1965 in television

The year 1965 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events in 1965.

For the American TV schedule, see: 1965-66 American network television schedule.

Events

• February 22 – A new, videotaped production of the 1957 special Cinderella, by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, airs on CBS with young Lesley Ann Warren (in the title role) starring alongside Ginger Rogers, Walter Pidgeon, and Celeste Holm.
• March 24 – Live TV pictures from the US unmanned moon probe Ranger 9 are transmitted prior to its impact.
• April 5 - TEN10 opens in Sydney, Australia, with the highlight of the opening night being the variety special TV Spells Magic.
• April 15 – Paul Bryan (Ben Gazzara) gets bad news from his doctor and sets out to do all the things he never had time for, in the Kraft Suspense Theatre episode entitled "Rapture at Two-Forty." This will serve as the pilot for the series Run for Your Life, which will premiere on September 13 and run until 1968.
• April 21 – The Beach Boys appear on Shindig! performing their most recent hit, "Do You Wanna Dance?"
• April 28 – My Name Is Barbra, Barbra Streisand's first TV special, airs on CBS.
• May 2 - The Rolling Stones make their second appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
• June 18 – The original scheduled launch date of the "station that never was", WDV-11 in Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia. The city government had decreed in November 1963 that television could never be introduced in Warrnambool.
• August 1 – Cigarette adverts are banned from UK television, though pipe tobacco and cigar adverts continue until 1992.
• August 6 - BBC withdraws a planned airing of The War Game on BBC1's Wednesday Play anthology series; the network, officially, deems the film's depiction of a fictional nuclear attack on the United Kingdom and its aftermath as "too horrifying" to air on television, though it was widely believed that government pressure led to the banning. The film would win the 1966 Academy Award for Documentary Feature, and BBC would not screen the film on-air until 1985.
• September 10 - The first ational Geographic Special, a chronicle of a 1963 U.S. expedition to Mount Everest, airs on CBS.
• September 12 – The Beatles appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing songs from their new album Help!.
• September 13 – Today on NBC goes color.
• October 4 – Pope Paul VI's visit to New York receives saturation television coverage on all 3 American networks.
• October 17 – WBMG-TV in Birmingham, Alabama launches on channel 42, sharing dual CBS/NBC affiliation with crosstown WAPI-TV—and allowing viewers in the Birmingham market to watch more programming from those networks that WAPI did not have room for (including The Ed Sullivan Show, The CBS Evening News, and The Tonight Show). The setup lasts until 1970, when WAPI takes sole affiliation with NBC and WIAT does the same with CBS.
• November 5 – Katie Holstrum (Inger Stevens) and Congressman Glen Morley (William Windom) are married in The Farmer's Daughter episode entitled "To Have and To Hold".
• November 15 – The Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC goes color.
• November 25 - CBS airs the first color broadcast of an NFL football game, a Thanksgiving Day matchup between the Baltimore Colts and Detroit Lions.
• November 28 – Julie Andrews' first TV special airs on NBC.
• December 4 – Effective with this issue, TV Guide launches its Montana edition and now covers all of the contiguous U.S. (A Hawaii edition will be launched in 1968.)
• December 9 – A Charlie Brown Christmas airs on CBS for the first time.
• December 21 - A production of The Nutcracker by the New York City Ballet airs on CBS.

Also in 1965

• First television broadcasts in Paraguay.
• Three independently-affiliated stations in the Philadelphia market—The "Other Big 3 in Philly"—start operations: WIBF (channel 29) opens on May 16; WKBS-TV (channel 48) opens on September 1 (and operates until 1983); and WPHL-TV (channel 17) opens on September 17.
• Motorola introduces the first succussful rectangular tube color TV to the mass market.

Noted Debuts

• January 2 – World of Sport premieres on ITV in the UK with Eamonn Andrews as its first host (1965–1985).
• June 28 – Dick Clark's Where the Action Is premieres on ABC daytime (1965–1967).
• September 13 – Run for Your Life premieres on NBC (see above).
• September 14 – My Mother, the Car premieres on NBC (1965–1966) ... and sets a standard that comics and critics will joke about for years.
• September 14 – Please Don't Eat the Daisies premieres on NBC (1965–1967).
• September 15 – CBS debuts Lost in Space (1965–1968) and Green Acres (1965–1971). Meanwhile, on ABC, The Big Valley premieres (1965–1969), and NBC launches I Spy (1965–1968).
• September 16 – The Dean Martin Show premieres on NBC (1965–1974).
• September 17 – The Wild Wild West (1965–1969) and Hogan's Heroes (1965–1971) premiere on CBS.
• September 18 – I Dream of Jeannie premieres on NBC, and so does Get Smart (both 1965–1970).
• September 19 – The F.B.I. premieres on ABC (1965–1974).
• September 30 – Thunderbirds premieres on the ITV network (1965–1966).
• November 8 – The soap opera Days of our Lives debuts on NBC (1965–present).
• December 20 – 2 new game shows premiere on ABC's daytime schedule: the original Supermarket Sweep (1965–1967) and The Dating Game (1965–1973).
• Quentin Durgens, M.P. premieres (1965–1969).
• United! premieres on BBC1 in the UK (1965–1967).

Television shows

1940s

• Meet the Press (1947–present).
• Candid Camera (1948–present).
• The Ed Sullivan Show (1948–1971).
• Bozo the Clown (1949–present).
• Come Dancing (UK) (1949–1995).

1950s

• Truth or Consequences (1950–1988).
• What's My Line (1950–1967).
• Love of Life (1951–1980).
• Search for Tomorrow (1951–1986).
• Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951–present).
• American Bandstand (1952–1989).
• The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952–1966).
• The Guiding Light (1952–2009).
• The Honeymooners (1952–1970).
• The Today Show (1952–present).
• Panorama (UK) (1953–present).
• The Good Old Days (UK) (1953–1983).
• Face the Nation (1954–present).
• The Secret Storm (1954–1974).
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962–1992).
• Captain Kangaroo (1955–1984).
• Dixon of Dock Green (UK) (1955–1976).
• Gunsmoke (1955–1975).
• The Lawrence Welk Show (1955–1982).
• This Is Your Life (UK) (1955–2003).
• Armchair Theatre (UK) (1956–1968).
• As the World Turns (1956–present).
• Opportunity Knocks (UK) (1956–1978).
• The Edge of Night (1956–1984).
• What the Papers Say (UK) (1956–present).
• The Sky at Night (UK) (1957–present).
• Blue Peter (UK) (1958–present).
• Grandstand (UK) (1958–2007).
• The Donna Reed Show (1958–1966).
• Bonanza (1959–1973).
• Juke Box Jury (1959–1967, 1979, 1989–1990).
• The Bell Telephone Hour (1959–1968).

1960s

• Coronation Street (UK) (1960–present).
• My Three Sons (1960–1972).
• The Andy Griffith Show (1960–1968).
• The Flintstones (1960–1966) .
• Ben Casey (1961–1966).
• Four Corners (Australia) (1961–present).
• It's Academic (1961–present)
• Mister Ed (1961–1966).
• The Avengers (UK) (1961–1969).
• The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–1966).
• The Fulton Sheen Program (1961–1968).
• The Mike Douglas Show (1961–1981).
• Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (1961–1969).
• Combat! (1962–1967).
• Match Game (1962–1969, 1973–1984, 1990–1991, 1998–1999).
• The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971).
• The Late Late Show (Ireland) (1962–present).
• The Lucy Show (1962–1968).
• The Saint (UK) (1962–1969).
• Z-Cars (UK) (1962–1978).
• Doctor Who (UK) (1963–1989, 1996, 2005–present).
• General Hospital (1963–present).
• The Patty Duke Show (1963–1966)
• Petticoat Junction (1963–1970).
• Ready Steady Go! (1963–1966).
• The Doctors (1963–1982).
• The Addams Family (1964–1966).
• Another World (1964–1999).
• I Dream Of Jeannie (1965–1970)
• Bewitched (1964–1972).
• Crossroads (UK) (1964–1988, 2001–2003).
• Danger Man (UK) (1960–1961, 1964–1966).
• Daniel Boone (1964–1970).
• Flipper (1964–1967)
• Gilligan's Island (1964–1967).
• Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (1964–1970).
• Jeopardy! (1964–1975, 1984–present).
• The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964–1968).
• The Mavis Bramston Show (Australia) (1964–1968).
• The Munsters (1964–1966).
• Peyton Place (1964–1969).
• Shindig! (1964–1966).
• The Wednesday Play (UK) (1964–1970).
• Top of the Pops (UK) (1964–2006).
• Days of our Lives (soap opera) (1965-presnt)
• This Hour Has Seven Days (1964–1966).
• Tom and Jerry (1965–1972, 1975–1977, 1980–1982).
• Get Smart (1965–1970)
• Jonny Quest (1964–1965)

Ending this year

• January 16 – The Outer Limits (debuted 1963, pulled in mid-season due to declining ratings)
• March 11 – Jonny Quest (1964–1965) (Canceled because every episode went over budget)
• September 3 – The Price Is Right (1956–1965) (The series returned seven years later in its current form).
• The Jack Benny Show (1950–1965).

Changes of network affiliation

• My Three Sons moves from ABC to CBS.
• Hazel moves from NBC to CBS.

Births

• January 3 – Penny Smith, television presenter.
• January 4 – Julia Ormond, English actress
• January 22 – Diane Lane, actress
• February 3 – Maura Tierney, actress
• February 7 – Chris Rock, actor and comedian.
• February 23 – Kristin Davis, actress.
• March 25 – Sarah Jessica Parker, actress.
• April 16 - Jon Cryer, actor.
  • Martin Lawrence, actor and comedian.
• April 26 – Kevin James, actor.
• May 7 – Owen Hart, Canadian wrestler (died 1999)
• May 27 - Todd Bridges, actor.
• May 31 – Brooke Shields, actress and model.
• July 7 – Jeremy Kyle, television presenter.
• July 22 – Shawn Michaels, wrestler
• August 6 – Mark Speight, British television presenter (died 2008)
• August 10 - Claudia Christian, actress.
• August 29 – Dina Spybey, actress
• September 3 – Charlie Sheen, actor.
• September 9 - Constance Marie, actress.
• November 4 - Kiersten Warren, actress.
• November 21 - Alexander Siddig, Sudanese-born English actor.
• November 30 – Ben Stiller, actor.
• December 21 – Andy Dick, actor.

Deaths

• April 27 – Edward R. Murrow, CBS newsman.