Langbahn Team – Weltmeisterschaft

1990 in American television

In American television in 1990, notable events included television show debuts, finales, and cancellations; channel launches, closures, and re-brandings; stations changing or adding their network affiliations; information on controversies, business transactions, and carriage disputes; and deaths of those who made various contributions to the medium.

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 is 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.
An episode of the Canadian teen drama series Degrassi High entitled "A New Start" is first broadcast on American television via PBS. The episode is notable as it was the first in the Degrassi franchise to depict abortion. In the PBS broadcast, the final scene, in which Erica and Heather are accosted by anti-abortion picketers as they make their way up to the clinic, is removed.[1][2] The episode instead, ends on a shot of the twins looking on before they do so.
January 14 The first regular episode of The Simpsons premieres on Fox, "Bart the Genius".
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 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 6 NBC and the University of Notre Dame announce a deal that would call for the network to have exclusive rights to the Fighting Irish football team's home games, beginning in 1991.
WZTV became a Fox affiliate in Nashville, replacing WXMT, which became an independent station. This was partly due to the fact that Michael Thompson had bought out the station from TVX, which resulted in the loss of the Fox affiliation and the move to a higher-rated station.
February 9 The Bradys, a sequel and continuation of the original 1969–1974 sitcom The Brady Bunch premieres on CBS. The Bradys involved more dramatic storytelling than that which viewers had seen in the previous Brady series such as the previous Brady Bunch sequel series, 1981's The Brady Brides.[3][4] Airing on Friday nights, The Bradys would ultimately fail in the ratings against Full House and Family Matters as part of the TGIF lineup on ABC and is canceled after one month; the last of the six episodes produced would air on March 9, 1990.
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 24 The series finale of Mama's Family is broadcast in first-run syndication. In it, Naomi gives birth to a baby girl, who is named Tiffany Thelma.
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. Its production is somewhat controversial[5] as the families[6][7] of the astronauts generally objected to it.[8][9][10][11]
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[12] 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 12 CBS affiliate in Boston, WNEV-TV changes its name to WHDH-TV.
March 13 All My Children actress Debbi Morgan quits the role of Angie Baxter Hubbard.
March 24 The season-ending cliffhanger of ALF, "Consider Me Gone", becomes an unintentional series finale when NBC gives Alien Productions a verbal commitment for a fifth season, but ultimately withdraws its support.[13][14] ABC resolved the cliffhanger on February 17, 1996, with the TV movie Project: ALF.
March 30 Radio host Rush Limbaugh makes headlines when he guest hosts The Pat Sajak Show on CBS, and, in a departure from its regular format, enters the audience to get a response about the veto of a bill in Idaho that would have restricted abortion. Directly after announcing that the bill was vetoed, Limbaugh went to the first woman who stood up and was cheering the loudest. The woman denounced Limbaugh's anti-abortion statements earlier in the show. After a verbal confrontation with the angry woman in the audience, followed by an angry man shouting, Limbaugh addresses the camera and stated that he went into the audience in an attempt to show the viewing public that there was an underlying prejudice against him. Due to this, Limbaugh decides to conduct his interview with Sydney Biddle Barrows in another studio. After a commercial break, Limbaugh attempts to address the topic of affirmative action, but was backed out again by several male audience members wearing ACT UP T-shirts. After another break, Limbaugh returned and conducted the final segment after the audience had been cleared.
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.
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 8 The pilot episode for Twin Peaks airs on ABC. The two-hour pilot is the highest-rated movie for the 1989–1990 season with a 21.7 rating and is viewed by 34.6 million people. In Los Angeles, Twin Peaks becomes the seventh most-watched show of the week earning 29% of viewers, the most-watched show being Married... with Children which gathers 34% of viewers.[15]
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[16] and Los Angeles at Houston.[17][18][19]
April 15 Sunday Night Baseball debuts on ESPN with coverage of the New York Mets against the Montreal Expos.
The Living Daylights makes its network broadcast television premiere on ABC. This would be the final time that a James Bond film would make its American television debut on ABC. The next Bond film, Licence to Kill would premiere on Fox in 1993. ABC wouldn't broadcast the Bond series again until 2002 under the title The Bond Picture Show.
April 21 Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue, a special program warning children about the inconvenience 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 27 Barbara Bel Geddes makes her final appearance on Dallas as Miss Ellie Ewing.
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 7 Stepfanie Kramer makes her final appearance as Sgt. Dee Dee McCall on Hunter.
May 12 Comedian Andrew Dice Clay guest-hosts Saturday Night Live. Cast member Nora Dunn immediately announces to the press that she was boycotting the show in protest. She stated the protest was in view of Clay's perceivably misogynistic act, and did so without informing executive producer Lorne Michaels, the cast, or most of the crew about her intent. Sinéad O'Connor was scheduled to be the musical guest for the episode, but she also boycotted the show because of Clay's involvement, forcing the producers to find two musical replacements, with one performance by Julee Cruise and a second by Spanic Boys.[20][21] NBC censors insisted that the episode be aired with a delay to compensate for anything Clay might say on air. During the live show, some audience members were pissed off at Clay but were immediately removed by the increased security detail.
May 18 The made–for–TV film Return to Green Acres, which reunited Eddie Albert, Eva Gabor, and the rest of the surviving cast of the 1965–1971 sitcom Green Acres, is broadcast on CBS.
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, 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.
The series finale of You Can't Do That on Television is broadcast on Nickelodeon. For its tenth and final season, only five episodes are produced (tying 1990 with 1987 as the shortest season of the series), with production ending in February. This is also one of the rare times in television where a show's cast and producer's knew they would not be coming back, allowing them to make several in-jokes and references to this being the final show of the series, despite it not being a proper "finale". Though ratings decline, Nickelodeon continues to air reruns until January 1994, at which point it is only aired on weekends.
June 1 Mariah Carey delivers her first live television performance (singing "Vision of Love") on The Arsenio Hall Show.
June 6 The character Taylor Hayes makes her first appearance on the CBS soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful.
June 7 The start of the Cruise of Deception storyline is broadcast on the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives, lasting through July 16, 1990. The story includes several of the show's most popular characters attending a masked ball on a cruise ship, which is taken over by a vengeful Ernesto Toscano, played by Charles Cioffi. The miniseries acts as the climax of several stories that had been developing previously to it, and the launching pad of several more, some of which would play out through most of the 1990s. NBC promotes the story heavily to lure kids home from school to watch the show during their summer vacation.
Nickelodeon Studios officially opens in Orlando, Florida.
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 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).
WUTV officially became a Fox affiliate in Buffalo again after Act III Broadcasting took control of the station, and acquired stronger programming and the Fox affiliation rights from WNYB-TV, which was then sold to the Tri-State Christian Television.
June 29 Pinwheel, the very first show to air on Nickelodeon as well as its Nick Jr. block, is broadcast on the network for the final time.
July 1 WPTY-TV became a Fox affiliate in Memphis, replacing WLMT. This was due to the station's higher ratings, and WLMT lost the Fox affiliation because there is a clause that Michael Thompson bought out the station from TVX in 1989, which resulted in the loss of its affiliation.
July 5 ABC airs the National Academy of Dance's 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' death. Later that December, Davis gave 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.
Johnny Depp makes his final appearance as Officer Tom Hanson on 21 Jump Street. This is also the final episode to be broadcast on Fox as for its fifth and ultimately final season, 21 Jump Street would air in first–run syndication.
July 30 MovieTime, which initially launched on July 31, 1987 as a national barker service to air movie trailers, entertainment news, event and awards coverage, and interviews is rebranded as E!. This name change is made to emphasize its widening coverage of the celebrity–industrial complex, contemporary film, television and music, daily Hollywood gossip, and fashion.
July 31 Memories of Murder, the first ever film to be produced for the Lifetime Television Network is broadcast.
August 10 The American Wrestling Association holds its final television taping.
August 17 CBS airs an unsold half-hour pilot that's based on the film Steel Magnolias. The cast includes Cindy Williams as M'Lynn, Sally Kirkland as Truvy, Elaine Stritch as Ouiser, Polly Bergen as Clairee, and Sheila McCarthy as Annelle.[22]
August 23 The pilot episode for Ferris Bueller, an adaptation of the 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off, is broadcast on NBC. In said pilot, Ferris (Charlie Schlatter) refers to the film and expresses his displeasure at Matthew Broderick portraying him, even going as far as destroying a life-size cardboard cutout of Broderick with a chainsaw.[23][24] The show would ultimately be cancelled after its first season and only 13 episodes due to its poor reception. It would also suffer from comparisons to another series, Fox's Parker Lewis Can't Lose, which proves to be more successful when it comes to ratings, lasting for three seasons.
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 12–14 Wheel of Fortune contestant Mindy Mitola won a total of $146,014 cash & prizes accumulated for her 3-day stint in the show, setting an all-time winnings record for the program, surpassing Diane Landry's $129,370 held last year. This record would last for almost five years until Peter Argyropolous and Deborah Cohen surpassed her record on February 8–9, 1996 with $146,529. At the time, she also became the biggest winner (for any individual contestant) in the program until more than 18 years later on October 14, 2008, where Michelle Lowenstein surpassed her total with $1,026,080.
September 15 The CBN Family Channel renames itself The Family Channel. By this point, the network had grown too profitable to remain under the Christian Broadcasting Network umbrella without endangering the ministry's non-profit status.
Captain Planet and the Planeteers, an animated environmental edutainment series that was created by created by Barbara Pyle and Ted Turner premieres on Turner's cable channel TBS.
September 16 WSYM in Lansing officially became a Fox television station.
September 23–27 The Ken Burns directed miniseries The Civil War is broadcast on PBS. More than 39 million viewers would tune in to at least one episode, and viewership averaged more than 14 million viewers each evening, making it the most-watched program ever to air on PBS.
September 26 Cop Rock, a police procedural series that mixes music and choreography throughout storylines debuts on ABC. The show is a critical and commercial failure and is canceled by ABC after 11 episodes.[25] The combination of a fusion of musical performances with serious police drama and dark humor with its high-powered production talent, make it infamous as one of the biggest television failures of the 1990s.[26][27] TV Guide Magazine would rank it #8 on its List of the 50 Worst TV Shows of All Time list in 2002[28] and dubs it "the single most bizarre TV musical of all time".[29]
October 1 The very first edition of UWF Fury Hour airs from Reseda Country Club in Reseda, California on SportsChannel America.
October 6 All My Children star Susan Lucci guest–hosts an episode of Saturday Night Live, becoming the first daytime soap opera performer to do so.
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.
November 3 The NBA on NBC debuts on NBC, with its first game being the Los Angeles Lakers visiting the San Antonio Spurs.
November 10 Chris Farley, Tim Meadows, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, David Spade and Julia Sweeney join the cast of Saturday Night Live.
The series finale of Charles in Charge airs in first-run syndication. In the finale, Sarah puts on a show to raise money, and Charles directs while preparing for an interview to get into Princeton.
November 17 ESPN broadcasts the Notre Dame Fighting Irish's college football game against the 1990 Penn State Nittany Lions. This is to date, the final time that a television network other than NBC, would broadcast Notre Dame's home games. On September 7, 1991, NBC would start televising Notre Dame's home games;[30] it would become the first Division I-A football program to have all of its home games televised exclusively by one television network.
The last original episode of Pee-wee's Playhouse airs on CBS. In July 1991, series star Paul Reubens is arrested for exposing himself in a Sarasota, Florida, adult movie theater,[31] prompting CBS to immediately stop airing its Playhouse re-runs, which are originally intended to air until late 1991.[32][33][34] The show is replaced by reruns of The Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy.
November 18–20 The two-episode television miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's 1986 epic supernatural horror novel It premieres on ABC.
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.[35][36]
December 10 Following his broadcast of a Chicago BearsWashington Redskins NFL game, CBS announcer Pat Summerall is hospitalized with a bleeding ulcer after vomiting on a plane during a flight. Summerall would be out 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.

Date Show Channel
January 1 The Baby-Sitters Club HBO
Maya the Bee Nickelodeon
January 5 Max Monroe: Loose Cannon CBS
January 6 Zorro CBN Family Channel
January 24 Peter Jennings Reporting ABC
January 26 Pirate TV MTV
January 28 Grand Slam CBS
January 29 City
February 6 Rodeo Drive Lifetime
February 9 The Bradys CBS
February 19 Nasty Boys NBC
February 25 A Family for Joe
March 3 H.E.L.P. ABC
March 5 His & Hers CBS
March 21 Normal Life
Sydney
March 25 The Outsiders Fox
March 27 Equal Justice ABC
March 30 Bagdad Café CBS
Sugar and Spice
March 31 Carol & Company NBC
April 1 On the Television Nick at Nite
April 4 The Marshall Chronicles ABC
April 8 Twin Peaks
April 9 Capital News
April 12 Down Home NBC
April 14 In Living Color Fox
Major League Baseball on CBS CBS
April 15 Sunday Night Baseball ESPN
April 16 Working Girl NBC
April 19 Wings NBC
April 21 Sunset Beat ABC
May 1 Brewster Place
Clash! Ha!
May 5 TaleSpin The Disney Channel, Syndication
May 13 America's Funniest People ABC
June 1 Great Getaway Game The Travel Channel
June 16 Monopoly ABC
July 4 SK8-TV Nickelodeon
Wild & Crazy Kids
July 5 Blossom NBC
July 8 Dream On HBO
July 12 Northern Exposure CBS
July 14 The Howard Stern Show (1990 TV program) WWOR-TV
July 16 Into the Night starring Rick Dees ABC
July 17 Real Life with Jane Pauley NBC
July 27 Swamp Thing USA Network
July 29 Tim Conway's Funny America ABC
August 8 New Attitude ABC
August 13 Outta Here! Nickelodeon
August 20 Parenthood NBC
August 22 Working It Out
August 23 Ferris Bueller
August 25 Jim Henson's Mother Goose Stories The Disney Channel
August 27 Guys Next Door NBC
September 1 Midnight Patrol: Adventures in the Dream Zone Syndication
Haywire Fox
September 2 Parker Lewis Can't Lose
Big Brother Jake CBN Family Channel
Bob Vila's Home Again Syndication
September 3 The Challengers
Instant Recall
Personalities
September 4 Barnyard Commandos Syndication
September 7 D.E.A. Fox
American Chronicles
September 8
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes Fox Kids
Bobby's World
Peter Pan and the Pirates
Zazoo U
New Kids on the Block ABC
Little Rosey
The Wizard of Oz
The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 NBC
The Fanelli Boys
Tom & Jerry Kids
Gravedale High
Kid 'n Play
September 10 The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The New Adventures of He-Man USA Network
Quiz Kids Challenge Syndication
Trump Card
Lenny CBS
Uncle Buck
September 11 The Family Man
September 13 Law & Order NBC
Babes Fox
September 14 Tiny Toon Adventures Syndication
September 15 The Adventures of the Black Stallion The Family Channel
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures CBS
Captain Planet and the Planeteers TBS
Piggsburg Pigs! Fox Kids
September 16 The Adventures of Don Coyote and Sancho Panda Syndication
E.A.R.T.H. Force CBS
September 17 The Trials of Rosie O'Neill
Preview: The Best of the New Syndication
Wake, Rattle & Roll
September 18 Married People ABC
September 20 American Dreamer NBC
The Flash CBS
Top Cops
September 21 Evening Shade
Going Places ABC
September 23 Against the Law Fox
Get a Life
September 24 Adam-12 Syndication
My Talk Show
September 26 Cop Rock ABC
September 29 Dracula: The Series Syndication
Widget the World Watcher
September 30 The Jesse Jackson Show
Good Grief Fox
October 1 America Tonight CBS
UWF Fury Hour SportsChannel America
Video Power Syndication
October 4 Beverly Hills, 90210 Fox
October 15 Screen Scene BET
October 24 WIOU CBS
October 27 NBA Inside Stuff NBC
November 2 Over My Dead Body CBS
November 3 NBA on NBC NBC

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
Perfect Strangers 5
227 5

Changes of network affiliation

The following shows aired new episodes on a different network than previous first-run episodes:

Show Moved from Moved to
Night Flight USA Network Syndication
TaleSpin The Disney Channel
21 Jump Street Fox
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears ABC
Supermarket Sweep Lifetime
The Hogan Family NBC CBS
The Major League Baseball Game of the Week
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Syndication
Let's Make a Deal NBC
To Tell the Truth
Match Game ABC
Father Dowling Mysteries NBC
Fun House Syndication Fox

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
March 30 Think Fast 1989
April 6 Baywatch (returned in 1991)
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 31 Rodeo Drive 1990
September 1 Monopoly
September 2 Tim Conway's Funny America
September 14 Make the Grade 1989
September 29 E.A.R.T.H. Force 1990
SK8-TV
November 10 Charles in Charge 1984
November 17 Pee-wee's Playhouse 1986
November 19 Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers 1989
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
Challenger ABC February 25
The Incident CBS March 4
A Killing in a Small Town May 22
Psycho IV: The Beginning NBC November 10
The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story NBC December 10

Networks and services

Launches

Network Type Launch date Notes Source
International Channel Cable television Unknown
SportsChannel Philadelphia Cable television January 1
WWOR EMI Service Cable and satellite January 1
HA! TV Comedy Network Cable television April 1
Star Television Network Broadcast television September 29
Hollywood Premiere Network Syndicated programming block October 9

Conversions and rebrandings

Old network name New network name Type Conversion Date Notes Source
The Nostalgia Channel Nostalgia Television Cable television Unknown
MovieTime E! Cable television July 30
CBN Family Channel The Family Channel Cable television September 15

Closures

Network Type Closure date Notes Source
Sports News Network Cable and satellite December 17

Television stations

Station launches

Date City of License/Market Station Channel Affiliation Notes/Ref.
January 21 Anchorage, Alaska KYES-TV 5 Independent
February 4 Brownsville, Texas K64FM 64 America's Store
March 9 Richmond, Virginia WZXK 65 Independent
March 15 Springfield, Missouri K15CZ 15 Independent
March 29 Chattanooga, Tennessee W39AW 39 Independent
April 2 Brunswick, Georgia
(Jacksonville, Florida)
WBSG-TV 21 Independent
April 23 Cedar City/St. George, Utah KCCZ 8 Independent
May 1 Atlanta, Georgia W07CP 7
May 5 Fort Pierce, Florida WTCE-TV 21 TBN
July 1 Denver, Colorado KWHD 53 LeSEA
August 15 Knoxville, Tennessee WKOP-TV 15 PBS Satellite of WSJK-TV/Sneedville
August 27 Sacramento, California KCMY 29 Independent
September 18 Toledo, Ohio W05BZ 5 The Box
September 27 Eugene, Oregon KEPB-TV 28 PBS Part of the Oregon Educational and Public Broadcasting Service (OEPBS)
September 30 Richmond, Virginia W14BN 14 Independent
October 1 Ventura, California (Los Angeles) KSTV-TV 57 Galavision
October 13 Lansing, Michigan WLAJ 53 ABC
October 18 Boulder, Colorado KSHP 50 Independent
October 22 Naples/Fort Myers, Florida WNPT-TV 46 Independent Not to be confused with today's WNPT of Nashville
October 31 Evansville, Indiana W38BK 38 TBN
November Macon, Georgia WGNM 45 Independent
November 14 Chico/Redding, California KBCP 20 Independent
December 5 Toledo, Ohio W38DH 38 The Box
December 27 Bethlehem, Pennsylvania WBPH-TV 60 Religious independent
Unknown date Atlanta, Georgia W67CI 67 Telemundo
Bismarck, North Dakota K46DY 46 TBN
Charlotte, North Carolina W26AZ 26 Daystar
Columbia, Missouri K02NQ 2 unknown
Columbia, South Carolina W51BR 51
Dothan, Alabama W29BB 29 TBN
Fort Bragg, California KFWU 8 ABC Satellite of KRCR-TV
Gulfport/Biloxi, Mississippi W46AV 46 TBN
Indianapolis, Indiana W47AZ 47 The Box
Minneapolis, Minnesota K13UT 13 The Box
Monterey, California K53DT 53 TBN
Tyler, Texas K48DP 48 Independent

Network affiliation changes

Date City of License/Market Station Channel Old affiliation New affiliation Notes/Ref.
February 6 Nashville, Tennessee WZTV 17 Independent Fox [37]
WXMT 30 Fox Independent
June 27 Buffalo, New York WUTV 29 Independent Fox [38]
WNYB 49 Fox TCT
July 1 Memphis, Tennessee WPTY 24 Independent Fox [39]
WLMT 30 Fox Independent
September 8 Louisville, Kentucky WHAS-TV 11 CBS ABC
WLKY-TV 32 ABC CBS
September 16 Lansing, Michigan WSYM 47 Independent Fox [40]
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

Date Name Notability
January 4 Michelle Mylett Canadian actress
Spencer Rothbell Voice actor (Clarence)
January 6 Natalie Palamides Actress (The Powerpuff Girls, Star vs. the Forces of Evil)
January 7 Liam Aiken Actor
Camryn Grimes Actress (The Young and the Restless)
January 10 Trevante Rhodes American television actor
January 12 Jana Duggar American television personality
January 13 Liam Hemsworth Australian actor (Neighbours, The Elephant Princess, The Hunger Games)
January 14 Grant Gustin Actor (Glee, The Flash)
January 15 Chris Warren Actor (High School Musical)
January 18 Zeeko Zaki Actor
January 26 Christopher Massey Actor (Zoey 101)
January 29 MacKenzie Porter Canadian actress (Dinosapien, Hell on Wheels, Travelers)
Jessica D. Stone Voice actress (Stanley)
January 30 Jake Thomas Actor (Lizzie McGuire, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Cory in the House)
February 1 Davi Santos Actor
February 6 Dominic Sherwood English actor (Shadowhunters)
February 8 Christian Madsen Actor
February 9 Camille Winbush Actress (The Bernie Mac Show)
February 14 Jake Weary Actor (As the World Turns, Fred: The Show, Animal Kingdom)
Brett Dier Canadian actor (Ravenswood, Jane the Virgin)
February 16 The Weeknd Singer
February 23 Anjli Mohindra Actress
February 27 Lindsey Morgan Actress (General Hospital, The 100)
February 28 Georgina Leonidas English actress (Harry Potter)
March 4 Andrea Bowen Actress (Desperate Housewives)
March 5 Matt Rogers Actor
March 7 Daniel Samonas Actor (Avatar: The Last Airbender, Wizards of Waverly Place)
March 13 Alec Medlock Actor (Drake & Josh)
Emory Cohen Actor (Smash)
Sebastian Jude Actor (Lizzie McGuire)
March 18 Luke Tarsitano Actor (Fudge)
March 24 Keisha Castle-Hughes Australian actress (Game of Thrones)
March 25 Kiowa Gordon Actor
March 26 Carly Chaikin Actress (Suburgatory, Mr. Robot)
March 30 Cassie Scerbo Actress (Dance Revolution, Make It or Break It, Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja)
Allie Gonino Actress (The Lying Game)
April 2 Sawyer Fulton Professional wrestler
April 3 Natasha Negovanlis Canadian actress (Carmilla) and singer
April 6 Charlie McDermott Actor (The Middle)
April 9 Kristen Stewart Actress (The Twilight Saga)
April 10 Alex Pettyfer English actor
Maren Morris Singer-songwriter
April 12 Hannah Dunne Actress (Mozart in the Jungle)
April 14 Christian Alexander Actor (General Hospital, The Lying Game)
April 15 Emma Watson Actress
April 18 Britt Robertson Actress (Swingtown, Life UneXpected, The Secret Circle, Under the Dome)
April 19 Teo Olivares Actor (Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, Hannah Montana)
April 21 Bree Essrig YouTube personality and actress
April 22 Machine Gun Kelly Musician
April 23 Matthew Underwood Actor (Zoey 101)
Dev Patel Actor
May 1 Caitlin Stasey Actress (Neighbours)
May 2 Kay Panabaker Actress (Summerland, Phil of the Future, American Dragon: Jake Long, No Ordinary Family)
May 10 Lauren Potter Actress (Glee)
May 14 Sasha Spielberg Actress
May 16 Marc John Jefferies Voice actor (Fatherwood)
Thomas Brodie-Sangster English actor (Phineas and Ferb, Game of Thrones)
May 17 Ross Butler Actor (K.C. Undercover)
Kree Harrison Singer (American Idol)[41]
Leven Rambin Actress (All My Children, Scoundrels)
May 18 Luke Kleintank Actor (Gossip Girl, The Young and the Restless, Bones, Pretty Little Liars, The Man in the High Castle)
May 19 Crawford Wilson Voice actor (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
May 21 Scotty Leavenworth Actor
May 25 Ebonée Noel Actress
May 26 Madeleine Mantock Actress
May 27 Chris Colfer Actor (Glee)
May 30 Dean Collins Actor (Jack & Bobby, The War at Home)
June 2 Brittany Curran American actress
June 9 Lauren Socha English actress
June 10 Tristin Mays Actress (Gullah Gullah Island, Private)
June 13 Aaron Taylor-Johnson English actor
June 15 Denzel Whitaker Actor (All That, Hannah Montana)
June 19 Ashly Burch Voice actress (Adventure Time, OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes)
Chuku Modu Actor
June 20 Jacob Wysocki Actor
June 28 Jasmine Richards Canadian actress (Naturally, Sadie)
Nick Purcell Actor (The Troop)
July 2 Margot Robbie Australian actress (Pan Am)
Kayla Harrison American professional mixed martial artist
July 6 Jeremy Suarez Actor (The Bernie Mac Show)
July 11 Connor Paolo Actor (Gossip Girl, Revenge)
Kelsey Sanders Actress (Private) and singer
July 12 Rachel Brosnahan Actress (House of Cards, Manhattan)
July 16 James Maslow Actor (Big Time Rush) and singer
July 19 Steven Anthony Lawrence Actor (The Amanda Show, Even Stevens)
July 24 Daveigh Chase Actress (Oliver Beene, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, Big Love)
Jay McGuiness British singer (The Wanted)
July 26 Bianca Santos Actress (The Fosters)
July 27 Indiana Evans Australian actress and singer (Snobs, Home and Away, H2O: Just Add Water, Crownies, Secrets and Lies)
July 28 Soulja Boy Rapper
July 29 Matt Prokop Actor
Munro Chambers Canadian actor (The Latest Buzz)
July 30 Eliot Sumner Actor
August 1 Jack O'Connell British actor (Skins)
August 4 Chet Hanks Actor
August 9 Adelaide Kane Australian actress (Neighbours, Power Rangers RPM, Teen Wolf, Reign)
Bill Skarsgård Swedish actor (Hemlock Grove)
August 10 Lucas Till Actor
Sydney Lemmon Actress
August 14 Miranda Rae Mayo Actress
August 15 Jennifer Lawrence Actress (The Bill Engvall Show, The Hunger Games)
August 17 Rachel Hurd-Wood British actress (Home Fires)
August 25 Kristos Andrews Actor
August 28 Katie Findlay Canadian actress (The Killing, The Carrie Diaries, How to Get Away with Murder)
August 29 Laura Ashley Samuels Actress
Nicole Gale Anderson Actress (Jonas, Beauty & the Beast, Ravenswood)
September 2 Merritt Patterson Canadian actress (Ravenswood, The Royals)
September 8 Ella Rae Peck Actress (Gossip Girl, Welcome to the Family)
September 9 Haley Reinhart Musician (American Idol)
Sarah Baker Actress
September 10 Eddy Martin Actor (Just Jordan)
Chandler Massey Actor (Days of Our Lives)
September 12 Wayne Dalglish Actor (The O.C., Kickin' It)
September 14 Lolly Adefope Actress
Harry McEntire English actor
September 15 Matt Shively Actor (True Jackson, VP, The Troop)
September 20 Phillip Phillips Singer (American Idol)[42]
September 21 Allison Scagliotti Actress (Drake & Josh, Warehouse 13, Stitchers)
Christian Serratos Actress (Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, The Walking Dead)
September 25 Hannah Gross American actress
September 27 Lola Kirke English-American actress (Mozart in the Jungle)
September 28 Kirsten Zien Canadian actress (Kyle XY, The Lying Game)
September 29 Doug Brochu Actor (Sonny with a Chance, So Random!)
September 30 Swerve Strickland Pro wrestler[43]
October 5 Myles Jeffrey Actor (Beverly Hills, 90210, Early Edition, Whatever Happened to Robot Jones?)
October 6 Scarlett Byrne Actress (Harry Potter, Falling Skies, The Vampire Diaries)
Noah Robbins Actor
October 7 Ayla Kell Actress (Make It or Break It)
October 8 Trent Harmon Singer (American Idol)[44]
October 13 Bailey Noble Actress (First Day, True Blood)
October 18 Jordan Calloway Actress (Unfabulous)
Carly Schroeder Actress (Port Charles, General Hospital, Lizzie McGuire)
October 19 Ciara Renée Actress (Legends of Tomorrow)
October 20 Galadriel Stineman Actress (The Middle)
October 22 Jonathan Lipnicki Actor (The Jeff Foxworthy Show)
October 24 Kirby Bliss Blanton Actress
LaMarcus Tinker Actor (Cougar Town)
October 28 Kianna Underwood Actress (Little Bill, All That)
October 29 Carlson Young Actress (As the Bell Rings, Scream)
October 31 Lil' JJ Actor (All That, Just Jordan)
November 2 Kendall Schmidt Actor (Big Time Rush) and singer
November 4 Jean-Luc Bilodeau Actor
November 6 Bowen Yang Actor
November 13 Kathleen Herles Voice actress (Dora on Dora the Explorer (2000–07))
November 17 Shanica Knowles Actress (Hannah Montana)
November 24 Sarah Hyland Actress (Modern Family)
November 26 Rita Ora Singer
November 29 Diego Boneta Mexican actor (Underemployed, Scream Queens) and singer
December 13 Emily Peachey Actress
December 20 JoJo American singer
December 21 Mandeep Dhillon Actress
December 23 Anna Maria Perez de Tagle Actress (Hannah Montana, Cake)
December 28 David Archuleta Singer (American Idol) and actor

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 9 Pauline Frederick 82 Journalist (ABC News, NBC News)
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)[45]
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)

See also

References

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