1976 in television

The year 1976 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events in 1976.

Global television events

The Olympics, broadcast from Montreal, Canada, draw an estimated one billion viewers worldwide.
Matsushita introduces the VHS home video cassette recorder to compete with Sony's Betamax system.

Date	Name	Occupation/Accolades
January 2	Sarah-Jane Mee	British television presenter
January 6	Kait Borsay	British television presenter
January 6	Lesley Collier	British television presenter
January 7	Tyron Leitso	Canadian Actor
February 11	Jenni Falconer	British television presenter
March 25	Helen Latham	British actress
April 6	Candace Cameron	Actress on Full House
May 14	Martine McCutcheon	British actress
July 7	Natasha Collins	British actress
July 8	Alexandra Fletcher	British actress
July 12	Anna Friel	British actress
August 6	Soleil Moon Frye	Actress who would go on to play the character Punky Brewster
August 27	Sarah Chalke	Actress on Roseanne and Scrubs
September 19	Alison Sweeney	Actress
October 12	Sarah Lane	US television presenter
October 23	Cat Deeley	British television presenter
November 11	Lisa Gleave	Australian born actress and model

Date	Name	Occupation/Accolades
August 28	Anissa Jones	Former child actress; died from a drug overdose

Debuts

January 14 - The Bionic Woman premieres on ABC (1976-1978).

January 23 - Donny & Marie premieres on ABC (1976-1979).

January 27 - Laverne & Shirley premieres on ABC (1976-1983).

July 12 - Family Feud premieres on ABC daytime (1976-1985, 1988-1995, 1999-present).

August 5 - What's Happening!! premieres on ABC (1976-1979).

August 31 - Alice premieres on CBS (1976-1985).

October 2 - Multi-Coloured Swap Shop premieres on BBC1 (1976-1982).

October 13 - Wonder Woman premieres on CBS. Two special episodes (on April 21 and April 28) preceded this first episode (1976-1979).

September 22 - Charlie's Angels premieres on ABC (1976-1981).

October 3 - Quincy, M.E. premieres on NBC (1976-1983).

Second City Television (SCTV) debuts on Global Television Network in Canada (1976-1984).

The Muppet Show premieres on ITV in the UK and in syndication in the USA (1976-1981).

In Search of... premieres (1976-1982).

New Howdy Doody Show premieres (1976-1977).

The P.T.L. Club premieres (1976-1987).

March 9 - Family Premieres on ABC (1976-1980).