| Date |
Event |
| February 20 |
Comedian Andy Kaufman disrupts sketches and starts a brawl while broadcasting during ABC's sketch series Fridays. |
| March 6 |
After a 19-year run, Walter Cronkite resigns as main anchorman of The CBS Evening News and is succeeded the next Monday by Dan Rather. |
| March 30 |
An assassination attempt against President Ronald Reagan in Washington, D.C., in which the President and several other people were wounded, interrupted programming on the three major networks and CNN at 2:42 PM. Millions of viewers worldwide witnessed footage of the shooting and the chaos that followed. ABC News was flooded with unconfirmed reports, which pestered the chief anchor Frank Reynolds, one of which falsely stated that the President's press secretary James Brady had died in the shooting. This was also reported by CBS News and ABC News. Coverage of the assassination attempt continued for hours on the big three networks, and for two days on CNN. As a result, the Academy Awards were postponed for a day. |
| April 1 |
Berlinda Tolbert and Michael Jonas Evans made their final appearance as Lionel and Jenny Willis Jefferson in The Jeffersons. |
| April 11 |
Van Halen's main guitarist Eddie Van Halen marries One Day at a Time actress Valerie Bertinelli. |
| April 12 |
The Alpha Repertory Television Service (also known as ARTS) launches right after the Nickelodeon time period. |
| April 21 |
"Weird Al" Yankovic makes his first television appearance on The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder. |
| May 1 |
The season four finale of Dallas, entitled "Ewing-Gate" aired. |
| June 30 |
Fred Silverman is dismissed as president of NBC, after failing to improve that network's third-place rating, and is replaced by Grant Tinker. |
| July 4 |
Showtime ends its part-time status and inaugurates a 24/7 schedule. |
| August 1 |
The MTV network debuts on cable television, playing music videos 24 hours a day. "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles was the first video broadcast on the network. |
| September 7 |
During the course of the year, all soap operas produced by Procter & Gamble change title sequences and theme songs. Another World, Guiding Light, Search for Tomorrow, and The Edge of Night all have new title sequences. |
| October 12 |
CBS Cable is initiated. |
| November 1 |
The NBC soap opera The Doctors broadcasts its 5,000th episode. |
| November 2 |
Soap opera As the World Turns debuted a new opening sequence and theme song for the first time in its 25-year history. |
| November 8 |
ESPN televises its first live flag-to-flag NASCAR race, the Atlanta Journal 500. |
| November 9 |
The cast and crew of The Incredible Hulk were delivered a surprise: despite maintaining good ratings, The Incredible Hulk was to be canceled immediately (Executive producer Kenneth Johnson tried to convince the network to buy six additional episodes so that CBS could fill season five, but it was refused.) |
| November 16–17 |
Luke and Laura's wedding for series General Hospital becomes one of the most watched weddings in American television history, second only to the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer. |
| December 10 |
KJTV-TV in Lubbock, Texas signs on the air as an independent station under the KJAA call letters before becoming KJTV in 1985 then becoming a Fox affiliate in 1986. |
| December 24 |
HBO begins broadcasting 24 hours a day full-time. |
| December 25 |
Chuck Woolery hosted his last episode of Wheel of Fortune after a salary dispute with series producer and creator Merv Griffin. The next Monday, December 28, Pat Sajak began hosting. |
| Date |
Name |
Notability |
| January 19 |
Bitsie Tulloch |
Actress (lonelygirl15, Grimm) |
| January 22 |
Beverley Mitchell |
Actress (7th Heaven) |
| January 24 |
Carrie Coon |
Actress (The Leftovers) |
| January 28 |
Elijah Wood |
Actor (Tron: Uprising) |
| January 31 |
Justin Timberlake |
Singer and actor (The Mickey Mouse Club) |
| February 2 |
Emily Rose |
Actress (Haven) |
| February 6 |
Alison Haislip |
Actress and TV personality (Attack of the Show!, The Morning After, Battleground) |
| February 17 |
Joseph Gordon-Levitt |
Actor (Tommy Solomon on 3rd Rock from the Sun) |
| Paris Hilton |
Heiress and TV personality (The Simple Life) |
| March 2 |
Bryce Dallas Howard |
Actress (HitRecord on TV) and daughter of Ron Howard |
| March 6 |
Ellen Muth |
Actress (Dead Like Me) |
| March 27 |
Ashley Bank |
Actress |
| March 28 |
Julia Stiles |
Actress (Dexter) |
| April 2 |
Bethany Joy Lenz |
Actress (Guiding Light, One Tree Hill) and singer |
| April 6 |
Eliza Coupe |
Actress (Scrubs, Happy Endings, Benched) |
| April 13 |
Courtney Peldon |
Actress (Harry and the Hendersons, Boston Public) |
| April 28 |
Jessica Alba |
Actress (Dark Angel) |
| May 5 |
Danielle Fishel |
Actress (Boy Meets World, Girl Meets World) |
| May 15 |
Jamie-Lynn Sigler |
Actress (The Sopranos) |
| June 1 |
Amy Schumer |
Actress and comedienne (Inside Amy Schumer) |
| June 7 |
Larisa Oleynik |
Actress (The Secret World of Alex Mack, Winx Club) |
| June 9 |
Natalie Portman |
Actress (Saturday Night Live host in 2006) |
| June 24 |
Vanessa Ray |
Actress (As the World Turns, Blue Bloods) |
| July 21 |
Chrishell Stause |
Actress (All My Children, Days of our Lives, Youthful Daze) |
| July 24 |
Summer Glau |
Actress (Firefly, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Sequestered) |
| July 29 |
Dyana Liu |
Actress (Tower Prep) |
| August 4 |
Amanda Congdon |
Actress and video blogger (Rocketboom) |
| Abigail Spencer |
Actress (All My Children, Burning Love, Rectify) |
| August 21 |
Erin Kelly |
Actress (Beyond the Break) |
| August 24 |
Chad Michael Murray |
Actor (One Tree Hill) |
| August 25 |
Rachel Bilson |
Actress (The O.C.) |
| September 4 |
Beyoncé |
Singer and actress |
| September 8 |
Jonathan Taylor Thomas |
Actor (Home Improvement) |
| September 9 |
Julie Gonzalo |
Argentine-American actress (Veronica Mars, Eli Stone, Dallas) |
| September 16 |
Alexis Bledel |
Actress (Gilmore Girls) |
| September 18 |
Jennifer Tisdale |
Actress |
| October 9 |
Zachery Ty Bryan |
Actor (Home Improvement) |
| October 16 |
Brea Grant |
Actress (Heroes) |
| Caterina Scorsone |
Actress (Missing, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice) |
| October 30 |
Shaun Sipos |
Actor (Complete Savages) |
| November 8 |
Azura Skye |
Actress (Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane) |
| November 9 |
Scottie Thompson |
Actress (NCIS, Trauma) |
| November 18 |
Allison Tolman |
Actress (Fargo) |
| Christina Vidal |
Actress (Taina) |
| December 2 |
Britney Spears |
Singer (The Mickey Mouse Club) |
| December 15 |
Michelle Dockery |
English actress (Downton Abbey) |
| December 16 |
Krysten Ritter |
Actress (Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23) |
| December 27 |
Emilie de Ravin |
Actress (Roswell, Lost, Once Upon a Time) |
