It was September 12, 1981: the Smurfs lived their first adventure in television, thanks to the NBC. First episode was ‘The AstroSmurf’. First series was broadcasted since September 12 till December 5, 1981; in the next years, the number of series came to 9.
As for Italy,
after some steps in little local channels, Smurfs got the best of their success at Mediaset (Fininvest, at that time), being broadcasted on Canale 5 and Italia 1. Sometimes, in the 90’s, on Rete 4 as well.