<Ul> <Li> 20 November 1983 (1983 - 11 - 20) (USA) </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <Li> 20 November 1983 (1983 - 11 - 20) (USA) </Li> <P> The Day After is an American television film that first aired on November 20, 1983, on the ABC television network . More than 100 million people, in nearly 39 million households, watched the program during its initial broadcast . With a 46 rating and a 62% share of the viewing audience during its initial broadcast, it was the seventh highest rated non-sports show up to that time and set a record as the highest - rated television film in history--a record it still held as recently as a 2009 report . </P> <P> The film postulates a fictional war between NATO forces and the Warsaw Pact that rapidly escalates into a full - scale nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union . The action itself focuses on the residents of Lawrence, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri, as well as several family farms situated near nuclear missile silos . </P>

When did the movie the day after come out