| Date | Event |
| January 1 |
Affiliation swaps galore begin the television year in Florida. In Miami, three channels change their network affiliation: WTVJ moves to NBC from CBS, WCIX (now WFOR-TV) moves to CBS from Fox, and WSVN moves to Fox from NBC. Meanwhile, in West Palm Beach, WPEC-TV switches from ABC to CBS, WTVX leaves CBS to become an independent, and ABC station WPBF signs on this day. The swaps result from NBC's acquisition of WTVJ in 1987, and CBS's acquisition of WCIX in August 1988. The switches in West Palm Beach are accomplished due to WCIX's weak signal in Broward County.[1][2] |
| January 9 |
Pat Sajak quits the daytime version of the series Wheel of Fortune for a CBS late night talk show while remaining host of the nighttime version. His daytime hosting role will be assumed by Rolf Benirschke, then by Bob Goen when Wheel switches networks from NBC to CBS that July. |
| January 29 |
Shining Time Station, a children's sitcom debuts on PBS. Starring Didi Conn, Brian O'Connor and Ringo Starr, the series introduces British children's television series Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends to America. |
| February 20 |
Jane Wyman, an actress on the CBS drama series Falcon Crest, is rushed to the hospital, after suffering from diabetes and a liver ailment. |
| Charlie O'Donnell returned to Wheel of Fortune as the announcer, following a nine-year absence. |
| March 2 |
Pepsi's controversial advertisement with Madonna and her song "Like a Prayer" airs during NBC's showing of The Cosby Show. The same ad was run on ITV in the UK, 12 minutes into The Bill. |
| March 24 |
For the first time since 1973, NBC reruns the 1960 telecast of Peter Pan, with Mary Martin in the title role. Earlier that day, two of the network's game shows, Sale of the Century and Super Password, aired their final episodes. The following Monday, NBC will return the noon time slot to its affiliates. |
| March 31 |
The CBS game show Card Sharks airs its final episode. The following Monday, it is replaced by a revival of Now You See It. |
| April 8 |
Mike Myers joins the cast of the NBC series Saturday Night Live. |
| After a ten-month hiatus,[3] American Bandstand reemerges on the USA Network. David Hirsch took over hosting duties from Dick Clark (who remained on as executive producer) and Bandstand moved outdoors to Universal Studios Hollywood. After 26 weeks on USA, Bandstand signed off for good on October 7, 1989 with The Cover Girls as the final musical guests. |
| April 30 |
CNBC, NBC's answer to the Financial News Network, launched (CNBC and FNN would merge two years later). |
| May 11 |
In the series finale of the ABC drama Dynasty, Blake Carrington, Alexis Colby, Dex Dexter and Fallon Carrington Colby are stuck in mortal peril. |
| May 14 |
NBC broadcasts the series finale of Family Ties followed by the network television premiere of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. |
| May 18 |
Donna Mills makes her final regular appearance as villainess Abby on the CBS drama Knots Landing. |
| July 1 |
In Rochester, New York, NBC affiliate WROC-TV and CBS affiliate WHEC-TV swap affiliations. NBC cites WROC-TV's struggling news ratings as the reason for the switch.[4] |
| July 14 |
The CBS game show Now You See It, which had suffered from constant preemptions by network affiliates, airs its final episode. The following Monday, Wheel of Fortune, which had been cancelled by NBC on June 30, takes its place. |
| August 14 |
Cliff and Nina Warner marry one another for the fourth (and seemingly final) time on the ABC soap opera All My Children, a record that has not been matched for soap operas. |
| September 4 |
Super Mario Bros. the popular video game series is brought to life to television with live action and animation by DIC Entertainment (later Cookie Jar Group and now DHX Media) featuring hilarious live action segments starring the now deceased Captain Lou Albano as Mario and Danny Wells as Luigi and adventure animated segments (where Albano and Wells also voiced the Mario Bros. in this part) spoofing famous movies like Star Wars and Godzilla known as The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!. |
| The Family Channel debuts its children programming block Fun Town. |
| September 8 |
The Legend of Zelda animated series begins on television as part of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! and is shown on Fridays. The series has been panned by many fans of the Zelda franchise including the story writing, over the top acting, repeated plots and Link's trademark catchphrase "Excuse me, Princess!. |
| September 16 |
A pilot for a proposed X-Men animated series is first broadcast in syndication. It take another three years before an X-Men series would be fully realized. |
| September 22 |
ABC debuts TGIF from 8:00pm to 10:00pm, a new programming block for Friday nights with four shows (Full House, Family Matters, Perfect Strangers, and Just the Ten of Us), it also includes interstitial hosts. This block would become a rating hit throughout the 1990s, lasting until 2000. |
| September 30 |
NBC broadcasts its final Major League Baseball Game of the Week (before the program is transferred to CBS). NBC had broadcast the Game of the Week since 1957 and exclusively since 1966. Bob Costas and Tony Kubek called the action from Toronto's SkyDome, as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Baltimore Orioles to clinch the American League Eastern Division title. |
| October 1 |
NBC affiliate KPOM-TV (now KFTA-TV) in Fort Smith, Arkansas signs-on full-time satellite KFAA-TV (now KNWA-TV) in Rogers to solve transmission problems resulting from its status as an UHF station in a mountainous area. (KFTA-TV will disaffiliate from NBC and join Fox in 2006.) |
| October 6 |
Jane Wyman's medical leave due to her diabetes and liver aliment is written into Falcon Crest, when her character, Angela Channing, is put in a coma. |
| October 17 |
Four minutes into ABC's broadcast of Game 3 of the World Series, the Lome Prieta earthquake occurred, forcing a ten-day delay of the series. |
| October 27 |
Jane Pauley announces that she will be stepping down as co-anchor of NBC's Today (after 13 years on the air) at the end of the year (with Pauley's last day being on December 29). Today's news reader Deborah Norville is immediately announced as Pauley's successor. |
| November 9 |
The National Basketball Association[5][6] and NBC[7] reaches an agreement on a four-year, US$600 million contract[8] (beginning in the 1990–1991 season), ending CBS' tenure with the NBA after 17 years. |
| November 15 |
The Comedy Channel debuts (it will become Comedy Central two years later). |
| December 17 |
Fox broadcasts the series premiere of The Simpsons, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", which also acts as a Christmas special. The new series is a spin-off of a series of animated sketches that had previously aired on The Tracey Ullman Show. The series proves to be an early hit for Fox, scoring the network's first Nielsen top 30 entry.[9] |
| December 18 |
A seldom-seen 1956 Christmas special episode of I Love Lucy is re-broadcast by CBS. |