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List of years in American television: |
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1976–77 United States network television schedule |
1977–78 United States network television schedule |
List of American television programs currently in production |
This is a list of American television-related events in 1977.
Date | Event |
---|---|
January 3 | Holly Hallstrom becomes the third model on the CBS game show The Price Is Right along with Janice Pennington and Dian Parkinson. This lineup would remain unchanged for the next thirteen years until Kathleen Bradley joined in 1990. |
January 15 | Bill Murray joins the cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live , replacing Chevy Chase who left the previous year. |
January 30 | The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries , based on The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew book series, premieres on ABC; Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy star as Frank and Joe Hardy, and Pamela Sue Martin stars as Nancy Drew. The series at first alternated between the two characters, with The Brady Bunch Hour airing sporadically. |
February 4 | American Bandstand celebrates its 25th anniversary on television with a special hosted by Dick Clark and telecast by ABC. An "all-star band" made up of Chuck Berry, Seals & Crofts, Gregg Allman, Junior Walker, Johnny Rivers, the Pointer Sisters, Charlie Daniels, Doc Severinsen, Les McCann, Donald Byrd, Chuck Mangione and three members of Booker T and the MGs perform "Roll Over Beethoven." |
February 27 | Fed up with excessive violence and distorted images of sex on TV, the Reverend Donald Wildmon declares "Turn the Television Off Week." He is largely ignored. |
March 1 | The CBS game show Match Game is named the #1 rated game show on television for the fifth year in a row. |
March 4 | Freddie Prinze makes his final appearance on the NBC sitcom Chico and the Man . Prinze had actually taped the episode in question a mere hours before he fatally shot himself on January 28, 1977. |
March 7 | Second Chance , the forerunner to Press Your Luck , premieres on ABC. |
March 11 | Sesame Street broadcasts its 1,000th episode. |
March 15 | Renata Scotto and Luciano Pavarotti are seen in "La bohème" on PBS and heard in stereo on local (mostly NPR) stations in the first live "simulcast" from the Met. |
March 19 | The series finale of The Mary Tyler Moore Show is broadcast on CBS. |
March 27 | In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, ABC affiliate WITI and CBS affiliate WISN-TV swap affiliations, reversing a swap that took place in 1961. [1] [2] |
March 30 | Esther Rolle departs the CBS sitcom Good Times shortly after the conclusion of the two-part fourth-season finale, "Love Has a Spot On Its Lung." due to the dismissal of John Amos (who portrayed her on-screen husband James Evans) and the stereotypical behavior of its de facto star Jimmie Walker (who portrayed her son J.J. Evans). Rolle does not return until the sixth and final season in September 1978. |
April 22 | Cleveland's CBS station WJW-TV changes its name to WJKW-TV. |
June 6 | Lisa Peluso makes her first appearance on the CBS soap opera Search for Tomorrow as Wendy Wilkins, a role she would play until December 1985. |
June 27 | In San Diego, California, ABC, angered over the forced loss of their affiliation from XETV in nearby Tijuana, Mexico in 1973, moves from the station which forced the change, KCST-TV, to NBC affiliate KGTV. KCST-TV assumes KGTV's former NBC affiliation and is now KNSD, an NBC O&O. |
August 14 | NBC affiliate WRDU-TV changes its call sign to WPTF-TV, following Durham Life's purchase of the station. |
August 16 | Television stations nationwide interrupt regular programming following news of the death of Elvis Presley. As a result, Elvis in Concert airs on CBS on October 3 that year to bad reviews. |
September 5 | In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, ABC affiliate WRBT (now WVLA-TV) and NBC affiliate WBRZ-TV swap affiliations. WBRZ-TV makes its move in search for stronger programming (ABC is, at the time, the nation's #1 rated television network, while NBC is in last place). The move is a precursor to similar events that will take place in the course of the next few years. |
September 14 | A tube top-clad woman named Yolanda Bowsley is called into Contestants' Row on the CBS game show The Price Is Right , and while running down her breasts pop out of her shirt. The incident was censored with a large blue bar but it is still remembered today. |
Cheryl Ladd is introduced as Kris Munroe, the younger sister of former Angel Jill Munroe (Farrah Fawcett-Majors) in the second season premiere of Charlie's Angels . | |
September 20 | The third part of the three-part fifth season premiere of Happy Days airs on ABC. The episode is highlighted by a scene in which Fonzie literally jumps over a shark while on water-skis. |
September 21 | Eleven-year old Janet Jackson joins the cast of the CBS sitcom Good Times for its final two seasons as Penny Gordon, an upstairs neighbor who is abused by her biological mother (Chip Fields), later adopted by Willona (Ja'Net DuBois), in the four-part season opener "The Evans Get Involved". Comedian Johnny Brown, who recurred as the building superintendent Bookman from Seasons 2 to 4, also joins the main cast. |
September 24 | Marla Gibbs joins the cast of the CBS sitcom The Jeffersons as a series regular in the fourth season as fan-favorite Florence Johnston. Zara Cully, who portrayed Mother Jefferson, appears in only three episodes that season, prior to her death at age 86 in February 1978. |
October 23 | CBS affiliates WTEN in Albany, New York and WCDC in Adams, Massachusetts swap affiliations with ABC affiliate WAST after WTEN/WCDC's incoming owners Knight-Ridder sign an affiliation deal for the station with ABC. |
October 24 | A new Peanuts special, It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown , airs on CBS. It shows and names "Heather", the Little Red-Haired Girl, thereupon ending the 'mystery'. |
November 6 | KTVZ in Bend, Oregon signs-on as an NBC affiliate. Bend is technically still part of the Portland DMA at the time, but in 1981, it becomes its own television market. |
November 30 | CBS commentator Eric Sevareid bade farewell in his final two-minute segment on The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite , after 48 years at CBS News. |
December 2 | Billy Crystal sets a winner's circle record by getting the contestant to the top of the pyramid in 26 seconds on ABC's The $20,000 Pyramid . The record still stands today. |
December 11 | In Huntsville, Alabama, NBC affiliate WAAY-TV swaps affiliations with ABC affiliate WYUR in search for stronger programming (at the time, NBC is in last place among the three major networks, and ABC is in first place). |
December 17 | Miskel Spillman, guest hosts an episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live . Spillman, who is at the time, an 80-year-old German immigrant and grandmother from New Orleans, won the only "Anyone Can Host" contest. She is to date, the only non-celebrity to host an episode of SNL. She was also, the oldest host in SNL's history until 88-year-old Betty White hosted on May 8, 2010. It is also in this episode that musical guest Elvis Costello halted his band the Attractions seven seconds into their scheduled performance of the song "Less Than Zero" in favor of "Radio Radio", which was a then unreleased song that was critical of mainstream broadcasting. |
Title | Final aired | Previous network | New title | Returning network | Date of return |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Mickey Mouse Club | 1959 | ABC | The New Mickey Mouse Club | Syndication | January 17 |
Date | Title | Debut |
---|---|---|
January 7 | New Howdy Doody Show | 1976 |
January 26 | The Practice | |
March 3 | The McLean Stevenson Show | |
March 13 | Phyllis | 1975 |
March 18 | Sanford and Son | 1972 |
March 19 | The Mary Tyler Moore Show | 1970 |
March 30 | The Streets of San Francisco | 1972 |
April 13 | Sirota's Court | 1976 |
April 15 | The Electric Company | 1971 |
April 17 | McCloud | 1970 |
April 24 | McMillan & Wife | 1971 |
April 27 | Loves Me, Loves Me Not | 1977 |
May 16 | The Andros Targets | |
May 27 | Hunter | |
July 30 | The Feather and Father Gang | 1976 |
August 24 | Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected | 1977 |
August 31 | The Kallikaks | |
September 1 | Comedy Time | |
September 2 | Let's Make a Deal | 1971 |
October 4 | The Richard Pryor Show | 1977 |
October 14 | Sanford Arms | |
November 16 | Busting Loose | |
November 30 | The Oregon Trail | |
December 3 | Emergency! | 1972 |
December 13 | Mulligan's Stew | 1977 |
December 19 | The San Pedro Beach Bums | |
December 30 | Storybook Squares | 1969 |
Show | Moved from | Moved to |
---|---|---|
The Bionic Woman | ABC | NBC |
Wonder Woman | CBS | |
The Tony Randall Show | ||
Tattletales | CBS | Syndication |
The Mickey Mouse Club | ABC | Syndication |
Debut | Name | Network |
---|---|---|
May 13 | The San Pedro Bums | ABC |
October 10 [3] | Killer on Board | NBC |
November 10 | The Incredible Hulk | CBS |
November 23 | The Last of the Mohicans | NBC |
November 26 | The Hobbit | NBC |
December 11 | It Happened One Christmas | ABC |
Debut | Name | Network |
---|---|---|
January 23 | Roots | ABC |
April 3 | Jesus of Nazareth | NBC |
Network | Type | Launch date | Notes | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|
CBN Satellite Channel | Satellite television | April 29 | ||
Tri-State Christian Television | Cable television | May 20 | ||
Madison Square Garden Sports Network | Cable television | September 22 | ||
There are no conversions and rebrandings for Cable and satellite television channels in this year.
There are no closures for Cable and satellite television channels in this year.
Date | City of License/Market | Station | Channel | Old affiliation | New affiliation | Notes/Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
March 27 | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | WISN-TV | 12 | CBS | ABC | |
WITI | 6 | ABC | CBS | |||
June 27 | San Diego, California | KCST-TV | 39 | ABC | NBC | These affiliation changes were part of ABC's retaliation for KCST-TV previously forcing the ABC affiliation to move to that station from XETV in nearby Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, four years earlier. |
KGTV | 10 | NBC | ABC | |||
September 5 | Baton Rouge, Louisiana | WBRZ-TV | 2 | NBC | ABC | |
WRBT | 33 | ABC | NBC | |||
October 23 | Adams, Massachusetts | WCDC-TV | 19 | ABC | CBS | WCDC-TV is a satellite of WTEN/Albany, New York |
Albany, New York | WTEN | 10 | ||||
December 11 | Huntsville, Alabama | WAAY-TV | 31 | NBC | ABC | |
WYUR | 48 | ABC | NBC | |||
Date | City of License/Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation | Notes/Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
May 4 | Fort Dodge, Iowa | KVFD-TV | 21 | NBC | November 23, 1953 |
Date | Name | Age | Notability |
---|---|---|---|
January 28 | Burt Mustin | 92 | Actor ( Leave It to Beaver ) |
January 29 | Freddie Prinze | 22 | Actor and comedian ( Chico and the Man ) |
February 28 | Eddie "Rochester" Anderson | 71 | Comedian ( The Jack Benny Program ) |
March 27 | Diana Hyland | 41 | Actress ( The Fugitive , Peyton Place ) |
April 21 | Gummo Marx | 84 | Actor |
June 13 | Matthew Garber | 21 | English actor ( Mary Poppins ) |
June 14 | Alan Reed | 69 | Actor (original voice of Fred Flintstone on The Flintstones ) |
August 16 | Elvis Presley | 42 | Singer and actor ( The Ed Sullivan Show ) |
August 17 | Quincy Howe | 76 | Journalist and presidential debate moderator |
August 19 | Groucho Marx | 86 | Comedian, television host ( You Bet Your Life ) |
August 22 | Sebastian Cabot | 59 | Actor ( Family Affair ) |
August 29 | Jean Hagen | 54 | Actress ( Make Room for Daddy ) |
October 14 | Bing Crosby | 74 | Singer, actor, TV producer ( Hogan's Heroes ) |
The year 1975 involved some significant events in television. Below is a list of television-related events which happened that year.
This is a list of American television-related events of 1979.
Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas was an American actor. Noted for his bald head and deep, resonant voice, he is perhaps best known for portraying Lt. Theo Kojak on the crime drama series Kojak (1973–1978) and James Bond archvillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the film On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).
Metromedia was an American media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and controlled Orion Pictures from 1988 to 1997. Metromedia was established in 1956 after the DuMont Television Network ceased operations and its owned-and-operated stations were spun off into a separate company. Metromedia sold its television stations to News Corporation in 1985, and spun off its radio stations into a separate company in 1986. Metromedia then acquired ownership stakes in various film studios, including controlling ownership in Orion. In 1997, Metromedia closed down and sold its media assets to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Michael Vincenzo Gazzo was an American playwright who later in life became a movie and television actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in The Godfather Part II (1974).
Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) is the primary television, radio and digital public broadcasting network for most of the U.S. state of Oregon as well as southern Washington. OPB consists of five full-power television stations, dozens of VHF or UHF translators, and over 20 radio stations and frequencies. Broadcasts include local and regional programming as well as television programs from the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and American Public Television (APT), and radio programs from National Public Radio (NPR), American Public Media (APM), Public Radio Exchange (PRX), and the BBC World Service, among other distributors. Its headquarters and television studios are located in Portland.
KING-TV is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Everett-licensed independent station KONG. The two stations share studios at the Home Plate Center in the SoDo district of Seattle; KING-TV's transmitter is located in the city's Queen Anne neighborhood.
Kojak is an American action crime drama television series starring Telly Savalas as the title character, New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant Theophilus "Theo" Kojak. Taking the time slot of the popular Cannon series, it aired on CBS from 1973 to 1978.
Tribune Broadcasting Company, LLC was an American media company which operated as a subsidiary of Tribune Media, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. The group owned and operated television and radio stations throughout the United States, as well as full- or partial-ownership of cable television and national digital subchannel networks.
NewsNation is an American subscription television network owned by the Nexstar Media Group, and is the company's only wholly owned, national cable-originated television channel. The channel runs a straight-news format for 24 hours on weekdays and eight hours on weekends, as well as entertainment programming taking up almost the entire weekend schedule. Known for most of its history as Superstation WGN before becoming WGN America in 2008, it relaunched on March 1, 2021, as a cable news network named after its flagship news program. The channel's relaunch came as part of a planned expansion of its news programming.
The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndication.
The Godfather Saga[a] is a 1977 American television miniseries that combines The Godfather and The Godfather Part II into one film. It originally aired on NBC over four consecutive nights in November 1977.
Metromedia Square was a radio and television studio facility located at 5746 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California on the southeastern corner of Sunset and Van Ness Avenue in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. For decades, it was recognizable by the white, ladder-like snake on the building's roof. This work of art was called "Starsteps" and was dismantled when ownership of the building changed hands in 2000. It was one of the Los Angeles landmarks that had previous landmark status in the late 20th century.
Spelling-Goldberg Productions was an American television production company established on May 1, 1972 by Aaron Spelling and Screen Gems' top TV executive Leonard Goldberg. They produced series during the 1970s like Family, Starsky & Hutch, T. J. Hooker, S.W.A.T., Charlie's Angels, Fantasy Island, and Hart to Hart. Spelling's other companies, Aaron Spelling Productions and Thomas-Spelling Productions, co-existed at the same time period and produced other well-known shows. A majority of the series produced by Spelling-Goldberg originally aired on ABC.
WBNB-TV was a television station in Charlotte Amalie, on the island of Saint Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands. The station operated from 1961 until 1989 and was a primary affiliate of CBS.
Paul Stanley was an American television director.
TV4 Guld is a Swedish television channel devoted to "classic" programmes such as older television dramas.
Multichannel television in the United States has been available since at least 1948. The United States is served by multichannel television through cable television systems, direct-broadcast satellite providers, and various other wireline video providers; among the largest television providers in the U.S. are YouTube TV, DirecTV, Altice USA, Charter Communications, Comcast, Dish Network, Verizon Communications, and Cox Communications. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 defines a multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) as "a person such as, but not limited to, a cable operator, a multichannel multipoint distribution service, a direct broadcast satellite service, or a television receive-only satellite program distributor, who makes available for purchase, by subscribers or customers, multiple channels of video programming", where a channel is defined as a "signaling path provided by a cable television system."
Currently, there are two primary satellite television providers of subscription based service available to United States consumers: DirecTV and Dish Network, which have 21 and 10 million subscribers respectively.
Family Broadcasting Corporation, formerly known as LeSEA Broadcasting, is an American Christian television network. Founded by Lester Sumrall in 1972, Family Broadcasting Corporation is headquartered in South Bend, Indiana, and broadcasts Christian and family programming. Peter Sumrall, son of Lester Sumrall, served as its president and chief executive officer from 2002 to 2015. His son, Drew Sumrall, now serves in the same position.