1978 in American television

This is a list of American television-related events in 1978.

Events

Date	Event
January 15	Super Bowl XII airs on CBS, the first time the NFL's championship event is played and telecast at night
January 23	Roots One Year Later, a special examining the impact and influence of the miniseries, airs on ABC
January 28	The Doobie Brothers made a guest appearance on ABC's What's Happening!!
February 5	ABC celebrates its silver anniversary with a retrospective special
March 22	The Beatles spoof The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash airs on NBC
March 26–April 1	CBS commemorated its golden anniversary in radio and TV broadcasting with CBS: On the Air, a 9½-hour retrospective special airing over 7 nights
April 16–19	Holocaust, starring James Woods and Meryl Streep first aired on NBC
April 22	The Blues Brothers make their first appearance on Saturday Night Live; the duo of Jake & Elwood Blues (John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd) are introduced in a skit by Paul Shaffer (as Don Kirshner) and performs "Hey Bartender"
April 26	Ringo Starr's, Ringo, a musical version of The Prince and the Pauper, airs on NBC, with Starr's fellow former Beatle, George Harrison, providing the narration
July 10	The ABC Evening News was revamped and became ABC World News Tonight, employing a unique three-anchor setup (Frank Reynolds serving as lead anchor from Washington, Max Robinson presenting national news from Chicago, and Peter Jennings with international news from London)
August 1	Taking advantage of an oral escape-clause in his contract with ABC, Harry Reasoner returns to CBS, eventually rejoining 60 Minutes
September 17	The ceremony formalizing the success of the peace talks between Israel's Menachem Begin and Egypt's Anwar Sadat—the Camp David accords—is televised live from the White House East Room
September 19	The chairs on which Archie and Edith Bunker sat through 8 seasons of All in the Family are presented to the Smithsonian Institution
September 27	Replacing Zara Cully and Damon Evans, Jay Hammer joins the cast of The Jeffersons, for a short period of time
November 17	Star Wars Holiday Special airs on CBS. The special gives fans their first glimpse of Boba Fett, a character from the upcoming Star Wars sequel

Programs

Series on air in 1978

ABC

• American Bandstand (1952–1989)
• The Edge of Night (1956–1984)
• General Hospital (1963–present)
• One Life to Live (1968–2012)
• All My Children (1970–2011)
• Monday Night Football (1970–present)
• Schoolhouse Rock! (1973–1996)
• The Six Million Dollar Man (1973–1978)
• Happy Days (1974–1984)
• Baretta (1975–1978)
• Barney Miller (1975–1982)
• Good Morning America (1975–present)
• Ryan's Hope (1975–1989)
• Tom and Jerry (1965–1972, 1975–1977, 1980–1982)
• Welcome Back, Kotter (1975–1979)
• Charlie's Angels (1976–1981)
• Family Feud (1976–1985, 1988–1995, 1999–present)
• Laverne & Shirley (1976–1983)
• What's Happening!! (1976–1979)
• Eight is Enough (1977–1981)
• Fantasy Island (1977–1984)
• The Love Boat (1977–1986)
• Soap (1977–1981)
• Three's Company (1977–1984)

CBS

• Love of Life (1951–1980)
• Search for Tomorrow (1951–1986)
• The Guiding Light (1952–2009)
• Face the Nation (1954–present)
• Captain Kangaroo (1955–1984)
• As the World Turns (1956–2010)
• The Carol Burnett Show (1967–1978)
• 60 Minutes (1968–present)
• Hawaii Five-O (1968–1980)
• All in the Family (1971–1979)
• The Bob Newhart Show (1972–1978)
• Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972–1984)
• M*A*S*H (1972–1983)
• Maude (1972–1978)
• The Price Is Right (1972–present)
• The Waltons (1972–1981)
• Barnaby Jones (1973–1980)
• Kojak (1973–1978, 2005)
• Match Game '78 (1962–1969, 1973–1984, 1990–1991, 1998–1999)
• The Young and the Restless (1973–present)
• Good Times (1974–1979)
• Rhoda (1974–1978)
• Tattletales (1974–1978, 1982–1984)
• The Jeffersons (1975–1985)
• One Day at a Time (1975–1984)
• Alice (1976–1985)
• Wonder Woman (1976–1979)
• The Amazing Spider-Man (1977–1979)
• Lou Grant (1977–1982)

NBC

• Meet the Press (1947–present)
• The Today Show (1952–present)
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962-1992)
• The Doctors (1963–1982)
• Another World (1964–1999)
• Days of Our Lives (1965–present)
• The Wonderful World of Disney (1969–1979)
• The Tomorrow Show (1973–1982)
• Chico and the Man (1974–1978)
• Columbo (1971–1978)
• Dean Martin Celebrity Roast (1974–1984)
• Land of the Lost (1974–1976)
• Little House on the Prairie (1974–1983)
• Police Woman (1974–1978)
• The Rockford Files (1974–1980)
• Saturday Night Live (1975–present)^[e]
• Wheel of Fortune (1975–present)
• The Gong Show (1976-1980)
• Quincy, M.E. (1976–1983)
• The Bionic Woman (1976–1978)
• CHiPs (1977–1983)

PBS

• Sesame Street (1969–present)
• Masterpiece Theatre (1971–present)
• Nova (1974–present)

In syndication

• Candid Camera (1948–present)
• Truth or Consequences (1950–1988)
• The Lawrence Welk Show (1955–1982)
• The Mike Douglas Show (1961–1981)
• Hee Haw (1969–1993)
• Soul Train (1971–2006)
• Dinah! (1974–1980)
• Match Game PM (1975–1981)
• In Search of... (1976–1982)
• The P.T.L. Club (1976–1987)
• This Week in Baseball (1977–1998, 2000–present)

HBO

• Inside the NFL (1977–present)

Nickelodeon

• Pinwheel (1977–1990)

Shows that take place in 1978

• Best Friends Whenever (2015) They time traveled to 1978.

Debuts

Date	Show	Network
January 14	Fantasy Island	ABC
February 12	How the West Was Won	CBS
February 19	Project U.F.O.	NBC
March 10	The Incredible Hulk	CBS
April 2	Dallas
April 3	Pass the Buck
	Ever Increasing Faith	Syndication
April 8	The Ted Knight Show	CBS
	Another Day
April 24	Card Sharks	NBC
April 25	Vega$	ABC
June 6	20/20
July 3	Tic Tac Dough	CBS
July 10	World News Tonight	ABC
September 1	Battle of the Planets	Syndication
September 7	Grandpa Goes to Washington	NBC
September 8	The Eddie Capra Mysteries
September 9	Fabulous Funnies
	Fantastic Four
	Godzilla
	Yogi's Space Race
	Fangface	ABC
	The Paper Chase	CBS
	Tarzan and the Super 7
September 10	Kaz
	Sword of Justice	NBC
September 12	Taxi	ABC
September 13	W.E.B.	NBC
September 14	Mork & Mindy	ABC
September 17	Battlestar Galactica
	Lifeline	NBC
September 18	WKRP in Cincinnati	CBS
September 22	The Waverly Wonders	NBC
	Who's Watching the Kids
September 23	Apple Pie	ABC
	The American Girls	CBS
September 24	Mary
October 1	Centennial	NBC
October 30	A.M. Weather	PBS
November 2	David Cassidy: Man Under Cover	NBC
November 3	Diff'rent Strokes
November 27	The White Shadow	CBS

Shows returning

Show	Last aired	Previous network	Retitled as/Same	Returning
High Rollers	1976	NBC	Same	April 24
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!	1970	CBS		September 9
Jeopardy!	1975	NBC	The All-New Jeopardy!	October 2

Ending this year

Date	Show	Debut
March 6	The Six Million Dollar Man	1973
March 29	The Carol Burnett Show	1967
March 30	Police Woman	1974
March 31	Tattletales
April 1	The Bob Newhart Show	1972
April 7	Quark	1977
April 29	Maude	1972
	Another Day	1978
May 13	The Ted Knight Show
	The Bionic Woman	1976
	Columbo	1971
May 18	Baretta	1975
July 21	Chico and the Man	1974
November 4	Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!	1969
November 10	The American Girls	1978
December 2	Yogi's Space Race
December 4	Lucan	1977
December 9	Rhoda	1974
December 16	The New Fantastic Four	1978

Made-for-TV movies and miniseries

Title	Network	Date of airing
King	NBC	February 12–14
Holocaust		April 16–19
Centennial		October 1–February 4
Someone's Watching Me!		November 29

Births

Date	Name	Notability
January 5	January Jones	Actress (Mad Men)
January 15	Eddie Cahill	Actor (CSI: NY)
January 24	Kristen Schaal	Actress (Bob's Burgers, The Last Man on Earth, Gravity Falls)
January 26	Kelly Stables	Actress (W.I.T.C.H., Two and a Half Men, The Exes)
February 3	Kelly Sullivan	Actress (Henry Danger)
February 7	Ashton Kutcher	Actor (That '70s Show)
February 14	Joanna Canton	Actress
	Danai Gurira	Actor (The Walking Dead)
February 20	Lauren Ambrose	Actress (Six Feet Under)
March 1	Donovan Patton	Actor (Blue's Clues)
	Jensen Ackles	Actor (Supernatural)
March 5	Kimberly McCullough	Actress (Once and Again, General Hospital)
March 17	Patrick Seitz	Actor
March 23	Anastasia Griffith	Actress (Damages, Trauma, Copper)
	Nicholle Tom	Actress (The Nanny)
March 25	Maribeth Monroe	Actress and comedian (Workaholics, The Brink)
April 2	Jaime Ray Newman	Actress (General Hospital, Eastwick)
April 13	Kyle Howard	Actor (My Boys)
April 22	Manu Intiraymi	Actor (Star Trek: Voyager)
April 26	Stana Katic	Actress (Castle)
May 10	Corri English	Actress
	Kenan Thompson	Actor (Kenan & Kel, Saturday Night Live)
May 12	Jason Biggs	Actor (Orange Is the New Black)
	Malin Akerman	Actress (Childrens Hospital, Trophy Wife)
May 17	Kat Foster	Actress ('Til Death)
May 22	Ginnifer Goodwin	Actress (Ed, Big Love, Once Upon a Time)
May 26	Benji Gregory	Actor (ALF)
June 2	Justin Long	Actor (Ed)
	Nikki Cox	Actress (Las Vegas)
June 6	Judith Barsi	Actress (d. 1988)
June 7	Bill Hader	Actor (Saturday Night Live)
June 10	Shane West	Actor (Once and Again, ER, Nikita)
June 11	Joshua Jackson	Canadian actor (Dawson's Creek)
June 13	Ethan Embry	Actor (Brotherhood)
June 21	Erica Durance	Actress (Smallville, Saving Hope)
July 1	Hillary Tuck	Actress (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show)
July 4	Becki Newton	Actress (Ugly Betty, The Goodwin Games)
July 6	Tamera Mowry	Actresses (Sister, Sister, Tia & Tamera)
	Tia Mowry	Actresses (Sister, Sister, Tia & Tamera, Instant Mom)
July 9	Linda Park	Actress (Star Trek: Enterprise)
July 12	Michelle Rodriguez	Actress (Lost)
	Topher Grace	Actor (That '70s Show)
July 18	Eddie Matos	Actor (Port Charles)
July 22	A.J. Cook	Actress (Higher Ground, Criminal Minds)
August 2	Natashia Williams	Actress (Romeo!)
August 20	Noah Bean	Actor (Nikita)
August 24	Beth Riesgraf	Actress (Leverage, Caper)
August 25	Kel Mitchell	Actor (Kenan & Kel, Game Shakers)
August 26	Amanda Schull	Actress (Pretty Little Liars, Suits, 12 Monkeys)
August 28	Kelly Overton	Actress (All My Children, True Blood, Legends)
September 4	Wes Bentley	Actor (American Horror Story)
September 12	Benjamin McKenzie	Actor (The O.C.)
September 13	Megan Henning	Actress (7th Heaven)
September 23	Keri Lynn Pratt	Actress (Jack & Bobby)
October 16	Kala Savage	Actress
October 17	Erin Karpluk	Canadian actress (Being Erica)
October 20	Dionne Quan	Voice actress (Trixie Tang on The Fairly OddParents)
October 31	Brian Hallisay	Actor (Privileged, The Client List, Revenge)
November 12	Ashley Williams	Actress (As the World Turns, Good Morning, Miami, The Jim Gaffigan Show)
November 15	Samantha Shelton	Actress (Monarch Cove)
November 17	Rachel McAdams	Actress (True Detective)
November 24	Katherine Heigl	Actress (Roswell, Grey's Anatomy, State of Affairs)
November 29	Lauren German	Actress (Chicago Fire)
December 7	Shiri Appleby	Actress (Roswell, Life UneXpected, UnREAL)
December 8	Ian Somerhalder	Actor (The Vampire Diaries)
December 18	Katie Holmes	Actress (Dawson's Creek)

Deaths

Date	Name	Age	Notability
February 28	Zara Cully	86	Actress (Mother Olivia Jefferson on The Jeffersons)
March 18	Peggy Wood	86	Actress (One Life to Live)
April 22	Will Geer	76	Actor (Grandpa Walton on The Waltons)
May 21	Bruce Geller	47	Screenwriter, producer (Mannix)
June 29	Bob Crane	49	Actor (Col. Hogan on Hogan's Heroes)