For the American TV schedule, see: 1990-91 United States network television schedule.
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The year 1990 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events in 1990.
Contents |
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| January 2 | All My Children airs its 20th anniversary special. The characters Joe and Ruth Martin sit down with Erica Kane, her mother Mona, and Phoebe Wallingford as they go through scrapbook pictures which segue into memorable clips from the show's past twenty years. |
| January 21 | MTV Unplugged premieres on cable television with musical guest, Squeeze. |
| February 17 | Aerosmith appears in the Saturday Night Live sketch Wayne's World, where they perform the Wayne's World theme song. |
| March 13 | On All My Children, actress Debbi Morgan, one-half of the first black supercouple, leaves the role of Angie Baxter Hubbard. |
| March 30 | Rush Limbaugh guest hosts The Pat Sajak Show; his controversial comments on abortion and affirmative action create a stir that causes the audience to be removed from the studio. |
| April 1 | CBS fires prominent sportscaster Brent Musburger one day before his final assignment for the network, the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. Musburger would sign with ABC Sports later in the year. |
| April 21 | Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue, a TV special warning kids about the danger of drugs and featuring characters from several Saturday morning kids shows, is simulcast on ABC, BET, CBS, Fox, NBC, USA Network, and Nickelodeon. |
| April 30 | The long-lost pilot film to I Love Lucy airs on CBS as a special. |
| May 11 | A trick backfires on J.R. when his enemy conspires to trap him inside an insane asylum on the season finale of Dallas. |
| May 25 | CBS starts airing its daytime lineup in stereo sound, after competition from NBC and ABC necessitated the change in standard. |
| June 7 | The Cruise of Deception storyline airs on Days of our Lives. |
| June 27 | Genie Francis, in an attempt to shed her image as Laura Spencer, starts playing her third soap role, as Irishwoman Ceara Connor on All My Children which she will remain for two years until 1992. |
| July 30 | MovieTime relaunches as E!. |
| September 8 | Fox Kids, a children's programming block, debuts, complaining all 3 children's Saturday morning broadcast networks. |
| September 15 | CBN renames The Family Channel, once again to it's name. |
| October 1 | The term name SuperStation is removed to it's name and it was simply known as TBS, marking to return 6 years later to return it's on-air name. |
| November 3 | The NBA on NBC debuts, Los Angeles Lakers vs. the Spurs in San Antonio. |
| November 10 | Chris Farley, Tim Meadows, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider and Julia Sweeney join Saturday Night Live. |
| Show | Last Aired | Previous Network | Retitled as/Same | New/Returning/Same Network | Returning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match Game | 1982 | Syndication | Same | ABC | July 16 |
| The Joker's Wild | 1986 | Syndication | Same | Same | September 10 |
| Tic-Tac-Dough | 1986 | Syndication | Same | Same | September 10 |
| Date | Show | Debut |
|---|---|---|
| January 14 | Free Spirit | 1989 |
| March 9 | The Bradys | 1990 |
| March 12 | Mama's Family | 1986 |
| March 23 | Scrabble | 1984 |
| March 24 | ALF | 1986 |
| April 6 | Baywatch | 1989 |
| April 13 | The Pat Sajak Show | 1989 |
| April 24 | Mancuso, F.B.I. | 1989 |
| May 6 | 227 | 1985 |
| May 7 | Alien Nation | 1989 |
| May 12 | The Famous Teddy Z | 1989 |
| May 17 | Falcon Crest | 1981 |
| May 21 | Newhart | 1982 |
| May 25 | You Can't Do That on Television | 1981 |
| May 26 | The Tracy Ullman Show | 1987 |
| June 14 | NBA on CBS | 1973 |
| June 29 | Hardball | 1989 |
| July 6 | Snoops | 1989 |
| July 8 | Mr. Belvedere | 1985 |
| July 30 | Sister Kate | 1989 |
| August 25 | The Smurfs | 1981 |
| November 10 | Pee-wee's Playhouse | 1986 |
| November 28 | DuckTales | 1987 |
| December 1 | The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 | 1990 |
| December 28 | Quiz Kids Challenge | 1990 |