"Let's Get Small"
Jan 9 K-Mart pulls Steve Martin's "Let's Get Small" for being in "bad taste"
6th American Music Awards
Jan 12 6th American Music Awards: Barry Manilow, Linda Ronstadt win
"Life on Earth"
Jan 16 BBC landmark nature series "Life on Earth" presented by David Attenborough first shown on BBC One
- Jan 26 "The Dukes of Hazzard" premieres on US TV network CBS
36th Golden Globes
Jan 27 36th Golden Globes: Midnight Express, Jon Voight & Jane Fonda win
- Feb 4 "Co-Ed Fever," TV Comedy, debut & cancelled that outing on CBS
- Feb 5 Sears Radio Theater premieres on CBS
- Feb 7 "Supertrain", TV Anthology, Superbomb of 1979, debuts on NBC
- Feb 9 ABC airs "Heroes of Rock N Roll" special, featuring archival performances of 62 artists
- Feb 9 Beginning of James Clavell's novel "Whirlwind"
- Feb 9 New York City premiere of Paul Schrader's allegedly fact based film "Hardcore"
- Feb 9 Walter Hill's drama film "The Warriors" is released in the United States, sparking gang violence at many theaters and a halt to the film's marketing campaign
They're Playing Our Song
Feb 11 Marvin Hamlisch, Carole Bayer Sager, and Neil Simon's musical "They're Playing Our Song", starring Robert Klein and Lucie Arnaz, opens at Imperial Theatre, NYC; runs for 1082 performances
TV Show Appearance
Feb 15 Temple City Kazoo Orchestra appears on "The Mike Douglas Show"
- Feb 16 Los Angeles premiere of Paul Schrader's allegedly fact based film "Hardcore"
- Feb 18 Mini-series "Roots: Next Generations" premieres on ABC TV
- Feb 20 29th Berlin International Film Festival: "David" wins the Golden Bear
- Feb 26 CBS' premiere of NYC sitcom "Flatbush", which received many derision phone calls about it from Brooklynites to CBS
- Mar 1 ESPN and NCAA come to an agreement giving the network worldwide multi-media rights to NCAA championships for various sports
- Mar 4 200th episode of "All in the Family"
People's Choice Awards
Mar 7 5th People's Choice Awards: Burt Reynolds & Olivia Newton-John win (Motion Picture) and Alan Alda, Mary Tyler Moore & Carol Burnett win (TV)
The Passage
Mar 9 "The Passage", directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Anthony Quinn, is released in the United States
- Mar 10 Eubie Blake, a 92-year old ragtime piano player and composer, and Gregory Hines are musical guest on Saturday Night Live
Music History
Mar 16 CBS-TV airs "Wings Over the World" with Paul McCartney
- Mar 19 US House of Representatives begins live TV broadcasts via C-SPAN
Sports History
Mar 26 41st NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Michigan State beats Indiana State, 75-64; marks start of rivalry between future Hall of Famers Magic Johnson and Larry Bird; highest-rated game in history of televised college basketball
- Mar 28 Frank Lazarus & Dick Vosburgh's stage musical comedy "A Day in Hollywood/A Night in Ukraine" premieres at the Mayfair Theatre, London, England
- Apr 8 205th & final episode of "All in the Family"; followed by "Archie Bunker's Place" for 4 seasons
- Apr 9 51st Academy Awards: "The Deer Hunter", Jon Voight & Jane Fonda win
Mad Max
Apr 12 Australian film "Mad Max" starring Mel Gibson, directed by George Miller is released
- Apr 17 Brian Clark's stage drama "Whose Life is it Anyway?" starring Tom Conti and Phillip Bosco, and directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, opens at the Trafalgar Theatre, NYC; runs for 223 performances, winning Conti a Tony Award
- Apr 18 "Real People" premieres on NBC TV
- Apr 30 Mary Therese Friel, (New York), crowned 28th Miss USA
Academy of Country Music Awards
May 2 14th Academy of Country Music Awards: Kenny Rogers and Barbara Mandrell win
Stalker
May 14 "Stalker", Russian film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, starring Alexander Kaidanovsky and Anatoli Solonitsyn, is released
- May 17 Emmy 6th Daytime Award presentation, "Ryan's Hope" wins Outstanding Daytime Drama Series
Film & TV History
May 22 1st ACE Cable Awards: "Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas" by Jim Henson and HBO
Cannes Film Festival
May 24 32nd Cannes Film Festival: "Apocalypse Now" directed by Francis Ford Coppola and "Die Biechtrommel" directed by Volker Schlondorff jointly awarded the Palme d'Or
Alien
May 25 Horror film "Alien", directed by Ridley Scott and starring Sigourney Weaver is released
The House on Garibaldi Street
May 28 ABC premiere of TV's "The House on Garibaldi Street", based on the 1960 capture of Adolf Eichmann in Argentina
- May 29 CBS premiere of Melissa Anderson's modern "Survival of Dana", her first "bad girl" role, in which Anderson's title character leaves her North Dakota town for Los Angeles after her parents' divorce
Moonraker
Jun 26 "Moonraker", 11th James Bond film starring Roger Moore, premieres in London
TV Show Appearance
Jun 30 British punk rocker Johnny Rotten and British actress Joan Collins appear together on BBC TV's "Juke Box Jury"
Apocalypse Now
Aug 15 "Apocalypse Now", directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, and Martin Sheen, is released (Palme d'Or 1979)
Monty Python's Life of Brian
Aug 17 "Monty Python's Life of Brian" directed by Terry Jones, starring Graham Chapman, Mickael Palin, & John Cleese, and funded by George Harrison's HandMade Films, premieres in US theaters
Hart to Hart
Aug 25 TV series "Hart to Hart" starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers premieres in the US on ABC
Telethon
Sep 3 Jerry Lewis' 14th Muscular Dystrophy telethon raises $30,000,000
- Sep 7 The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) makes its debut.
- Sep 8 Cheryl Prewitt (Miss), 22, crowned 52nd Miss America 1980
- Sep 9 31st Emmy Awards: "Taxi"; "Lou Grant"; Ron Leibman & Ruth Gordon win
- Sep 9 British film "The Bitch" starring Joan Collins, a sequel to "The Stud", both based on novels by her sister Jackie Collins, premieres in UK
- Sep 14 The film "Quadrophenia", loosely based on The Who's 1973 rock opera of the same name, is released.
- Sep 15 4th Toronto International Film Festival: "Best Boy" directed by Ira Wohl wins the People's Choice Award
- Sep 16 Louis LaRusso II's stage drama "Knockout", starring Danny Aiello, closes at the Helen Hayes Theater, NYC, after 154 performances
- Sep 23 Jane Fonda & 200,000 attend anti-nuke rally in Battery Park, NYC
Music History
Sep 25 Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's musical "Evita", starring Patti LuPone, Mandy Patinkin, and Bob Gunton, opens at Broadway Theater, NYC; runs for 1568 performances and wins 7 Tony Awards
- Sep 26 1984 summer LA Olympic coverage sold to ABC for $225 million
Music History
Sep 27 Elton John, sick with flu, collapses in the Hollywood Universal Amphitheater
- Sep 29 John Huston's "Wine Blood" premieres at NY Film Festival
Country Music Association Awards
Oct 8 13th Country Music Association Awards: Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers & Barbara Mandrell win
Music History
Oct 10 Rock band Fleetwood Mac gets a star in Hollywood
The Miracle Worker
Oct 14 NBC premiere of U.S. TV adaptation of Helen Keller's life story "The Miracle Worker"
Film & TV History
Oct 16 Comedy sketch show "Not the Nine O'Clock News" debuts starring Rowan Atkinson, Chris Langham, Pamela Stephenson and Mel Smith on BBC 2
- Oct 22 Walt Disney World's 100-millionth guest
Journey Through The Secret Life of Plants
Oct 30 Tamla/Motown releases Stevie Wonder's documentary film soundtrack "Journey Through The Secret Life of Plants"
- Nov 8 ABC broadcasts "Iran Crisis: American Held Hostage" with Frank Reynolds (forerunner to "Nightline")
Romantic Comedy
Nov 8 Bernard Slade's stage comedy "Romantic Comedy", starring Mia Farrow and Anthony Perkins, opens at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, NYC; runs for 396 performances
- Nov 15 ABC-TV announces it would broadcast nightly specials on Iran hostage
Salem's Lot
Nov 17 "Salem's Lot", American two-part miniseries based on the horror novel of the same name by Stephen King, premieres in the United States
- Nov 24 "Salem's Lot", American two-part miniseries based on the horror novel of the same name by Stephen King, concludes in the United States
- Nov 30 Ted Koppel becomes anchor of late nightly news on Iran "America Held Hostage" (ABC)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Dec 7 "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" first movie of the series premieres directed by Robert Wise, starring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy
Bowie on SNL
Dec 15 British rocker David Bowie performs three songs on American television program Saturday Night Live - "The Man Who Sold the World", "TVC-15" and "Boys Keep Swinging"
An American Christmas Carol
Dec 16 "An American Christmas Carol" directed by Eric Till starring Henry Winkler premieres in the US
"Kramer vs Kramer"
Dec 19 "Kramer vs Kramer" directed by Robert Benton and starring Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep is released (Best Picture 1980)
- Dec 27 Soap Opera "Knots Landing" premieres on CBS-TV
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