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List of years in American television: |
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1977–78 United States network television schedule |
1978–79 United States network television schedule |
List of American television programs currently in production |
This is a list of American television-related events in 1978.
Date | Event |
---|---|
January 15 | Super Bowl XII airs on CBS, the first time the NFL's championship event is played and telecast at night. The Dallas Cowboys defeat the Denver Broncos 27-10. |
January 23 | Roots One Year Later, a special examining the impact and influence of the miniseries, airs on ABC. |
January 28 | The Doobie Brothers make a guest appearance on ABC's What's Happening!! |
February 5 | ABC celebrates its silver anniversary with a retrospective special. |
February 28 | Robin Williams makes his first appearance as Mork from Ork on an episode of Happy Days on ABC. The episode proved to be such a success, that it would soon give way to a spin-off starring Williams entitled Mork & Mindy . |
March 7 | Showtime goes nationwide on the air. |
March 22 | The Beatles spoof The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash airs on NBC. |
March 26 – April 1 | CBS commemorates its golden anniversary in radio and TV broadcasting with CBS: On the Air, a 9½-hour retrospective special airing over 7 nights. |
April 16–19 | Holocaust , starring James Woods and Meryl Streep first airs on NBC. |
April 22 | The Blues Brothers make their first appearance on NBC's Saturday Night Live ; the duo of Jake & Elwood Blues (John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd) are introduced in a skit by Paul Shaffer (as Don Kirshner) and performs "Hey Bartender". |
April 26 | Ringo Starr's, Ringo , a musical version of The Prince and the Pauper , airs on NBC, with Starr's fellow former Beatle, George Harrison, providing the narration. |
May 1 | KDOG-TV, Houston's independent station, changes its call sign to KRIV-TV following its purchase by Metromedia. |
June 12 | WHNB-TV, NBC affiliate in New Britain/Hartford/New Haven, Connecticut, changes its name to its current WVIT-TV, shortly after Viacom purchased the station. |
June 26 | WTOP-TV changes its call sign to WDVM-TV. In return the NBC affiliate, WWJ-TV changes its call sign to WDIV-TV. |
July 1 | In Charlotte, North Carolina, NBC affiliate WSOC-TV leaves the network and joins ABC, citing a stronger affiliation (at the time, NBC is in last place among the three major networks, while ABC is in first place). NBC eventually aligns with Ted Turner-owned independent station WRET-TV (now WCNC-TV), tempted by promises Turner made to NBC to make $2.5 million worth of upgrades, including a stronger transmitter and the launch of a news department; former ABC affiliate WCCB becomes an independent station, and eventually a charter affiliate of Fox in 1986. [1] |
July 10 | On ABC, the ABC Evening News is revamped to become ABC World News Tonight , employing a unique three-anchor setup (Frank Reynolds serving as lead anchor from Washington, Max Robinson presenting national news from Chicago, and Peter Jennings with international news from London). |
August 1 | Taking advantage of an oral escape-clause in his contract with ABC, Harry Reasoner returns to CBS, eventually rejoining 60 Minutes , the program he anchored with Mike Wallace from its 1968 premiere until he joined ABC News in 1970. |
September 17 | The ceremony formalizing the success of the peace talks between Israel's Menachem Begin and Egypt's Anwar Sadat—the Camp David accords—is televised live from the White House East Room. |
September 19 | The chairs on which Archie and Edith Bunker sat through 8 seasons of the CBS comedy All in the Family are presented to the Smithsonian Institution. |
September 27 | Replacing Zara Cully and Damon Evans, Jay Hammer joins the cast of the CBS comedy The Jeffersons , for a short period of time. |
October 7 | On NBC's Saturday Night Live , The Rolling Stones become the first and to date, only band to serve as both hosts and musical guests in the same episode. |
October 31 | On NBC, Norma Brown wins $28,800 playing the Money Cards on Card Sharks , the first and only time a contestant has won the maximum amount. |
November 12 | In Fort Smith, Arkansas, KLMN-TV (now Fox affiliate KFTA-TV) signs-on the air and takes CBS programming from KFPW-TV/KTVP. Both KFPW-TV and KTVP subsequently become full-time ABC affiliates, giving Fort Smith in-market affiliates of all three major networks. |
November 17 | The Star Wars Holiday Special airs on CBS. The special gives fans their first glimpse of Boba Fett, a character from the upcoming Star Wars sequel. |
Show | Last aired | Previous network | Retitled as/Same | Returning |
---|---|---|---|---|
High Rollers | 1976 | NBC | Same | April 24 |
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! | 1970 | CBS | September 9 | |
Jeopardy! | 1975 | NBC | The All-New Jeopardy! | October 2 |
Date | Show | Debut |
---|---|---|
March 6 | The Six Million Dollar Man | 1973 |
March 29 | The Carol Burnett Show | 1967 |
March 30 | Police Woman | 1974 |
March 31 | Tattletales | |
April 1 | The Bob Newhart Show | 1972 |
April 7 | Quark | 1977 |
April 28 | C.P.O. Sharkey | 1976 |
April 29 | Maude | 1972 |
Another Day | 1978 | |
May 13 | The Ted Knight Show | |
The Bionic Woman | 1976 | |
Columbo | 1971 | |
May 18 | Baretta | 1975 |
July 21 | Chico and the Man | 1974 |
September 1 | Fred Flintstone and Friends | 1977 |
October 28 | Laff-A-Lympics | |
Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics | ||
November 10 | The American Girls | 1978 |
December 2 | Yogi's Space Race | |
December 4 | Lucan | 1977 |
December 9 | Rhoda | 1974 |
December 16 | The New Fantastic Four | 1978 |
December 23 | The Scooby-Doo Show | 1976 |
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! | 1969 |
Title | Network | Date of airing |
---|---|---|
King | NBC | February 12–14 |
Holocaust | April 16–19 | |
Zuma Beach | September 27 | |
Centennial | October 1–February 4 | |
Donner Pass: The Road to Survival | October 24 | |
The Time Machine | November 5 | |
Someone's Watching Me! | November 29 |
Network | Type | Launch date | Notes | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|
Home Theater Network | Cable television | September 1 | ||
INSP | Cable television | Unknown | ||
WGN-TV | Cable television | November 9 | ||
Operation Prime Time | Cable television | Unknown |
Network | Type | Conversion date | Source | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Hughes Television Network | Paramount Television Service | April | ||
Paramount Television Service | Hughes Television Network | Unknown |
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. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
July 1 | Charlotte, North Carolina | WCCB | 18 | ABC | Independent | |
WRET-TV | 36 | Independent | NBC | |||
WSOC-TV | 9 | NBC | ABC |
Date | City of license/Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation | Sign-on date | Notes/Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
April 9 | Greenfield, Massachusetts | WRLP | 32 | NBC | June 29, 1957 | |
August 15 | Warrensburg/Sedalia, Missouri (Columbia/Jefferson City) | KMOS-TV | 6 | CBS | July 8, 1954 (as an independent station) | Returned to the air December 22, 1979 as a PBS member station |
Date | Name | Age | Notability |
---|---|---|---|
February 28 | Zara Cully | 86 | Actress (Mother Olivia Jefferson on The Jeffersons ) |
March 18 | Peggy Wood | 86 | Actress ( One Life to Live ) |
April 22 | Will Geer | 76 | Actor (Grandpa Walton on The Waltons ) |
May 21 | Bruce Geller | 47 | Screenwriter, producer ( Mannix ) |
June 29 | Bob Crane | 49 | Actor (Col. Hogan on Hogan's Heroes ) |
July 3 | James Daly | 59 | Actor (Dr. Paul Lochner on Medical Center ) |
September 7 | Keith Moon | 32 | English drummer (The Who) |
David Janssen was an American film and television actor who is best known for his starring role as Richard Kimble in the television series The Fugitive (1963–1967). Janssen also had the title roles in three other series: Richard Diamond, Private Detective; O'Hara, U.S. Treasury; and Harry O.
A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a cinema, newsreels were a source of current affairs, information, and entertainment for millions of moviegoers. Newsreels were typically exhibited preceding a feature film, but there were also dedicated newsreel theaters in many major cities in the 1930s and ’40s, and some large city cinemas also included a smaller theaterette where newsreels were screened continuously throughout the day.
The year 1978 in film involved some significant events.
The Eurovision Song Contest 1978 was the 23rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Paris, France, following the country's victory at the 1977 contest with the song "L'Oiseau et l'Enfant" by Marie Myriam. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Télévision Française 1 (TF1), the contest was held at the Palais des Congrès on 22 April 1978 and was directed by Bernard Lion. The contest was presented by French television presenters Denise Fabre and Léon Zitrone. This was the first time that more than one presenter had hosted the contest as well as the first to have a male presenter since 1956.
Orion Releasing, LLC is an American film production and distribution company owned by the Amazon MGM Studios subsidiary of Amazon. In its original operating period, the company produced and released films from 1978 until 1999 and was also involved in television production and syndication throughout the 1980s until the early 1990s. It was formed in 1978 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and three former senior executives at United Artists. From its founding until its buyout by MGM in the late 1990s, Orion was considered one of the largest mini-major studios.
Maude is an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS network from September 12, 1972, until April 22, 1978. The show was the first spin-off of All in the Family, on which Bea Arthur had made two appearances as Maude Findlay, Edith Bunker's favorite cousin. Like All in the Family, Maude was a sitcom with topical storylines created by producers Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin.
Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov is a Latvian-American dancer, choreographer, and actor. He was the preeminent male classical ballet dancer of the 1970s and 1980s. He subsequently became a noted dance director.
Jonathan Tunick is an American orchestrator, musical director, and composer, and one of nineteen of the "EGOT" – people to have won all four major American show business awards: the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. He is best known for orchestrating the works of Stephen Sondheim, their collaboration starting in 1970 with Company and continuing until Sondheim's death in 2021.
Louis Cameron Gossett Jr. was an American actor. He made his stage debut at the age of 17. Shortly thereafter, he successfully auditioned for the Broadway play Take a Giant Step. Gossett continued acting onstage in critically acclaimed plays including A Raisin in the Sun (1959), The Blacks (1961), Tambourines to Glory (1963), and The Zulu and the Zayda (1965). In 1977, Gossett appeared in the popular miniseries Roots, for which he won Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Appearance in a Drama or Comedy Series at the Emmy Awards.
Frank Wilton Marshall is an American film producer and director. He often collaborates with his wife, film producer Kathleen Kennedy, with whom he founded the production company Amblin Entertainment, along with Steven Spielberg. In 1991, he founded, with Kennedy, The Kennedy/Marshall Company, a film production company. Since May 2012, with Kennedy taking on the role of President of Lucasfilm, Marshall has been Kennedy/Marshall's sole principal.
Martin Eugene Mull was an American comic actor whose career included contributions as a musician and painter. He became known on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, its spin-off Fernwood 2 Night, and America 2 Night. Other notable roles included Colonel Mustard in the 1985 film Clue, Leon Carp on Roseanne, Willard Kraft on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Vlad Masters / Vlad Plasmius on Danny Phantom, and Gene Parmesan on Arrested Development. He had a recurring role on Two and a Half Men as Russell, a drug-using, humorous pharmacist.
Keith Ian Carradine is an American actor. In film he is known for his roles as Tom Frank in Robert Altman's Nashville, E. J. Bellocq in Louis Malle's Pretty Baby, and Mickey in Alan Rudolph's Choose Me. On television he is known for his roles as Wild Bill Hickok on the HBO series Deadwood, FBI agent Frank Lundy on the Showtime series Dexter, Lou Solverson in the first season of FX's Fargo, Penny's father Wyatt on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, and U.S. President Conrad Dalton on the CBS political drama Madam Secretary.
Veronica Cartwright is a British-born American actress. She is known for appearing in science fiction and horror films, and has earned numerous accolades, including three Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Her younger sister is actress Angela Cartwright.
Jonathan Ray Banks is an American actor. His breakthrough came with the role of FBI Special Agent Frank McPike in the television series Wiseguy (1987–1990). For his role, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. Banks gained renewed recognition for his role as hitman and fixer Mike Ehrmantraut in the television series Breaking Bad (2009–2013). He reprised the role as a lead character in the spin-off series Better Call Saul (2015–2022) and its sequel film, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019). For playing Ehrmantraut, he received five nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
A LED display is a flat panel display that uses an array of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as pixels for a video display. Their brightness allows them to be used outdoors where they are visible in the sun for store signs and billboards. In recent years, they have also become commonly used in destination signs on public transport vehicles, as well as variable-message signs on highways. LED displays are capable of providing general illumination in addition to visual display, as when used for stage lighting or other decorative purposes. LED displays can offer higher contrast ratios than a projector and are thus an alternative to traditional projection screens, and they can be used for large, uninterrupted video walls. microLED displays are LED displays with smaller LEDs, which poses significant development challenges.
Anthony Stewart Head is an English actor and singer. Primarily a performer in musical theatre, he rose to fame in the UK in the 1980s following his role in the Gold Blend couple television advertisements for Nescafé, which led to major roles in several television series. He is best known for his roles as Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003), the Prime Minister in Little Britain (2003–2006), Uther Pendragon in Merlin (2008–2012), and Rupert Mannion in Ted Lasso (2020–2023), as well as voicing Herc Shipwright in BBC Radio 4's Cabin Pressure.