# 1984 in American television

This article is a list of television-related events during 1984.

## Events

| Date | Event |
| January 2 | Oprah Winfrey takes over as host of WLS-TV's A.M. Chicago, which would serve as a forerunner to her nationwide, syndicated talk show. |
| January 9 | Wendy's "Fluffy Bun" advertisement is first broadcast, which gains Clara Peller and her "Where's the beef?" catchphrase national fame. |
| January 9 | Something About Amelia, a story concerning incest, is broadcast by ABC. Glenn Close, Ted Danson, and Roxana Zal are the main actors. |
| January 22 | During CBS's broadcast of Super Bowl XVIII, Apple Computer Company heralds the introduction of its Apple Macintosh personal computer with the famous advertisement "1984", the only time it is broadcast on national television. |
| January 23 | Professional wrestler Hulk Hogan defeats The Iron Sheik to win his first World Wrestling Federation championship at Madison Square Garden; the match is televised by the MSG Network. |
| January 26 | Andy Kaufman makes what turns out to be his final television appearance as host of The Top. |
| January 27 | Michael Jackson's hair catches fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial. |
| January 30 | One of Field Communications' last stations, WKBD-TV, is sold to Cox Enterprises. |
| February 1 | Arts & Entertainment Network launches from the merger of ARTS and RCA's The Entertainment Channel. It originally broadcasts after kids' channel Nickelodeon signs off. |
| February 1 | Lifetime is launched from the merger of Hearst/ABC's Daytime and Viacom's Cable Health Network. |
| February 1 | In Bakersfield, California, CBS affiliate KPWR-TV changes its call letters to the current KGET-TV, in preparation for an affiliation swap with NBC affiliate KERO-TV the following month. |
| February 10 | NBC airs the made-for-television movie Little House: The Last Farewell. Serving to tie up loose ends to storylines on the main Little House on the Prairie series, The Last Farewell concerns Charles and Caroline deciding to visit Walnut Grove. They learn that a railroad tycoon actually holds the deed to the township, and he wants to take it over for his own financial gain. Despite their best efforts, the townspeople are unable to drive the businessman away. At a town meeting, John Carter offers a supply of explosives that he has. Each man takes a turn blowing up his own building in an emotional farewell to the town. |
| February 20 | 17 of the 24 added minutes are utilized by ABC for the network television premiere of Superman II. Subsequent ABC airings of the longer version would be cut further for more advertising time. The full 146-minute extended cut was shown internationally, including parts of Canada. As with the first film, Alexander and Ilya Salkind prepared a version for worldwide television release that re-inserted unused footage (in this case 24 minutes) into the film. It was through this extended version that viewers first caught a glimpse into the Superman II that might have happened had Richard Donner remained as director. In fact, a majority of the added footage was shot by Donner before Richard Lester became director. |
| February 25 | Eddie Murphy participates in his final live episode as a cast member on NBC's Saturday Night Live. The remainder of his appearances for the season would only be in the form of previously recorded sketches. Murphy's final overall episode as a cast member would air on April 14. |
| February 26 | KDRV in Medford, Oregon signs on as an ABC affiliate, giving the Medford market full-time access to all three networks for the first time. |
| February 26 | CBS airs the network broadcast television premiere of Star Wars. |
| February 28 | At the 26th Grammy Awards telecast by CBS, Michael Jackson wins a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards. |
| March 16 | Gary Plauché shoots and kills Jeff Doucet, who had kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and molested Plauché's son, Jody. The killing was captured on camera by a local news crew. Doucet was flown back from California to Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, also known as Ryan Field, to face trial. Doucet arrived and was led in handcuffs by police officers through the airport at around 9:30 p.m., where Plauché was waiting for Doucet with a gun. Plauché was friends with several high-ranking police officers in the Baton Rouge Police Department; while many people believed that these contacts told Plauché where and when Doucet would be arriving, it was actually an employee of the local ABC affiliate WBRZ-TV who gave Plauché the information. A news crew from WBRZ-TV was also waiting for Doucet and had set up their cameras to record his arrival. |
| March 19 | Denver's ABC affiliate KBTV changes its name to KUSA-TV to reflect its status with USA Today. |
| March 21 | New England Sports Network, initially known as NESN is initiated. |
| March 25 | WNOL-TV, an independent station goes on the air in New Orleans. |
| March 28 | Actress Jeanne Cooper has her own real life facelift procedure performed onscreen during an episode of The Young and the Restless. Cooper's character, Katherine Chancellor is written as having the exact same procedure performed. |
| April 1 | Nickelodeon celebrates its 5th anniversary. |
| April 7 | After being cancelled by ABC following its third season, Too Close for Comfort with the aid of Metromedia, is revived for the first-run syndicated market. |
| April | John Houlihan wins the Natural Triple Jackpot worth $26,550 on The Joker's Wild, the largest such win on the show. |
| May 6 | Minneapolis/St. Paul religious station WFBT converts to a general entertainment station after the Beverly Hills Hotel Corporation bought out the station, changing the calls to KITN-TV. |
| May 8 | Happy Days airs its series finale, "Passages". However, five additional episodes would air from the end of June on through the end of September. The last episode to be aired on ABC, "Fonzie's Spots", is actually #251 in chronological order. |
| May 18 | Character Bobby Ewing finds himself in the crossfire as a rival tries to gun down his brother J.R. on the season finale of the CBS series Dallas. |
| May 19 | CBS tapes the Michael Larson episodes of Press Your Luck in which Larson wins $110,237 cash and prizes. (The episodes, which are split into two parts, would air on June 8 and 11.) |
| May 20 | The wedding between Steve Andropoulos and Betsy Stewart on As the World Turns attracts 20 million viewers. This makes it the second highest-rated hour in American daytime soap opera history behind Luke and Laura's 1981 wedding on General Hospital. |
| June 8 | Piedmont Triad station WJTM-TV changes its name to WNRW-TV to honor the death of William N. Rismiller in a shooting incident at its studios June 5. |
| June 23 | On a broadcast of NBC's Game of the Week between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals, Cubs second baseman Ryne Sandberg hits two crucial, game tying home runs off of Cardinals closer Bruce Sutter in both the bottom of the ninth and tenth innings. The Cubs would go on to win the game in eleven innings, by the score of 12–11. Bob Costas and Tony Kubek were on the call for what would soon become known as "The Sandberg Game". |
| June 27 | The U.S. Supreme Court rules in NCAA v. Board of Regents of University of Oklahoma that the National Collegiate Athletic Association's television plan violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. As a result, individual schools and athletic conferences are free to negotiate contracts on their own behalf. Together with the growth of cable television, this ruling results in the explosion of broadcast options currently available. Beginning in 1984, the College Football Association sells a television package to ABC and CBS. The Big Ten and Pacific-10 conferences sell their own separate package to ABC. |
| July 14 | In what became known as "Black Saturday", Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation takes over Superstation WTBS' Saturday evening time period once occupied by Georgia Championship Wrestling. |
| July 17 | CBS broadcasts W*A*L*T*E*R, a television pilot for the third spin-off of M*A*S*H. The pilot stars Gary Burghoff, who reprises his M*A*S*H character Corporal Walter "Radar" O'Reilly. Since the pilot is never picked up by CBS as a series, it is shown as a "CBS Special Presentation". It is shown once in the Eastern and Central time zones of the United States, but pre-empted on the West Coast by CBS News coverage of the Democratic National Convention. This is the only known broadcast of the pilot. |
| July 23 | MTV broadcasts the live World Wrestling Federation event "The Brawl to End It All" from Madison Square Garden in New York City, where Wendi Richter won the WWF Women's Championship from The Fabulous Moolah. |
| July 28 | ABC begins their coverage of the Summer Olympic Games from Los Angeles. Jim McKay and Peter Jennings served as hosts for the opening ceremonies. This is to date, the final time that ABC would broadcast the Summer Olympics. All subsequent, American network television coverage of the Summer games would be handled by NBC. |
| July 30 | The soap opera Santa Barbara debuts on NBC. |
| July 30 | Dallas/Ft. Worth independent station KNBN-TV changes its call letters to KRLD-TV after being bought out by Metromedia. |
| September 9 | The Tyler-Longview market's lone television station KLTV finally receives competition when KLMG-TV (now Fox affiliate KFXK-TV) signs-on and takes KLTV's secondary CBS affiliation. |
| September 10 | The game show Jeopardy! returns to television as a syndicated show with new host Alex Trebek. |
| September 14 | Dan Aykroyd and Bette Midler host the first MTV Video Music Awards at New York City's Radio City Music Hall, an event which included Madonna's performance of the song "Like a Virgin". |
| September 16 | The two hour pilot episode of Miami Vice airs on NBC. This episode started developing the trademark Vice style. Aspects of Miami Vice considered revolutionary lay in its music, cinematography, and imagery, which made large segments of each episode resemble a protracted music video. |
| September 17 | The Transformers debuts in syndication. |
| September 18 | The series finale of Three's Company airs on ABC following a three-episode story arc that also sets up the spin-off Three's a Crowd. |
| September 20 | The Cosby Show debuts on NBC. Meanwhile on ABC, the pilot episode for Who's the Boss? is also broadcast. |
| September 24 | The game show Super Password premieres on NBC at 12:00 noon EST. The new version of the classic game show is one of the few shows to survive at a time period that normally broadcasts news on any of the three major networks, running for 4+1⁄2 years. |
| September 24 | CBS affiliate WJKA (now Fox affiliate WSFX-TV) in Wilmington, North Carolina signs-on the air, giving Wilmington in-market affiliates of all three commercial networks. |
| September 27 | Kelsey Grammer makes his first appearance as Frasier Crane in the third-season premiere of Cheers. |
| October 1 | Montana, the last state in the Union without its own PBS station, gains one when Montana PBS launches. |
| October 1 | Nickelodeon retires their silver pinball logo (although it would continue to be used in sign-offs until early 1985) and begins using the orange splat as their logo. |
| October 1 | American Movie Classics is initiated. |
| October 8 | NBC broadcasts The Burning Bed, which features Farrah Fawcett as a woman who kills her abusive husband. The fact-based film is the highest-rated entertainment event of the 1984–1985 season. |
| October 11 | Geraldine Ferraro becomes the first woman (and the only one until Sarah Palin in 2008) to participate in a presidential or vice presidential debate. |
| October 12 | Tragedy strikes the CBS drama Cover Up. During filming for the seventh episode of the series, "Golden Opportunity," on Stage 17 of the 20th Century Fox lot, a scene is shot that calls for Mac Harper (Jon-Erik Hexum) to load bullets into a .44 Magnum handgun. Hexum is duly provided with a functional gun and blanks. The scene does not play as the director wanted it to in the master shot, causing a delay in filming. During the delay, Hexum, restless and impatient, begins playing around to lighten the mood. Unloading all but one (blank) round, Hexum spins the gun, and—simulating Russian roulette—puts the revolver to his right temple and pulls the trigger, apparently unaware of the danger. At a close enough range, the effect of the powder gasses is a small explosion, so although the paper wadding in the blank that Hexum discharged did not penetrate his skull, there was enough blunt force trauma to shatter a quarter-sized piece of his skull and propel the pieces into his brain, causing massive hemorrhaging. Hexum is then rushed to Beverly Hills Medical Center, undergoing five hours of surgery to repair his wounds. Six days later, on October 18, Hexum is declared brain dead at age 26. |
| October 27 | Turner Broadcasting System initiates the Cable Music Channel in the U.S., only to end it one month later. |
| November 10 | On PBS Sesame Street celebrates its 15th anniversary. |
| November 12 | Theresa Saldana appears as herself in the NBC movie Victims for Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story, a retelling of her 1982 stabbing incident and its aftermath. |
| December 8 | The final episode of Captain Kangaroo airs. This ends a 29-year run on CBS that made it the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television program of its day. |
| December 15 | One year after officially departing the cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live, Eddie Murphy returns to guest host. This would be Murphy's last appearance on the show (not counting a brief appearance during SNL's 40th Anniversary Special in 2015) until hosting again during the forty-fifth season in 2019. |
| December 17 | George C. Scott plays Ebenezer Scrooge in a new version of the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol, broadcast by CBS. |
| December 17 | The ABC soap opera One Life to Live changes its opening sequence and theme song, which lasted until 1991. |
| December 17 | ABC purchases a majority stake of ESPN from Getty Oil Corp. |
| December 17 | KLDO-TV in Laredo, Texas signs-on as an ABC affiliate, giving Laredo in-market affiliates of all three commercial networks (it is now an Univision affiliate). |
| December 28 | On ABC, The Edge of Night ends its 28-year run. The soap opera started on CBS in 1956, moving to ABC in 1975. |
| December 28 | During an interview backstage at Madison Square Garden for the ABC newsmagazine 20/20, reporter John Stossel tells professional wrestler David Schultz that he thought pro wrestling was fake. Schultz responds by hitting Stossel in the head twice, knocking him to the floor each time. The attack attracts a large amount of media coverage and is later aired not only on 20/20, but also on other national television outlets. ABC itself later reports receiving more than 1,000 calls from viewers inquiring about Stossel's health. |

## Programs
### Debuting this year

| Date | Title | Network |
| January 3 | Riptide | NBC |
| January 4 | Night Court | NBC |
| January 6 | Blue Thunder | ABC |
| January 20 | The Master | NBC |
| January 22 | Airwolf | CBS |
| January 28 | Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer | CBS |
| March 6 | a.k.a. Pablo | ABC |
| March 19 | Kate and Allie | CBS |
| March 20 | Shaping Up | ABC |
| March 31 | Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous | Syndication |
| April | Video Music Box | WNYC-TV |
| April 4 | Double Trouble | NBC |
| April 12 | The Duck Factory | NBC |
| April 14 | My Little Pony | Syndication |
| June 4 | Danger Mouse | Nickelodeon |
| July 2 | Scrabble | NBC |
| July 13 | Brothers | Showtime |
| July 30 | Santa Barbara | NBC |
| September 5 | Heathcliff | Syndication |
| September 7 | Kids Incorporated | Syndication |
| September 8 | Dragon's Lair | ABC |
| September 8 | Mighty Orbots | ABC |
| September 8 | Turbo Teen | ABC |
| September 8 | Challenge of the GoBots | Syndication |
| September 10 | Voltron: Defender of the Universe | Syndication |
| September 13 | Glitter | ABC |
| September 14 | Hawaiian Heat | ABC |
| September 15 | Snorks | NBC |
| September 15 | Pink Panther and Sons | NBC |
| September 15 | The Get Along Gang | CBS |
| September 15 | Muppet Babies | CBS |
| September 15 | Pole Position | CBS |
| September 15 | Pryor's Place | CBS |
| September 16 | E/R | CBS |
| September 16 | Miami Vice | NBC |
| September 16 | Punky Brewster | NBC |
| September 17 | The Transformers | Syndication |
| September 18 | Hunter | NBC |
| September 19 | Highway to Heaven | NBC |
| September 20 | The Cosby Show | NBC |
| September 20 | Who's the Boss? | ABC |
| September 22 | Cover Up | CBS |
| September 22 | Hot Pursuit | NBC |
| September 22 | Finder of Lost Loves | ABC |
| September 23 | Paper Dolls | ABC |
| September 25 | Three's a Crowd | ABC |
| September 26 | It's Your Move | NBC |
| September 27 | Partners in Crime | NBC |
| September 30 | Tales from the Darkside | Syndication |
| September 30 | Murder, She Wrote | CBS |
| October 3 | Charles in Charge | CBS |
| October 7 | Out of Control | Nickelodeon |
| October 8 | Trivia Trap | ABC |
| October 10 | Dreams | CBS |
| October 26 | V | NBC |
| December 30 | Crazy Like a Fox | CBS |

### Resuming this year

| Title | Final aired | Previous network | New title | Returning network | Date of return |
| People are Funny | 1960 | NBC | Same | Same | March 24 |
| Showoffs | 1975 | ABC | Body Language | CBS | June 4 |
| Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids | 1981 | CBS | Same | Syndication | September 1 |
| Jeopardy! | 1979 | NBC | Same | Syndication | September 10 |
| Let's Make a Deal | 1981 | Syndication | The All-New Let's Make a Deal | Same | September 17 |
| Password Plus | 1982 | NBC | Super Password | Same | September 24 |

### Changing networks

| Show | Moved from | Moved to |
| Showoffs | ABC | CBS |
| Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids | CBS | Syndication |
| Jeopardy! | NBC | Syndication |

### Ending this year

| Date | Title | Debut |
| March 10 | We Got It Made (returned in 1987) | 1983 |
| April 2 | Automan | 1983 |
| April 7 | Mama's Family (returned in 1986) | 1983 |
| April 10 | a.k.a. Pablo | 1984 |
| April 16 | Blue Thunder | 1984 |
| April 27 | Masquerade | 1983 |
| April 30 | That's Incredible! | 1980 |
| May 15 | Oh Madeline | 1983 |
| May 19 | Fantasy Island | 1978 |
| May 22 | Hart to Hart | 1979 |
| May 28 | One Day at a Time | 1975 |
| June 1 | Tattletales | 1974 |
| June 2 | Whiz Kids | 1983 |
| June 14 | Lottery! | 1983 |
| July 4 | Real People | 1979 |
| July 11 | The Duck Factory | 1984 |
| July 27 | Hollywood Squares (returned in 1986) | 1966 |
| August 11 | Boone | 1983 |
| September 1 | Monchhichis | 1983 |
| September 1 | The Little Rascals | 1982 |
| September 1 | Pac-Man | 1982 |
| September 1 | Richie Rich | 1980 |
| September 1 | Rubik, the Amazing Cube | 1983 |
| September 1 | The Littles | 1983 |
| September 5 | Jennifer Slept Here | 1983 |
| September 8 | The Flintstone Funnies | 1982 |
| September 18 | Three's Company | 1977 |
| September 24 | Happy Days | 1974 |
| November 10 | The Puppy's Further Adventures | 1982 |
| December 1 | The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast | 1974 |
| December 1 | The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show | 1983 |
| December 8 | Captain Kangaroo | 1955 |
| December 8 | Pole Position | 1984 |
| December 8 | Pryor's Place | 1984 |
| December 11 | AfterMASH | 1983 |
| December 25 | Welcome to Pooh Corner | 1983 |
| December 25 | Paper Dolls | 1984 |
| December 28 | The Edge of Night | 1956 |
| December 28 | Hot Pursuit | 1984 |
| December 29 | Partners in Crime | 1984 |

### Entering syndication

| Show | Seasons | In Production |
| Benson | 5 | Yes |
| Bizarre | 4 | Yes |
| Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids | 7 | Yes |
| The Greatest American Hero | 3 | No |
| Hart to Hart | 5 | No |
| Trapper John, M.D. | 5 | Yes |
| Voyagers! | 1 | No |

### Made-for-TV movies and miniseries

* V: The Final Battle

## Networks and services
### Launches

| Network | Type | Closure date |
| Sportsvue | Cable television | April 3 |
| Home Team Sports Network | Cable television | April 4 |
| American Christian Television System | Cable television | May 15 |
| NetSpan | Cable television | June 19 |
| American Movie Classics | Cable television | October 1 |
| Cable Music Channel | Cable television | October 26 |
| MGM/UA Premiere Network | Cable television | November 10 |

### Conversions and rebrandings

| Old network name | New network name | Type | Conversion Date |
| The Entertainment Channel | Arts & Entertainment Channel | Cable television | February 1 |
| Alpha Repertory Television Service | Arts & Entertainment Channel | Cable and satellite | February 1 |
| Cable Health Network | Lifetime | Cable television | February 1 |
| Daytime and Lifetime Medical Television | Lifetime | Cable television | February 1 |

### Closures

| Network | Type | Closure date |
| Mobil Showcase Network | Cable television | Unknown |
| Spotlight | Cable television | February 1 |
| Cable Music Channel | Cable television | November 30 |

## Television stations
### Station launches

| Date | City of License/Designated market area|Market]] | Station | Affiliation | Channel ! Notes/Ref. |
| January 21 | Santa Fe/Albuquerque, New Mexico | KCHF | 11 | Religious independent | |
| February 1 | Indianapolis, Indiana | WPDS-TV | 59 | Independent | |
| February 14 | Fort Walton Beach, Florida | WPAN | 53 | Independent | |
| February 18 | Nashville, Tennessee | WCAY-TV | 30 | Independent | |
| February 22 | Green Bay, Wisconsin | WSCO | 14 | Religious independent | |
| February 23 | Lake Havasu City, Arizona | K45AJ | 45 | Independent | |
| February 26 | Medford, Oregon | KDRV | 12 | ABC | |
| March 5 | Greensboro, North Carolina | WLXI | 61 | Independent | |
| March 7 | Appleton/Green Bay, Wisconsin | WBOU | 32 | Independent | |
| March 25 | New Orleans, Louisiana | WNOL-TV | 38 | Independent | |
| March 30 | Seattle, Washington | KQFB | 20 | Independent | |
| April 1 | Greenville, South Carolina (Spartanburg, South Carolina/Asheville, SC) | WHNS | 21 | Independent | |
| April 16 | Concord, New Hampshire | WNHT | 21 | Independent | |
| April 17 | Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas | KLTJ | 49 | TBN | |
| May 5 | El Paso, Texas | KINT | 26 | Spanish independent | |
| May 12 | San Angelo, Texas | KIDY | 6 | Independent |
| May 13 | Decatur, Illinois (Champaign/Springfield, Illinois) | WFHL | 23 | Religious independent | |
| June 1 | Columbus, Ohio | WTTE | 28 | Independent | |
| June 25 | Harligen/Brownsville/McAllen, Texas | KLUJ-TV | 44 | |
| July 1 | Hopkinsville, Kentucky | W43AG | 43 | |
| July 5 | Florence, South Carolina | WGSE | 43 | |
| July 8 | New Orleans, Louisiana | WLAE-TV | 32 | Educational independent | |
| July 10 | Lake Havasu City, Arizona | K25AL | 25 | TBN | | |
| July 31 | Las Vegas, Nevada | KRLR | 21 | Independent | |
| August | Jacksonville, Illinois | WJPT | 14 | |
| August 1 | Hagerstown, Maryland | WJAL | 68 | Independent | Now licensed to Silver Spring, Maryland |
| August 7 | Burlington, North Carolina (Greensboro/Winston-Salem, North Carolina) | WRDG | 16 | Independent | |
| August 22 | Chicago, Illinois | W13BE | 13 | Independent | |
| August 28 | Lebanon-Nashville, Tennessee | WJFB | 66 | Independent | |
| September 9 | Toccoa, Georgia | WNEG | 32 | Independent | |
| September 9 | Tyler, Texas | KLMG-TV | 51 | CBS | |
| September 10 | Greenwood/Anderson, South Carolina | 38 | PBS | Part of ETV | |
| September 10 | Jacksonville, Florida | W10AX | 10 | The Box | - | September 14 | Hartford, Connecticut | WTIC-TV | 61 | Independent |
| September 23 | Dayton, Ohio | WRGT-TV | 45 | | | | | | | Independent |
| September 24 | Wilmington, North Carolina | WJKA | 26 | CBS | |
| October 1 | Bozeman/Butte, Montana | KUSM-TV | 9 | PBS | Flagship of Montana PBS |
| October 1 | Kalamazoo, Michigan (Battle Creek/Grand Rapids, Michigan) | WGVK | 52 | PBS |
| October 1 | Macomb, Illinois | WMEC | 22 | PBS | |
| October 1 | San Diego, California | KTTY | 69 | Independent | |
| October 24 | Miami, Florida | W30AB | 30 | PBS | Translator of WPBT |
| October 31 | Asheville, North Carolina (Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina) | WASV | 62 | Independent |
| November | Columbus, Georgia (Auburn, Alabama) | WXTX | 54 | Independent | |
| November 24 | Richmond, Virginia | WVRN-TV | 63 | Religious independent | |
| November 30 | Jackson, Mississippi | WDBD | 40 | Independent | |
| December 2 | Cotati, California | KRCB | 22 | PBS | |
| December 3 | Albany, New York | WUSV | 45 | |
| December 15 | Flint, Michigan | WSMH | 66 | |
| December 17 | Laredo, Texas | KLDO-TV | 27 | ABC | |
| December 18 | K61CV | 61 | unknown | |
| December 24 | Pensacola, Florida (Mobile, Alabama) | WJTC | 44 | Independent | |
| December 31 | Tucson, Arizona | KDTU | 18 | Independent | |
| Unknown date | Billings, Montana | K05HS | 5 | Daystar | |
| Unknown date | Casper, Wyoming | KFNB | 20 | ABC | |
| Unknown date | Glenwood Springs, Colorado | KCWS | 3 | Independent | |
| Unknown date | Minneapolis, Minnesota | K58BS | 58 | TBN | |
| Unknown date | Wenatchee, Washington | KCWT-TV | 27 | Independent | |

### Network affiliation changes

| Date | City of License/Market | Station | Channel | Old affiliation | New affiliation | Notes/Ref. |
| February 1 | Bakersfield, California | KGET-TV | 17 | CBS | NBC | |
| Unknown date | Cheyenne, Wyoming | KYCU-TV | 5 | CBS | ABC (primary) NBC (secondary) | |

## Births

| Date | Name | Notability |
| January 2 | Kristen Hager | Canadian actress (Valemont, Being Human) |
| January 4 | Robin Sydney | Actress (Drake & Josh) |
| January 6 | Kate McKinnon | Actress (The Big Gay Sketch Show, Saturday Night Live) and comedian |
| January 6 | Hilaria Baldwin | Podcaster |
| January 11 | Eddie Alvarez | Martial artist |
| January 19 | Nathan Ruegger | Voice actor (Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Histeria!) |
| January 19 | Mickey Sumner | Actress |
| January 24 | Ashley C. Williams | Actress |
| January 25 | Jay Briscoe | American professional wrestler (d. 2023) |
| January 26 | Layla Kayleigh | English-American television host |
| February 1 | Lee Thompson Young | Actor (The Famous Jett Jackson, Rizzoli & Isles) (d. 2013) |
| February 1 | Abbi Jacobson | Actress |
| February 3 | Matthew Moy | Actor (2 Broke Girls, Steven Universe) |
| February 7 | Anna Kooiman | Anchor |
| February 8 | Cecily Strong | Actress (Saturday Night Live) |
| February 11 | Aubrey O'Day | American singer and reality television personality |
| February 14 | Matt Barr | Actor |
| February 15 | Josh Byrne | Actor (Step by Step) |
| February 19 | Jennifer Lahmers | Anchor |
| February 20 | Trevor Noah | South African comedian and actor (The Daily Show) |
| February 20 | Audra Mae | Singer |
| February 24 | Wilson Bethel | Actor (The Young and the Restless, Hart of Dixie) |
| February 28 | Noureen DeWulf | Actress |
| February 28 | Melanie Chandra | Actress |
| February 29 | Mark Foster | Singer |
| March 2 | Trent Garrett | Actor (All My Children, Andi Mack) and model |
| March 4 | Sam Marin | Voice actor (Regular Show) |
| March 7 | Brandon T. Jackson | Actor |
| March 7 | Nicole Lapin | American television news anchor |
| March 7 | Alex Somers | American visual artist |
| March 10 | Olivia Wilde | Actress (House) |
| March 12 | Jaimie Alexander | Actress (Watch Over Me, Kyle XY, Blindspot) |
| March 13 | Noel Fisher | Canadian actor (X-Men: Evolution, Shameless) |
| March 14 | Liesel Matthews | Actress |
| March 16 | Carrie Kemper | Writer |
| March 20 | Justine Ezarik | YouTube personality and actress (Annoying Orange, iJustine) |
| March 20 | Christy Carlson Romano | Actress (Even Stevens, Kim Possible) and singer |
| March 25 | Katharine McPhee | Actress and singer (American Idol, Smash, Scorpion) |
| March 26 | Sara Jean Underwood | Model and TV host (Attack of the Show!) |
| March 28 | Bill Switzer | Canadian-American actor (Mummies Alive!, Eerie, Indiana: The Other Dimension, Sabrina: The Animated Series, X-Men: Evolution) |
| March 30 | Helena Mattsson | Swedish-American actress (666 Park Avenue) |
| March 31 | Molly Qerim | American television personality |
| April 2 | Ashley Peldon | Actress (The Mommies) and sister of Courtney Peldon |
| April 3 | Chrissie Fit | Actress (General Hospital, Milo Murphy's Law) |
| April 5 | Marshall Allman | Actor (Prison Break, True Blood) |
| April 6 | Al Mukadam | Canadian actor |
| April 8 | Taran Noah Smith | Actor (Home Improvement) |
| April 8 | Kirsten Storms | Actress (Days of Our Lives, Kim Possible, General Hospital) |
| April 10 | Cara DeLizia | Actress (So Weird) |
| April 10 | Mandy Moore | Actress (Tron: Uprising, Sheriff Callie's Wild West, High School USA!, This Is Us, Tangled: The Series) and singer |
| April 11 | Kelli Garner | Actress (Pan Am) |
| April 16 | Claire Foy | English actress (Upstairs Downstairs) |
| April 18 | America Ferrera | Actress (Independent Lens, Ugly Betty, The Good Wife, DreamWorks Dragons, Superstore) |
| April 19 | Kelen Coleman | Actress |
| April 20 | Tim Jo | Actor (Glory Daze, The Neighbors, This Is Us, For All Mankind, Reasonable Doubt) |
| April 20 | Harris Wittels | Comedian (d. 2015) |
| April 21 | Shayna Fox | Voice actress (The Oz Kids, Rocket Power, All Grown Up!) |
| April 21 | Desmin Borges | Actor |
| April 22 | Michelle Ryan | British actress (Bionic Woman) |
| April 23 | Jesse Lee Soffer | Actor (As the World Turns, The Mob Doctor, Chicago P.D.) |
| April 24 | Lindsey Gort | Actress |
| April 25 | Jillian Bell | Actress |
| April 25 | Melonie Diaz | Actress |
| April 26 | Emily Wickersham | Actress (NCIS) |
| April 26 | Ryan O'Donohue | Voice actor (Recess, Batman Beyond) |
| April 27 | Patrick Stump | Musician (Fall Out Boy) and actor (Robot Chicken) |
| April 29 | Firass Dirani | Australian actor (Power Rangers Mystic Force) |
| April 29 | Hallie Jackson | Anchor |
| April 29 | Taylor Cole | Actress (Summerland) |
| May 1 | Kerry Bishé | Actress |
| May 3 | Morgan Kibby | Actress (100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd) and singer |
| May 4 | Cheryl Burke | Host |
| May 8 | Julia Whelan | Actress (Once and Again) |
| May 8 | Van Robichaux | Writer |
| May 9 | Ezra Klein | TV host |
| May 12 | Clare Bowen | Australian actress and singer (Nashville) |
| May 13 | Ginger Orsi | Actress and singer |
| May 14 | Mark Zuckerberg | American media magnate |
| May 17 | Alejandro Edda | Mexican-American actor (Narcos: Mexico, Fear the Walking Dead) |
| May 23 | Adam Wylie | Actor (Picket Fences, Hey Arnold!, Pepper Ann, As Told by Ginger, American Dragon: Jake Long, Legion of Super Heroes, The Secret Saturdays, Jake and the Never Land Pirates) |
| May 24 | Sarah Hagan | Actress (Freaks and Geeks) |
| May 27 | Darin Brooks | Actor (Days of Our Lives, The Bold and the Beautiful, Blue Mountain State) |
| May 29 | Carmelo Anthony | NBA basketball player |
| May 29 | Kaycee Stroh | Actress (High School Musical) |
| May 30 | DeWanda Wise | Actress |
| June 1 | Megan Ganz | Writer |
| June 4 | Jillian Murray | Actress |
| June 5 | Simon Rich | Screenwriter |
| June 6 | Antonia Prebble | New Zealand actress (Power Rangers Mystic Force) |
| June 6 | Brandon Scott Jones | Actor |
| June 8 | Torrey DeVitto | Actress (Beautiful People, One Tree Hill, Pretty Little Liars, The Vampire Diaries, Chicago Med) |
| June 10 | Betsy Sodaro | Actress |
| June 13 | Phillip Van Dyke | Actor (Noah Knows Best, voice of Arnold on Hey Arnold! (1997–99)) |
| June 15 | Wayne Sermon | Musician |
| June 17 | John Gallagher Jr. | Actor |
| June 18 | Ian Jones-Quartey | Voice actor and producer (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes) |
| June 18 | Christopher Ragland | English actor (Thomas & Friends, The Amazing World of Gumball) |
| June 19 | Paul Dano | Actor |
| June 20 | Kevin Ryan | Actor |
| June 22 | Yassir Lester | Actor |
| June 26 | Aubrey Plaza | Actress (Parks and Recreation) |
| June 27 | Emma Lahana | New Zealand actress (Power Rangers Dino Thunder) |
| June 27 | Khloé Kardashian | Actress (Keeping Up with the Kardashians) |
| June 30 | Fantasia | Singer (American Idol, Fantasia for Real) |
| July 5 | Danay García | Cuban actress (Prison Break, Fear the Walking Dead) |
| July 7 | Ross Malinger | Voice actor (T.J. Detweiler on Recess (1997–98)) |
| July 8 | Alexis Dziena | Actress (Invasion, Entourage) |
| July 10 | Kelly Dowdle | Actress (American Crime Story) |
| July 10 | Aviva Baumann | Actress |
| July 11 | Rachael Taylor | Australian actress (666 Park Avenue, Crisis, Jessica Jones) |
| July 11 | Serinda Swan | Canadian actress (Breakout Kings, Graceland) |
| July 11 | Melanie Papalia | Actress |
| July 11 | Rob Heaps | Actor |
| July 12 | Natalie Martinez | Actress |
| July 19 | Andrea Libman | Canadian voice actress (Madeline, Dragon Tales, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic) |
| July 19 | Kaitlin Doubleday | Actress (Empire) |
| July 20 | James Mackay | Australian actor (Dynasty) |
| July 21 | Paloma Guzmán | Actress (Pretty Little Liars, Power Book III: Raising Kanan, Roswell, New Mexico) |
| July 23 | Krysta Rodriguez | Actress |
| July 24 | LaTangela | Actress (Taina) |
| July 26 | Grace Byers | Actress (Empire) |
| July 27 | Taylor Schilling | Actress (Mercy, Orange is the New Black) |
| July 29 | J. Madison Wright Morris | Actress (Earth 2) (d. 2006) |
| July 29 | Todd Bosley | Actor |
| July 30 | Gabrielle Christian | Actress (South of Nowhere) |
| July 30 | Gina Rodriguez | Actress (Jane the Virgin, Carmen Sandiego) |
| August 1 | Valery Ortiz | Actress (South of Nowhere, What About Brian) |
| August 2 | JD Vance | Politician |
| August 3 | Emily Baldoni | Swedish-American actress |
| August 6 | James Holzhauer | American game show contestant |
| August 7 | Joseph Trapanese | American composer |
| August 10 | Ryan Eggold | Actor (90210, The Blacklist) |
| August 13 | Eme Ikwuakor | Actor |
| August 26 | Johnny Ray Gill | Actor |
| August 27 | Amanda Fuller | Actress (Last Man Standing) |
| August 28 | Sarah Roemer | Actress (The Event, Chosen) |
| August 28 | Michael Galeota | Actor (The Jersey) (d. 2016) |
| September 1 | Joe Trohman | American musician (Fall Out Boy) |
| September 1 | Ludwig Göransson | Musician |
| September 4 | Kyle Mooney | Actor and comedian (Saturday Night Live) |
| September 5 | Annabelle Wallis | Actress (Star Trek: Discovery) |
| September 7 | Ben Hollingsworth | Actor |
| September 13 | Baron Corbin | Pro wrestler |
| September 14 | Adam Lamberg | Actor (Lizzie McGuire) |
| September 16 | Sabrina Bryan | Actress, singer (The Cheetah Girls; Dancing with the Stars contestant [2 seasons]) |
| September 18 | Nina Arianda | Actress |
| September 18 | Brandon Maxwell | Director |
| September 19 | Kevin Zegers | Canadian actor (Gossip Girl) |
| September 19 | Lydia Hearst | Actress and great-granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst |
| September 22 | Laura Vandervoort | Canadian actress (Instant Star, V, Smallville, Bitten) |
| September 23 | CariDee English | Model and actress (America's Next Top Model) |
| September 23 | Anneliese van der Pol | Actress (That's So Raven, Raven's Home) and singer |
| September 24 | Matt Kemp | American professional baseball outfielder |
| September 25 | Zach Woods | Actor (The Office, Silicon Valley) |
| September 27 | Avril Lavigne | Singer and actress |
| September 30 | T-Pain | Singer and rapper |
| October 1 | Beck Bennett | Actor and comedian (Saturday Night Live) |
| October 1 | Josh Brener | Actor (Glory Daze, The Big Bang Theory, Maron, Silicon Valley, Future-Worm!, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) |
| October 1 | Sam Saletta | Actor (7th Heaven, Rocket Power) |
| October 3 | Ashlee Simpson | Actress, singer (7th Heaven, The Ashlee Simpson Show) and sister of Jessica Simpson |
| October 3 | Jessica Parker Kennedy | Actress (Kaya, The Secret Circle, Black Sails) |
| October 3 | Chris Marquette | Actor (Strong Medicine, The Mummy: The Animated Series, Fillmore!, Joan of Arcadia) |
| October 3 | Nick Wright | American sports television personality |
| October 4 | Glenn McMillan | Brazilian actor (Power Rangers Wild Force) |
| October 4 | James Landry Hébert | American actor (1883) |
| October 4 | Nathalie Kelley | Actress |
| October 11 | Martha MacIsaac | Canadian actress (1600 Penn) |
| October 14 | Jason Davis | Voice actor (Mikey Blumberg on Recess) (d. 2020) |
| October 17 | Chris Lowell | Actor (Veronica Mars, Private Practice) |
| October 23 | Meghan McCain | Television personality |
| October 24 | Ben Giroux | Actor (Henry Danger, Bunsen Is a Beast, Danger Force, Big Nate) |
| October 25 | Katy Perry | Singer, songwriter, and actress |
| October 27 | Kelly Osbourne | British singer, actress (The Osbournes, Chelsea Lately, The 7D) and daughter of Ozzy Osbourne |
| October 27 | Emilie Ullerup | Danish-Canadian actress (Sanctuary, Arctic Air) |
| October 28 | Finn Wittrock | Actor (All My Children, American Horror Story) |
| November 12 | Omarion | Actor |
| November 12 | Jorge Masvidal | Mixed martial artist |
| November 16 | Kimberly J. Brown | Actress (Halloweentown, Vampire Princess Miyu, Guiding Light) |
| November 21 | Lindsey Haun | Actress and singer |
| November 21 | Jena Malone | Actress |
| November 22 | Scarlett Johansson | Actress (4-time host of Saturday Night Live) |
| November 23 | Lucas Grabeel | Actor (Halloweentown, High School Musical, Switched at Birth) and voice actor (Family Guy, DreamWorks Dragons, Sheriff Callie's Wild West, Elena of Avalor, Spirit Riding Free, Pinky Malinky) |
| November 23 | Jarah Mariano | Model |
| November 24 | Ulambayaryn Byambajav | Entertainer (d. 2020) |
| November 25 | Gaspard Ulliel | Actor (Moon Knight) (d. 2022) |
| November 28 | Mary Elizabeth Winstead | Actress (Wolf Lake, The Returned, BrainDead, Mercy Street, Fargo) |
| November 28 | Trey Songz | Actor |
| November 29 | Beatrice Rosen | Actress (Cuts, Backstrom) |
| December 4 | Lindsay Felton | Actress (Thunder Alley, Caitlin's Way) |
| December 10 | Tom Hern | New Zealand actor (Power Rangers Dino Thunder) |
| December 11 | Xosha Roquemore | American actress |
| December 12 | Gabrielle Ruiz | American actress |
| December 14 | Jackson Rathbone | American actor |
| December 15 | Kirsty Lee Allan | Australian actress |
| December 16 | Theo James | Actor |
| December 17 | Shannon Woodward | Actress (The Riches, Raising Hope, Westworld) |
| December 19 | Erica O'Keith | Actress (Romeo!) |
| December 20 | Bob Morley | Actor (The 100) |
| December 22 | Greg Finley | Actor (The Secret Life of the American Teenager) |
| December 25 | Miro | Bulgarian-American professional wrestler |
| December 30 | LeBron James | NBA basketball player |

## Deaths

| Date | Name | Age | Notability |
| February 16 | Kenny Williams | 69 | Game show announcer (The Hollywood Squares, High Rollers, Gambit) |
| March 1 | Jackie Coogan | 69 | actor (Uncle Fester on The Addams Family) |
| March 24 | Sam Jaffe | 93 | actor (Dr. Zorba on Ben Casey) |
| March 31 | Caryl Ledner | 63 | Emmy-winning writer (Mary White) |
| May 2 | Jack Barry | 66 | game show host/producer (The Joker's Wild) |
| May 16 | Andy Kaufman | 35 | comedian (Latka Gravas on Taxi) |
| June 15 | Ned Glass | 78 | actor |
| August 8 | Richard Deacon | 63 | actor (Fred Rutherford on Leave It to Beaver, Mel Cooley on The Dick Van Dyke Show) |
| September 17 | Richard Basehart | 70 | actor (Admiral Harriman Nelson on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea) |
| September 24 | Neil Hamilton | 85 | actor (Commissioner Gordon on Batman) |
| October 18 | Jon-Erik Hexum | 26 | actor (gunshot wound from accident on set of TV series Cover Up) |
| December 7 | Jeanne Cagney | 65 | actress |