1999 in American television
The following is a list of events affecting American television during 1999. Events listed include television series debuts, finales, cancellations, and channel initiations, closures and re-brandings, as well as information about controversies and disputes.
Events
January
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | fyi, (Biography), a spinoff of A&E Network, is launched. |
| DIY Network, a spinoff of Home and Garden Television, is launched. | |
| 4 | Ed, Edd n Eddy premieres on Cartoon Network as the very first cartoon ever created for the network that was not produced by Hanna-Barbera. |
| A turning point in the Monday Night Wars takes place on this date. On TNT, the infamous Fingerpoke of Doom incident occurs on Nitro, while over on USA, Raw is War sees wrestler Mankind win for the first time the WWF Championship in a match against The Rock. | |
| The Powerpuff Girls begins airing on the British Cartoon Network channel in the UK. | |
| 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 | Family Guy airs its first pilot episode on Fox, after a new episode of The Simpsons which airs after Super Bowl XXXIII. |
February
| 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 re-launched and premieres four new shows; A Little Curious, George and Martha, Anthony Ant and Crashbox. | |
| Disney Channel Preschool Block rebranded as Playhouse Disney. | |
| 2 | Noggin is launched. |
March
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | Nickelodeon Games and Sports for Kids debuts. |
| 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. |
| 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
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | Nickelodeon celebrates its 20th anniversary. |
| 4 | Odyssey Network introduced new programs: Jim Henson Programs, Classic Sitcoms, Children's Programmings, and Family Movies. |
| 11 | Fox airs new Sunday Block: The World's Funniest!, The Simpsons, Season Premiere of Family Guy, and The X-Files. |
| 12 | NBC announces the cancellation of its long-running daytime drama Another World after years of declining ratings (a new series, Passions, replaces AW on July 5). |
| 18 | Hockey great Wayne Gretzky plays his final game (a 2-1 overtime loss between his New York Rangers against 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.) |
May
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | Starz launches two multiplex channels; Starz Cinema and Starz Family. |
| SpongeBob SquarePants, one of Nickelodeon's most popular shows, premieres after Kids' Choice Awards 1999, with the episode "Help Wanted". | |
| 6 | HBO launches two multiplex channels; HBO Zone and HBO Comedy. |
| 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 | Home Improvement ends its eight season run with its series finale on ABC. Mad About You ends its seventh season run with its series finale on NBC. |
June
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 11 | Cartoon Cartoon Fridays premieres on Cartoon Network. |
| 17 | The NHL on Fox airs for the final time. |
July
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 17 | SpongeBob SquarePants officially begins. |
| 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 alongside with Thalia Assuras as a Alternate Saturday anchor starting in November. |
August
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 14 | The SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Pizza Delivery", airs on Nickelodeon. |
| 26 | WWF SmackDown! airs its first episode, live from the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, on UPN. |
| 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
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 6 | A big day for children's television: On PBS, PTV is completely re-branded as PBS Kids with new IDs, bumpers, and promos, whilst on UPN, a new weekly block called Disney's One Too debuts, 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 Television Network (the Capital District's first affiliate of that network). | |
| Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends returns to television on Fox Family Channel in the form of Storytime with Thomas, a half-hour program with a short music video at the start and two Thomas stories with an episode from Britt Allcroft's other show, Magic Adventures of Mumfie, in between. | |
| 12 | The 51st Primetime Emmy Awards presentation aired on Fox. |
| 20 | After a four-year hiatus, Family Feud resumes with a new host, Louie Anderson. |
| 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. | |
| 6 | Futurama and Family Guy both made their first ever debuts on British television in the UK with Sky One airing both shows. |
October
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | The infamous "YOU FOOL!" episode of Hollywood Squares airs in syndication. |
| 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,[1] 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"[2] |
| 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
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 10 | Sesame Street celebrates its 30th anniversary. |
| 11 | The infamous episode with the answer of "A Group of pill-pushers" airs on Wheel of Fortune (which was taped in Madison Square Garden). |
| 12 | Courage the Cowardly Dog and Mike, Lu & Og premiere on Cartoon Network. |
| 19 | John Carpenter becomes the first player on ABC's game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? to win $1,000,000. Carpenter is also the first known contestant in the history of American game show to win $1,000,000. |
| 29 | The WB affiliate TV station WGRB 34 in Campbellsville, Kentucky changes its call sign to "WWWB", likely done in tribute to the network's "dubba-dubba-WB!" jingle. |
December
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 17 | 10th anniversary of the first half-hour episode of Fox's The Simpsons. |
| 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
Debuts
Ending this year
Entering syndication this year
| Show | Seasons | In Production | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd Rock from the Sun | 4 | Yes | [3] |
| Caroline in the City | 4 | Yes | [4] |
| Clueless | 3 | No | [5] |
| The Drew Carey Show | 4 | Yes | [6] |
| In the House | 5 | No | [7] |
| The Parent 'Hood | 5 | No | [8] |
| Star Trek: Voyager | 5 | Yes | [9] |
| Unhappily Ever After | 5 | No | |
| The Wayans Bros. | 5 | No | [10] |
Resuming this year
| Title | Last aired | Previous network | New network | Date of return |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Timon and Pumbaa | 1996 | The Disney Afternoon and CBS | Toon Disney | January 1 |
| Zoom | 1978 | PBS | PBS KIDS | January 4 |
| Are You Afraid of the Dark? | 1996 | Nickelodeon | Same | February 6 |
| ReBoot | Syndication | Toonami | March 15 | |
| Divorce Court | 1992 | Syndication | Same | September 7 |
| Tales from the Cryptkeeper | 1994 | ABC | CBS | September 11 |
| Family Feud | 1995 | Syndication | Same | September 20 |
| Ace Ventura: Pet Detective | 1997 | CBS | Nickelodeon | October 29 |
Changes of network affiliation
| Show | Moved from | Moved to |
|---|---|---|
| Timon and Pumbaa | The Disney Channel and CBS | Toon Disney |
| Franklin | CBS Kidshow | Nick Jr. |
| Ace Ventura: Pet Detective | CBS | Nickelodeon |
| Tales from the Cryptkeeper | ABC | CBS |
| Recess | Disney Channel | UPN |
| Pepper Ann | ||
| Doug | ||
| ReBoot (US terrestrial rights) | Syndication | Toonami |
| Pokémon | Kids' WB | |
| Hercules | Disney Channel and ABC | UPN |
| Rupert | Nick Jr. | CBS Kidshow |
| National Geographic Explorer | TBS | CNBC |
| Leeza | NBC | Syndication |
| Between Brothers | Fox | UPN |
| Little Dracula | Fox Kids | Fox Family Channel |
Made-for-TV movies and miniseries
| Title | Channel | Date of airing |
|---|---|---|
| Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century | Disney Channel | January 23 |
| Alice in Wonderland | NBC | February 28 |
| 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 |
Television stations
Station launches
Network affiliation changes
| 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
| Date | Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 31 | Buffalo, New York | WFHW-LP | 58 | Independent |
Births
Deaths
| 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 |
| 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 28 | Clayton Moore | 85 | Actor (The Lone Ranger) |
References
- "Heroes PPV a disappointment". Retrieved 2007-05-13.
- Heroes of Wrestling: Sucked Long Before Jake Used a Snake as a Penis
- from Broadcasting & Cable
- from Broadcasting & Cable
- from Broadcasting & Cable
- from Broadcasting & Cable
- from Broadcasting & Cable
- from Broadcasting & Cable
- Star Trek: Voyager Syndication Promo - "Are You a Voyager?" - YouTube from YouTube
- from Broadcasting & Cable
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