1989 in American television
The year 1989 in television involved some significant events. This is a list of notable events in the United States.
| List of years in American television: |
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| 1988–89 United States network television schedule |
| 1989–90 United States network television schedule |
| List of American television programs currently in production |
Notable events
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| January 1 | Affiliation swaps galore begin the television year in Florida. In Miami, three channels change their network affiliation: WTVJ moves to NBC from CBS, WCIX (now WFOR-TV) moves to CBS from Fox, and WSVN moves to Fox from NBC. Meanwhile, in West Palm Beach, WPEC-TV switches from ABC to CBS, WTVX leaves CBS to become an independent, and ABC station WPBF signs on this day. The swaps result from NBC's acquisition of WTVJ in 1987, and CBS's acquisition of WCIX in August 1988. The switches in West Palm Beach are accomplished due to WCIX's weak signal in Broward County.[1][2] |
| January 7 | The television version of Scarface premieres on ABC.[3] 32 minutes of violence, profanity and sex were edited out, and much of the dialogue was muted or replaced with less offensive alternatives.[4] |
| January 9 | Pat Sajak quits the daytime version of the series Wheel of Fortune for a CBS late night talk show while remaining host of the nighttime version. His daytime hosting role will be assumed by Rolf Benirschke, then by Bob Goen when Wheel switches networks from NBC to CBS that July. |
| January 15 | Fox airs an episode of Married...with Children called "Her Cups Runneth Over", which would soon become the main source of Terry Rakolta's moral boycott campaign against the show. |
| January 22 | Super Bowl XXII from Miami's Joe Robbie Stadium is broadcast on NBC. This would be the last outdoor Super Bowl to start earlier than 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, as it started just after 5 p.m. The halftime show was titled "Be Bop Bamboozled in 3-D" and featured Elvis Presto, played by then-Solid Gold dancer Alex Cole, and hundreds of South Florida-area dancers and performers.[5] Ironically, not one actual Elvis Presley song was performed.[6] Several scenes included computer generated 3-D images. Prior to the game, Coca-Cola distributed 3-D glasses at retailers for viewers to use. At the onset of the halftime show, primary sponsor Diet Coke aired the first commercial in 3-D. Coca-Cola had originally planned to use the 3-D Diet Coke commercial as part of the Moonlighting season finale, which was also aired in 3-D, but withdrew plans due to the 1988 Writers Guild of America Strike. |
| January 29 | Shining Time Station, a children's sitcom debuts on PBS. Starring Didi Conn, Brian O'Connor and Ringo Starr, the series introduces British children's television series Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends to America. |
| February 5 | On the NBC sitcom Day by Day, six cast members from The Brady Bunch (Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, Ann B. Davis, Maureen McCormick, Christopher Knight, and Mike Lookinland) reunite. |
| February 20 | Jane Wyman, an actress on the CBS drama series Falcon Crest, is rushed to the hospital, after suffering from diabetes and a liver ailment. |
| Charlie O'Donnell returned to Wheel of Fortune as the announcer, following a nine-year absence. | |
| March 2 | Pepsi's controversial advertisement with Madonna and her song "Like a Prayer" airs during NBC's showing of The Cosby Show. The same ad was run on ITV in the UK, 12 minutes into The Bill. |
| March 10 | The series finale of Webster has the eponymous character being transported to the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Michael Dorn guest stars as Lt. Worf. |
| March 13 | The weekday version of Yo! MTV Raps, hosted by Ed Lover and Doctor Dré debuts. |
| March 19 | Return of the Jedi makes its network broadcast television premiere on NBC. |
| March 24 | For the first time since 1973, NBC reruns the 1960 telecast of Peter Pan, with Mary Martin in the title role. Earlier that day, two of the network's game shows, Sale of the Century and Super Password, aired their final episodes. The following Monday, NBC will return the noon time slot to its affiliates. |
| March 25 | Elvis Costello appears as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. It's the first time that Costello appeared on SNL in 12 years. Costello had been temporarily banned from appearing on SNL in 1977 after he had abruptly switched songs live against the wishes of his record company and SNL. In 1977, he had originally been scheduled to perform his debut single "Less Than Zero", instead of "Radio Radio", which criticized the commercialization of broadcasting. |
| March 29 | The 61st Academy Awards ceremony is broadcast on ABC. Despite the best Nielsen ratings in five years, it proved to be a career disaster for producer Allan Carr, culminating in the infamous pairing of Snow White (played by Eileen Bowman) and Rob Lowe singing a parody of "Proud Mary." The telecast also included a production number featuring what was introduced as "The Stars of Tomorrow" doing a number entitled "I Wanna Be An Oscar Winner" with all the participants being actors and actresses ranging from the age group of late teens to mid-20s. Due largely to the show's opening number, and despite the shows stellar Nielsen ratings, the show became a laughing-stock and went down in history as one of the worst moments in awards show and television history. The telecast was also remembered for being the final public appearance of actress and comedian Lucille Ball, where she and co-presenter Bob Hope were given a standing ovation.[7] On April 26, almost a month after the ceremony, she died from a dissecting aortic aneurysm at age 77.[8] |
| March 31 | The CBS game show Card Sharks airs its final episode. The following Monday, it is replaced by a revival of Now You See It. |
| April 1 | Nickelodeon celebrates its 10th anniversary. |
| April 8 | Mike Myers joins the cast of the NBC series Saturday Night Live. |
| After a ten-month hiatus,[9] American Bandstand reemerges on the USA Network. David Hirsch took over hosting duties from Dick Clark (who remained on as executive producer) and Bandstand moved outdoors to Universal Studios Hollywood. After 26 weeks on USA, Bandstand signed off for good on October 7, 1989 with The Cover Girls as the final musical guests. | |
| April 30 | CNBC, NBC's answer to the Financial News Network, launched (CNBC and FNN would merge two years later). |
| May 11 | In the series finale of the ABC drama Dynasty, Blake Carrington, Alexis Colby, Dex Dexter and Fallon Carrington Colby are stuck in mortal peril. |
| NBC airs a pilot for a proposed spin-off of 227 centered on Jackée Harry's character Sandra Clark. The pilot however, was not picked up for a series and Jackée subsequently left 227. She would however, later guest star in seven of the final season's episodes. | |
| May 14 | NBC broadcasts the series finale of Family Ties followed by the network television premiere of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. |
| May 18 | Donna Mills makes her final regular appearance as villainess Abby on the CBS drama Knots Landing. |
| May 20 | Original Saturday Night Live cast member, Gilda Radner succumbs to ovarian cancer at the age of 42. News of Radner's death broke as Steve Martin was rehearsing to act as the guest host for that night's season finale of SNL. Martin's planned opening monologue was scrapped; in its place a visibly upset Martin introduced a video clip of a 1978 sketch in which he and Radner had parodied Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse in a well-known dance routine from The Band Wagon (1953).[10] After the clip, Martin said it reminded him of "how great she was and of how young I looked. Gilda, we miss you." |
| May 21 | The two-hour long series finale of Miami Vice airs on NBC. There would however be three "lost episodes" that would be broadcast on NBC over the course of June 1989. A fourth and final "lost episode" entitled "Too Much, Too Late" was instead first broadcast on the USA Network in January 1990, due to its graphic content and a plot vividly involving child molestation. |
| June 5 | For the start of 1989 NBA Finals,[11] CBS completely revamps their opening montage for their NBA broadcasts. The computer-generated imagery (once again set in and around a virtual arena) was made to look more realistic (live-action footage was incorporated in the backdrops). Also, the familiar theme music (an uptempo series of four notes and three bars composed by Allyson Bellink since the 1983 NBA Finals) each was rearranged[12] to sound more intricate and to have a more emotional impact, along the lines of the network's later World Series coverage. Between the 1989 NBA Finals and the 1990 NBA Finals' intros, the theme music was slightly revised; the 1989 Finals intro incorporated more of a guitar riff, while the 1990 Finals intro featured a little more usage of trumpets. |
| July 1 | In Rochester, New York, NBC affiliate WROC-TV and CBS affiliate WHEC-TV swap affiliations. NBC cites WROC-TV's struggling news ratings as the reason for the switch.[13] |
| July 11 | Former President of the United States Ronald Reagan joins NBC's Vin Scully on commentary for the 1st inning of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. |
| July 14 | Full House premieres on Seven Network in Australia. |
| The CBS game show Now You See It, which had suffered from constant preemptions by network affiliates, airs its final episode. The following Monday, Wheel of Fortune, which had been cancelled by NBC on June 30, takes its place. | |
| July 18 | My Sister Sam star Rebecca Schaeffer is shot and killed by Robert John Bardo, an obsessed fan who had been stalking her. |
| August 14 | Cliff and Nina Warner marry one another for the fourth (and seemingly final) time on the ABC soap opera All My Children, a record that has not been matched for soap operas. |
| August 24 | In a press conference that is carried live on CNN and ESPN, Major League Baseball commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti states that to preserve the integrity of the game of baseball, Pete Rose is banned from the game for life for gambling on baseball. One week after the announcement, Giamatti would die of a massive heart attack at the age of 51. |
| August 27 | The television film L.A. Takedown airs on NBC. Originally filmed as an unsuccessful pilot for a television series, producer and screenwriter Michael Mann would later use L.A. Takedown as the basis for the 1995 film Heat. |
| September 4 | The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! by DIC Entertainment brought to life the popular video game series Super Mario Bros.. Featuring live action and animated sequences, the show starred Captain Lou Albano as Mario and Danny Wells as Luigi. |
| The Family Channel debuts its children programming block Fun Town. | |
| Wheel of Fortune introduced a new Bonus Round which contestants can choose from one of five envelopes (which spelled out WHEEL) that contained either $25,000 cash or other prizes. The format's final episode was on October 19, 2001. | |
| September 8 | The Legend of Zelda animated series begins on television as part of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! and is shown on Fridays. The series has been panned by many fans of the Zelda franchise including the story writing, over the top acting, repeated plots and Link's trademark catchphrase "Excuse me, Princess!. |
| September 16 | A pilot for a proposed X-Men animated series is first broadcast in syndication. It would take another three years before an X-Men series would be fully realized. |
| September 22 | ABC debuts TGIF from 8:00pm to 10:00pm, a new programming block for Friday nights with four shows (Full House, Family Matters, Perfect Strangers, and Just the Ten of Us), it also includes interstitial hosts. This block would become a rating hit throughout the 1990s, lasting until 2000. |
| September 24 | NBC broadcasts Saturday Night Live's 15th anniversary special. |
| September 30 | NBC broadcasts its final Major League Baseball Game of the Week (before the program is transferred to CBS). NBC had broadcast the Game of the Week since 1957 and exclusively since 1966. Bob Costas and Tony Kubek called the action from Toronto's SkyDome, as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Baltimore Orioles to clinch the American League Eastern Division title. |
| October 1 | NBC affiliate KPOM-TV (now KFTA-TV) in Fort Smith, Arkansas signs-on full-time satellite KFAA-TV (now KNWA-TV) in Rogers to solve transmission problems resulting from its status as an UHF station in a mountainous area. (KFTA-TV will disaffiliate from NBC and join Fox in 2006.) |
| October 6 | Jane Wyman's medical leave due to her diabetes and liver ailment is written into Falcon Crest, when her character, Angela Channing, is put in a coma. |
| October 9 | The San Francisco Giants defeat the Chicago Cubs in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series to go to the World Series for the first time since 1962. This was also NBC's final Major League Baseball telecast (with Vin Scully and Tom Seaver on the call), having broadcast the sport in some shape or form since 1947. As previously mentioned, the primary network TV package was moving to CBS beginning in 1990. NBC wouldn't broadcast baseball again until the 1994 All-Star Game. |
| October 17 | Four minutes into ABC's broadcast of Game 3 of the World Series, the Lome Prieta earthquake occurred, forcing a ten-day delay of the series. As a consequence of the Loma Prieta earthquake, ABC aired repeat episodes of Roseanne and The Wonder Years amid the initial uncertainty as to whether Game 3 would take place as scheduled; an extended ABC News Special Report – anchored by Ted Koppel from the news division's Washington, D.C. bureau, with Al Michaels (who served as the play-by-play commentator for ABC's World Series coverage that year alongside Jim Palmer and Tim McCarver) acting as a de facto reporter – on the earthquake's immediate aftermath followed those two programs. |
| October 27 | Jane Pauley announces that she will be stepping down as co-anchor of NBC's Today (after 13 years on the air) at the end of the year (with Pauley's last day being on December 29). Today's news reader Deborah Norville is immediately announced as Pauley's successor. |
| October 28 | The World Series finally concludes with the Oakland Athletics sweeping the San Francisco Giants in four games. This would be ABC's final baseball telecast, having covered the sport consecutively since 1976. Like NBC, ABC would lose their baseball package completely to CBS beginning in 1990. ABC would next broadcast Major League Baseball in 1994, when they formed a joint-venture with Major League Baseball and NBC called The Baseball Network. |
| November 4 | The NBA on TNT debuts. |
| November 9 | The National Basketball Association[14][15] and NBC[16] reaches an agreement on a four-year, US$600 million contract[17] (beginning in the 1990–1991 season), ending CBS' tenure with the NBA after 17 years. |
| November 10 | Sesame Street celebrates its 20th anniversary. |
| November 15 | The Comedy Channel debuts (it will become Comedy Central two years later). |
| December 2 | Family Matters premieres in New Zealand on the new established television channel TV3 three months after its U.S. television debut. |
| December 15 | Steve Urkel makes his first appearance on Family Matters. |
| December 17 | Fox broadcasts the series premiere of The Simpsons, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", which also acts as a Christmas special. The new series is a spin-off of a series of animated sketches that had previously aired on The Tracey Ullman Show. The series proves to be an early hit for Fox, scoring the network's first Nielsen top 30 entry.[18] |
| December 18 | A seldom-seen 1956 Christmas special episode of I Love Lucy is re-broadcast by CBS. |
Programs
Debuting this year
The following is a list of shows that premiered in 1989.
Resuming this year
| Title | Final aired | Previous network | New title | Returning network | Date of return |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Mickey Mouse Club | 1979 | Syndication | The All-New Mickey Mouse Club | Disney Channel | April 24 |
Ending this year
| Date | Title | Debut |
|---|---|---|
| January 7 | ALF: The Animated Series | 1987 |
| January 13 | Ryan's Hope | 1975 |
| January 14 | Snorks | 1984 |
| January 19 | Knightwatch | 1988 |
| January 21 | Dirty Dancing | |
| Simon & Simon | 1981 | |
| February 20 | Almost Grown | 1988 |
| March 2 | A Fine Romance | 1989 |
| March 9 | Webster | 1983 |
| March 10 | Finders Keepers | 1987 |
| March 11 | Dolphin Cove | 1989 |
| March 18 | Good Morning, Miss Bliss | 1988 |
| Murphy's Law | ||
| March 24 | Sale of the Century | 1969 |
| Super Password | 1984 | |
| March 25 | TV 101 | 1988 |
| March 31 | Card Sharks (returned in 2001) | 1978 |
| April 1 | She's the Sheriff | 1987 |
| April 8 | It's a Living | 1980 |
| April 14 | Unsub | 1989 |
| April 26 | Nightingales | |
| May 5 | Brothers | 1984 |
| May 7 | Duet | 1989 |
| May 11 | Dynasty | 1981 |
| May 13 | A Man Called Hawk | 1989 |
| May 14 | Family Ties | 1982 |
| Moonlighting | 1985 | |
| May 19 | The Gong Show (returned in 2017) | 1976 |
| May 20 | Small Wonder | 1985 |
| May 21 | Miami Vice | 1984 |
| May 22 | Kate & Allie | |
| June 9 | Wipeout | 1988 |
| Couch Potatoes | 1989 | |
| June 16 | Hollywood Squares (returned in 1998) | 1966 |
| June 21 | Hard Time on Planet Earth | 1989 |
| June 23 | Relatively Speaking | 1988 |
| June 25 | Day by Day | |
| July 14 | Now You See It | 1974 |
| July 27 | The Cavanaughs | 1986 |
| July 30 | The Jim Henson Hour | 1989 |
| August 4 | Highway to Heaven | 1984 |
| August 24 | The Equalizer | 1985 |
| September 2 | Police Academy | 1988 |
| September 8 | The Dating Game (returned in 1996) | 1965 |
| September 9 | West 57th | 1985 |
| September 29 | ThunderCats | |
| October 7 | American Bandstand | 1952 |
| October 9 | Major League Baseball on NBC (returned in 1994) | 1947 |
| October 16 | The People Next Door | 1989 |
| October 25 | The Nutt House | |
| October 28 | Major League Baseball on ABC (returned in 1994) | 1976 |
| November 7 | Chicken Soup | 1989 |
| November 15 | A Peaceable Kingdom | |
| November 30 | The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! | |
| Top of the Hill | ||
| December 1 | The Legend of Zelda | |
| December 2 | The Smurfs | 1981 |
| December 9 | The California Raisin Show | 1989 |
| December 16 | The Karate Kid | |
| Rude Dog & the Dweebs | ||
| December 17 | Homeroom | 1989 |
Changing networks
| Show | Moved from | Moved to |
|---|---|---|
| Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers | The Disney Channel | Syndication |
| Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids | Syndication | NBC |
| The Mickey Mouse Club | The Disney Channel | |
| American Bandstand | USA Network | |
| The Hitchhiker | HBO | |
| Mystery Science Theater 3000 | KTMA | The Comedy Channel |
| Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears | NBC | ABC |
| Wheel of Fortune | CBS | |
| Remote Control | MTV | Syndication/MTV |
Made-for-TV movies and miniseries
| Title | Network | Date of airing |
|---|---|---|
| The Karen Carpenter Story | CBS | January 1 |
| The Brotherhood of the Rose | NBC | January 22 & 23 |
| Mike Hammer: Murder Takes All | CBS | May 21 |
Television stations
Station launches
Stations changing network affiliation
| Market | Date | Station | Channel | Prior affiliation | New affiliation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Houston, Texas | November | KTFH | 49 | Independent | Galavision |
| Miami/Fort Lauderdale, Florida | January 1 | WTVJ | 4 | CBS | NBC (O&O) |
| WCIX | 6 | Fox | CBS (O&O) | ||
| WSVN | 7 | NBC | Fox | ||
| Raleigh, North Carolina | December 10 | WKFT | 40 | Independent | CBS |
| Rochester, New York | July 1 | WROC-TV | 8 | NBC | CBS |
| WHEC-TV | 10 | CBS | NBC | ||
| West Palm Beach, Florida | January 1 | WPEC | 12 | ABC | CBS |
| WTVX | 34 | CBS | Independent | ||
Station closures
| Date | Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 31 | Concord, New Hampshire | WNHT | 21 | CBS |
| June 30 | Lexington, Kentucky | WLKT-TV | 62 | Independent |
| August 31 | Anderson, South Carolina | WAXA | 40 | Independent |
| September 17 | Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands | WBNB-TV | 10 | CBS |
| October 17 | Tucson, Arizona | KPOL | 40 | Independent |
| Unknown date | Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands | WAIG | 43 | Independent |
| Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands | WMEG | 15 | Religious Independent | |
| WTFM-TV | 27 | Independent |
Births
Deaths
| Date | Name | Age | Notability |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 5 | Joe Raposo | 51 | Composer (Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Three's Company theme song) |
| February 11 | George O'Hanlon | 65 | Voice actor (voice of George Jetson on The Jetsons) |
| April 26 | Lucille Ball | 77 | Actress, comedian (of the Lucy shows I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy) |
| April 30 | Guy Williams | 65 | Actor (Zorro, Lost in Space) |
| May 1 | Douglass Watson | 68 | Soap opera actor (Mac on Another World) |
| May 20 | Gilda Radner | 42 | Actress, comedian (Saturday Night Live) |
| June 15 | Victor French | 54 | Actor, director (Little House on the Prairie, Carter Country, Highway to Heaven) |
| July 3 | Jim Backus | 76 | Actor (Thurston Howell III on Gilligan's Island and voice of Mr. Magoo) |
| July 4 | Vic Perrin | 73 | Voice actor (original Control Voice on The Outer Limits, Hanna-Barbera cartoons) |
| July 10 | Mel Blanc | 81 | Voice actor (as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and countless other characters) |
| July 18 | Rebecca Schaeffer | 21 | Actress (My Sister Sam) |
| August 16 | Amanda Blake | 60 | Actress (Miss Kitty Russell on Gunsmoke) |
| September 17 | Jay Stewart | 71 | Announcer (Let's Make a Deal, Sale of the Century, Scrabble) |
| October 6 | Bette Davis | 81 | Film and television actress |
| November 27 | Bob Quigley | 77 | Game show producer (The Hollywood Squares, High Rollers, Gambit) |
| December 6 | Frances Bavier | 86 | Actress (Aunt Bee on The Andy Griffith Show) |
References
- NBC To Buy Miami's Channel 4, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, January 17, 1987.
- "THE MEDIA BUSINESS; CBS to Buy TV Station In Miami". The New York Times. August 9, 1988.
- "TV Listings for – January 7, 1989". TV Tango. January 7, 1989. Archived from the original on November 5, 2013. Retrieved November 11, 2012.
- "Scarface| Trailers from Hell". trailersfromhell.com. Archived from the original on September 19, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
- Rossen, Jake (February 4, 2018). "Oral History: The Strangest Super Bowl Halftime Show Ever". Mental Floss. Mental Floss. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
- Andrews, Travis (February 2, 2018). "From Elvis Presto to Michael Jackson: How the Super Bowl halftime show found its groove". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
- "Coemdian Lucille Ball suffers a heart attack". The Spokesman-Review. April 19, 1989. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
- Flint, Peter B. (April 27, 1989). "Lucille Ball, Spirited Doyenne of TV Comedies, Dies at 77". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 6, 2013. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
- "AB moves to USA network". TV.com. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
- Martin, Steve; Radner, Gilda (1978). Saturday Night Live (Vimeo video ed.). Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
- Introduction to Game 4 of the 1989 NBA Finals on YouTube
- Zemek, Matt (June 1, 2015). "NBA Finals, Music Division: NBC is great, but CBS is better". Crossover Chronicles.
- "In brief." Broadcasting, April 10, 1989, pg. 96.
- "November 9, 1989: The NBA signs a lucrative 4-year television deal with NBC". Sports Media Watch. November 29, 2011.
- "NBA Flips Channel, Decides to Play Ball With NBC in 1990". The Los Angeles Times. 9 November 1989.
- "NBC acquires NBA broadcast rights". NBC Sports History Page.
- Steinbreder, John (November 20, 1989). "The Ball's In A New Court: NBC took the NBA away from CBS for a cool $600 million". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved November 29, 2011.
- "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". Simpsons World.com. Retrieved September 19, 2011.
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