1976 in television

Table of contents

1 Events
2 Debuts
3 Popular Television Shows
4 Births
5 Deaths

Events

January 17 - The Blues Brothers make their debut on NBC's Saturday Night Live
April 24 - Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels makes on on-air offer to pay the Beatles $3000 to reunite on the show. Lennon and McCartney were apparently watching the show together in New York and considered walking down to the studio to accept the check.
May 22 - Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels raises his previous offer to The Beatles from $3000 to $3,200.
November 9 - the Museum of Broadcasting is opened, located on the first three floors of the Paley Foundation building in New York City. (The museum would later be renamed the Museum of Television and Radio.)
December 1 - Infamous Bill Grundy incident, wherin UK punk group the Sex Pistols cause a storm of controversy and outrage by swearing on national television
The Olympics, broadcast from Montreal, draw an estimated 1 billion viewers worldwide.
Matsushita introduces the VHS home video cassette recorder to compete with Sony's Betamax system.

Alice premieres August 31 on CBS (1976-1985)
Charlie's Angels premieres (1976-1981)
The Muppet Show premieres on ITV in the UK and in syndication in the USA (1976-1981)
What's Happening premieres August 5 on ABC (1976-1979)

All In The Family (1971-1979)
All My Children (1970-present)
Baretta (1975-1978)
The Bionic Woman (1976-1978)
The Bob Newhart Show (1972-1978)
The Carol Burnett Show (1967-1978)
Chico and the Man (1974-1978)
Dr Who (1963-1989)
Happy Days (1974-1984)
Hawaii Five-O (1968-1980)
The Jeffersons (1975-1985)
Kojak (1973-1978)
Land of the Lost (1974-1977)
Laverne & Shirley (1976-1983)
Lawrence Welk Show (1955-1982)
Little House on the Prairie (1974-1983)
Marcus Welby, M.D (1969-1976)
Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1977)
M*A*S*H (1972-1983)
Maude (1972-1978)
Rich Man, Poor Man mini series
Sanford & Son (1972-1977)
Saturday Night Live (1975-present)
Sesame Street (1969-present)
The Six Million Dollar Man (1974-1978)
The Tonight Show (1954-present)
The Waltons (1972-1981)
Welcome Back, Kotter (1975-1979)
Wheel of Fortune (1975-present)
The Wonderful World of Disney (1954-1983)