1980 in American television

The year 1980 involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events in the United States.

Events

Date	Event
January 1	In Dayton, Ohio, the decade begins with an affiliation swap between NBC affiliate WDTN and ABC affiliate WKEF-TV; the swap is reversed in 2004.
January 25	Black Entertainment Television launches in the United States as a block of programming on the USA Network; it won't be until 1983 that BET becomes a full-fledged channel.
February 1	After 29 years on the air, the soap opera Love of Life airs its 7,316th and last episode on CBS.
February 3	Bob Hope's Overseas Christmas Tours, a two-part six-hour retrospective of Bob Hope's more than 30 years of entertaining at military bases and hospitals in the U.S. and abroad, airs on NBC.
February 4	On CBS, The Young and the Restless airs its first one-hour long episode.
February 8	Eric Braeden makes his first appearance as Victor Newman on The Young and the Restless .
February 11	CBS broadcasts a very special episode of the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati about the real life deadly gate-rushing incident that occurred at Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati on December 3, 1979 prior to a performance by The Who.
February 14	On CBS, Walter Cronkite announces his retirement from the CBS Evening News , which takes effect in March 1981.
February 22	ABC Sports announcer Al Michaels delivers his now immortal line "Do you believe in miracles?! Yes!" in the closing moments of the Winter Olympic medal-round men's ice hockey game between the United States team and the heavily favored Soviet team.
February 24	Polly Holliday makes her final appearance as Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry on Alice . Holliday would continue playing Flo in the character's own spin-off, which aired on CBS for two seasons.
March 16	The first regularly scheduled use of closed captioning on American network television occurs on ABC, with captions of spoken dialogue added to programming received through a decoding unit attached to a standard TV set. [1] The first broadcast to use it was the 1977 movie Semi-Tough.
March 21	On the season finale of Dallas on CBS, J. R. Ewing is shot by an unseen assailant, leading to the catchphrase "Who shot J.R.?".
March 24	The late night ABC News program The Iran Crisis–America Held Hostage is officially rechristened as Nightline .
March 24	WCGV-TV signs on the air as an independent station in Milwaukee. It went on to affiliate first with Fox in 1987, then to UPN in 1995 and finally MyNetworkTV in 2006. It was shut down in 2018.
March 31	In Jacksonville, Florida, NBC affiliate WTLV, in search of stronger programming, swaps affiliations with ABC affiliate WJKS. The swap will be reversed in 1988.
April 5	Hawaii Five-O airs its series finale on CBS.
April 7	The Oldest Living Graduate , a live drama on NBC, is broadcast; the first such program on the network since 1962. The production is aired from Southern Methodist University and stars Henry Fonda, George Grizzard, and Cloris Leachman.
April 9	The Madison Square Garden Sports Network is officially rechristened as the USA Network.
April 11	WMDT in Salisbury, Maryland signs on, giving the Delmarva Peninsula market its first full-time ABC affiliate. It also takes WBOC-TV's secondary NBC affiliation, leaving WBOC-TV as a full-time CBS affiliate.
April 19	Actor Strother Martin guest hosts an episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live in what turns out to be his final television appearance prior to his death on August 1, 1980.
April 29	The NFL draft is televised for the first time on ESPN.
May 6	Ron Howard (Richie Cunningham) and Donny Most (Ralph Malph) leave the cast of ABC's Happy Days as regulars, following the episode "Ralph's Family Problem". When Happy Days returns in the fall, Henry Winkler (The Fonz) is given top billing in the opening credits.
May 10	Al Franken delivers his "A Limo for a Lame-O" commentary on Saturday Night Live . During the Weekend Update segment, Franken attacked network president Fred Silverman for NBC's poor showing in the Nielsen ratings during his tenure.
May 11	The Return of the King , an animated adaptation of the third and final volume of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, airs on ABC after a legal challenge filed by the Tolkien Estate and Fantasy Films was settled. [2]
May 24	NBC airs The Not Ready For Prime Time Players' final episode on Saturday Night Live , after five seasons.
	CBS broadcasts Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals [3] between the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Islanders. [4] [5] The Saturday afternoon game is the first full American network telecast of an NHL game since Game 5 of the 1975 Stanley Cup Finals aired on NBC, and the last NHL game on American network television until NBC televises the 1990 All-Star Game. [6] [7]
June 1	The Cable News Network (CNN) begins broadcasting.
June 20	Hollywood Squares presents its 3,536th and final network telecast on NBC, ending a 14-year daytime run; it remains the second-longest-running daytime game show in the network's history, behind the original 1958–73 run of Concentration . Two other NBC game shows, High Rollers and Chain Reaction , end their runs on this date as well.
	Vanna White makes her first appearance on a game show via The Price Is Right , in which she was among the first four contestants. [8] [9] She did not make it onstage, but the clip of her running to Contestants' Row was rebroadcast as part of The Price Is Right 25th Anniversary Special in August 1996 [10] and also was featured on the special broadcast Game Show Moments Gone Bananas.
June 23	The David Letterman Show debuts on NBC. Letterman's humor does not go over well with a morning audience, and the show is canceled in October. Letterman would stay at NBC and go on to host a late night show on the network two years later.
June 30	The ABC game show Family Feud moves from airing at 11:30 am ET to 12:00 noon. It is one of the few network daytime shows to survive at noon, a time slot where many stations preempt network fare for local news broadcasts.
July 21	At 2:00 am EST, the actors unions SAG and AFTRA launch a three-month strike against television and movie studios; they would be joined by musicians' union AFM a few days after. The primary reason was for residuals in new home media outlets, such as videocassettes, and in emerging cable television. The strike is the first time both unions went on strike at the same time, greatly delaying US networks' fall seasons by several weeks.
August 1	Ending a failed experiment, the NBC soap opera Another World airs its last regularly scheduled ninety-minute episode. The show returns to sixty minutes on August 4, allowing room for a spin-off, Texas , based around Beverlee Mckinsey's Another World character, Iris Cory Carrington.
	The 24/7 cable movie network Cinemax launches.
August 28	Joan Lunden makes her debut as co-host of ABC's Good Morning America alongside David Hartman. Lunden, who was succeeding Sandy Hill, would remain on the program through 1997.
September 1	In Atlanta, Georgia, long-time NBC affiliate WSB-TV swaps affiliations with ABC affiliate WXIA-TV, citing a stronger affiliation (at the time, NBC is in last place among the three major networks). Over the summer, in preparation for the switch, both stations had conducted an experiment unusual for a market Atlanta's size: WXIA-TV aired NBC's daytime programs in the morning and ABC's afternoon programs, and vice versa for WSB-TV.
September 7	The Primetime Emmy Awards air on NBC. In a show of support for the ongoing strike by SAG, AFTRA, and AFM, 51 of the 52 nominated performers boycotted the event. [11] Powers Boothe was the only nominated actor to attend.
September 15–19	The five–part historical drama miniseries Shōgun is broadcast on NBC.
September 21	SAG and AFTRA come to a tentative agreement with studios to end the actors strike. Voting on the agreement within both unions took place throughout the next few weeks, being ratified by October 23. [12]
September 28	The PBS documentary Cosmos , hosted by legendary astronomer Carl Sagan, premieres. It deals with scientific topics like biology, chemistry, and linguistics, but primarily focuses on astronomy, Sagan's field of study.
October 4	Bob Costas [13] [14] makes his debut calling Major League Baseball games for NBC. It was a backup game (the primary game involved the Philadelphia Phillies and Montreal Expos) involving the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers from Yankee Stadium.
October 20	Piedmont Triad independent station WGNN-TV changes its name to WJTM-TV following its purchase by TVX Broadcast Group, to avoid confusion with WGN-TV.
October 26	KOKI-TV signs on the air as an independent station in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
October 28	Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter participate in their sole presidential debate. It was the most watched presidential debate until 2016.
November 2	The CBS comedy Archie Bunker's Place begins its season with the episode "Archie Alone", in which Archie Bunker grieves over the death of wife Edith (prompted by Jean Stapleton's departure from the series). Carroll O'Connor's performance in this episode earns him a Peabody Award.
November 15	Saturday Night Live premiers its sixth season on NBC with a new cast and new writers under the reins of Lorne Michaels' replacement Jean Doumanian, to widespread negative reviews.
November 18	Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters (Barbara, Louise and Irlene Mandrell) makes its debut on NBC, with a special guest appearance by Dolly Parton. The show was the last variety show on network TV with over 40 million viewers.
	The start of Season 6 of the ABC sitcom Laverne & Shirley sees the titular characters relocating from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Burbank, California after losing their brewery jobs.
	Suzanne Somers makes her final "full" appearance in an episode of the ABC sitcom Three's Company . Her remaining seven appearances would be cameos in the episode's closing tag in which Chrissy would call from her parents' home in Fresno to speak with Jack or Janet, who would sometimes fill Chrissy in on what happened in the episode.
November 19	CBS bans a controversial Brooke Shields Calvin Klein Jeans ad because, according to CBS, the commercial was ‘too suggestive.’ The ad featured the 15-year-old Shields saying: ‘You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing.’
	Nancy McKeon makes her debut as Jo Polniaczek in the Season 2 premiere of The Facts of Life on NBC.
November 20	Donna Mills makes her first appearance as the villainous Abby Cunningham on the CBS prime time soap opera Knots Landing .
November 21	The mystery of "Who Shot J.R.?" is solved on Dallas ; the revelation that Sue Ellen Ewing's sister Kristin Shepard (played by Mary Crosby) was responsible draws a record number of viewers.
November 22	Eddie Murphy made his first Saturday Night Live appearance, appearing in a non-speaking role in the sketch "In Search Of The Negro Republican".
	WPDE-TV in Florence, South Carolina signs on, giving the Pee Dee market its first full-time ABC affiliate.
November 30	Tanya Roberts joins the cast of Charlie's Angels (replacing the departed Shelley Hack) for what would be its final season.
December 8	On ABC, Howard Cosell announces the murder of former Beatle John Lennon in the closing seconds of a Monday Night Football game between the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots. NBC also reports the murder of Lennon, interrupting The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for a news bulletin.
December 20	NBC Sports broadcasts the New York Jets 24–17 season-ending victory over the Miami Dolphins without announcers, the only time that has ever been done with an NFL game.
December 24	WVGA in Valdosta, Georgia signs-on the air and targets the neighboring Albany market, giving that market its first full-time ABC affiliate.
December 30	After 26 years on the air, 20 of which were on NBC, the network announces that the long-running anthology Disney's Wonderful World will not be on its fall 1981 schedule; however, the show will be picked up by CBS.

Programs

Debuting this year

Date	Show	Network
January 6	Skag	NBC
January 14	3-2-1 Contact	PBS
	Chain Reaction	NBC
January 22	Goodtime Girls	ABC
January 27	Galactica 1980	ABC
February 5	Mystery!	PBS
March 1	Pink Lady	NBC
March 3	That's Incredible!	ABC
March 4	The Big Show	NBC
March 5	Beyond Westworld	CBS
March 11	United States	NBC
March 15	Sanford
March 22	Me and Maxx
	The Tim Conway Show	CBS
March 24	Flo
	The Stockard Channing Show
April 10	Top Rank Boxing	ESPN
April 11	Fridays	ABC
May 5	America's Top 10	Syndication
June 1	Moneyline	WTBS/CNN
	TBS Evening News
June 26	Nobody's Perfect	ABC
August 4	Texas	NBC
August 9	That's My Line	CBS
August 21	Games People Play	NBC
September 6	Livewire	Nickelodeon
	The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show	CBS
September 13	The Lone Ranger	ABC
	Solid Gold	Syndication
September 28	Cosmos	PBS
October 4	Heathcliff	ABC
	Thundarr the Barbarian
October 27	Blockbusters	NBC
	Gambit
	Ladies' Man	CBS
October 30	It's a Living	ABC
October 31	I'm a Big Girl Now
November 8	Richie Rich
	Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo
November 11	Too Close for Comfort
November 12	Enos	CBS
November 18	Barbara Mandrell & the Mandrell Sisters	NBC
November 27	Bosom Buddies	ABC
November 29	Breaking Away
December 6	Freebie and the Bean	CBS
	Secrets of Midland Heights
December 10	Number 96
December 11	Magnum, P.I.

Ending this year

Date	Show	Debut
January 3	Spider-Woman	1979
January 5	A New Kind of Family
	Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo
January 10	The Rockford Files	1974
February 1	Love of Life	1951
February 29	Make Me Laugh (returned in 1997)	1958
March 26	The Ultraman	1979
April 5	Hawaii Five-O	1968
April 30	Hello, Larry	1979
June 20	Chain Reaction (returned in 1986)	1980
	High Rollers (returned in 1987)	1974
June 25	Family	1976
June 27	Pyramid (returned in 1981)	1973
August 28	Nobody's Perfect	1980
September 4	Barnaby Jones	1973
October 23	Angie	1979
	Armchair Thriller	1978
	Dinah!	1974
	Magpie	1968

Made-for-TV movies and miniseries

Premiere date	Title	Network
April 15-16	Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones	CBS
May 11	The Return of the King	ABC
May 19	The Scarlett O'Hara War	NBC
September 15	Shogun (miniseries)
October 31	The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Networks and services

Launches

Network	Type	Launch date	Notes	Source
CNN	Cable television	June 1
Cinemax	Cable television	August 1
ACSN - The Learning Channel	Cable television	October
Bravo	Cable and satellite	December 8
Kraft Golden Showcase Network	Cable and satellite	Unknown

Conversions and rebrandings

Old network	New network	Type	Conversion date	Notes	Source
Madison Square Garden Sports Network	USA Network	Cable television	April 9

Closures

There are no closures for Cable and satellite television channels in this year.

Television stations

Station launches

Date	City of License/Market	Station	Channel	Affiliation	Notes/Ref.
January 25	Minot, North Dakota	KSRE	6	PBS	Part of Prairie Public Television
January 27	Rochester, New York	WUHF	31	Independent
January 28	Cincinnati, Ohio	WBTI-TV	64	Independent
February 22	Denver, Colorado	KBDI-TV	12	PBS
February 29	Lafayette, Louisiana	KADN	15	Independent (primary) CBS (secondary, per program)
March 20	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	WCGV-TV	24	Independent
April 11	Salisbury, Maryland	WMDT	47	ABC (primary) NBC (secondary)
May 4	Willow Grove/Reading, Pennsylvania	WTVE	51	Independent
June 1	Bemidji, Minnesota	KAWE	9	PBS	Part of Lakeland Public Television
July 28	Dickinson, North Dakota	KQCD-TV	7	NBC (primary) ABC (secondary)	Semi-satellite of KFYR-TV/Bismarck
August 1	Jacksonville, Florida	WXAO-TV	47	Independent
August 12	Casper, Wyoming	KCWY-TV	14	CBS
August 23	Flint, Michigan	WFUM	28	PBS
September 8	Spartanburg, South Carolina (Florence/Greenville, South Carolina)	WRET-TV	49	PBS	Part of South Carolina ETV
September 22	Eau Claire/La Crosse, Wisconsin	WXOW	19	ABC
September 29	Washington, D.C.	WHUT	32	PBS
October 6	Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas	KTXA-TV	21	Independent
October 15	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	KAUT-TV	43	Independent
October 26	Tulsa, Oklahoma	KOKI-TV	23	Independent
November 7	Greenville/Greenwood, Mississippi	WXVT	15	CBS
November 16	Mountain View, Arkansas	KEMV	6	PBS	Part of the Arkansas Educational Television Network
November 22	Florence, South Carolina	WPDE-TV	15	ABC
November 26	Hardin/Billings, Montana	KOUS-TV	4	NBC
December 24	Valdosta/Albany, Georgia	WVGA	44	ABC
December 30	Green Bay, Wisconsin	WGBA-TV	26	Independent

Network affiliation changes

Date	City of License/Market	Station	Channel	Old affiliation	New affiliation	Notes/Ref.
January 1	Dayton, Ohio	WDTN	2	NBC	ABC
		WKEF	22	ABC	NBC
March 31	Jacksonville, Florida	WJKS	17	ABC	NBC
		WTLV	12	NBC	ABC
September 1	Atlanta, Georgia	WSB-TV	2	NBC	ABC
		WXIA-TV	11	ABC	NBC

Births

Date	Name	Notability
January 4	Greg Cipes	Voice actor ( Codename: Kids Next Door , Teen Titans , Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! , Ben 10 , Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil , Fish Hooks , Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles , Teen Titans Go! )
	June Diane Raphael	Actress ( Burning Love , NTSF:SD:SUV , Grace and Frankie )
	Erin Cahill	Actress
	D'Arcy Carden	Actress
January 7	Brandi Hitt	Former reporter and anchor for ABC 7 in Los Angeles
January 8	Rachel Nichols	Actress ( The Inside , Alias , Criminal Minds , Continuum )
January 10	Sarah Shahi	Actress ( The L Word , Fairly Legal , Person of Interest )
January 16	Lin-Manuel Miranda	Actor
January 17	Zooey Deschanel	Actress ( New Girl ) and singer
	Maksim Chmerkovskiy	Choreographer
January 18	Jason Segel	Actor ( Freaks and Geeks , How I Met Your Mother )
	Estelle	British singer and voice actress ( Steven Universe , Steven Universe Future )
January 19	Luke Macfarlane	Canadian actor ( Brothers & Sisters )
January 20	Philippe Cousteau Jr.	American oceanographer
January 22	Christopher Masterson	Actor ( Malcolm in the Middle )
January 28	Nick Carter	Actor ( House of Carters ) and singer ( Backstreet Boys )
January 30	Wilmer Valderrama	Actor ( That '70s Show , Handy Manny )
January 31	James Adomian	Actor ( The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson , Mad TV , WordGirl , Conan , Future-Worm! )
	April Lee Hernández	American television actress
	Clarissa Ward	British-American television journalist and correspondent
February 8	William Jackson Harper	Actor
February 9	Margarita Levieva	Russian-born actress ( Vanished , Revenge , Allegiance )
February 11	Matthew Lawrence	Actor ( Drexell's Class , Brotherly Love , Boy Meets World )
February 12	Sarah Lancaster	Actress ( Saved by the Bell: The New Class , Chuck )
	Christina Ricci	Actress ( Pan Am )
February 17	Jason Ritter	Actor ( Joan of Arcadia , The Class , Parenthood , Gravity Falls ) and son of John Ritter
February 21	Justin Roiland	Voice actor ( Fish Hooks , Adventure Time , Rick and Morty )
February 25	Chris Knowings	Actor ( Taina )
	Christy Knowings	Actress ( All That )
February 27	Brandon Beemer	Actor ( Days of Our Lives )
February 29	Peter Scanavino	Actor ( Law & Order: Special Victims Unit )
	Taylor Twellman	Television commentator
	Patrick Côté	Boxer
March 2	Rebel Wilson	Actress
March 3	Katherine Waterston	English actress ( Boardwalk Empire )
March 7	Laura Prepon	Actress ( That '70s Show , Orange is the New Black )
March 9	Matthew Gray Gubler	Actor ( Criminal Minds )
March 12	John-Paul Lavoisier	Actor ( One Life to Live )
March 17	Reed Timmer	Storm chaser
March 20	Mikey Day	Actor and comedian ( Kath and Kim , The Jay Leno Show , Saturday Night Live )
March 21	Guru Singh	Actor
March 22	Melissa Paull	Actress ( Mad TV )
	Joshua Johnson	American journalist
March 25	Tinsel Korey	Actress
March 26	Margaret Brennan	Journalist
March 29	Chris D'Elia	Actor
March 31	Kate Micucci	Actress ( The Big Bang Theory , Raising Hope , Steven Universe , Scooby-Doo , Milo Murphy's Law , DuckTales )
	Ari Melber	TV host
April 1	Bijou Phillips	Actress ( Raising Hope ) and singer
	Randy Orton	WWE wrestler
April 2	Bobby Bones	American radio and television personality
April 4	Michael Bellisario	Actor
April 7	Melanie Merkosky	Actress
April 8	Katee Sackhoff	Actress ( Battlestar Galactica , Longmire )
	Bill English	Actor
April 9	Rachel Specter	Actress
April 10	Jasika Nicole	Actress
	Kasey Kahne	Race car driver
April 13	Kelli Giddish	Actress
April 14	Claire Coffee	Actress ( General Hospital , Franklin & Bash , Grimm , Chelsey and Kelsey)
April 15	Arian Moayed	Actor
April 17	Nicholas D'Agosto	Actor ( Masters of Sex , Gotham )
	Alaina Huffman	Canadian actress ( Smallville , Stargate Universe , Supernatural )
April 21	Griffin House	Musician
	Tony Romo	Color commentator ( NFL on CBS )
April 23	David Larsen	Actor
April 24	Austin Nichols	Actor ( One Tree Hill )
	Reagan Gomez-Preston	Actress ( The Parent 'Hood , Love, Inc , The Cleveland Show , Steven Universe )
April 25	Geoff Bennett	Journalist ( PBS NewsHour )
April 26	Jordana Brewster	Actress ( As the World Turns , Dallas )
	Channing Tatum	Actor
	Darris Love	Actor ( The Secret World of Alex Mack )
April 29	Damien Dante Wayans	Actor
April 30	Sam Heughan	Actor
May 2	Ellie Kemper	Actress ( The Office , Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt ) and comedian
May 3	Mozhan Marnò	Actress
May 17	Daniel Moncada	Actor
May 19	Drew Fuller	Actor ( Charmed , Army Wives )
May 23	Chris Gethard	Actor
May 27	Ben Feldman	Actor ( Superstore )
May 30	Remy Ma	Rapper
	Jenna Lee	American journalist
May 31	Andy Hurley	American musician ( Fall Out Boy )
June 1	Arthur Gourounlian	Dancer
June 6	Pete Hegseth	Host
June 10	Jessica DiCicco	Voice actress ( The Buzz on Maggie , Loonatics Unleashed , The Emperor's New School , The Mighty B! , Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil , Adventure Time , Gravity Falls , The Loud House , Future-Worm! , It's Pony )
June 15	Christopher Castile	Actor ( Step by Step , Hey Arnold! )
	Cara Zavaleta	Model
June 18	David Giuntoli	Actor ( Grimm , A Million Little Things )
	Lindsay Shookus	Producer
	Kevin Bishop	Actor
June 19	Lauren Lee Smith	Canadian actress ( CSI: Crime Scene Investigation , Mutant X )
	Teddy Dunn	Actor
	Neil Brown Jr.	Actor
June 20	Tika Sumpter	Singer and actress
June 23	Melissa Rauch	Actress ( The Big Bang Theory )
	Heath Freeman	Actor (died 2021)
	Matias Varela	Actor
	Blair Herter	TV personality
June 24	Minka Kelly	Actress ( Friday Night Lights , Charlie's Angels , Almost Human )
June 25	Shannon Lucio	Actress ( The O.C. , Prison Break )
June 26	Casey DeSantis	Journalist and TV show host
June 27	Ben Bocquelet	Writer
July 1	Fortune Feimster	Actress
	Alex Blagg	Writer
July 3	Olivia Munn	TV host and actress ( Attack of the Show! , The Daily Show , The Newsroom )
July 4	Carrie Keagan	TV host and actress
July 5	Pauly D	American television personality
July 10	Nick Schifrin	Journalist ( PBS NewsHour )
	Jessica Simpson	Singer and actress ( Fashion Star )
	Jeremy Ray Valdez	Actor ( Drake & Josh )
July 12	Kristen Connolly	Actress ( House of Cards , The Whispers , Zoo )
July 18	Kristen Bell	Actress ( Veronica Mars , The Good Place , Gossip Girl , House of Lies )
July 19	Chris Sullivan	Actor ( This Is Us )
	Josh Fadem	Actor
	Mark Webber	Actor
July 20	Gisele Bündchen	Brazilian model
July 21	Sprague Grayden	Actress
July 27	Jessi Combs	Television personality (died 2019)
	Dolph Ziggler	WWE wrestler
July 29	Rachel Miner	Actress ( Guiding Light , Californication )
July 30	April Bowlby	Actress ( Two and a Half Men , Drop Dead Diva , Doom Patrol )
August 3	Hannah Simone	British-born Canadian actress ( New Girl )
August 6	Monique Ganderton	Canadian actress
August 8	Michael Urie	Actor ( Ugly Betty )
August 9	Texas Battle	Actor ( The Bold and the Beautiful )
	Stephen Schneider	Actor
August 10	Aaron Staton	Actor
August 11	Merritt Wever	Actress
August 12	Maggie Lawson	Actress ( It's All Relative , Crumbs , Psych , Back in the Game )
	Dominique Swain	Actress ( Lolita , Totally Awesome )
August 13	Veronica de la Cruz	Anchor
August 18	Sarah Spain	American sports reporter
August 19	Aaron Horvath	Director
	Adam Campbell	Actor
August 21	Jon Lajoie	Actor
	John Brotherton	Actor
August 24	Rachael Carpani	Australian actress ( McLeod's Daughters , Against the Wall )
August 26	Macaulay Culkin	Actor ( Robot Chicken )
	Jim Beanz	Actor
August 28	Carly Pope	Canadian actress ( Popular )
September 8	Eric Hutchinson	Singer
September 6	Daniel Wohl	Composer
	Tehmina Sunny	Actress
September 7	J. D. Pardo	Actor
September 9	Michelle Williams	Actress ( Dawson's Creek )
September 13	Ben Savage	Actor ( Boy Meets World , Girl Meets World )
September 17	Jill Latiano	Actress
September 21	Autumn Reeser	Actress ( The O.C. , Valentine , No Ordinary Family )
	Aleksa Palladino	Actress
	Brianna Keilar	CNN reporter
September 23	Aubrey Dollar	Actress
September 25	Jeremiah Bitsui	Actor
	T.I.	Actor
September 28	Patti Murin	Actress
September 29	Zachary Levi	Actor ( Chuck , Heroes Reborn , Tangled: The Series , Alias Grace )
	Chrissy Metz	Actress ( This Is Us )
	Darragh Ennis	Quizzer
	Nick Viall	Actor
September 30	Toni Trucks	Actress
October 1	Sarah Drew	Actress ( Daria , Everwood , Grey's Anatomy ) and singer
October 4	Morgan Spector	Actor
October 6	Jenny Wade	Actress
	Andrew Keoghan	Musician
October 8	Nick Cannon	Actor ( All That , The Nick Cannon Show , America's Got Talent )
	The Miz	Actor
October 13	Ashanti	Singer and actress
October 15	Brandon Jay McLaren	Canadian actor ( Power Rangers S.P.D. )
October 16	Jeremy Jackson	Actor and singer ( Baywatch )
October 17	Angel Parker	Actress ( Lab Rats , Runaways )
	Nicholas Britell	Composer
	Justin Shenkarow	Actor ( Eerie, Indiana , Picket Fences , Life with Louie , Hey Arnold! , Recess , Lloyd in Space )
October 18	Erin Dean	Actress ( The Journey of Allen Strange )
	Natasha Rothwell	Actress
October 19	Katja Herbers	Actress
October 20	Niall Matter	Actor
October 21	Kim Kardashian	Actress ( Keeping Up with the Kardashians )
October 23	Robert Belushi	Actor
October 24	Casey Wilson	Actress ( Happy Endings , The Hotwives , Marry Me )
October 29	Michele Boyd	Actress ( The Guild , Team Unicorn )
	Ben Foster	Actor
October 30	Sarah Carter	Actress ( Shark , Falling Skies )
October 31	Samaire Armstrong	Actress ( The O.C. , Resurrection )
	Eddie Kaye Thomas	Actor ( Brutally Normal , American Dad! , Scorpion )
November 2	Brittany Ishibashi	Actress
November 4	Emme Rylan	Actress ( Guiding Light , General Hospital , The Young and the Restless )
November 5	Luke Hemsworth	Australian actor ( Neighbours , Westworld )
November 9	Vanessa Lachey	Actress
November 12	Ryan Gosling	Actor ( Breaker High , Young Hercules )
	Gustaf Skarsgård	Actor
	Christopher Cantwell	Filmmaker
November 13	Monique Coleman	Actress ( High School Musical )
November 17	Isaac Hanson	Singer ( Hanson )
November 18	Mathew Baynton	Actor
November 20	Tony Laubach	Storm chaser
November 25	Valerie Azlynn	Actress ( Sullivan & Son )
November 26	Jessica Bowman	Actress ( Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman )
November 29	Jason Griffith	Voice actor ( Sonic X )
	Janina Gavankar	Actress
December 1	Angelique Bates	Actress ( All That )
December 3	Anna Chlumsky	Actress ( Veep )
	Jenna Dewan Tatum	Dancer and actress ( American Horror Story )
December 4	James Francis Ginty	Actor
December 5	Tamara Feldman	Actress ( Gossip Girl )
	Jessica Paré	Actress
December 8	Shakina Nayfack	Actress
December 9	Simon Helberg	Actor ( The Big Bang Theory , Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil )
December 10	Kate Reinders	Actress ( Work It , High School Musical: The Musical: The Series )
	Alberto Zeni	Actor
December 18	Christina Aguilera	Singer and child actress ( Mickey Mouse Club , The Voice )
December 19	Marla Sokoloff	Actress ( The Practice , Big Day The Fosters )
	Jake Gyllenhaal	Actor
December 22	Chris Carmack	Actor ( The O.C. , Nashville )
December 23	Rory O'Malley	Actor
December 24	Tony Dokoupil	American broadcast journalist
December 27	Elizabeth Rodriguez	Actress ( New York Undercover , All My Children Orange Is the New Black , Power , Grimm , Fear the Walking Dead )
December 28	Vanessa Ferlito	Actress ( Graceland )
December 30	Eliza Dushku	Actress ( Buffy the Vampire Slayer , Angel , Tru Calling , Dollhouse , Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. )
	Jazmyn Simon	Actress

Deaths

Date	Name	Age	Notability
January 29	Jimmy Durante	86	Actor (The Jimmy Durante Show)
February 13	David Janssen	48	Actor ( The Fugitive , Harry O , O'Hara, U.S. Treasury )
February 27	George Tobias	78	Actor (Abner Kravitz on Bewitched )
March 5	Jay Silverheels	67	Actor (Tonto on The Lone Ranger )
April 29	Alfred Hitchcock	80	Film director, host of ( Alfred Hitchcock Presents )
June 12	Milburn Stone	75	Actor ("Doc" on Gunsmoke )
June 23	Babette Henry	65	Television director ( Buck Rogers , That Wonderful Guy ) [15] [16]
July 31	Bobby Van	51	Game show host and panelist ( Match Game , Tattletales , Showoffs , Make Me Laugh )
August 14	Dorothy Stratten	20	Actress, Playboy model
September 3	Duncan Renaldo	76	Romanian-born actor ( The Cisco Kid )
September 12	Lillian Randolph	81	Actress ( Amos 'n' Andy )
November 7	Steve McQueen	50	Actor (Josh Randall on Wanted: Dead or Alive )
December 8	John Lennon	40	Musician (The Beatles), co-hosted The Mike Douglas Show for a week

See also

• 1980 in the United States
• List of American films of 1980

References

1. Gannon, Jack. 1981. Deaf Heritage–A Narrative History of Deaf America, Silver Spring, MD: National Association of the Deaf, pp. 384–387 (PDF Archived 2012-04-24 at the Wayback Machine )
2. Solomon, Charles (May 10, 1980). "Lawsuit Threatened Showing of 'Return of the King'" . Part II. Los Angeles Times . pp.  5, 10 . Retrieved June 16, 2020– via Newspapers.com.
3. Paul D. Staudohar (1989). The Sports Industry and Collective Bargaining. ILR Press. p. 140. ISBN   9780875461519.
4. Francis Rosa (May 18, 1980). "Goring Finds His Paradise". Boston Globe. p. 1.
5. Jerry Kirshenbaum (June 16, 1980). "Scorecard". Sports Illustrated. Time Inc.
6. "Around the NHL". The Washington Post . March 29, 1989.
7. Rachel Shuster (March 29, 1989). "'American Sportsman' makes strong comeback". USA Today. Gannett Company. p. 3C.
8. The Price Is Right (American game show) . Season 8. Episode 186. June 20, 1980. CBS.
9. Vanna White on The Price Is Right (1980) on YouTube
10. The Price Is Right's 25th Anniversary Special (08/23/1996) on YouTube
11. Gold, Matea; Maria Elena Fernandez and Richard Verrier (2007-12-18). "Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien to return to the air Jan. 2". Los Angeles Times.
12. "Striking musicians picketed seven major studios again Wednesday as..." United Press International . October 8, 1980. Archived from the original on September 8, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2025.
13. Bodig, Chris (July 27, 2018). "HALL OF FAMER BOB COSTAS' GREATEST GAME CALLS". Cooperstown Cred.
14. "SEARCHABLE NETWORK TV BROADCASTS". sabrmedia.org. Archived from the original on 2019-04-18.
15. "Passings". The Los Angeles Times. June 30, 1980. p. 18.
16. "Obituaries: Babette Kiebert". Monrovia News-Post. June 26, 1980. p. 22.

External links

• List of 1980 American television series at IMDb