first full-time
ABC affiliate.
|
WTTO in
Birmingham, Alabama signs-on the air, giving the Birmingham market its first independent station.
|
May 2
|
The Weather Channel is begun in the U.S.
[7]
|
May 15
|
Danny DeVito hosts an
episode of
Saturday Night Live soon after
Taxi is canceled after its
fourth season. During the opening monologue, DeVito reads a letter supposedly from his mother asking God to forgive
ABC for cancelling the show, adding that "but I'll understand if you don't." A filmed bit has him driving around New York looking morose until inspiration strikes, and he blows up the ABC building. In addition, the Taxi cast members are given an opportunity for
closure, which up to that point had been denied for them due to the abrupt cancellation. The actors took their "final" bows during DeVito's opening monologue, only to have
NBC (which aired SNL) pick up the show.
|
May 22
|
In
Boston,
Massachusetts,
CBS affiliate
WNAC-TV ceases operations due to improprieties by its parent company
RKO General, having lost the license (as well as those of
KHJ-TV and
WOR-TV, both of which RKO temporarily retain on appeal) after General Tire admitted to a litany of corporate misconduct (including, among other things, committing financial fraud over illegal political contributions and bribes) as part of a settlement with the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and RKO General withheld evidence from the
FCC of General Tire's misconduct, and also failed to disclose evidence of accounting errors on its own part. Several hours later, New England Television begins operations of WNEV-TV (now
independent station
WHDH) on channel 7, retaining WNAC-TV's former CBS affiliation.
[8]
[9]
|
May 24
|
The
Peanuts special
A Charlie Brown Celebration premiered on
CBS. Which it includes several stories with one or two-word titles, was later adapted for the Saturday morning series,
The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show, which premiered in 1983.
|
May 27
|
The
series finale of
Mork & Mindy entitled "The Mork Report" is broadcast on
ABC. While it actually, wasn't the final episode to be filmed, ABC still aired it last in hopes of giving the canceled series some proper closure.
|
May 28
|
At about 5:00 p.m., Joseph Billie Gwin, wanting to "prevent
World War III", forces his way into the studios of
Phoenix
CBS affiliate
KOOL-TV, fires a gunshot, takes 4 people hostage (holding one of them, cameraman Louis Villa, at close gunpoint), and demands national broadcasting time. Three hours later, Gwin releases 2 hostages, Jack Webb and Bob Cimino. At 9:30 p.m., with Gwin sitting next to him with a gun, KOOL anchor Bill Close reads a 20-minute statement; when finished, Close takes Gwin's gun and sets it on the table.
[10]
[11]
[12]
|
American
film critic
Leonard Maltin makes his first appearance on the television
news magazine
Entertainment Tonight.
[13]
[14]
|
June 6
|
The
CBS affiliate in
Orlando,
WDBO-TV, changes its name to WCPX-TV.
|
July 11
|
ABC broadcasts the
FIFA World Cup Final between
Italy and
West Germany from
Madrid. It's the first time that the World Cup's final match is aired
live on American television.
|
July 13
|
ABC broadcasts the
Major League Baseball All-Star Game from
Olympic Stadium in
Montreal,
Quebec,
Canada. It's the first time that the
Mid-Summer's Classic is played outside of the United States.
|
July 21
|
The only episode of the sitcom
Cass Malloy airs on
CBS. Although not picked up as a regular series, it serves as the
pilot for the 1987–1989
syndicated sitcom
She's the Sheriff.
|
July 29
|
Professional wrestler
Jerry Lawler slaps actor
Andy Kaufman in the face on the
NBC program
Late Night with David Letterman; Kaufman responds by throwing coffee and shouting profanities at Lawler. The incident was later revealed to have been staged.
|
August 8
|
In
Columbia, Missouri,
NBC affiliate and
University of Missouri-owned
KOMU-TV swaps affiliations with
ABC affiliate
KCBJ-TV. The swap would eventually be reversed in 1986.
[15]
|
August 30
|
Field Communications begins its liquidation by selling off
WFLD to
Metromedia.
|
September 6
|
After
Tom Wopat and
John Schneider quit the
CBS action series
The Dukes of Hazzard as a result of a contract dispute, their characters, Bo and Luke Duke, are written out of the series as joining a
NASCAR team and are replaced by cousins Coy and Vance (played respectively by
Byron Cherry and
Christopher Mayer). Bo and Luke—and Wopat and Schneider—would return to the series by season's end.
|
September 11
|
NBC resurrects
Texaco Star Theater as a one-time special; however, instead of inviting
Milton Berle, the man who hosted the original series during the 1950s, the special presents a salute to musicals.
|
In
Savannah, Georgia,
NBC affiliate
WSAV-TV swaps affiliations with
ABC affiliate
WJCL, citing ABC's stronger ratings. The swap would eventually be reversed in 1986.
[16]
|
September 12
|
KNLC, a
religious
independent station in
St. Louis goes on the air.
|
September 13
|
Mary Hart joins
Entertainment Tonight as reporter and later co-host; she would fill the latter role until 2011.
|
September 20
|
USA Network begins 24-hour operations, featuring the debut of the
USA Cartoon Express, cable television's first structured animation block.
|
September 25
|
Saturday Night Live begins its 8th season on
NBC, with host
Chevy Chase and musical guest
Queen. Among the new additions for this season include future
Seinfeld actress
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who will stay for 3 years (1982–1985) as a featured player/regular cast member.
|
September 30
|
The
pilot episode for
Cheers airs on
NBC.
|
October 1
|
Independent station
KDOC-TV commences broadcasting in
Los Angeles.
|
October 2
|
Mary Jo Catlett replaces
Nedra Volz on the
NBC sitcom
Diff'rent Strokes, as the new housekeeper, Mrs. Pearl Gallagher. She will stay with the series until its conclusion in 1986.
|
October 3
|
During the
National Football League players strike (on what would have been Week 5 of the
season), CBS broadcasts four
Division III football games using their regular
NFL broadcast crews.
|
October 4
|
KMTR signs-on in
Eugene, Oregon as an
NBC affiliate. Due to NBC's persistent low ratings, the network's former affiliate
KVAL-TV had been preempting NBC programming (with increasing regularity) in favor of programs from
CBS (shared with
ABC affiliate
KEZI), forcing a frustrated NBC to seek a new station. With the move, KVAL-TV becomes a full-time CBS affiliate.
|
October 4
|
The
CBS affiliate in
Phoenix,
KOOL-TV, changes its name to KTSP-TV.
|
October 11
|
WFBT, a
religious television station in
Minneapolis/St. Paul goes on the air.
|
October 12
|
Cindy Williams makes her
final appearance as Shirley Finney on
Laverne & Shirley.
|
October 22
|
Susan Stafford departs as co-host of the
NBC game show
Wheel of Fortune to do humanitarian work. Auditions occur for her replacement, with
Vanna White formally replacing Stafford on December 13. As of 2022, White remains the co-host of Wheel.
|
October 25
|
The
second season of
Cagney & Lacey premieres on
CBS with
Sharon Gless now assuming the role of Det. Christine Cagney.
Meg Foster portrayed Cagney in the first season. Foster was dismissed after the first six episodes because CBS deemed her too aggressive and too likely to be perceived as a lesbian by the viewers.
[17]
|
November 13
|
CBS broadcasts a world championship boxing match between
Ray Mancini and
Kim Duk-koo that results in Kim's death five days after the bout.
|
November 18
|
After originating as a four-hour long
programming block on a channel known as Escapade in January 1982, the channel as a whole is officially relaunched as
The Playboy Channel.
|
November 20
|
At the age of 7,
Drew Barrymore
becomes the youngest person to ever
guest-host
Saturday Night Live on
NBC. As fate would have it, she ends up hosting the same episode that saw
Andy Kaufman banned from ever performing on the show again.
|
November 26
|
Howard Cosell denounces professional
boxing during the
ABC broadcast of a
WBC
heavyweight championship bout between titleholder
Larry Holmes and a clearly outmatched
Randall "Tex" Cobb at the
Astrodome in
Houston,
Texas. Cosell, horrified over the brutality of the one-sided fight, said that if the referee did not stop the fight he would never broadcast a professional fight again.
|
December 5
|
Southwest Championship Wrestling becomes the first weekly wrestling program on the
USA Network, airing Sundays at 11:00 a.m.
Eastern Time. However, because of a particularly bloody match between
Tully Blanchard and
"Bruiser" Bob Sweetan (which USA refused to air), the inability of the promotion to keep paying USA the $7,000 per week to keep the time slot, and a monetary offer made to the cable channel by
WWF owner
Vince McMahon to replace Southwest Championship Wrestling with his own programming,
[18] USA will end up canceling the program in September (in spite of the high
ratings the show was garnering for the network), replacing it with
WWF All American Wrestling.
|
December 11
|
ESPN broadcasts its first live college football game, simulcasting the
Independence Bowl match-up between
Kansas State University and the
University of Wisconsin.
|
TBS in association with
Sports Productions, Inc. broadcasts a heavily anticipated college basketball match-up between the
Virginia Cavaliers (led by
Ralph Sampson) and
Georgetown Hoyas (led by
Patrick Ewing). TBS paid approximately US$600,000 for the broadcasting rights to the game that was called by
Skip Caray and
Abe Lemons.
|
Eddie Murphy becomes the first and to date, only person to
guest-host
NBC's
Saturday Night Live while still a
cast member. Murphy's
48 Hours co-star
Nick Nolte was originally supposed to host until he fell ill.
|
December 27
|
SuperStation WTBS debuts one of the first video game-themed TV series,
Starcade.
|
December 29
|
Nastassja Kinski makes a puzzling appearance on the
NBC program
Late Night with David Letterman, seeming somewhat oblivious to the jokes and everything else that was going on around her and appearing with an unusual hair style Letterman describes as "looking like there was an owl perched on top of her head." (Letterman's second guest,
John Candy, comes out with his own hair moussed up in a pile as a spoof of Kinski's hair.)
|
Surround Sound is introduced for home use by
Dolby.
|
December 31
|
Texas and
The Doctors have their final episodes aired on
NBC.
|