| Date | Event |
|---|
| January 3 | ABC andCBS simultaneously broadcast their own movies based onAmy Fisher's life, with Fisher played byDrew Barrymore (forABC) andAlyssa Milano (forCBS);NBC had broadcast itsown version of the Fisher saga six days earlier (December 28, 1992). |
|---|
| January 8 | ABC affiliate KOUS-TV (nowFox affiliateKHMT) inBillings, Montana, which had suffered reception problems for most of its history, signs off the air (it will return to the air as KHMT in August 1995). Later that day,KSVI signs-on the air, taking KOUS-TV's intellectual unit and ABC affiliation with it.[1][2] |
|---|
| January 11 | Monday Night Raw airs itsfirst episode, live from theGrand Ballroom at the Manhattan Center inNew York City, on theUSA Network. In themain event,The Undertaker defeatsDamien Demento. |
|---|
| January 14 | David Letterman announces[3] during apress conference that he will be moving hislate-night program fromNBC toCBS come August 1993. |
|---|
| January 15 | Theseries finale ofSanta Barbara airs onNBC. In it, Sophia and C.C. Capwell move towards a reconciliation, Kelly finds love withConnor McCabe, and at Warren and B.J.'s wedding, unbalancedAndie Klein aims a gun at the crowd; however, she is quickly disarmed and carried away by Connor. This is then followed by a roll-call list of the cast and crew. The final shot consists of executive producerPaul Rauch standing in front of the camera, smashing a cigar under his shoe, and walking away. |
|---|
| January 16 | OnNBC'sSaturday Night Live,Madonna parodiesMarilyn Monroe's "Happy Birthday Mr. President, as “Happy Inauguration Mr. President”. On the same episode, she imitatesSinéad O'Connor's actions from earlier inthe season. |
|---|
| January 19 | Fox expands its regular prime-time schedule to seven days a week; the network celebrates by premiering two dramas on this Tuesday:Class of '96 andKey West. |
|---|
| January 20 | Warner Bros. Television Distribution launches thePrime Time Entertainment Network. |
|---|
| January 31 | TheSuper Bowl, broadcast byNBC, has a solohalftime performer for the first time—Michael Jackson, who performed a medley of his most successful songs. |
|---|
| February 6 | Dana Carvey makes hisfinal appearance as acast member onNBC'sSaturday Night Live. By the end of the season on May 15,Chris Rock andRobert Smigel would also make their final appearances onSNL as cast members. |
|---|
| February 10 | Oprah Winfrey interviews Michael Jackson during alive primetime special onABC, hosted at Jackson'sNeverland Ranch (Jackson's first TV interview since 1979 withBarbara Walters for20/20). |
|---|
| Fox gets a full-time home inGrand Junction, Colorado whenKFQX signs-on the air. |
| February 24 | Michael Jackson receives aGrammy Legend Award at the35th Annual Grammy Awards, presented by his younger sister,Janet. The ceremony is broadcast byCBS. |
|---|
| February 26 | TheDays of Our Lives nighttime specialNight Sins is broadcast byNBC. |
|---|
| March 2 | Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade makes its network television premiere onCBS. |
|---|
| March 4 | ESPN holds the first everESPY Awards. The highlight isJim Valvano's speech while accepting the inauguralArthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award. He announced the creation of The V Foundation for Cancer Research, an organization dedicated to finding a cure for cancer.[4] Less than two months after his famous ESPY speech, Valvano died following a nearly yearlong battle with metastatic cancer. |
|---|
| March 13 | Harrison Ford appears asIndiana Jones in the bookend scenes for anepisode ofThe Young Indiana Jones Chronicles onABC. |
|---|
| March 28 | Through abrokered deal withESPN,ABC begins the first of a two-year deal with theNational Hockey League to televise six regional Sunday afternoon broadcasts (including the first three Sundays of the playoffs). This marked the first time that regular season National Hockey League games were broadcast on American network television[5] since1974–75 (whenNBC was the NHL's American broadcast television partner). |
|---|
| April 4 | Theninth annualWrestleMania event is broadcast onpay-per-view. This was the first WrestleMania event to be held outdoors as it took place atCaesars Palace inParadise, Nevada. This was also the firstWorld Wrestling Federation event to featureJim Ross as a commentator. Themain event sawHulk Hogan defeatingYokozuna, who had won the belt moments prior, to win theWWF Championship (Hogan actually wrestled earlier in the night, teaming up withBrutus Beefcake in a loss toMoney Inc. viaDQ and failed to win theWWF Tag Team Championship). |
|---|
| April 18 | The Disney Channel celebrates its 10th anniversary. |
|---|
| April 25 | Lorne Michaels choosesConan O'Brien, who was a writer forThe Simpsons at the time and a former writer for Michaels atSaturday Night Live, to fillDavid Letterman's old seat directly afterThe Tonight Show onNBC.[6] |
|---|
| May 5 | SeniorAs the World Turns cast memberDon Hastings hosts a memorial tribute toDouglas Marland. Marland, who died during March after an abdominal surgery procedure, had been the series' chief writer since 1985 and was responsible for several story lines on theCBS soap opera. |
|---|
| Theseries finale ofQuantum Leap is broadcast onNBC. Twotitle cards were tacked on to the end of the last episode; one read thatAl's first wifeBeth never remarried, so they were still married in the present day and had four daughters. The last title cards said "Sam Becket [sic] never returned home." The finale was met by viewers with mixed feelings.[7][8][9] |
| May 8 | The intended hour longseries finale ofA Different World is broadcast onNBC, who would go on to air four additional episodes through July 9, 1993. Three remaining episodes would make their debuts insyndication. In the finale, Dwayne, Whitley, and their unborn child prepare to move toJapan, where Dwayne is offered a job. |
|---|
| May 13 | Thefourth-season finale of theFox cartoon-sitcomThe Simpsons features guest appearances fromJohnny Carson,Hugh Hefner,Bette Midler,Luke Perry,Elizabeth Taylor,Red Hot Chili Peppers, andBarry White. |
|---|
| Knots Landing airs a two-hourseries finale onCBS. |
| May 14 | Jaimee Foxworth (Judy) andTelma Hopkins (Rachel) make their final regular appearances on theABC sitcomFamily Matters; though Hopkins later makes return guest appearances on the series as Rachel while Foxworth's character Judy disappears without explanation. |
|---|
| May 19 | The gang at West Beverly graduate from high school in theSeason 3 finale ofBeverly Hills, 90210 onFox. |
|---|
| May 20 | NBC airs thefourth seasonfinale ofSeinfeld, expanded to 60 minutes. The episode concludes a season-long story sequence involving apilot show written byJerry andGeorge, with the pilot finally coming to fruition only to be refused by NBC executives. Immediately afterwards, 80.4 million people tune to NBC to watchthe series finale ofCheers. |
|---|
| May 23 | One month after federal agents make an infamous raid onDavid Koresh'sWaco, Texas, compound,NBC broadcasts a hastily produced television movie based on the incident,In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco;Tim Daly plays Koresh for the movie. |
|---|
| May 28 | Major League Baseball's owners overwhelmingly approve[10] a six-yearjoint venture withABC andNBC. The venture, eventually dubbed "The Baseball Network", displacesCBS as MLB's primary network television package holder. |
|---|
| June 1 | Connie Chung begins co-anchoringCBS Evening News withDan Rather. |
|---|
| June 13 | TheWorld Wrestling Federation holds theinauguralKing of the Ring event onpay-per-view.Hulk Hogan would lose theWWF Championship againstYokozuna in what would be Hogan's final appearance on the WWF's television programming until 2002. |
|---|
| June 16 | While appearing as a guest onYo! MTV Raps,Tupac Shakur confesses to physically assaulting film directorsAlbert Hughes and Allen Hughes in retaliation for his firing from the filmMenace II Society. |
|---|
| June 25 | David Letterman broadcasts his lastlate-night talk show withNBC. |
|---|
| June 26 | Thefinal episode ofSoul Train withDon Cornelius as host airs infirst-run syndication. |
|---|
| July 2 | Don Drysdale makes what turns out to be his finalbroadcast for theLos Angeles Dodgers. He provided play-by-play on the first six innings for a game between theDodgers andMontreal Expos onKTLA 5, before handing it off toVin Scully. Drysdale later died of aheart attack in hishotel's room, inMontreal, in the early hours of the following night. |
|---|
| July 13 | TheMajor League Baseball All-Star Game airs onCBS for the fourth consecutive year. Played inBaltimore, this is to date, the final time that CBS would broadcast Major League Baseball's All-Star Game. |
|---|
| August 3 | Gayle Gardner becomes the first woman to do televisedplay-by-play of abaseball game when she called the action of a game between theColorado Rockies and theCincinnati Reds.[11] |
|---|
| August 18 | AtClash of the Champions XXIV onTBS, the professional wrestler known as theShockmasterbotches his debut appearance inWorld Championship Wrestling by tripping and falling face first to the ground after crashing through a wall onRic Flair'sinterview segment "A Flair for the Gold". |
|---|
| August 28 | Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the firstPower Rangers entry, debuted onFox Kids. It would soon become a 1990spop culture phenomenon along with a large line of toys,action figures, and other merchandise.[12] The show adapts stock footage from the Japanese TV seriesKyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (1992–1993), which is the 16th installment ofToei'sSuper Sentai franchise.[13] |
|---|
| August 30 | Late Show with David Letterman premieres onCBS, with actorBill Murray and musical guestBilly Joel. |
|---|
| PBS introduces new branding for their children's programs featuring"The P-Pals". |
| September 3 | Sally Jessy Raphael Show airs for the last time onWABC-TV andKCAL-TV in the New York and Los Angeles areas respectively. The following Tuesday,The Les Brown Show takes over the WABC spot.Sally would move toWNBC andKNBC in said areas. |
|---|
| September 10 | Thepilot episode ofThe X-Files airs onFox. As the pilot, it would set up themythology storyline for the series. The episode earns aNielsen rating of 7.9 and is viewed by 7.4 million households and 12.0 million viewers. The episode itself is generally well received by fans and critics alike, which leads to a growingcult following for the series before it hits the mainstream. |
|---|
| September 12 | Raymond Burr dies ofliver cancer at hisranch home inCalifornia at the age of 76. (The lastPerry Mason movie,Perry Mason: The Case of the Killer Kiss, airs onNBC on November 29, carrying a dedication to Burr with an in memoriam tribute at the end of the movie.) |
|---|
| September 13 | Late Night with Conan O'Brien premieres onNBC, asO'Brien replacesDavid Letterman as host. |
|---|
| Xuxa debuts herEnglish program insyndication, becoming the first Brazilian person to host a TV show in US. |
| September 16 | Marc Wilmore, Reggie McFadden,Jay Leggett, Carol Rosenthal andAnne-Marie Johnson join the cast of theFox seriesIn Living Color for its final season. None of theWayans Family are involved at all during the season. |
|---|
| Thepilot episode ofFrasier airs onNBC. It introduces the primarycharacters and settings, and distances itself from its parent seriesCheers. The episode also sets up a number of recurring gags for the series, such asMartin's Lazyboy recliner and the unseen character ofMaris Crane,Niles' wife. For his performance in this episode,Kelsey Grammer would win thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. |
| September 18 | OnBeakman's World onCBS, Liza (played byEliza Schneider)makes her debut as the new assistant/co-host. Lasting 39 episodes, Liza would be the longest tenured assistant on the show. |
|---|
| September 19 | The45th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony is broadcast onABC. |
|---|
| September 21 | Thepilot episode forNYPD Blue is broadcast onABC. The series includes more nudity and raw language than is common on broadcast television at the time. This results in at least 30 of the network's affiliates—mostly in smaller markets—not running the series when it debuts, with the show airing in many of those markets on aFox affiliate orindependent station live or delayed.[14] |
|---|
| September 24 | Raven-Symoné,Nell Carter andSaundra Quarterman join the cast of the seriesHangin' with Mr. Cooper onABC. |
|---|
| Thepilot episode forBoy Meets World is broadcast onABC as part of the network's popularTGIF comedy block followingFamily Matters and beforeStep by Step. It would face competition from hour-long showsThe Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (Fox) and a special episode ofBlossom (NBC), as well as half-hour comedyFamily Album (CBS) in the same 8:30 p.m. timeslot. It would debut to 16.5 million viewers, ranking it as the fifth highest-viewed show of the night, and tied with another ABC seriesMatlock as the 48th ranked broadcast of the week. |
| October 23 | CBS's four-year broadcast relationship withMajor League Baseball ends withToronto Blue Jays outfielderJoe Carter's walk-off home run to win theWorld Series against thePhiladelphia Phillies. (Bob Seger's song"The Famous Final Scene" plays during the broadcast's closing credits.) |
|---|
| October 25 | The Rocky Horror Picture Show makes its TV debut onFox; the movie is inter-cut with a live cast performance. |
|---|
| October 27 | Paramount Pictures andChris-Craft Industries announce the formation of theUnited Paramount Network. |
|---|
| October 29 | The firstGot Milk? commercial is broadcast on TV. Directed byMichael Bay, a guy obsessed by the history of the duel hears a voice on the radio asking a $10,000 question, "Who shotAlexander Hamilton inthat famous duel?", while making and eating a peanut butter sandwich. The question was transferred to the telephone, answers the correct answer "Aaron Burr", but the person on the telephone can't hear it clearly with his mouth full of peanut butter sandwich before time ends, and he only has a few drops of milk left. |
|---|
| October 30 | Michael J. Nelson makes hisdebut as host ofMystery Science Theater 3000 on Comedy Central. Nelson replacedJoel Hodgson, who departed from the series the week prior. |
|---|
| November 2 | Warner Bros. Entertainment announces the formation ofThe WB Television Network, which will premiere in January 1995. |
|---|
| November 9 | OnCNN,Larry King moderates a debate betweenRoss Perot andAl Gore on theNorth American Free Trade Agreement that was watched in 11.174 million households – the largest audience ever for a program on anad-supportedcable network until the October 23,2006New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys game onESPN'sMonday Night Football.[15] |
|---|
| November 12 | TheUFC puts on theirfirst ever pay-per-view event inDenver.[16] |
|---|
| November 15 | Britney Spears,Justin Timberlake, andChristina Aguilera join the cast of theDisney Channel seriesThe New Mickey Mouse Club. |
|---|
| November 21 | Bill Bixby dies ofprostate cancer at the age of 59 (six days after his final directing job onNBC'sBlossom). |
|---|
| November 22 | TV Food Network (later, just Food Network) makes its debut with two initial shows featuringDavid Rosengarten,Donna Hanover, andRobin Leach. The following day, TV Food Network would begin live broadcasting.[17] One if its first shows isHow to Boil Water, which is first hosted byEmeril Lagasse. |
|---|
| November 25 | Home Alone makes its network television premiere onNBC. |
|---|
| November 26 | Cartoon Network, TBS, and TNT all broadcast 14 hours of animated programs as part of "The Great International Toon-In". Interstitials during the event introduced the Cartoon Network's new motion capture animated characterMoxy, which would be the star of Cartoon Network's first original animated program,The Moxy Show. |
|---|
| December 18 | CBS (which had been a broadcaster ofNational Football League games for 38 years) loses their rights to telecastNational Football Conference games toFox.Fox wins the rights to NFC games by offering a then-record$1.58 billion to the NFL over four years, significantly more than the $290 million per year CBS was willing to pay. |
|---|
