Arts & Entertainment Network launches from the merger of ARTS and RCA's The Entertainment Channel. It originally broadcasts after kids' channel Nickelodeon signs off.
Lifetime is launched from the merger of Hearst/ABC's Daytime and Viacom's Cable Health Network.
NBC airs the made-for-television movieLittle 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.[1]
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.
CBS airs the network broadcast television premiere of Star Wars.
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.
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.
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.)
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".
ABCbegins 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.
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.
The two hour pilot episode of Miami Vice airs on NBC. This episode started developing the trademark Vice style.[3] 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.
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.
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.
Montana, the last state in the Union without its own PBS station, gains one when Montana PBS launches.
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.
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.
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,[4] 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.[5][6] Hexum is then rushed to Beverly Hills Medical Center, undergoing five hours of surgery to repair his wounds.[6] Six days later, on October 18, Hexum is declared brain dead at age 26.
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.
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.
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.[7] 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.