The following television-related events took place during 1961.

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• January 20 – John F. Kennedy is the first U.S. president to be inaugurated with a color telecast. NBC covers the inauguration in color.
• January 25
  • John F. Kennedy holds the first live televised presidential press conference.
  • Danger Man (United Kingdom) (1960–1961, 1964–1966) is cancelled due to lack of interest from Australian broadcasters. The series will be revived later.
• February 19 – CFTM-TV, future flagship station of Quebec's TVA network, begins broadcasting in Montreal.
• March 1 - Venevision officially renamed from Televisa of Venezuela.^[1]
• April 11 – The Eichmann trial is the first televised trial, shown on a one-day delay basis in the U.S. with videotape flown in daily from Jerusalem
• April 29
  • Westward Television, the first ITV franchise for South West England, begins broadcasting.
  • Wide World of Sports debuts on the American Broadcasting Company.
• May 5 – Alan B. Shepard is the first U.S. astronaut in space aboard the spacecraft Freedom 7 in a 15-min. suborbital flight. The launch is watched by 45 million U.S. viewers.
• May 9 – In a speech on "Television and the Public Interest" to the National Association of Broadcasters in the United States, Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton N. Minow describes commercial television programming as a "vast wasteland" and tells the broadcasters that they could do a better job of serving the public.
• May 29 – Dave Garroway announces his decision to quit the Today show on NBC in the United States.
• July 1 – The soap opera series The Brighter Day airs its first episode after taping locations are moved from New York City to Los Angeles. As a result, key character Babby Dennis and her love interest are written out of the series; the actors who played them didn't want to relocate.
• July 21 – Dicon Television Canal 11, as predecessor for Telefe, a major television network in Argentina, starts its first official regular broadcasting service from Buenos Aires.^[2]
• September 1 – Border Television, the ITV franchise for the English-Scottish Border and Isle of Man, begins broadcasting.
• September 23 – NBC begins its long-running NBC Saturday Night at the Movies participating, with a broadcast of the 1953 Marilyn Monroe picture How to Marry a Millionaire.
• September 30 – Grampian Television, the ITV franchise for North East Scotland, begins broadcasting.
• October 1 – CTV Television Network (CTV) is launched in Canada, the first privately owned network in the country.
• October 29 - DZBB-TV Channel 7, the fourth television station in the Philippines owned by Republic Broadcasting System (modern-day GMA Network) of American war correspondent Robert "Uncle Bob" Stewart, is launched after the success of radio station DZBB.
• November 4 – Radiotelevisione italiana's second television channel, Rete 2 (later named Rai 2), first broadcasts to 52% of the available households in Italy.
• November 19 – Lucille Ball marries Gary Morton in New York City.
• December 15 – Sam and Friends broadcasts its last episode in the United States.
• December 31
  • Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) starts television broadcasts, bringing television to the Republic of Ireland for the first time.
  • KBS1, a major television station in South Korea, starts its first regular broadcasting service from Seoul.^[3]
  • WBNB airs the first television broadcast in the Virgin Islands. (The station would be destroyed by Hurricane Hugo in 1989.)

• January 5 – Mister Ed on CBS (1961–1966)
• January 7 – The Avengers on ITV in UK (1961–1969)
• January 23 – The Americans on NBC
• January 30 - The Yogi Bear Show in syndication (1961-1962)
• February 27 - Acapulco on NBC (1961)
• March 17 – Five Star Jubilee on NBC
• April 3 – Minna no Uta on NHK
• Mat 26 – Inspector Hornleigh Intervenes on West Germany's WDR
• June 4 – Sportschau on ARD
• April 29 – ABC's Wide World of Sports (1961–2006)
• August 19 – Four Corners, Australia's first current affairs program (1961–present)
• September 9 – The Jo Stafford Show on ITV (1961)
• September 17 – Car 54, Where Are You? on NBC (1961–1963)
• September 26 - Ichabod and Me on CBS (1961-1962)
• September 27 - Top Cat on ABC (1961-1962)
• September 28 – Hazel on NBC (1961–1966)
• October 1 –
  • Bus Stop on ABC (1961–1962)
  • CTV National News (1961–present)
  • Songs of Praise on BBC (1961–present)
• October 2 –
  • Ben Casey on ABC (1961–1966)
  • Password on CBS (1961–1967)
  • Window on Main Street on CBS (1961–1962)
• October 3 – The Dick Van Dyke Show on CBS (1961–1966)
• October 4 –
  • The Alvin Show on CBS (1961–1962)
  • Playdate on CBC (Canada) (1961–1964)
• October 5
  • The Investigators (1961)
  • The New Bob Cummings Show (1961–1962)
• October 6 – Straightaway (1961–1962)
• October 7 – It's Academic (1961–present)
• October 30 – The News with Uncle Bob (1961-1972)
• November 8 – KVN (Клуб, Весёлых и Находчивых, Klub Vesyólykh i Nakhódchivykh, "Club of the Funny and Inventive") on The First Channel in the Soviet Union (1961–1972, 1986–present)
• November 13 – Camera Canada on CBC Television (1961-1963)
• December 11 – The Mike Douglas Show (1961–1981)
• December 31 – RTÉ News: Nine O'Clock on RTÉ One

• Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1962)
• American Bandstand (1952–1989)
• Armchair Theatre (UK) (1956–1968)
• As the World Turns (1956–2010)
• Blue Peter (UK) (1958–present)
• Bonanza (1959–1973)
• Bozo the Clown (1949–present)
• Bringing Up Buddy, 1960–1961
• Candid Camera (1948–present)
• Captain Kangaroo (1955–1984)
• Carols by Candlelight (1952–present)
• Cheyenne (1955–1962)
• Come Dancing (UK) (1949–1995)
• Coronation Street (UK) (1960–present)
• Danger Man (UK) (1960–1961, 1964–1966)
• Dixon of Dock Green (UK) (1955–1976)
• Face the Nation (1954–present)
• Grandstand (UK) (1958–2007)
• Gunsmoke (1955–1975)
• Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951–present)
• Hancock's Half Hour (1956–1962)
• Hato no kyujitsu (1953-2001)
• Hawaiian Eye (1959–1963)
• Inspector Hornleigh Intervenes (West Germany) (1961)
• Juke Box Jury (1959–1967, 1979, 1989–1990)
• Leave It to Beaver (1957–1963)
• Love of Life (1951–1980)
• Margie, 1961–1962
• Meet the Press (1947–present)
• My Three Sons (1960–1972)
• Dagsrevyen (1958–present)
• Opportunity Knocks (UK) (1956–1978)
• Panorama (UK) (1953–present)
• Rocky and His Friends (1959-1961) ends earlier in 1961 to resume later in 1961 on NBC as The Bullwinkle Show (1961–1964)
• Search for Tomorrow (1951–1986)
• The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952–1966)
• The Andy Griffith Show (1960–1968)
• The Alvin Show (1961-1962)
• The Bell Telephone Hour (1959–1968)
• The Bugs Bunny Show (1960-2000)
• The Donna Reed Show (1958–1966)
• The Ed Sullivan Show (1948–1971)
• The Edge of Night (1956–1984)
• The Flintstones (1960–1966)
• The Good Old Days (UK) (1953–1983)
• The Guiding Light (1952–2009)
• The Huckleberry Hound Show (1958–1962)
• The Jack Benny Show (1950–1965)
• The Lawrence Welk Show (1955–1982)
• The Milton Berle Show (1954–1967)
• The Price Is Right (1956–1965)
• The Quick Draw McGraw Show (1959–1962)
• The Secret Storm (1954–1974)
• The Sky at Night (UK) (1957–present)
• The Yogi Bear Show (1961-1962)
• The Today Show (1952–present)
• The Tonight Show (1954–present)
• The Twilight Zone (1959–1964, 1985–1989, 2002–2003)
• The Voice of Firestone (1949–1963)
• This Is Your Life (UK) (1955–2003)
• Top Cat (1961-1962)
• Truth or Consequences (1950–1988)
• Walt Disney Presents (1958–1961) ends on September 17 to resume on September 24 on NBC as Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (1961–1969)
• What the Papers Say (UK) (1956–2008)
• What's My Line (1950–1967)
• WIN News (1960–present)
• Window on Main Street (1961–1962)
• Zoo Quest (UK) (1954–1964)

• James Brolin – Follow the Sun
• James Caan – Route 66
• John Davis Chandler – The Asphalt Jungle
• Julie Christie – A for Andromeda
• Dabney Coleman – Naked City
• Samantha Eggar – Rob Roy
• Jane Fonda – A String of Beads
• Gene Hackman – Tallahassee 7000
• Dustin Hoffman – Naked City
• John Hurt – Probation Officer
• Derek Jacobi – BBC Sunday-Night Play
• Tim Matheson – Window on Main Street
• Sarah Miles – Deadline Midnight
• Millie Perkins – Wagon Train
• Rob Reiner – Manhunt
• Andy Romano – Alfred Hitchcock Presents
• W. Morgan Sheppard – Theatre Night
• Glynn Turman – Play of the Week
• Gene Wilder – Play of the Week

• 1961–62 United States network television schedule