1985 in American television

television-related events in the USA during 1985

The year 1985 had some major events. Below is a list of television-related events for that year.

Events

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Date Event
January 1 VH1 begins in the United States.
January 4 Sesame Street broadcasts its 2,000th episode.
January 7 On ABC's Good Morning America, actor Yul Brynner makes a public service announcement to be run after his death. He tells others to not smoke. Brynner was dying from lung cancer at the time
January 20 Super Bowl XIX is televised by ABC. This was also the first time that the Super Bowl is broadcast by ABC. It is also the first time that a Super Bowl had closed captioned in real-time. In this game the San Francisco 49ers beat the Miami Dolphins 38-16
February 4 NBC becomes the first television network to use satellite to connect its stations.
February 8 CBS airs the last episode of The Dukes of Hazzard.
March 2 The NBC situation comedy Gimme a Break! broadcasts an episode live.
March 18 Capital Cities Communicationssays that it is buying ABC for $3.5 billion. To do this, the company must sell off several of its television and radio stations to follow FCC ownership limits. The deal will be take place on January 3, 1986.[1][2]
March 20 Norman Lear sells Tandem Productions and Embassy Television companies to The Coca-Cola Company for $485 million.
March 31 The World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) broadcast the first WrestleMania. The event is very successful. It had over a million viewers. This was the start of the yearly WrestleMania events.
April 6 The first edition of World Championship Wrestling by Jim Crockett Promotions is broadcast on TBS.
April 9 The last episode of Three's a Crowd is broadcast on ABC. This ended John Ritter's run as Jack Tripper which begin with Three's Company back in 1977.
April 29 The two-night version of Ken Follett's The Key to Rebecca is broadcast on WPIX Channel 11 in New York City. It has non-pixelated toplessness from both of its female stars, Season Hubley and Lina Raymond.
May 4 News Corporation and 20th Century Fox Film Corporation announces that they will buy Metromedia's television stations and Metromedia Producers Corp. for $3.5 billion. This is the start of the Fox Broadcasting Company, which would first broadcast in October 1986.
May 9 Nicholas Colasanto makes his last appearance as Coach Ernie Pantusso on Cheers. After his death, Woody Harrelson joins the cast as Woody Boyd beginning in the fourth season.
May 11 The first episode of Saturday Night's Main Event is broadcast by NBC. This is the first time that professional wrestling had been broadcast by network television since the 1950s.
Dolph Sweet makes his last appearance as Chief Carl Kanisky on Gimme a Break!. His last episode was broadcast three days after his death.
May 12 During halftime of the Boston CelticsPhiladelphia 76ers NBA playoff game, CBS televises the first ever NBA Draft Lottery.
May 15 The season finale of Dynasty on ABC sees the wedding party of Amanda Carrington (Catherine Oxenberg) and Prince Michael of Moldavia (Michael Praed) shot by revolutionaries in what is known as the Moldavian Massacre
May 17 The season finale of Dallas on CBS finds character Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) on his deathbed after his ex-sister-in-law Katherine Wentworth (Morgan Brittany) runs him down with her car.
May 25 CBS[3][4][5] airs the fourth game of the Major Indoor Soccer League's championship series. This would be the last year the MISL would have games on network television.
May 30 The USA Network airs its last National Hockey League game, Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals. NHL was not broadcast on USA again until the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs.
June 14 ABC broadcasts its 2,311th and last daytime episode of Family Feud after 9 years.
June 24 Kathie Lee Johnson (later Gifford) joins Regis Philbin on WABC's The Morning Show. The Morning Show soon becomes number 1 in the market.[6] It became syndicated on September 5, 1988, when the title is changed to Live with Regis and Kathie Lee.
July 1 Nick at Nite is launched in the United States. It was a nighttime program service which mainly broadcast classic television reruns.
July 2 The last episode of The Jeffersons airs on CBS.
July 13 The Live Aid concerts are broadcast from London and Philadelphia. In the U.S., the concerts are broadcast by MTV with ABC joining in a 3-hour prime-time period.
July 16 NBC's telecast of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game out of the Metrodome in Minnesota is the first program to be broadcast in stereo[7] by a television network.
September 2 NBC becomes the first broadcast network in the U.S. to broadcast its prime time programs with stereo sound.
September 9 The Price Is Right returns to daily syndication after a five-year break with Tom Kennedy hosting.
September 16 After a 22-year hiatus, new episodes of The Jetsons debut. The syndicated revival would run for two seasons.
September 22 The first Farm Aid concert is telecast from Champaign, Illinois, in syndication and by TNN.
September 28 ABC broadcasts an episode of The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians called "The Fear", in which Batman's origin is shown for the first time outside of the comic books.
September 29 Howard Cosell makes his last assignment for ABC Sports. It was a Major League Baseball game between the Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins. Cosell was removed from his announcing duties for that year's World Series because of the controversy caused by his book I Never Played the Game.
October 4 The PBS program Electric Company ended after 8 straight years in reruns.
NBC won the rights to broadcast the 1988 Summer Olympics from Seoul, South Korea.
November 8 The final episode of The Price Is Right with Johnny Olson as announcer is broadcast by CBS. Olson had died on October 12;
November 9 On NBC, Saturday Night Live begins its 11th season, with Lorne Michaels returning as executive producer and an all-new cast that includes Jon Lovitz and Dennis Miller.
November 18 Elmo becomes a new character on PBS's Sesame Street. In the same episode, the adult cast meet Aloysius Snuffleupagus for the first time since the character's 1971 introduction.
December 3 Courteney Cox uses the word "period" (referring to menstruation) on U.S. television for the first time, in a commercial for Tampax brand tampons.
December 12 General Electric says is will buy RCA, owner of NBC for $6.3 billion. The deal would be finalized on June 9, 1986.

Programs

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Debuting this year

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Date Title Network
January 4 Street Hawk ABC
January 5 Berrenger's NBC
January 7 Time Machine
January 20 MacGruder and Loud ABC
January 23 Sara NBC
ThunderCats Syndication
January 26 Otherworld CBS
January 27 Code Name: Foxfire NBC
March 1 Michael Nesmith in Television Parts NBC
March 3 Moonlighting ABC
March 4 Robotech Syndication
March 15 Mr. Belvedere ABC
Off the Rack
March 18 Safe at Home WTBS
March 21 Eye to Eye ABC
Wildside
March 24 Half Nelson NBC
March 30 CBS Storybreak CBS
April 5 Me and Mom ABC
April 7 National Geographic Explorer Nickelodeon
April 9 Hail to the Chief ABC
April 10 Double Dare CBS
April 15 Lady Blue ABC
April 19 The Best Times NBC
May 6 Dumbo's Circus The Disney Channel
May 11 Saturday Night's Main Event NBC
June 3 Larry King Live CNN
Turkey Television Nickelodeon
June 30 Code of Vengeance NBC
July 4 The Raccoons The Disney Channel
July 14 Stingray NBC
August 13 West 57th CBS
August 22 Hometown
September 2 Attitudes Lifetime
Rocky Road WTBS
September 4 Hell Town NBC
September 7 The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo ABC
Star Wars: Droids
Ewoks
Small Wonder Syndication
What's Happening Now!!
September 14 227 NBC
Adventures of the Gummi Bears
The Golden Girls
It's Punky Brewster
The Berenstain Bears CBS
Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling
Jim Henson's Little Muppet Monsters
The Wuzzles
The Care Bears Syndication
September 16 America
Break the Bank
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors
September 18 Charlie & Co. CBS
The Equalizer
George Burns Comedy Week
Stir Crazy
September 20 Spenser: For Hire ABC
September 21 Hollywood Beat
Lime Street
September 24 Growing Pains
September 25 The Insiders
September 29 MacGyver
Amazing Stories NBC
September 30 M.A.S.K. Syndication
October 4 Misfits of Science NBC
October 6 Jem Syndication
October 20 Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes MTV
November 20 The Colbys ABC
November 21 Shadow Chasers
December 11 Foley Square CBS
Mary

Resuming this year

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Title Final aired Previous network New title Returning network Date of return
The Jetsons 1963 ABC Same WTBS September 16
The Twilight Zone 1964 CBS Same September 27
Making a Living 1982 ABC It's a Living Syndication September 28
Alfred Hitchcock Presents 1965 NBC Same Same September 29

Ending this year

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Date Title Debut
January 21 Insight 1960
February 1 Call to Glory 1984
February 8 The Dukes of Hazzard 1979
February 23 It's Your Move 1984
February 26 Pink Panther and Sons
February 27 E/R
March 19 Alice 1976
March 22 V 1984
April 3 Charles in Charge (returned in 1987)
April 9 Three's a Crowd
April 13 Finder of Lost Loves
April 19 Off the Rack 1985
May 1 Out of Control 1984
May 8 Sara 1985
May 16 Street Hawk
May 22 Double Dare
June 14 Family Feud (returned in 1988) 1976
June 25 The Jeffersons 1975
June 28 Robotech 1985
July 6 Cover Up 1984
July 19 Matt Houston 1982
July 20 Hail to the Chief 1985
August 1 Battle of the Planets 1978
August 10 Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids 1972
September 28 Little Muppet Monsters 1985
October 12 The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show 1983
October 26 Lime Street 1985
November 2 The Littles 1983
November 9 Super Friends 1973
November 16 Snorks (returned in 1987) 1984
November 18 Voltron
November 21 He-Man and the Masters of the Universe 1983
November 23 Hollywood Beat 1985
December 7 The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo
The Wuzzles
Dungeons & Dragons 1983
December 27 Glitter 1984

Entering syndication

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Changing networks

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Show Moved from Moved to
Diff'rent Strokes NBC ABC
The Bugs Bunny Show CBS
The Jetsons ABC Syndication
It's a Living
T.J. Hooker CBS

Made-for-TV movies and miniseries

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Title Network Date of airing
Poison Ivy NBC February 10
Space CBS April 14–18
North and South ABC November 3–10
Alice in Wonderland CBS December 9–10


References

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  1. Kleinfield, N.R. "ABC is being sold for $3.5 billion; 1st network sale." The New York Times, March 19, 1985.
  2. "Capcities + ABC."[permanent dead link] Broadcasting, March 25, 1985, pp. 31-32[permanent dead link].
  3. Atkin, Ross (April 12, 1985). "Indoor soccer quite up-to-date in Kansas City, home of Comets". The Christian Science Monitor.
  4. "Weekend TV Highlights". UPI. May 25, 1985.
  5. Sarni, Jim (May 25, 1985). "BLAST FOR SOCCER FANS: CBS AIRS MISL GAME". South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
  6. "LIVE with Kelly and Michael". Disney-ABC Domestic Television. Archived from the original on February 17, 2015. Retrieved November 21, 2022. "LIVE" originated more than twenty years ago with former host Regis Philbin and WABC's "The Morning Show"; it soon became the number one show in the market. Kathie Lee Gifford joined Philbin in June 1985...{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. Christian Romo (May 29, 2014). "The Top 5 Broadcasting Tech Milestones During Vin Scully's Career". SportTechie.

Other websites

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