1990 in television

For the United States network television schedule, please see 1990-91 United States network television schedule.

Events

• 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 - On All My Children, actress Debbi Morgan, one-half of the first black supercouple, leaves the role of Angie Baxter Hubbard.
• 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.
• 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 - The Cruise of Deception storyline airs on Days of Our Lives.
• September 26 - The poorly received Cop Rock premieres on television, TV's first (and last) musical police drama.
• October 15 - Legislation is signed into United States law requiring closed captioning decoders in all large color TVs manufactured after July 1, 1993.
• CBS starts airing its daytime lineup in stereo sound, after competition from NBC and ABC necessitated the change in standard.
• Chris Farley and Adam Sandler join Saturday Night Live.