1984 in American television
This article is a list of television-related events during 1984.
| List of years in American television: |
|---|
|
|
| 1983–84 United States network television schedule |
| 1984–85 United States network television schedule |
| List of American television programs currently in production |
Events
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| January 2 | Oprah Winfrey takes over as host of WLS-TV's A.M. Chicago, which would serve as a forerunner to her nationwide, syndicated talk show. |
| January 9 | Wendy's "Fluffy Bun" advertisement is first broadcast, which gains Clara Peller and her "Where's the beef?" catchphrase national fame. |
| Something About Amelia, a story concerning incest, is broadcast by ABC. Glenn Close, Ted Danson, and Roxana Zal are the main actors. | |
| January 22 | During CBS's broadcast of Super Bowl XVIII, Apple Computer Company heralds the introduction of its Apple Macintosh personal computer with the famous advertisement "1984", the only time it is broadcast on national television. |
| January 23 | Professional wrestler Hulk Hogan defeats The Iron Sheik to win his first World Wrestling Federation championship at Madison Square Garden; the match is televised by the MSG Network. |
| January 26 | Andy Kaufman makes what turns out to be his final television appearance as host of The Top. |
| January 27 | Michael Jackson's hair catches fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial. |
| February 1 | Arts & Entertainment Network launches from the merger of ARTS and RCA's The Entertainment Channel. It originally broadcasts after kids' channel Nickelodeon signs off. |
| Lifetime is launched from the merger of Hearst/ABC's Daytime and Viacom's Cable Health Network. | |
| In Bakersfield, California, CBS affiliate KPWR-TV changes its call letters to the current KGET-TV, in preparation for an affiliation swap with NBC affiliate KERO-TV the following month. | |
| February 20 | 17 of the 24 added minutes are utilized by ABC for the network television premiere of Superman II. Subsequent ABC airings of the longer version would be cut further for more advertising time. The full 146-minute extended cut was shown internationally, including parts of Canada. As with the first film, Alexander and Ilya Salkind prepared a version for worldwide television release that re-inserted unused footage (in this case 24 minutes) into the film. It was through this extended version that viewers first caught a glimpse into the Superman II that might have happened had Richard Donner remained as director. In fact, a majority of the added footage was shot by Donner before Richard Lester became director. |
| February 26 | KDRV in Medford, Oregon signs on as an ABC affiliate, giving the Medford market full-time access to all three networks for the first time. |
| CBS airs the network broadcast television premiere of Star Wars. | |
| February 28 | At the 26th Grammy Awards telecast by CBS, Michael Jackson wins a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards. |
| April 1 | Nickelodeon celebrates its 5th anniversary. |
| April 7 | After being cancelled by ABC following its third season, Too Close for Comfort with the aid of Metromedia, is revived for the first-run syndicated market. |
| May 8 | Happy Days airs its series finale, "Passages". However, five additional episodes would air from the end of June on through the end of September. The last episode to be aired on ABC, "Fonzie's Spots", is actually #251 in chronological order. |
| May 18 | Character Bobby Ewing finds himself in the crossfire as a rival tries to gun down his brother J.R. on the season finale of the CBS series Dallas. |
| May 19 | CBS tapes the Michael Larson episodes of Press Your Luck in which Larson wins $110,237 cash and prizes. (The episodes, which are split into two parts, would air on June 8 and 11.) |
| June 23 | On a broadcast of NBC's Game of the Week between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals, Cubs second baseman Ryne Sandberg hits two crucial, game tying home runs off of Cardinals closer Bruce Sutter in both the bottom of the ninth and tenth innings. The Cubs would go on to win the game in eleven innings, by the score of 12 – 11. Bob Costas and Tony Kubek were on the call for what would soon become known as "The Sandberg Game". |
| July 14 | In what became known as "Black Saturday", Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation takes over Superstation WTBS' Saturday evening time period once occupied by Georgia Championship Wrestling. |
| July 23 | MTV broadcasts the live World Wrestling Federation event "The Brawl to End It All" from Madison Square Garden in New York City. |
| July 28 | ABC begins their coverage of the Summer Olympic Games from Los Angeles. Jim McKay and Peter Jennings served as hosts for the opening ceremonies. |
| July 30 | The soap opera Santa Barbara debuts on NBC. |
| September 9 | The Tyler-Longview market's lone television station KLTV finally receives competition when KLMG-TV (now Fox affiliate KFXK-TV) signs-on and takes KLTV's secondary CBS affiliation. |
| September 10 | The game show Jeopardy! returns to television as a syndicated show with new host Alex Trebek. |
| September 14 | Dan Aykroyd and Bette Midler host the first MTV Video Music Awards at New York City's Radio City Music Hall, an event which included Madonna's performance of the song "Like a Virgin". |
| September 16 | The two hour pilot episode of Miami Vice airs on NBC. This episode started developing the trademark Vice style.[1] Aspects of Miami Vice considered revolutionary lay in its music, cinematography, and imagery, which made large segments of each episode resemble a protracted music video. |
| September 17 | The Transformers debuts in syndication. |
| September 18 | The series finale of Three's Company airs on ABC following a three-episode story arc that also sets up the spin-off Three's a Crowd. |
| September 20 | The Cosby Show debuts on NBC. |
| September 24 | The game show Super Password premieres on NBC at 12:00 noon EST. The new version of the classic game show is one of the few shows to survive at a time period that normally broadcasts news on any of the three major networks, running for 4 1/2 years. |
| CBS affiliate WJKA (now Fox affiliate WSFX-TV) in Wilmington, North Carolina signs-on the air, giving Wilmington in-market affiliates of all three commercial networks. | |
| October 1 | Montana, the last state in the Union without its own PBS station, gains one when Montana PBS launches. |
| American Movie Classics is initiated. | |
| October 8 | NBC broadcasts The Burning Bed, which features Farrah Fawcett as a woman who kills her abusive husband. The fact-based film is the highest-rated entertainment event of the 1984–1985 season. |
| October 12 | The cast and crew of Cover Up were filming the seventh episode of the series, "Golden Opportunity," on Stage 17 of the 20th Century Fox lot. One of the scenes filmed that day called for Jon-Erik Hexum's character to load bullets into a .44 Magnum handgun, so he was provided with a functional gun and blanks. When the scene did not play as the director wanted it to in the master shot, there was a delay in filming. Hexum became restless and impatient during the delay and began playing around to lighten the mood. He had unloaded all but one (blank) round, spun it, and—simulating Russian roulette—he put the revolver to his right temple and pulled the trigger,[2] apparently unaware of the danger. At a close enough range, the effect of the powder gasses is a small explosion, so although the paper wadding in the blank that Hexum discharged did not penetrate his skull, there was enough blunt force trauma to shatter a quarter-sized piece of his skull and propel the pieces into his brain, causing massive hemorrhaging.[3][4] Hexum was rushed to Beverly Hills Medical Center, where he underwent five hours of surgery to repair his wounds.[4] On October 18, aged 26, six days after the accident, Hexum was declared brain dead. |
| October 27 | Turner Broadcasting System initiates the Cable Music Channel in the U.S., only to end it one month later. |
| November 10 | Sesame Street celebrates its 15th anniversary. |
| November 12 | Theresa Saldana appears as herself in the NBC movie Victims for Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story, a retelling of her 1982 stabbing incident and its aftermath. |
| December 8 | The final episode of Captain Kangaroo airs. This ends a 29 year run on CBS that made it the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television program of its day. |
| December 15 | One year after officially departing the cast of Saturday Night Live, Eddie Murphy returns to guest host. This would be Murphy's last appearance on the show (not counting a brief appearance during SNL's 40th Anniversary Special in 2015) until hosting again during the forty-fifth season in 2019. |
| December 17 | George C. Scott plays Ebenezer Scrooge in a new version of the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol, broadcast by CBS. |
| The ABC soap opera One Life to Live changes its opening sequence and theme song, which lasted until 1991. | |
| ABC purchases a majority stake of ESPN from Getty Oil Corp. | |
| KLDO-TV in Laredo, Texas signs-on as an ABC affiliate, giving Laredo in-market affiliates of all three commercial networks (it is now an Univision affiliate). | |
| December 28 | The Edge of Night ends after twenty-eight years on CBS and ABC daytime. |
| During an interview backstage at Madison Square Garden, 20/20 reporter John Stossel tells professional wrestler David Schultz that he thought pro wrestling was fake. Schultz's response was to hit Stossel in the head twice, knocking him to the floor each time.[5] The attack, which attracted a large amount of media coverage, was later aired on national television including ABC News which reported that the network had received more than 1,000 calls from viewers inquiring about Stossel's health. |
Programs
- 20/20 (1978–present)
- 60 Minutes (1968–present)
- ABC's Wide World of Sports (1961–1998)
- Alice (1976–1985)
- All My Children (1970–2011)
- American Bandstand (1952–1989)
- Another World (1964–1999)
- As the World Turns (1956–2010)
- Battle of the Planets (1978–1985)
- Benson (1979–1986)
- Cagney & Lacey (1982–1988)
- Candid Camera (1948–2004)
- Capitol (1982–1987)
- Cheers (1982–1993)
- Dallas (1978–1991)
- Dangermouse (1980–1992)
- Days of Our Lives (1965–present)
- Derrick (1974–1998)
- Diff'rent Strokes (1978–1986)
- Dynasty (1981–1989)
- Face the Nation (1954–present)
- Falcon Crest (1981–1990)
- Fame (1982–1987)
- Family Feud (1976–1985, 1988–1995, 1999–present)
- Family Ties (1982–1989)
- Fraggle Rock (1983–1987)
- General Hospital (1963–present)
- Gimme a Break! (1981–1987)
- Good Morning America (1975–present)
- Guiding Light (1952–2009)
- Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951–present)
- Happy Days (1974–1984)
- Hart to Hart (1979–1984)
- Hee Haw (1969–1993)
- Hill Street Blues (1981–1987)
- Inspector Gadget (1983–1986)
- Knight Rider (1982–1986)
- Knots Landing (1979–1993)
- Late Night with David Letterman (1982–1993)
- Loving (1983–1995)
- Magnum, P.I. (1980–1988)
- Mama's Family (1983–1985, 1986–1990)
- Masterpiece Theatre (1971–present)
- Match Game—Hollywood Squares Hour (1962–1969, 1973–1984, 1990–1991, 1998–1999)
- Meet the Press (1947–present)
- Monday Night Football (1970–present)
- Moneyline (1980–present)
- Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom (1963–1988, 2002–present)
- Newhart (1982–1990)
- Nightline (1979–present)
- One Life to Live (1968–2012, 2013)
- Press Your Luck (1983–1986)
- Professional Bowlers Tour (1962–1997)
- Remington Steele (1982–1987)
- Ryan's Hope (1975–1989)
- Saturday Night Live (1975–present)
- Scarecrow and Mrs. King (1983–1987)
- Schoolhouse Rock! (1973–1986)
- Search for Tomorrow (1951–1986)
- Sesame Street (1969–present)
- Silver Spoons (1982–1987)
- Simon & Simon (1981–1988)
- Solid Gold (1980–1988)
- Soul Train (1971–2006)
- SportsCenter (1979–present)
- St. Elsewhere (1982–1988)
- Star Search (1983-1995, 2003)
- That's Incredible! (1980–1984)
- The A-Team (1983–1987)
- The Dukes of Hazzard (1979–1985)
- The Edge of Night (1956–1984)
- The Facts of Life (1979–1988)
- The Fall Guy (1981–1986)
- The Jeffersons (1975–1985)
- The Love Boat (1977–1986)
- The P.T.L. Club (1976–1987)
- The Price Is Right (1972–present)
- The Today Show (1952–present)
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962–1992)
- The Young and the Restless (1973–present)
- This Old House (1979–present)
- This Week in Baseball (1977–1998, 2000–2011)
- Three's Company (1977–1984)
- Too Close for Comfort (1980–1986)
- Trapper John, M.D. (1979–1986)
- Truth or Consequences (1950–1988)
- Webster (1983–1989)
- Wheel of Fortune (1975–present)
Debuting this year
Resuming this year
| Title | Final aired | Previous network | New title | Returning network | Date of return |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| People are Funny | 1960 | NBC | Same | Same | March 24 |
| Showoffs | 1975 | ABC | Body Language | CBS | June 4 |
| Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids | 1981 | CBS | Same | Syndication | September 1 |
| Jeopardy! | 1979 | NBC | September 10 | ||
| Let's Make a Deal | 1981 | Syndication | The All-New Let's Make a Deal | Same | September 17 |
| Password Plus | 1982 | NBC | Super Password | September 24 |
Changing networks
| Show | Moved from | Moved to |
|---|---|---|
| Showoffs | ABC | CBS |
| Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids | CBS | Syndication |
| Jeopardy! | NBC |
Ending this year
Entering syndication
| Show | Seasons | In Production | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benson | 5 | Yes | [6] |
| Bizarre | 4 | Yes | [6] |
| Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids | 7 | Yes | [6] |
| The Greatest American Hero | 3 | No | [6] |
| Hart to Hart | 5 | No | [6] |
| Trapper John, M.D. | 5 | Yes | [6] |
| Voyagers! | 1 | No | [6] |
Made-for-TV movies and miniseries
Television stations
Station launches
Network affiliation changes
| Date | City of License/Market | Station | Channel | Old affiliation | New affiliation | Notes/Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 1 | Bakersfield, California | KGET-TV | 17 | CBS | NBC | |
| Unknown date | Cheyenne, Wyoming | KYCU-TV | 5 | CBS | ABC (primary) NBC (secondary) |
|
Births
Deaths
| Date | Name | Age | Notability |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 16 | Kenny Williams | 69 | Game show announcer (The Hollywood Squares, High Rollers, Gambit) |
| March 1 | Jackie Coogan | 69 | actor (Uncle Fester on The Addams Family) |
| March 24 | Sam Jaffe | 93 | actor (Dr. Zorba on Ben Casey) |
| May 2 | Jack Barry | 66 | game show host/producer (The Joker's Wild) |
| May 16 | Andy Kaufman | 35 | comedian (Latka Gravas on Taxi) |
| June 15 | Ned Glass | 78 | actor |
| August 8 | Richard Deacon | 63 | actor (Fred Rutherford on Leave It to Beaver, Mel Cooley on The Dick Van Dyke Show) |
| September 17 | Richard Basehart | 70 | actor (Admiral Harriman Nelson on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea) |
| September 24 | Neil Hamilton | 85 | actor (Commissioner Gordon on Batman) |
| October 18 | Jon-Erik Hexum | 26 | actor (gunshot wound from accident on set of TV series Cover Up) |
| December 7 | Jeanne Cagney | 65 | actress |
References
- Salas, Randy A. (2005-02-08). "TV's 'Miami Vice' is still in fashion". Minneapolis Star Tribune. www.azcentral.com. Retrieved 2008-01-13.
- Donnelley, Paul (June 1, 2003). Fade To Black: A Book Of Movie Obituaries (2 ed.). Omnibus Press. p. 483. ISBN 978-0711995123.
- "Jon-Erik Hexum's Fatal Joke". Entertainment Weekly. October 14, 1994. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
- "Actor Wounds Himself On Set of TV Series". The New York Times. October 14, 1984.
- David Schultz, John Stossel (2006). WRESTLING IS FAKE (watch before commenting). Youtube. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
- Broadcasting - Feb. 13, 1984
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.