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1987 in American television

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The year 1987 in television involved some significant events. This is a list of notable events in the United States.

Events

Date		Event
January 3
January 5
January 17
January 22
January 23
January 25
February 2
February 7
February 14
February 15
February 20
February 24
February 25
March 9
March 12
March 19
March 23
The soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful debuts on CBS.
March 27
March 28
March 29
March 30
March 31
April 5
April 6
April 17
April 19
April 29
May 4
May 6
May 7
May 15
Joan Rivers makes her final appearance as host of Fox's talk show The Late Show following her recent firing by the network. For the final show, the set is vandalized with toilet paper, slime, and shaving cream. Her guests are Howie Mandel, Pee-Wee Herman, then-fledgling comedian Chris Rock, Wendy O. Williams, and show stage manager Michelle Aller as her alter-ego Mavis Vegas Davis. Soon afterward, the program is renamed The Late Show and features rotating guest hosts including Suzanne Somers, Richard Belzer, and Robert Townsend. After firing prospective guest host Frank Zappa, producer John Scura replaces him with Arsenio Hall, who would make his debut as a talk show host. Eventually, Hall is named the permanent replacement host in mid-1987.
May 17
June 4
June 30
July 15
July 17
July 28
July 31
August 1
August 19
August 31
Columbus independent station WWAT-TV goes in the air.
September 5
September 7
September 7
September 11
September 12
September 14
September 18
September 19
September 21
September 22
September 24
September 26
September 28
October 3
October 4
October 12
October 14
October 15
October 16
October 24
October 26
October 30
November 8
November 9
November 13
November 15
November 22
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back makes its network broadcast television premiere on NBC.
November 26
December 7
December 16
SuperStation WTBS airs the 1983 film A Christmas Story for the very first time. Turner Broadcasting (as both an independent company and, from 1996 onward, as a subsidiary of the company presently operating as Warner Bros. Discovery) would maintain ownership of the broadcast rights to A Christmas Story. Beginning in the mid-1990s, they would air the film increasingly on both TBS and TNT throughout the holiday season annually.
December 27
December 28

Programs

Debuting this year

Date	Title	Network
January 3	Unsolved Mysteries	NBC
January 8	Shell Game	CBS
January 17	Ohara	ABC
January 22	The Tortellis	NBC
January 25	Hard Copy	CBS
January 26	Square One TV	PBS
February 2	Eyes on the Prize
March 4	Harry	ABC
March 9	Rags to Riches	NBC
March 11	Houston Knights	CBS
March 19	The Bronx Zoo	NBC
Roomies
March 20	The Charmings	ABC
March 23	The Bold and the Beautiful	CBS
The Popcorn Kid
March 31	Max Headroom	ABC
April 1	Mariah
Roxie	CBS
Take Five
April 2	Nothing in Common	NBC
April 5	Married... with Children	Fox
The Tracey Ullman Show
April 12	21 Jump Street
April 18	Sweet Surrender	NBC
April 19	Bionic Six	Syndication
Duet		Fox
April 20	Hard Knocks	Showtime
April 26	Down and Out in Beverly Hills	Fox
May 3	Mr. President
May 21	The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd	NBC
June 1	Adventures of the Little Koala	Nickelodeon
June 12	CBS Summer Playhouse	CBS
June 15	Home Shopping Game	Syndication
July 11	Good Morning, Miss Bliss	Disney Channel
Werewolf	Fox
July 18	Karen's Song
The New Adventures of Beans Baxter
August 8	Animal Crack-Ups	ABC
August 27	First Impressions	CBS
August 30	Crossbow	CBN Cable Network
September	Maple Town	Syndication
September 12	Showtime at the Apollo	ABC
I'm Telling!	NBC
The New Archies
Popeye and Son	CBS
September 13	Private Eye	NBC
September 14	Dinosaucers	Syndication
BraveStarr
Maxie's World
New Monkees
The Wil Shriner Show
Frank's Place	CBS
September 16	The Oldest Rookie
Wiseguy
September 17	Out of This World	Syndication
September 18	DuckTales (Original series)
September 19	The Kidsongs TV Show
Marblehead Manor
She's the Sheriff
Once a Hero	ABC
Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater	CBS
September 20	The Highwayman	NBC
My Two Dads
Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light	Syndication
September 21	Beverly Hills Teens	Syndication
Spiral Zone
September 22	Full House	ABC
I Married Dora
September 23	Hooperman
The Slap Maxwell Story
September 24	A Different World	NBC
Tour of Duty	CBS
September 25	Beauty and the Beast
September 26	Jake and the Fatman
ALF: The Animated Series	NBC
J.J. Starbuck
Second Chance (aka Boys Will Be Boys)	Fox
You Can't Take It With You	Syndication
September 27	Dolly	ABC
The Law & Harry McGraw	CBS
September 28	Lingo	Syndication
Star Trek: The Next Generation
September 29	thirtysomething	ABC
October 3	Everything's Relative	CBS
Leg Work
Friday the 13th: The Series	Syndication
October 11	Women in Prison	Fox
November 2	Finders Keepers	Nickelodeon
November 5	Beverly Hills Buntz	NBC
November 7	Sable	ABC
November 30	CBS This Morning	CBS
December 7	Remote Control	MTV
December 11	The Wilton North Report	Fox
December 14	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	Syndication

Resuming this year

Title		Final aired		Previous network		New title		Returning network		Date of return
Charles in Charge
Blockbusters
Concentration
We Got it Made
Snorks
High Rollers
Truth or Consequences
The Jetsons

Ending this year

Date	Title	Debut
January 10	Heart of the City	1986
February 6	Dads
February 9	Gung Ho
February 7	Too Close for Comfort	1980
February 27	The Love Boat	1977
March 1	The New Adventures of Jonny Quest	1986
March 3	Silver Spoons	1982
March 7	The Berenstain Bears	1985
March 8	The A-Team	1983
March 12	The Wizard	1986
March 20	Capitol	1982
March 25	Harry	1987
March 26	The Colbys	1985
March 27	Zoobilee Zoo	1986
March 30	You Again?
Fraggle Rock	1983
April 8	Roxie	1987
April 10	Amazing Stories	1985
April 17	Remington Steele	1982
April 24	Together We Stand	1986
April 29	Easy Street
May 1	Blockbusters	1980
May 2	Starman	1986
May 8	Stingray	1985
May 12	Gimme a Break!	1981
The Tortellis	1987
May 13	The New Mike Hammer	1984
May 15	Roomies	1987
May 18	Fame	1982
May 19	Hill Street Blues	1981
May 28	Scarecrow and Mrs. King	1983
Our World	1986
May 30	Outlaws
June 3	Nothing in Common	1987
June 13	Sidekicks	1986
June 19	Nightlife
June 27	Gung Ho
July 8	Sweet Surrender	1987
August 7	Airwolf	1984
September 7	The Ellen Burstyn Show	1986
September 11	Split Second	1972
September 12	Down and Out in Beverly Hills	1987
Karen's Song
September 14	Photon	1986
September 23	My Little Pony	1984
October 1	First Impressions	1987
October 3	Once a Hero
October 25	Maxie's World
November 7	Everything's Relative
Leg Work
Teen Wolf	1986
November 11	The Transformers	1984
November 12	The Jetsons	1962
November 28	The New Adventures of Beans Baxter	1987
December 7	New Monkees
December 11	Dinosaucers
December 12	Popeye and Son
The P.T.L. Club	1976
December 18	Beverly Hills Teens	1987
Spiral Zone
December 19	My Pet Monster
Pound Puppies	1986

Changing networks

Show	Moved from	Moved to
Airwolf	CBS	USA Network
Alfred Hitchcock Presents	NBC
Candid Camera	CBS
We Got it Made	Syndication
High Rollers
Punky Brewster
Charles in Charge	CBS
Webster	ABC
American Bandstand
Concentration	Syndication	NBC
Inspector Gadget	Nickelodeon

Made-for-TV movies and miniseries

Title		Network		Premiere date
Amerika
The Facts of Life Down Under
LBJ: The Early Years
Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story
Roman Holiday

Networks and services

Launches

Network	Type	Launch date	Notes
The Travel Channel	Cable television	February 8
Fox	Broadcast television	April 5	Previously had a "soft launch" on October 9, 1986
Movietime	Cable television	July 31
Harmony Premiere Network	Cable television	Unknown

Conversions and rebrandings

Old network name	New network name	Type	Conversion Date
NetSpan	Telemundo	Cable television	Unknown
Spanish International Network	Univision	Cable and satellite	Unknown
SuperStation WTBS	SuperStation TBS	Cable television	Unknown

Closures

Network	Type	Closure date	Notes	Source
Home Theater Network	Cable television	January 31
Operation Prime Time	Cable television	Unknown

Television stations

Station launches

Date	City of License/Market	Station	Channel	Affiliation	Notes/Ref.
January 11	Bartlesville/Tulsa, Oklahoma	KDOR-TV	17	TBN
February	Hattiesburg/Laurel, Mississippi	WHLT	22	CBS	Semi-satellite of WJTV/Jackson
February 2	Marshalltown/Des Moines, Iowa	K39AS	39
February 7	Orlando, Florida	WLSY	43	Independent
February 9	Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas	KDTX-TV	58	TBN (O&O)
February 13	Williamsport, Pennsylvania	W39BT	39	TBN
February 14	Biloxi/Gulfport, Mississippi	WXXV-TV	25	Fox
February 15	San Juan, Puerto Rico	WSJN-TV	24	Independent
March 9	Charlotte, North Carolina	WJZY	46	Independent
Tyler, Texas	KETK	56	NBC
March 23	Toledo, Ohio	W48AP	48	Independent
April	Redwood Falls, Minnesota	KRWF	43	ABC	Semi-satellite of KSTP-TV
April 7	Mobile, Alabama	WFGX	35	Independent
April 18	Atlanta, Georgia	WNGM-TV	34	Independent
May	Los Angeles, California	KDDE
(recalled as KEEF-TV in June)	68	Educational independent
May 6	Springfield, Massachusetts	W11BT	11	Independent
May 13	Buffalo, New York	WNEQ-TV	23	PBS
May 22	Terre Haute, Indiana	W65BK	65	TBN
May 25	Cleveland/Chattanooga, Tennessee	WFLI-TV	53	Independent
May 29	Sioux Falls, South Dakota	KTTW	7	Fox
June 18	Cocoa/Orlando, Florida	WRES	68	Educational independent
June 30	Kalamazoo/Battle Creek/Grand Rapids, Michigan	WLLA	64	Christian independent
July 1	Clairemore/Tulsa, Oklahoma	KXON-TV	35	Educational independent
July 2	Darien, Connecticut	W33BS	33	Audio-only independent	Pulse 87
July 4	Frederick, Maryland
(Washington, D.C.)	WFPT	62	PBS	Part of the Maryland Public Television network
July 16	Houston, Texas	KETH	14	TBN (O&O)
August 1	Arcata/Eureka, California	KREQ	23	Fox
August 5	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	W49KG	49	Independent
August 10	Rochester, Minnesota
(Mason City, Iowa)	KXLT-TV	47	Independent	Originally a satellite of KXLI/Minneapolis
August 14	Merrimack/Manchester, New Hampshire	WGOT	60	Independent
August 15	Barstow/Los Angeles, California	KVVT	64	Independent
August 24	Columbus, Ohio	WOCB-CD
(original callsign unknown)	39	Religious independent
August 27	Bloomington, Indiana	WCLJ-TV	42	TBN
August 28	Cheyenne, Wyoming	KKTU	39	NBC
August 31	Columbus, Ohio	WWAT	53	Independent
September	Buffalo, New York	WNYB-TV	49	Independent
September	Silver City, New Mexico	KOVT	10	ABC	Satellite of KOAT-TV/Albuquerque
September 1	Bozeman/Butte, Montana	KCTZ	7	ABC
September 2	Denver, Colorado	KUBD	59	Independent
September 5	Albuquerque, New Mexico	KLUZ	41	Univision
September 18	Rosenberg/Houston, Texas	KXLN	45	Univision
September 21	New Orleans, Louisiana	K59DG	59	Daystar
September 28	Bridgeport, Connecticut
(New York City)	WBCT-TV	43	Independent
October 12	Albuquerque, New Mexico	KAZQ	34	Religious independent
October 18	Richland, Washington	KTNW	31	PBS	Satellite of KWSU-TV/Spokane
October 19	Tamuning, Guam	KTGM	14	ABC (primary)
CBS (secondary)
Indianapolis, Indiana	WMCC	23	Independent
October 28	Chicago, Illinois	W54AP	54	Independent
W54AP	54
October 29	Tampa, Florida	W57BA	57	Channel America
November 12	Stockton, California
(Sacramento/Modesto, California)	KFTL	64	Independent
November 15	Gary, Indiana
(Chicago, Illinois)	WYIN	56	PBS
December 2	South Bend, Indiana	W12BK (original)	12	Independent	LPTV translator of WCIU-TV/Chicago
December 7	Galveston/Houston, Texas	KTMD	47	Telemundo
December 8	Chicago, Illinois	W46AO	46	TBN
Lenoir City/Knoxville, Tennessee	W38AQ	38	FamilyNet/America One
December 14	Albany, New York	WOCD	55	Independent
December 15	Elkhart/South Bend, Indiana	W24AI	24	TBN
Hopkinsville, Kentucky
(Clarksville, Tennessee)	W22CH	22
December 16	San Antonio, Texas	KABB	29	Independent
Unknown date	Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands	WAIG	43	Independent
WVGI	17
Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands	WMEG	15	Religious independent
Panama City, Florida	W46AN	46	Tourist information

Network affiliation changes

Date	City of License/Market	Station	Channel	Old affiliation	New affiliation	Notes/Ref.
January 19	Boston, Massachusetts	WFXT	25	Independent	Fox
April 5	Davenport, Iowa (Quad Cities)	KLJB-TV	18
Evansville, Indiana	WEVV-TV	44
Memphis, Tennessee	WMKW-TV	30
Nashville, Tennessee	WCAY-TV	30
Tri-Cities, Tennessee/Virginia	WEMT	38
July 6	Columbus, Georgia	WXTX	54
Jackson, Mississippi	WDBD	40
Knoxville, Tennessee	WKCH-TV	43	last=Carter	first=Reon	date=June 25, 1987	title=WKCH joins fourth network	page=B7	newspaper=The Knoxville News-Sentinel	location=Knoxville, Tennessee	url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89762781/wkch-joins-fourth-network/	url-status=live	access-date=November 29, 2021	archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130031301/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89762781/wkch-joins-fourth-network/	archive-date=November 30, 2021	via=Newspapers.com}}
September 7	Cape Girardeau, Missouri
(Paducah, Kentucky/Harrisburg, Illinois)	KBSI	23
October 19	Hagatna, Guam	KUAM-TV	8	NBC (primary)
CBS/ABC/Fox (secondary)	NBC (primary)
CBS/Fox (secondary)
Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands	WSZE-TV	10	Satellite of KUAM-TV/Hagtna, Guam
December 5	Huntsville/Decatur/Florence, Alabama	WZDX	54	Independent	Fox

Births

Date		Name		Notability
January 2
Shelley Hennig
January 5
January 7
January 8
January 9
January 12
January 17
January 18
January 20
Mark Wright
Pete Ploszek
January 24
January 27
January 28
Chelsea Brummet
Katie Nolan
January 29
February 1
Ronda Rousey
February 2
February 5
Alex Brightman
February 9
Rose Leslie
February 11
February 12
February 19
February 20
February 21
Ashley Greene
February 24
February 25
February 28
March 1
March 9
March 10
March 17
Zach Villa
March 19
March 23
March 28
March 29
April 1
April 2
April 3
Rachel Bloom
April 4
April 7
April 9
April 10
Shay Mitchell
April 12
Mike Manning
Brendon Urie
Ilana Glazer
April 15
April 16
April 17
April 18
Ellen Woglom
April 19
April 20
April 26
April 27
May 2
May 7
Maya Erskine
May 10
May 12
May 13
May 15
May 19
May 21
May 23
May 24
May 26
May 27
May 29
Joseph Haro
May 30
May 31
Shaun Fleming
Meredith Hagner
June 3
Michelle Keegan
June 9
June 12
June 16
Kelly Blatz
Abby Elliott
June 17
June 18
June 19
June 22
Jerrod Carmichael
June 23
June 27
Ed Westwick
July 3
July 5
July 6
July 7
July 11
July 12
July 14
Sara Canning
Dan Reynolds
July 16
Kate Berlant
July 19
July 21
July 22
July 24
July 25
July 28
July 29
July 31
August 4
August 8
Jenn Proske
August 10
August 11
August 14
August 17
August 18
August 21
August 25
August 26
August 27
August 30
September 2
September 3
September 5
Jenny Taft
September 7
Lily Cowles
September 8
September 9
Taylor Bagley
September 10
September 11
Tyler Hoechlin
September 13
September 16
September 17
September 19
September 20
September 22
September 23
September 24
Spencer Treat Clark
September 28
September 29
October 1
October 2
Erika Lauren Wasilewski
October 8
October 9
October 10
October 13
October 14
October 15
October 18
October 23
October 29
November 5
November 7
November 9
November 10
November 11
November 19
Jared Abrahamson
November 20
November 23
November 25
November 28
November 30
Christel Khalil
Lauren Zima
December 1
December 3
Dree Hemingway
December 4
December 6
December 7
December 11
December 12
December 13
December 16
December 28
Hannah Tointon
Thomas Dekker
Adam Gregory
December 29

Deaths

Date		Name		Age		class="unsortable"	Notability
January 1
February 4
February 22
February 25
March 3
March 21
March 28
April 17
April 19
May 4
May 14
May 31
June 22
June 24
August 11
August 19
September 5
September 11
September 22
Carman Maxwell
September 25

Television debuts

Patricia Arquette – Daddy
Billy Crudup – General College
Chris Elliott – Miami Vice
Juliette Lewis – Home Fires
Brad Pitt – Another World
Joely Richardson – Kin of the Castle
Chris Rock – Miami Vice

References

(January 5, 1987). "Small-format video technology pictured for 1987". Broadcasting Magazine.
(February 8, 1987). "Albany TV station cancels NBC show over condom issue". [[The New York Times]].
Lewin, Tamar. (March 8, 1987). "New sex mores are chilling TV ardor". [[The New York Times]].
Rettenmund, Matthew. (October 15, 1996). "Totally Awesome 80s: A Lexicon of the Music, Videos, Movies, TV Shows, Stars, and Trends of that Decadent Decade". Macmillan.
"Rivers Says Goodbye Not A Minute Too Soon". Chicago Tribune.
"Name Is Fake But The Songs Are Her Own". Philly.com.
(February 13, 2009). "Crispin Glover Goes Back to the Crazy – Top 10 Disastrous Letterman Interviews".
Reed, Ryan. (20 May 2021). "David Letterman's Most Memorable Late-Night Moments".
Smith, Lory. (1999). "Party in a Box: The Story of the Sundance Film Festival". [[Gibbs Smith]].
Yamato, Jen. (20 January 2015). "Bill Hader To Narrate Cult Film Documentary 'Beaver Trilogy Part IV' – Sundance".
Carter, Gregg Lee. (2012). "Guns in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture, and the Law, Volume 3". ABC-CLIO.
[http://www.tv.com/down-and-out-in-beverly-hills/show/2863/episode_listings.html "Down and out in Beverly Hills: 13 episodes"] {{webarchive. link. (September 30, 2007 , TV.com)
Moaba, Alex. (October 20, 2011). "Matthew Perry Sitcom 'Second Chance' Predicted Gaddafi Would Die in 2011". [[AOL.
(1987-06-29). "In Brief". [[Broadcasting & Cable.
(December 16, 1987). "Tonight On Television". The Roanoke Times.
(December 13, 1987). "Wednesday Movies". News-Press.
(December 13, 1987). "Christmas Specials on Cablevision". The Wichita Eagle.
Jicha, Tom. (January 25, 1987). "'Hard Copy' doesn't get the facts straight". [[Dayton Daily News]].
(June 19, 1987). "Trotting With Fox". [[Ledger-Enquirer]].
Carter, Reon. (June 25, 1987). "WKCH joins fourth network". The Knoxville News-Sentinel.
(August 5, 1987). "KBSI to air Fox Network programs". The Paducah Sun.
Weil, Nancy. (August 16, 1987). "KBSI joins Fox; debuts Sept. 7". Southern Illinoisan.
Kaylor, Mike. (October 31, 1987). "WZDK [sic] to join Fox network in December". The Huntsville Times.
(December 7, 1987). "Briefly Noted". [[Electronic Media]].
"Ronda Rousey Actress, Producer, Writer".
Iole, Kevin. (2018-08-03). "How a near-death experience inspired Henry Cejudo to reach for greatness".
"Jon Jones Biography".
"Carla Esparza (Women's Strawweight) MMA Profile".
"Carmella WWE (Corey Graves' Wife) {{!}} News, Latest Updates & More @ Sportskeeda".
(2022-04-04). "WWE Profile - Naomi".
"Mary Astor - American actress".

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