| Date | Event |
|---|
| January 1 | After episode 410 ofSoul Train was broadcast this day, the series goes on hiatus forDon Cornelius's brain surgery. Original episodes return on April 30 after Cornelius returns from his convalescence. |
| January 3 | Plinko is added as a pricing game on theCBS game showThe Price Is Right; it will go on to become one of the most popular of the show's games. Also on this date, three newgame shows debut on rivalNBC:$ale of the Century,Just Men! andHit Man. The two latter shows will leave the air after 13 weeks, whereas$ale (a revival of the hit NBC game show of the late 1960s-early 1970's) will go on to have a six-year run. |
| January 8 | TheNFL playoffs begin onCBS andNBC, who televised theNFC andAFC playoff games respectively. Because aplayers' strike reduced the regular season from 16 to only 9 games, theNational Football League created a special 16-team playoff format (dubbed the "Super Bowl Tournament", where division standings were ignored and eight teams from each conference were seeded 1–8 based on their regular season records), just for this year. As a further consequence of the strike, this marked the first (and currently only) time thatNFL playoff games were regionally televised across the United States instead of nationwide. |
| January 10 | Canada'sCBC and the United States'HBO launch the television seriesJim Henson's Fraggle Rock, an educational co-production advocating tolerance.[1] |
| January 30 | Thefirst regular episode forThe A-Team airsafterNBC'scoverage ofSuper Bowl XVII. |
| February 5 | The first part of a special two-partepisode ofDiff'rent Strokes called "The Bicycle Man", in which Arnold and Dudley encounter apedophile (played byGordon Jump), is broadcast onNBC. It is notable for starting the trend ofvery special episodes. |
| February 6–13 | ABC broadcasts the epic miniseriesThe Winds of War, based on thenovel byHerman Wouk. It is seen in part or in total by 140 million viewers, making it the most watched miniseries at the time. |
| February 13 | Marvin Gaye performs a soulful rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at theNBA All-Star Game atThe Forum in Los Angeles.VH1 would later use it as the first very first video when they premiered on January 1, 1985. And whenCBS broadcast their final NBA telecast at the end of the1990 NBA Finals, they played Gaye's 1983 rendition of the anthem during the closing credits. |
| February 20 | An extended cut ofStar Trek: The Motion Picture premieres on theABC.[2] It added roughly 12 minutes to the film. The added footage was largely unfinished, and cobbled together for the network premiere; directorRobert Wise hadn't wanted some of the footage to be included in the final cut of the film.[3] This version was released on VHS and LaserDisc byParamount in 1983.[4][5] |
| February 21 | ABC airs amade-for-televisionbiographicalfilm about the life ofGrace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, starringCheryl Ladd. The producers would claim that Princess Grace assisted for several weeks with the films preproduction before her unexpected death in September 1982.[6] |
| February 23 | PBS broadcastsThe Operation, a live telecast of an actual open-heart surgery. |
| February 28 | More than 125 million Americans watch the 251st and finalepisode ofM*A*S*H onCBS, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen". It would be the most viewed television broadcast in U.S. history untilSuper Bowl XLIV in February 2010.[7] |
| March 2 | WFBC-TV,NBC affiliate inGreenville, changes its call sign to WYFF.[8] |
| March 6 | Country Music Television (CMT) begins in the United States. |
| The first televisedUSFL football game (Los Angeles Express vs.New Jersey Generals) is broadcast byABC. The Express would ultimately win the game, 20–15. |
| March 7 | The Nashville Network (TNN) (known later as The National Network and Spike TV; now known asParamount Network) begins broadcasting. |
| March 10 | MTV broadcasts the video ofMichael Jackson's song "Billie Jean" for the first time. The video is the first by a black artist to gain great airplay on MTV, and is credited with helping the albumThriller, in which the song is included, become the best-selling album of all time. |
| March 18 | CBS broadcastsStill the Beaver, a two-hourtelevision movie which reintroduces the adult actors, reprising their child characters, from the original 1957–1963 sitcomLeave It to Beaver. This would be followed by a new television series which was also calledStill the Beaver that would air onThe Disney Channel for the 1984–85 season. Beginning in the 1986–87 season, the series, now namedThe New Leave It to Beaver, would air onWTBS, where it would remain until its conclusion in 1989. |
| March 19 | US First LadyNancy Reagan makes a special appearance on an episode of theNBC comedyDiff'rent Strokes, beginning herJust Say No anti-drug campaign. |
| March 20 | NBC broadcasts the television movieSpecial Bulletin, a fictional—yet realistic—depiction of a television network's coverage of anuclear terrorism threat inCharleston, South Carolina. The movie is an early collaboration betweenEdward Zwick (who directed) andMarshall Herskovitz (who wrote the teleplay); both men would create and producethirtysomething later in the 1980s. |
| April 4 | Archie Bunker's Place broadcasts its last original episode asCBS cancels the series after four seasons (and without a proper series finale), endingCarroll O'Connor's run asArchie Bunker, which began during 1971 withAll in the Family. |
| The Morning Show, hosted byRegis Philbin andCyndy Garvey, premieres locally onWABC inNew York City. The show would eventually make its move to nationalsyndication in 1988 with Philbin andKathie Lee Gifford as his co-host. |
| April 7 | Major League Baseball agrees to terms withABC andNBC on a six-year television package, worth$1.2 billion. The two networks would continue to alternate coverage of theplayoffs (ABC in even-numbered years and NBC in odd-numbered years),World Series (ABC would televise the World Series in odd-numbered years and NBC in even-numbered years) andAll-Star Game (ABC would televise the All-Star Game in even-numbered years and NBC in odd-numbered years) through the 1989 season, with each of the 26 clubs receiving $7 million per year in return (even if no fans showed up). This was a substantial increase over the last package, in which each club was being paid $1.9 million per year. ABC contributed $575 million for the rights to televise prime time and Sunday afternoon regular season games and NBC paid $550 million for the rights to broadcast 30 Saturday afternoon games.[9] |
| April 9 | Vin Scully makes his debut asNBC's new lead play-by-play announcer for theirMajor League Baseball telecasts (a role that he would maintain through the1989 season). Scully's first broadcast for NBC is a game between theMontreal Expos andLos Angeles Dodgers, where the Expos would defeat the Dodgers 7-2. |
| April 12 | David Canary makes his first appearance on theABC soap operaAll My Children. |
| April 18 | Disney Channel is initiated on American cable television. The first show televised isGood Morning, Mickey! |
| April 21 | WTWC-TV inTallahassee, Florida signs on, giving the Tallahassee market its first full-timeNBC affiliate.[10] |
| May 1–2 | V is broadcast byNBC. Thefirst episode is viewed by 40% of television viewers.[11] |
| May 6 | A fire at Southfork threatens the lives of the Ewings on theseason finale of theCBS drama seriesDallas. |
| ABC airs the broadcast network television premiere ofThe Shining. |
| May 16 | The concert specialMotown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever is broadcast byNBC;Michael Jackson, after a performance withThe Jackson Five, provides the centerpiece highlight by performing, to "Billie Jean", his "moonwalk" dance for the first time on television. |
| May 22 | CBS introduces a new theme music (composed by Allyson Bellink and mostly consisting of an uptempo series of four notes and threebars each) for their coverage of theNBA. It uses a primitive-computer generated introduction (created by Bill Feigenbaum) of the NBA arenas (similar to theBoston Garden) until the1989 Playoffs and later revived the second theme beginning in the1989 Finals.[12] |
| May 29 | WVSB-TV inWest Point, Mississippi signs on, giving theTupelo market its first full-timeABC affiliate. |
| June 7 | NBC affiliate inMiami/Fort Lauderdale, WCKT changes its call letters toWSVN.[13] |
| June 16 | Pope John Paul II arrives in his native Poland, withABC (preempting a rerun ofThe Love Boat) andNBC (interruptingWheel of Fortune and preemptingDream House) broadcasting his arrival live (CBS, hampered by budget reductions of its news division, continue to broadcastThe Price Is Right instead). |
| June 20 | KLDH (nowKTKA-TV) inTopeka, Kansas signs on, giving the Topeka market its first full-timeABC affiliate.[14] |
| June 23 | Whitney Houston makes her national television debut when she performs onThe Merv Griffin Show. |
| August 4 | The cast ofNBC's seriesSearch for Tomorrow is forced to do a live show for the first time since the program began using videotape format during 1967 due to the loss of both the regular transmission tape and a backup.[15] |
| August 10 | KDVR,Denver's firstUHF station goes on the air.[16] |
| August 12 | Denver'sNBC station KOA-TV changes its name toKCNC-TV. |
| August 22 | InFargo, North Dakota,ABC affiliate KTHI-TV (nowKVLY-TV) swaps affiliations with long-timeNBC affiliateWDAY-TV and its semi-satellite inGrand Forks,WDAZ-TV.[17] |
| August 30 | Though the station is still regarded as profitable,[18]Field Enterprises closes downWKBS-TV/Burlington, New Jersey-Philadelphia[19] after failing to find a buyer.[20] |
| September 5 | PBS's seriesThe MacNeil/Lehrer Report becomesThe MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, the first American network news program to expand from a half-hour to one hour in length. |
| Tom Brokaw becomes the sole main anchor of theNBC Nightly News, ending a 17-month stint co-anchoring the broadcast withRoger Mudd. |
| Peter Jennings becomes sole anchorman ofABC's newscastWorld News Tonight, after the death ofFrank Reynolds two months earlier. |
| Pam Long becomes co-main writer of theCBS soap operaGuiding Light. |
| September 5 | During the first half of a broadcast ofABC'sMonday Night Football between theDallas Cowboys andWashington Redskins,Howard Cosell refers to Washington wide-receiverAlvin Garrett as a "little monkey". Cosell's remarks immediately ignites aracial controversy and plays a key factor in his departure from theMonday Night Football booth following the1983 NFL season. |
| September 8 | The comedy seriesWe Got it Made debuts, the first new series onNBC's autumn list to premiere—and the start of one of the least successful new autumn show rosters for a network in history, as none of the series would survive a 2nd season (the other series beingManimal,Jennifer Slept Here,Mr. Smith,Bay City Blues,The Yellow Rose,Boone,For Love and Honor andThe Rousters). |
| September 12 | The animatedG.I. Joe: A Real American Hero mini-series based on the toys of the same name debuts in syndication. Another miniseries airs the following year, with an ongoing show premiering in 1985. |
| September 17 | ThePeanuts gang get their very own Saturday morning cartoon series withThe Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show onCBS. Earlier that year, said network cancelled their epynous prime time showPeanuts because it had run its course and already outdated. (The prime time series was given a proper finale in 1981.) |
| Alvin and the Chipmunks premieres onNBC. |
| Vanessa Williams is crownedMiss America 1984 onNBC. She became the first African American woman to win the title. |
| September 18 | The bandKiss officially appears in public without make-up for the first time since its very early days on a appearance onMTV, which coincided with the release ofLick It Up.[21] |
| September 19 | The nighttime syndicated edition of the NBC daytime game showWheel of Fortune premieres. The show is only picked up by 59 markets and is shut out of the top 3 markets. However, by late 1984, the show will overtakeFamily Feud as the number one show in syndication. Family Feud surpassed Wheel of Fortune as the most watched show in syndication in June 2015. It has continued to be in the top three shows in syndication through 2024. |
| Press Your Luck premieres onCBS; the game show would end its run on September 26, 1986. |
| September 25 | WPVI newscasterJim O'Brien is killed in a skydiving accident in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania at age 43. |
| September 27–29 | NBC broadcastsLive... and in Person, a live variety special program broadcast during three nights.Sandy Gallin is host, and performers includeNeil Diamond,Liberace,Linda Ronstadt, and the cast ofA Chorus Line. |
| October 1 | Mr. Tguest-stars as himself on theNBC sitcomDiff'rent Strokes. |
| October 3 | During a liveNBC news update, anchorJessica Savitch appears incoherent, slurring her speech, deviating from her copy and ad-libbing her report. Savitch, dogged by rumors of drug abuse and instability, still has her contract renewed, but drowns in a car accident three weeks later.[22] |
| October 6 | The rock bandR.E.M. made its television debut onNBC'sLate Night with David Letterman. |
| October 8 | SIN broadcasts the final of the6th National OTI-SIN Festival live from theMiami Jai-Alai Fronton inMiami. |
| October 9 | Tiger Town, the first ever television filmproduced for theDisney Channel, premieres. |
| October 10 | Adam, a television movie about the mysterious disappearance ofAdam Walsh, makes its world premiere onNBC. The broadcast ends with a series of missing children's photographs and descriptions, along with a telephone number viewers could call to provide information on their disappearances. |
| October 29 | SIN stages the12th OTI Festival at theDAR Constitution Hall inWashington, D.C., which is broadcast live throughout Ibero-America. |
| October 30 | Mackenzie Phillips makes herfinal appearance as Julie Cooper Horvath on theCBS sitcomOne Day at a Time. |
| November 7-11 | A five part episode ofMister Rogers' Neighborhood entitled"Conflict" is broadcast onPBS. The series/story arc covers the topics of war, bombs, and an arms race, and is created in response to theInvasion of Grenada, and the1983 Beirut barracks bombings. |
| November 20 | An estimated 100 million people watched the controversial made-for-television movieThe Day After onABC, depicting the start of anuclear war. |
| November 24 | Sesame Street onPBS dealt with the sensitive issue of death whenBig Bird learns the concept as it relates to his late friend,Mr. Hooper (Will Lee, the actor who played Mr. Hooper, died of a heart attack in November 1982). |
| Jim Crockett Promotions produces theinauguralStarrcade event onclosed-circuit television around theSouthern United States. Predating the World Wrestling Federation's (laterWWE)firstWrestleMania event by two years, Starrcade would soon become Jim Crockett Promotions and laterWorld Championship Wrestling's premier, flagship event. |
| November 29 | ABC's affiliate inNashville, WNGE-TV, changes its call sign toWKRN-TV after being sold byGeneral Electric toKnight Ridder. |
| December 2 | The epic (nearly 14 minutes)music video forMichael Jackson's "Thriller" is broadcast for the first time. It will become the most often repeated and famous music video of all time and increase Jackson's own popularity and the sales of the record albumThriller. |
| December 21 | Gerald Ford,Betty Ford andHenry Kissinger makecameo appearances onABC'sDynasty.[23] |
| December 25 | Several networks simultaneously air the 1951 version ofA Christmas Carol; the combinedratings of these broadcasts make the December 25 broadcast(s) ofA Christmas Carol the most-watched television event of the year in every single media market in the states ofGeorgia,Alabama,South Carolina,Tennessee,Maine,Ohio,Utah,Idaho,Wyoming,Indiana andArkansas, as well as several other media markets throughout theUnited States.[24] |
