1983 in American television: Difference between revisions

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
MegX (talk | contribs)
39,750 edits
m lnk
→‎Events: Added missing content
Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit
 
(782 intermediate revisions by more than 100 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{short description|Television-related events in the USA during 1983}}
{{Year nav topic2|1983|television|radio|film}}<!--no space 1983-->
{{USTV year|1983}}<!--no space 1983-->
The year '''1983 in television''' involved some significant events.
Below is a list of [[television]]-related events in [[1983]].


The year '''1983 in television''' involved some significant events.
''For the [[United States|American]] TV schedule, see: [[1983-84 United States network television schedule]].''


==Events==
==Events==
{| class="wikitable"
*[[January 3]] - [[Plinko]] is added as a Pricing Game on ''[[The Price Is Right (U.S. game show)|The Price Is Right]]''; it will become one of the most popular of all the show's games. Also on this date, 3 new [[game shows]] debut on rival NBC: ''[[Sale of the Century|$ale Of The Century]], [[Just Men!]]'' and ''[[Hit Man]]''.
|- bgcolor="#CCCCCC"
*[[February 8]] - ''[[Minipops]]'' premieres on [[Channel 4]] in the [[United Kingdom|UK]]. Though a ratings success, it is canceled after the first series due to heavy media criticism.
! Date || Event
*[[February 23]] - After months of "will she or won't she?" drama, [[Deirdre Barlow]] ([[Anne Kirkbride]]) makes the choice to break up with Mike Baldwin ([[Johnny Briggs (actor)|Johnny Briggs]]) and reunite with her estranged husband [[Ken Barlow|Ken]] ([[William Roache]]) on ''[[Coronation Street]]''. The episode was one of the highest-rated in the serial's history.
|-
*[[February 28]] - Over 125 million Americans tune in to watch the 251st and final episode of ''[[M*A*S*H (TV series)|M*A*S*H]]'' on [[CBS]], "[[Goodbye, Farewell and Amen]]."
|January 1
* [[March 6]]- [[Country Music Television]] (CMT) launches in the United States.
|After episode 410 of ''[[Soul Train]]'' was broadcast this day, the series goes on hiatus for [[Don Cornelius]]'s brain surgery. Original episodes return on April 30 after Cornelius returns from his convalescence.
*[[March 7]] - [[The Nashville Network]] (TNN) (later [[Spike TV]]) begins broadcasting.
|-
*[[March 19]] - US First Lady [[Nancy Reagan]] makes a special appearance on an episode of ''[[Diff'rent Strokes]]'', launching her [[Just Say No]] anti-drug campaign.
|January 3
*[[April 18]] - [[Disney Channel|The Disney Channel]] is launched on American cable TV.
|[[List of The Price Is Right pricing games#Plinko|Plinko]] is added as a pricing game on the [[CBS]] game show ''[[The Price Is Right (American game show)|The Price Is Right]]''; it will go on to become one of the most popular of the show's games. Also on this date, three new [[game show]]s debut on rival [[NBC]]: ''[[Sale of the Century|$ale of the Century]]'', ''[[Just Men!]]'' and ''[[Hit Man (game show)|Hit Man]]''. The two latter shows will leave the air after 13 weeks, whereas ''$ale'' (a revival of the hit NBC game show of the late 1960s-early 1970's) will go on to have a six-year run.
*[[April 19]] - Mini-Series ''[[The Dismissal]]'', about 1975 sacking of Australian Prime Minister [[Gough Whitlam]], airs on Network 0-10 (Ten) Australia.
|-
*[[April 30]] - Australia's current affairs show ''[[Four Corners (TV program)|Four Corners]]'' airs "The Big League"—a story which contains serious allegations against NSW Premier [[Neville Wran]].
|January 8
*[[May 6]] - A fire at Southfork threatens the lives of the Ewings on the season finale of ''[[Dallas (TV series)|Dallas]]''.
|The [[1982–83 NFL playoffs|NFL playoffs]] begin on [[NFL on CBS|CBS]] and [[NFL on NBC|NBC]], who televised the [[National Football Conference|NFC]] and [[American Football Conference|AFC]] playoff games respectively. Because a [[National Football League Players Association#1982 strike|players' strike]] reduced the regular season from 16 to only 9 games, the [[National Football League]] created a special 16-team playoff format (dubbed the "[[Super Bowl XVII|Super Bowl Tournament]]", where division standings were ignored and eight teams from each conference were seeded 1–8 based on their regular season records), just for this year. As a further consequence of the strike, this marked the first (and currently only) time that [[NFL playoffs|NFL playoff]] games were regionally televised across the United States instead of nationwide.
*[[May 11]] - [[Peter Adamson]] makes his last appearance as [[Len Fairclough]] on ''[[Coronation Street]]''.
|-
*[[May 16]] - [[Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever]] airs on [[NBC]].
|January 10
*[[August 4]] - On NBC, the cast of ''[[Search for Tomorrow]]'' is forced to do a live show for the first time since the program moved to videotape in [[1967]]; both the regular transmission tape and a backup were lost, something that was disputed by outside sources after the fact.
|Canada and the United States launch the television series ''[[Fraggle Rock|Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock]]'', an educational co-production advocating tolerance.<ref>{{cite book | last = McNeil | first = Alex | title = Total television : a comprehensive guide to programming from 1948 to the present | publisher = Penguin Books | location = New York, N.Y., U.S.A | year = 1991 | isbn = 9780140157369 | page=275}}</ref>
*[[August 16]] - [[ITV]] broadcasts ''Woodentop'' as part of its ''Storyboard'' series. It would later be turned into a series and re-titled ''[[The Bill]]''.
|-
*[[August 23]] - Colour television was introduced in [[Romania]].
|January 30
*[[September 5]]
|The [[The A-Team (season 1)|first regular episode]] for ''[[The A-Team]]'' airs [[List of Super Bowl lead-out programs|after]] [[NBC]]'s [[NFL on NBC|coverage]] of [[Super Bowl XVII]].
**The half-hour ''[[Robert MacNeil Report]]'' changes its name to the ''MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour'', becoming the first American hour-long network [[news]] show.
|-
**[[Tom Brokaw]] becomes the sole head anchor of the ''[[NBC Nightly News]]'', ending a 17 month stint co-anchoring the broadcast with [[Roger Mudd]].
|February 5
*[[September 6]] - [[ITV]] broadcasts ''Killer''. It would be later be turned into a series and re-titled ''[[Taggart]]''.
|The first part of a special two-part [[List of Diff'rent Strokes episodes|episode]] of ''[[Diff'rent Strokes]]'' called "[[The Bicycle Man]]", in which Arnold and Dudley encounter a [[Pedophilia|pedophile]] (played by [[Gordon Jump]]), is broadcast on [[NBC]]. It is notable for starting the trend of [[very special episode]]s.
*[[September 29]] - ''[[Return to Eden (television)|Return to Eden]]'' mini-series premiere in [[Australia]] on [[Network Ten|0-10 Network]].
|-
*[[October 3]] - During a live [[NBC]] news update, anchor [[Jessica Savitch]] appears incoherent; her speech is slurred and she deviates from her copy and ad-libs her report. Miss Savitch, dogged by rumors of drug abuse and instability, still has her contract renewed anyway.
|February 6–13
*[[October 10]] - ''[[Adam (TV movie)|Adam]]'', a TV-movie about the mysterious disappearance of [[Adam Walsh]], airs on NBC.
|[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] broadcasts the epic miniseries ''[[The Winds of War (miniseries)|The Winds of War]]'', based on the [[The Winds of War|novel]] by [[Herman Wouk]]. It is seen in part or in total by 140 million viewers, making it the most watched miniseries at the time.
*[[October 12]] - [[Doris Speed]] makes her last appearance as [[Annie Walker]] on ''Coronation Street''.
|-
*[[November 20]] - An estimated 100 million people watch the controversial made-for-[[television]] movie ''[[The Day After]]'', depicting the start of a [[nuclear war]].
|February 13
*November 23 - 20th anniversary of the first broadcast of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' in the UK.
|[[Marvin Gaye]] performs a soulful rendition of "[[The Star-Spangled Banner]]" at the [[1983 NBA All-Star Game|NBA All-Star Game]] at [[The Forum (Inglewood, California)|The Forum]] in Los Angeles. [[VH1]] would later use it as the first very first video when they premiered on January 1, 1985. And when [[NBA on CBS|CBS]] broadcast their final NBA telecast at the end of the [[1990 NBA Finals]], they played Gaye's 1983 rendition of the anthem during the closing credits.
*[[November 24]] - This day's episode of ''[[Sesame Street]]'' confronts the sensitive issue of death when [[Big Bird]] learns to grasp the concept as it relates to his late friend, [[Mr. Hooper]].
|-
*[[David Canary]] first premieres on ''[[All My Children]]''.
|February 20
*[[Pam Long]]'s scripts first air on ''[[Guiding Light]]''.
|An extended cut of ''[[Star Trek: The Motion Picture]]'' premieres on the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]].<ref>{{cite news|author=Carmody, John|date=February 1, 1983|title=The TV Column|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|page=D9}}</ref> It added roughly 12&nbsp;minutes to the film. The added footage was largely unfinished, and cobbled together for the network premiere; director [[Robert Wise]] hadn't wanted some of the footage to be included in the final cut of the film.<ref name="toronto sun-directors">{{cite news|author=Kirkland, Bruce|date=November 6, 2001|title=Trek director Waxes Wise on new DVD|newspaper=[[Toronto Sun]]|page=46}}</ref> This version was released on VHS and LaserDisc by [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]] in 1983.<ref>{{cite news |editor-last=Turner |editor-first=Winford |date=June 12, 1983 |title=Gift for his VCR|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MBQsAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA67 |newspaper=[[TimesDaily]] |publisher=[[The New York Times Company]] |location=[[Florence, Alabama|Florence]], Alabama |volume=114 |issue=163 |page=43}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.blam1.com/StarTrek/LV8858-2A.htm |date=September 27, 2003 |title=Star Trek: The Motion Picture — Special Longer Version |website=Star Trek: The LaserDisc Site |publisher=Blam Entertainment Group |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305210703/http://blam1.com/startrek/lv8858-2a.htm |archive-date=March 5, 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
*[[Frank Reynolds]] of [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]'s ''[[ABC World News Tonight|World News Tonight]]'' dies, leaving co-anchor [[Peter Jennings]] as the newscast's sole head anchor.
|-
*[[NBC]]'s fall slate is perhaps the least successful in history: all nine of its new fall series (''[[Manimal]], [[Jennifer Slept Here]], [[We Got it Made]], [[Mr. Smith (TV series)|Mr. Smith]], [[Bay City Blues]], [[The Yellow Rose]], [[Boone]], [[For Love and Honor]]'', and ''[[The Rousters]]'') will be gone within one year or less.
|February 21
|[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] airs a [[Television film|made-for-television]] [[Biographical film|biographical]] [[Grace Kelly (film)|film]] about the life of [[Grace Kelly|Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco]], starring [[Cheryl Ladd]]. The producers would claim that Princess Grace assisted for several weeks with the films preproduction before her unexpected death in September 1982.<ref name=nytimes>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/02/21/arts/tv-movie-grace-kelly.html|title=Tv Movie: Grace Kelly|first=John J.|last=O'Connor|work=The New York Times |date=February 21, 1983|via=NYTimes.com}}</ref>
|-
|February 23
|[[PBS]] broadcasts ''The Operation'', a live telecast of an actual open-heart surgery.
|-
|February 28
|More than 125 million Americans watch the 251st and final [[List of M*A*S*H episodes|episode]] of ''[[M*A*S*H (TV series)|M*A*S*H]]'' on [[CBS]], "[[Goodbye, Farewell and Amen]]". It would be the most viewed TV broadcast in U.S. history until [[Super Bowl XLIV]] in February 2010.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/03/arts/finale-of-m-a-s-h-draws-record-number-of-viewers.html|work=The New York Times|title=Finale Of M*A*S*H Draws Record Number Of Viewers|date=March 3, 1983}}</ref>
|-
|March 3
|[[WYFF|WFBC-TV]], [[List of NBC television affiliates (by U.S. state)|NBC affiliate]] in [[Greenville, South Carolina|Greenville]], changes its call sign to WYFF.
|-
|rowspan="2"|March 6
|[[Country Music Television]] (CMT) begins in the United States.
|-
|The first televised [[United States Football League|USFL]] football game ([[Los Angeles Express (USFL)|Los Angeles Express]] vs. [[New Jersey Generals]]) is broadcast by [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]. The Express would ultimately win the game, 20–15.
|-
|March 7
|[[The Nashville Network]] (TNN) (known later as The National Network and Spike TV; now known as [[Paramount Network]]) begins broadcasting.
|-
|March 10
|[[MTV]] broadcasts the video of [[Michael Jackson]]'s song "[[Billie Jean]]" for the first time. The video is the first by a black artist to gain great airplay on MTV, and is credited with helping the album ''[[Thriller (Michael Jackson album)|Thriller]]'', in which the song is included, become the best-selling album of all time.
|-
|March 18
|[[CBS]] broadcasts ''Still the Beaver'', a two-hour [[television movie]] which reintroduces the adult actors, reprising their child characters, from the original 1957–1963 sitcom ''[[Leave It to Beaver]]''. This would be followed by a new TV series which was also called ''Still the Beaver'' that would air on [[Disney Channel|The Disney Channel]] for the 1984–85 season. Beginning in the 1986–87 season, the series, now named ''[[The New Leave It to Beaver]]'', would air on [[TBS (American TV channel)|WTBS]], where it would remain until its conclusion in 1989.
|-
|March 19
|[[First Lady of the United States|US First Lady]] [[Nancy Reagan]] makes a special appearance on an episode of the [[NBC]] comedy ''[[Diff'rent Strokes]]'', beginning her [[Just Say No]] anti-drug campaign.
|-
|March 20
|[[NBC]] broadcasts the TV movie ''[[Special Bulletin]]'', a fictional—yet realistic—depiction of a TV network's coverage of a [[nuclear terrorism]] threat in [[Charleston, South Carolina]]. The movie is an early collaboration between [[Edward Zwick]] (who directed) and [[Marshall Herskovitz]] (who wrote the teleplay); both men would create and produce ''[[Thirtysomething (TV series)|thirtysomething]]'' later in the 1980s.
|-
|rowspan="2"|April 4
|''[[Archie Bunker's Place]]'' broadcasts its last original episode as [[CBS]] cancels the series after four seasons (and without a proper series finale), ending [[Carroll O'Connor]]'s run as [[Archie Bunker]], which began during 1971 with ''[[All in the Family]]''.
|-
|''[[Live with Kelly and Ryan|The Morning Show]]'', hosted by [[Regis Philbin]] and [[Cyndy Garvey]], premieres locally on [[WABC-TV|WABC]] in [[New York City]]. The show would eventually make its move to national [[Broadcast syndication|syndication]] in 1988 with Philbin and [[Kathie Lee Gifford]] as his co-host.
|-
|April 7
|[[Major League Baseball]] agrees to terms with [[Major League Baseball on ABC|ABC]] and [[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]] on a six-year television package, worth [[United States dollar|$]]1.2 billion. The two networks would continue to alternate coverage of the [[League Championship Series|playoffs]] (ABC in even-numbered years and NBC in odd-numbered years), [[World Series]] (ABC would televise the World Series in odd-numbered years and NBC in even-numbered years) and [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star Game]] (ABC would televise the All-Star Game in even-numbered years and NBC in odd-numbered years) through the 1989 season, with each of the 26 clubs receiving $7 million per year in return (even if no fans showed up). This was a substantial increase over the last package, in which each club was being paid $1.9 million per year. ABC contributed $575 million for the rights to televise prime time and Sunday afternoon regular season games and NBC paid $550 million for the rights to broadcast 30 Saturday afternoon games.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.sport.baseball/LggiwRuN2r4 |title=Searchable Network TV Broadcasts - NBC Sports (1980s) |website=rec.sport.baseball }}</ref>
|-
|April 9
|[[Vin Scully]] makes his debut as [[NBC Sports|NBC]]'s new lead play-by-play announcer for their [[Major League Baseball on NBC|Major League Baseball telecasts]] (a role that he would maintain through the [[1989 Major League Baseball season|1989 season]]). Scully's first broadcast for NBC is a game between the [[1983 Montreal Expos season|Montreal Expos]] and [[1983 Los Angeles Dodgers season|Los Angeles Dodgers]], where the Expos would defeat the Dodgers 7-2.
|-
|April 12
|[[David Canary]] makes his first appearance on the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] soap opera ''[[All My Children]]''.
|-
|April 18
|[[Disney Channel]] is initiated on American cable TV. The first show televised is ''[[Good Morning, Mickey!]]''
|-
|April 21
|[[WTWC-TV]] in [[Tallahassee, Florida]] signs on, giving the Tallahassee market its first full-time [[NBC]] affiliate.
|-
|May 1-2
|''[[V (1983 miniseries)|V]]'' is broadcast by [[NBC]]. The [[V_(1984_TV_series)#Episodes|first episode]] is viewed by 40% of TV viewers.<ref>Bedell, Sally (May 4, 1983). "'V' SERIES AN NBC HIT". The New York Times. p. 27. Retrieved May 14, 2011</ref>
|-
|rowspan="2"|May 6
|A fire at Southfork threatens the lives of the Ewings on the [[Dallas (1978 TV series, season 6)|season finale]] of the [[CBS]] drama series ''[[Dallas (1978 TV series)|Dallas]]''.
|-
|[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] airs the broadcast network television premiere of ''[[The Shining (film)|The Shining]]''.
|-
|May 16
|The concert special ''[[Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever]]'' is broadcast by [[NBC]]; [[Michael Jackson]], after a performance with [[The Jackson Five]], provides the centerpiece highlight by performing, to "Billie Jean", his "[[moonwalk (dance)|moonwalk]]" dance for the first time on television.
|-
|May 22
|[[CBS Sports|CBS]] introduces a new theme music (composed by Allyson Bellink and mostly consisting of an uptempo series of four notes and three [[Bar (music)|bars]] each) for their coverage of the [[NBA on CBS|NBA]]. It uses a primitive-computer generated introduction (created by Bill Feigenbaum) of the NBA arenas (similar to the [[Boston Garden]]) until the [[1989 NBA Playoffs|1989 Playoffs]] and later revived the second theme beginning in the [[1989 NBA Finals|1989 Finals]].<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVkpNRvpu_M NBA on CBS]</ref>
|-
|May 29
|[[WLOV-TV|WVSB-TV]] in [[West Point, Mississippi]] signs on, giving the [[Tupelo, Mississippi|Tupelo]] market its first full-time [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] affiliate.
|-
|June 7
|[[List of former NBC television affiliates|NBC affiliate]] in [[Miami]]/[[Fort Lauderdale, Florida|Fort Lauderdale]], WCKT-TV changes its call letters to [[WSVN]].
|-
|June 16
|[[Pope John Paul II]] arrives in his native Poland, with [[ABC News|ABC]] and [[NBC News|NBC]] broadcasting his arrival live ([[CBS]], hampered by budget reductions of its news division, broadcasts ''The Price is Right'' instead).
|-
|June 20
|[[KTKA-TV|KLDH]] (now [[KTKA-TV]]) in [[Topeka, Kansas]] signs on, giving the Topeka market its first full-time [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] affiliate.
|-
|June 23
|[[Whitney Houston]] makes her national television debut when she performs on ''[[The Merv Griffin Show]]''.
|-
|August 4
|The cast of [[NBC]]'s series ''[[Search for Tomorrow]]'' is forced to do a live show for the first time since the program began using videotape format during 1967 due to the loss of both the regular transmission tape and a backup.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://eyesofageneration.com/very-interesting-search-for-tomorrow-the-live-episode-on-august-4-1983/ |title = 'Search For Tomorrow'...The LIVE Episode! - Eyes Of A Generation...Television's Living History}}</ref>
|-
|August 10
|[[KDVR|KDVR-TV]], [[Denver]]'s first [[UHF television broadcasting|UHF station]] goes on the air.
|-
|August 12
|[[Denver]]'s [[List of former NBC television affiliates|NBC station]] KOA-TV changes its name to [[KCNC-TV]].
|-
|August 22
|In [[Fargo, North Dakota]], [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] affiliate KTHI-TV (now [[KVLY-TV]]) swaps affiliations with long-time [[NBC]] affiliate [[WDAY-TV]] and its semi-satellite in [[Grand Forks, North Dakota|Grand Forks]], [[WDAZ-TV]].
|-
|August 30
|Though the station is still regarded as profitable, [[Field Enterprises]] closes down [[WKBS-TV (Philadelphia)|WKBS-TV]]/[[Burlington, New Jersey]]-[[Philadelphia]] after failing to find a buyer.
|-
|rowspan="4"|September 5
|[[PBS]]'s series ''[[PBS NewsHour|The MacNeil/Lehrer Report]]'' becomes ''The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour'', the first American network news program to expand from a half-hour to one hour in length.
|-
|[[Tom Brokaw]] becomes the sole main anchor of the ''[[NBC Nightly News]]'', ending a 17-month stint co-anchoring the broadcast with [[Roger Mudd]].
|-
|[[Peter Jennings]] becomes sole anchorman of [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]'s newscast ''[[ABC World News Tonight|World News Tonight]]'', after the death of [[Frank Reynolds]] two months earlier.
|-
|[[Pam Long]] becomes co-main writer of the [[CBS]] soap opera ''[[Guiding Light]]''.
|-
|September 5
|During the first half of a broadcast of ''[[Monday Night Football]]'' between the [[1983 Dallas Cowboys season|Dallas Cowboys]] and [[1983 Washington Redskins season|Washington Redskins]], [[Howard Cosell]] refers to Washington wide-receiver [[Alvin Garrett]] as a "little monkey". Cosell's remarks immediately ignites a [[List of ethnic slurs#M|racial controversy]] and plays a key factor in his departure from the ''Monday Night Football'' booth following the [[1983 NFL season]].
|-
|September 8
|The comedy series ''[[We Got it Made]]'' debuts, the first new series on [[NBC]]'s autumn list to premiere—and the start of one of the least successful new autumn show rosters for a network in history, as none of the series would survive a 2nd season (the other series being ''[[Manimal]]'', ''[[Jennifer Slept Here]]'', ''[[Mr. Smith (TV series)|Mr. Smith]]'', ''[[Bay City Blues]]'', ''[[The Yellow Rose]]'', ''Boone'', ''For Love and Honor'' and ''[[The Rousters]]'').
|-
|September 12
|The animated ''[[G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (1985 TV series)|G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero]]'' mini-series based on the toys of the same name debuts in syndication. Another miniseries airs the following year, with an ongoing show premiering in 1985.
|-
|rowspan="3"|September 17
|The [[Peanuts]] gang get their very own Saturday morning cartoon series with ''[[The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show]]'' on [[CBS]]. Earlier that year, said network cancelled their epynous prime time show ''Peanuts'' because it had run its course and already outdated. (The prime time series was given a proper finale in 1981.)
|-
|''[[Alvin and the Chipmunks (1983 TV series)|Alvin and the Chipmunks]]'' premieres on [[NBC]].
|-
|[[Vanessa L. Williams|Vanessa Williams]] is crowned [[Miss America]] in a nationally televised [[Miss America 1984|event]] on [[NBC]]. Williams became the first African American woman to win the title.
|-
|September 18
|The band [[Kiss (band)|Kiss]] officially appears in public without make-up for the first time since its very early days on a appearance on [[MTV]], which coincided with the release of ''[[Lick It Up]]''.<ref>Lendt, ''Kiss and Sell'', p. 289.</ref>
|-
|rowspan="2"|September 19
|The nighttime syndicated edition of the NBC daytime game show ''[[Wheel of Fortune (American game show)|Wheel of Fortune]]'' premieres. The show is only picked up by 59 markets and is shut out of the top 3 markets. However, by late 1984, the show will overtake ''[[Family Feud]]'' as the number one show in syndication. Family Feud surpassed Wheel Of Fortune as the most watched show in syndication in June of 2015. It has continued to be in the top three shows in syndication through 2024.
|-
|''[[Press Your Luck]]'' premieres on [[CBS]]; the game show would end its run on September 26, 1986.
|-
|September 25
|[[WPVI]] newscaster Jim O'Brien is killed in a skydiving accident in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania at age 43.
|-
|September 27–29
|[[NBC]] broadcasts ''Live... and in Person'', a live variety special program broadcast during three nights. [[Sandy Gallin]] is host, and performers include [[Neil Diamond]], [[Liberace]], [[Linda Ronstadt]], and the cast of ''[[A Chorus Line]]''.
|-
|October 1
|[[Mr. T]] [[List of Diff'rent Strokes episodes#Season 6 (1983–84)|guest-stars]] as himself on ''[[Diff'rent Strokes]]''.
|-
|October 3
|During a live [[NBC News|NBC news]] update, anchor [[Jessica Savitch]] appears incoherent, slurring her speech, deviating from her copy and ad-libbing her report. Savitch, dogged by rumors of drug abuse and instability, still has her contract renewed, but drowns in a car accident three weeks later.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1983/10/25/nbcs-jessica-savitch-drowns-in-car-in-canal/b5f3423f-53bc-42c1-94a2-b70ef9cb230f/|title=NBC's Jessica Savitch Drowns in Car in Canal|work=[[Washington Post]]|date=25 October 1983|accessdate=18 January 2024}}</ref>
|-
|October 6
|The rock band [[R.E.M.]] made its television debut on [[NBC]]'s ''[[Late Night with David Letterman]]''.
|-
|October 9
|''[[Tiger Town]]'', the first ever television film [[List of Disney Channel original films|produced]] for the [[Disney Channel]], premieres.
|-
|October 10
|''[[Adam (TV movie)|Adam]]'', a TV-movie about the mysterious disappearance of [[Murder of Adam Walsh|Adam Walsh]], makes its world premiere on [[NBC]]. The broadcast ends with a series of missing children's photographs and descriptions, along with a telephone number viewers could call to provide information on their disappearances.
|-
|October 30
|[[Mackenzie Phillips]] makes her [[List of One Day at a Time episodes#Season 9 (1983–84)|final appearance]] as Julie Cooper Horvath on ''[[One Day at a Time (1975 TV series)|One Day at a Time]]''.
|-
|November 20
|An estimated 100 million people watched the controversial made-for-TV movie ''[[The Day After]]'' on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]], depicting the start of a [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear war]].
|-
|rowspan="2"|November 24
|''[[Sesame Street]]'' on [[PBS]] dealt with the sensitive issue of death when [[Big Bird]] learns the concept as it relates to his late friend, [[Mr. Hooper]] ([[Will Lee]], the actor who played Mr. Hooper, died of a heart attack in November 1982).
|-
|[[Jim Crockett Promotions]] produces the [[Starrcade (1983)|inaugural]] [[Starrcade]] event on [[closed-circuit television]] around the [[Southern United States]]. Predating the World Wrestling Federation's (later [[WWE]]) [[WrestleMania I|first]] [[WrestleMania]] event by two years, Starrcade would soon become Jim Crockett Promotions and later [[World Championship Wrestling]]'s premier, flagship event.
|-
|November 29
|[[List of ABC television affiliates (by U.S. state)|ABC's affiliate]] in [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]], WNGE-TV, changes its call sign to [[WKRN-TV]] after being sold by [[General Electric]] to [[Knight Ridder]].
|-
|December 2
|The epic (nearly 14 minutes) [[music video]] for [[Michael Jackson]]'s "[[Michael Jackson's Thriller (music video)|Thriller]]" is broadcast for the first time. It will become the most often repeated and famous music video of all time and increase Jackson's own popularity and the sales of the record album ''[[Thriller (Michael Jackson album)|Thriller]]''.
|-
|December 21
|[[Gerald Ford]], [[Betty Ford]] and [[Henry Kissinger]] make [[cameo appearance]]s on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]'s ''[[Dynasty (1981 TV series)|Dynasty]]''.<ref>[http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,308945,00.html Also Starring Gerald Ford] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090425205802/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,308945,00.html |date=2009-04-25 }}– Entertainment Weekly. Accessed 2009-07-27. 2009-07-29.</ref>
|-
|December 25
|Several networks simultaneously air the 1951 version of ''[[Scrooge (1951 film)|A Christmas Carol]]''; the combined [[Nielsen ratings|ratings]] of these broadcasts make the December 25 broadcast(s) of ''A Christmas Carol'' the most-watched television event of the year in every single media market in the states of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], [[Alabama]], [[South Carolina]], [[Tennessee]], [[Maine]], [[Ohio]], [[Utah]], [[Idaho]], [[Wyoming]], [[Indiana]] and [[Arkansas]], as well as several other media markets throughout the [[United States]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Werts |first=Diane |year=2006 |title=Christmas on Television |location=Westport, CT |publisher=Praeger Publishers |page=14 |isbn=978-0-275-98331-4}}</ref>
|}


==Debuts==
==Programs==
===Debuting this year===
*[[January 3]] - A revival of ''[[Sale of the Century]]'' based on the then-current Australian version premieres on NBC (1983–[[1989]])
{| class="wikitable sortable"
** ''[[Hit Man (game show)|Hit Man]]'' premieres for a 13 week trial with host [[Peter Tomarken]] who later hosts the [[CBS]] game show ''[[Press Your Luck]]''.
|-
* [[January 4]] - [[Children's ITV]] premieres on [[ITV]] in the [[United Kingdom|UK]]. (1983— )
! Date
* [[January 10]]- ''[[Fraggle Rock]]'', a [[Jim Henson]] production, debuts on [[HBO]] (1983–[[1987]]).
! Show
* [[January 22]] - ''[[Mama's Family]]'', based on sketches from ''[[The Carol Burnett Show]]'', debuts on NBC(1983–[[1984]], [[1986]]–[[1990]]).
! Network
* [[January 23]] - ''[[The A-Team]]'' debuts on NBC (1983–[[1987]]).
|-
* [[January 17]] - ''[[Breakfast Time]]'', Britain's first breakfast show, launches on BBC1.
|rowspan="2"| January 3
* [[February 1]] - [[TV-am]] launches, with ''[[Good Morning Britain]]''
| ''[[Hit Man (American game show)|Hit Man]]''
* [[February 5]] - ''[[The Dukes]]'', an [[animated series]] based on ''[[The Dukes of Hazzard]]'', debuts on [[CBS]] (1983–1984).
|rowspan="2"|[[NBC]]
** ''[[Kagaku Sentai Dynaman]]'' premieres on TV-Asahi (1983-[[1984]]).
|-
* [[June 15]] - The first episode of ''The Black Adder'', the first in the successful ''[[Blackadder]]'' series of sitcoms, debuts on [[BBC One]] in the [[United Kingdom|UK]].
| ''[[Just Men!]]''
* [[June 27]] - ''[[Loving (TV series)|Loving]]'' premieres on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] (1983–[[1995]]).
|-
* [[July 7]] - ''[[The Crystal Cube]]'', an early [[BBC Two]] pilot written by [[Stephen Fry]] and [[Hugh Laurie]]. However, the BBC hated it and a series was not commissioned.
| January 10
* [[July 29]] - ''[[Friday Night Videos]]'' premieres on NBC late night (1983-[[2002]]).
| ''[[Fraggle Rock]]''
* [[August 29]] - ''[[Blockbusters (UK game show)|Blockbusters]]'' premieres on [[ITV]] in the [[United Kingdom|UK]] ('''1983-93''', 1994-95, 1997, 2000-01).
|[[HBO]]
* [[September 12]] - ''[[The Phone Home Game]]'' debuts on ''The Price Is Right''.
|-
* [[September 16]] - ''[[Webster (sitcom)|Webster]]'' debuts on ABC (1983–[[1989]]).
| January 11
* [[September 18]] - ''[[Hardcastle and McCormick]]'' debuts on ABC (1983-1986)
| ''[[The Joy of Painting]]''
* [[September 19]] - The daytime game show ''[[Press Your Luck]]'' premieres on CBS (1983–1986).
|[[PBS]]
** ''[[Wheel of Fortune (American game show)|Wheel of Fortune]]'' premieres in syndication (Daytime 1975–1991; Synd. 1983— ).
|-
** ''[[Love Connection]]'' premieres with former ''[[Wheel of Fortune (daytime version, 1975-1991)|Wheel of Fortune]]'' and future ''[[Scrabble (game show)|Scrabble]]'' host [[Chuck Woolery]] and is the first video dating game show.
| January 22
* [[September 21]] - ''[[Hotel (TV series)|Hotel]]'' premieres on ABC (1983-1988)
| ''[[Mama's Family]]''
* [[September 26]] - ''[[AfterMASH]]'' debuts on CBS (1983-1984).
|rowspan="2"|[[NBC]]
* September - ''[[Australia, You're Standing in It]]'' debuts on [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]] in Australia (1983–1984).
|-
* [[October 3]] - ''[[Scarecrow and Mrs. King]]'' premieres on CBS (1983–1987).
| January 23
* ''[[Tucker's Luck]]'', a spin-off of ''[[Grange Hill (TV series)|Grange Hill]]'', premieres in the UK (1983–[[1985]]).
| ''[[The A-Team]]''
|-
| February 5
| ''[[The Dukes (TV series)|The Dukes]]''
|[[CBS]]
|-
| February 10
| ''[[Amanda's]]''
|[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
|-
| February 26
| ''[[Wizards and Warriors (TV series)|Wizards and Warriors]]''
|CBS
|-
| March 2
| ''High Performance''
|rowspan="2"|ABC
|-
| March 4
| ''[[At Ease (TV series)|At Ease]]''
|-
| March 7
| ''[[Small & Frye]]''
|CBS
|-
|rowspan="3"| March 8
| ''[[Fandango (game show)|Fandango]]''
|rowspan="3"|[[The Nashville Network|TNN]]
|-
| ''[[I 40 Paradise]]''
|-
| ''[[Nashville Now]]''
|-
| March 15
| ''[[Ace Crawford, Private Eye]]''
|CBS
|-
| April 1
| ''[[Baby Makes Five]]''
|ABC
|-
| April 2
| ''[[Goodnight, Beantown]]''
|CBS
|-
| April 6
| ''[[Zorro and Son]]''
|ABC
|-
| April 10
| ''Casablanca''
|NBC
|-
| April 15
| ''[[Bare Essence]]''
|ABC
|-
|rowspan="2"| April 18
| ''[[Good Morning, Mickey!]]''
|rowspan="2"|The Disney Channel
|-
|''[[Welcome to Pooh Corner]]''
|-
|rowspan="2"| May 31
| ''[[Star Search]]''
|Syndication
|-
| ''[[Buffalo Bill (TV series)|Buffalo Bill]]''
|NBC
|-
| June 27
| ''[[Loving (TV series)|Loving]]''
|ABC
|-
| July 11
| ''[[Reading Rainbow]]''
|PBS
|-
| July 29
| ''[[Friday Night Videos]]''
|rowspan="2"|NBC
|-
| August 8
| ''[[NBC News at Sunrise]]''
|-
| August 16
| ''Rosie''
| CBS
|-
| September 1
| ''[[Donald Duck Presents]]''
|The Disney Channel
|-
| September 5
| ''[[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe]]''
|Syndication
|-
| September 8
| ''[[We Got It Made]]''
|NBC
|-
| September 9
| ''[[Lottery!]]''
|rowspan="4"|ABC
|-
|rowspan="3"| September 10
| ''[[The Littles (TV series)|The Littles]]''
|-
| ''[[Rubik, the Amazing Cube]]''
|-
| ''[[The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show]]''
|-
| September 12
| ''[[Inspector Gadget (1983 TV series)|Inspector Gadget]]''
|Syndication
|-
| September 16
| ''[[Webster (TV series)|Webster]]''
|ABC
|-
|rowspan="7"| September 17
| ''[[Alvin and the Chipmunks (1983 TV series)|Alvin and the Chipmunks]]''
|rowspan="2"|NBC
|-
| ''[[Mister T (TV series)|Mister T]]''
|-
| ''[[Benji, Zax & the Alien Prince]]''
|rowspan="5"|CBS
|-
| ''[[The Biskitts]]''
|-
| ''[[The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show]]''
|-
| ''[[Dungeons & Dragons (TV series)|Dungeons & Dragons]]''
|-
| ''[[Saturday Supercade]]''
|-
| September 18
| ''[[Hardcastle and McCormick]]''
|ABC
|-
|rowspan="2"| September 19
| ''[[Love Connection]]''
|rowspan="2"|Syndication
|-
| ''[[Wheel of Fortune (American game show)|Wheel of Fortune]]''
|-
| September 20
| ''[[Just Our Luck]]''
|rowspan="2"|ABC
|-
| September 21
| ''[[Hotel (American TV series)|Hotel]]''
|-
| September 23
| ''[[Mr. Smith (TV series)|Mr. Smith]]''
|rowspan="2"|NBC
|-
|rowspan="2"| September 26
| ''Boone''
|-
| ''[[AfterMASH]]''
|CBS
|-
| September 27
| ''[[Oh Madeline]]''
|ABC
|-
| September 30
| ''[[Manimal]]''
|rowspan="2"|NBC
|-
|rowspan="2"| October 1
| ''[[The Rousters]]''
|-
| ''[[Cutter to Houston]]''
|CBS
|-
| October 2
| ''[[The Yellow Rose]]''
|NBC
|-
| October 3
| ''[[Scarecrow and Mrs. King]]''
|rowspan="2"|CBS
|-
| October 5
| ''[[Whiz Kids (TV series)|Whiz Kids]]''
|-
| October 15
|''[[Newton's Apple]]''
|PBS
|-
| October 17
| ''[[Sally (1983 TV series)|Sally]]''
|Syndication
|-
| October 21
| ''[[Jennifer Slept Here]]''
|rowspan="3"|NBC
|-
| October 25
| ''[[Bay City Blues]]''
|-
| October 31
| ''[[Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour]]''
|-
|rowspan="2"| December 15
| ''[[Automan]]''
|rowspan="2"|ABC
|-
| ''[[Masquerade (TV series)|Masquerade]]''
|}


===Resuming this year===
==Miniseries==
{| class="wikitable"
*''[[Kennedy (miniseries)|Kennedy]]''
|- "
*''[[The Thorn Birds]]''
! Show || Last aired || Network || Retitled as/Same || New network/Same || Return date
*''[[The Winds of War]]''
|-
*''[[V (TV series)|V (miniseries)]]''
* ''[[The Dismissal (television series)|The Dismissal]]''
|''[[Sale of the Century (American game show)|Sale of the Century]]''
|1973
* ''[[Scales of Justice (TV miniseries)|Scales of Justice]]''
|[[NBC]]
* '' Return to Eden''
|Same
* '' All The Rivers Run''
|Same
|January 3
|-
|''[[Dream House (game show)|Dream House]]''
|1970
|[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
|Same
|[[NBC]]
|rowspan="2"|April 4
|-
|''[[Battlestars (game show)|Battlestars]]''
|1981
|[[NBC]]
|''The New Battlestars''
|Same
|-
|''[[The Paper Chase (TV series)|The Paper Chase]]''
|1979
|[[CBS]]
|Same
|Showtime
|April 15
|-
|''[[Second Chance (game show)|Second Chance]]''
|1977
|[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
|''[[Press Your Luck]]''
|[[CBS]]
|September 19
|}


===Ending this year===
==Television shows==
{| class="wikitable"
===1940s===
|- bgcolor="#CCCCCC"
*''[[Meet the Press]]'' ([[1947]]— )
! Date
*''[[Candid Camera]]'' ([[1948]]— )
! Show
*''[[Come Dancing]]'' (UK) ([[1949]]–1995)
! Debut
===1950s===
|-
*''[[Truth or Consequences]]'' ([[1950]]–1988)
|February 3
*''[[Search for Tomorrow]]'' ([[1951]]–1986)
*''[[Hallmark Hall of Fame]]'' (1951— )
|''[[The Greatest American Hero]]''
|1981
*''[[American Bandstand]]'' ([[1952]]–1989)
|-
*''[[Guiding Light]]'' (1952— )
|February 28
*''[[The Today Show]]'' (1952— )
*''[[Panorama (TV series)|Panorama]]'' (UK) ([[1953]]— )
|''[[M*A*S*H (TV series)|M*A*S*H]]''
|1972
*''[[Face the Nation]]'' ([[1954]]— )
|-
*''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson]]'' ([[1962 in television|1962]]–[[1992 in television|1992]])
|March 21
*''[[Captain Kangaroo]]'' ([[1955]]–1984)
|''[[Little House on the Prairie (TV series)|Little House on the Prairie]]''
*''[[This Is Your Life]]'' (UK) (1955–[[2003]])
|1974
*''[[As the World Turns]]'' ([[1956]]— )
|-
*''[[The Edge of Night]]'' (1956–1984)
|rowspan="2"|April 1
*''[[What the Papers Say]]'' (UK) (1956— )
*''[[The Sky at Night]]'' (UK) ([[1957]]— )
|''[[Hit Man (American game show)|Hit Man]]''
|rowspan="2"|1983
*''[[Blue Peter]]'' (UK) ([[1958]]— )
|-
*''[[Grandstand (BBC)|Grandstand]]'' (UK) (1958-2007)
|''[[Just Men!]]''
|-
|April 10
|''[[Gloria (American TV series)|Gloria]]''
|1982
|-
|April 12
|''[[Ace Crawford, Private Eye]]''
|rowspan="2"|1983
|-
|April 29
|''[[Baby Makes Five]]''
|-
|May 10
|''[[Laverne & Shirley]]''
|1976
|-
|May 14
|''[[Wizards and Warriors (TV series)|Wizards and Warriors]]''
|1983
|-
|May 24
|''[[Joanie Loves Chachi]]''
|rowspan="3"|1982
|-
|May 31
|''[[Bring 'Em Back Alive (TV series)|Bring 'Em Back Alive]]''
|-
|June 1
|''[[Tales of the Gold Monkey]]''
|-
|June 6
|''[[Love, Sidney]]''
|1981
|-
|June 15
|''[[Small & Frye]]''
|1983
|-
|June 24
|''[[Second City Television|Second City Television/SCTV Network 90]]''
|1981
|-
|July 7
|''[[The Crystal Cube]]''
|1983
|-
|July 17
|''[[CHiPs]]''
|1977
|-
|July 20
|''[[Taxi (TV series)|Taxi]]''
|rowspan="2"|1978
|-
|rowspan="2"|September 5
|''[[The All New Popeye Hour]]''
|-
|''[[Quincy, M.E.]]''
|1976
|-
|September 10
|''[[Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends]]''
|1981
|-
|September 12
|''[[Square Pegs]]''
|1982
|-
|September 18
|''[[Father Murphy]]''
|1981
|-
|September 21
|''[[Archie Bunker's Place]]''
|1979
|-
|September 24
|''[[Walt Disney anthology series]]'' (returned in 1986)
|1954
|-
|October 8
|''[[The Incredible Hulk (1982 TV series)|The Incredible Hulk]]''
|1982
|-
|October 29
|''[[The Dukes (TV series)|The Dukes]]''
|1983
|-
|November 5
|''[[Pac-Man (TV series)|Pac-Man]]''
|1982
|-
|November 15
|''[[Bay City Blues]]''
|rowspan="3"|1983
|-
|December 16
|''[[Mr. Smith (TV series)|Mr. Smith]]''
|-
|December 27
|''[[Just Our Luck]]''
|}


===1960s===
===Changing networks===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
*''[[Coronation Street]]'' (UK) ([[1960]]— )
|-
* ''[[Four Corners (TV program)|Four Corners]]'' ([[Australia]]) ([[1961]]-).
! Show
*''[[It's Academic]]'' (1961— )
! Moved from
*''[[The Late Late Show]]'' ([[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]]) (1962-present).
! Moved to
*''[[Doctor Who]]'' (UK) ([[1963]]–1989, [[1996]], [[2005]]— )
|-
*''[[General Hospital (US TV Series)|General Hospital]]'' (1963— )
|''[[Second City Television|SCTV]]''
*''[[Another World (TV series)|Another World]]'' ([[1964]]–[[1999]])
|rowspan="2"|[[NBC]]
*''[[Crossroads (TV series)|Crossroads]]'' (UK) (1964–1988, [[2001]]–2003)
|[[Cinemax]]
*''[[Top of the Pops]]'' (UK) (1964-2006)
|-
*''[[Days of Our Lives]]'' ([[1965]]— )
*''[[World of Sport (UK TV series)|World of Sport]]'' (UK) (1965–1985)
|''[[Fame (1982 TV series)|Fame]]''
|rowspan="2"|[[Syndication (television)|Syndication]]
*''[[Play School]]'' ([[1966]]— )
|-
*''[[The Money Programme]]'' (UK) (1966— )
*''[[60 Minutes]]'' (1968— )
|''[[Too Close for Comfort]]''
|rowspan="2"|[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
*''[[One Life to Live]]'' (1968— )
|-
*''[[Hee Haw]]'' ([[1969]]–[[1993]])
|[[Second Chance (game show)|Second Chance]]
*''[[Sesame Street]]'' (1969— )
|[[CBS]]
*''[[The Benny Hill Show]]'' (UK) (1969–1989)
|-
|''[[Candid Camera]]''
|[[Syndication (television)|Syndication]]
|[[NBC]]
|-
|''[[The Paper Chase (TV series)|The Paper Chase]]''
|[[CBS]]
|[[Showtime (TV network)|Showtime]]
|}


===Made-for-TV movies and miniseries===
===1970s===
{|class="wikitable sortable"
*''[[All My Children]]'' ([[1970]]— )
|-
*''[[Monday Night Football]]'' (1970— )
! Title || Network || Premiere date
*''[[Play for Today]]'' (UK) (1970–1984)
|-
*''[[Masterpiece Theatre]]'' ([[1971]]— )
| ''[[Baby Sister (film)|Baby Sister]]''
*''[[Old Grey Whistle Test|Whistle Test]]'' (UK) (1971–1987)
| ABC
*''[[Soul Train]]'' (1971— )
| March 6
*''[[Are You Being Served?]]'' (UK) ([[1972]]–1985)
|-
*''[[Emmerdale|Emmerdale Farm]]'' (UK) (1972— )
| ''[[Kennedy (1983 miniseries)|Kennedy]]''
*''[[Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids]]'' (1972–1984)
| NBC
*''[[Newsround|John Craven's Newsround]]'' (UK) (1972— )
| November 20 (5 episodes)
*''[[The Price Is Right]]'' (1972— )
|-
*''[[Last of the Summer Wine]]'' (UK) ([[1973]]— )
| ''[[Malibu (film)|Malibu]]''
*''[[Match Game|Match Game–Hollywood Squares Hour]]'' (1962–1969, '''1973–1984''', 1990–[[1991]], [[1998]]–1999)
| ABC
*''[[Schoolhouse Rock!]]'' (1973–1986)
| January 23
*''[[Superstars (TV show)|Superstars]]'' (UK) (1973–1985, 2003–2005)
|-
*''[[The Young and the Restless]]'' (1973— )
| ''[[Packin' It In]]''
*''[[Countdown (TV series)|Countdown]]'' (Australia) ([[1974]]–1987)
| CBS
*''[[Derrick (TV series)|Derrick]]'' (1974–1998)
| February 7
*''[[Happy Days]]'' (1974–1984)
|-
*''[[The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast]]'' (1974–1984)
| ''[[Policewoman Centerfold]]''
*''[[Wish You Were Here...?]]'' (UK) (1974— )
| NBC
*''[[Arena (television)|Arena]]'' (UK) ([[1975]]— )
| October 17
*''[[Good Morning America]]'' (1975— )
|-
*''[[Jim'll Fix It]]'' (UK) (1975–[[1994]])
| ''[[The Thorn Birds (miniseries)|The Thorn Birds]]''
*''[[One Day at a Time]]'' (1975–1984)
| ABC
*''[[Ryan's Hope]]'' (1975–1989)
| March 27 (4 episodes)
*''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' (1975— )
|-
*''[[the fifth estate]]'' ([[Canada]]) (1975— )
| ''[[The Winds of War (miniseries)|The Winds of War]]''
*''[[The Jeffersons]]'' (1975–1985)
| ABC
*''[[Wheel of Fortune (US game show)|Wheel of Fortune]]'' (1975— ) which adds a nighttime [[Television syndication|syndication]] version in addition to the network daytime show
| February 6 (7 episodes)
*''[[Alice (television)|Alice]]'' ([[1976]]–1985)
|-
*''[[Family Feud]]'' (1976–1985, 1988–1995, 1999— )
| ''[[V (1983 miniseries)|V]]''
*''[[Second City Television|Second City Television (SCTV)]]'' (Canada) (1976–1984)
| NBC
*''[[The P.T.L. Club]]'' (1976–1987)
| May 1 (2 episodes)
*''[[Fantasy Island]]'' ([[1977]]–1984)
|-
*''[[The Love Boat]]'' (1977–1986)
|}
*''[[Three's Company]]'' (1977–1984)
*''[[20/20]]'' ([[1978]]— )
*''[[3-2-1]]'' (UK) (1978–1987)
*''[[Battle of the Planets]]'' (1978–1985)
*''[[Dallas (TV series)|Dallas]]'' (1978–1991)
*''[[Diff'rent Strokes]]'' (1978–1986)
*''[[Grange Hill]]'' (UK) (1978— )
*''[[Benson (television)|Benson]]'' ([[1979]]–1986)
*''[[Knots Landing]]'' (1979–1993)
*''[[Real People]]'' (1979–1984)
*''[[Tales of the Unexpected]]'' (UK) ('''1979–1985''', 1987–1988)
*''[[The Dukes of Hazzard]]'' (1979–1985)
*''[[The Facts of Life (TV series)|The Facts of Life]]'' (1979–1988)
*''[[Trapper John, M.D.]]'' (1979–1986)
*''[[You Can't Do That on Television]]'' (Canada) (1979–1990)
*''[[Antiques Roadshow]]'' (UK) (1979— )
*''[[Nightline]]'' (1979— )
*''[[This Old House]]'' (1979— )


==Networks and services==
===1980s===
===Launches===
*''[[Kingswood Country]]'' (Australia) ([[1980]]–1984)
{| class="wikitable sortable"
*''[[Magnum, P.I.]]'' (1980–1988)
! Network
*''[[Solid Gold (television series)|Solid Gold]]'' (1980–1988)
! Type
*''[[That's Incredible!]]'' (1980–1984)
! Closure date
*''[[The Other 'Arf]]'' (UK) (1980–1984)
! Notes
*''[[Too Close for Comfort (TV series)|Too Close for Comfort]]'' (1980–1986)
! Source
*''[[Dynasty (TV series)|Dynasty]]'' ([[1981]]–1989)
|-
*''[[Entertainment Tonight]]'' (1981— )
| [[Bally Sports Southwest|Home Sports Entertainment]]
*''[[Falcon Crest]]'' (1981–1990)
| Cable television
*''[[Gimme a Break!]]'' (1981–1987)
| January 4
*''[[Hill Street Blues]]'' (1981–1987)
|
*''[[Only Fools and Horses]]'' (UK) (1981–1983, 1985–1993, 1996–[[1997]], 2001–2003)
|
*''[[Simon & Simon]]'' (1981–1988)
|-
*''[[The Fall Guy]]'' (1981–1986)
| [[CMT (American TV channel)|Country Music Television]]
*''[[Today's Special]]'' (Canada) (1981–1987)
| Cable television
*''[[What Now]]'' (1982— )
| March 5
*''[[Timewatch]]'' ([[United Kingdom|UK]]) (1982— )
|
*''[[Cagney & Lacey]]'' ([[1982]]–1988)
|
*''[[Capitol (TV series)|Capitol]]'' (1982–1987)
|-
*''[[Cheers]]'' (1982–1993)
| [[The Nashville Network]]
*''[[Fame (television)|Fame]]'' (1982–1987)
| Cable television
*''[[Family Ties]]'' (1982–1989)
| March 7
*''[[Knight Rider]]'' (1982–1986)
|
*''[[Late Night with David Letterman]]'' (1982–1993)
|
*''[[Newhart]]'' (1982–1990)
|-
*''[[Remington Steele]]'' (1982–1987)
| [[Disney Channel]]
*''[[Silver Spoons]]'' (1982–1987)
| Cable television
*''[[St. Elsewhere]]'' (1982–1988)
| April 18
*''[[Tattletales]]'' (1974–1978, '''1982–1984''')
|
*''[[The Journal (Canadian TV show) | The Journal]]'' (Canada) (1982–[[1992]])
|
*''[[The Tube]]'' (UK) (1982–1987)
|-
| [[BET]]
| Cable television
| July 1
|
|
|-
|}


===Conversions and rebrandings===
==Ending this year==
{| class="wikitable"
*[[February 3]] - ''[[Greatest American Hero|The Greatest American Hero]]'' (1981-1983)
|-
*[[February 28]] - ''[[M*A*S*H (TV series)|M*A*S*H]]'' (1972–1983)
! Old network name
*[[May 10]] - ''[[Laverne & Shirley]]'' (1976–1983)
! New network name
*[[June 24]] - ''[[SCTV Network 90]]'' (US) (1981–1983)
! Type
*[[July 7]] - ''[[The Crystal Cube]] (1983)
! Conversion Date
*[[July 17]] - ''[[CHiPs]]'' (1977–1983)
! Notes
*[[July 20]] - ''[[Taxi (TV series)|Taxi]]'' (1978–1983)
! Source
*[[September 5]] -
|-
**''[[Little House on the Prairie (TV series)|Little House on the Prairie]]'' (1974–1983)
|[[NBC Sports Boston|PRISM Sports New England]]
**''[[Quincy, M.E.]]'' (1976–1983)
|SportsChannel New England
*[[September 12]] - ''[[Square Pegs]]'' (1982–1983)
|Cable television
*[[September 21]] - ''[[Archie Bunker's Place]]'' (1979–1983)
|Unknown
*''[[The Don Lane Show]]'' (Australia) (1975–1983)
|
*''[[The Good Old Days]]'' (UK) (1953–1983)
|
*''[[Triangle (TV series)|Triangle]]'' (UK) (1981–1983)
|-
|}


===Closures===
==Cancelled, but eventually to return to the air==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
*[[September 24]] - After 29 seasons, the [[Walt Disney anthology series]] goes off the air. It will be revived, however, from 1986 to 1990.
! Network
! Type
! Closure date
! Notes
! Source
|-
| [[WBPX-TV|Star]]
| Satellite television
| February 12
|
|
|-
| [[Satellite News Channel]]
| Satellite television
| October 27
|
|
|-
|}


==Television stations==
==Changes of network affiliation==
===Station launches===
*''Fame'' moves from NBC to first-run syndication.
{|class="wikitable"
*''Too Close for Comfort'' moves from ABC to first-run syndication.
|-
! Date
! City of license/Market
! Station
! Channel
! Affiliation
! Notes
|-
| January 11
| [[Milwaukee, Wisconsin]]
| [[WVCY-TV]]
| 22
| [[Religious broadcasting|Religious]] [[Independent station (North America)|independent]]
|
|-
| February 2
| [[Chicago, Illinois]]
| [[WYCC]]
| 20
| [[PBS]]
| Returned to the air after a nine-year hiatus as WXXW
|-
| February 14
| [[Fargo, North Dakota]]
| [[KVRR|KVNJ-TV]]
| 15
| [[Independent station (North America)|Independent]]
|-
| March 3
| [[Alexandria, Louisiana]]
| [[KLAX-TV]]
| 31
| [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
|-
| March 7
| [[Des Moines, Iowa]]
| [[KDSM-TV|KCBR]]
| 17
| rowspan="3"|[[Independent station (North America)|Independent]]
|-
| March 9
| [[Springfield, Missouri]]
| [[KGHZ|KSPR]]
| 33
|-
| March 13
| [[Mount Vernon, Illinois]]/[[St. Louis, Missouri]] <br> {{small|([[Harrisburg, Illinois]])}}
| [[WPXS|WCEE]]
| 13
|-
| April 8
| [[Williston, North Dakota]]
| [[KWSE]]
| 4
| [[PBS]]
| Part of [[Prairie Public Television]]
|-
| April 18
| [[Memphis, Tennessee]]
| [[WLMT|WMKW-TV]]
| 30
| Independent
|-
| April 21
| [[Tallahassee, Florida]]
| [[WTWC-TV]]
| 40
| [[NBC]]
|-
| April 22
| [[Angola, Indiana]]
| [[WBKZ (TV)|WBKZ]]
| 63
|
|
|-
| April 30
| [[Ashland, Kentucky]] <br> {{small|([[Huntington, West Virginia]]/[[Portsmouth, Ohio]])}}
| [[WTSF]]
| 66
| [[Religious broadcasting|Religious]] [[Independent station (North America)|ind.]]
|
|-
| May 10
| [[Lander, Wyoming]]
| [[Wyoming PBS|KCWC-TV]]
| 8
| [[PBS]]
|
|-
| May 11
| [[New York City]]
| [[WXNY-LD|W63AS]]
| 63
| [[PBS]]
| [[Low-power broadcasting|LPTV]] translator of [[WVIA-TV]]
|-
| May 29
| [[West Point, Mississippi|West Point]]/[[Tupelo, Mississippi]]
| [[WLOV-TV|WVSB-TV]]
| 27
| rowspan="2"|[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
|-
| June 10
| [[Topeka, Kansas]]
| [[KTKA-TV|KLDH]]
| 49
|-
| June 19
| [[Concord, California]]
| [[KTNC-TV|KFCB]]
| 42
| Independent
|-
| June 20
| [[Topeka, Kansas]]
| [[KTKA-TV|KLDH]]
| 49
| ABC
|
|-
| June 26
| [[Little Rock, Arkansas]]
| [[KLRT-TV]]
| 16
| [[Independent station (North America)|Independent]]
|-
| July 1
| [[Alexandria, Louisiana]]
| [[KLPA-TV]]
| 25
| [[PBS]]
| Part of [[Louisiana Public Broadcasting]]
|-
| July 4
| [[Colby, Kansas|Colby]]/[[Goodland, Kansas]]
| [[KLBY]]
| 4
| rowspan="3"|[[Independent station (North America)|Independent]]
|
|-
| July 27
| [[Campbellsville, Kentucky|Campbellsville]]/[[Louisville, Kentucky]]
| [[WBKI-TV (1983–2017)|WGRB]]
| 34
|
|-
| August 10
| [[Denver, Colorado]]
| [[KDVR]]
| 31
|
|-
| August 15
| [[Fort Myers, Florida]]
| [[WGCU (TV)|WSFP-TV]]
| 30
| [[PBS]]
|
|-
| August 22
| [[Hilo, Hawaii]]
| [[KSIX-TV|KHBC-TV]]
| 13
| rowspan="3"|[[Independent station (North America)|Independent]]
| Satellite of [[KHNL]]/[[Honolulu, Hawaii|Honolulu]]
|-
| September 5
| [[Boston, Massachusetts]]
| [[WWJE-DT|WNDS]]
| 50
|-
| September 12
| [[Kansas City, Missouri]]
| [[KSMO-TV|KEKR-TV]]
| 62
|-
| September 29
| [[Reno, Nevada]]
| [[KNPB]]
| 5
| [[PBS]]
|
|-
| October
| [[Hopkinsville, Kentucky]]
| [[WNKJ-TV]]
| 51
| rowspan=3| [[Independent station (North America)|Independent]]
|
|-
| October 1
| [[Spokane, Washington]]
| [[KSKN]]
| 22
|-
| October 9
| [[Vancouver, Washington]] <br> {{small|([[Portland, Oregon|Portland]]/[[Salem, Oregon]])}}
| [[KPDX]]
| 49
|-
| October 13
| [[Wainscott, New York|Wainscott]]/[[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]]
| [[WVVH-CD|W23AA]]
| 23
|
|
|-
| October 15
| [[Evansville, Indiana]]/[[Madisonville, Kentucky]]
| [[WAZE-TV|WLCN]]
| 19
| [[Religious broadcasting|Religious ind.]]
|-
| October 24
| [[Miami, Florida]]
| [[WVFW-LD|W30AB]]
| 30
| PBS
| LPTV translator of [[WPBT]]
|-
| October 31
| [[Albuquerque, New Mexico|Albuquerque]]/[[Santa Fe, New Mexico]]
| [[KASA-TV|KSAF-TV]]
| 2
| rowspan="2"|[[Independent station (North America)|Independent]]
|-
| November 1
| [[Ocala, Florida|Ocala]]/[[Gainesville, Florida]]
| [[WOGX|WBSP-TV]]
| 51
|-
| November 2
| [[Moline, Illinois]]
| [[WQPT-TV]]
| 24
| [[PBS]]
|
|-
| November 10
| [[Columbus, Ohio]]
| [[WGCT-CD|W08BV]]
| 8
| Independent
|
|-
| November 17
| [[Evansville, Indiana]]
| [[WEVV-TV]]
| 44
| rowspan="2"|[[Independent station (North America)|Independent]]
|-
| rowspan=2| December 2
| [[Anchorage, Alaska]]
| [[KTBY]]
| 4
|-
| [[Cotati, California]]
| [[KRCB (TV)|KRCB]]
| 22
| [[PBS]]
|-
| December 4
| [[Llano, Texas|Llano]]/[[Austin, Texas]]
| [[KEYE-TV|KBVO-TV]]
| 42
| rowspan=3| Independent
|-
| December 30
| [[Honolulu, Hawaii]]
| [[KIKU|KHAI-TV]]
| 20
|-
| December 31
| [[Knoxville, Tennessee]]
| [[WTNZ|WKCH-TV]]
| 43
|}

===Stations changing network affiliation===
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Market
! Date
! Station
! Channel
! Prior affiliation
! New affiliation
|-
| rowspan="2"|August 7
| rowspan="2"|[[Fargo, North Dakota|Fargo]]/[[Grand Forks, North Dakota]]
| [[WDAY-TV]]<br>[[WDAZ-TV]]
| 6<br>8
| [[NBC]]
| [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
|-
| [[KVLY-TV|KTHI-TV]]
| 11
| [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
| [[NBC]]
|-
| rowspan="2"|April 3
| rowspan="2"|[[Green Bay, Wisconsin]]
| [[WFRV-TV]]
| 5
| [[NBC]]
| [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
|-
| [[WLUK-TV]]
| 11
| [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
| [[NBC]]
|-
| August 31
| [[Harrisburg, Pennsylvania]]
| [[WPMT|WSBA-TV]]
| 43
| [[CBS]]
| [[Independent station (North America)|Independent]]
|-
| April 3
| [[Marquette, Michigan]]
| [[WJMN-TV]]
| 3
| [[NBC]]
| [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
|-
|}

===Station closures===
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Market
! Station
! Channel
! Affiliation
|-
| March 31
| [[St. John, Indiana]]
| [[WCAE]]
| 50
| [[PBS]]
|-
| July 31
| [[Salem, Oregon]]
| [[KVDO-TV]]
| 13
| PBS
|-
| August 30
| [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]]
| [[WKBS-TV (Philadelphia)|WKBS-TV]]
| 48
| [[Independent station (North America)|Independent]]
|-
|}


==Births==
==Births==
{| class="wikitable"
*[[May 30]] - [[Jennifer Ellison]], British [[actor|actress]] and singer.
|-
*[[May 11]] - [[Holly Valance]], [[New Zealand]] born actress and singer.
! Date || Name || Notability
*[[December 12]] - [[Mathew Valencia]] voice of [[Robin (comics)|Robin/Tim Drake]].
|-
|January 2
|[[Kate Bosworth]]
|Actress (''[[Young Americans (TV series)|Young Americans]]'')
|-
|January 6
|[[Efrat Dor]]
|Actress
|-
|rowspan="2"|January 7
|[[Brett Dalton]]
|Actor (''[[Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.]]'')
|-
|[[Robert Ri'chard]]
|Actor (''[[Cousin Skeeter]]'', ''[[One on One (American TV series)|One on One]]'')
|-
|January 9
|[[Kerry Condon]]
|Actress
|-
|January 17
|[[Rickey D'Shon Collins]]
|Voice actor (''[[Recess (TV series)|Recess]]'', ''[[Danny Phantom]]'')
|-
|January 24
|[[Frankie Grande]]
|Actor and singer
|-
|February 1
|Jillian Bynes
|Actress
|-
|rowspan="2"|February 4
|[[Hannibal Buress]]
|Actor
|-
|[[Lauren Ash]]
|Canadian actress (''[[Superstore (TV series)|Superstore]]'')
|-
|February 11
|[[Dianna Russini]]
|American sports journalist
|-
|February 12
|[[Mimi Michaels]]
|Actress
|-
|February 14
|[[Julia Ling]]
|Actress (''[[Chuck (TV series)|Chuck]]'')
|-
|February 17
|[[Kristen Doute]]
|Actress
|-
|rowspan="2"|February 18
|[[Evan Jonigkeit]]
|Actor
|-
|[[Wrenn Schmidt]]
|Actress
|-
|February 21
|[[Eoin Macken]]
|Irish actor (''[[The Night Shift (TV series)|The Night Shift]]'')
|-
|rowspan="2"|February 22
|[[Mimi Michaels]]
|Actress
|-
|[[Iliza Shlesinger]]
|Actress
|-
|rowspan="2"|February 23
|[[Aziz Ansari]]
|Actor (''[[Parks and Recreation]]'', ''[[Master of None]]'')
|-
|[[Emily Blunt]]
|British-American actress
|-
|February 26
|[[Kara Monaco]]
|Model and reality TV participant (''[[Big Brother 14 (U.S.)|Big Brother 14]]'')
|-
|February 27
|[[Kate Mara]]
|Actress (''[[24 (TV series)|24]]'', ''[[American Horror Story]]'', ''[[House of Cards (American TV series)|House of Cards]]'')
|-
|rowspan="3"|March 1
|[[Shawn Toovey]]
|Actor (''[[Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman]]'')
|-
|[[Lindsay Mendez]]
|Actress
|-
|[[Lupita Nyong'o]]
|Actress
|-
|March 7
|[[Hettienne Park]]
|Actress
|-
|March 8
|[[Jessie Collins]]
|Actress (''[[The Nine (TV series)|The Nine]]'')
|-
|March 10
|[[Carrie Underwood]]
|Singer (''[[American Idol]]'')
|-
|March 11
|[[Lucy DeVito]]
|Actress
|-
|March 12
|[[Ron Funches]]
|Actor
|-
|March 14
|[[Taylor Hanson]]
|Singer (''[[Hanson (band)|Hanson]]'')
|-
|March 15
|[[Sean Biggerstaff]]
|Scottish actor (''[[Harry Potter (film series)|Harry Potter]]'')
|-
|March 18
|[[Kyle Downes]]
|Actor (''[[Lizzie McGuire]]'')
|-
|March 20
|[[Michael Cassidy (actor)|Michael Cassidy]]
|Actor (''[[The O.C.]]'', ''[[Privileged (TV series)|Privileged]]'', ''[[Men at Work (TV series)|Men at Work]]'')
|-
|March 28
|[[Ed O'Keefe]]
|Guatemalan-American senior White House and political correspondent with CBS News
|-
|March 29
|[[Ed Skrein]]
|English actor
|-
|rowspan="2"|March 31
|[[Ashleigh Ball]]
|Canadian voice actress (''[[Johnny Test]]'', ''[[Edgar & Ellen]]'', ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'', ''[[Littlest Pet Shop (2012 TV series)|Littlest Pet Shop]]'', ''[[Ready Jet Go!]]'')
|-
|[[Melissa Ordway]]
|Actress (''[[Hollywood Heights (TV series)|Hollywood Heights]]'', ''[[The Young and the Restless]]'')
|-
|rowspan="2"|April 1
|[[Ellen Hollman]]
|Actress (''[[Spartacus: War of the Damned]]'')
|-
|[[Matt Lanter]]
|Actor (''[[Commander in Chief (TV series)|Commander in Chief]]'', ''[[90210 (TV series)|90210]]'', ''[[Star-Crossed (TV series)|Star-Crossed]]'', ''[[Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008 TV series)|Star Wars: The Clone Wars]]'', ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man (TV series)|Ultimate Spider-Man]]'', ''[[Timeless (TV series)|Timeless]]'')
|-
|April 3
|[[Errol Barnett]]
|Anchor
|-
|rowspan="2"|April 4
|[[Amanda Righetti]]
|Actress (''[[The O.C.]]'', ''[[North Shore (2004 TV series)|North Shore]]'', ''[[The Mentalist]]'', ''[[Colony (TV series)|Colony]]'')
|-
|[[Eric Andre]]
|Actor
|-
|rowspan="2"|April 6
|[[Rick Cosnett]]
|Zimbabwean-Australian actor (''[[The Vampire Diaries]]'', ''[[The Flash (2014 TV series)|The Flash]]'')
|-
|[[Diora Baird]]
|Actress
|-
|rowspan="2"|April 10
|[[Jamie Chung]]
|Actress (''[[Once Upon a Time (TV series)|Once Upon a Time]]'', ''[[Gotham (TV series)|Gotham]]'', ''[[Big Hero 6: The Series]]'', ''[[The Gifted (American TV series)|The Gifted]]'')
|-
|[[Ryan Merriman]]
|Actor
|-
|April 12
|[[Elle Duncan]]
|American sports anchor
|-
|rowspan="2"|April 21
|[[Gugu Mbatha-Raw]]
|Actress
|-
|[[Ruthie Ann Miles]]
|Actress
|-
|April 23
|[[Aaron Hill (actor)|Aaron Hill]]
|Actor
|-
|April 26
|Ryan Dowell Baum
|Actor (''[[The Famous Jett Jackson]]'')
|-
|rowspan="3"|April 27
|[[Francis Capra]]
|Actor (''[[Veronica Mars]]'')
|-
|[[Corey Harrison]]
|Television personality
|-
|[[Ari Graynor]]
|Actress (''[[Fringe (TV series)|Fringe]]'')
|-
|rowspan="2"|April 29
|[[Megan Boone]]
|Actress (''[[The Blacklist]]'')
|-
|[[Sam Jones III]]
|Actor (''[[Smallville]]'', ''[[Blue Mountain State]]'')
|-
|May 2
|[[Gaius Charles]]
|Actor (''[[Friday Night Lights (TV series)|Friday Night Lights]]'', ''[[Grey's Anatomy]]'')
|-
|rowspan="3"|May 6
|[[Adrianne Palicki]]
|Actress (''[[Friday Night Lights (TV series)|Friday Night Lights]]'', ''[[Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.]]'')
|-
|[[Gabourey Sidibe]]
|Actress (''[[The Big C (TV series)|The Big C]]'', ''[[Empire (2015 TV series)|Empire]]'')
|-
|[[JR Lemon]]
|Actor
|-
|rowspan="2"|May 8
|[[Julia Chan]]
|British actress (''[[Saving Hope]]'')
|-
|[[Elyes Gabel]]
|English actor (''[[Scorpion (TV series)|Scorpion]]'')
|-
|rowspan="2"|May 11
|[[Holly Valance]]
|New Zealand-born actress (''[[Prison Break]]'')
|-
|[[Matt Leinart]]
|Football analyst for [[Fox Sports]]
|-
|May 14
|[[Amber Tamblyn]]
|Actress (''[[General Hospital]]'', ''[[Joan of Arcadia]]'', ''[[Two and a Half Men]]'', ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'')
|-
|May 19
|[[Michael Che]]
|Comedian (''[[The Daily Show]]'', ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'')
|-
|rowspan="2"|May 20
|[[Michaela McManus]]
|Actress (''[[Law & Order: Special Victims Unit]]'', ''[[One Tree Hill (TV series)|One Tree Hill]]'', ''[[Awake (TV series)|Awake]]'', ''[[Aquarius (American TV series)|Aquarius]]'')
|-
|[[Allen Maldonado]]
|Actor
|-
|May 26
|[[Scott Disick]]
|Media personality
|-
|May 28
|[[Megalyn Echikunwoke]]
|Actress (''[[Like Family]]'', ''[[The 4400]]'', ''[[CSI: Miami]]'')
|-
|June 5
|[[Chelsey Crisp]]
|Actress
|-
|June 6
|[[Lyndie Greenwood]]
|Canadian actress (''[[Sleepy Hollow (TV series)|Sleepy Hollow]]'')
|-
|rowspan="3"|June 10
|[[Leelee Sobieski]]
|Actress (''[[Charlie Grace (TV series)|Charlie Grace]]'', ''[[NYC 22]]'')
|-
|[[Shanna Collins]]
|Actress
|-
|[[Jason Evigan]]
|Singer
|-
|June 13
|[[David Begnaud]]
|American journalist
|-
|June 16
|[[Olivia Hack]]
|Voice actress (''[[Hey Arnold!]]'', ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', ''[[Bratz (TV series)|Bratz]]'')
|-
|rowspan="3"|June 19
|[[Aidan Turner]]
|Irish actor (''[[Being Human (British TV series)|Being Human]]'', ''[[Poldark (2015 TV series)|Poldark]]'') and singer
|-
|[[Macklemore]]
|Singer
|-
|[[Tracey Wigfield]]
|Writer
|-
|June 21
|[[Michael Malarkey]]
|Actor (''[[The Vampire Diaries]]'')
|-
|June 22
|[[Thomas M. Wright]]
|Actor
|-
|June 23
|[[Brooks Laich]]
|Ice hockey player
|-
|June 30
|[[Angela Sarafyan]]
|Actress
|-
|rowspan="2"|July 1
|[[Lynsey Bartilson]]
|Actress (''[[Grounded for Life]]'', ''[[The X's]]'')
|-
|[[Tanya Chisholm]]
|Actress (''[[Big Time Rush]]'')
|-
|July 2
|[[Alicia Menendez]]
|American host
|-
|July 6
|[[Gregory Smith (actor)|Gregory Smith]]
|Canadian-American actor (''[[Everwood]]'', ''[[Rookie Blue]]'')
|-
|July 19
|[[Trai Byers]]
|Actor (''[[Empire (2015 TV series)|Empire]]'')
|-
|July 23
|Andrew Eiden
|Actor (''[[Complete Savages]]'')
|-
|rowspan="2"|July 27
|[[Blair Redford]]
|Actor (''[[The Lying Game (TV series)|The Lying Game]]'', ''[[Satisfaction (2014 TV series)|Satisfaction]]'')
|-
|[[Heidi Gardner]]
|Actress (''[[Saturday Night Live]]'')
|-
|July 28
|[[Kate Bolduan]]
|CNN journalist
|-
|rowspan="2"|July 29
|[[Kaitlyn Black]]
|Actress (''[[Hart of Dixie]]'')
|-
|[[Tania Gunadi]]
|Actress (''[[Aaron Stone]]'', ''[[Transformers: Prime]]'', ''[[Sanjay and Craig]]'', ''[[Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero]]'')
|-
|July 30
|Nathan Carter
|Canadian actor
|-
|August 3
|[[Mamie Gummer]]
|Actress (''[[Emily Owens, M.D.]]'') and daughter of [[Meryl Streep]] and [[Don Gummer]]
|-
|rowspan="3"|August 4
|[[Adhir Kalyan]]
|South African actor (''[[Aliens in America]]'', ''[[Rules of Engagement (TV series)|Rules of Engagement]]'', ''[[Second Chance (2016 TV series)|Second Chance]]'')
|-
|[[Greta Gerwig]]
|Actress (''[[China, IL]]'')
|-
|[[Nathaniel Buzolic]]
|Actor
|-
|August 5
|[[Kara Tointon]]
|English actress (''[[EastEnders]]'')
|-
|rowspan="2"|August 8
|[[Fred Meyers]]
|Actor (''[[Even Stevens]]'')
|-
|[[Guy Burnet]]
|Actor
|-
|rowspan="2"|August 9
|[[Ashley Johnson (actress)|Ashley Johnson]]
|Actress (''[[Growing Pains]]'', ''[[Jumanji (TV series)|Jumanji]]'', ''[[Recess (TV series)|Recess]]'', ''[[Teen Titans (TV series)|Teen Titans]]'', ''[[Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!]]'', ''[[Ben 10]]'', ''[[Teen Titans Go!]]'', ''[[Blindspot (TV series)|Blindspot]]'', ''[[Infinity Train]]'')
|-
|[[Dan Levy (Canadian actor)|Dan Levy]]
|Actor
|-
|August 11
|[[Chris Hemsworth]]
|Australian actor (''[[Home and Away]]'')
|-
|August 12
|[[Jericka Duncan]]
|American national TV news correspondent
|-
|rowspan="2"|August 14
|[[Mila Kunis]]
|Actress (''[[That '70s Show]]'', ''[[Family Guy]]'')
|-
|[[Lamorne Morris]]
|Actor (''[[New Girl]]'')
|-
|August 18
|[[Max Winkler (director)|Max Winkler]]
|American director
|-
|August 19
|[[Peter Mooney]]
|Canadian actor (''[[Rookie Blue]]'')
|-
|August 20
|[[Andrew Garfield]]
|British-American actor
|-
|August 21
|[[Brody Jenner]]
|Actor (''[[The Hills (TV series)|The Hills]]'', ''[[Keeping Up with the Kardashians]]'')
|-
|rowspan="2"|August 22
|[[Laura Breckenridge]]
|Actress (''[[Related]]'')
|-
|[[Alan Yang]]
|Actor
|-
|rowspan="2"|August 23
|[[Annie Ilonzeh]]
|Actress
|-
|[[Ruta Gedmintas]]
|Actress
|-
|August 25
|[[Caitlin FitzGerald]]
|Actress
|-
|August 29
|[[Jennifer Landon]]
|Actress (''[[As the World Turns]]'')
|-
|September 2
|[[Tiffany Hines]]
|Actress (''[[Beyond the Break]]'', ''[[Nikita (TV series)|Nikita]]'')
|-
|September 3
|[[Christine Woods]]
|Actress
|-
|September 7
|[[Chris Kelly (writer)|Chris Kelly]]
|Writer
|-
|rowspan="2"|September 9
|[[Zoe Kazan]]
|Actress
|-
|[[Eboni K. Williams]]
|Television host
|-
|September 10
|[[Sarah Schneider]]
|Actress
|-
|September 14
|[[Amy Winehouse]]
|English singer (d. [[2011 in American television|2011]])
|-
|rowspan="2"|September 21
|[[Maggie Grace]]
|Actress (''[[Lost (2004 TV series)|Lost]]'')
|-
|[[Joseph Mazzello]]
|Actor
|-
|September 22
|[[Mamrie Hart]]
|Actress
|-
|September 25
|[[Donald Glover]]
|Actor (''[[Community (TV series)|Community]]'', ''[[Atlanta (TV series)|Atlanta]]'') and rapper
|-
|September 26
|[[Zoe Perry]]
|Actress
|-
|October 3
|[[Tessa Thompson]]
|Actress
|-
|rowspan="3"|October 5
|[[Noah Segan]]
|Voice actor (Henry on ''[[KaBlam!]]'')
|-
|[[Jesse Eisenberg]]
|Actor (''[[Get Real (American TV series)|Get Real]]'')
|-
|[[Shelby Rabara]]
|Voice actress (Peridot on ''[[Steven Universe]]'')
|-
|October 8
|[[Travis Pastrana]]
|Race car driver
|-
|October 9
|[[Spencer Grammer]]
|Actress (''[[As the World Turns]]'', ''[[Greek (TV series)|Greek]]'', ''[[Rick and Morty]]'')
|-
|October 12
|Tony Cavalero
|Actor (''[[School of Rock (TV series)|School of Rock]]'')
|-
|October 13
|[[Katia Winter]]
|Actress
|-
|October 17
|[[Michelle Ang]]
|Actress
|-
|October 20
|[[Alona Tal]]
|Israeli singer and actress (''The Pyjamas'', ''[[Veronica Mars]]'', ''[[Supernatural (American TV series)|Supernatural]]'', ''[[Cane (TV series)|Cane]]'', ''[[Cult (TV series)|Cult]]'', ''[[Hand of God (TV series)|Hand of God]]'')
|-
|rowspan="3"|October 21
|[[Charlotte Sullivan]]
|Canadian actress (''[[Rookie Blue]]'')
|-
|[[Aaron Tveit]]
|Actor
|-
|[[Amber Rose]]
|Television personality
|-
|rowspan="2"|October 24
|[[Katie McGrath]]
|Irish actress (''[[Merlin (2008 TV series)|Merlin]]'', ''[[Dracula (2013 TV series)|Dracula]]'', ''[[Supergirl (TV series)|Supergirl]]'')
|-
|[[Adrienne Bailon]]
|Actress (''[[That's So Raven]]'', ''[[The Cheetah Girls (film series)|The Cheetah Girls]]'', ''[[The Real (TV series)|The Real]]'')
|-
|rowspan="2"|October 26
|[[Katy Tur]]
|American author
|-
|[[Folake Olowofoyeku]]
|Actress
|-
|rowspan="3"|October 29
|[[Dillon Casey]]
|Actor (''[[Nikita (TV series)|Nikita]]'')
|-
|[[Johnny Lewis]]
|Actor (''[[Quintuplets]]'', ''[[Sons of Anarchy]]'') (d. [[2012 in American television|2012]])
|-
|[[Richard Brancatisano]]
|Australian actor (''[[Power Rangers Mystic Force]]'', ''[[Chasing Life]]'')
|-
|November 7
|[[Adam DeVine]]
|Actor (''[[Workaholics]]'', ''[[Uncle Grandpa]]'', ''[[Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero]]'')
|-
|November 10
|[[Miranda Lambert]]
|Singer
|-
|November 16
|[[Levy Tran]]
|Actress
|-
|November 17
|[[Harry Lloyd]]
|Actor (''[[Manhattan (TV series)|Manhattan]]'', ''[[Game of Thrones]]'', ''[[Counterpart (TV series)|Counterpart]]'')
|-
|November 18
|[[Robert Kazinsky]]
|Actor
|-
|November 19
|[[Adam Driver]]
|Actor (''[[Girls (TV series)|Girls]]'')
|-
|November 20
|[[Future (rapper)|Future]]
|Rapper
|-
| rowspan="2" |November 21
|[[Claire van der Boom]]
|Actress
|-
|[[The Bella Twins]]
|Pro wrestling duo ([[WWE]], ''[[Total Divas]]'', ''[[Total Bellas]]'', ''[[Twin Love]]'')
|-
|November 22
|[[Andrew J. West]]
|Actor (''[[The Walking Dead (TV series)|The Walking Dead]]'', ''[[Once Upon a Time (TV series)|Once Upon a Time]]'')
|-
|November 24
|[[Karine Vanasse]]
|Actress
|-
|November 27
|[[Arjay Smith]]
|Actor (''[[The Journey of Allen Strange]]'')
|-
|November 29
|[[Pamela Brown (journalist)|Pamela Brown]]
|Newscaster
|-
|November 30
|[[CJ Gibson]]
|Model
|-
|rowspan="2"|December 2
|[[Jana Kramer]]
|Actress (''[[One Tree Hill (TV series)|One Tree Hill]]'') and country music singer
|-
|[[Daniela Ruah]]
|Portuguese-American actress (''[[NCIS: Los Angeles]]'')
|-
|December 8
|[[Utkarsh Ambudkar]]
|Actor
|-
|December 9
|[[Jolene Purdy]]
|Actress
|-
|December 10
|[[Patrick Flueger]]
|Actor (''[[The 4400]]'', ''[[Chicago Fire (TV series)|Chicago Fire]]'', ''[[Chicago P.D. (TV series)|Chicago P.D.]]'')
|-
|December 12
|[[Mathew Valencia]]
|Actor (voice of [[Tim Drake|Robin]] on ''[[The New Batman Adventures]]'')
|-
|December 13
|[[Satya Bhabha]]
|Actor
|-
|December 15
|[[Camilla Luddington]]
|English actress (''[[Grey's Anatomy]]'')
|-
|December 20
|[[Jonah Hill]]
|Actor (''[[Allen Gregory]]'')
|-
|December 21
|[[Steven Yeun]]
|Actor
|-
|December 22
|[[Joe Dinicol]]
|Actor
|-
|December 30
|[[Ashley Zukerman]]
|Australian actor
|}


==Deaths==
==Deaths==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
*[[March 16]] - [[Arthur Godfrey]], television host
|- bgcolor="#E0E0E0"
*[[July 20]] - [[Frank Reynolds]], ABC journalist
! Date || Name || Age ||class="unsortable" |Notability
*[[July 29]] - [[Raymond Massey]], star of ''[[Dr. Kildare]]''
|-
*[[August 3]] - [[Carolyn Jones]], actress, ''Morticia'' in ''[[The Addams Family]]''
|February 4
*[[August 28]] - [[Jan Clayton]], actress
|[[Karen Carpenter]]
*[[August 29]] - [[Simon Oakland]], actor
|align="center"|32
*[[October 23]] - [[Jessica Savitch]], NBC news anchor, age 36
|Singer and drummer ([[The Carpenters]])
*[[November 22]] - [[Michael Conrad]], actor, Sgt. Phil Esterhasz on ''Hill Street Blues''
|-
*[[November 28]] - [[Christopher George]], actor
|March 9
*[[December 28]] - [[William Demarest]], actor, Uncle Charlie in ''[[My Three Sons]]''
|[[Faye Emerson]]
|align="center"|65
|Actress (''[[Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town]]'')
|-
|March 16
|[[Arthur Godfrey]]
|align="center"|79
|Host (''[[Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts]]'')
|-
|July 20
|[[Frank Reynolds]]
|align="center"|53
|[[ABC News]] journalist
|-
|July 29
|[[Raymond Massey]]
|align="center"|86
|Actor (Dr. Gillespie on ''[[Dr. Kildare (TV series)|Dr. Kildare]]'')
|-
|August 3
|[[Carolyn Jones]]
|align="center"|53
|Actress (Morticia on ''[[The Addams Family (1964 TV series)|The Addams Family]]'')
|-
|August 28
|[[Jan Clayton]]
|align="center"|66
|Actress (Ellen Miller on ''[[Lassie (1954 TV series)|Lassie]]'')
|-
|August 29
|[[Simon Oakland]]
|align="center"|68
|Actor (''[[Baa Baa Black Sheep (TV series)|Baa Baa Black Sheep]]'')
|-
|October 23
|[[Jessica Savitch]]
|align="center"|36
|[[NBC News]] anchor
|-
|November 14
|[[Junior Samples]]
|align="center"|57
|Comedian (''Hee Haw'')
|-
|November 22
|[[Michael Conrad]]
|align="center"|58
|Actor (Sgt. Phil Esterhasz on ''[[Hill Street Blues]]'')
|-
|November 28
|[[Christopher George]]
|align="center"|52
|Actor (Sgt. Sam Troy on ''[[The Rat Patrol]]'')
|-
|rowspan="2"|December 28
|[[Dennis Wilson]]
|align="center"|39
|Singer-songwriter ([[The Beach Boys]]) and brother of [[Brian Wilson]]
|-
|[[William Demarest]]
|align="center"|91
|Actor (Uncle Charley on ''[[My Three Sons]]'')
|}


==See also==
==See also==
*[[1982 in television]]
* [[1983 in the United States]]
* [[1983|other events of 1983]]
* [[List of American films of 1983]]

* [[1984 in television]]
==References==
* [[list of 'years in television']]
{{reflist|2}}
[[Category:1983 in television| ]]

==External links==
*[https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?title_type=tv_series&release_date=1983-01-01,1983-12-31&countries=us&adult=include&sort=num_votes,desc List of 1983 American television series] at [[IMDb]]

{{Years in TV by country|1983}}
{{Years in television}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:1983 In American Television}}
[[fr:1983 à la télévision]]
[[sq:1983 në televizion]]
[[Category:1983 in American television| ]]
[[Category:1980s in American television| ]]
[[sv:TV-året 1983]]

Latest revision as of 06:13, 28 May 2024

List of years in American television:
1982–83 United States network television schedule
1983–84 United States network television schedule
List of American television programs currently in production

The year 1983 in television involved some significant events.

Events[edit]

Date Event
January 1 After episode 410 of Soul Train was broadcast this day, the series goes on hiatus for Don Cornelius's brain surgery. Original episodes return on April 30 after Cornelius returns from his convalescence.
January 3 Plinko is added as a pricing game on the CBS game show The Price Is Right; it will go on to become one of the most popular of the show's games. Also on this date, three new game shows debut on rival NBC: $ale of the Century, Just Men! and Hit Man. The two latter shows will leave the air after 13 weeks, whereas $ale (a revival of the hit NBC game show of the late 1960s-early 1970's) will go on to have a six-year run.
January 8 The NFL playoffs begin on CBS and NBC, who televised the NFC and AFC playoff games respectively. Because a players' strike reduced the regular season from 16 to only 9 games, the National Football League created a special 16-team playoff format (dubbed the "Super Bowl Tournament", where division standings were ignored and eight teams from each conference were seeded 1–8 based on their regular season records), just for this year. As a further consequence of the strike, this marked the first (and currently only) time that NFL playoff games were regionally televised across the United States instead of nationwide.
January 10 Canada and the United States launch the television series Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock, an educational co-production advocating tolerance.[1]
January 30 The first regular episode for The A-Team airs after NBC's coverage of Super Bowl XVII.
February 5 The first part of a special two-part episode of Diff'rent Strokes called "The Bicycle Man", in which Arnold and Dudley encounter a pedophile (played by Gordon Jump), is broadcast on NBC. It is notable for starting the trend of very special episodes.
February 6–13 ABC broadcasts the epic miniseries The Winds of War, based on the novel by Herman Wouk. It is seen in part or in total by 140 million viewers, making it the most watched miniseries at the time.
February 13 Marvin Gaye performs a soulful rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the NBA All-Star Game at The Forum in Los Angeles. VH1 would later use it as the first very first video when they premiered on January 1, 1985. And when CBS broadcast their final NBA telecast at the end of the 1990 NBA Finals, they played Gaye's 1983 rendition of the anthem during the closing credits.
February 20 An extended cut of Star Trek: The Motion Picture premieres on the ABC.[2] It added roughly 12 minutes to the film. The added footage was largely unfinished, and cobbled together for the network premiere; director Robert Wise hadn't wanted some of the footage to be included in the final cut of the film.[3] This version was released on VHS and LaserDisc by Paramount in 1983.[4][5]
February 21 ABC airs a made-for-television biographical film about the life of Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, starring Cheryl Ladd. The producers would claim that Princess Grace assisted for several weeks with the films preproduction before her unexpected death in September 1982.[6]
February 23 PBS broadcasts The Operation, a live telecast of an actual open-heart surgery.
February 28 More than 125 million Americans watch the 251st and final episode of M*A*S*H on CBS, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen". It would be the most viewed TV broadcast in U.S. history until Super Bowl XLIV in February 2010.[7]
March 3 WFBC-TV, NBC affiliate in Greenville, changes its call sign to WYFF.
March 6 Country Music Television (CMT) begins in the United States.
The first televised USFL football game (Los Angeles Express vs. New Jersey Generals) is broadcast by ABC. The Express would ultimately win the game, 20–15.
March 7 The Nashville Network (TNN) (known later as The National Network and Spike TV; now known as Paramount Network) begins broadcasting.
March 10 MTV broadcasts the video of Michael Jackson's song "Billie Jean" for the first time. The video is the first by a black artist to gain great airplay on MTV, and is credited with helping the album Thriller, in which the song is included, become the best-selling album of all time.
March 18 CBS broadcasts Still the Beaver, a two-hour television movie which reintroduces the adult actors, reprising their child characters, from the original 1957–1963 sitcom Leave It to Beaver. This would be followed by a new TV series which was also called Still the Beaver that would air on The Disney Channel for the 1984–85 season. Beginning in the 1986–87 season, the series, now named The New Leave It to Beaver, would air on WTBS, where it would remain until its conclusion in 1989.
March 19 US First Lady Nancy Reagan makes a special appearance on an episode of the NBC comedy Diff'rent Strokes, beginning her Just Say No anti-drug campaign.
March 20 NBC broadcasts the TV movie Special Bulletin, a fictional—yet realistic—depiction of a TV network's coverage of a nuclear terrorism threat in Charleston, South Carolina. The movie is an early collaboration between Edward Zwick (who directed) and Marshall Herskovitz (who wrote the teleplay); both men would create and produce thirtysomething later in the 1980s.
April 4 Archie Bunker's Place broadcasts its last original episode as CBS cancels the series after four seasons (and without a proper series finale), ending Carroll O'Connor's run as Archie Bunker, which began during 1971 with All in the Family.
The Morning Show, hosted by Regis Philbin and Cyndy Garvey, premieres locally on WABC in New York City. The show would eventually make its move to national syndication in 1988 with Philbin and Kathie Lee Gifford as his co-host.
April 7 Major League Baseball agrees to terms with ABC and NBC on a six-year television package, worth $1.2 billion. The two networks would continue to alternate coverage of the playoffs (ABC in even-numbered years and NBC in odd-numbered years), World Series (ABC would televise the World Series in odd-numbered years and NBC in even-numbered years) and All-Star Game (ABC would televise the All-Star Game in even-numbered years and NBC in odd-numbered years) through the 1989 season, with each of the 26 clubs receiving $7 million per year in return (even if no fans showed up). This was a substantial increase over the last package, in which each club was being paid $1.9 million per year. ABC contributed $575 million for the rights to televise prime time and Sunday afternoon regular season games and NBC paid $550 million for the rights to broadcast 30 Saturday afternoon games.[8]
April 9 Vin Scully makes his debut as NBC's new lead play-by-play announcer for their Major League Baseball telecasts (a role that he would maintain through the 1989 season). Scully's first broadcast for NBC is a game between the Montreal Expos and Los Angeles Dodgers, where the Expos would defeat the Dodgers 7-2.
April 12 David Canary makes his first appearance on the ABC soap opera All My Children.
April 18 Disney Channel is initiated on American cable TV. The first show televised is Good Morning, Mickey!
April 21 WTWC-TV in Tallahassee, Florida signs on, giving the Tallahassee market its first full-time NBC affiliate.
May 1-2 V is broadcast by NBC. The first episode is viewed by 40% of TV viewers.[9]
May 6 A fire at Southfork threatens the lives of the Ewings on the season finale of the CBS drama series Dallas.
ABC airs the broadcast network television premiere of The Shining.
May 16 The concert special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever is broadcast by NBC; Michael Jackson, after a performance with The Jackson Five, provides the centerpiece highlight by performing, to "Billie Jean", his "moonwalk" dance for the first time on television.
May 22 CBS introduces a new theme music (composed by Allyson Bellink and mostly consisting of an uptempo series of four notes and three bars each) for their coverage of the NBA. It uses a primitive-computer generated introduction (created by Bill Feigenbaum) of the NBA arenas (similar to the Boston Garden) until the 1989 Playoffs and later revived the second theme beginning in the 1989 Finals.[10]
May 29 WVSB-TV in West Point, Mississippi signs on, giving the Tupelo market its first full-time ABC affiliate.
June 7 NBC affiliate in Miami/Fort Lauderdale, WCKT-TV changes its call letters to WSVN.
June 16 Pope John Paul II arrives in his native Poland, with ABC and NBC broadcasting his arrival live (CBS, hampered by budget reductions of its news division, broadcasts The Price is Right instead).
June 20 KLDH (now KTKA-TV) in Topeka, Kansas signs on, giving the Topeka market its first full-time ABC affiliate.
June 23 Whitney Houston makes her national television debut when she performs on The Merv Griffin Show.
August 4 The cast of NBC's series Search for Tomorrow is forced to do a live show for the first time since the program began using videotape format during 1967 due to the loss of both the regular transmission tape and a backup.[11]
August 10 KDVR-TV, Denver's first UHF station goes on the air.
August 12 Denver's NBC station KOA-TV changes its name to KCNC-TV.
August 22 In Fargo, North Dakota, ABC affiliate KTHI-TV (now KVLY-TV) swaps affiliations with long-time NBC affiliate WDAY-TV and its semi-satellite in Grand Forks, WDAZ-TV.
August 30 Though the station is still regarded as profitable, Field Enterprises closes down WKBS-TV/Burlington, New Jersey-Philadelphia after failing to find a buyer.
September 5 PBS's series The MacNeil/Lehrer Report becomes The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, the first American network news program to expand from a half-hour to one hour in length.
Tom Brokaw becomes the sole main anchor of the NBC Nightly News, ending a 17-month stint co-anchoring the broadcast with Roger Mudd.
Peter Jennings becomes sole anchorman of ABC's newscast World News Tonight, after the death of Frank Reynolds two months earlier.
Pam Long becomes co-main writer of the CBS soap opera Guiding Light.
September 5 During the first half of a broadcast of Monday Night Football between the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins, Howard Cosell refers to Washington wide-receiver Alvin Garrett as a "little monkey". Cosell's remarks immediately ignites a racial controversy and plays a key factor in his departure from the Monday Night Football booth following the 1983 NFL season.
September 8 The comedy series We Got it Made debuts, the first new series on NBC's autumn list to premiere—and the start of one of the least successful new autumn show rosters for a network in history, as none of the series would survive a 2nd season (the other series being Manimal, Jennifer Slept Here, Mr. Smith, Bay City Blues, The Yellow Rose, Boone, For Love and Honor and The Rousters).
September 12 The animated G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero mini-series based on the toys of the same name debuts in syndication. Another miniseries airs the following year, with an ongoing show premiering in 1985.
September 17 The Peanuts gang get their very own Saturday morning cartoon series with The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show on CBS. Earlier that year, said network cancelled their epynous prime time show Peanuts because it had run its course and already outdated. (The prime time series was given a proper finale in 1981.)
Alvin and the Chipmunks premieres on NBC.
Vanessa Williams is crowned Miss America in a nationally televised event on NBC. Williams became the first African American woman to win the title.
September 18 The band Kiss officially appears in public without make-up for the first time since its very early days on a appearance on MTV, which coincided with the release of Lick It Up.[12]
September 19 The nighttime syndicated edition of the NBC daytime game show Wheel of Fortune premieres. The show is only picked up by 59 markets and is shut out of the top 3 markets. However, by late 1984, the show will overtake Family Feud as the number one show in syndication. Family Feud surpassed Wheel Of Fortune as the most watched show in syndication in June of 2015. It has continued to be in the top three shows in syndication through 2024.
Press Your Luck premieres on CBS; the game show would end its run on September 26, 1986.
September 25 WPVI newscaster Jim O'Brien is killed in a skydiving accident in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania at age 43.
September 27–29 NBC broadcasts Live... and in Person, a live variety special program broadcast during three nights. Sandy Gallin is host, and performers include Neil Diamond, Liberace, Linda Ronstadt, and the cast of A Chorus Line.
October 1 Mr. T guest-stars as himself on Diff'rent Strokes.
October 3 During a live NBC news update, anchor Jessica Savitch appears incoherent, slurring her speech, deviating from her copy and ad-libbing her report. Savitch, dogged by rumors of drug abuse and instability, still has her contract renewed, but drowns in a car accident three weeks later.[13]
October 6 The rock band R.E.M. made its television debut on NBC's Late Night with David Letterman.
October 9 Tiger Town, the first ever television film produced for the Disney Channel, premieres.
October 10 Adam, a TV-movie about the mysterious disappearance of Adam Walsh, makes its world premiere on NBC. The broadcast ends with a series of missing children's photographs and descriptions, along with a telephone number viewers could call to provide information on their disappearances.
October 30 Mackenzie Phillips makes her final appearance as Julie Cooper Horvath on One Day at a Time.
November 20 An estimated 100 million people watched the controversial made-for-TV movie The Day After on ABC, depicting the start of a nuclear war.
November 24 Sesame Street on PBS dealt with the sensitive issue of death when Big Bird learns the concept as it relates to his late friend, Mr. Hooper (Will Lee, the actor who played Mr. Hooper, died of a heart attack in November 1982).
Jim Crockett Promotions produces the inaugural Starrcade event on closed-circuit television around the Southern United States. Predating the World Wrestling Federation's (later WWE) first WrestleMania event by two years, Starrcade would soon become Jim Crockett Promotions and later World Championship Wrestling's premier, flagship event.
November 29 ABC's affiliate in Nashville, WNGE-TV, changes its call sign to WKRN-TV after being sold by General Electric to Knight Ridder.
December 2 The epic (nearly 14 minutes) music video for Michael Jackson's "Thriller" is broadcast for the first time. It will become the most often repeated and famous music video of all time and increase Jackson's own popularity and the sales of the record album Thriller.
December 21 Gerald Ford, Betty Ford and Henry Kissinger make cameo appearances on ABC's Dynasty.[14]
December 25 Several networks simultaneously air the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol; the combined ratings of these broadcasts make the December 25 broadcast(s) of A Christmas Carol the most-watched television event of the year in every single media market in the states of Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, Maine, Ohio, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Indiana and Arkansas, as well as several other media markets throughout the United States.[15]

Programs[edit]

Debuting this year[edit]

Date Show Network
January 3 Hit Man NBC
Just Men!
January 10 Fraggle Rock HBO
January 11 The Joy of Painting PBS
January 22 Mama's Family NBC
January 23 The A-Team
February 5 The Dukes CBS
February 10 Amanda's ABC
February 26 Wizards and Warriors CBS
March 2 High Performance ABC
March 4 At Ease
March 7 Small & Frye CBS
March 8 Fandango TNN
I 40 Paradise
Nashville Now
March 15 Ace Crawford, Private Eye CBS
April 1 Baby Makes Five ABC
April 2 Goodnight, Beantown CBS
April 6 Zorro and Son ABC
April 10 Casablanca NBC
April 15 Bare Essence ABC
April 18 Good Morning, Mickey! The Disney Channel
Welcome to Pooh Corner
May 31 Star Search Syndication
Buffalo Bill NBC
June 27 Loving ABC
July 11 Reading Rainbow PBS
July 29 Friday Night Videos NBC
August 8 NBC News at Sunrise
August 16 Rosie CBS
September 1 Donald Duck Presents The Disney Channel
September 5 He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Syndication
September 8 We Got It Made NBC
September 9 Lottery! ABC
September 10 The Littles
Rubik, the Amazing Cube
The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show
September 12 Inspector Gadget Syndication
September 16 Webster ABC
September 17 Alvin and the Chipmunks NBC
Mister T
Benji, Zax & the Alien Prince CBS
The Biskitts
The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show
Dungeons & Dragons
Saturday Supercade
September 18 Hardcastle and McCormick ABC
September 19 Love Connection Syndication
Wheel of Fortune
September 20 Just Our Luck ABC
September 21 Hotel
September 23 Mr. Smith NBC
September 26 Boone
AfterMASH CBS
September 27 Oh Madeline ABC
September 30 Manimal NBC
October 1 The Rousters
Cutter to Houston CBS
October 2 The Yellow Rose NBC
October 3 Scarecrow and Mrs. King CBS
October 5 Whiz Kids
October 15 Newton's Apple PBS
October 17 Sally Syndication
October 21 Jennifer Slept Here NBC
October 25 Bay City Blues
October 31 Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour
December 15 Automan ABC
Masquerade

Resuming this year[edit]

Show Last aired Network Retitled as/Same New network/Same Return date
Sale of the Century 1973 NBC Same Same January 3
Dream House 1970 ABC Same NBC April 4
Battlestars 1981 NBC The New Battlestars Same
The Paper Chase 1979 CBS Same Showtime April 15
Second Chance 1977 ABC Press Your Luck CBS September 19

Ending this year[edit]

Date Show Debut
February 3 The Greatest American Hero 1981
February 28 M*A*S*H 1972
March 21 Little House on the Prairie 1974
April 1 Hit Man 1983
Just Men!
April 10 Gloria 1982
April 12 Ace Crawford, Private Eye 1983
April 29 Baby Makes Five
May 10 Laverne & Shirley 1976
May 14 Wizards and Warriors 1983
May 24 Joanie Loves Chachi 1982
May 31 Bring 'Em Back Alive
June 1 Tales of the Gold Monkey
June 6 Love, Sidney 1981
June 15 Small & Frye 1983
June 24 Second City Television/SCTV Network 90 1981
July 7 The Crystal Cube 1983
July 17 CHiPs 1977
July 20 Taxi 1978
September 5 The All New Popeye Hour
Quincy, M.E. 1976
September 10 Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends 1981
September 12 Square Pegs 1982
September 18 Father Murphy 1981
September 21 Archie Bunker's Place 1979
September 24 Walt Disney anthology series (returned in 1986) 1954
October 8 The Incredible Hulk 1982
October 29 The Dukes 1983
November 5 Pac-Man 1982
November 15 Bay City Blues 1983
December 16 Mr. Smith
December 27 Just Our Luck

Changing networks[edit]

Show Moved from Moved to
SCTV NBC Cinemax
Fame Syndication
Too Close for Comfort ABC
Second Chance CBS
Candid Camera Syndication NBC
The Paper Chase CBS Showtime

Made-for-TV movies and miniseries[edit]

Title Network Premiere date
Baby Sister ABC March 6
Kennedy NBC November 20 (5 episodes)
Malibu ABC January 23
Packin' It In CBS February 7
Policewoman Centerfold NBC October 17
The Thorn Birds ABC March 27 (4 episodes)
The Winds of War ABC February 6 (7 episodes)
V NBC May 1 (2 episodes)

Networks and services[edit]

Launches[edit]

Network Type Closure date Notes Source
Home Sports Entertainment Cable television January 4
Country Music Television Cable television March 5
The Nashville Network Cable television March 7
Disney Channel Cable television April 18
BET Cable television July 1

Conversions and rebrandings[edit]

Old network name New network name Type Conversion Date Notes Source
PRISM Sports New England SportsChannel New England Cable television Unknown

Closures[edit]

Network Type Closure date Notes Source
Star Satellite television February 12
Satellite News Channel Satellite television October 27

Television stations[edit]

Station launches[edit]

Date City of license/Market Station Channel Affiliation Notes
January 11 Milwaukee, Wisconsin WVCY-TV 22 Religious independent
February 2 Chicago, Illinois WYCC 20 PBS Returned to the air after a nine-year hiatus as WXXW
February 14 Fargo, North Dakota KVNJ-TV 15 Independent
March 3 Alexandria, Louisiana KLAX-TV 31 ABC
March 7 Des Moines, Iowa KCBR 17 Independent
March 9 Springfield, Missouri KSPR 33
March 13 Mount Vernon, Illinois/St. Louis, Missouri
(Harrisburg, Illinois) 		WCEE 13
April 8 Williston, North Dakota KWSE 4 PBS Part of Prairie Public Television
April 18 Memphis, Tennessee WMKW-TV 30 Independent
April 21 Tallahassee, Florida WTWC-TV 40 NBC
April 22 Angola, Indiana WBKZ 63
April 30 Ashland, Kentucky
(Huntington, West Virginia/Portsmouth, Ohio) 		WTSF 66 Religious ind.
May 10 Lander, Wyoming KCWC-TV 8 PBS
May 11 New York City W63AS 63 PBS LPTV translator of WVIA-TV
May 29 West Point/Tupelo, Mississippi WVSB-TV 27 ABC
June 10 Topeka, Kansas KLDH 49
June 19 Concord, California KFCB 42 Independent
June 20 Topeka, Kansas KLDH 49 ABC
June 26 Little Rock, Arkansas KLRT-TV 16 Independent
July 1 Alexandria, Louisiana KLPA-TV 25 PBS Part of Louisiana Public Broadcasting
July 4 Colby/Goodland, Kansas KLBY 4 Independent
July 27 Campbellsville/Louisville, Kentucky WGRB 34
August 10 Denver, Colorado KDVR 31
August 15 Fort Myers, Florida WSFP-TV 30 PBS
August 22 Hilo, Hawaii KHBC-TV 13 Independent Satellite of KHNL/Honolulu
September 5 Boston, Massachusetts WNDS 50
September 12 Kansas City, Missouri KEKR-TV 62
September 29 Reno, Nevada KNPB 5 PBS
October Hopkinsville, Kentucky WNKJ-TV 51 Independent
October 1 Spokane, Washington KSKN 22
October 9 Vancouver, Washington
(Portland/Salem, Oregon) 		KPDX 49
October 13 Wainscott/New York City, New York W23AA 23
October 15 Evansville, Indiana/Madisonville, Kentucky WLCN 19 Religious ind.
October 24 Miami, Florida W30AB 30 PBS LPTV translator of WPBT
October 31 Albuquerque/Santa Fe, New Mexico KSAF-TV 2 Independent
November 1 Ocala/Gainesville, Florida WBSP-TV 51
November 2 Moline, Illinois WQPT-TV 24 PBS
November 10 Columbus, Ohio W08BV 8 Independent
November 17 Evansville, Indiana WEVV-TV 44 Independent
December 2 Anchorage, Alaska KTBY 4
Cotati, California KRCB 22 PBS
December 4 Llano/Austin, Texas KBVO-TV 42 Independent
December 30 Honolulu, Hawaii KHAI-TV 20
December 31 Knoxville, Tennessee WKCH-TV 43

Stations changing network affiliation[edit]

Market Date Station Channel Prior affiliation New affiliation
August 7 Fargo/Grand Forks, North Dakota WDAY-TV
WDAZ-TV 		6
8 		NBC ABC
KTHI-TV 11 ABC NBC
April 3 Green Bay, Wisconsin WFRV-TV 5 NBC ABC
WLUK-TV 11 ABC NBC
August 31 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania WSBA-TV 43 CBS Independent
April 3 Marquette, Michigan WJMN-TV 3 NBC ABC

Station closures[edit]

Date Market Station Channel Affiliation
March 31 St. John, Indiana WCAE 50 PBS
July 31 Salem, Oregon KVDO-TV 13 PBS
August 30 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania WKBS-TV 48 Independent

Births[edit]

Date Name Notability
January 2 Kate Bosworth Actress (Young Americans)
January 6 Efrat Dor Actress
January 7 Brett Dalton Actor (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
Robert Ri'chard Actor (Cousin Skeeter, One on One)
January 9 Kerry Condon Actress
January 17 Rickey D'Shon Collins Voice actor (Recess, Danny Phantom)
January 24 Frankie Grande Actor and singer
February 1 Jillian Bynes Actress
February 4 Hannibal Buress Actor
Lauren Ash Canadian actress (Superstore)
February 11 Dianna Russini American sports journalist
February 12 Mimi Michaels Actress
February 14 Julia Ling Actress (Chuck)
February 17 Kristen Doute Actress
February 18 Evan Jonigkeit Actor
Wrenn Schmidt Actress
February 21 Eoin Macken Irish actor (The Night Shift)
February 22 Mimi Michaels Actress
Iliza Shlesinger Actress
February 23 Aziz Ansari Actor (Parks and Recreation, Master of None)
Emily Blunt British-American actress
February 26 Kara Monaco Model and reality TV participant (Big Brother 14)
February 27 Kate Mara Actress (24, American Horror Story, House of Cards)
March 1 Shawn Toovey Actor (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman)
Lindsay Mendez Actress
Lupita Nyong'o Actress
March 7 Hettienne Park Actress
March 8 Jessie Collins Actress (The Nine)
March 10 Carrie Underwood Singer (American Idol)
March 11 Lucy DeVito Actress
March 12 Ron Funches Actor
March 14 Taylor Hanson Singer (Hanson)
March 15 Sean Biggerstaff Scottish actor (Harry Potter)
March 18 Kyle Downes Actor (Lizzie McGuire)
March 20 Michael Cassidy Actor (The O.C., Privileged, Men at Work)
March 28 Ed O'Keefe Guatemalan-American senior White House and political correspondent with CBS News
March 29 Ed Skrein English actor
March 31 Ashleigh Ball Canadian voice actress (Johnny Test, Edgar & Ellen, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Littlest Pet Shop, Ready Jet Go!)
Melissa Ordway Actress (Hollywood Heights, The Young and the Restless)
April 1 Ellen Hollman Actress (Spartacus: War of the Damned)
Matt Lanter Actor (Commander in Chief, 90210, Star-Crossed, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Ultimate Spider-Man, Timeless)
April 3 Errol Barnett Anchor
April 4 Amanda Righetti Actress (The O.C., North Shore, The Mentalist, Colony)
Eric Andre Actor
April 6 Rick Cosnett Zimbabwean-Australian actor (The Vampire Diaries, The Flash)
Diora Baird Actress
April 10 Jamie Chung Actress (Once Upon a Time, Gotham, Big Hero 6: The Series, The Gifted)
Ryan Merriman Actor
April 12 Elle Duncan American sports anchor
April 21 Gugu Mbatha-Raw Actress
Ruthie Ann Miles Actress
April 23 Aaron Hill Actor
April 26 Ryan Dowell Baum Actor (The Famous Jett Jackson)
April 27 Francis Capra Actor (Veronica Mars)
Corey Harrison Television personality
Ari Graynor Actress (Fringe)
April 29 Megan Boone Actress (The Blacklist)
Sam Jones III Actor (Smallville, Blue Mountain State)
May 2 Gaius Charles Actor (Friday Night Lights, Grey's Anatomy)
May 6 Adrianne Palicki Actress (Friday Night Lights, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
Gabourey Sidibe Actress (The Big C, Empire)
JR Lemon Actor
May 8 Julia Chan British actress (Saving Hope)
Elyes Gabel English actor (Scorpion)
May 11 Holly Valance New Zealand-born actress (Prison Break)
Matt Leinart Football analyst for Fox Sports
May 14 Amber Tamblyn Actress (General Hospital, Joan of Arcadia, Two and a Half Men, House)
May 19 Michael Che Comedian (The Daily Show, Saturday Night Live)
May 20 Michaela McManus Actress (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, One Tree Hill, Awake, Aquarius)
Allen Maldonado Actor
May 26 Scott Disick Media personality
May 28 Megalyn Echikunwoke Actress (Like Family, The 4400, CSI: Miami)
June 5 Chelsey Crisp Actress
June 6 Lyndie Greenwood Canadian actress (Sleepy Hollow)
June 10 Leelee Sobieski Actress (Charlie Grace, NYC 22)
Shanna Collins Actress
Jason Evigan Singer
June 13 David Begnaud American journalist
June 16 Olivia Hack Voice actress (Hey Arnold!, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Bratz)
June 19 Aidan Turner Irish actor (Being Human, Poldark) and singer
Macklemore Singer
Tracey Wigfield Writer
June 21 Michael Malarkey Actor (The Vampire Diaries)
June 22 Thomas M. Wright Actor
June 23 Brooks Laich Ice hockey player
June 30 Angela Sarafyan Actress
July 1 Lynsey Bartilson Actress (Grounded for Life, The X's)
Tanya Chisholm Actress (Big Time Rush)
July 2 Alicia Menendez American host
July 6 Gregory Smith Canadian-American actor (Everwood, Rookie Blue)
July 19 Trai Byers Actor (Empire)
July 23 Andrew Eiden Actor (Complete Savages)
July 27 Blair Redford Actor (The Lying Game, Satisfaction)
Heidi Gardner Actress (Saturday Night Live)
July 28 Kate Bolduan CNN journalist
July 29 Kaitlyn Black Actress (Hart of Dixie)
Tania Gunadi Actress (Aaron Stone, Transformers: Prime, Sanjay and Craig, Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero)
July 30 Nathan Carter Canadian actor
August 3 Mamie Gummer Actress (Emily Owens, M.D.) and daughter of Meryl Streep and Don Gummer
August 4 Adhir Kalyan South African actor (Aliens in America, Rules of Engagement, Second Chance)
Greta Gerwig Actress (China, IL)
Nathaniel Buzolic Actor
August 5 Kara Tointon English actress (EastEnders)
August 8 Fred Meyers Actor (Even Stevens)
Guy Burnet Actor
August 9 Ashley Johnson Actress (Growing Pains, Jumanji, Recess, Teen Titans, Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!, Ben 10, Teen Titans Go!, Blindspot, Infinity Train)
Dan Levy Actor
August 11 Chris Hemsworth Australian actor (Home and Away)
August 12 Jericka Duncan American national TV news correspondent
August 14 Mila Kunis Actress (That '70s Show, Family Guy)
Lamorne Morris Actor (New Girl)
August 18 Max Winkler American director
August 19 Peter Mooney Canadian actor (Rookie Blue)
August 20 Andrew Garfield British-American actor
August 21 Brody Jenner Actor (The Hills, Keeping Up with the Kardashians)
August 22 Laura Breckenridge Actress (Related)
Alan Yang Actor
August 23 Annie Ilonzeh Actress
Ruta Gedmintas Actress
August 25 Caitlin FitzGerald Actress
August 29 Jennifer Landon Actress (As the World Turns)
September 2 Tiffany Hines Actress (Beyond the Break, Nikita)
September 3 Christine Woods Actress
September 7 Chris Kelly Writer
September 9 Zoe Kazan Actress
Eboni K. Williams Television host
September 10 Sarah Schneider Actress
September 14 Amy Winehouse English singer (d. 2011)
September 21 Maggie Grace Actress (Lost)
Joseph Mazzello Actor
September 22 Mamrie Hart Actress
September 25 Donald Glover Actor (Community, Atlanta) and rapper
September 26 Zoe Perry Actress
October 3 Tessa Thompson Actress
October 5 Noah Segan Voice actor (Henry on KaBlam!)
Jesse Eisenberg Actor (Get Real)
Shelby Rabara Voice actress (Peridot on Steven Universe)
October 8 Travis Pastrana Race car driver
October 9 Spencer Grammer Actress (As the World Turns, Greek, Rick and Morty)
October 12 Tony Cavalero Actor (School of Rock)
October 13 Katia Winter Actress
October 17 Michelle Ang Actress
October 20 Alona Tal Israeli singer and actress (The Pyjamas, Veronica Mars, Supernatural, Cane, Cult, Hand of God)
October 21 Charlotte Sullivan Canadian actress (Rookie Blue)
Aaron Tveit Actor
Amber Rose Television personality
October 24 Katie McGrath Irish actress (Merlin, Dracula, Supergirl)
Adrienne Bailon Actress (That's So Raven, The Cheetah Girls, The Real)
October 26 Katy Tur American author
Folake Olowofoyeku Actress
October 29 Dillon Casey Actor (Nikita)
Johnny Lewis Actor (Quintuplets, Sons of Anarchy) (d. 2012)
Richard Brancatisano Australian actor (Power Rangers Mystic Force, Chasing Life)
November 7 Adam DeVine Actor (Workaholics, Uncle Grandpa, Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero)
November 10 Miranda Lambert Singer
November 16 Levy Tran Actress
November 17 Harry Lloyd Actor (Manhattan, Game of Thrones, Counterpart)
November 18 Robert Kazinsky Actor
November 19 Adam Driver Actor (Girls)
November 20 Future Rapper
November 21 Claire van der Boom Actress
The Bella Twins Pro wrestling duo (WWE, Total Divas, Total Bellas, Twin Love)
November 22 Andrew J. West Actor (The Walking Dead, Once Upon a Time)
November 24 Karine Vanasse Actress
November 27 Arjay Smith Actor (The Journey of Allen Strange)
November 29 Pamela Brown Newscaster
November 30 CJ Gibson Model
December 2 Jana Kramer Actress (One Tree Hill) and country music singer
Daniela Ruah Portuguese-American actress (NCIS: Los Angeles)
December 8 Utkarsh Ambudkar Actor
December 9 Jolene Purdy Actress
December 10 Patrick Flueger Actor (The 4400, Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D.)
December 12 Mathew Valencia Actor (voice of Robin on The New Batman Adventures)
December 13 Satya Bhabha Actor
December 15 Camilla Luddington English actress (Grey's Anatomy)
December 20 Jonah Hill Actor (Allen Gregory)
December 21 Steven Yeun Actor
December 22 Joe Dinicol Actor
December 30 Ashley Zukerman Australian actor

Deaths[edit]

Date Name Age Notability
February 4 Karen Carpenter 32 Singer and drummer (The Carpenters)
March 9 Faye Emerson 65 Actress (Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town)
March 16 Arthur Godfrey 79 Host (Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts)
July 20 Frank Reynolds 53 ABC News journalist
July 29 Raymond Massey 86 Actor (Dr. Gillespie on Dr. Kildare)
August 3 Carolyn Jones 53 Actress (Morticia on The Addams Family)
August 28 Jan Clayton 66 Actress (Ellen Miller on Lassie)
August 29 Simon Oakland 68 Actor (Baa Baa Black Sheep)
October 23 Jessica Savitch 36 NBC News anchor
November 14 Junior Samples 57 Comedian (Hee Haw)
November 22 Michael Conrad 58 Actor (Sgt. Phil Esterhasz on Hill Street Blues)
November 28 Christopher George 52 Actor (Sgt. Sam Troy on The Rat Patrol)
December 28 Dennis Wilson 39 Singer-songwriter (The Beach Boys) and brother of Brian Wilson
William Demarest 91 Actor (Uncle Charley on My Three Sons)

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ McNeil, Alex (1991). Total television : a comprehensive guide to programming from 1948 to the present. New York, N.Y., U.S.A: Penguin Books. p. 275. ISBN 9780140157369.
  2. ^ Carmody, John (February 1, 1983). "The TV Column". The Washington Post. p. D9.
  3. ^ Kirkland, Bruce (November 6, 2001). "Trek director Waxes Wise on new DVD". Toronto Sun. p. 46.
  4. ^ Turner, Winford, ed. (June 12, 1983). "Gift for his VCR". TimesDaily. Vol. 114, no. 163. Florence, Alabama: The New York Times Company. p. 43.
  5. ^ "Star Trek: The Motion Picture — Special Longer Version". Star Trek: The LaserDisc Site. Blam Entertainment Group. September 27, 2003. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016.
  6. ^ O'Connor, John J. (February 21, 1983). "Tv Movie: Grace Kelly". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
  7. ^ "Finale Of M*A*S*H Draws Record Number Of Viewers". The New York Times. March 3, 1983.
  8. ^ "Searchable Network TV Broadcasts - NBC Sports (1980s)". rec.sport.baseball.
  9. ^ Bedell, Sally (May 4, 1983). "'V' SERIES AN NBC HIT". The New York Times. p. 27. Retrieved May 14, 2011
  10. ^ NBA on CBS
  11. ^ "'Search For Tomorrow'...The LIVE Episode! - Eyes Of A Generation...Television's Living History".
  12. ^ Lendt, Kiss and Sell, p. 289.
  13. ^ "NBC's Jessica Savitch Drowns in Car in Canal". Washington Post. 25 October 1983. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
  14. ^ Also Starring Gerald Ford Archived 2009-04-25 at the Wayback Machine– Entertainment Weekly. Accessed 2009-07-27. 2009-07-29.
  15. ^ Werts, Diane (2006). Christmas on Television. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-275-98331-4.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1983_in_American_television&oldid=1226038381"