When "California Fever" ended, he won the role as host of a weekly talk show, "Hollywood Teen", as well as the "Jimmy McNichol Special", which first aired in April 1980. He also starred in the television film "" (1979), a teen drama about an ex-hockey player and figure skater who fall in love. He subsequently appeared in several other successful made-for-TV movies, including the thriller "Blinded by the Light" (1980), in which he starred opposite his sister Kristy as a gay teenager who escapes a religious cult. He also made several low-budget feature films, including "Smokey Bites the Dust" (1981) and the horror film "Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker" (1982), co-starring with Susan Tyrrell and Bill Paxton.