1999 in American television
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In American television in 1999, notable events included television series debuts, finales, cancellations, and channel initiations, closures and re-brandings, as well as information about controversies and disputes.
Events
[edit ]January
[edit ]| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 4 | On an episode of WWF Raw is War which had been taped six days earlier on December 29th, Mick Foley wrestling as Mankind defeats The Rock to win the WWF Championship. Meanwhile, on WCW Monday Nitro , Hulk Hogan defeats Kevin Nash for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in the infamous Fingerpoke of Doom. Tony Schiavone on orders from Eric Bischoff gave away the results of Foley's championship victory. As a result, 600,000 viewers switch from Nitro to Raw. These incidents would mark the beginning of WCW's downfall until its closure in 2001. |
| 6 | Bob Newhart receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. |
| 11 | Jon Stewart debuts as host of Comedy Central's The Daily Show , replacing Craig Kilborn, who moves to CBS to succeed Tom Snyder as host of The Late Late Show . |
| 23 | Gene Siskel hosts his final episode of Siskel & Ebert with Roger Ebert. On February 3, 1999, Siskel announced that he would take a leave of absence for the rest of the season but promised to be back the next fall. On February 20, 1999, Siskel died suddenly from complications from a second brain surgery. On that final episode, Siskel and Ebert reviewed At First Sight , Another Day in Paradise , The Hi-Lo Country , Playing by Heart , and The Theory of Flight |
| Paula Zahn leaves CBS News after 10 years. | |
| 31 | The Denver Broncos win their second consecutive Super Bowl against the Atlanta Falcons with a score of 34–19. The game is broadcast on Fox with the broadcast team of Pat Summerall and John Madden on the call. |
| Family Guy premieres on Fox immediately following the Super Bowl. |
February
[edit ]| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | Prevue Channel re-brands as The TV Guide Channel, an EPG-branded version of TV Guide magazine. |
| HBO Family, HBO's fourth multiplex channel, is rebranded and premieres four new shows; A Little Curious , George and Martha , Anthony Ant and Crashbox . | |
| Disney Channel rebrands its preschool block as Playhouse Disney. | |
| 13 | Kids' WB acquired the rights to the anime, Pokémon after it debuted on first-run syndication in 1998; and Pokémon made Kids' WB a household name until 2006, and made it as a huge franchise. |
March
[edit ]| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 13 | A special live edition of All That airs on Nickelodeon. |
| 15 | After three years of not being picked up by domestic distribution in the US, action series L.A. Heat finally airs on US television with the series airing on TNT. |
| 24 | Olympic gold medalist Tara Lipinski is signed to the recently-launched Nickelodeon Games and Sports for Kids network as a special host and sports correspondent. |
| 26 | Tom Snyder's last show on CBS's The Late Late Show . The following Monday, Craig Kilborn, late of Comedy Central's The Daily Show , takes his place as the show's host. |
April
[edit ]| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 18 | Hockey great Wayne Gretzky plays his final game (a 2–1 overtime loss between his New York Rangers and the Pittsburgh Penguins), which is broadcast in the United States by Fox. Mike Emrick and John Davidson were on the call with Sam Rosen conducting interviews. |
| 26 | NBC's The Tonight Show is broadcast in high-definition for the first time, making it the first late-night program to be broadcast in this format. Host Jay Leno's guests are: Salma Hayek, David Arquette, and Jewel. |
| 29 | The pilot episode of WWF SmackDown! is broadcast on UPN as a single television special. (The show would officially premiere again on the network with a new stage on August 26.) The main event saw Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock team up to defeat the Corporate Ministry. |
May
[edit ]| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | Immediately following the 1999 Kids' Choice Awards, Nickelodeon airs the pilot episode of its newest series SpongeBob SquarePants . Tara Lipinski, Bill Bellamy and Robert Ri'chard appeared in interstitials during the sneak peek where they mentioned the series officially premiering in July. SpongeBob would go on to become the longest running Nickelodeon series in its history. |
| 21 | Susan Lucci receives a Daytime Emmy Award for her role as Erica Kane on the ABC soap opera All My Children , after eighteen failed nominations during previous years. The ceremony is telecast live on CBS. |
| 23 | World Wrestling Federation wrestler Owen Hart is killed after falling 70 ft (21 m) from the rafters at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, during a live pay-per-view broadcast of Over The Edge. |
| 24 | During an in-ring promo on WCW Monday Nitro , WCW wrestler Bret Hart pays tribute to his brother Owen, who was killed in an in-ring accident the night before at Over the Edge. |
| 25 | The series finale of Home Improvement is broadcast on ABC. Patricia Richardson (Jill Taylor) is offered 25ドル million to do a ninth season; Tim Allen (Tim Taylor) is offered 50ドル million. The two decline the offer and the series comes to an end as a result.[1] Jonathan Taylor Thomas (Randy Taylor) does not return to the show for the series finale (as he is busy with his education and filming the movie Speedway Junky , released in 2001), only appearing in archived footage. The series finale becomes the fifth highest-rated series finale television program of the 1990s and the ninth overall series finale ever presented on a single network in television history, watched by 35.5 percent of the households sampled in America, and 21.6 percent of television viewers. |
June
[edit ]| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 11 | Cartoon Network rebrands its Friday night block of original animated series as Cartoon Cartoon Fridays . |
| 17 | The NHL on Fox airs for the final time. |
July
[edit ]| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 18 | The Simpsons actor Hank Azaria marries actress Helen Hunt. The couple would file for divorce over a year later. |
| 31 | CBS This Morning co-anchor Russ Mitchell as an Saturday anchor of CBS Evening News along with Thalia Assuras as an alternate Saturday anchor starting in November. |
August
[edit ]| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 8 | The series finale of Mystery Science Theater 3000 airs on The Sci-Fi Channel, who had been broadcasting the past three seasons following its departure from Comedy Central in 1996. The last film to be featured in its original run is the 1968 film Danger: Diabolik . Mystery Science Theater 3000 would resume production in 2017, when new episodes begin airing on Netflix. |
| 16 | Who Wants To Be A Millionaire airs its first episode on ABC with Regis Philbin as host. It would go on to become the television season's highest-rated series and one of ABC's most successful shows. |
| 26 | WWF SmackDown! airs its first episode, live from the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, on UPN. The main event saw Triple H defeating The Rock to retain the WWF Title thanks to interference from Shawn Michaels, who was the special guest referee. |
| 30 | Countess Vaughn leaves the cast of Moesha to star in her own television spin-off The Parkers with Mo'Nique, making her the first female African-American comedian to receive a spin-off. |
September
[edit ]| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 6 | UPN replaces its UPN Kids block with a new E/I-compliant block airing weekdays and Sunday mornings named Disney's One Too, a spinoff of ABC's Disney's One Saturday Morning. |
| In Schenectady, New York, PBS member station WMHQ is relaunched as WEWB-TV, a commercial broadcast station affiliated with The WB (the Capital District's first affiliate of that network). | |
| PBS launches a 24-hour PBS Kids television network and new branding for its children's programming. | |
| 7 | Viacom announced that the company would acquire CBS and its company, CBS Corporation (after CBS spun off Viacom in 1971 after the FCC forbids broadcast networks to own syndication units or more TV stations) which would cause the two companies to merge into one mega media empire. Which the merger would bring CBS and Paramount close. |
| 12 | The 51st Primetime Emmy Awards presentation is aired on Fox. |
| 20 | After four years, WGN's superstation feed drops programming from The WB and Kids' WB at the request of the network. The network's programs are replaced by movie, sports from Chicago's sporting teams and other broadcasts. |
| 24 | The WB begins airing programming on Friday nights. |
| 26 | NBC airs a three-hour prime-time special in celebration of Saturday Night Live's 25th anniversary. |
| 27 | The Rock garners the highest cable rating in WWF history with Mankind in a segment entitled "This is your life" on Raw Is War, which draws a record 8.4 rating.[2] [3] [4] |
October
[edit ]| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 4 | ABC affiliate WPTY, and sister station WLMT, both in the Memphis area, begin allowing The WB programming, most notably on WPTY for late nights, and some kids shows, like Pokémon , airing on WLMT.[5] [6] |
| 7 | Donald Trump announces his 2000 presidential campaign on an episode of Larry King Live . |
| 10 | The professional wrestling pay-per-view event, Heroes of Wrestling is broadcast from the Casino Magic hotel and casino in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Although the event was heavily promoted, it was only purchased by 29,000 households. Additionally, the event itself was generally regarded to be of poor quality: Wrestling Observer rated it the worst major wrestling event of 1999,[7] with its editor Dave Meltzer giving a rating of "absolute zero" to a tag team match featuring Luke Williams and Butch Miller facing Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik. Meltzer's colleague, Bryan Alvarez of Figure Four Weekly, has repeatedly referred to this match as the worst he has ever seen and rated it "minus more stars than there are in the universe"[8] |
| 27 | The fourth and deciding game of the World Series airs on NBC. This is to date, NBC's 39th and final World Series. The New York Yankees defeat once again the Atlanta Braves, winning their second title in a row and 25th in franchise history. |
November
[edit ]| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 19 | John Carpenter becomes the first player on ABC's game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? to win 1,000,000ドル. Carpenter is also the first known contestant in the history of American game show to win 1,000,000ドル. |
December
[edit ]| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | Richard Pryor appears in the cold open of the ABC sitcom Norm in what would prove to be his final television appearance. He would die in 2005, 6 years later. |
| 15 | NASCAR strikes a deal with Fox Sports, FX, NBC, and TBS (later moved to TNT) worth 2ドル.4 billion for a new six-year package,[9] covering the Winston Cup (now NASCAR Cup) Series and Busch (now Xfinity) Series schedules. NASCAR wanted to capitalize on its increased popularity even more, so the organization decided that future deals would be centralized; that is, the networks would negotiate directly with NASCAR for a regular schedule of telecasts. The old deal arrangement saw each track negotiate with the networks to broadcast their races. As a result, NASCAR had races on CBS, TNN, ESPN, ABC, NBC, and TBS. However, NBC, which had just entered the sport, showed only one race in 2000. NASCAR wanted to increase the number of races by each partner, and have as many races on broadcast networks as possible, to prevent fans from missing races. |
| 31 | ABC participates in the global broadcast 2000 Today with ABC 2000 Today . Peter Jennings anchors ABC's broadcast of the special from New York City, joined later by Dick Clark who hosts the countdown in Times Square. |
Programs
[edit ]Debuts
[edit ]Ending this year
[edit ]Entering syndication this year
[edit ]| Show | Seasons | In Production | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd Rock from the Sun | 4 | Yes | [10] |
| Caroline in the City | 4 | Yes | [11] |
| Clueless | 3 | No | [12] |
| The Drew Carey Show | 4 | Yes | [13] |
| In the House | 5 | No | [14] |
| The Parent 'Hood | 5 | No | [15] |
| Star Trek: Voyager | 5 | Yes | [16] |
| Unhappily Ever After | 5 | No | |
| The Wayans Bros. | 5 | No | [17] |
Resuming this year
[edit ]| Title | Last aired | Previous network | New title | New network | Date of return |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Timon and Pumbaa | 1996 | Syndication and CBS | Same | Toon Disney | January 1 |
| Zoom | 1978 | PBS | PTV | January 4 | |
| Are You Afraid of the Dark? | 1996 | Nickelodeon | Same | February 6 | |
| ReBoot | Syndication and ABC | Toonami | March 15 | ||
| Johnny Bravo | 1997 | Cartoon Network | Same | July 2 | |
| Divorce Court | 1992 | Syndication | September 7 | ||
| Tales from the Cryptkeeper | 1994 | ABC | The New Tales from the Cryptkeeper | CBS | September 11 |
| Family Feud | 1995 | Syndication | Same | Same | September 20 |
| Ace Ventura: Pet Detective | 1997 | CBS | Nickelodeon | October 29 |
Changes of network affiliation
[edit ]| Show | Moved from | Moved to |
|---|---|---|
| Timon and Pumbaa | Syndication and CBS | Toon Disney |
| Franklin | CBS Kidshow | Nick Jr. |
| Ace Ventura: Pet Detective | CBS | Nickelodeon |
| Tales from the Cryptkeeper | ABC | CBS |
| Recess | ABC/UPN | |
| Pepper Ann | ||
| ReBoot (US terrestrial rights) | Syndication | Toonami |
| National Geographic Explorer | TBS | CNBC |
| Leeza | NBC | Syndication |
| Between Brothers | Fox | UPN |
Made-for-TV movies and miniseries
[edit ]| Title | Channel | Date of airing |
|---|---|---|
| Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century | Disney Channel | January 23 |
| Deep in My Heart | CBS | February 14 |
| Alice in Wonderland | NBC | February 28 |
| Replacing Dad | CBS | March 14 |
| Great Expectations | PBS | May 9 |
| Joan of Arc | CBS | May 15 |
| Atomic Train | NBC | May 16 |
| A Lesson Before Dying | HBO | May 22 |
| Pirates of Silicon Valley | TNT | June 20 |
| Vendetta | HBO | July 3 |
| Johnny Tsunami | Disney Channel | July 24 |
| First Daughter | TBS | August 15 |
| Don't Look Under the Bed | Disney Channel | October 9 |
| RKO 281 | HBO | November 20 |
| Horse Sense | Disney Channel | |
| Runaway Reptar | Nickelodeon | November 27 |
| Cinderelmo | FOX | December 6 |
| Ego Trip | Cartoon Network | December 10 |
| The Lady in Question | A&E | December 12 |
Networks and services
[edit ]Network launches
[edit ]| Network | Type | Launch date | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noggin | Cable and satellite | February 2 | A joint venture between Nickelodeon and the Children's Television Workshop, airing educational programming for pre-schoolers and school-aged children from both parties. Dish Network and Americast carried the network at launch. | |
| Nickelodeon Games and Sports for Kids | Cable and satellite | March 1 | A channel broadcasting games shows and sports-related programs from Nickelodeon. | |
| Starz Cinema Starz Family |
Cable and satellite | May 1 | ||
| HBO Comedy HBO Zone |
Cable and satellite | May 6 | First announced in April 1998, HBO Comedy airs comedic films plus HBO comedy series and stand-up specials, while HBO Zone airs programs aimed at young adults. | |
| TV Globo Internacional | Cable and satellite | August 24 | ||
| PBS Kids | Cable and satellite/over-the-air multicast | September 6 | A 24-hour channel showing PBS' children's programs (notably excluding Sesame Street , whose pay TV rights were held by Noggin). | |
| DIY Network | Cable and satellite | September 30 | An interactive spin-off of HGTV carrying instructional programs related to "do it yourself" activities. | |
| Boyz Channel | Cable television | October 31 | A spin-off of the Fox Family Channel airing programmes aimed towards a young male audience. | |
| Girlz Channel | Cable television | October 31 | A spin-off of the Fox Family Channel airing programmes aimed towards a young female audience. |
Conversions and rebrandings
[edit ]| Old network name | New network name | Type | Conversion Date | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starz! 2 | Starz! Theater | Cable television | July |
Television stations
[edit ]Station launches
[edit ]Network affiliation changes
[edit ]| Date | City of License/Market | Station | Channel | Old affiliation | New affiliation | Notes/Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 12 | Lima, Ohio | WLQP-LP | 18 | Fox (as W18BP) | UPN |
Station closures
[edit ]| Date | Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 31 | Buffalo, New York | WFHW-LP | 58 | Independent |
Births
[edit ]Deaths
[edit ]| Date | Name | Age | Notability |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 4 | Iron Eyes Cody | 94 | Actor (well known for an anti-littering campaign ad of the 1970s) |
| January 25 | Herman Wedemeyer | 74 | Actor (Duke Lukela on Hawaii Five-O ) |
| February 20 | Gene Siskel | 53 | Film critic (co-host of Siskel & Ebert ) |
| March 22 | David Strickland | 29 | Actor (Todd Stities on Suddenly Susan ) |
| March 28 | Freaky Tah | 27 | American rapper |
| March 30 | Gary Morton | 74 | Producer, second husband of Lucille Ball |
| April 10 | Jean Vander Pyl | 79 | Voice actress (Wilma Flintstone on The Flintstones and Rosie the Robot Maid on The Jetsons ) |
| April 14 | Ellen Corby | 87 | Actress (Grandma Esther Walton on The Waltons ) |
| May 8 | Dana Plato | 34 | Actress (Kimberly Drummond on Diff'rent Strokes ) |
| May 21 | Sachiko Hirasawa | 25 | Japanese R&B singer of the sister duo Double |
| May 23 | Owen Hart | 34 | Wrestler (Superstar on WWF RAW is WAR ) |
| June 11 | DeForest Kelley | 79 | Actor (Bones McCoy on Star Trek ) |
| July 16 | John F. Kennedy Jr. | 38 | American lawyer and son of President John F. Kennedy |
| July 20 | Sandra Gould | 82 | Actress (Gladys Kravitz #2 on Bewitched ) |
| August 23 | Martha Rountree | 87 | Broadcast journalist (Meet the Press ) |
| August 24 | Mary Jane Croft | 83 | Actress (I Love Lucy , The Lucy Show , Here's Lucy ) |
| September 5 | Allen Funt | 84 | Creator and host of Candid Camera |
| October 6 | Gorilla Monsoon | 62 | Pro wrestler and WWF commentator[19] |
| November 9 | Mabel King | 66 | Actress (Mabel Thomas on What's Happening!! ) |
| November 11 | Mary Kay Bergman | 38 | Voice actress (South Park ) |
| November 18 | Beatrice Colen | 51 | Actress (Happy Days , Wonder Woman ) |
| November 29 | Gene Rayburn | 81 | Host of (Match Game ) |
| December 3 | Madeline Kahn | 57 | Actress (Oh Madeline ) |
| December 10 | Shirley Hemphill | 52 | Comedian and actress (What's Happening!! ) |
| December 14 | Walt Levinsky | 70 | Composer |
| December 28 | Clayton Moore | 85 | Actor (The Lone Ranger ) |
See also
[edit ]References
[edit ]- ^ Cormier, Roger (September 17, 2016). "14 Sturdy Facts About 'Home Improvement'". Mental Floss. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
Richardson was offered 25ドル million to do a ninth season; Allen was offered double that. The two declined, and Home Improvement ended after eight seasons and 203 episodes.
- ^ "The Rock: This is Your Life!".
- ^ "Bill Banks Talks About the Highest Rated Wrestling Segment". Bleacher Report .
- ^ "; RAW 27 September 1999". /Wrestling.
- ^ "WPTY shuffles, moves the WB network to "free" TV late nights". The Commercial Appeal . 1999年09月23日.
- ^ "WB". The Commercial Appeal . 1999年09月23日.
- ^ "Heroes PPV a disappointment". Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved 2007年05月13日.
- ^ Heroes of Wrestling: Sucked Long Before Jake Used a Snake as a Penis [permanent dead link ]
- ^ "2001 TV Deal". Archived from the original on September 18, 2000. Retrieved 2017年09月14日.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) Quote: While many fans were upset that ESPN and CBS lost the rights, insiders say that their bids were close to 100ドル million annually under the winning bids from Fox and NBC. - ^ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1997/BC-1997年06月23日.pdf from Broadcasting & Cable
- ^ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1998/BC-1998年05月11日.pdf from Broadcasting & Cable
- ^ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1998/BC-1998年12月14日.pdf from Broadcasting & Cable
- ^ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1997/BC-1997年06月30日.pdf from Broadcasting & Cable
- ^ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1997/BC-1997年08月25日.pdf from Broadcasting & Cable
- ^ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1997/BC-1997年03月17日.pdf from Broadcasting & Cable
- ^ Star Trek: Voyager Syndication Promo - "Are You a Voyager?" - YouTube from YouTube
- ^ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1997/BC-1997年10月06日.pdf from Broadcasting & Cable
- ^ Cardoza, Riley (2017年05月22日). "Caleb Lee Hutchinson". Hollywood Life. Retrieved 2024年02月19日.
- ^ Ali, Hamza (2023年04月18日). "The Tragic Death & Legacy Of WWE Legend Gorilla Monsoon, Explained". TheSportster. Retrieved 2024年09月05日.