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1983 in American television

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In 1983, television in the United States saw a number of significant events, including the debuts, finales, and cancellations of television shows; the launch, closure, and rebranding of channels; changes and additions to network affiliations by stations; controversies, business transactions, and carriage disputes; and the deaths of individuals who had made notable contributions to the medium.

Events

Date		Event
January 1
January 3
January 8
January 10
January 30
February 5
February 6–13
February 13
February 20
February 21
February 23
February 28
March 2
March 6
The first televised USFL football game (Los Angeles Express vs. New Jersey Generals) is broadcast by ABC. The Express would ultimately win the game, 20–15.
March 7
March 10
March 18
March 19
March 20
April 4
The Morning Show, hosted by Regis Philbin and Cyndy Garvey, premieres locally on WABC in New York City. The show would eventually make its move to national syndication in 1988 with Philbin and Kathie Lee Gifford as his co-host.
April 7
April 9
April 12
April 18
April 21
May 1–2
May 6
ABC airs the broadcast network television premiere of The Shining.
May 16
May 22
May 29
June 7
June 16
June 20
June 23
August 4
August 10
August 12
August 22
August 30
September 5
Tom Brokaw becomes the sole main anchor of the NBC Nightly News, ending a 17-month stint co-anchoring the broadcast with Roger Mudd.
Peter Jennings becomes sole anchorman of ABC's newscast World News Tonight, after the death of Frank Reynolds two months earlier.
Pam Long becomes co-main writer of the CBS soap opera Guiding Light.
September 5
September 8
September 12
September 17
Alvin and the Chipmunks premieres on NBC.
Vanessa Williams is crowned Miss America 1984 on NBC. She became the first African American woman to win the title.
September 18
September 19
Press Your Luck premieres on CBS; the game show would end its run on September 26, 1986.
September 25
September 27–29
October 1
October 3
October 6
October 9
October 10
October 29
October 30
November 7-11
November 20
November 24
Jim Crockett Promotions produces the inaugural Starrcade event on closed-circuit television around the Southern United States. Predating the World Wrestling Federation's (later WWE) first WrestleMania event by two years, Starrcade would soon become Jim Crockett Promotions and later World Championship Wrestling's premier, flagship event.
November 29
December 2
December 21
December 25

Programs

Debuting this year

Date	Show	Network
January 3	Hit Man	NBC
Just Men!
January 10	Fraggle Rock	HBO
January 11	The Joy of Painting	PBS
January 22	Mama's Family	NBC
January 23	The A-Team
February 5	The Dukes	CBS
February 10	Amanda's	ABC
February 26	Wizards and Warriors	CBS
March 2	High Performance	ABC
March 4	At Ease
March 7	Small & Frye	CBS
March 8	Fandango	TNN
I 40 Paradise
Nashville Now
March 15	Ace Crawford, Private Eye	CBS
April 1	Baby Makes Five	ABC
April 2	Goodnight, Beantown	CBS
April 6	Zorro and Son	ABC
April 10	Casablanca	NBC
April 15	Bare Essence	ABC
April 18	Good Morning, Mickey!	The Disney Channel
Welcome to Pooh Corner
May 31	Star Search	Syndication
Buffalo Bill	NBC
June 27	Loving	ABC
July 11	Reading Rainbow	PBS
July 29	Friday Night Videos	NBC
August 8	NBC News at Sunrise
August 16	Rosie	CBS
September 1	Donald Duck Presents	The Disney Channel
September 5	He-Man and the Masters of the Universe	Syndication
September 8	We Got It Made	NBC
September 9	Lottery!	ABC
September 10	The Littles
Rubik, the Amazing Cube
The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show
September 12	Inspector Gadget	Syndication
September 16	Webster	ABC
September 17	Alvin and the Chipmunks	NBC
Mister T
Benji, Zax & the Alien Prince	CBS
The Biskitts
The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show
Dungeons & Dragons
Saturday Supercade
September 18	Hardcastle and McCormick	ABC
September 19	Love Connection	Syndication
Wheel of Fortune
September 20	Just Our Luck	ABC
September 21	Hotel
September 23	Mr. Smith	NBC
September 26	Boone
AfterMASH	CBS
September 27	Oh Madeline	ABC
September 29	It's Not Easy	ABC
September 30	Manimal	NBC
October 1	The Rousters
Cutter to Houston	CBS
October 2	The Yellow Rose	NBC
October 3	Scarecrow and Mrs. King	CBS
October 5	Whiz Kids
October 15	Newton's Apple	PBS
October 17	Sally	Syndication
October 21	Jennifer Slept Here	NBC
October 25	Bay City Blues
October 31	Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour
December 15	Automan	ABC
Masquerade

Resuming this year

Show		Last aired		Network		Retitled as/Same		New network/Same		Return date
Sale of the Century
Dream House
Battlestars
The Paper Chase
Second Chance

Ending this year

Date	Show	Debut
February 3	The Greatest American Hero	1981
February 28	MASH*	1972
March 21	Little House on the Prairie	1974
April 1	Hit Man	1983
Just Men!
April 10	Gloria	1982
April 12	Ace Crawford, Private Eye	1983
April 29	Baby Makes Five
May 10	Laverne & Shirley	1976
May 14	Wizards and Warriors	1983
May 24	Joanie Loves Chachi	1982
May 31	Bring 'Em Back Alive
June 1	Tales of the Gold Monkey
June 6	Love, Sidney	1981
June 15	Small & Frye	1983
June 24	Second City Television/SCTV Network 90	1981
July 7	The Crystal Cube	1983
July 17	CHiPs	1977
July 20	Taxi	1978
September 5	The All New Popeye Hour
Quincy, M.E.	1976
September 10	Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends	1981
September 12	Square Pegs	1982
September 18	Father Murphy	1981
September 21	Archie Bunker's Place	1979
September 24	Walt Disney anthology series (returned in 1986)	1954
October 8	The Incredible Hulk	1982
October 27	It's Not Easy	1983
October 29	The Dukes	1983
November 5	Pac-Man	1982
November 15	Bay City Blues	1983
December 16	Mr. Smith
December 27	Just Our Luck

Changing networks

Show	Moved from	Moved to
SCTV	NBC	Cinemax
Fame	Syndication
Too Close for Comfort	ABC
Second Chance	CBS
Candid Camera	Syndication	NBC
The Paper Chase	CBS	Showtime

Made-for-TV movies and miniseries

Title		Network		Premiere date
Baby Sister
Kennedy
Malibu
Packin' It In
Policewoman Centerfold
The Thorn Birds
The Winds of War
V

Networks and services

Launches

Network	Type	Closure date
Home Sports Entertainment	Cable television	January 4
Country Music Television	Cable television	March 5
The Nashville Network	Cable television	March 7
Disney Channel	Cable television	April 18
BET	Cable television	July 1

Conversions and rebrandings

Old network name	New network name	Type	Conversion Date	Notes	Source
PRISM Sports New England	SportsChannel New England	Cable television	Unknown

Closures

Network	Type	Closure date	Notes	Source
Star	Satellite television	February 12
Satellite News Channel	Satellite television	October 27

Television stations

Station launches

Date	City of license/Market	Station	Channel	Affiliation	Notes
January 11	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	WVCY-TV	22	Religious independent
February 2	Chicago, Illinois	WYCC	20	PBS	Returned to the air after a nine-year hiatus as WXXW
February 14	Fargo, North Dakota	KVNJ-TV	15	Independent
March 3	Alexandria, Louisiana	KLAX-TV	31	ABC
March 7	Des Moines, Iowa	KCBR	17	Independent
March 9	Springfield, Missouri	KSPR	33
March 13	Mount Vernon, Illinois/St. Louis, Missouri
(Harrisburg, Illinois)	WCEE	13
April 8	Williston, North Dakota	KWSE	4	PBS	Part of Prairie Public Television
April 18	Memphis, Tennessee	WMKW-TV	30	Independent
April 21	Tallahassee, Florida	WTWC-TV	40	NBC
April 22	Angola, Indiana	WBKZ	63
April 30	Ashland, Kentucky
(Huntington, West Virginia/Portsmouth, Ohio)	WTSF	66	Religious ind.
May 10	Lander, Wyoming	KCWC-TV	8	PBS
May 11	New York City	W63AS	63	PBS	LPTV translator of WVIA-TV
May 29	West Point/Tupelo, Mississippi	WVSB-TV	27	ABC
June 10	Topeka, Kansas	KLDH	49
June 19	Concord, California	KFCB	42	Independent
June 20	Topeka, Kansas	KLDH	49	ABC
June 26	Little Rock, Arkansas	KLRT-TV	16	Independent
July 1	Alexandria, Louisiana	KLPA-TV	25	PBS	Part of Louisiana Public Broadcasting
July 4	Colby/Goodland, Kansas	KLBY	4	Independent
July 27	Campbellsville/Louisville, Kentucky	WGRB	34
August 10	Denver, Colorado	KDVR	31
August 15	Fort Myers, Florida	WSFP-TV	30	PBS
August 22	Hilo, Hawaii	KHBC-TV	13	Independent	Satellite of KHNL/Honolulu
September 5	Boston, Massachusetts	WNDS	50
September 12	Kansas City, Missouri	KEKR-TV	62
September 29	Reno, Nevada	KNPB	5	PBS
October 1	Spokane, Washington	KSKN	22	Independent
October 9	Vancouver, Washington
(Portland/Salem, Oregon)	KPDX	49
October 13	Wainscott/New York City, New York	W23AA	23
October 15	Evansville, Indiana/Madisonville, Kentucky	WLCN	19	Religious ind.
October 24	Miami, Florida	W30AB	30	PBS	LPTV translator of WPBT
October 31	Albuquerque/Santa Fe, New Mexico	KSAF-TV	2	Independent
November 1	Ocala/Gainesville, Florida	WBSP-TV	51
November 2	Moline, Illinois	WQPT-TV	24	PBS
November 10	Columbus, Ohio	W08BV	8	Independent
November 17	Evansville, Indiana	WEVV-TV	44	Independent
December 2	Anchorage, Alaska	KTBY	4
Cotati, California	KRCB	22	PBS
December 4	Llano/Austin, Texas	KBVO-TV	42	Independent
December 30	Honolulu, Hawaii	KHAI-TV	20
December 31	Knoxville, Tennessee	WKCH-TV	43

Stations changing network affiliation

Market	Date	Station	Channel	Prior affiliation	New affiliation
August 7	Fargo/Grand Forks, North Dakota	WDAY-TV
WDAZ-TV	6
8	NBC	ABC
KTHI-TV	11	ABC	NBC
April 3	Green Bay, Wisconsin	WFRV-TV	5	NBC	ABC
WLUK-TV	11	ABC	NBC
August 31	Harrisburg, Pennsylvania	WSBA-TV	43	CBS	Independent
April 3	Marquette, Michigan	WJMN-TV	3	NBC	ABC

Station closures

Date	Market	Station	Channel	Affiliation
March 31	St. John, Indiana	WCAE	50	PBS
July 31	Salem, Oregon	KVDO-TV	13	PBS
August 30	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	WKBS-TV	48	Independent

Births

Date		Name		Notability
January 2
January 6
January 7
Robert Ri'chard
January 9
January 17
January 24
February 1
February 4
Lauren Ash
February 11
February 12
February 14
February 17
February 18
Wrenn Schmidt
February 21
February 22
Iliza Shlesinger
February 23
Emily Blunt
February 26
February 27
March 1
Lindsay Mendez
Lupita Nyong'o
March 7
March 8
March 10
March 11
March 12
March 14
March 15
March 18
March 20
March 28
March 29
March 31
Melissa Ordway
April 1
Matt Lanter
April 3
April 4
Eric Andre
April 6
Diora Baird
April 10
Ryan Merriman
April 12
April 21
Ruthie Ann Miles
April 23
April 26
April 27
Corey Harrison
Ari Graynor
April 29
Sam Jones III
May 2
May 6
Gabourey Sidibe
JR Lemon
May 8
Elyes Gabel
May 11
Matt Leinart
May 14
May 19
May 20
Allen Maldonado
May 26
May 28
June 5
June 6
June 10
Shanna Collins
Jason Evigan
June 13
June 16
June 19
Macklemore
Tracey Wigfield
June 21
June 22
June 23
June 30
July 1
Tanya Chisholm
July 2
July 6
July 19
July 23
July 27
Heidi Gardner
July 28
July 29
Tania Gunadi
July 30
August 3
August 4
Greta Gerwig
Nathaniel Buzolic
August 5
August 8
Guy Burnet
August 9
Dan Levy
August 11
August 12
August 14
Lamorne Morris
August 18
August 19
August 20
August 21
August 22
Alan Yang
August 23
Ruta Gedmintas
August 25
August 29
September 2
September 3
September 6
September 7
September 9
Eboni K. Williams
September 10
September 14
September 21
Joseph Mazzello
September 22
September 25
September 26
October 3
October 5
Jesse Eisenberg
Shelby Rabara
October 8
October 9
October 12
October 13
October 17
October 20
October 21
Aaron Tveit
Amber Rose
October 24
Adrienne Bailon
October 26
Folake Olowofoyeku
October 29
Johnny Lewis
Richard Brancatisano
November 7
November 10
November 16
November 17
November 18
November 19
November 20
November 21
The Bella Twins
November 22
November 24
November 27
November 29
November 30
December 2
Daniela Ruah
December 8
December 9
December 10
December 12
December 13
December 15
December 20
December 21
December 22
December 30

Deaths

Date		Name		Age		class="unsortable"	Notability
February 4
March 9
March 16
July 20
July 29
August 3
August 28
August 29
October 23
November 14
November 22
November 28
December 28
William Demarest

References

McNeil, Alex. (1991). "Total television : a comprehensive guide to programming from 1948 to the present". Penguin Books.
Carmody, John. (February 1, 1983). "The TV Column". [[The Washington Post]].
Kirkland, Bruce. (November 6, 2001). "Trek director Waxes Wise on new DVD". [[Toronto Sun]].
(June 12, 1983). "Gift for his VCR". [[The New York Times Company]].
(September 27, 2003). "Star Trek: The Motion Picture — Special Longer Version". Blam Entertainment Group.
O'Connor, John J.. (February 21, 1983). "Tv Movie: Grace Kelly". The New York Times.
(March 3, 1983). "Finale Of MAS*H Draws Record Number Of Viewers". The New York Times.
(March 2, 1983). "WFBC-TV becomes WYFF-TV". The Index-Journal.
"Searchable Network TV Broadcasts - NBC Sports (1980s)".
(April 22, 1983). "Channel 40 keeps its date at Rick's Cafe". [[Tallahassee Democrat]].
Bedell, Sally (May 4, 1983). "'V' SERIES AN NBC HIT". The New York Times. p. 27. Retrieved May 14, 2011
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVkpNRvpu_M NBA on CBS]
(June 6, 1983). "That new name cost a bundle to WS(e)V(e)N". [[The Miami News]].
(June 19, 1983). "KLDH-TV premieres with ABC preview". [[The Topeka Capital-Journal]].
"'Search For Tomorrow'...The LIVE Episode! - Eyes Of A Generation...Television's Living History".
(September 8, 1983). "New Denver tv station begins broadcasting". [[Electronic Media]].
(August 21, 1983). "Deciphering the dial: Network switching will change channels on our favorite shows". [[The Forum of Fargo-Moorehead.
(May 21, 1984). "Getting Channel 48 back on air will be a costly undertaking". [[The Philadelphia Inquirer]].
(August 29, 1983). "The death of Channel 48 will be a private affair". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
(August 30, 1983). "A Death in the (TV) Family". [[Philadelphia Daily News]].
Lendt, ''Kiss and Sell'', p. 289.
(25 October 1983). "NBC's Jessica Savitch Drowns in Car in Canal". [[The Washington Post]].
[http://www.ew.com/article/1993/12/17/dynasty-and-gerald-ford Also Starring Gerald Ford] – Entertainment Weekly. Accessed 2009-07-27. 2009-07-29.
Werts, Diane. (2006). "Christmas on Television". Praeger Publishers.
(2022-10-03). "WWE Profile - Braun Strowman".

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