Events
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| January 1 | VH1 launches in the United States. |
| February 4 | NBC becomes the first commercial television network to use satellite interconnection for its stations; as a result, it is the first station to discontinue use of chime intonations at the beginning of each telecast, to signal to the affiliates to start airing the network feed. |
| March 2 | The NBC sitcom Gimme a Break! broadcasts an episode live. |
| Spring | Norman Lear sells Tandem Productions and Embassy Television to The Coca-Cola Company, who also owns Columbia Pictures, for $485 million. |
| April 28 | WLNY-TV commences broadcasting. |
| May 11 | The first episode of Saturday Night's Main Event airs on NBC, the first time that professional wrestling had aired on network television since the 1950s. |
| May 17 | The season finale of Dallas finds Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) on his deathbed after his crazed ex-sister-in-law Katherine Wentworth (Morgan Brittany) runs him down in her car. |
| May 19 | WOIO-TV commences broadcasting in Cleveland. |
| June 14 | ABC airs its last daytime episode of Family Feud after nine years on the air. Richard Dawson gives an emotional speech at the end of the broadcast. Dawson would return to the show in 1994 for one more season. Also, Press Your Luck airs the episode in which all three contestants would be invited back after a mistake on a question about Sylvester was straightened up by Mel Blanc calling Peter Tomarken at the end of the show. |
| July 1 | Nick at Nite, a nighttime program block with an emphasis on classic television reruns, launches in the United States, broadcasting over the channel space of Nickelodeon. At the same time, A&E, which previously shared channel space with Nickelodeon, began broadcasting as its own 24-hour cable channel on a separate satellite transponder. |
| July 13 | The Live Aid concerts air from London and Philadelphia. In the U.S., the concerts air on MTV and over-the-air syndication, with ABC joining in on a 3-hour prime-time block. |
| July 22 | Douglas Marland starts his critically acclaimed eight-year run writing for As the World Turns. |
| August 19 | A taping of an outdoor interview for NBC's Today is interrupted by David Letterman, who, while taping his own Late Night, leans out of an office window and announces, "My name is Larry Grossman (then-president of NBC News) and I'm not wearing any pants!" |
| September | NBC becomes the first broadcast network in the U.S. to air its prime time programs in stereo sound. |
| September 14 | In part one of a three-part season premiere on The Facts of Life, Edna's Edibles, which had been the main focal point of the long-running series since 1983, is burned to the ground. Edna Garrett and the girls would rebuild and replace it with an ice cream and gift shop, Over Our Heads. |
| September 18 | "Top Ten Things That Almost Rhyme With Peas" is the subject of the first "Top 10 List" on Late Night with David Letterman. |
| September 22 | The first Farm Aid concert is telecast from Champaign, Illinois, in syndication and on TNN. |
| September 23 | Jackie Gleason and Art Carney reunite in the CBS film Izzy and Moe. |
| November 8 | The final episode of the Price is Right with Johnny Olson as announcer airs on CBS. (Olson died on October 12; the show aired an "in memoriam" tribute to him on October 29). |
| November 9 | Saturday Night Live begins its 11th season, with Lorne Michaels returning as executive producer and an all-new cast that includes Jon Lovitz and Dennis Miller. |
| November 17 | Kane & Abel, a miniseries based on the bestselling Jeffrey Archer novel, debuts on CBS television. |
| November 18 | Elmo, a new character for Sesame Street, is introduced. In the same episode, the grownup cast of Sesame Street come face-to-face with Aloysius Snuffleupagus for the first time since the character's 1971 introduction. |
| December 3 | Copacabana, an original musical starring Barry Manilow (based on his 1978 hit song of the same name), Annette O'Toole, and Estelle Getty, airs on CBS. |
| Actress Courteney Cox uses the word "period" (in the physical sense) on U.S. television for the first time, in a commercial for Tampax brand tampons. |
Read more about this topic: 1985 In American Television
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