1990 in American television
The year 1990 in American television involved some significant events. Below is a list of American television-related events during 1990.
| List of years in American television: |
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| 1989–90 United States network television schedule |
| 1990–91 United States network television schedule |
| List of American television programs currently in production |
Notable events
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| January 2 | All My Children broadcasts its 20th anniversary special on ABC. Joe and Ruth Martin sit down with Erica Kane, her mother Mona, and Phoebe Wallingford as they go through scrapbook pictures which segue into memorable clips from the series's past twenty years. |
| January 8 | Deborah Norville makes her debut as co-anchor on NBC's Today (succeeding Jane Pauley) alongside Bryant Gumbel. |
| January 10 | Time Warner was formed. |
| January 13 | Married...with Children star Ed O'Neill guest hosts Saturday Night Live, becoming the first star of a Fox television program to host the NBC sketch comedy series. |
| January 14 | On Fox, The Simpsons airs their first regular episode, Bart the Genius. |
| January 15 | Square One TV returns for its third season on PBS. |
| January 20 | "Too Much, Too Late", the fourth and final "lost episode" of Miami Vice to air after its series finale, "Freefall", is first broadcast on the USA Network. It was not aired on NBC due to its strong subject matter pertaining to child molestation. |
| January 21 | MTV Unplugged premieres on MTV with Squeeze as its debut guests. |
| NBC broadcasts the National Hockey League All-Star Game from Pittsburgh. This was the first NHL game of any kind to be televised on American network television since Game 6 of the 1980 Stanley Cup Finals on CBS. | |
| February 17 | On NBC, Aerosmith appear in Wayne's World, a recurring sketch on Saturday Night Live, where they perform the Wayne's World theme song. |
| February 18 | The Death of the Incredible Hulk, the third and final installment of the revival films based on the 1978–1982 television series The Incredible Hulk starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno is broadcast on NBC. |
| February 25 | Challenger, a made-for-television docudrama about the tragic events of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986 is broadcast on ABC. |
| March 4 | On SportsCenter, ESPN broadcasts the graphic footage of Loyola Marymount University basketball player Hank Gathers' collapse and subsequent death from a heart condition[1] during a West Coast Conference (WCC) Tournament game. The network was at the game recording advance footage for the championship game it was scheduled to televise the next night. The tournament final was ultimately canceled in wake of Gathers' death and LMU was given the league's automatic bid to that year's NCAA tournament by virtue of its regular-season league championship. |
| March 13 | All My Children actress Debbi Morgan quits the role of Angie Baxter Hubbard. |
| April 1 | CBS dismisses prominent sportscaster Brent Musburger one day before his final assignment for the network, the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. Later that year, Musburger signs with ABC Sports. |
| Viacom debuts the comedy TV network Ha!. | |
| In what is dubbed "The Ultimate Challenge", The Ultimate Warrior defeats Hulk Hogan for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania VI from Toronto's SkyDome. The pay-per-view event marks the first time that WrestleMania was held outside of the United States. | |
| April 14 | CBS officially assumes the role as Major League Baseball's network broadcast partner (succeeding both ABC and NBC under a four-year deal through the end of the 1993 season) with coverage of the Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh[2] and Los Angeles at Houston.[3][4][5] |
| April 15 | Sunday Night Baseball debuts on ESPN with coverage of the New York Mets against the Montreal Expos. |
| April 21 | Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue, a special program warning children about the danger of drugs and featuring characters from several Saturday morning children's shows, is simultaneously simulcast by ABC, BET, CBS, Fox, NBC, USA Network, and Nickelodeon. |
| April 22 | The Earth Day Special, a two-hour commercial-free special event, premieres on ABC. |
| April 30 | The long-lost pilot show for I Love Lucy is broadcast by CBS as a special. |
| May 4 | Muppets creator Jim Henson makes what turns out to be his final public appearance when he appears as a guest on The Arsenio Hall Show. Henson would die less than two weeks later. |
| May 21 | CBS broadcasts the series finale of Newhart, in which it is revealed that the entire series was really just a dream of Bob Newhart's character of Dr. Bob Hartley from The Bob Newhart Show. |
| May 25 | CBS begins broadcasting its daytime lineup in stereo sound, becoming the last of the three major networks to do so. |
| June 1 | Mariah Carey delivers her first live television performance (singing "Vision of Love") on The Arsenio Hall Show. |
| June 7 | The Cruise of Deception storyline is broadcast on the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives. |
| June 14 | CBS concludes their 17-year run with the NBA, as the league was moving to NBC after the 1990 NBA Finals. In their goodbye montage, CBS used Marvin Gaye's rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" from the 1983 NBA All-Star Game. |
| June 18 | Season 3 of Star Trek: The Next Generation ends on a cliffhanger involving Captain Picard being captured and assimilated by the Borg. |
| June 27 | Genie Francis, in an attempt to shed her image as Laura Spencer on ABC's soap opera General Hospital, starts playing Irishwoman Ceara Connor on All My Children (which also airs on ABC). |
| July 5 | ABC airs the National Academy of Dance' first annual Gypsy Awards from the San Diego Convention Center. Taped on January 19, America's Dance Honors is notable for marking Sammy Davis Jr.'s final public appearance prior to his death on May 16. Liza Minnelli taped a special introduction to the show in light Davis' passing. Later that December, Davis made his final acting performance in the made-for-TV film The Kid Who Loved Christmas. |
| July 10 | CBS broadcasts the first of four consecutive Major League Baseball All-Star Games. Unfortunately, the 1990 edition from Chicago's Wrigley Field, is interrupted by a rain delay in the top of the seventh inning. During the delay, CBS airs Rescue 911. |
| July 16 | Radio DJ personality Rick Dees debuts an ABC late-night talk show, Into the Night, Starring Rick Dees. |
| July 30 | MovieTime was rebranded as E!. |
| August 10 | The American Wrestling Association holds its final television taping. |
| September 2 | The Fox cartoon-comedy The Simpsons begins broadcasting in the UK on Sky One as the network televises the episode "Call of the Simpsons". |
| September 3 | Wheel of Fortune moves to WABC in the New York area in return for Entertainment Tonight which has been airing on WCBS since then. |
| September 8 | Fox Kids, a children's programming block, debuts on Fox. |
| September 9 | CBS debuts a brand new look for The NFL Today, front-lined by Greg Gumbel and Terry Bradshaw. Gumbel and Bradshaw replaced Brent Musburger and Irv Cross respectively. The two would remain on The NFL Today until CBS lost their NFL rights to Fox at the end of the 1993 season. |
| TNT broadcasts their first Sunday night NFL game with the Philadelphia Eagles visiting the New York Giants. | |
| September 10 | The Disney Afternoon debuts as a syndicated children's block. |
| September 15 | CBN renames itself The Family Channel. |
| October 1 | TBS drops the "SuperStation" sub-title. It would return 6 years later. |
| The very first edition of UWF Fury Hour airs from Reseda Country Club in Reseda, California on SportsChannel America. | |
| October 13 | WLAJ in Jackson, Michigan signs-on the air, giving the Lansing market its first full-time ABC affiliate. |
| October 20–26 | CBS airs the first of four consecutive World Series. The Cinninnati Reds sweep the heavily favored and defending world champions, the Oakland Athletics in four games to win their first world title since 1976. |
| October 25 | The very first "Treehouse of Horror" episode airs on The Simpsons. |
| November 3 | The NBA on NBC debuts on NBC, with its first game being the Los Angeles Lakers visiting the San Antonio Spurs. |
| November 9 | Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue gets its first transmission in Australia with the special airing on all three major commercial television stations including Nine Network, Seven Network and 10 TV Australia. It was also introduced by the Prime Minister of Australia Bob Hawke instead of the U.S. president George H. W. Bush. |
| November 10 | Chris Farley, Tim Meadows, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider and Julia Sweeney join the cast of Saturday Night Live. |
| November 22 | The Undertaker makes his World Wrestling Federation debut at the fourth annual Survivor Series pay-per-view event. |
| December 3 | ABC attracts a great deal of controversy when it airs Madonna's infamous music video for her single "Justify My Love" on its late-night news program Nightline, as part of an interview with the singer on the video's explicit sexual content. The broadcast follows across-the-board bans of the video by MTV and other networks around the world.[6][7] |
| December 10 | Following his broadcast of a Chicago Bears–Washington Redskins NFL game, CBS announcer Pat Summerall is hospitalized with a bleeding ulcer after vomiting on a plane during a flight. Summerall would be for a considerable amount of time. While Verne Lundquist replaced Summerall on games with John Madden, Jack Buck (who was at CBS during the time as the network's lead Major League Baseball announcer) was added as a regular NFL broadcaster to fill-in. |
Programs
Debuts
The following is a list of shows that premiered in 1990.
Entering syndication this year
A list of programs (current or canceled) that have accumulated enough episodes (between 65 and 100) or seasons (3 or more) to be eligible for off-network syndication and/or basic cable runs.
| Show | Seasons |
|---|---|
| The Golden Girls | 5 |
| 227 | 5 |
Changes of network affiliation
The following shows aired new episodes on a different network than previous first-run episodes:
Returning this year
| Show | Last aired | Previous network | New network | Returning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supermarket Sweep | 1967 | ABC | Lifetime | February 5 |
| Match Game | 1982 | Syndication | ABC | July 16 |
| Let's Make a Deal | 1986 | NBC | ||
| To Tell The Truth | 1981 | September 3 | ||
| The Joker's Wild | 1986 | Same | September 10 | |
| Tic-Tac-Dough |
Ending this year
| Date | Show | Debut |
|---|---|---|
| January 14 | Free Spirit | 1989 |
| January 21 | Fantastic Max | 1988 |
| January 25 | Miami Vice | 1984 |
| February 24 | Mission: Impossible | 1988 |
| March 5 | Eyes on the Prize | 1987 |
| March 9 | The Bradys | 1990 |
| March 12 | Mama's Family | 1983 |
| Freddy's Nightmares | 1988 | |
| March 15 | Island Son | 1989 |
| March 23 | Scrabble (returned in 1993) | 1984 |
| March 24 | ALF | 1986 |
| March 26 | The Baby-Sitters Club | 1990 |
| April 6 | Baywatch (returned in 1991) | 1989 |
| April 13 | The Pat Sajak Show | |
| April 14 | H.E.L.P. | 1990 |
| April 24 | Mancuso, F.B.I. | 1989 |
| April 28 | Tour of Duty | 1987 |
| April 30 | My Two Dads | |
| May 4 | Just the Ten of Us | 1988 |
| May 6 | 227 | 1985 |
| Booker | 1989 | |
| May 7 | Alien Nation | |
| May 12 | The Famous Teddy Z | |
| May 14 | War of the Worlds | 1988 |
| May 17 | Falcon Crest | 1981 |
| May 21 | Newhart | 1982 |
| May 25 | You Can't Do That on Television | 1981 |
| May 26 | Friday the 13th: The Series | 1987 |
| The Tracey Ullman Show | ||
| June 14 | NBA on CBS | 1973 |
| June 28 | Wolf | 1989 |
| June 29 | Hardball | |
| July 6 | Snoops | |
| Pinwheel | 1977 | |
| July 8 | Mr. Belvedere | 1985 |
| July 21 | Open House | 1989 |
| July 30 | Sister Kate | |
| August 4 | Beauty and the Beast | 1987 |
| August 19 | Ann Jillian | 1989 |
| August 25 | Kissyfur | 1986 |
| August 31 | Rodeo Drive | 1990 |
| September 1 | Monopoly | |
| September 2 | Tim Conway's Funny America | |
| September 29 | E.A.R.T.H. Force | |
| SK8-TV | ||
| November 10 | Charles in Charge | 1984 |
| November 17 | Pee-wee's Playhouse | 1986 |
| November 19 | Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers | 1989 |
| November 20 | It | 1990 |
| November 28 | DuckTales (original series) (returned in 2017) | 1987 |
| December 1 | Alvin and the Chipmunks | 1983 |
| The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 | 1990 | |
| Gravedale High | ||
| December 7 | Tic-Tac-Dough | 1956 |
| December 8 | Wiseguy | 1987 |
| December 12 | Working It Out | 1990 |
| December 13 | Remote Control | 1987 |
| December 26 | Cop Rock | 1990 |
| December 28 | Quiz Kids Challenge | |
| The Wizard of Oz | ||
| December 30 | Hull High |
Made-for-TV movies
| Title | Network | Date of airing |
|---|---|---|
| Murder in Mississippi | NBC | February 5 |
| The Death of the Incredible Hulk | February 18 | |
| The Incident | CBS | March 4 |
| A Killing in a Small Town | May 22 | |
| Psycho IV: The Beginning | NBC | November 10 |
| It | ABC | November 18 & 20 |
| The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story | NBC | December 10 |
Television stations
Station launches
Network affiliation changes
| Date | City of License/Market | Station | Channel | Old affiliation | New affiliation | Notes/Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 8 | Louisville, Kentucky | WHAS-TV | 11 | CBS | ABC | |
| WLKY-TV | 32 | ABC | CBS | |||
| Unknown date | Davenport, Iowa | KLJB-TV | 18 | Independent | Fox | Previously with Fox 1987-1988 |
| Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands | WSZE-TV | 10 | NBC (primary) CBS/ABC/Fox (secondary) |
NBC (primary) CBS/ABC (secondary) |
Satellite of KUAM-TV/Hagtna, Guam | |
Station closures
| Date | City of license/Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation | Sign-on date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 23 | New Orleans, Louisiana | WCCL | 49 | Independent (primary) CBS (secondary) |
March 19, 1989 | |
| Unknown date | Key West, Florida | WETV | 13 | Educational independent | 1989 | |
| Owensboro, Kentucky | WROZ-TV | 61 | Independent | |||
Births
Deaths
| Date | Name | Age | Notability |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 2 | Alan Hale | 68 | Actor (Skipper Jonas Grumby on Gilligan's Island) |
| January 9 | Northern Calloway | 41 | Actor (David on Sesame Street) |
| January 18 | Rusty Hamer | 42 | Former child actor (Make Room For Daddy) |
| January 20 | Barbara Stanwyck | 82 | Actress (The Barbara Stanwyck Show, The Big Valley) |
| March 24 | Ray Goulding | 68 | Comedian, half of the comedy team Bob and Ray |
| May 10 | Susan Oliver | 58 | Actress (Peyton Place) |
| May 14 | Franklyn Seales | 37 | Actor (Dexter on Silver Spoons) |
| May 16 | Jim Henson | 53 | Puppeteer (The Muppets creator) |
| Sammy Davis Jr. | 64 | Actor and singer | |
| May 25 | Vic Tayback | 60 | Actor (Mel Sharples on Alice) |
| June 4 | Jack Gilford | 82 | Actor (Cracker Jack commercials) |
| July 7 | Bill Cullen | 70 | Game show host (original host of The Price Is Right) |
| July 8 | Howard Duff | 76 | Actor (Felony Squad) |
| July 30 | Karl Weber | 74 | Actor (Arthur Tate in Search for Tomorrow)[8] |
| August 15 | Viktor Tsoi | 28 | Soviet singer (Kino) |
| October 26 | William S. Paley | 89 | Founder and longtime head of CBS |
| November 3 | Mary Martin | 76 | Actress & singer (Peter Pan) |
| November 12 | Eve Arden | 82 | Actress (Our Miss Brooks) |
| November 27 | David White | 74 | Actor (Larry Tate on Bewitched) |
| December 2 | Bob Cummings | 80 | Actor (The Bob Cummings Show) |
| December 28 | Kiel Martin | 46 | Actor (Officer J.D. LaRue on Hill Street Blues) |
References
- Stewart, Larry (March 6, 1990). "This Was a Story That Was Tough to Watch, and Difficult to Cover". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on February 6, 2013.
- Eric Mink (April 29, 1990). "Buck Swings For The Fences". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. 1C.
- Jeff Brusnak (April 13, 1990). "ESPN Baseball More And Better". Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.
- Steven Herbert (April 14, 1990). "Sports on Weekend TV". Los Angeles Times. p. 12.
- Bill Plachke (April 14, 1990). "One From Heart, 6-1, for Dodgers". Los Angeles Times. p. 1.
- Rich, Joshua (November 20, 1998). "Madonna Banned". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
- Interviewer: Forrest Sawyer (December 3, 1990). "Madonna speaks on Nightline". Nightline. ABC.
- "Karl Weber; Longtime Radio Actor". Los Angeles Times. August 6, 1990. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
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