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1981 in American television

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The year 1981 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events during 1981.

Events

Date		Event
January 12
January 15
January 20
February 6
February 14
February 20
February 21
February 27
March 1
March 4
March 6
March 9
March 17
March 18
The television show The Greatest American Hero premiered on ABC, starring William Katt as Ralph Hinkley, an ordinary teacher who was given super powers, but not the knowledge of how to control them. Less than two weeks later, after John Hinckley Jr. shot U.S. President Ronald Reagan, the character was renamed "Ralph Hanley" for episodes already filmed, and then "Mr. H." for the rest of the season. The show's theme song, "Believe It or Not" (sung by Joey Scarbury) became a hit single, rising to No. 2 on the Billboard Top 40.
March 20
March 30
NBC broadcast its final [NCAA Division I Basketball Championship Game](1981-ncaa-division-i-basketball-championship-game), having done so since [1969](1969-ncaa-division-i-men-s-basketball-tournament). The tournament moved to CBS the [following year](1982-ncaa-division-i-men-s-basketball-tournament). Dick Enberg, Billy Packer, and Al McGuire called the game for NBC.
April 1
A videotape was shown on CNN, reportedly made during a January 6, 1981 broadcast of The Dick Maurice Show, showing psychic Tamara Rand's appearance on the talk show seen on KTNV in Las Vegas, and her amazing prediction of a March 30, 1981 event. On the tape, shown again the next day on NBC's Today and ABC's Good Morning America, Rand was seen telling Maurice that "the last few days of March or early April" would be "a crisis time" for U.S. President Ronald Reagan; that when she had the vision she felt "a thud" in her chest but that she also perceived "gunshots all over the place". Rand added that "It has to do with somebody young and radical... The only thing I can attach to it is Humbley, and maybe Jack, or something like that." Five days later, after the authenticity of the tape came into dispute, Rand and Maurice admitted that the prediction sequence had been taped the day after the March 30 attempted assassination of Reagan by John W. Hinckley, Jr.
April 11
April 12
April 21
May 1
May 5–14
May 7
May 15
June 2
June 24
June 30
July 4
July 10
July 29
August 1
August 9
August 15
August 30
September 7
The People's Court made its syndicated television debut on 39 television stations in the United States. Created by producer Ralph Edwards, the show presented real small claims court cases, with the litigants agreeing to dismiss court proceedings and to go before retired Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Joseph A. Wapner. Of the $800 provided by the producers for each case, the amount not awarded to the plaintiff ($750 maximum) would be divided evenly between both sides. The very first case saw a landlady receive an award of $614.
September 11
September 12
September 13
September 14
September 26
September 28
September 29
October 6
CBS broadcast Return of the Beverly Hillbillies, which reunited most of the surviving cast members of the 1962–1971 sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies.
October 8
October 12
October 19
October 29
October 30
October 31
November 1
November 2
November 8
November 9
November 11
November 16–17
November 30
December 6
Interviewed by satellite in Tripoli by the ABC News program This Week With David Brinkley, Libya's President Muammar Gaddafi denies a U.S. State Department report that he had sent a "hit squad" to assassinate U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Speaking in English, Gaddafi said "We are sure we haven't sent any people to kill Reagan or any other people in the world... if they have evidence, we are ready to see this evidence." He added, "How you are silly people! You are superpower, how you are afraid? Oh, it is silly this administration, and this president." Despite rumors that a 5, 10 or 14 member death squad had landed in the U.S. the previous weekend, nothing was ever confirmed and no person was ever arrested or detained.
December 11
December 14
December 18
Tom Brokaw signed off from The Today Show, for the last time as co-anchor on NBC. Bryant Gumbel would succeed him as anchor in January 1982. Brokaw would go on to anchor NBC Nightly News, with Roger Mudd, for most of 1982 before becoming sole anchor.
December 19
December 24
December 25
December 31

Programs

Debuting this year

Date	Show	Network
January 12	Dynasty	ABC
January 15	Hill Street Blues	NBC
January 16	Harper Valley PTA
Nero Wolfe
January 31	Walking Tall	CBS
February 2	The Gangster Chronicles	NBC
February 6	The Brady Brides
March 18	The Greatest American Hero	ABC
April 6	Private Benjamin	CBS
April 9	Checking In
May 16	SCTV Network 90	NBC
July 17	Comedy Theater
August 7	The Krypton Factor	ABC
August 21	Rosie	CBS
September 10	Best of the West	ABC
September 12	Goldie Gold and Action Jack
The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam!	NBC
The Smurfs
Space Stars
Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
The Kwicky Koala Show	CBS
Trollkins
Spider-Man	Syndication
September 14	Entertainment Tonight
October 7	Mr. Merlin	CBS
October 9	Behind the Screen
October 10	Laverne & Shirley in the Army	ABC
October 24	Fitz and Bones	NBC
October 25	Today's F.B.I.	ABC
October 26	Battlestars	NBC
October 28	Love, Sidney
October 29	Gimme a Break
Lewis & Clark
November 1	Code Red	ABC
November 3	Father Murphy	NBC
November 4	The Fall Guy	ABC
November 11	Shannon	CBS
November 13	Strike Force	ABC
November 15	This Week
November 20	McClain's Law	NBC
November 24	Simon & Simon	CBS
November 27	Darkroom	ABC
November 28	Open All Night
December 1	Bret Maverick	NBC
December 4	Falcon Crest	CBS
You Can't Do That on Television	Nickelodeon

Ending this year

Date	Show	Debut
March 7	The Tim Conway Show	1980
April 10	Hollywood Squares (returned in 1983)	1966
April 16	Buck Rogers in the 25th Century	1979
April 20	Soap	1977
May 23	Eight Is Enough
June 10	The Muppet Show	1976
July 10	Sanford	1980
July 21	Flo	1980
August 19	Charlie's Angels	1976
August 20	The Waltons	1972
August 28	Comedy Theater	1981
August 29	Eight is Enough	1977
September 1	CBN Satellite Service
October 23	Card Sharks (returned in 1986)	1978
October 24	Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (returned in 1984)	1972
October 31	Super Friends (returned in 1983)	1973
November 30	The Mike Douglas Show	1961
December 5	Heathcliff	1980
December 15	Peanuts (cancellation not announced by CBS until July 12 1983; returned in 2023)	1969
December 17	Tomorrow Coast to Coast	1973

Changing networks

Show	Moved from	Moved to
Walt Disney anthology series	NBC	CBS
SCTV	Syndication	NBC

Made-for-TV movies and miniseries

Title		Network		Date(s) of airing
Dark Night of the Scarecrow
Fallen Angel
Miracle on Ice
Masada
The Adventures of Nellie Bly
The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island
The Five of Me
Return of the Beverly Hillbillies
Family Reunion
Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy
Skokie
Bill

Networks and services

Launches

Network	Type	Launch date	Notes
Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network	Cable television	Unknown
Star	Satellite television	Unknown
Take 2	Cable television	January 31
Alpha Repertory Television Service	Cable television	April 12
Spotlight	Cable television	May 28
MTV	Cable television	August 1
EWTN	Cable television	August 15	Catholic religious
ASPN	Cable television	October 1
CBS Cable	Cable television	October 12
PRISM Sports New England	Cable television	November 6
Financial News Network	Cable television	November 30

Conversions and rebrandings

Old network name	New network name	Type	Conversion Date	Notes	Source
CBN Satellite Network	CBN Cable Network	Cable television	September 1

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 13	Cleveland, Ohio	WCLQ-TV	61	Independent
Detroit, Michigan	WRHT	31
January 26	Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas	KTWS-TV	27
February 8	Clarksburg, West Virginia	WLYJ	46	Religious independent
February 15	Jacksonville, Florida	WAWS-TV	30	Independent
March 6	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	KTBO-TV	14	TBN
March 18	Tulsa, Oklahoma	KGCT-TV	41	Independent
April	Santa Rosa, California	KFTY	50	Currently licensed to Fremont, California
April 6	Poughkeepsie/New York City, New York	WFTI-TV	51	Now licensed in Jersey City, New Jersey
Washington, D.C.	WCQR	50
May 5	Lake Charles, Louisiana	KLTL-TV	18	PBS	Part of Louisiana Public Broadcasting
May 8	Albuquerque/Santa Fe, New Mexico	KGSW-TV	14	Independent
May 9	Greensboro, North Carolina	WGGT-TV	33
May 13	Lafayette, Louisiana	KLPB-TV	24	PBS	Part of Louisiana Public Broadcasting
May 29	Princeton/Atlantic City, New Jersey	WWAC-TV	44	Independent
May 31	San Jose, California
(San Francisco/Oakland, California)	KSTS	48
June 1	Fayetteville/Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina	WKFT	40
June 15	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	WWSG-TV	57
July 13	WRBV	65
August 16	Marion, Illinois	WDDD-TV	27
August 22	Atlanta, Georgia	WVEU	69
September 1	Columbia, South Carolina	WCCT-TV	57
September 18	Chicago, Illinois	WFBN	66
October 11	Reno, Nevada	KAME-TV	21
October 18	Boise, Idaho	KTRV	12
November 1	Salinas/Monterey, California	KCBA	35	SIN
November 15	Arecibo, Puerto Rico	WATX-TV	54	Independent
November 20	San Jose, California	K42DT	42	TBN
November 21	KECH	22	Independent
December 4	Seaford/Dover, Delaware
(Salisbury, Maryland)	WDPB	64	PBS	Satellite of WHYY-TV/Wilmington, Delaware
December 7	North Pole/Fairbanks, Alaska	KJNP-TV	4	Religious Independent
December 11	Lubbock, Texas	KJAA	34	Independent
December 14	Tampa, Florida	WFTS-TV	28
December 18	Raleigh, North Carolina	WLFL	22	Independent
December 19	Brownsville, Texas
(McAllen/Harlingen, Texas)	KVEO-TV	23	NBC

Network affiliation changes

Date	City of License/Market	Station	Channel	Old affiliation	New affiliation
August 30	Baltimore, Maryland	WMAR-TV	2	CBS	NBC
WBAL-TV	11	NBC	CBS
September 28	Albany, New York	WRGB	6	NBC	CBS
WNYT	13	CBS	NBC
December 6	El Dorado, Arkansas
(Monroe, Louisiana)	KTVE	10	ABC	NBC
West Monroe/Monroe, Louisiana
(El Dorado, Arkansas)	KLAA	14	NBC	ABC
Unknown date	Cheyenne, Wyoming	KGWN-TV	5	ABC	CBS
Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico
(Brownsville/Harlingen/McAllen, Texas)	XHRIO-TV	2	English independent	Spanish independent
Scottsbluff, Nebraska	KSTF	10	ABC	CBS

Station closures

Date	City of License/Market	Station	Channel	Affiliation	First air date	Notes/Ref.
Unknown date	Berlin, New Hampshire	WEDB-TV	40	PBS	April 30, 1969	Part of the New Hampshire Public Television network

Births

Date		Name		Notability
January 1
January 5
January 8
January 13
Diana Perez
Ginger Zee
January 15
Howie Day
January 17
January 19
January 20
January 22
January 23
January 24
January 25
Charlie Bewley
January 26
January 28
January 29
January 31
February 1
Conor Knighton
February 2
February 3
February 5
February 6
February 8
February 10
Stephanie Beatriz
Holly Willoughby
February 11
February 17
Paris Hilton
February 20
Jocko Sims
Stephanie Wittels Wachs
February 23
February 27
March 1
March 2
Bryce Dallas Howard
March 3
March 6
March 7
March 8
March 10
March 11
LeToya Luckett
March 14
March 18
March 19
March 22
March 23
March 24
Neil Grayston
March 27
March 28
March 29
March 30
March 31
April 2
April 6
April 7
April 8
April 11
April 12
April 13
April 19
April 19
April 28
Alex Riley
April 28
April 30
Rose Rollins
May 2
May 3
May 5
Zach McGowan
Soren Thompson
May 8
May 11
May 15
May 16
Athena Karkanis
May 17
May 22
May 23
May 29
Justin Chon
Anders Holm
June 1
Johnny Pemberton
June 2
June 4
Zhubin Parang
June 6
June 7
June 9
June 15
Marie Harf
June 17
June 18
June 19
June 20
June 21
Nicola Correia-Damude
June 22
June 24
June 26
July 1
Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave
July 5
July 8
July 9
July 13
July 15
July 16
July 18
July 21
Chrishell Stause
July 22
Clive Standen
July 24
July 28
Neil Casey
July 29
July 30
Lisa Wilhoit
July 31
Eric Lively
August 2
August 4
Meghan Markle
Abigail Spencer
August 5
August 6
August 7
August 8
August 14
August 15
August 17
August 19
August 21
August 22
August 23
August 24
August 25
Andrew Chambliss
August 27
Patrick J. Adams
August 29
August 31
September 1
September 4
September 5
September 7
September 8
September 9
September 10
September 12
Jennifer Hudson
September 13
September 15
September 16
September 18
Arie Luyendyk Jr.
September 20
September 21
September 22
September 24
September 25
Dan Mintz
Victor Blackwell
September 26
September 28
Jerrika Hinton
Rebecca Jarvis
September 29
October 3
October 8
October 9
Rupert Friend
October 12
Dan Oster
October 16
Caterina Scorsone
October 18
October 22
John Boyd
October 30
Fiona Dourif
October 31
November 1
LaTavia Roberson
November 8
November 9
November 10
November 11
Alex Sim-Wise
November 14
November 15
November 16
November 18
Christina Vidal
Nasim Pedrad
November 24
November 25
Amy Seimetz
November 26
November 28
November 29
John Milhiser
November 30
December 2
December 3
Liza Lapira
Elliott Kalan
December 11
December 12
December 13
December 15
December 16
December 27
Emilie de Ravin
December 28
December 31

Deaths

Date		Name		Age		Notability
January 25
April 26
June 9
July 3
August 1
September 27
November 25
November 29

References

Buckley, Tom. (January 12, 1981). "Premiere of 'Dynasty', A TV Series on an Oil Family". The New York Times.
Mansour, David. (2005). "From Abba to Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century". [[Andrews McMeel Publishing]].
Museum of Broadcast Communications, ''Encyclopedia of Television'' (2d.Ed) (CRC Press, 2004) pp. 1089–1091
Robert J. Thompson, ''Television's Second Golden Age: From Hill Street Blues to ER'' (Syracuse University Press, 1997) p. 30
(2021-04-20). "Biden oath second only to Reagan and Obama with TV viewers".
Gordon, Brian. "Fact check: Joe Biden's inauguration didn't have the lowest-ever TV ratings".
LaBrecque, Jeff. (August 5, 2013). "'Fridays': What really happened the night Andy Kaufman melted down on live TV". [[Entertainment Weekly]].
(September 5, 2012). "How Bad Can It Be? Case File #23: Saturday Night Live's aborted 1980-81 season". [[The Onion.
Seth Davis, ''When March Went Mad: The Game That Transformed Basketball'' (Macmillan, 2009) p244; "N.C.A.A. Title Basketball Sold to CBS for $48 Million", ''New York Times'', March 5, 1981, pD-19
James S. O'Rourke, ''The Business Communication Casebook: A Notre Dame Collection'' (Cengage Learning, 2007) pp27-33
(March 17, 1981). "Director Rene Clair Dies in His Sleep". [[Tulsa World]].
"Psychic 'Saw' President's Narrow Escape", Associated Press report in ''Los Angeles Times'', April 2, 1981, p. I-7
"TV host, psychic admit Reagan hoax", ''Chicago Tribune'', April 6, 1981, p.1-1
[http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/rand.html Museum of Hoaxes]
(April 2, 1981). "Psychic 'shocked'". Spokane Daily Chronicle.
(April 3, 1981). "Doubt cast on authenticity of psychic's TV taping". Chronicle.
(April 7, 1981). "Columnist admits psychic hoax". Milwaukee Journal.
Jerry Oppenheimer, ''Seinfeld: The Making of an American Icon''(HarperCollins, 2002) p181, 189
(July 29, 1981). "Charles, Diana Wed In Splendor — All World Watches Ceremony". Pittsburgh Press.
(June 27, 1981). "BASEBALL STRIKE FORCES TV TO IMPROVISE". The New York Times.
Leibovitz, Annie. (June 1, 2015). "Introducing Caitlyn Jenner".
(July 30, 1994). "Networks bracing for baseball strike". Gainesville Sun.
(August 2, 2014). "This week in TV Guide: August 1, 1981".
Chester Gillis, ''Roman Catholicism in America'' (Columbia University Press, 1999) p229; "Nun's Eternal World Network Debuts Tonight on Cable TV", ''Gainesville (FL) Sun'' - August 15, 1981, pB-1
[https://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/08/arts/tv-people-s-court-reality-in-the-morning.html "TV: 'People's Court', 'Reality' in the Morning"], ''New York Times'', September 8, 1981; [https://web.archive.org/web/20071212054811/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924829,00.html "Law: Oyez! Don't Touch That Dial"], ''TIME'' Magazine, September 7, 1981
[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081933/episodes IMDb]
"Two magazine series to debut", ''Milwaukee Journal'', September 13, 1981
Thompson, Robert J.. (1997). "Television's second golden age: from Hill Street blues to ER". [[Syracuse University Press]].
(1981-10-19). "Going national.". [[Broadcasting & Cable.
"2 NBC Comedies Have Premieres", ''New York Times'' October 29, 1981 [http://www.tv.com/gimme-a-break%21/show/680/summary.html TV.com]
"NBC Commercials/Extra Scenes - Halloween (Oct. 30, 1981)".
Network Switch Effective, Monroe News-Star-World, December 6, 1981
"Khadafy: Libya not trying to kill Reagan", ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', December 7, 1981, p1
[[Geoff Simons]], ''Libya: The Struggle for Survival'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 1993) p328
(December 14, 1981). "Channel 28 makes its debut today". [[Tampa Times]].
(July 19, 1988). "Fox switching stations". St. Petersburg Times.
(July 19, 1988). "ABC switching channels in bay area". St. Petersburg Times.
(December 18, 1981). "Channel 22 Plans First Show Today". [[Durham Morning Herald.
(December 22, 1981). "New TV station gets positive feedback". [[The News and Observer.
(August 4, 1986). "Fox network begins to take shape". [[Broadcasting.
(June 28, 1998). "Changing channels". The News and Observer.
(May 4, 2006). "WB 22 to get new newscasts". The News and Observer.
Michael D. Murray, ''Encyclopedia of Television News'' (Greenwood Publishing, 1999) p47
Pullar III, Sid. (2024-09-26). "Bryan Danielson: Bio, News, Videos, Socials & More".
"Blake Lewis on Apple Music".
(2019-09-16). "WWE Profile - Kofi Kingston".

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Title		Network		Date(s) of airing
Dark Night of the Scarecrow
Fallen Angel
Miracle on Ice
Masada
The Adventures of Nellie Bly
The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island
The Five of Me
Return of the Beverly Hillbillies
Family Reunion
Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy
Skokie
Bill