| List of years in American television: |
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| 1978–79 United States network television schedule |
| 1979–80 United States network television schedule |
| List of American television programs currently in production |
This is a list of American television-related events of 1979.
Events
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| January 3 | The USA Network is founded. |
| January 10 | The Music for UNICEF Concert is televised from New York City on NBC. |
| February 11 | In the U.S., 43 million viewers watch Elvis, an ABC movie starring Kurt Russell as Elvis Presley, despite being the first Elvis biopic film ever made. |
| February 18 | The Daytona 500 is broadcast live from start to finish, in its entirety for the very first time by CBS. It was won by Richard Petty. |
| March 5 | KSTP-TV in Saint Paul, Minnesota ends its 31-year relationship as the Twin Cities' NBC affiliate and joins ABC in what is called the network's biggest coup yet. NBC, meanwhile, aligns with Metromedia-owned independent station WTCN-TV, while former ABC affiliate KMSP-TV, having failed to procure an NBC affiliation, becomes independent itself.[1][2] |
| March 6 | On NBC, Another World becomes the only soap opera to air regularly scheduled 90-minute telecasts (it would go back to 60-minute episodes in 1980). Meanwhile, on ABC, Family Feud increases its goal to 300 points. |
| March 19 | C-SPAN, an American television channel focusing on government and public affairs, is launched. |
| April 1 | Nickelodeon debuts on cable television, playing children's television shows 24 hours a day. Pinwheel, which first premiered on the channel C-3 in 1977, was one of the first shows to be broadcast on the channel. |
| April 8 | On CBS, the final episode of All in the Family is seen by 40.2 million American viewers (it will relaunch the following season as Archie Bunker's Place). |
| April 20 | The 1,439th and final CBS episode of Match Game 79 airs – however, the show didn't air on April 5, causing the Friday episode from that week to air on April 9. The last 9 aired episodes were culled together from 3 separate taping sessions, leaving 6 unaired until Game Show Network aired them for the first time. Match Game continues for 3 more years in syndicated daytime (sans the omnipresent 2-year designation in the title). |
| April 22 | Friendly Fire, an ABC movie starring Carol Burnett as a mother who wants to know how her son died in Vietnam, airs. |
| April 23 | The Price Is Right, on CBS, moves to 11:00 A.M. EST, the time slot that it holds to this day. |
| May 16 | Kate Jackson makes her final appearance as Sabrina Duncan on Charlie's Angels. |
| May 17 | The Season 5 finale of Barney Miller features the cast stepping out of character to pay tribute to the late Jack Soo, who played detective Nick Yemana. Soo, who died of cancer January 11, 1979, made his final appearance in the series in the season's ninth episode, "The Vandal". |
| June 1 | In Indianapolis, Indiana, NBC affiliate WRTV swaps affiliations with ABC affiliate WTHR, citing a stronger affiliation (at the time, NBC is in last place among the three major networks).[3] |
| July 10 | KSD-TV, NBC affiliate in St. Louis, changes its call sign to KSDK-TV. |
| September 7 | ESPN, an all-sports channel, launches and becomes the first cable TV channel to be launched as a 24-hour channel. |
| September 9 | KNXV-TV goes on the air for the first time as Phoenix's first UHF station, airing with ONTV. It was soon stripped off ONTV in 1983, eventually going first with Fox in 1986, then to ABC via an affiliation agreement with Scripps Howard in 1995. |
| September 12 | On the two-hour season four premiere of Charlie's Angels on ABC, Shelley Hack is introduced as new angel Tiffany Welles, replacing Sabrina Duncan played by Kate Jackson. |
| September 19 | On the two-hour Eight Is Enough season premiere on ABC, both David and Susan Bradford married their respective loves in a double ceremony. |
| October 6 | KTAB-TV in Abilene, Texas begins broadcasting as a CBS affiliate, taking that affiliation from KTXS-TV. KTXS-TV then elevates its secondary ABC affiliation to full-time status, making Abilene one of the last markets in the country to receive full service from the three major networks. |
| November 4 | Jaws is broadcast on television for the first time on ABC. |
| November 25 | Pat Summerall calls his first NFL telecast (Minnesota Vikings–Tampa Bay Buccaneers) with John Madden. |
| December 1 | The Movie Channel, an American premium cable channel, begins broadcasting movies 24/7. The first movie to air was Roman Holiday. |
Programs
Debuting this year
Ending this year
| Date | Show | Debut |
|---|---|---|
| January 12 | The Eddie Capra Mysteries | 1978 |
| January 14 | The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries | 1977 |
| January 16 | Grandpa Goes to Washington | 1978 |
| March 2 | Jeopardy! (returned in 1984) | 1964 |
| March 16 | Makin' It | 1979 |
| March 30 | $weepstake$ | 1979 |
| Turnabout | 1979 | |
| April 8 | All in the Family | 1971 |
| April 20 | Match Game | 1973 |
| April 24 | The Paper Chase (returned in 1983) | 1978 |
| April 28 | What's Happening!! (returned in 1985) | 1976 |
| April 29 | Battlestar Galactica (returned in 1980) | 1978 |
| May 15 | Starsky and Hutch | 1975 |
| June 8 | Welcome Back, Kotter | |
| June 23 | Stockard Channing in Just Friends | 1979 |
| July 6 | The Amazing Spider-Man | 1977 |
| July 11 | Sword of Justice | 1978 |
| July 12 | David Cassidy: Man Undercover | |
| August 1 | Good Times | 1974 |
| September 11 | Wonder Woman | 1976 |
| October 20 | The New Fred and Barney Show | 1979 |
| November 24 | Detective School | |
| December 8 | Godzilla | 1978 |
Made-for-TV movies and miniseries
| Title | Network | Premiere date |
|---|---|---|
| All Quiet on the Western Front | CBS | November 14 |
| Backstairs at the White House | NBC | January 29 |
| Murder by Natural Causes | CBS | February 17 |
| Roots: The Next Generations | ABC | February 18 (7 episodes) |
| Death Car on the Freeway | CBS | September 25 |
| Salem's Lot | CBS | November 17 and 24 |
| Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July | ABC | November 25 |
| The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree | NBC | December 3 |
| The Miracle Worker | NBC | October 14 |
Television stations
Sign-ons
Network affiliation changes
| Date | City of License/Market | Station | Channel | Old affiliation | New affiliation | Notes/Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 5 | Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota | KMSP-TV | ABC | Independent | ||
| KSTP-TV | 5 | NBC | ABC | |||
| WTCN-TV | 11 | Independent | NBC | |||
| June 1 | Indianapolis, Indiana | WRTV-TV | 6 | NBC | ABC | |
| WTHR-TV | 13 | ABC | NBC | |||
| October 6 | Abilene, Texas | KTXS-TV | 12 | CBS (primary) ABC (secondary) |
ABC (exclusive) | |
Births
Deaths
| Date | Name | Age | Notability |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 11 | Jack Soo | 61 | Actor (Nick Yemana on Barney Miller) |
| January 16 | Ted Cassidy | 46 | Actor (Lurch on The Addams Family) |
| January 27 | Dick Wesson | 59 | Actor, announcer (The Wonderful World of Disney) |
| June 2 | Jim Hutton | 45 | Actor (Ellery Queen) |
| June 22 | Hope Summers | 83 | Actress (Clara Edwards on The Andy Griffith Show) |
| July 29 | Bill Todman | 62 | Game show producer (Match Game, What's My Line?) |
| August 17 | Vivian Vance | 70 | Actress (Ethel Mertz on I Love Lucy) |
| November 1 | Mamie Eisenhower | 82 | First Lady of the United States and spouse of President Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| November 30 | Zeppo Marx | 78 | Actor and comedian |
See also
References
- ↑ "ABC-TV bags largest game yet in affiliation hunt: KSTP-TV." Broadcasting, September 4, 1978, pp. 19–20.
- ↑ "In Brief." Broadcasting, October 2, 1978, pg. 30
- ↑ "Television Schedule". Marion Chronicle-Tribune. Marion, IN. May 30, 1979.
External links
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