1987 in American television
The year 1987 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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| 1986–87 United States network television schedule |
| 1987–88 United States network television schedule |
| List of American television programs currently in production |
Events
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| January 3 | After being canceled by CBS at the end of the 1984–85 season, Charles in Charge resurfaces in first-run syndication, where it would run for an additional four seasons. |
| January 5 | Remington Steele is resumed by NBC after a six-month hiatus. During the hiatus, the series' main actor Pierce Brosnan won the film role of James Bond, only to lose the role when NBC unexpectedly renewed the television series. Remington Steele adopts a TV-movie length format but only runs for a few installments before being canceled permanently. |
| January 22 | R. Budd Dwyer shoots and kills himself at a televised press conference. The decision by some companies to broadcast the footage results in a debate concerning journalistic ethics. |
| February 2 | PBS broadcasts the critically acclaimed series Eyes on the Prize. |
| February 14 | Pee-wee Herman guest stars on the NBC sitcom 227. |
| February 15 | Amerika, the science-fiction drama miniseries, showing life ten years after the United States is defeated and occupied by the USSR, was broadcast on ABC. |
| February 25 | Frank Sinatra makes a guest appearance on Magnum P.I., in what would be his last credited screen performance. |
| March 9 | KETK-TV in Jacksonville, Texas signs on the air, giving the Tyler market its first full-time NBC affiliate. (NBC had previously been shared on KLTV with CBS (until KLMG-TV signed on in 1984), and later ABC which KLTV retains as a full-time affiliate.) |
| March 19 | Televangelist Jim Bakker resigns as the host of The PTL Club after involvement in a sex scandal. |
| March 23 | The first ever Soul Train Music Awards is broadcast in syndication. |
| March 27 | On CBS, The Price Is Right surpasses Concentration as the longest-running daytime game show in history. |
| March 28 | The forerunner to the Kids' Choice Awards, dubbed 'The Big Ballot', airs on Nickelodeon. The Big Ballot was actually aired over four consecutive weeks (with the movie winners, TV winners, music winners, and finally sports winners being announced for each week) as part of the movie review program Rated K: For Kids by Kids. |
| March 29 | In front of 93,173 fans Hulk Hogan retains the WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 3 at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan defeating his former friend André The Giant. |
| March 30 | CBS Sports uses the song "One Shining Moment" for the first time during the highlight package at the end of their coverage of NCAA men's basketball tournament final. |
| April 5 | The Fox TV network makes its prime-time debut, marking the first time since 1955 that there were four U.S. networks with prime-time programming. The network debuted two shows, Married... with Children and The Tracey Ullman Show, which are broadcast three times each during the night so that viewers watching other networks can switch over and sample the shows. |
| April 6 | During an episode of the ABC late-night news program Nightline devoted to the upcoming 40th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's debut in Major League Baseball, Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Al Campanis makes racially insensitive comments when asked about the scarcity of black field or general managers in MLB. Campanis would be fired two days later. |
| April 17 | Bill Murray announces a Chicago Cubs-Montreal Expos game at Wrigley Field on WGN. Working alongside color analyst Steve Stone, Murray was filling in while broadcaster Harry Caray was recovering from a stroke. Caray would eventually return to the booth on May 19. |
| April 19 | Matt Groening's The Simpsons debuts as a series of short animated segments as part of The Tracey Ullman Show on Fox. |
| May 6 | Mr. Belvedere is canceled after three seasons; however criticism causes ABC executives to rethink the decision and renew the series for a fourth season. (Since the fall programming schedules were already set, Mr. Belvedere would not premiere until late October.) |
| May 15 | Pamela Ewing's car speeds out of control, crashes into a tanker, and explodes on the season finale of the CBS drama Dallas. |
| June 4 | CBS becomes the last American network to cease a chime intonation at the beginning of telecasts; satellite feeds have made the tones obsolete (their function was to signal to the affiliates to start broadcasting the network feed in synchronization with the others). |
| June 30 | U.S. daytime television was interrupted for the Iran-Contra hearings. |
| July 15 | Genie Francis, of General Hospital fame, starts a new soap opera role as Diana Colville on the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives, which she will play until 1989. |
| July 17 | The initial pilot for Good Morning, Miss Bliss airs on NBC. One year later, the series proper would air on the Disney Channel, becoming the first program produced by a major television network for cable TV. After one season on Disney Channel, Good Morning, Miss Bliss would be retooled into Saved by the Bell, which would air as part of NBC's Saturday morning line-up. |
| July 31 | Movietime, forerunner to E!, goes on the air. |
| August 1 | ABC affiliate KRCR-TV in Redding, California launches full-time satellite KAEF-TV in Arcata, California, giving the Eureka market its first full-time ABC affiliate. |
| August 31 | CBS airs the special Michael Jackson: The Magic Returns, which features the broadcast premiere of Jackson's 18 minute long music video "Bad". |
| September 5 | Dick Clark's American Bandstand is broadcast for the 2,751st and last time by ABC, after 30 years on the network. (It continued in syndication, then on cable for 2 more years.) |
| September 7 | The original series of Disney's well known animated series DuckTales begins airing on ITV in the UK before being shown in its normal country. |
| September 11 | Dan Rather of the CBS Evening News leaves the newscast when a televised tennis match runs two minutes over. He is missing for six minutes. |
| September 14 | Filmation’s final animated series BraveStarr has its broadcast premiere in syndication. |
| September 18 | DuckTales finally begins airing in the U.S. for the first time ever in syndication. |
| September 19 | NBC debuts a weekday package of sitcoms for ts owned-and-operated stations called "Prime Time Begins at 7:30". The shows included are Marblehead Manor (airing Mondays), She's the Sheriff (airing Tuesdays), a series adapted from the George S. Kaufman play You Can't Take It with You (airing Wednesdays), Out of This World (airing Thursdays), and a revival of the short-lived 1983 NBC series We Got It Made closing out the week on Fridays. |
| September 22 | Long-running sitcom Full House created by Jeff Franklin debuts on ABC. |
| September 24 | Kirstie Alley makes her debut as Rebecca Howe in the sixth-season premiere of Cheers. |
| September 28 | The pilot episode for Star Trek: The Next Generation premieres in syndication. |
| October 3 | Once a Hero, the show's lowest rated program of the season holds its last aired episode on ABC. The following week, specials replaced it until the debut of Sable in its time period on November 7. |
| October 4 | On the final day of the Major League Baseball season, the Detroit Tigers clinch the American League East title against their divisional rivals the Toronto Blue Jays. The game was broadcast on Sunday afternoon on ABC with Al Michaels, Jim Palmer and Tim McCarver on the call. |
| October 12 | Valerie Harper files a lawsuit against NBC and Lorimar for breach of contract after being dismissed from her sitcom Valerie. |
| October 15 | Bob Barker stops dyeing his hair brown and appears on The Price is Right for the first time with white hair. He is given a minute-long standing ovation by the audience. |
| October 16 | Max Headroom makes its final airing on its Friday night timeslot on ABC. The previously unaired episodes will later burn off in its Thursday night time slot during the 1988 WGA strike on ABC, replacing Probe. The fourth season opener of Mr. Belvedere and the premiere of Pursuit of Happiness will replace Headroom two weeks later, on October 30 on its Friday night time period. |
| October 24 | ABC allows Game 6 of the World Series between the Minnesota Twins and St. Louis Cardinals to be played at 3 p.m. CT (4 p.m. ET) on Saturday afternoon – the only day game of the series, and the last World Series game to date to be played in the daytime (although as the game was played in the Metrodome, the game took place under artificial illumination all the same). |
| October 26 | ABC airs a special, secondary edition of Monday Night Football for the Minneapolis and Denver markets. The game between the Vikings and Broncos was moved from Sunday, October 25 to the following Monday night because the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome was being used for Game 7 of the World Series. Gary Bender and Lynn Swann would call this special contest from Minnesota while the rest of the nation sees the Los Angeles Rams face off against the Cleveland Browns. |
| November 8 | ESPN broadcasts its first ever Sunday night National Football League game, a contest between the New York Giants and New England Patriots. It marked the first time that a cable television outlet broadcast an NFL game. |
| November 13 | Sonny & Cher reunite for a performance on NBC's late-night talk show Late Night with David Letterman. |
| November 15 | The animated crossover The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones premieres in syndication. |
| November 22 | During a showing of the Doctor Who story "Horror of Fang Rock", PBS member station WTTW-TV Channel 11 in Chicago is interrupted for 88 seconds by a pirate television transmitter overriding the station's transmission signal to broadcast a video of himself in a Max Headroom mask being spanked. The similar incident (for 15-20 seconds) occurred during WGN-TV's newscast when it showed the mask moving up and downwards. |
| Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back makes its network broadcast television premiere on NBC. | |
| November 26 | The very first Survivor Series professional wrestling event is broadcast on pay-per-view. That same night, the World Wrestling Federation's competitor, Jim Crockett Promotions held their fifth annual Starrcade supercard event. Jim Crockett Promotions had previously aired Starrcade only on closed-circuit television. To compete with Starrcade, the WWF introduced the Survivor Series event, and held it on the same night as Starrcade. The WWF also limited the amount of pay-per-view providers that would carry Starrcade by not allowing providers to carry WrestleMania IV if they did not carry Survivor Series exclusively. Only a small amount of providers carried Starrcade, and it drew a 3.30 buy rate while Survivor Series drew a 7.0 buy rate. |
| December 27 | Through a short stint with NBC Sports, Gayle Sierens became the first woman to do play-by-play for an NFL regular season football game when she called a game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Kansas City Chiefs. |
| December 28 | The first ever Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series premieres in syndication starting off with the first four episodes. |
Programs
Debuting this year
Returning this year
| Title | Final aired | Previous network | New title | Returning network | Date of return |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charles in Charge | 1985 | CBS | Same | Syndication | January 3 |
| Blockbusters | 1982 | NBC | Same | January 5 | |
| Concentration | 1978 | Syndication | Classic Concentration | NBC | May 4 |
| We Got it Made | 1984 | NBC | Same | Syndication | September 11 |
| Snorks | 1985 | Same | September 12 | ||
| High Rollers | 1980 | Syndication | September 14 | ||
| Truth or Consequences | 1978 | Syndication | |||
| The Jetsons | 1963 | ABC | October 19 |
Ending this year
| Date | Title | Debut |
|---|---|---|
| January 10 | Heart of the City | 1986 |
| February 6 | Dads | |
| February 9 | Gung Ho | |
| February 7 | Too Close for Comfort | 1980 |
| February 27 | The Love Boat | 1977 |
| March 1 | The New Adventures of Jonny Quest | 1986 |
| March 3 | Silver Spoons | 1982 |
| March 7 | The Berenstain Bears | 1985 |
| March 8 | The A-Team | 1983 |
| March 12 | The Wizard | 1986 |
| March 20 | Capitol | 1982 |
| March 25 | Harry | 1987 |
| March 26 | The Colbys | 1985 |
| March 27 | Zoobilee Zoo | 1986 |
| March 30 | You Again? | |
| Fraggle Rock | 1983 | |
| April 8 | Roxie | 1987 |
| April 10 | Amazing Stories | 1985 |
| April 17 | Remington Steele | 1982 |
| April 24 | Together We Stand | 1986 |
| April 29 | Easy Street | |
| May 1 | Blockbusters | 1980 |
| May 2 | Starman | 1986 |
| May 8 | Stingray | 1985 |
| May 12 | Gimme a Break! | 1981 |
| The Tortellis | 1987 | |
| May 13 | The New Mike Hammer | 1984 |
| May 15 | Roomies | 1987 |
| May 18 | Fame | 1982 |
| May 19 | Hill Street Blues | 1981 |
| May 28 | Scarecrow and Mrs. King | 1983 |
| Our World | 1986 | |
| May 30 | Outlaws | |
| June 3 | Nothing in Common | 1987 |
| June 13 | Sidekicks | 1986 |
| June 19 | Nightlife | |
| June 27 | Gung Ho | |
| July 8 | Sweet Surrender | 1987 |
| August 7 | Airwolf | 1984 |
| September 7 | The Ellen Burstyn Show | 1986 |
| September 11 | Split Second | 1972 |
| September 12 | Down and Out in Beverly Hills | 1987 |
| Karen's Song | ||
| September 23 | My Little Pony | 1984 |
| October 3 | Once a Hero | 1987 |
| October 25 | Maxie's World | |
| November 7 | Everything's Relative | |
| Leg Work | ||
| Teen Wolf | 1986 | |
| November 11 | The Transformers | 1984 |
| November 12 | The Jetsons | 1962 |
| November 28 | The New Adventures of Beans Baxter | 1987 |
| December 11 | Dinosaucers | |
| December 12 | Popeye and Son | |
| The P.T.L. Club | 1976 | |
| December 18 | Beverly Hills Teens | 1987 |
| Spiral Zone | ||
| December 19 | My Pet Monster | |
| Pound Puppies | 1986 |
Changing networks
| Show | Moved from | Moved to |
|---|---|---|
| Airwolf | NBC | USA Network |
| Alfred Hitchcock Presents | ||
| Candid Camera | CBS | |
| We Got it Made | Syndication | |
| High Rollers | ||
| Punky Brewster | ||
| Charles in Charge | CBS | |
| Webster | ABC | |
| American Bandstand | ||
| Concentration | Syndication | NBC |
| Inspector Gadget | Nickelodeon |
Made-for-TV movies and miniseries
| Title | Network | Premiere date |
|---|---|---|
| Amerika | ABC | February 8 |
| The Facts of Life Down Under | NBC | February 15 |
| LBJ: The Early Years | February 1 | |
| Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story | November 16 | |
| Roman Holiday | December 28 |
Television stations
Station launches
| Date | City of License/Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation | Notes/Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 11 | Bartlesville/Tulsa, Oklahoma | KDOR-TV | 17 | TBN | |
| February | Hattiesburg/Laurel, Mississippi | WHLT | 22 | CBS | Semi-satellite of WJTV/Jackson |
| February 2 | Marshalltown/Des Moines, Iowa | K39AS | 39 | ||
| February 7 | Orlando, Florida | WLSY | 43 | Independent | |
| February 9 | Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas | KDTX-TV | 58 | TBN (O&O) | |
| February 13 | Williamsport, Pennsylvania | W39BT | 39 | TBN | |
| February 14 | Biloxi/Gulfport, Mississippi | WXXV-TV | 25 | Fox | |
| February 15 | San Juan, Puerto Rico | WSJN-TV | 24 | Independent | |
| March 9 | Charlotte, North Carolina | WJZY | 46 | Independent | |
| Tyler, Texas | KETK | 56 | NBC | ||
| March 23 | Toledo, Ohio | W48AP | 48 | Independent | |
| April | Redwood Falls, Minnesota | KRWF | 43 | ABC | Semi-satellite of KSTP-TV |
| April 7 | Mobile, Alabama | WFGX | 35 | Independent | |
| April 18 | Atlanta, Georgia | WNGM-TV | 34 | Independent | |
| May | Los Angeles, California | KDDE (recalled as KEEF-TV in June) |
68 | Educational independent | |
| May 6 | Springfield, Massachusetts | W11BT | 11 | Independent | |
| May 13 | Buffalo, New York | WNEQ-TV | 23 | PBS | |
| May 22 | Terre Haute, Indiana | W65BK | 65 | TBN | |
| May 25 | Cleveland/Chattanooga, Tennessee | WFLI-TV | 53 | Independent | |
| May 29 | Sioux Falls, South Dakota | KTTW | 7 | Fox | |
| June 18 | Cocoa/Orlando, Florida | WRES | 68 | Educational independent | |
| June 30 | Kalamazoo/Battle Creek/Grand Rapids, Michigan | WLLA | 64 | Christian independent | |
| July 1 | Clairemore/Tulsa, Oklahoma | KXON-TV | 35 | Educational independent | |
| July 2 | Darien, Connecticut | W33BS | 33 | Audio-only independent | Pulse 87 |
| July 4 | Frederick, Maryland (Washington, D.C.) |
WFPT | 62 | PBS | Part of the Maryland Public Television network |
| July 16 | Houston, Texas | KETH | 14 | TBN (O&O) | |
| August 1 | Arcata/Eureka, California | KREQ | 23 | Fox | |
| August 5 | Baton Rouge, Louisiana | W49KG | 49 | Independent | |
| August 10 | Rochester, Minnesota (Mason City, Iowa) |
KXLT-TV | 47 | Independent | Originally a satellite of KXLI/Minneapolis |
| August 14 | Merrimack/Manchester, New Hampshire | WGOT | 60 | Independent | |
| August 15 | Barstow/Los Angeles, California | KVVT | 64 | Independent | |
| August 24 | Columbus, Ohio | WOCB-CD (original callsign unknown) |
39 | Religious independent | |
| August 27 | Bloomington, Indiana | WCLJ-TV | 42 | TBN | |
| August 28 | Cheyenne, Wyoming | KKTU | 39 | NBC | |
| August 31 | Columbus, Ohio | WWAT | 53 | Independent | |
| September | Buffalo, New York | WNYB-TV | 49 | Independent | |
| September | Silver City, New Mexico | KOVT | 10 | ABC | Satellite of KOAT-TV/Albuquerque |
| September 1 | Bozeman/Butte, Montana | KCTZ | 7 | ABC | |
| September 2 | Denver, Colorado | KUBD | 59 | Independent | |
| September 5 | Albuquerque, New Mexico | KLUZ | 41 | Univision | |
| September 18 | Rosenberg/Houston, Texas | KXLN | 45 | Univision | |
| September 21 | New Orleans, Louisiana | K59DG | 59 | Daystar | |
| September 28 | Bridgeport, Connecticut (New York City) |
WBCT-TV | 43 | Independent | |
| October 12 | Albuquerque, New Mexico | KAZQ | 34 | Religious independent | |
| October 18 | Richland, Washington | KTNW | 31 | PBS | Satellite of KWSU-TV/Spokane |
| October 19 | Tamuning, Guam | KTGM | 14 | ABC (primary) CBS (secondary) |
|
| October 28 | Chicago, Illinois | W54AP | 54 | Independent | |
| W54AP | 54 | ||||
| October 29 | Tampa, Florida | W57BA | 57 | Channel America | |
| November 1 | Indianapolis, Indiana | WMCC | 23 | Independent | |
| November 12 | Stockton, California (Sacramento/Modesto, California) |
KFTL | 64 | Independent | |
| November 15 | Gary, Indiana (Chicago, Illinois) |
WYIN | 56 | PBS | |
| December 2 | South Bend, Indiana | W12BK (original) | 12 | Independent | LPTV translator of WCIU-TV/Chicago |
| December 7 | Galveston/Houston, Texas | KTMD | 47 | Telemundo | |
| December 8 | Chicago, Illinois | W46AO | 46 | TBN | |
| Lenoir City/Knoxville, Tennessee | W38AQ | 38 | FamilyNet/America One | ||
| December 14 | Albany, New York | WOCD | 55 | Independent | |
| December 15 | Elkhart/South Bend, Indiana | W24AI | 24 | TBN | |
| Hopkinsville, Kentucky (Clarksville, Tennessee) |
W22CH | 22 | |||
| December 16 | San Antonio, Texas | KABB | 29 | Independent | |
| Unknown date | Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands | WAIG | 43 | Independent | |
| WVGI | 17 | ||||
| Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands | WMEG | 15 | Religious independent | ||
| Panama City, Florida | W46AN | 46 | Tourist information | ||
Network affiliation changes
| Date | City of License/Market | Station | Channel | Old affiliation | New affiliation | Notes/Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 5 | Davenport, Iowa (Quad Cities) | KLJB-TV | 18 | Independent | Fox | |
| Evansville, Indiana | WEVV-TV | 44 | ||||
| Louisville, Kentucky | WDRB | 41 | ||||
| Nashville, Tennessee | WCAY-TV | 30 | ||||
| Sioux Falls, South Dakota | KTTW | 7 | ||||
| Tri-Cities, Tennessee/Virginia | WEMT | 38 | ||||
| October 19 | Hagatna, Guam | KUAM-TV | 8 | NBC (primary) CBS/ABC/Fox (secondary) |
NBC (primary) CBS/Fox (secondary) |
|
| Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands | WSZE-TV | 10 | Satellite of KUAM-TV/Hagtna, Guam | |||
Births
Deaths
| Date | Name | Age | Notability |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 1 | Lloyd Haynes | 52 | Actor (Room 222) |
| February 4 | Liberace | 67 | American pianist, singer and actor |
| February 22 | David Susskind | 66 | Commentator and producer (The David Susskind Show) |
| February 25 | James Coco | 56 | Actor |
| March 3 | Danny Kaye | 76 | Actor & comedian (The Danny Kaye Show) |
| March 21 | Dean Paul Martin | 35 | Actor (Misfits of Science) and singer (Dino, Desi & Billy) |
| March 28 | Patrick Troughton | 67 | Actor (the Second Doctor on Doctor Who from 1966 to 1969) |
| April 17 | Dick Shawn | 63 | Actor |
| April 19 | Milt Kahl | 78 | Animator |
| May 4 | Cathryn Damon | 56 | Actress (Mary on Soap) |
| May 14 | Rita Hayworth | 68 | Actress and singer |
| May 31 | Roy Winsor | 75 | Soap opera writer (Search for Tomorrow) |
| June 22 | Fred Astaire | 88 | Actor and singer |
| June 24 | Jackie Gleason | 71 | Actor (The Honeymooners, The Jackie Gleason Show) |
| August 11 | Clara Peller | 85 | Wendy's spokesperson (Where's the Beef? ad campaign) |
| August 19 | Hayden Rorke | 76 | Actor (Dr. Bellows on I Dream of Jeannie) |
| September 5 | Quinn Martin | 65 | Executive producer (The Fugitive and many others) |
| September 11 | Lorne Greene | 72 | Actor (Ben Cartwright on Bonanza) |
| September 22 | Dan Rowan | 65 | Comedian (co-host of Laugh-In) |
| Carman Maxwell | 84 | Voice actor (Bosko on Looney Tunes) | |
| September 25 | Mary Astor | 81 | Actress[1] |
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gollark: ++delete sinthorion retroactively
gollark: ++delete sinthorion again in case of accidental ambiguity
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