TV events
- Helen McKay sang “Here's Looking At You” with music by Duke Ellington during a test transmission by the BBC television service. According to the source, it was the first song ever broadcast on television.
- The Frank Sinatra Show premiered on CBS as a variety program and Frank Sinatra's first television show. Despite Sinatra having a five-year contract, the program lasted only two seasons.
- The daily dance program Bandstand premiered on WFIL-TV in Philadelphia, hosted by Bob Horn. In 1956, Dick Clark took over the program, later renamed it American Bandstand, and it became a nationally renowned institution of rock and roll culture.
- The Mickey Mouse Club premiered on ABC on October 3, featuring its twelve-year-old star Annette Funicello prominently.
- The television program Lawrence Welk’s Top Tunes and New Talent premiered.
- The Johnny Burnette Trio appeared on Ted Mack's Amateur Hour TV show. Johnny Burnette, Dorsey Burnette and Paul Burlison won three weeks in a row, earning a series of tour dates.
- The dance television program The Buddy Deane Show premiered in Baltimore, Maryland. The two-hour rock 'n' roll show allowed viewers to call in and speak with celebrity guests, eventually overwhelming the telephone lines to the point that the telephone company asked Buddy Deane to stop.
- At the age of 23, Pat Boone began hosting the variety show The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom on ABC-TV. The program featured performers including The Four Lads, Ella Fitzgerald and Johnny Mathis, and its writers included Woody Allen. After three seasons, the show was canceled after losing the ratings battle to Bachelor Father starring John Forsythe on NBC. ABC subsequently replaced it with the sitcom My Three Sons starring Fred MacMurray. The program later appeared in Michael Moore's documentary film Roger & Me. At the time, TV Guide described it unflatteringly as a show “about as exciting as a milkshake with two straws.”
- CBS aired the one-hour special The Edsel Show, promoting the new Ford Edsel automobile. The show featured Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Louis Armstrong, and Lindsay Crosby with The Four Preps. It was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Program of the Year but did not win.
- Jerry Butler & the Impressions made their first national television appearance on American Bandstand.
- The Betty Freezor Show on WBTV-TV in Charlotte, North Carolina, became the first television program to be broadcast in color from videotape.
- Georgia Gibbs performed "The Hula-Hoop Song" on The Ed Sullivan Show, helping to fuel the craze surrounding the hula hoop. Twenty-five million plastic hoops were sold in less than four months, and sales exceeded 100 million within two years.
- Forty-year-old Georgia Gibbs performed “The Hula-Hoop Song” on The Ed Sullivan Show, helping fuel the hula-hoop craze that swept North America. The recording reached No. 32 on the Billboard Pop chart and was her final Top 40 entry. It followed a successful run of 1950s hits including “Kiss of Fire” (No. 1 in 1952), “Tweedle Dee” (No. 2 in 1955) and “Dance With Me Henry” (No. 1 in 1955).
- Georgia Gibbs performed “The Hula-Hoop Song” on The Ed Sullivan Show, helping to further popularize the hula hoop.
- Jimmy Driftwood, writer of “The Battle of New Orleans”, appeared as a guest on the CBS television program To Tell the Truth.
- The television series The Twilight Zone premiered on CBS-TV. The original orchestral opening used during the first season was composed by Bernard Herrmann; it was later replaced by the now-iconic theme by French composer Marius Constant.
- The detective series Hawaiian Eye premiered on ABC, with Connie Stevens as Cricket Blake. The series ran for four seasons.
- Connie Francis appeared as a celebrity “mystery guest” on the CBS television program “What's My Line”.
- The television series Ben Casey, featuring future singer Vince Everett, premiered on ABC-TV. The series ran for five seasons.
- Alvin & The Chipmunks got their own television show, The Alvin Show, on CBS. They had previously enjoyed successful hits including The Chipmunk Song, Alvin's Harmonica, and Ragtime Cowboy Joe. The show was canceled after one season in prime time, but later enjoyed a second life through Saturday morning reruns until 1965.
- Granada TV filmed The Beatles' lunchtime performance at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, including the song “Some Other Guy”, which was the first time the group was filmed by television cameras. However, because of the grainy picture and poor sound quality, Granada did not broadcast the footage at the time and placed it in its archive. It was first broadcast on November 6, 1963, on the program “Scene at 6:30”. In the meantime, The Beatles' actual television debut took place live from a studio in Manchester on October 17, 1962, on the program “People and Places”.
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson premiered on NBC. Its famous instrumental opening theme, “Johnny's Theme”, was written by Paul Anka. According to the source variants, Johnny Carson contributed either an unused section of lyrics or the opening drum part, and an agreement gave him half of the royalties. According to one source variant, the theme earned each of them approximately $200,000 a year over the years. The program subsequently became one of the most important television formats of its era.
- The Kingston Trio appeared as celebrity and mystery guests on the CBS-TV program What's My Line?
- The Rolling Stones made their first appearance on the British television programme “Ready, Steady, Go!”, where they performed their debut single “Come On”. Between 1963 and 1966, they appeared on the programme a total of twenty times.
- The Beatles made their first appearance on the British television program Ready Steady Go!, where they were interviewed by Dusty Springfield. They performed “Twist and Shout,” “I’ll Get You,” and “She Loves You,” and appeared in grey collarless suits.
- The Ed Sullivan Show featured surf guitarist Dick Dale performing “Surfin’ and a Swingin’” and The Angels performing “My Boyfriend’s Back.” Kate Smith, Totie Fields, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, and The Three Stooges also appeared.
- The Beatles headlined the live television broadcast of Sunday Night at the London Palladium on the British ITV network. They performed “From Me to You,” “She Loves You,” “Twist and Shout,” and “I’ll Get You.” Approximately 15 million viewers watched the broadcast, and the performance helped spark Beatlemania in the UK. Crowds of fans gathered outside the theater, and clashes with police occurred.
- The Beatles appeared via recording on the American television program Shindig!, whose special episode was devoted to the British Invasion. From London, they performed I'm a Loser, Boys, and Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!.
- They filmed a performance for the CBS-TV program The Ed Sullivan Show at Studio 50 in New York. They performed “I Feel Fine”, “I’m Down”, “Act Naturally”, “Ticket to Ride”, “Yesterday” and “Help!”. The recording was broadcast on September 12, 1965, and was their fourth appearance on the show. Their fifth album Help! also began a nine-week run at number one on the UK chart.
- Security staff at Granada Television's studio in Manchester used fire hoses against around two hundred screaming teenagers after they broke through security barriers while waiting for The Rolling Stones to arrive. Despite the chaotic atmosphere, the group successfully filmed its television segment, which included a performance of “(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction”.
- James Brown, Booker T. & the M.G.’s and The Kinks appeared on the television program Shindig!. James Brown performed “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” which was No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 at the time.
- The Rolling Stones appeared on the British television program Ready Steady Go! Mick Jagger and Andrew Loog Oldham performed a parody of the Sonny & Cher song “I Got You Babe”.
- The ABC-TV program Shindig! featured The Who's first U.S. television appearance. The same program also featured The Four Tops and Gerry and the Pacemakers; according to one version, Billie Joe Royal and Ray Peterson also appeared.
- The Supremes made their first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show." Petula Clark also appeared on the program that night.
- The television variety show "Hullabaloo" aired its final episode on NBC. The program was hosted by Paul Anka, with Peter & Gordon, Lesley Gore, and The Cyrkle among the guests.
- ABC broadcast the final episode of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet in prime time, ending its historic fourteen-year run. The series helped make teenage Rick Nelson famous and became the first live-action series on American network prime-time television to run for more than ten years.
- The Who began a week-long engagement at The Palais in Ilford, Essex, England. Later that day, they recorded performances of "I'm A Boy" and "Heatwave" for the British television program "Ready, Steady, GO!"
- WGN-TV in Chicago broadcast the half-hour special “An Evening with Gary Lewis and the Playboys”. The group performed its most successful songs, including material from seven consecutive Top 10 hits, as well as a cover of The Beatles’ “Run for Your Life”. During “Time Stands Still”, Gary Lewis imitated his father, comedian Jerry Lewis.
- The Vince Guaraldi Trio recorded music at Desilu's Gower Street Studio in Hollywood for the Halloween television special It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. The session included a new arrangement of “Linus and Lucy” featuring prominent flute parts by Ronald Lang.
- The Jimi Hendrix Experience appeared on the British television program “Simon Dee” on the BBC. Other guests on the program included Kiki Dee and Cat Stevens.
- The Doors appeared on the television program The Ed Sullivan Show following the success of the song "Light My Fire".
- The final episode of the animated series The Beatles Cartoon Show was broadcast in the United States.
- George Harrison and John Lennon appeared on David Frost's television program, where they expressed support for transcendental meditation. Author Juan Mascaró later sent Harrison a book containing a translation of Chapter 47 of the Tao Te Ching, whose text Harrison used as the basis for the song “The Inner Light.”
- Doc Severinsen, already a member of the NBC-TV Tonight Show house band, replaced Skitch Henderson as its leader and musical director on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson."
- CBS broadcast Barbra Streisand's third television special, The Belle of 14th Street.
- After 58 episodes, the final episode of the television series The Monkees was broadcast on NBC. Since its original run, the series was repeatedly shown by almost all major cable television networks, including a popular run on CBS from 1969 to 1972.
- The Beatles filmed promotional videos for “Hey Jude” and “Revolution” at Twickenham Film Studios. The vocals were recorded live over prerecorded instrumental tracks to circumvent the British Musicians' Union ban on miming performances. For “Hey Jude,” they were accompanied by a 36-piece orchestra and 300 fans and extras who joined in the singing during the extended finale.
- During their first visit to the UK, The Doors appeared on the television show Top of the Pops, where they performed “Hello, I Love You” live.
- Pink Floyd performed at the Le Blboquet club in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris, where they played “Let There Be More Light” live as part of the four-hour television special “Surprise Partie”. The program, which also featured The Who, Joe Cocker, The Troggs, Fleetwood Mac, Small Faces, PP Arnold, The Equals and others, was broadcast in color by ORTF2 on December 31.
- The television documentary The Doors Are Open about The Doors was broadcast in the UK, produced for Granada TV and featuring footage of their performance at London's Roundhouse.
- Elvis Presley's television special was rebroadcast on NBC-TV. The song “Blue Christmas” was cut and replaced with “Tiger Man”.
- Jefferson Airplane, Joni Mitchell, David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Crosby, Stills and Nash appeared on The Dick Cavett Show. The episode, now often referred to as “The Woodstock Show”, featured artists and audience members who had come directly from the Woodstock festival the previous weekend. Crosby, Stills and Nash gave first-hand accounts of the festival. Joni Mitchell, who had skipped Woodstock to secure her appearance on the show, performed her song “Woodstock”, which she had written about the festival.
- According to available sources, The Youngbloods did not appear on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson because of conflicts before the broadcast. Johnny Carson claimed that the band had complained about the set, lighting, sound and the entire show, while guitarist and pianist Lowell Levinger said the band had not been treated like guests. Another source says the group left because of poor sound quality. The band had originally planned to perform two songs, a new song and “Get Together,” but after the show ran long, the new song was dropped and The Youngbloods left.
- The half-hour Saturday morning animated series “The Beatles” aired its final episode. The series premiered on September 25, 1965.
- Bobby Darin appeared on the ABC musical program This Is Tom Jones. During this period, he also used the name “Bob Darin” as part of his change in image and musical direction. On the program, he performed his original folk-rock song “Distractions” and then joined Tom Jones for a medley of “A Worried Man,” “Aquarius,” and “Let the Sunshine In.”
- British comedy group Monty Python premiered the first episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus on BBC1, featuring the theme tune “The Liberty Bell” by John Philip Sousa.
- The Who appeared on the television program The Ed Sullivan Show.
- BBC's "Top of the Pops" refused for the first time in the show's history to air the No. 1 song in Britain, Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin's provocative French-language "Je T'aime... Moi Non Plus." Fontana had dropped the record despite its chart success, after which Major Minor bought the rights and saw it reach No. 1, making it the first French-language song to top the UK chart. Despite limited US radio support, it reached No. 58 on the Billboard Hot 100.
- The weekly television program Soul Train, focused on contemporary R&B performers, premiered nationally in the United States. The show was created and hosted by Don Cornelius. The first national broadcast featured Gladys Knight and the Pips, former Temptations member Eddie Kendricks, and the group Honey Cone. The program later ran for an astonishing 35 years.
- Pat Boone hosted an episode of The Academy from the NBC television thriller Night Gallery.
- Gladys Knight was a contestant on the television show The Dating Game.
- NBC television first broadcast the music variety programme The Midnight Special, originally intended as a one-off special. The first host was John Denver, with DJ Wolfman Jack serving as the announcer. The first programme featured War performing their million-selling US song “Slippin’ Into Darkness”. The following year, the programme became a regular series.
- John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared on Jerry Lewis's Muscular Dystrophy Telethon Show in the US in support of muscular dystrophy research. From the Americana Hotel in New York, Lennon performed “Imagine” with Elephant's Memory, followed by Yoko Ono performing her new song “Now or Never.” The program concluded with a reggae version of “Give Peace a Chance,” with Jerry Lewis playing trumpet.
- The Who were forced to re-record the song "5:15" for their appearance on Top Of The Pops because of union regulations. At the end of the performance, they expressed their frustration with a destructive display: Pete Townshend smashed the equipment and made a two-finger gesture at the producer, while Keith Moon threw wigs from the prop department into the audience. When the program was broadcast the following evening, these problematic sections had been cut.
- BBC broadcast the 500th episode of Top of the Pops. Performers included Slade, Gary Glitter, and The Osmonds. The Who broke the show's rules against miming during their appearance, and Pete Townshend smashed a guitar on stage, which led to the group being banned from appearing on the program.
- The final episode of The Partridge Family was broadcast on ABC. A total of 96 episodes were produced.
- Rush appeared on the TV show "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert."
- Two musical guests appeared on the premiere of NBC's Saturday Night, later renamed Saturday Night Live. Janis Ian performed "At Seventeen" and "In the Winter," while Billy Preston played "Nothing from Nothing" and "Fancy Lady." The show was hosted by George Carlin.
- Donna Summer performed her erotic disco song “Love To Love You Baby” on American Bandstand. Although the song reached No. 2 in the US, Donna later admitted that she was not entirely sure about some of the lyrics and improvised parts of the song during the recording.
- Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello premiered their four-week summer variety series “Easy Does It” on CBS. The programme drew on nostalgia for their iconic Beach Party film era of the 1960s and featured notable guests each week, including Andy Griffith, Liz Torres, Phyllis Diller and Anson Williams from Happy Days.
- Sex Pistols made their television debut on the Manchester program Granada TV's So It Goes.
- During Jerry Lewis's annual telethon supporting muscular dystrophy research, Frank Sinatra surprised the audience by bringing Dean Martin into the studio. Martin had been Jerry Lewis's former comedy partner, and the two had not spoken for two decades following the breakup of their duo in 1956.
- Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis appeared together for the first time in 20 years on Lewis's television program, the Labor Day Telethon, supporting the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Frank Sinatra surprised Jerry Lewis by bringing Martin into the studio.
- Joe Cocker appeared on Saturday Night Live performing “Feelin' Alright.” During the performance, Jon Belushi joined him and delivered his famous exaggerated imitation of Cocker's distinctive singing style. Cocker took the joke in good humor and later joked that Belushi portrayed Joe Cocker better than he did himself.
- The Paul Simon Special was broadcast on NBC-TV. Art Garfunkel appeared as a guest and sang “Old Friends” with Paul Simon.
- The Rolling Stones were both hosts and musical guests on the premiere episode of Season 4 of Saturday Night Live on NBC, where they performed “Beast of Burden.” A month later, the song reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100.
- Johnny Cash performed the duet “Jackson” with Miss Piggy on The Muppet Show. He also “insulted” Rowlf the Dog with his song “Dirty Old Egg-Sucking Dog.”
- Soft Cell performed their hit “Tainted Love” on the British television program Top Of The Pops. Marc Almond wore distinctive makeup and jewelry; the appearance created a striking visual style that influenced electronic music and helped pave the way for Culture Club.
- The techno-pop duo Soft Cell, consisting of Marc Almond and David Ball, appeared on Top of the Pops with their UK No. 1 hit “Tainted Love”. In the US, the song later reached No. 8 and spent 43 weeks on the chart.
- During the premiere episode of the new season of Saturday Night Live, Rod Stewart invited Tina Turner as a special guest to perform his 1978 hit “Hot Legs” together. Stewart also used the nationally televised appearance to promote Turner's solo potential at a time when her career was rebuilding following her divorce.
- The children's series "Thomas The Tank Engine And Friends" began its run on BBC television, with former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr as its original narrator.
- Rick Nelson and Fats Domino filmed the PBS television special “Rockin' With Rick And Fats”, recorded live at Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. Nelson first performed with his longtime backing group The Jordanaires and sang several of his hits, while in the second part Fats Domino performed several of his classic songs. The finale was their joint duet “I'm Walkin'”, which both singers had taken to No. 4 on the U.S. chart in 1957. For Nelson, it was his final television appearance before his death in a plane crash on December 31, 1985, at the age of 45.
- Elton John, David Lee Roth, and Cher appeared on the premiere broadcast of The Late Show with Joan Rivers.
- Elton John, David Lee Roth and Cher appeared on the opening night of Joan Rivers's "The Late Show". Rivers joined Elton in singing "The Bitch Is Back". Her decision to launch the program without informing Johnny Carson, whom she regularly guest-hosted on "The Tonight Show", permanently ended their friendship.
- Kenny G appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson", where instead of the agreed cover song he performed his own composition "Songbird". The performance helped lead to the song's release as a hit and contributed to the expansion of the smooth jazz genre.
- Michael Jackson's "Bad" music video was broadcast for the first time on CBS-TV.
- The television documentary Aretha Franklin: Queen of Soul was broadcast on PBS.
- Keith Richards appeared as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, where he performed his first solo song, “Take It So Hard.”
- The television drama series “The Heights”, about a group of young people from a working-class background trying to form a rock band, premiered on FOX. The short-lived series gave rise to the song “How Do You Talk To An Angel”, which reached No. 1 on the chart.
- During her appearance on Saturday Night Live, Sinéad O'Connor sang Bob Marley's “War” a cappella, changing part of the lyrics to refer to child abuse. At the end of the performance, she unexpectedly pulled out a photograph of Pope John Paul II, tore it into pieces and said “Fight the real enemy.” It was an unannounced protest against sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. During rehearsal, she had held a photograph of a child and kept her actual intentions secret from the production team. The studio fell completely silent after her gesture and the broadcast went to commercial. The incident generated thousands of complaints, NBC did not invite O'Connor back to the program, and in some later reruns the footage was replaced with the rehearsal recording. The claim that NBC received a $2.5 million fine from the Federal Communications Commission over the incident is not supported by verified sources.
- At the premiere of The Late Show with David Letterman on CBS, Billy Joel became the first musical guest. The show was broadcast from the newly renovated Ed Sullivan Theater in New York. Joel performed with Paul Shaffer and the newly named CBS Orchestra, playing “No Man's Land”.
- Paula Abdul hosted the AIDS-awareness television special In a New Light '93.
- Jamie Walters, who sang the theme song “How Do You Talk To An Angel?” for the series The Heights, joined Beverly Hills 90210 as Ray Pruit, an aspiring musician. His character began abusing the popular character Donna Martin, which also had a negative impact on Walters' real-life music career.
- Elvis Aaron Presley: The Tribute was broadcast live in the U.S. via pay television from the Pyramid Arena in Memphis. Tony Bennett, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Chris Isaak performed Elvis Presley songs, while Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson watched the show from a private box.
- Oasis caused a stir at the MTV Awards at Radio City Hall in New York. During their performance of “Champagne Supernova,” singer Liam Gallagher spat on stage and threw beer into the audience.
- At the MTV Video Music Awards, Van Halen appeared on stage for the first time in 11 years with founding singer David Lee Roth, who had recently split from the band with Sammy Hagar. They did not perform together but jointly presented Beck with the award for Best Male Video for “Where It's At.” The reunion was short-lived, and a month later the band announced Gary Cherone, formerly of Extreme, as their new singer. Roth issued a statement saying he had been an unwitting participant in the deception. Van Halen released one album with Cherone before reuniting with Roth in 2007.
- BBC broadcast the documentary Oasis Right Here Right Now, in which the group discussed their troubled previous year and also introduced three new songs.
- Bruce Springsteen joined The Wallflowers on stage at the MTV Video Music Awards, and they performed “One Headlight” together.
- Davy Jones sang “Daydream Believer” to Melissa Joan Hart in an episode of the series “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” titled “Dante's Inferno.”
- PBS aired a documentary about his Indigenous heritage titled “Robbie Robertson: Making A Noise – A Native American Musical Journey”.
- HBO premiered Janet Jackson's new music video “Every Time.” The premiere took place shortly before the evening broadcast of William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet and served as a preview for the premiere of the live concert special Janet: The Velvet Rope from Madison Square Garden.
- An episode of Judge Judy aired in which Sex Pistols singer Johnny Rotten appeared as the defendant in a case involving drummer Robbie Williams, who claimed that the Sex Pistols owed him $7,000. Judge Judy ruled in Rotten's favor.
- HBO premiered the program "Cher: Live In Concert From Las Vegas", in which Cher performed at the MGM Grand Las Vegas complex.
- The series Gilmore Girls premiered on The WB, featuring a new version of Carole King's “Where You Lead” as its theme song, performed by King with her daughter Louise Goffin.
- The television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation premiered on CBS with “Who Are You” by The Who as its theme song. Three other series in the franchise also used The Who songs as their theme songs: CSI: Miami (“Won't Get Fooled Again”), CSI: NY (“Baba O'Riley”) and CSI: Cyber (“I Can See For Miles”).
- The television series Reba premiered on the WB. Reba McEntire played a single mother of three children. The series ran for six seasons.
- Lisa Marie Presley appeared on the television program Live with Regis and Kelly.
- MTV premiered the reality show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, following the recent marriage of Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey of 98 Degrees. The show became a hit thanks to Jessica’s “dumb blonde” moments and ran for three seasons, after which the couple divorced.
- Madame Tussauds in London opened an interactive Pop Idol exhibit featuring a talking wax figure of judge Simon Cowell. Among other things, the figure delivered ironic comments judging visitors' performances.
- Justin Timberlake made his first appearance on Saturday Night Live, serving as both host and musical guest. He returned to the show many times and appeared in numerous well-known sketches, including a Bee Gees parody, a dating sketch with Lady Gaga, a courtroom sketch involving an alligator, the character "Target Lady" and the musical sketch "Dick in a Box."
- Simon Cowell's music competition show The X Factor premiered in the UK. It quickly became a talent factory that produced stars including Little Mix, Leona Lewis, Olly Murs and One Direction. The US version of The X Factor premiered in 2011, with Fifth Harmony its biggest success.
- Snoop Dogg guest-starred in an episode of the Showtime series Weeds, where he helped Mary-Louise Parker get her marijuana-growing business off the ground with a large order and an improvised rap on the subject.
- Feist appeared on Sesame Street, where she turned her song “1234” into a lesson in counting. The segment became very popular and surpassed the popularity of the original recording.
- Curt Smith of Tears for Fears made the first of three appearances on the television series Psych, whose main character Shawn Spencer is a major fan of the group.
- In the seventh series of the British competition The X Factor, One Direction performed together for the first time. Before judge Simon Cowell at his villa in Marbella, Spain, they sang “Torn.” The members had originally been eliminated as solo contestants and were then given the opportunity to continue as a group. They eventually finished the competition in third place.
- Trisha Yearwood appeared in the TLC genealogy documentary series Who Do You Think You Are? The singer discovered that her English ancestor had been a criminal before emigrating to America.
- Michael McDonald joined The Doobie Brothers on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”, where they performed a medley of “Long Train Runnin'” and “Takin' It to the Streets”. The group also performed a web-exclusive version of “What a Fool Believes”.
- Nickelodeon premiered the animated series Kuu Kuu Harajuku, produced by Gwen Stefani. The series follows a group of girls who make music and fight evil. Stefani introduced her “Harajuku Girls,” inspired by Tokyo's Harajuku district, on her solo debut Love. Angel. Music. Baby. and later incorporated her fascination with the culture into clothing and perfume collections.
- David Bowie appeared posthumously in the series Twin Peaks: The Return. David Lynch used archival footage of Bowie from the film Fire Walk with Me to incorporate his character, FBI agent Phillip Jeffries, into the new series.
- MTV revived TRL, the iconic music video countdown show that aired from 1998 to 2008. The new version underwent major changes: it had no traditional chart and was not exclusively focused on music, instead combining music with various pop-culture topics and featuring five hosts, including Vine star DC Young Fly.
- Fleetwood Mac appeared on The Ellen Show and introduced a new lineup in which Neil Finn and Mike Campbell replaced Lindsey Buckingham.
- After completing his farewell tour, Paul Simon appeared as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live for the ninth time. He celebrated his 77th birthday on the day the show aired.
- The sports comedy-drama series premiered on Apple TV+ with a theme song by Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons. Jason Sudeikis, who plays the title character, is a longtime friend of the British folk musician and also appeared as Mumford in the band's 2013 music video for the single “Hopeless Wanderer”.