1986 in American television
The year 1986 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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| 1985–86 United States network television schedule |
| 1986–87 United States network television schedule |
| List of American television programs currently in production |
Events
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| January 1 | ABC affiliate KOMU-TV in Columbia, Missouri, owned by the University of Missouri, swaps affiliations with NBC affiliate KCBJ-TV, reversing a swap that took place in 1982. KCBJ-TV subsequently changes its call letters to KMIZ to reflect the change. |
| January 6 | A Vicks Formula 44 cough medicine advertisement premieres, featuring Peter Bergman from All My Children, in which he told the viewing audience "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV". This phrase, first used during the early 1970s by actor Robert Young of the series Marcus Welby, M.D. fame, was subsequently parodied by many popular culture references. |
| A revival of Card Sharks premieres on CBS. In order to make room for the show (which aired at 10:30 AM), CBS moves Press Your Luck to the 4:00 PM timeslot. | |
| January 17 | Dana Plato makes her final appearance as Kimberly Drummond on Diff'rent Strokes. |
| January 25 | HBO begins scrambling its signal. |
| January 28 | NASA's Space Shuttle Challenger spacecraft disintegrates. CNN is the only news service to broadcast the disaster nationally. |
| February 9 | Helen Martin joins the cast of the NBC comedy 227, after appearing on every episode in the 1985–86 season. Martin replaces Kia Goodwin (who was dismissed from the cast after the first season), who portrayed Rose's (Alaina Reed) daughter, Tiffany, before written off the show initially during 1988. |
| February 11 | Culture Club's main singer Boy George appears on an episode of the NBC drama The A-Team. |
| February 14 | Frank Zappa appears on an episode of the NBC drama Miami Vice. Zappa plays a crime boss named "Mr. Frankie" in the episode "Payback". |
| February 17 | Rod Roddy becomes the permanent announcer of the CBS daytime game series The Price Is Right, replacing Johnny Olsen, who had died the previous October. |
| February 22 | In honor of the 20th anniversary of the first episode of the television series The Monkees, MTV broadcasts "Pleasant Valley Sunday", a 22-hour marathon of Monkees episodes. |
| March 9 | On the NBC soap opera Search for Tomorrow, the entire town of Henderson is washed away in a flood. Main character Joanne Tourneur's motel is the only structure in town left standing. |
| Punky Brewster broadcasts a "very special episode" concerning Punky's reaction to the real life Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster. This would be the final episode of Punky Brewster to be broadcast on NBC. Its final two seasons would be produced for the first-run syndication market. | |
| March 20 | After four seasons, NBC cancels Remington Steele. This announcement results in Pierce Brosnan being named the newest portrayer of James Bond. As a result of the media frenzy concerning Brosnan's appointment, as well as the corresponding increase of Steele's ratings, NBC reverses its decision and announces Steele will return midway through the 1986–87 season. This results in Bond movie producers withdrawing their offer to Brosnan, though he would take on the role of Bond in 1995. |
| April 3 | Merv Griffin sells his company, Merv Griffin Enterprises, to The Coca-Cola Company for $250,000,000. |
| ABC affiliate KDEB-TV in Springfield, Missouri disaffiliates from the network and becomes an independent station as a result of an agreement between ABC and Telepictures, owners of independent station KSPR. KDEB-TV will eventually become a charter affiliate of the Fox Broadcasting Company a few months later. | |
| April 13 | NBC broadcasts Return to Mayberry, which reunites sixteen original cast members from The Andy Griffith Show. Return to Mayberry would become the highest-rated television film of 1986.[1] |
| April 21 | Geraldo Rivera hosts a live two-hour syndicated special The Mystery of Al Capone's Vault, infamously coming up empty-handed. |
| April 27 | A man calling himself Captain Midnight jams HBO's signal to protest its monthly fee of $12.95. |
| May 10 | Tommy Lee of rock group Mötley Crüe marries actress Heather Locklear. |
| May 12 | NBC unveils its new six-feathered Peacock logo during its 60th anniversary special. It is still used by the network today. |
| May 16 | Bobby Ewing is revealed to be alive and showering in his ex-wife Pam's bathroom in the season finale of the CBS drama Dallas; in the September 26 season premiere, it was shown that the entire 1985–86 season was a dream of hers the night after they agreed to remarry. |
| May 22 | Cher calls David Letterman an "asshole" during a taping of NBC's Late Night with David Letterman. |
| May 31 | ABC airs the Indianapolis 500 live for the first time. |
| June 1 | CBS affiliate WCHS-TV in Charleston, West Virginia swaps affiliations with ABC affiliate WOWK-TV, reversing a swap that took place in 1962. |
| June 29 | CBS affiliate WOWT and NBC affiliate KMTV-TV, both in Omaha, Nebraska, agree to swap affiliations, thus reversing a swap that took place in 1956. |
| July 18 | A tornado is broadcast live by NBC affiliate KARE in Minneapolis when the station's helicopter pilot makes a chance encounter. |
| September 1 | For one week, CBS Evening News anchorman Dan Rather attempts to initiate the use of the word "Courage" as a slogan. The attempt is a failure, and is noticed by other members of the press. |
| Disney Channel, at the time a premium cable network, begins broadcasting a 24-hour-a-day schedule. | |
| September 8 | Oprah Winfrey's Chicago-based talk show goes national. |
| Al Michaels makes his debut as the new play-by-play announcer for Monday Night Football. Michaels succeeds Frank Gifford, who was transferred to a color commentating role. Michaels would remain as the play-by-play announcer for Monday Night Football until the end of the 2005 season, when ABC terminated their broadcasting relationship with the National Football League. | |
| September 13 | The film-review program Siskel & Ebert makes its debut in syndication. |
| September 17 | ABC becomes the second American network to discontinue use of chime intonations at the beginning of telecasts, switching to satellite feed activation. |
| September 27 | On the NBC comedy The Facts of Life, Charlotte Rae quits the role of Mrs. Garrett (who marries her old friend Bruce Gaines, played by Robert Mandan), and is replaced by Cloris Leachman, who played Beverly Ann Stickle, Mrs. Garrett's sister. |
| September 28 | CBS returns the 4:00 PM timeslot to its affiliates following the cancellation of Press Your Luck a month earlier. |
| ABC airs the broadcast network television premiere of Raiders of the Lost Ark. | |
| October 9 | The Fox Broadcasting Company (then abbreviated as FBC; now Fox) launches as the United States' fourth commercial broadcast television network, the first such attempt since 1967. |
| October 12 | Fox signs its first affiliate outside of its charter group, when WTUV in Utica, New York signs-on. |
| October 25 | NBC's broadcast of Game 6 of the World Series, in which the New York Mets came from behind to defeat the Boston Red Sox in ten innings, causes the first cancellation of Saturday Night Live in its eleven-year history up until that point. That night's episode, which was hosted by Rosanna Arquette with musical guest Ric Ocasek, actually filmed starting at 1:30 AM EST. Instead, it aired two weeks later on November 8 with an introduction by Mets pitcher Ron Darling, who playfully apologized for the cancellation. |
| November 30 | The Disney Channel signs off for the last time. From 7 a.m. on December 1, 1986, the channel broadcasts 24 hours a day. |
| December 25 | Liberace makes what turns out to be his last public appearance on a prerecorded interview with Oprah Winfrey. |
Programs
Debuting this year
Returning this year
| Title | Final Aired | Previous Network | New title | Returning Network | Date of return |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Card Sharks | 1981 | NBC | Same | CBS | January 6 |
| Too Close for Comfort | 1985 | Syndication | The Ted Knight Show | Same | April 21 |
| 9 to 5 | 1983 | ABC | Same | Syndication | September 13 |
| Hollywood Squares | 1984 | NBC | September 15 | ||
| Mama's Family | September 26 |
Ending this year
| Date | Title | Debut |
|---|---|---|
| January 3 | Body Language | 1984 |
| January 7 | Stir Crazy | 1985 |
| January 16 | Shadow Chasers | |
| January 25 | Lady Blue | |
| February 1 | Inspector Gadget (returned in 2015) | 1983 |
| February 6 | Ripley's Believe It or Not! (returned in 2000) | 1982 |
| February 21 | Misfits of Science | 1985 |
| March 5 | Planet Earth | 1986 |
| March 7 | Diff'rent Strokes | 1978 |
| April 4 | Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak | 1986 |
| April 8 | Foley Square | 1985 |
| Mary | ||
| April 19 | Benson | 1979 |
| The Redd Foxx Show | 1986 | |
| April 23 | Fast Times | |
| April 27 | Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors | 1985 |
| May 2 | The Fall Guy | 1981 |
| May 3 | Crazy Like a Fox | 1984 |
| May 5 | Hardcastle and McCormick | 1983 |
| May 7 | Blacke's Magic | 1986 |
| May 16 | Charlie & Co. | 1985 |
| May 23 | The Joker's Wild (returned in 1990) | 1972 |
| The All-New Let's Make a Deal | 1963 | |
| Tic Tac Dough (returned in 1990) | 1956 | |
| May 24 | The Love Boat | 1977 |
| Mr. Sunshine | 1986 | |
| May 28 | T. J. Hooker | 1982 |
| May 30 | Welcome to Pooh Corner | 1983 |
| June 6 | The Merv Griffin Show | 1972 |
| June 7 | Star Wars: Droids | 1985 |
| August 8 | Knight Rider | 1982 |
| August 9 | The Paper Chase | 1978 |
| August 22 | Riptide | 1984 |
| August 24 | Code of Vengeance | 1985 |
| September 4 | Trapper John, M.D. | 1979 |
| September 26 | Press Your Luck | 1983 |
| October 22 | Better Days | 1986 |
| November 15 | Life with Lucy | |
| November 20 | Kay O'Brien | |
| December 5 | Ghostbusters | |
| SilverHawks | ||
| December 6 | It's Punky Brewster | 1985 |
| December 13 | Ewoks | |
| Wildfire | 1986 | |
| December 26 | The Canned Film Festival | |
| Rambo: The Force of Freedom | ||
| Search for Tomorrow | 1951 |
Changing networks
| Show | Moved from | Moved to |
|---|---|---|
| National Geographic Explorer | Nickelodeon | TBS |
| The New Leave It to Beaver | The Disney Channel | |
| The Wonderful World of Disney | CBS | ABC |
| The Care Bears | Syndication | |
| Pink Panther and Sons | NBC | |
| Card Sharks | CBS | |
| Hollywood Squares | Syndication | |
| Mama's Family | ||
| Silver Spoons | ||
| 9 to 5 | ABC |
Made-for-TV movies and miniseries
| Title | Channel | Premiere date |
|---|---|---|
| The Last Frontier (miniseries) | CBS | November 3 |
| North and South: Book II (miniseries) | ABC | May 4 |
Television stations
Station launches
| Date | City of License/Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation | Notes/Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | Pensacola, Florida/Mobile, Alabama | WHBR | 33 | CTN | |
| January 1 | Quincy, Illinois | WTJR | !6 | CTN | |
| January 8 | Columbus, Ohio | W17AI | 17 | Independent | |
| January 10 | Mansfield, Ohio | WMFD-TV | 68 | Independent | |
| January 27 | Houston, Texas | KTHT | 67 | Independent | |
| January 31 | Birmingham, Alabama | WABM | 68 | Independent | |
| February 7 | Hot Springs, Arkansas | KRZB-TV | 26 | Independent | |
| February 15 | Syracuse, New York | WKAF | 68 | Independent | |
| February 19 | Urbana, Illinois | WCCU | 27 | Independent | Satellite of WRSP-TV/Springfield |
| March 6 | Rockford, Illinois | W68BR | 68 | ||
| March 7 | Olean/Buffalo, New York | W20AB | 20 | ACTS/TempoTV | |
| March 10 | Roanoke/Lynchburg, Virginia | WVFT | 27 | Independent | |
| March 17 | Lufkin, Texas | KHTM-LP | 13 | Independent | |
| March 23 | Lynchburg, Virginia | WJPR | 21 | Independent | |
| March 24 | Honolulu, Hawaii | KBFD | 32 | Asian independent | |
| Odessa/Midland, Texas | KOCV-TV | 36 | PBS | ||
| March 30 | Jefferson City/Columbia, Missouri | KNLJ | 25 | Religious independent | |
| April 2 | Louisville, Kentucky | WBNA | 21 | Independent | |
| April 7 | West Monroe/Monroe, Louisiana (El Dorado, Arkansas) |
KMCT-TV | 39 | Religious independent | |
| April 6 | Omaha, Nebraska | KPTM | 42 | Independent | |
| April 13 | Stockton, California Sacramento/Modesto, California) |
KSCH-TV | 58 | Independent | |
| April 16 | Rawlins, Wyoming | KRWY | 9 | ABC | |
| April 19 | Florence, Alabama | WTRT | 26 | Independent | |
| April 24 | Lakeland/Tampa, Florida | WTMV | 32 | Independent | |
| April 25 | San Francisco, California | K30BI | 30 | The Box | |
| April 27 | Mayaguez, Puerto Rico | WUHM-TV | 22 | Independent | Satellite of WAPA-TV/San Juan |
| April 29 | Harrisburg, Pennsylvania | W35BT | 35 | Cornerstone Television | |
| June | Beaumont, Texas | KITU-TV | 34 | TBN | |
| June 1 | Joplin, Missouri | KOZJ | 26 | PBS | Satellite of KOZK/Springfield |
| June 2 | Ottumwa, Iowa (Kirksville, Missouri) |
KOIA-TV | 15 | Independent | |
| June 8 | Madison, Wisconsin | WMSN-TV | 47 | Independent | |
| June 14 | Hartford, Connecticut | W13BF | 13 | Netspan | |
| June 16 | Odessa/Midland, Texas | KPEJ-TV | 24 | Independent | |
| June 17 | Little Rock, Arkansas | KJTM-TV | 38 | Independent | |
| June 25 | Nashville, Tennessee | W61AR | 61 | Independent (primary) America One (secondary) |
|
| July 1 | Charleston, Illinois | WEIU-TV | 51 | Independent | |
| July 9 | Wilmington, Delaware (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) |
WTGI-TV | 61 | Independent (primary) ABC (secondary) |
Clearednetwork programs not cleared by WPVI-TV until 1988. |
| July 22 | Gadsden/Anniston, Alabama (Birmingham/Tuscaloosa, Alabama) |
WTJP-TV | 60 | TBN | |
| August 12 | Nashville, Tennessee | W24AE | 24 | HSN | |
| August 23 | Honolulu, Hawaii | KWHE | 14 | Independent | |
| August 29 | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | K07TX | 7 | Independent | |
| September 1 | Monterey/Santa Cruz, California | KSMS | 67 | SIN | |
| September 2 | Erie, Pennsylvania | WETG | 66 | Independent | |
| September 12 | Indianapolis, Indiana | W31AL | 31 | EWTN | |
| September 14 | Portland, Maine | WPXT | 51 | Independent | |
| September 15 | New London/Hartford, Connecticut | WTWS | 26 | Independent | |
| September 19 | Pembina, North Dakota (Emerson/Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) |
KNRR | 12 | Independent | Satellite of KVRR/Fargo |
| September 21 | Great Falls, Montana | KTGF | 16 | NBC | |
| September 25 | Garland/Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas | KIAB-TV | 23 | SIN (primary) CTN/HSN (secondary) |
|
| September 28 | La Crosse, Wisconsin | WQOW | 18 | ABC | |
| October 7 | St. Joseph, Missouri | KTAJ-TV | 16 | TBN | |
| October 8 | Reno, Nevada | KREN-TV | 27 | SIN | |
| October 12 | Utica, New York | WTUV | 33 | Fox | |
| October 13 | Johnstown/Altoona, Pennsylvania | WWCP-TV | 8 | Independent | |
| October 16 | Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina | WUNP-TV | 36 | PBS | Part of University of North Carolina Public Television |
| October 25 | Bend, Oregon | K48BL | 48 | America One | |
| November 2 | Visalia/Fresno, California | KNXT | 49 | Religious independent | |
| November 14 | Portsmouth, Ohio | K21BK | 21 | Independent | |
| November 15 | San Jose, California (San Francisco/Oakland, California) |
KLXV-TV | 65 | TBN | |
| November 25 | Vallejo, California (San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, California) |
KPST-TV | 66 | Asian independent | |
| December | La Salle/Chicago, Illinois | WWTO-TV | 35 | TBN | |
| December 1 | Salt Lake City, Utah | KUEN | 9 | Educational independent | |
| December 5 | Fort Wayne, Indiana | WFWA | 39 | PBS | |
| December 6 | Norwell/Boston, Massachusetts | WRYT | 46 | Independent | |
| Unknown date | Aguadilla, Puerto Rico | WKKU | 32 | Religious independent | |
| Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands | WTTM-TV | 27 | Independent | ||
| Clarksville, Indiana (Louisville, Kentucky) |
W05BA | 5 | TBN | ||
| Iron Mountain/Marquette, Michigan | WDHS | 8 | TBN | ||
| Naranjito, Puerto Rico | WECN | 64 | Religious independent | ||
Network affiliation changes
Births
Deaths
| Date | Name | Age | Notability |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 4 | Phil Lynott | 36 | Irish musician (Thin Lizzy) |
| January 14 | Donna Reed | 64 | Actress (The Donna Reed Show, Dallas) |
| January 24 | Gordon MacRae | 64 | Actor and singer |
| January 29 | Leif Erickson | 74 | Actor (The High Chaparral) |
| March 30 | James Cagney | 86 | Actor and dancer |
| May 28 | Don MacLaughlin | 79 | Actor (Chris Hughes on As the World Turns) |
| June 14 | Marlin Perkins | 81 | Zoologist, host of (Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom) |
| July 15 | Florence Halop | 63 | Actress (Florence on Night Court) |
| August 26 | Ted Knight | 62 | Actor (Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show) |
| September 12 | Frank Nelson | 75 | Actor |
| September 27 | Cliff Burton | 24 | Musician/songwriter (Metallica) |
| October 25 | Forrest Tucker | 67 | Actor (F Troop) |
| November 2 | Paul Frees | 66 | Voice actor (Boris Badenov on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, 1st voice for the Pillsbury Doughboy) |
| November 18 | Gia Carangi | 26 | American model |
| December 2 | Desi Arnaz | 69 | Actor and musician (Ricky Ricardo on I Love Lucy) |
gollark: Are you planning to sell it on?
gollark: Ezio: nebula in desert.
gollark: The number of available codes grows exponentially with each extra character, so we'll be fine for ages.
gollark: No lineage on things in the cave.
gollark: ***P A G I N A T I O N***
References
- Erickson, Hal. "Return to Mayberry". allmovie.com. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
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