1996 in American television
The following is a list of events affecting American television during 1996. Events listed include television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and channel initiations, closures and rebrandings, as well as information about controversies and disputes.
| List of years in American television: |
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| 1995–96 United States network television schedule |
| 1996–97 United States network television schedule |
| List of American television programs currently in production |
Events
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| January 1 | Speedvision, a cable channel devoted to motor sports, commences programming. The network would be rechristened Speed Channel in 2002, then Speed in 2005. It would be replaced by Fox Sports 1 in 2013. |
| January 20 | Fox introduces its FoxTrax "glowing puck" during its telecast of the 46th National Hockey League All-Star Game. |
| January 23 | The pilot episode for Moesha is broadcast on UPN. |
| January 28 | Chris Isaak and Brooke Shields make guest appearances on a post-Super Bowl episode of Friends on NBC. |
| February 1 | Sundance Channel debuts. |
| February 8–9 | Peter Argyropolous and Deborah Cohen win a combined total of $146,529 cash prizes from two episodes (including the $10,000 wedge played with the Double Play token and two Ford Mustangs), making the couple the biggest winner in the history of Wheel of Fortune; They remain the biggest winners for a team, and will hold the record until Michelle Lowenstein wins $1,026,080 on October 14, 2008. |
| February 29 | ABC affiliate KBAK-TV and CBS affiliate KERO-TV swap affiliations in Bakersfield. |
| March 1 | More than 1 billion households worldwide now own television sets. |
| March 4 | DISH Network, a Direct Broadcast Satellite service, begins as a service of EchoStar. |
| March 31 | WrestleMania XII from the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim in Anaheim, California is broadcast on pay-per-view. In the main event, Shawn Michaels defeats Bret Hart in a 60-minute Iron Man match to win the WWF Championship for the first time. |
| April 6 | The first ever Major League Soccer game is broadcast live on ESPN. The San Jose Clash hosted D.C. United at Spartan Stadium with San Jose winning on a goal by Eric Wynalda. |
| April 28 | Dexter's Laboratory premieres on Cartoon Network. |
| April 29 | TV Land, an offshoot of Nickelodeon's late-night block, Nick at Nite, debuts. The channel is devoted to round-the-clock broadcasts of classic television shows. |
| May 14 | Fox airs a television film that serves as the first attempt to revive Doctor Who following its suspension in 1989. It was intended as a backdoor pilot for a new American-produced Doctor Who TV series. It introduced Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor in his only televised appearance as the character until "The Night of the Doctor" in 2013. Although a ratings success in the United Kingdom, the film did not fare well on American television and no series was commissioned. The series was later relaunched on the BBC in 2005. |
| May 16 | More than 12 million Americans watch the final episode of Murder, She Wrote on CBS, "Death By Demographics". Through its 12-year run, the series had become the longest-running American murder mystery drama. |
| May 20 | The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ends its six-season run with its series finale on NBC. |
| May 28 | The final episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 to be broadcast on Comedy Central airs. 1978's Laserblast holds the distinction of being the final film to be featured in the Comedy Central era. The next three seasons of the original series would air on the Sci-Fi Channel. |
| June 1 | Major League Baseball broadcasts debut on Fox. |
| June 3 | Zenith introduces the first HDTV-compatible front projection TV in the U.S. |
| The 1994–96 United States broadcast TV realignment continues in Cincinnati, as CBS affiliate WCPO-TV and ABC affiliate WKRC-TV reverse their 1961 affiliation swap through a group affiliation deal between ABC and the E.W. Scripps Company, owners of WCPO. | |
| June 19 | CBS affiliate WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina is awarded the first experimental high-definition television license in the United States. |
| June 23 | At the World Wrestling Federation's pay-per-view event King of the Ring, wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin wins the King of the Ring tournament by defeating Jake Roberts. After the match, Austin makes a certain victory speech in what would famously become as the "Austin 3:16" catchphrase. |
| June 30 | New York PBS member station WNYC-TV shuts off the air. The next day, it is replaced with a commercially operated sports TV station known as WBIS. |
| July 6 | When it becomes evident that Anna Stuart will be next to die in a serial killer storyline on the NBC soap opera Another World, many fans start letter-writing campaigns to save the actress; the NBC studios in New York City also report a great number of switchboard telephone calls regarding Stuart's imminent demise. Executive producer Jill Farren Phelps decides that actress Alice Barrett will be killed off the show instead. |
| New World Communications sells its 2 remaining non-Fox affiliates, KNSD-TV (channel 39) in San Diego, California and WVTM-TV (channel 13) in Birmingham, Alabama, both of whom are affiliated with NBC, to the NBC Television Stations Division. Upon the finalization of the deal on August 14, both stations become NBC owned-and-operated stations (WVTM would eventually be sold to Media General in 2006; Hearst Television would acquire WVTM in 2015). | |
| July 7 | At the WCW produced pay-per-view event Bash at the Beach, Hulk Hogan turns heel for the first time in 15 years and announces the formation of the New World Order. |
| July 15 | Talk-oriented America's Talking ceases broadcasting and is replaced by MSNBC, an all-news joint venture between NBC (AT's owner) and Microsoft. |
| August 2 | MTV's secondary channel, M2 (now known as MTV2), debuts. |
| August 17 | Kenan & Kel debuts on Nickelodeon. |
| August 19 | NBC affiliate in Charleston, WCIV, and ABC affiliate WCBD-TV swap network affiliations. |
| August 23 | The Price Is Right celebrates its 25th Anniversary Special on CBS. |
| September 7 | Paula Zahn is named an Saturday anchor of CBS Evening News. |
| Fox Kids airs for the final time on St. Louis affiliate KNLC. The following Monday, it moves to KTVI, becoming the only New World affiliated station to carry Fox Kids. | |
| September 8 | The 48th Primetime Emmy Awards are presented on ABC. |
| The 1994–96 United States broadcast TV realignment continues when longtime ABC affiliate WBRC-TV (channel 6) in Birmingham, Alabama finally becomes a Fox owned-and-operated station, a year after Fox had acquired it (and WGHP-TV in High Point, North Carolina) from a trust that had been formed by New World Communications. ABC eventually affiliates with a trimulcast of WBMA-LP/WCFT/WJSU (channels 58, 33 and 40), which is owned by Allbritton Communications (owners of WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C., one of ABC's strongest affiliates). Former Fox affiliate WTTO-TV (channel 21) becomes an independent station before affiliating with The WB the next year, while another former Fox affiliate, WNAL in Gadsden, Alabama, aligns with CBS. | |
| Blue's Clues premieres on Nick Jr. | |
| September 9 | Samurai Pizza Cats premieres on American television for the very first time ever with the series being shown on syndication. |
| Fox Kids was moved to KTVI from KNLC due to Larry Rice's decision on putting ministry messages instead of ads, becoming the only New World station to carry the block (the other stations replace the block with expanded newscasts, syndicated programs, paid and real estate programs). | |
| September 13 | The Phil Donahue Show ends after twenty-nine years on the air. |
| September 14 | The dubbed version of the Japanese series Dragon Ball Z premieres in syndication. |
| September 15 | USA Cartoon Express airs for the last time on USA Network. |
| September 16 | Wheel of Fortune introduced a gameplay round called Jackpot which contestants can win an accumulated pot based on the value spun throughout the round. The round would remain intact until 2013. |
| September 17 | The O. J. Simpson civil trial begins. |
| October 1 | Animal Planet and Discovery Civilization launched. |
| October 2 | Seven newscasters were dismissed by WCBS-TV (channel 2) in New York. |
| October 4 | Discovery Science debuts. |
| October 7 | News Corporation gets into the cable news fray with the debut of the Fox News Channel. |
| Big Day For Kids Television As Two New Cartoons Have Their World Broadcast Premieres With Hey Arnold! debuting on Nickelodeon, While WGBH’s Arthur, The Longest Running Cartoon Based On The Books By Marc Brown, Debuts On PBS. | |
| October 10 | Turner Broadcasting System merged into Time Warner. |
| October 20–26 | Fox broadcasts its first ever World Series. The New York Yankees won their 23rd title (and first since 1978) against the Atlanta Braves in only six games. |
| October 30 | WBKP in Calumet, Michigan signs on the air, giving the Upper Peninsula both its first full-time ABC affiliate (WLUC-TV had dropped its primary ABC affiliation the previous year in favor of its secondary NBC affiliation) and full-time affiliates of the "Big Three" networks. |
| November 1 | ESPNNEWS, a sports news channel from ESPN, debuts. |
| Seven regional sports networks operated by Prime Network relaunched as Fox Sports Net. | |
| November 2 | The original cartoon series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles broadcasts its final episode, "Divide and Conquer", on CBS. |
| The Superman: The Animated Series episode "Stolen Memories" airs on Kids' WB! | |
| November 4 | In tribute to the 30th anniversary of Star Trek: The Original Series, an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine features Captain Benjamin Sisko and the crew travel back in time to prevent the assassination of Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise by a Klingon using a booby-trapped tribble. Its sister series Voyager produced a similar episode, "Flashback". |
| The infamous "Pillman's got a gun" angle with Brian Pillman and his former tag-team partner Stone Cold Steve Austin airs on USA Network's Monday Night RAW. | |
| November 11 | Discovery Kids debuts. |
| November 23 | Bob Hope's final television special, Bob Hope... Laughing with the Presidents, airs on NBC. |
| December 1 | The 25 Days of Christmas special begins on The Family Channel, starting one of the longest-running Christmas specials. |
| December 12 | Sports Illustrated and CNN debut CNN/SI, a 24-hour sporting news channel. |
| December 15 | Five years after its series finale, a movie version of Dallas, entitled Dallas: J.R. Returns, is broadcast by CBS. |
| December 17 | 6 years after dropping the title, TBS resumes using the term Superstation. |
| December 31 | WAKR-TV in Akron, Ohio disaffiliates from ABC and becomes an infomercial-based station before becoming a charter O&O of station owner Paxson Communications' new Pax TV network in 1998. |
Television programs
Debuts
Returning this year
| Show | Last Aired | Previous Network | New title | New Network | Returned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doug | 1994 | Nickelodeon | Disney's Brand Spanking New! Doug | ABC | September 7 |
| Gargoyles | 1996 | Syndication | Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles | ||
| The Dating Game | 1989 | Same | Same | September 9 | |
| The Newlywed Game | |||||
| Shop 'til You Drop | 1994 | Lifetime | The New Shop 'til You Drop | The Family Channel | September 30 |
| What A Cartoon! (World Premiere Toons) | 1996 | TBS/Cartoon Network | The What A Cartoon! Show | Cartoon Network | October 9 |
Ending this year
| Date | Show | Debut |
|---|---|---|
| January 9 | Live Shot | 1995 |
| January 11 | The Commish | 1991 |
| January 14 | Nickelodeon Guts | 1992 |
| February 3 | Are You Afraid of the Dark? (returned in 1999) | |
| Dumb and Dumber | 1995 | |
| February 7 | Matt Waters | 1996 |
| February 17 | Mighty Morphin Power Rangers | 1993 |
| Maybe This Time | 1995 | |
| February 21 | VR Troopers | 1994 |
| February 23 | Carnie! | 1995 |
| Strange Luck | ||
| Iron Man | 1994 | |
| February 26 | High Society | 1995 |
| March 1 | The Head | 1994 |
| March 7 | The Mickey Mouse Club | 1955 |
| March 27 | Dream On | 1990 |
| March 29 | The Pink Panther | 1993 |
| George & Alana | 1995 | |
| March 30 | Campus Cops | 1996 |
| April 1 | Partners | 1995 |
| May 4 | Sisters | 1991 |
| May 11 | Captain Planet and the Planeteers | 1990 |
| May 19 | Murder, She Wrote | 1984 |
| May 20 | The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air | 1990 |
| Nowhere Man | 1995 | |
| June 2 | Space: Above and Beyond | |
| June 4 | Minor Adjustments | |
| June 9 | seaQuest DSV | 1993 |
| June 17 | Buzzkill | 1996 |
| June 19 | Hudson Street | 1995 |
| June 26 | Picket Fences | 1992 |
| June 28 | Central Park West | 1995 |
| July 11 | American Gothic | |
| July 14 | Muppets Tonight | 1996 |
| July 19 | Tales from the Crypt | 1989 |
| August 8 | Kratts' Creatures | 1996 |
| August 16 | The Client | 1995 |
| August 17 | Santo Bugito | |
| August 27 | Rescue 911 | 1989 |
| August 30 | A Current Affair (returned in 2005) | 1986 |
| September 13 | The Phil Donahue Show | 1967 |
| September 14 | WWF Mania | 1993 |
| September 15 | USA Cartoon Express | 1982 |
| September 30 | Lush Life | 1996 |
| Party Girl | ||
| October 6 | Big Deal | |
| October 20 | The Ren & Stimpy Show | 1991 |
| October 30 | Public Morals | 1996 |
| The John Larroquette Show | 1993 | |
| November 2 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | 1987 |
| November 9 | The Lazarus Man | 1996 |
| November 11 | Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales | |
| November 24 | Rocko's Modern Life | 1993 |
| The Tick | 1994 | |
| November 25 | Timon & Pumbaa (returned in 1999) | 1995 |
| November 27 | Power Rangers Zeo | 1996 |
| November 28 | Quack Pack | |
| December 4 | Townies | |
| December 6 | Mr. & Mrs. Smith | |
| December 7 | Project G.e.e.K.e.R. | |
| December 8 | Allegra's Window | 1994 |
| December 13 | Earthworm Jim | 1995 |
| December 14 | Bailey Kipper's P.O.V. | 1996 |
| California Dreams | 1992 | |
| December 18 | The High Life | 1996 |
| December 24 | Roundhouse | 1992 |
| December 28 | The Adventures of Pete & Pete | 1993 |
| Unknown | Top Rank Boxing (returned in 2017) | 1980 |
Made for TV movies and miniseries
| Premiere Date | Title | Channel |
|---|---|---|
| February 4 | Gulliver's Travels (miniseries) | NBC |
| February 11 | Night of the Twisters | The Family Channel |
| February 24 | The Late Shift (miniseries) | HBO |
| April 9 | Face of Evil | CBS |
| April 28 | The Beast | NBC |
| May 14 | Doctor Who | Fox |
| September 24 | After Jimmy | CBS |
| November 15 | Dallas: J.R. Returns | |
| November 17 | Titanic | |
| December 15 | The Angel of Pennsylvania Avenue | The Family Channel |
Entering syndication this year
| Show | Seasons | In Production | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman | 4 | Yes | [1] |
| Hangin' with Mr. Cooper | 4 | Yes | [2] |
| Mad About You | 4 | Yes | [3] |
| Martin | 4 | Yes | [4] |
Changes of network affiliation
Television stations
Station launches
Stations changing network affiliation
Station closures
| Date | Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 5 | Bluefield, West Virginia | WVGV-TV | 59 | The WB |
Births
Deaths
| Date | Name | Age | Notability |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 3 | Audrey Meadows | 73 | Actress (Alice Kramden on The Honeymooners) |
| February 13 | Martin Balsam | 76 | Actor (Murray on Archie Bunker's Place) |
| February 15 | McLean Stevenson | 68 | Actor (Lt. Col. Henry Blake on M*A*S*H) |
| Tommy Rettig | 54 | Child actor (Jeff on Lassie) | |
| March 4 | Minnie Pearl | 83 | Comedian |
| March 5 | Whit Bissell | 86 | Character actor |
| March 9 | George Burns | 100 | Comedian (The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show) |
| March 11 | Vince Edwards | 67 | Actor (Ben Casey) |
| April 21 | Jimmy Snyder | 77 | Sports commentator (The NFL Today) |
| May 20 | Jon Pertwee | 76 | Actor (Third Doctor on Doctor Who) |
| June 2 | Ray Combs | 40 | Host of Family Feud |
| June 5 | Vito Scotti | 78 | Character actor, Gilligan's Island |
| June 16 | Mel Allen | 83 | Sports commentator |
| July 21 | Herb Edelman | 62 | Actor (Stanley Zbornak on The Golden Girls) |
| August 27 | Greg Morris | 62 | Actor (Mission: Impossible) |
| September 13 | Tupac Shakur | 25 | Actor and songwriter |
| October 6 | Ted Bessell | 61 | Actor and director (Donald on That Girl) |
| October 28 | Morey Amsterdam | 87 | Actor and comedian (Buddy on The Dick Van Dyke Show) |
| October 31 | Arthur Peterson Jr. | 83 | Actor (Soap) |
| November 13 | Alma Kitchell | 103 | Hostess (In the Kelvinator Kitchen) |
| December 8 | Howard Rollins | 46 | Actor (Tibbs on In the Heat of the Night) |
| December 12 | Larry Gates | 81 | Soap opera actor (Guiding Light) |
| December 14 | Edward K. Milkis | 65 | Producer |
References
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