1968 in television

Events

• January 20 – Houston defeats UCLA 71–69 at the Houston Astrodome on the TVS Television Network in what is billed as "The Game of the Century"; the first prime-time national broadcast of men's college basketball.
• January 27 – The Lennon Sisters make their final appearance on The Lawrence Welk Show on ABC (United States).
• January 31 – Turkey's first national TV channel TRT 1 is opened.
• February 6 – The Xth Olympic Winter Games in Grenoble, France are the first Olympics to be fully broadcast in color for the U.S. market by ABC.
• February 19 – National Educational Television in the United States begins airing preschool show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood nationally; it runs until 2001.
• February 28 – Influential American news reporter Walter Cronkite comments on primetime television "It is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could", which influences US President Johnson not to seek another term.
• April 2
• *NBC in the US broadcasts a television special in which white British singer Petula Clark appears with black performer Harry Belafonte as her guest. An innocent, affectionate gesture between the two during recording of a song has prompted an objection from a representative from the show's sponsor due to the difference in their races, but NBC airs the performance.
• *RAI in Italy broadcasts the first episode of the miniseries La famiglia Benvenuti, by Alfredo Giannetti, with Enrico Maria Salerno and Valeria Valeri, about the life of the Italian middle class. The show, innovative at this time, is received well by the public and critics alike, and the child actor Giusva Fioravanti becomes a star.
• April 4 – Singer James Brown appears on national television in an attempt to calm feelings of anger in the United States following the assassination of Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr.
• April 6 – The Eurovision Song Contest 1968 is held at the Royal Albert Hall in London, the first to be televised in colour.
• April 27 – Jordan Television, as predecessor of Jordan Radio and Television Corporation, a first official television broadcasting service start in Jordan, is launched in Amman.
• May 2 – The Israel Broadcasting Authority commences television broadcasts.
• May 4 – Mary Hopkin performs on the British TV talent show Opportunity Knocks. Hopkin catches the attention of model Twiggy, who recommends her to Beatle Paul McCartney. McCartney soon signs Hopkin to Apple Records.
• May 10 – The government of France issues an order prohibiting the state broadcaster ORTF from televising the May 68 student demonstrations in Paris, but radio reports are permitted.
• May 20
• *The Children's Television Workshop, later known as Sesame Workshop, is founded in the United States by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett as a nonprofit organization for production of educational children's programs. It will launch Sesame Street next year.
• *Harlech starts its dual service for Wales and the West Country in the UK, replacing the interim ITSWW, which had replaced TWW.
• May 24 – President Charles de Gaulle appears on French television and makes a plea to viewers for help in ending the country's May 68 strikes and unrest.
• June 2 – The first cricket match to be televised in colour by the BBC in the UK, Surrey v International Cavaliers held at Cheam Cricket Club Ground. The game attracts 8,000 people.
• June 14 – Rosemary Prinz, one of the first big soap opera stars, is written out of As the World Turns in a less-than-amicable departure.
• August 20–21 – Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. Events are televised live across Europe.
• October 13 – Actress Bea Benaderet of the popular CBS-TV sitcom Petticoat Junction dies of lung cancer at the age of 62 shortly after the start of the popular program's sixth season.
• October 14 – First live television broadcast from a spacecraft in orbit, during the Apollo 7 mission. There are six broadcasts during the eleven-day mission.
• October 21–25 – Joan Crawford makes a guest appearance for five episodes on the soap opera The Secret Storm, filling in for her ailing daughter, Christina. Joan slurs her lines and appears to be intoxicated during the tapings.
• November 17 – "Heidi Game": NBC breaks away from a pro football game to air a TV movie adaptation of Heidi, sparking furious protest. After the break away, the Oakland Raiders score two touchdowns to defeat the New York Jets, in the final minute of play.
• November 17 - WABC-TV debuts the Eyewitness News format on behalf of news director Al Primo.
• November 22 – Kirk and Uhura's kiss: William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols share the first significant interracial kiss on US television in the Star Trek episode "Plato's Stepchildren".
• December 3 – The 50-minute television special Elvis, taped in June with a live audience in Burbank, California, airs on NBC in the United States marking the comeback of Elvis Presley after 7 years during which the legendary rock and roll musician's career has centered on the movie industry. Concluding with the premiere of "If I Can Dream", it is not only the highest rated television show for the week of broadcast, but the highest rated television special of the year. Its original broadcast is followed by a Brigitte Bardot special.
• December 24 – Apollo 8 broadcasts to the Earth, relaying a report that there is a Santa Claus and reading a passage from the Book of Genesis.

• Nearly 200 million households now own television sets, 78 million of which are in the US.
• The Guiding Light and Search for Tomorrow expand to 30 minutes.
• The last round-screen color TV sets are produced by all American manufacturers.

Programs/programmes

• American Bandstand
• Another World
• As the World Turns
• Bewitched
• Blue Peter
• Bonanza
• Bozo the Clown
• Candid Camera
• Captain Kangaroo
• Come Dancing
• Coronation Street
• Crossroads
• Daniel Boone
• Dark Shadows
• Days of Our Lives
• Dixon of Dock Green
• Do Not Adjust Your Set
• Doctor Who
• Face the Nation
• Family Affair
• Four Corners
• General Hospital
• Get Smart
• Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
• Grandstand
• Green Acres
• Gunsmoke
• Hallmark Hall of Fame
• Here's Lucy
• Hogan's Heroes
• I Dream of Jeannie
• Ironside
• I Spy
• It's Academic
• Jeopardy!
• Love is a Many Splendored Thing
• Love of Life
• Mannix
• Match Game
• Meet the Press
• Mission: Impossible
• Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
• My Three Sons
• Opportunity Knocks
• Panorama
• Petticoat Junction
• Peyton Place
• Play School
• Search for Tomorrow
• Spider-Man
• Star Trek
• That Girl
• The Andy Griffith Show
• The Avengers
• The Banana Splits
• The Beverly Hillbillies
• The Carol Burnett Show
• The Dean Martin Show
• The Doctors
• The Ed Sullivan Show
• The Edge of Night
• The Flying Nun
• The [Good Old Days (UK TV series)|The Good Old Days]
• The Guiding Light
• The Hollywood Palace
• The Late Late Show
• The Lawrence Welk Show
• The Lucy Show
• The Mike Douglas Show
• The Money Programme
• The Mothers-in-Law
• The Newlywed Game
• The Saint
• The Secret Storm
• The Sky at Night
• The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
• The Today Show
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
• The Wednesday Play
• This Is Your Life
• Tom and Jerry
• Top of the Pops
• Truth or Consequences
• TRT 1 Foreign films day
• TRT 1 Turkish films day
• Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color
• What the Papers Say
• World of Sport
• ''Z-Cars''

Debuts

• January 1 – Vremya in the Soviet Union
• January 5 – Gardeners' World on BBC1 in the UK
• January 22 – Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In on NBC
• February 19 – Mister Rogers' Neighborhood on National Educational Television
• April – Audubon Wildlife Theatre on CBC
• May 18 – The Prisoner has its U.S. premiere on CBS
• July 5 – The Expert on BBC2 in the UK
• July 15 – One Life to Live on ABC
• July 30 – Magpie on ITV in the UK
• July 31 – Popular sitcom Dad's Army run on BBC1 in the UK
• September – What's My Line in first-run syndication
• September 14
• *The Archie Show on CBS Saturday Morning
• *The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour and on CBS Saturday Morning
• *Wacky Races on CBS Saturday Morning
• September 17 – Julia on NBC
• September 21 – Adam-12 on NBC
• September 22 – Land of the Giants on ABC
• September 23
• *Here's Lucy on CBS
• *Mayberry R.F.D. on CBS
• September 24
• *The Doris Day Show on CBS
• *The Mod Squad on ABC
• *60 Minutes on CBS
• September 25 – Here Come the Brides on ABC
• September 26 – Hawaii Five-O on CBS
• September 29 – Fabeltjeskrant on NOS

Television debuts

• Linda Blair – Hidden Faces
• Bud Cort – The Doctors
• Blythe Danner – N.Y.P.D.
• Jodie Foster – Mayberry R.F.D.
• Howard Hesseman – The Andy Griffith Show
• Margot Kidder – Wojeck
• Al Pacino – N.Y.P.D.
• Austin Pendleton – One Life to Live
• Joffre Soares – Beto Rockfeller
• M. Emmet Walsh – ''The Doctors''