- April 25
- The ABC TV network airs the last episode of the Wildside series. [6]
- May 17
- Bobby Ewing character (played by Patrick Duffy) killed off on TV show Dallas. [1]
- May 18
- First remote location for TV show Nightline (South Africa). [1]
- June 17
- John Hendricks launches the Discovery Channel in the United States. [85]
- July 3
- CBS announces a 21 percent stock buy-back to thwart Ted Turner's takeover. [1]
- September 14
- The CBS TV network begins airing the animated weekly show The Wuzzles. [6]
- The NBC TV network begins airing the animated weekly TV show Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears. [6]
- The NBC TV network begins airing the Disney show The Golden Girls. [6]
- September 29
- MacGyver pilot episode aired on the ABC network. [85]
- November 1
- Nostalgia Television begins on cable. [1]
- December 11
- General Electric acquires RCA Corp and its subsidiary, NBC. [1]
- December 20
- Howard Cosell retires from television sports after 20 years with ABC. [1]
1986
- January 15
- HBO and Cinemax pay cable television services initiate scrambling their national satellite feeds. [5]
- February 2
- Disney returns to Sunday night TV on ABC, with Michael Eisner hosting the first The Disney Sunday Night Movie, entitled Help Wanted: Kids. It ranks 41st out of the week's 68 network programs. [6]
- February 27
- The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis. [5] [84]
- March 22
- HBO launches boxing's heavyweight title unification tournament. [1]
- April 9
- Dallas TV show announces it will revive the killed Bobby Ewing character. [1]
- April 16
- To dispel rumors he's dead, Libya's Moammar Qadhafi appears on TV. [1]
- April 21
- Geraldo Rivera opens Al Capone's secret vault on live TV show The Mystery of Al Capone's Vault and finds nothing inside. [1] [84]
- April 27
- John R MacDougall, as "Captain Midnight", interrupts HBO satellite feed. [1] [84]
- May 16
- Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) comes back from dead on TV show Dallas. [1]
- May 20
- Flintstones 25th Anniversary Celebration airs on CBS-TV. [1]
- June 2
- Regular TV coverage of US Senate sessions begins. [1]
- August 8
- The TV series The Ellen Burstyn Show first airs on ABC. [6]
- September 6
- CBS airs its last show of The Wuzzles. [6]
- TV series Casualty is first aired on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. [84]
- September 13
- ABC begins airing the TV show The Wuzzles. [6]
- September 18
- The TV series Siskel & Ebert debuts in syndication. [6]
- September 26
- Bobby (Patrick Duffy) returns to Dallas TV show, his death is attributed to his wife Pam's bad dream (erases all of last season). [1]
- The syndicated TV show Today's Business premieres. The early-morning show airs on 133 stations. [6]
- The ABC TV network debuts the Disney-produced Sidekicks show. [6]
- December 26
- TV soap Search for Tomorrow ends 35 year run. [1]
- December 27
- 10th Soap Opera Digest Poll Awards - The Young and the Restless wins. [1]
1987
- January 18
- 11th Soap Opera Digest Poll Awards - Days of Our Lives wins. [1]
- January 22
- R Budd Dwyer, Pennsylvania State Treasurer, facing prison for conspiracy and perjury, shoots himself to death at a televised news conference. [1] [83] [467]
- February 15
- ABC-TV begins broadcasting Amerika mini-series. [1]
- February 19
- Anti-smoking ad airs for first time on TV in the USA, featuring Yul Brynner. [1]
- February 20
- David Hartman quits ABC's Good Morning America, after 11 years. [1]
- February 27
- Washington Week In Review 20th anniversary on PBS TV. [1]
- March 4
- The ABC TV network airs the first episode of the Disney TV show Harry. [6]
- March 20
- Soap opera TV show Capitol airs its final episode. [1]
- March 23
- Soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful premieres on TV. [1]
- March 27
- The ABC TV network airs the last episode of the Disney TV show Harry. [6]
- April 5
- Fox TV network premieres showing Married With Children and Tracey Ullman. [1]
- April 6
- Al Campanis appears on TV show Nightline saying blacks may not be equipped to be in baseball management, sparking a racial controversy. [1]
- April 19
- The first TV appearance of The Simpsons on The Tracy Ullman Show. [83]
- April 26
- The syndicated TV show Today's Business is cancelled, after losing close to US$5 million in seven months. [6]
- May 7
- Diane Chambers' (Shelley Long) final episode on TV show Cheers. [1]
- May 8
- Pam Ewing (Victoria Principal) character on TV show Dallas, is killed off. [1]
- May 16
- ABC airs the last episode of The Wuzzles. [6]
- June 27
- The ABC TV network airs the final Sidekicks show. [6]
- July 25
- The Fox TV network airs the first episode of Down and Out in Beverly Hills. [6]
- August 4
- The US Federal Communications Commission votes 4-0 to rescind the Fairness Doctrine, which had required radio and television stations to "fairly" present controversial issues. [1] [83]
- August 31
- Michael Jackson's Bad music album is released, including songs "Bad", "Man in the Mirror", and "Smooth Criminal". The 18-minute music video Bad premieres on US TV. [384.21]
- September 7
- The NBC TV network debuts the Win, Lose, or Draw TV show. [6]
- September 12
- The last episode of The Ellen Burstyn Show airs. [6]
- The Fox TV network airs the last episode of Down and Out in Beverly Hills. [6]
- September 16
- The CBS TV network debuts the Disney-produced show The Oldest Rookie. [6]
- September 18
- A two-hour syndicated TV special DuckTales airs. This is the debut of the first daily animated series from the Walt Disney Studios. [6]
- September 21
- The first of 65 episodes of DuckTales begin airing on 121 TV stations, reaching 83% of TV households. (Within a few months, it is the top-ranked afternoon kids' show in syndication.) [6]
- September 28
- Encounter at Farpoint, the first episode of TV show Star Trek: The Next Generation airs. [5]
- December 10
- Nightline TV show is seen in the USSR for first time. [1]
1988
- January 6
- The CBS TV network airs the last episode of The Oldest Rookie show. [6]
- January 10
- The Disney Channel debuts the animated TV show The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. [6]
- January 16
- 4th Soap Opera Digest Awards - Days of Our Lives wins. [1]
- Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder fired from CBS-TV for racial remarks. [1]
- January 19
- 48 Hours premieres on CBS-TV. [1]
- January 23
- Bob Benoit bowls first 300-point game in a televised title match. [1]
- January 25
- Vice President George H.W. Bush and Dan Rather clash on CBS Evening News as Rather attempts to question Bush about his role in the Iran-Contra affair. [1]
- February 5
- First prime-time wrestling match in 30 years - Andre the Giant beats Hulk Hogan. [1]
- February 21
- During a live TV broadcast, televangelist Jimmy Swaggart confesses to an unspecified sin, then announces he would be leaving his ministry for an unspecified length of time. [1] [82]
- April 4
- Last broadcast of Crossroads on British TV. [1]
- April 25
- US TV show Nightline goes on location to Jerusalem, Israel. [1]
- June 20
- The Price is Right model Janice Pennington is knocked out by a TV camera. [1]
- August 22
- NBC premieres Later with Bob Costas (first guest Linda Ellerbee). [1]
- September 3
- Disney's syndicated TV show Live with Regis and Kathie Lee begins airing. [6]
- September 10
- The ABC TV network debuts The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. [6]
- September 16
- Jury awards Valerie Harper US$1.6 million in dispute over TV series. [1]
- October 8
- The NBC TV network debuts the Disney-produced TV show Empty Nest, a spin-off from The Golden Girls. [6]
- October 9
- The NBC TV network begins airing The Magical World of Disney on Sunday nights. [6]
- October 19
- US Senate passes bill curbing ads during children's TV shows. [1]
- November 3
- Talk-show host Geraldo Rivera's nose is broken as Roy Innis brawls with skinheads at TV taping. [1]
- November 30
- The Disney Channel begins airing Good Morning, Miss Bliss. (After five episodes, the series is cancelled, but then continues on the NBC TV network as Saved by the Bell.) [6]
- December 1
- NBC bids record US$401 million to capture rights to 1992 Barcelona Olympics. [1]
- December 2
- The Naked Gun film premieres, a movie based on TV's Police Squad. [1]
- December 9
- New York Yankees sign 12-year television contract with Madison Square Garden for US$500 million. [1]
- December 14
- CBS' US$1.1 billion bid wins exclusive 1990-94 Major League Baseball rights. [1]
- December
- American TV show The Young and the Restless hits number one on the US Nielsen ratings of daytime drama shows. ((and will remain there for at least the next 1000 consecutive weeks.)) [156.13]
- December 20
- NBC signs lease to stay in New York City for 33 more years. [1]
1989
- January 5
- Two French TV newsmen are arrested for trying to plant fake bombs on three airlines at JFK airport in security test. [1]
- Majoe League Baseball signs US$400 million with ESPN, to show 175 games in 1990. [1]
- January 9
- Pat Sajak Show premieres on CBS TV. [1]
- January 13
- TV soap opera Ryan's Hope final episode after 13.5 year run. [1]
- January 15
- 10th ACE Cable Awards: HBO wins 35 awards. [1]
- February 2
- Satellite television service Sky Television PLC is launched in Europe. [43]
- February 10
- Miami Vice's 100th episode seen on TV. [1]
- February 22
- First Spanish commercial on US network TV (Pepsi-Cola-CBS Grammy Award). [1]
- March 4
- The Disney Channel debuts the TV series Chip 'n' Dale's Rescue Rangers. [6]
- March 27
- First half-black soap opera, Generations premieres on NBC-TV. [1]
- April 5
- Late Night with David Letterman becomes first network TV series to use Dolby stereo. [1]
- April 24
- The Disney Channel begins airing another new The New Mickey Mouse Club series. [6]
- April 30
- Critics Siskel and Ebert film their 500th TV movie-review show. [1]
- May 11
- 217th and final episode of Dynasty TV show is aired. [1]
- May 12
- Entertainment Tonight airs their 2,000th TV performance. [1]
- May 14
- Moonlighting, TV crime drama, last airs on ABC. [1]
- Final TV episode of Family Ties airs. [1]
- May 19
- Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) makes her last appearance on US TV show Dallas. [1]
- June 4
- The Tiananmen Square massacre takes place in Beijing on the army's approach to the square, and the final stand-off in the square is covered live on television. [5] [43]
- July 5
- In the USA, the television pilot show Seinfeld Chronicles premieres. [43]
- The CBS TV network airs the last episode of the Disney TV show Hard Times on Planet Earth. [6]
- July 23
- FOX-TV tops ABC, NBC and CBS for first time (America's Most Wanted). [1]
- August 24
- Indonesia's first privately owned television station, Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia, (RCTI) begins broadcasting. [43]
- September 1
- The NBC TV network airs the show Win, Lose, or Draw for the last time. The network aired 505 episodes. [6]
- September 2
- The ABC TV network airs the last episode of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. [6]
- NBC airs its last episode of Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears. 65 episodes were shown over four years. [6]
- September 5
- U.S. President George H. W. Bush holds up a bag of cocaine purchased across the street at Lafayette Park in his first televised speech to the nation. [43]
- September 8
- The TV show The Nutt House, produced by Mel Brooks for Disney, first airs on NBC. [6]
- September 9
- The ABC TV network begins airing Disney's Gummi Bears / Winnie the Pooh Hour. [6]
- September 17
- Jay Stewart, announcer on TV's Let's Make a Deal, commits suicide. [1]
- September 30
- The animated TV show Chip 'n' Dale's Rescue Rangers first airs on TV. The first show is the two-hour Chip 'n' Dale's Rescue Rangers to the Rescue. [6]
- October 5
- U.S. televangelist John Nunes is found guilty of embezzling US$158 million. [43]
- October 25
- The NBC TV network airs the last show of The Nutt House. [6]
- December 6
- The final episode (until 2005) of the long-running BBC science fiction series Doctor Who is broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom. [43]
- December 17
- The first full length episode of The Simpsons TV show in the US, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", premieres on Fox-TV. [43]
- December 18
- I Love Lucy Christmas TV episode, shown for first time in over 30 years. [1]
- December 29
- Jane Pauley says goodbye to NBC's Today show. [1]
|
