Date |
Event
|
January 1
|
A complicated,
six-station network affiliation swap takes place in two
South Florida markets. In
Miami,
WTVJ moves to
NBC from
CBS,
WCIX (now WFOR-TV) moves to CBS from
Fox, and
WSVN moves to Fox from NBC. Meanwhile, in
West Palm Beach,
WPEC switches from
ABC to CBS,
WTVX leaves CBS to become an independent, and ABC station
WPBF signs on this day. The swaps result from NBC's acquisition of WTVJ in 1987, and CBS's acquisition of WCIX in August 1988. The switches in West Palm Beach are accomplished due to WCIX's weak signal in
Broward County.
[1]
[2]
|
NBC's station in
Tampa, WXFL reclaims the
WFLA-TV call letters.
|
The Karen Carpenter Story, a
made-for-television
biographical film about singer
Karen Carpenter and the brother-and-sister pop music duo of which she was a part,
The Carpenters is broadcast on
CBS. The movie was very popular in the
ratings; it was the highest-rated two-hour TV movie of the year and the third highest rated such program on any network during the 1980s.
|
January 3
|
The Arsenio Hall Show premieres in
first-run syndication.
Brooke Shields,
Luther Vandross, and
Leslie Nielsen appear as guests.
|
January 7
|
The television version of the 1983 film
Scarface premieres on
ABC.
[3] 32 minutes of violence, profanity and sex were edited out, and much of the dialogue was muted or replaced with less offensive alternatives.
[4]
|
January 8
|
Universal Pictures releases a cut of the 1985 film
Brazil for airing on their
syndicated film package, the
Debut Network. Running 93 minutes (as opposed to the 142 minute-long theatrical cut), it was a heavily modified version that remained true to Universal's then-COO
Sid Sheinberg's preferred cut of the film (which modified the dark sci-fi satire into an uplifting romance, complete with a happy ending), and was subsequently given the nickname "The Love Conquers All Cut." How this version managed to get released remains a mystery; director
Terry Gilliam said that Universal asked him to make an edited-for-television cut of the film and he refused. In an interview with the
Los Angeles Times, Gilliam sarcastically complimented Sheinberg for "[getting] a chance to break into TV," but was angry that Universal didn't take his name off the TV cut and also criticized advertisements for the Debut Network premiere of Brazil which used the same critical praise that was given to his version.
[5] In an interview with Jack Matthews in an updated version of his book The Battle of Brazil, Sheinberg claimed he had no idea how his cut leaked out, and said that he wasn't the one who ordered that cut to be released.
|
January 9
|
Pat Sajak quits the daytime version of the series
Wheel of Fortune for a
CBS late night talk show while remaining host of the nighttime version. His daytime hosting role will be assumed by
Rolf Benirschke, then by
Bob Goen when Wheel switches networks from NBC to CBS that July.
|
January 15
|
Fox airs an episode of
Married... with Children called
"Her Cups Runneth Over", which would soon become the main source of
Terry Rakolta's moral boycott campaign against the show.
|
January 22
|
Super Bowl XXII from Miami's
Joe Robbie Stadium is broadcast on NBC. This would be the last outdoor Super Bowl to start earlier than 6 p.m.
Eastern Standard Time, as it started just after 5 p.m. The halftime show was titled "Be Bop Bamboozled in 3-D" and featured
Elvis Presto, played by then-
Solid Gold dancer Alex Cole, and hundreds of South Florida-area dancers and performers.
[6] Ironically, not one actual
Elvis Presley song was performed.
[7] Several scenes included computer generated 3-D images. Prior to the game,
Coca-Cola distributed
3-D glasses at retailers for viewers to use. At the onset of the halftime show, primary sponsor
Diet Coke aired the first commercial in 3-D.
Coca-Cola had originally planned to use the 3-D
Diet Coke commercial as part of the
Moonlighting season finale, which was also aired in 3-D, but withdrew plans due to the
1988 Writers Guild of America Strike.
|
January 29
|
Shining Time Station, a children's sitcom debuts on
PBS. Starring
Didi Conn,
Brian O'Connor and
Ringo Starr, the series introduces British children's television series
Thomas & Friends to America.
|
February 5
|
On the
NBC sitcom
Day by Day, six cast members from
The Brady Bunch (
Robert Reed,
Florence Henderson,
Ann B. Davis,
Maureen McCormick,
Christopher Knight, and
Mike Lookinland) reunite.
|
The first part of the four part
Western miniseries
Lonesome Dove airs on
CBS, drawing a huge viewing audience, earning numerous awards, and reviving both the television Western and the miniseries.
|
February 9
|
The second edition of the
World Wrestling Federation's
prime-time series
The Main Event airs on
NBC. This particular episode is most notable for
Randy Savage
turning on his
tag team partner,
Hulk Hogan and thus, setting up their match for Savage's
WWF World Heavyweight Championship at
WrestleMania V on April 2. The live broadcast of The Main Event would draw an 11.6 rating and 19.9 million viewers.
[8]
|
February 20
|
Jane Wyman, an actress on the
CBS drama series
Falcon Crest, is rushed to the hospital, after suffering from diabetes and a liver ailment.
|
Charlie O'Donnell returned to Wheel of Fortune as the announcer, following a nine-year absence.
|
February 26
|
ABC broadcasts the
made-for-television film
Get Smart, Again!, which features
Don Adams and
Barbara Feldon reprising their characters of Maxwell Smart and Agent 99 from the 1965–1970
NBC/
CBS sitcom
Get Smart! The relative success of the film prompted the development of a short-lived (only seven episodes)
1995 weekly series on
Fox, also titled
Get Smart, with Adams and Feldon again reprising their characters.
|
February 27
|
CBS airs a
pilot for a proposed series called
What's Alan Watching?, starring
Corin Nemec as the titular Alan, a 17-year-old
couch potato who views life, and his family, as if they were on television. The pilot was produced by
Eddie Murphy, who also cameos in it as not only a protester decrying
James Brown's incarceration, but Brown himself. While CBS ultimately passes on making it a regular series, What's Alan Watching? did win the
Television Critics Association's
TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials.
|
March 2
|
Pepsi's controversial advertisement with
Madonna and her song "
Like a Prayer" airs during
NBC's showing of
The Cosby Show. The same ad was run on
ITV in the UK, 12 minutes into
The Bill.
|
March 10
|
The
series finale of
Webster has the eponymous character being transported to the
USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) from
Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Michael Dorn guest stars as Lt.
Worf.
|
March 13
|
The weekday version of
Yo! MTV Raps, hosted by
Ed Lover and
Doctor Dré debuts.
|
March 19
|
Return of the Jedi makes its network broadcast television premiere on
NBC.
|
The
Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 is
broadcast on
ABC. The broadcast is notable because Dr.
Jerry Punch, who was reporting from the pit stall of
Richard Petty when a fire broke out, proceeded to treat on the spot, two injured crew members. Following the incident, in which several items of Punch's clothing were singed or melted,
ESPN mandated that its pit reporters wear
fire-retardant suits. Other networks have since adopted the practice.
[9]
|
March 24
|
For the first time since 1973,
NBC reruns the 1960 telecast of
Peter Pan, with
Mary Martin in the title role. Earlier that day, two of the network's game shows,
Sale of the Century and
Super Password, aired their final episodes. The following Monday, NBC will return the noon time slot to its affiliates.
|
March 25
|
Elvis Costello
appears as the
musical guest on
Saturday Night Live. It's the first time that Costello appeared on SNL in 12 years. Costello had been temporarily
banned from appearing on SNL in 1977 after he had abruptly switched songs live against the wishes of his record company and SNL. In 1977, he had originally been scheduled to perform his debut single "
Less Than Zero", instead of "
Radio Radio", which criticized the commercialization of broadcasting.
|
March 29
|
The
61st Academy Awards ceremony is broadcast on
ABC. Despite the best
Nielsen ratings in five years, it proved to be a career disaster for producer
Allan Carr, culminating in the infamous pairing of
Snow White (played by Eileen Bowman) and
Rob Lowe singing a parody of "
Proud Mary." The telecast also included a production number featuring what was introduced as "The Stars of Tomorrow" doing a number entitled "I Wanna Be An Oscar Winner" with all the participants being actors and actresses ranging from the age group of late teens to mid-20s. Due largely to the show's opening number, and despite the show's stellar Nielsen ratings, the show became a laughing-stock and went down in history as one of the worst moments in awards show and television history. The telecast was also remembered for being the final public appearance of actress and comedian
Lucille Ball, where she and co-presenter
Bob Hope were given a standing ovation.
[10] On April 26, almost a month after the ceremony, she died from a
dissecting aortic aneurysm at age 77.
[11]
|
March 31
|
The
CBS game show
Card Sharks airs its final episode. The following Monday, it is replaced by a revival of
Now You See It.
|
April 1
|
Nickelodeon celebrates its 10th anniversary.
|
April 8
|
Mike Myers joins the cast of the
NBC series
Saturday Night Live.
|
After a ten-month hiatus,
[12]
American Bandstand reemerges on the
USA Network.
David Hirsch took over hosting duties from
Dick Clark (who remained on as executive producer) and Bandstand moved outdoors to
Universal Studios Hollywood. After 26 weeks on USA, Bandstand signed off for good on October 7, 1989, with
The Cover Girls as the final
musical guests.
|
April 30
|
CNBC,
NBC's answer to the
Financial News Network, launched (CNBC and FNN would merge two years later).
|
Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman, the second
made-for-television reunion film that featured
Lee Majors as
Steve Austin and
Lindsay Wagner as
Jaime Sommers is broadcast on
NBC. It is also notably the first television appearance of actress
Sandra Bullock and the first film which strongly featured her.
|
May 7
|
The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, the second film to be based on the
1978–1982 television series, airs on
NBC. As was the case with
The Incredible Hulk Returns and
Thor, this television movie also acted as a backdoor
television pilot for a series, in this case, for
Daredevil (
which was also not produced).
[13]
[14]
|
May 8
|
Top Gun makes its broadcast network television debut on
NBC.
|
After being out of production for over a year,
Nickelodeon's
You Can't Do that on Television resumes broadcasting new
episodes, this time with an entirely new cast save for adult actors,
Les Lye and
Abby Hagyard.
|
May 11
|
In the
series finale of the
ABC drama
Dynasty,
Blake Carrington,
Alexis Colby,
Dex Dexter, and
Fallon Carrington Colby are stuck in mortal peril.
|
NBC airs a
pilot for a proposed spin-off of
227 centered on
Jackée Harry's character Sandra Clark. The pilot however, was not picked up for a series and Jackée subsequently left 227. She would however, later guest star in seven of the final season's episodes.
|
May 14
|
NBC broadcasts the
series finale of
Family Ties followed by the network television premiere of
Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
|
May 14–25
|
SportsChannel America
airs the
first of four consecutive
Stanley Cup Finals.
|
May 18
|
Donna Mills makes her
final regular appearance as villainess
Abby Cunningham on the
CBS drama
Knots Landing.
|
May 20
|
Original
Saturday Night Live cast member,
Gilda Radner succumbs to
ovarian cancer at the age of 42. News of Radner's death broke as
Steve Martin was rehearsing to act as the guest host for that night's
season finale of SNL. Martin's planned opening monologue was scrapped; in its place a visibly upset Martin introduced a video clip of a 1978 sketch in which he and Radner had parodied
Fred Astaire and
Cyd Charisse in a well-known dance routine from
The Band Wagon (1953).
[15] After the clip, Martin said it reminded him of "how great she was and of how young I looked. Gilda, we miss you."
|
May 21
|
The two-hour long
series finale of
Miami Vice airs on
NBC. There would however be three "
lost episodes" that would be broadcast on NBC over the course of June 1989. A fourth and final "lost episode" entitled "Too Much, Too Late" was instead first broadcast on the
USA Network in January 1990, due to its graphic content and a plot vividly involving
child molestation.
|
June 3
|
Vin Scully does the play-by-play for the
NBC
Game of the Week in
St. Louis, where the
Cardinals beat the
Chicago Cubs in 10 innings. Meanwhile, the
Los Angeles Dodgers are playing a series in
Houston, where Scully flies to be on hand to call the Sunday game of the series. However, the Saturday night game between the teams is going into extra innings when Scully arrives in town, so he goes to the Astrodome instead of his hotel. He picks up the play-by-play, helping to relieve the other
Dodger announcers, who are doing both television and radio, and broadcasts the final 13 innings (after already calling 10 innings in St. Louis), as the game went 22 innings. He broadcast 23 innings in one day in two different cities.
|
June 5
|
For the start of
1989 NBA Finals,
[16]
CBS completely revamps their opening montage for their
NBA broadcasts. The
computer-generated imagery (once again set in and around a virtual arena) was made to look more realistic (live-action footage was incorporated in the backdrops). Also, the familiar theme music (an uptempo series of four notes and three
bars composed by Allyson Bellink since the
1983 NBA Finals) each was rearranged
[17] to sound more intricate and to have a more emotional impact, along the lines of the network's later
World Series coverage. Between the 1989 NBA Finals and the
1990 NBA Finals' intros, the theme music was slightly revised; the 1989 Finals intro incorporated more of a guitar riff, while the 1990 Finals intro featured a little more usage of trumpets.
|
June 8
|
After broadcasting
Major League Baseball games on
Monday nights since
1976,
ABC launches eight weeks worth of
games on
Thursday nights, beginning with coverage of the
New York Mets against the
Chicago Cubs and the
San Diego Padres against the
Houston Astros.
|
July 1
|
In
Rochester, New York,
NBC affiliate
WROC-TV and
CBS affiliate
WHEC-TV swap affiliations. NBC cites WROC-TV's struggling news ratings as the reason for the switch.
[18]
|
July 4
|
CBS airs the
pilot for a
proposed adaptation of the 1988 film
Coming to America as an installment for the
Summer Showcase
anthology series.
|
July 5
|
The
pilot episode of
Seinfeld airs on
NBC.
|
July 7
|
CBS airs an unsold
pilot for a proposed sitcom based on the 1987 film
Adventures in Babysitting.
|
July 11
|
Former
President of the United States
Ronald Reagan joins
NBC's
Vin Scully on commentary for the 1st inning of the
Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
|
July 14
|
Full House premieres on
Seven Network in Australia.
|
The
CBS game show
Now You See It, which had suffered from constant preemptions by network affiliates, airs its final episode. The following Monday,
Wheel of Fortune, which had been cancelled by
NBC on June 30, takes its place.
|
July 17
|
"
Shades of Gray", which is the
second season finale for
Star Trek: The Next Generation, is broadcast in
syndication. The episode is notable for being the only time that the series produced what constituted a
clip show. This was done as a means of meeting a budget shortfall at season's end due to prior episodes that had cost overruns. The episode also marked the final appearance of the character Dr.
Katherine Pulaski (portrayed by
Diana Muldaur) and the original Type A
TNG Starfleet uniforms, which were introduced in
Season 1.
|
July 18
|
My Sister Sam star
Rebecca Schaeffer is shot and killed by
Robert John Bardo, an obsessed fan who had been stalking her.
|
August 14
|
Cliff and Nina Warner marry one another for the fourth (and seemingly final) time on the
ABC soap opera
All My Children, a record that has not been matched for soap operas.
|
August 23
|
One year after acquiring the rights to broadcast the
1992 Winter Olympics from
Albertville, France,
CBS also wins the rights to broadcast the
1994 Winter Olympics from
Lillehammer, Norway after bidding $300 million.
|
August 24
|
In a press conference that is carried live on
CNN and
ESPN,
Major League Baseball
commissioner
A. Bartlett Giamatti states that to preserve the integrity of the game of baseball,
Pete Rose is
banned from the game for life for gambling on baseball. One week after the announcement, Giamatti would die of a massive
heart attack at the age of 51.
|
August 27
|
The
television film
L.A. Takedown airs on
NBC. Originally filmed as an unsuccessful pilot for a television series, producer and screenwriter
Michael Mann would later use L.A. Takedown as the basis for the 1995 film
Heat.
|
September 1
|
WUTV in
Buffalo officially dropped its
Fox affiliation, and moved its Fox affiliation over to
WNYB-TV. This was because it was disappointed with the network's weak prime time programming offerings.
[19]
|
September 4
|
The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! by
DIC Entertainment brought to life the popular video game series
Super Mario Bros.. Featuring live action and animated sequences, the show starred
Captain Lou Albano as Mario and
Danny Wells as Luigi.
|
The Family Channel debuts its children programming block Fun Town.
|
Wheel of Fortune introduced a new Bonus Round which contestants can choose from one of five envelopes (which spelled out WHEEL) that contained either $25,000 cash or other prizes. The format's final episode was on October 19, 2001.
|
September 8
|
The Legend of Zelda animated series begins on television as part of
The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! and is shown on Fridays. The series has been panned by many fans of the
Zelda franchise including the story writing, over the top acting, repeated plots and Link's trademark catchphrase "Excuse me, Princess!".
|
September 16
|
A
pilot for a proposed
X-Men
animated series is first broadcast in
syndication. It would take another three years before an
X-Men series would be fully realized.
|
September 22
|
ABC debuts
TGIF from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., a new programming block for Friday nights with four shows (
Full House,
Family Matters,
Perfect Strangers, and
Just the Ten of Us), it also includes interstitial hosts. This block would become a
ratings hit throughout the 1990s, lasting until
2000.
|
September 24
|
NBC broadcasts
Saturday Night Live's
15th anniversary special.
|
September 30
|
NBC broadcasts its final
Major League Baseball Game of the Week (before the program is transferred to
CBS). NBC had broadcast the Game of the Week since
1957 and exclusively since
1966.
Bob Costas and
Tony Kubek called the action from Toronto's
SkyDome, as the
Toronto Blue Jays defeated the
Baltimore Orioles to clinch the
American League Eastern Division title.
|
October 1
|
NBC affiliate
KPOM-TV (now KFTA-TV) in
Fort Smith, Arkansas signs-on full-time satellite
KFAA-TV (now KNWA-TV) in
Rogers to solve transmission problems resulting from its status as an UHF station in a mountainous area. (KFTA-TV will disaffiliate from NBC and join
Fox in 2006.)
|
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom makes its network broadcast television debut on
ABC.
|
October 6
|
Jane Wyman's medical leave due to her diabetes and liver ailment is written into
Falcon Crest, when her character,
Angela Channing, is put in a coma.
|
October 9
|
The
San Francisco Giants defeat the
Chicago Cubs in Game 5 of the
National League Championship Series to go to the
World Series for the first time since
1962. This was also NBC's final
Major League Baseball
telecast (with
Vin Scully and
Tom Seaver on the call), having broadcast the sport in some shape or form since
1947. As previously mentioned, the primary network TV package was moving to
CBS beginning in
1990. NBC wouldn't broadcast baseball again until the
1994 All-Star Game.
|
October 17
|
Four minutes into
ABC's broadcast of Game 3 of the
World Series, the
Lome Prieta earthquake occurred, forcing a ten-day delay of the series. As a consequence of the Loma Prieta earthquake,
ABC aired repeat episodes of
Roseanne and
The Wonder Years amid the initial uncertainty as to whether Game 3 would take place as scheduled; an extended
ABC News Special Report – anchored by
Ted Koppel from the news division's
Washington, D.C. bureau, with
Al Michaels (who served as the play-by-play commentator for ABC's World Series coverage that year alongside
Jim Palmer and
Tim McCarver) acting as a de facto reporter – on the earthquake's immediate aftermath followed those two programs.
|
October 19–23
|
Contestant Diane Landry won an accumulated $129,370 cash & prizes over three episodes of air in
Wheel of Fortune, which at the time set an all-time winnings record for the show. At the time, the backdrop chyron displays in only five digits due to a game show winnings cap, and host
Pat Sajak taped a "$1" cardboard next to the display to accommodate the new total. This scene has been featured in various clip shows videos.
|
October 26
|
WSNR-TV, an
independent station launches on the air in
Syracuse, New York.
|
October 27
|
Jane Pauley announces that she will be stepping down as co-anchor of NBC's
Today (after 13 years on the air) at the end of the year (with Pauley's last day being on December 29). Today's news reader
Deborah Norville is immediately announced as Pauley's successor.
|
October 28
|
The
World Series finally concludes with the
Oakland Athletics sweeping the
San Francisco Giants in four games. This would be
ABC's final baseball telecast, having covered the sport consecutively since
1976. Like
NBC, ABC would lose their baseball package completely to
CBS beginning in
1990. ABC would next broadcast Major League Baseball in
1994, when they formed a joint-venture with Major League Baseball and NBC called
The Baseball Network.
|
November 4
|
The
NBA on TNT debuts.
|
November 7
|
An
episode of the
ABC drama
Thirtysomething generates a great deal of controversy because it depicts two men in bed together after having had sex. Even though the actors were forbidden to touch each other while in bed together, the controversy proves too much for a number of advertisers, who pull their commercials from the episode. ABC ultimately withdraws the episode from rotation for rebroadcast.
|
November 9
|
The
National Basketball Association
[20]
[21] and
NBC
[22] reaches an agreement on a four-year, US$600 million contract
[23] (beginning in the
1990–1991 season), ending
CBS' tenure with the NBA after 17 years.
|
November 10
|
Sesame Street celebrates its 20th anniversary.
|
November 15
|
The Comedy Channel debuts (it will become
Comedy Central two years later).
|
November 16
|
Michael Jackson makes a surprise appearance on
The Arsenio Hall Show during
Hall's interview with
Eddie Murphy.
|
December 2
|
Family Matters premieres in New Zealand on the new established television channel
TV3 three months after its U.S. television debut.
|
Disney purchases
Los Angeles
independent station KHJ-TV from
RKO General, and renames it to
KCAL-TV.
|
The
258th and final original episode of
The Smurfs airs on
NBC.
|
December 15
|
Steve Urkel makes his
first appearance on
Family Matters.
|
December 17
|
Fox broadcasts the series premiere of
The Simpsons, "
Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", which also acts as a Christmas special. The new series is a spin-off of a series of animated sketches that had previously aired on
The Tracey Ullman Show. The series proves to be an early hit for Fox, scoring the network's first
Nielsen top 30 entry.
[24]
|
December 18
|
A seldom-seen
1956
Christmas special episode of
I Love Lucy is re-broadcast by
CBS.
|