| Date | Event |
|---|
| January 1 | - VH1 begins in the United States.
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| January 4 | |
| January 7 | |
| January 20 | |
| January 24 | |
| February 4 | - NBC becomes the first commercial television network to use satellite interconnection for its stations; as a result, it is the first network to discontinue use of chime intonations at the beginning of each telecast, to signal to its affiliates to start broadcasting the network feed.
|
| February 8 | |
| February 10 | - CBS airs the first part of a two part miniseries that examines the so-called "Atlanta child murders" of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Atlanta officials criticized [1] [2] The Atlanta Child Murders, claiming that it distorted [3] the facts [4] of the case. [5] After a series of negotiations, CBS executives agreed [6] to insert a disclaimer [7] alerting viewers that the film is based on fact but contains fictional elements. [8]
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| February 23 | - On NBC, the Gimme a Break! episode "Cat Story", became the show's very first episode filmed before a live audience.
|
| March 3 | |
| March 18 | - Capital Cities Communications, a station owner group based in Albany, New York, stuns the broadcast industry by announcing that it is acquiring ABC for $3.5 billion. The move will prompt the company to sell off several of its television and radio stations to satisfy FCC ownership limits. The deal will be finalized on January 3, 1986. [9] [10]
|
| March 20 | |
| March 22 | |
| March 31 | - The World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) telecasts WrestleMania to select pay-per-view areas (and to a greater extent, closed-circuit locations across the country). The event is wildly successful (drawing over a million viewers on closed-circuit) and marks the beginning of the annual series of WrestleMania events which continue to air on pay-per-view to this day. There is, however, a near-riot in Pittsburgh when a technical glitch prematurely ends the feed at the Civic Arena, prompting the WWF to appease angry fans by showing the event in its entirely on ABC affiliate WTAE-TV two weeks later. [11] [12] [13]
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| April 1 | |
| April 3 | |
| April 6 | |
| April 9 | |
| April 11 | - KMSS commences broadcasting in Shreveport, Louisiana, making it the first station in the market to sign on the air since KTBS signed on in 1955 and the first independent station in the market. It would later become one of the few charter affiliates of Fox in Louisiana.
|
| April 27 | |
| April 28 | - WLIG commences broadcasting. (The call letters would change to WLNY-TV on September 1, 1996).
|
| April 29 | |
| May 4 | |
| May 9 | |
| May 11 | - The first episode of Saturday Night's Main Event is broadcast by NBC, the first time that professional wrestling had been broadcast by network television since the 1950s.
|
|
| May 12 | |
| May 14 | - On The CBS Morning News , co–anchor Phyllis George interviews false rape accuser Cathleen Mae Webb and the man whom she had falsely accused, Gary Dotson. In an effort to get the two to make amends to each other, George makes a simple suggestion: "How about a hug?" Both Webb and Dotson graciously refuse. That infamous interview alienates audiences and is blasted by critics, helping to put an unpleasant close to George's television career at this initial mark.
|
| May 15 | |
| May 17 | |
| May 19 | |
| May 25 | |
| May 30 | |
| June 14 | - ABC broadcasts its 2,311th and last daytime episode of Family Feud after 9 years. Richard Dawson gives an emotional speech at the end of the broadcast. Dawson would return to the series during 1994 for one more season. Meanwhile, on CBS, Press Your Luck broadcasts the episode in which all three contestants would be invited back after a mistake on a question about the cartoon character Sylvester was corrected by Mel Blanc telephoning Peter Tomarken at the end of the show.
|
| June 24 | |
| July 1 | - Nick at Nite, a nighttime program service with an emphasis on classic television reruns, is launched in the United States, being broadcast on the same channel as Nickelodeon. At the same time, A&E, which previously shared Nickelodeon's channel, begins broadcasting as its own 24-hour cable channel in January of that year on a separate satellite transponder.
|
| July 2 | - The final episode of The Jeffersons airs on CBS. It is not without controversy though, as CBS abruptly canceled the series without allowing for a proper series finale. The cast was not informed until after the July 2, 1985, episode, "Red Robins"; actor Sherman Hemsley, who portrayed George Jefferson, said he learned that the show was canceled by reading it in the newspaper. [19] Isabel Sanford (Louise Jefferson), who heard about the cancellation through her cousin who read it in the tabloids, publicly stated that she found the cancellation with no proper finale to be disrespectful on the network's part. [20] Per an article in the May 8, 1985, Los Angeles Times, the series was cancelled by announcement at the CBS network "upfront" presentation the day before, nearly two months before the airing of the final episode. Actor Franklin Cover, who played Tom Willis, also heard about the cancellation while watching Entertainment Tonight .
|
| July 4 | |
| July 13 | |
| 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 [21] by a television network.
- Rock Hudson joined his old friend Doris Day for a Hollywood press conference announcing the launch of her new TV cable show Doris Day's Best Friends in which Hudson was videotaped visiting Day's ranch in Carmel, California, a few days earlier. He appeared gaunt and his speech was nearly incoherent; during the segment, Hudson did very little speaking, with most of it consisting of Day and Hudson walking around as Day's recording of "My Buddy" played in the background, with Hudson noting he had quickly tired out. His appearance was enough of a shock that the reunion was broadcast repeatedly over national news shows that night and for days to come.
|
| July 22 | |
| August 4 | |
| August 19 | |
| September 2 | - NBC becomes the first broadcast network in the U.S. to broadcast its prime time programs with stereo sound.
|
| September 5 | |
| September 8 | |
| September 9 | |
| September 14 | - The Golden Girls and 227 made their debuts on NBC. Also, on that network, The Facts of Life entered its seventh season with a special three-arc episode, as Edna's Edibles, which had been the main setting of the show for its previous two years, is burned to the ground, leading into its rebuilding, replacing it with an ice cream and gift shop named Over Our Heads.
|
| September 15 | |
| September 16 | |
| September 18 | |
| September 22 | |
| September 23 | |
| September 24 | |
| September 26 | |
| September 27 | |
| September 28 | |
| September 29 | |
| October 4 | |
| October 6 | |
| October 9 | |
| October 20 | |
| November 5 | - CBS broadcasts the made-for-television drama film Stone Pillow . It stars Lucille Ball, in an attempt to make a dramatic "breakout" from her years in comedy, as an older homeless woman with few resources and even fewer options. The film received rather mixed reviews, but was a ratings success. The telecast ranked 9th out of 68 programs airing that week, and brought in a 23.3 rating and a 33 share. [24] The success of the film led Ball to make one last attempt to return to her comedy roots with Life with Lucy the next year.
|
| November 6 | |
| 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; the show was broadcast as an "in memoriam" tribute to him on October 29.
|
| November 9 | |
| November 17 | |
| November 18 | - Elmo, a new character for Sesame Street , is introduced on PBS. In the same episode, the adult cast of Sesame Street come face-to-face with Aloysius Snuffleupagus for the first time since the character's 1971 introduction.
|
| November 20 | |
| November 28 | |
| December 3 | |
| December 5 | - A Wheel of Fortune contestant Terry Wharton missolves a puzzle "The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat" (a quote from Jim McKay), leaving $62,400 cash unclaimed. This was to date, the largest cash unclaimed for a round in the history of the show, which, at the time, would have set then the biggest winnings record during the maingame alone. [25]
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| December 12 | |
| December 29 | |
