| Date | Event |
|---|
| January 3 | After being canceled by CBS at the end of the 1984–85 season, Charles in Charge resurfaces in first-run syndication, where it would run for an additional four seasons. |
| January 5 | Remington Steele is resumed by NBC after a six-month hiatus. During the hiatus, the series' main actor Pierce Brosnan won the film role of James Bond, only to lose the role when NBC unexpectedly renewed the television series. Remington Steele adopts a TV-movie length format but only runs for a few installments before being canceled permanently. |
| January 22 | R. Budd Dwyer shoots and kills himself at a televised press conference. The decision by some companies to broadcast the footage results in a debate concerning journalistic ethics. |
| February 2 | PBS broadcasts the critically acclaimed series Eyes on the Prize. |
| February 15 | Amerika, the science-fiction drama miniseries, showing life ten years after the United States is defeated and occupied by the USSR, was broadcast on ABC. |
| February 25 | Frank Sinatra makes a guest appearance on Magnum P.I., in what would be his last credited screen performance. |
| March 9 | KETK-TV in Jacksonville, Texas signs on the air, giving the Tyler market its first full-time NBC affiliate. (NBC had previously been shared on KLTV with CBS (until KLMG-TV signed on in 1984), and later ABC which KLTV retains as a full-time affiliate.) |
| March 19 | Televangelist Jim Bakker resigns as the host of The PTL Club after involvement in a sex scandal. |
| March 23 | The first ever Soul Train Music Awards is broadcast in syndication. |
| March 27 | On CBS, The Price Is Right surpasses Concentration as the longest-running daytime game show in history. |
| March 29 | In front of 93,173 fans Hulk Hogan captures the WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 3 at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan defeating his former friend André The Giant. |
| March 30 | CBS Sports uses the song "One Shining Moment" for the first time during the highlight package at the end of their coverage of NCAA men's basketball tournament final. |
| April 5 | The Fox TV network makes its prime-time debut, marking the first time since 1955 that there were four U.S. networks with prime-time programming. The network debuted two shows, Married... with Children and The Tracey Ullman Show, which are broadcast three times each during the night so that viewers watching other networks can switch over and sample the shows. |
| April 6 | During an episode of the ABC late-night news program Nightline devoted to the upcoming 40th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's debut in Major League Baseball, Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Al Campanis makes racially insensitive comments when asked about the scarcity of black field or general managers in MLB. Campanis would be fired two days later. |
| April 19 | Matt Groening's The Simpsons debuts as a series of short animated segments as part of The Tracey Ullman Show on Fox. |
| May 6 | Mr. Belvedere is canceled after three seasons; however criticism causes ABC executives to rethink the decision and renew the series for a fourth season. (Since the fall programming schedules were already set, Mr. Belvedere would not premiere until late October.) |
| May 15 | Pamela Ewing's car speeds out of control, crashes into a tanker, and explodes on the season finale of the CBS drama Dallas. |
| June 4 | CBS becomes the last American network to cease a chime intonation at the beginning of telecasts; satellite feeds have made the tones obsolete (their function was to signal to the affiliates to start broadcasting the network feed in synchronization with the others). |
| June 30 | U.S. daytime television was interrupted for the Iran-Contra hearings. |
| July 15 | Genie Francis, of General Hospital fame, starts a new soap opera role as Diana Colville on the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives, which she will play until 1989. |
| July 31 | Movietime, forerunner to E!, goes on the air. |
| August 1 | ABC affiliate KRCR-TV in Redding, California launches full-time satellite KAEF-TV in Arcata, California, giving the Eureka market its first full-time ABC affiliate. |
| August 31 | CBS airs the special Michael Jackson: The Magic Returns, which features the broadcast premiere of Jackson's 18 minute long music video "Bad". |
| September 5 | Dick Clark's American Bandstand is broadcast for the 2,751st and last time by ABC, after 30 years on the network. (It continued in syndication, then on cable for 2 more years.) |
| September 7 | The original series of Disney's well known animated series DuckTales begins airing on ITV in the UK before being shown in its normal country. |
| September 11 | Dan Rather of the CBS Evening News leaves the newscast when a televised tennis match runs two minutes over. He is missing for six minutes. |
| September 12 | The animated crossover The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones premieres in syndication. |
| September 18 | DuckTales finally begins airing in the U.S. for the first time ever in syndication. |
| September 19 | NBC debuts a weekday package of sitcoms for ts owned-and-operated stations called "30". The shows included are Marblehead Manor (airing Mondays), She's the Sheriff (airing Tuesdays), a series adapted from the George S. Kaufman play You Can't Take It with You (airing Wednesdays), Out of This World (airing Thursdays), and a revival of the short-lived 1983 NBC series We Got It Made closing out the week on Fridays. |
| September 22 | Long-running sitcom Full House created by Jeff Franklin debuts on ABC. |
| September 24 | Kirstie Alley makes her debut as Rebecca Howe in the sixth-season premiere of Cheers. |
| September 28 | The pilot episode for The Next Generation premieres in syndication. |
| October 4 | On the final day of the Major League Baseball season, the Detroit Tigers clinch the American League East title against their divisional rivals the Toronto Blue Jays. The game was broadcast on Sunday afternoon on ABC with Al Michaels, Jim Palmer and Tim McCarver on the call. |
| October 12 | Valerie Harper files a lawsuit against NBC and Lorimar for breach of contract after being dismissed from her sitcom Valerie. |
| October 15 | Bob Barker stops dyeing his hair brown and appears on The Price is Right for the first time with white hair. He is given a minute-long standing ovation by the audience. |
| October 24 | ABC allows Game 6 of the World Series between the Minnesota Twins and St. Louis Cardinals to be played at 3 p.m. CT (4 p.m. ET) on Saturday afternoon – the only day game of the series, and the last World Series game to date to be played in the daytime (although as the game was played in the Metrodome, the game took place under artificial illumination all the same). |
| November 8 | ESPN broadcasts its first ever Sunday night National Football League game, a contest between the New York Giants and New England Patriots. It marked the first time that a cable television outlet broadcast an NFL game. |
| November 13 | Sonny & Cher reunite for a performance on NBC's late-night talk show Late Night with David Letterman. |
| November 22 | During a showing of the Doctor Who story "Horror of Fang Rock", PBS member station WTTW-TV Channel 11 in Chicago is interrupted for 88 seconds by a pirate television transmitter overriding the station's transmission signal to broadcast a video of himself in a Max Headroom mask being spanked. |
| December 27 | Through a short stint with NBC Sports, Gayle Sierens became the first woman to do play-by-play for an NFL regular season football game when she called a game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Kansas City Chiefs. |
| December 28 | The first ever Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series premieres in syndication starting off with the first four episodes. |
| Date | Name | Notability |
|---|
| January 2 | Lauren Storm | Actress (Flight 29 Down) |
| Shelley Hennig | Actress (Days of Our Lives, The Secret Circle, Teen Wolf) |
| January 5 | Kristin Cavallari | Actress (The Real Orange County, The Hills) |
| January 7 | Lyndsy Fonseca | Actress (The Young and the Restless, How I Met Your Mother, Nikita, Agent Carter) |
| January 9 | Pablo Santos | Mexican actor (Greetings from Tucson) (d. 2006) |
| January 12 | Naya Rivera | Actress (The Royal Family, The Bernie Mac Show, Glee) |
| January 20 | Evan Peters | Actor (American Horror Story) |
| January 24 | Ruth Bradley | Irish actress (Humans) |
| January 27 | Kylie Sparks | Actress (Squaresville) |
| January 28 | Misha Crosby | British actor (The Lying Game) |
| Chelsea Brummet | Actress (All That) |
| January 29 | Alex Murrel | Actress (The Real Orange County) |
| February 1 | Heather Morris | Actress (Glee) and singer |
| February 2 | Martin Spanjers | Actor (8 Simple Rules, Good Luck Charlie) |
| February 5 | Darren Criss | Actor (Glee, A Very Potter Musical, Transformers: Robots in Disguise) and singer |
| February 9 | Rose Leslie | Scottish actress (Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey) |
| February 21 | Ashley Greene | Actress |
| Ellen Page | Actress (Pit Pony, hosted Saturday Night Live, 2008) |
| February 24 | Ulysses Cuadra | Voice actor (Rocket Power, Clifford the Big Red Dog) |
| February 25 | Natalie Dreyfuss | Actress (Rita Rocks) |
| March 1 | Kesha | American singer |
| March 9 | Bow Wow | Rapper (host of 106 & Park) |
| March 17 | Rob Kardashian | Actor (Keeping Up with the Kardashians) |
| March 28 | Mary Kate Wiles | Actress (The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Squaresville) and singer |
| April 1 | Mackenzie Davis | Actress (Halt and Catch Fire) |
| April 3 | Benjamin Stone | British actor (The Nine Lives of Chloe King) |
| Rachel Bloom | Actress and singer (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) |
| April 4 | Sarah Gadon | Canadian actress (My Dad the Rock Star, Ruby Gloom, Friends and Heroes, Total Drama) |
| April 9 | Jesse McCartney | Actor (All My Children, Summerland, Young & Hungry), voice actor (Young Justice), and singer |
| April 10 | Jamie Renée Smith | Actress (Ask Harriet) |
| Shay Mitchell | Canadian actress (Pretty Little Liars) |
| April 12 | Brooklyn Decker | Actress (Friends with Better Lives, Grace and Frankie) and model |
| Mike Manning | Actor (D.C.) |
| April 15 | Samira Wiley | Actress (Orange is the New Black) |
| April 17 | Jacqueline MacInnes Wood | Actress (The Bold and the Beautiful) |
| April 18 | Rosie Huntington-Whiteley | English actress |
| April 19 | Courtland Mead | Actor (Kirk, Nightmare Ned, Recess, Lloyd in Space) |
| April 26 | Jessica Lee Rose | Actress (Lonelygirl15, Sorority Forever, Hooking Up) |
| April 27 | William Moseley | English actor (The Royals) |
| May 7 | Aidy Bryant | Actress and comedian (Saturday Night Live, Danger & Eggs) |
| May 10 | Eileen April Boylan | Actress (South of Nowhere, Greek) |
| May 13 | Candice King | Actress (The Vampire Diaries) and singer |
| May 19 | Jayne Wisener | Irish actress (6Degrees) |
| May 21 | Ashlie Brillault | Actress (Lizzie McGuire) |
| May 27 | Bella Heathcote | Australian actress (Neighbours) |
| May 29 | Noah Reid | Canadian actor (Franklin) |
| May 31 | Curtis Williams | Actor (The Parent 'Hood) |
| Shaun Fleming | Voice actor (Teacher's Pet, The Legend of Tarzan, Kim Possible, Fillmore!, The Series) |
| Meredith Hagner | Actress (As the World Turns, Men at Work) |
| June 3 | Lalaine | Actress (Lizzie McGuire) |
| June 12 | Chris Galya | Actor (Jessie) |
| June 16 | Diana DeGarmo | Actress (The Young and the Restless) |
| Kelly Blatz | Actor (Aaron Stone, Glory Daze) |
| Abby Elliott | Actress (Saturday Night Live, Odd Mom Out) and daughter of Chris Elliott |
| June 17 | Rebecca Breeds | Australian actress (The Originals) |
| June 18 | Niels Schneider | French-Canadian actor |
| June 19 | Chelsea J. Wilson | Actress (Lizzie McGuire) |
| June 22 | Joe Dempsie | English actor (Skins, Game of Thrones) |
| June 23 | Haley Strode | Actress (Wendell & Vinnie) |
| June 27 | Ed Westwick | English actor (Gossip Girl) |
| July 3 | Chris Hunter | Actor (South of Nowhere) |
| July 6 | Matt O'Leary | Actor (Spy Kids) |
| July 7 | Julianna Guill | Actress (My Alibi, Glory Daze, Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce) |
| July 11 | Cristina Vee | Voice actress (Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug on Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, Beavis and Butthead) |
| July 14 | Sara Canning | Canadian actress (The Vampire Diaries) |
| July 16 | AnnaLynne McCord | Actress (American Heiress, 90210) |
| July 24 | Mara Wilson | Actress |
| July 29 | Genesis Rodriguez | Actress (Dame Chocolate, The Series) |
| July 31 | Brittany Byrnes | Australian actress (Just Add Water) |
| August 8 | Katie Leung | Actress |
| August 10 | Ari Boyland | New Zealand actor (Power Rangers RPM) |
| August 11 | Jemima West | Anglo-American actress (15/Love, Maison Close, Indian Summers) |
| August 18 | Mika Boorem | Actress (The Tom Show) |
| August 21 | Cody Kasch | Actor (Desperate Housewives) |
| August 25 | Blake Lively | Actress (Gossip Girl) |
| August 30 | Johanna Braddy | Actress (The Last Airbender, Greek, Video Game High School, UnREAL, Quantico) |
| September 2 | Mazin Elsadig | Actor (The Next Generation, Stoked) |
| September 7 | Evan Rachel Wood | Actress (Once and Again, Westworld) and singer |
| September 8 | Wiz Khalifa | Actor and rapper |
| September 9 | Clayton Snyder | Actor (Lizzie McGuire) |
| September 11 | Elizabeth Henstridge | Actress (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) |
| Tyler Hoechlin | Actor (7th Heaven, Teen Wolf) |
| September 13 | Erin Way | Actress (I Heart Vampires, Alphas) |
| September 16 | Daren Kagasoff | Actor (The Secret Life of the American Teenager) |
| September 17 | Augustus Prew | English actor (Prison Break) |
| September 19 | Danielle Panabaker | Actress (Shark, The Flash) |
| September 20 | Sarah Natochenny | Voice actress (Ash Ketchum on Pokémon) |
| September 22 | Tom Felton | English actor (Harry Potter, The Flash) |
| September 23 | Skylar Astin | Actor (Ground Floor, Graves, The Beat Goes On!) |
| September 24 | Grey Damon | Actor (Friday Night Lights, The Nine Lives of Chloe King, Twisted, Star-Crossed, Aquarius) |
| September 28 | Hilary Duff | Actress (Lizzie McGuire, Younger) and singer |
| September 29 | David Del Rio | Actor (The Troop) |
| October 1 | Matthew Daddario | Actor (Shadowhunters) |
| October 2 | Christopher Larkin | Actor (The 100) |
| Erika Lauren Wasilewski | Actress (D.C.) |
| October 8 | Griffin Frazen | Actor (Grounded for Life) |
| October 9 | Melissa Villaseñor | Actress (Saturday Night Live) |
| October 13 | Ashley Newbrough | Actress (Privileged) |
| October 14 | Jay Pharoah | Actor (Saturday Night Live) |
| October 15 | Chantal Strand | Canadian voice actress (Dragon Tales, Pucca) |
| October 18 | Zac Efron | Actor (Summerland, High School Musical) |
| October 29 | Cleopatra Coleman | Australian actress (The Last Man on Earth) |
| November 5 | Kevin Jonas | Actor (Jonas, Married to Jonas) and singer (Jonas Brothers) |
| November 7 | Rachele Brooke Smith | Actress |
| November 10 | Jessica Tovey | Australian actress (Home and Away) |
| November 11 | Giles Matthey | British-Australian actor (True Blood, Once Upon a Time) |
| November 25 | Dolla | American rapper (d. 2009) |
| November 28 | Karen Gillan | Scottish actress (Doctor Who) |
| November 30 | Christel Khalil | Actress (The Young and the Restless) |
| December 3 | Michael Angarano | Actor (Cover Me, Will & Grace) |
| December 4 | Orlando Brown | Actor (Family Matters, Two of a Kind, That's So Raven), voice actor (Waynehead, The Proud Family, Fillmore!, Clifford's Puppy Days) and rapper |
| December 6 | Jack DeSena | Actor (All That, 100 Things to Do Before High School), voice actor (The Last Airbender) |
| December 7 | Aaron Carter | Actor (House of Carters), singer and brother of Nick Carter |
| December 12 | Kate Todd | Canadian actress |
| December 13 | Michael Socha | English actor (Once Upon a Time) |
| December 16 | Hallee Hirsh | Actress (ER, Flight 29 Down) |
| December 28 | Taylor Ball | Actor (Still Standing) |
| Hannah Tointon | English actress (Kerching!, Dream Team, Hollyoaks) and sister of Kara Tointon |
| Thomas Dekker | Actor (The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Secret Circle, Backstrom) |
| Adam Gregory | Actor (90210, Winx Club, The Bold and the Beautiful) |
| December 29 | Iain De Caestecker | Actor (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) |
1. ^{{cite web |title=Mary Astor - American actress |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mary-Astor |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |accessdate=12 June 2018 |language=en}}
{{Years in TV by country|1987}}{{Years in television}}{{DEFAULTSORT:1987 In American Television}}