Your Arm's Too Short To Box With God
Jan 1 Alex Bradford, Vinnette Carroll, and Micki Grant's musical "Your Arm's Too Short To Box With God" closes at Lyceum Theatre, NYC, after 429 performances and 1 Tony Award
"All Creatures Great and Small"
Jan 8 TV series "All Creatures Great and Small" debuts on BBC TV, based on the books by James Herriot, starring Robert hardy and Christopher Timothy
- Jan 20 Columbia Pictures pays $9.5 million for movie rights to "Annie"
35th Golden Globes
Jan 28 35th Golden Globes: "The Turning Point", Richard Burton, & Jane Fonda win
Larry King Show
Jan 30 Mutual Broadcasting Network begins airing the late-night "Larry King Show" on radio, from Miami, Florida
Polankski Flees US
Feb 1 Director Roman Polanski skips bail in the US and flees to France after pleading guilty to charges of engaging in sex with a 13-year-old girl
- Feb 10 U.S. premiere of "Blue Collar", Paul Schrader's first film direction
People's Choice Awards
Feb 20 4th People's Choice Awards: John Wayne and Barbra Streisand (Motion Picture), and James Garner and Mary Tyler Moore (TV) win
- Feb 20 Bob Backland beats "Superstar" Billy Graham in NYC, to become WWF wrestling champion
- Feb 22 28th Berlin International Film Festival: "Las truchas" and "What Max Said" win the Golden Bear (tie)
Film & TV History
Mar 1 Charlie Chaplin's coffin and remains are stolen from a Swiss cemetery in an extortion plot
- Mar 6 Brian Clark's stage drama "Whose Life is it Anyway?" starring Tom Conti and Jane Asher, and directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, opens at the Mermaid Theatre, London
The Incredible Hulk
Mar 10 "The Incredible Hulk", starring Bill Bixby as David Banner, premieres on CBS
- Mar 22 The Rutles mockumentary "All You Need is Cash" debuts on NBC television
Television Finale
Mar 29 Variety TV show "The Carol Burnett Show" last airs on CBS in the US, having won 25 Emmy Awards
Television Finale
Apr 1 Last episode of "The Bob Newhart Show" sitcom (the Chicago one) airs on CBS-TV
Dallas
Apr 2 TV show "Dallas" starring Larry Hagman and Barbara Bel Geddes premieres on CBS as a 5 week mini-series; ratings success leads to a 13 year run
Academy Awards
Apr 3 50th Academy Awards: "Annie Hall", Richard Dreyfuss & Diane Keaton win
- Apr 3 Larry King moves his radio show from Miami, Florida to Washington, D.C.
- Apr 16 NBC's premiere of miniseries "Holocaust"
- Apr 25 ABC premiere of crime drama "Vega$"
- Apr 30 "Elvis: The Legend Lives!", a one-man show starring Rick Saucedo, closes at Palace Theatre, NYC, after 101 performances [1]
Film & TV History
Apr 30 British film "The Stud" starring Joan Collins, based on the book by her sister Jackie Collins premieres in UK
Snake in the Eagle's Shadow
May 1 Jackie Chan's breakthrough film "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" directed by Yuen Woo-ping, is released in Hong Kong
20/20 Premieres
Jun 6 US TV news program "20/20", created by Roone Arledge premieres on ABC
- Jun 7 Emmy 5th Daytime Award presentation
Grease
Jun 16 Film "Grease" opens, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, based on the 1971 musical
Bad Boy
Jun 16 Ringo Starr releases album "Bad Boy"
Music History
Jul 1 John Kander and Fred Ebb's musical "The Act", starring Liza Minnelli and directed by Martin Scorsese closes at Majestic Theater, NYC, after 233 performances
Film & TV History
Jul 10 World News Tonight premieres on ABC with Max Robinson the first black anchor on a network newscast in the US
Music History
Jul 13 BBC bans Sex Pistols "No One is Innocent"
Dawn of the Dead
Sep 1 Horror film "Dawn of the Dead" written and directed by George A. Romero, starring David Emge, Ken Foree and Scott H. Reiniger premieres in Torino
- Sep 1 Last broadcast of "Columbo" starring Peter Falk on NBC
- Sep 3 Bernard Slade's stage comedy "Same Time, Next Year", closes at the Ambassador Theatre, NYC, after 1,453 performances and a Tony Award
Telethon
Sep 4 Jerry Lewis' 13th Muscular Dystrophy telethon raises $29,074,405
- Sep 9 Kylene Barker (Virginia), crowned 51st Miss America 1979
Taxi
Sep 12 Situation comedy "Taxi" premieres on ABC television starring Judd Hirsch, Jeff Conaway, Danny Devito, Tony Danza, Marilu Henner, and Andy Kaufman
Film & TV History
Sep 16 Filming begins for "Monty Python's Life of Brian", on location in Monastir, Tunisia
- Sep 17 30th Emmy Awards: "All in the Family"; Ed Asner & Sada Thompson win
- Sep 18 "WKRP in Cincinnati", an ensemble TV sitcom created by Hugh Wilson and set in a struggling radio station debuts on CBS
- Sep 21 3rd Toronto International Film Festival: "Girlfriends" directed by Claudia Weill wins the People's Choice Award
- Sep 29 "Flying High," debuts on CBS
- Sep 29 "For Richer, For Poorer," TV Daytime Soap; last airs on NBC-TV
The Boys from Brazil
Oct 4 Film adaptation of Ira Levin's novel "The Boys from Brazil", starring Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier premieres
- Oct 6 "Midnight Express" film premieres directed by Alan Parker starring Brad Davis, Randy Quaid and John Hurt
Days of Heaven
Oct 6 Terrence Malick's "Days of Heaven" film premieres starring Richard Gere
- Oct 23 CBS raises LP prices to $8.98
Halloween
Oct 25 "Halloween", directed by John Carpenter, starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut, is released
- Oct 28 NBC's premiere of Kiss' acting debut, "Kiss Meets The Phantom of the Park" TV film
- Nov 2 Arnold Shapiro's TV documentary "Scared Straight", narrated by Peter Falk as a controversial and questionable deterrent to juvenile delinquency, debuts on Los Angeles' KTLA-TV
- Nov 3 First broadcast of "Different Strokes" on NBC TV
Night & Day
Nov 8 Tom Stoppard's play "Night & Day" premieres in London
Briefcase Full of Blues
Nov 28 Atlantic Records releases "Briefcase Full of Blues", the debut album by The Blues Brothers (Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi); album tops the chart and becomes best-selling blues record of all-time
You Don't Bring Me Flowers
Dec 2 Neil Diamond & Barbra Streisand's duet single "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" hits #1
The Deer Hunter
Dec 8 "The Deer Hunter", directed by Michael Cimino and starring Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and Meryl Streep, premieres in Los Angeles (Academy Awards Best Picture 1979)
Superman: The Movie
Dec 10 "Superman: The Movie", directed by Richard Donner and starring Christopher Reeve, Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman and Margot Kidder premieres at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C.
"Les Miserables"
Dec 27 CBS Television's premiere of its version of "Les Misérables", starring Richard Jordan and Anthony Perkins
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