During the 1980s, WTBS focused heavily on movies – running two films during the day, and a movie-exclusive schedule during the nighttime hours after 8:00 p.m., with the exception of sports events. At other times, WTBS continued to run mostly classic sitcoms, and vintage cartoons. In 1986, when Ted Turner purchased Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists (which he would sell back to previous owner Kirk Kerkorian that October due to debt incurred by the Turner Broadcasting System from its purchase of the film studio), WTBS gained the rights to the entire MGM film library (including certain acquisitions by MGM). This gave WTBS the rights to air many theatrical cartoon shorts such as "Tom & Jerry", "Barney Bear", "Tex Avery", and "The Pink Panther", as well as shows like "Gilligan's Island" and "CHiPs".