2002 in American television
| List of years in American television: |
|---|
|
|
| 2001–02 United States network television schedule |
| 2002–03 United States network television schedule |
| List of American television shows currently in production |
The following is a list of events affecting American television in 2002. Events listed include television series debuts, finales, cancellations, and new channel initiations.
Events
January
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | KRON-TV/San Francisco ends its affiliation with NBC after 52 years and becomes an independent station after Young Broadcasting, which purchased the station for $823 million in November 1999 from the deYoung family (who also sold the San Francisco Chronicle to the Hearst Corporation), refuses to agree to demands made by NBC to manage KRON under the conventions of a network-owned station (which included rebranding from "KRON 4" to "NBC 4", and airing the entire network schedule in pattern with pre-emptions reduced to those necessitated due to extended breaking news coverage). San Jose-based WB affiliate KNTV (which served as the ABC affiliate for the South Bay from 1960 until 2000, when it agreed to disaffiliate at the request of the Bay Area's primary ABC station, O&O KGO-TV) assumed the NBC affiliation and was acquired by the network soon afterward by the Granite Broadcasting Corporation, whose remaining Bay Area station, KBWB-TV (now independent station KOFY-TV), consequently became the market's sole WB affiliate. |
| 5 | Soul Train broadcasts its 1000th episode. |
| 14 | TeleFutura, Univision's second Spanish-language channel was launched. |
| 17 | The Price Is Right tapes its 30th Anniversary Special broadcast in Las Vegas, and it was broadcast by CBS January 31. |
February
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 3 | Super Commercials: A Mental Engineering Special is broadcast by PBS member stations reaching 85% of the U.S. after Super Bowl XXXVI; reportedly the best coverage yet achieved by a former public-access television program. |
| 8 | The opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics are televised by NBC. |
| In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, WNBC in New York City revives the We're 4 New York campaign. | |
| 13 | The UPN series Special Unit 2 airs its 19th and final episode. One of the guest stars in this episode was a then-19-year old Canadian actress by the name of Cobie Smulders, who would go on to star in the CBS series How I Met Your Mother with Josh Radnor and Jason Segel 3 years later. (ironically enough, both UPN and CBS were Viacom properties at that time). |
| 14 | CBS buys KCAL (channel 9) in Los Angeles, California from Young Broadcasting for $650 million, making it a sister station to KCBS channel 2. |
| The final Family Guy episode airs after Fox announces its cancellation (however, record DVD sales and high ratings in syndication convince Fox to bring it back in 2005). |
March
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 10 | CBS broadcasts its first commercial-free 9/11 documentary TV movie, about the Sept 11 attacks. |
April
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | The N, a digital cable and satellite channel intended for teenagers, is launched, sharing the channel frequency of Noggin. |
| 15 | The 63rd and final episode of Once and Again is broadcast by ABC. This would mark Evan Rachel Wood's last appearance as a main cast member on a TV series until Westworld premieres on HBO in 2016. |
| 17 | The ABC soap opera General Hospital broadcasts its milestone 10,000th episode. |
| 19 | Tribune Broadcasting buys WB affiliate WTTV (channel 4) in Bloomington, Indiana and its translator WTTK (channel 29) in Kokomo, Indiana from Sinclair for $125 million. |
| 24 | G4 debuts. |
May
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | Nicktoons TV (renamed Nicktoons in 2004, then in 2009) launched in the United States. |
| All of the MTV themed channels begin broadcasting on digital cable services as well as the VH1 affiliated network, VH1 Country (now known as CMT Pure Country). | |
| 6 | One Life to Live broadcasts a full week of episodes broadcast live from the ABC New York studios. |
| 12 | CNN Sports Illustrated (known as CNN/SI) ceases operations. |
| 13 | TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time is presented by ABC. |
| 15 | Jeopardy! aired its 4000th episode. |
| 17 | The 29th Daytime Emmy Awards presentation is broadcast by CBS. |
| 19 | The X-Files' two-hour series finale is broadcast on Fox. |
| 22 | The Rosie O'Donnell Show airs its last live episode. |
June
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | The very first HD cable channel, Discovery HD Theater (now known as Velocity) begins broadcasting. |
| 3 | Sailor Moon returns to Cartoon Network after a one-year hiatus, airing at 3:30pm EST/PST. That same day Cartoon Network also premieres Hamtaro. |
| 7 | Kim Possible has its first three episodes broadcast by Disney Channel. |
| 12 | NBC broadcasts its last NBA game after 12 years with the league. |
| 16 | The Dead Zone premieres on USA Network, with the highest ratings of a cable series debut in history. |
July
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 4 | ABC broadcasts a three-hour primetime news special, entitled In Search of America: Celebration. |
| 5 | After seven years on the air Cartoon Network airs the popular anime series Sailor Moon for the last time while Cartoon Cartoons Fridays begins its seventh season with the episode "Friends are there to help you". |
| 13 | Fox News Channel overtakes CNN as the #1-rated news channel. |
| 15 | After negotiations concerning a new affiliation agreement with CBS fail, WJXT (channel 4) in Jacksonville, Florida becomes an independent station on this date, with former UPN affiliate WTEV-TV (channel 47) assuming the market's CBS affiliation. This also results in an affiliation change in nearby Gainesville (where WJXT had long been the market's default CBS affiliate), as WB/UPN affiliate WGFL joins CBS (giving the Gainesville market its first-ever CBS affiliate).[1] |
August
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 21 | Fine Living Network debuted. |
September
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2 | Disney Channel stops broadcasting its afternoon and late night programming blocks "Zoog Disney" and "Vault Disney". |
| Liberty's Kids premieres on PBS Kids. | |
| In Portland, Oregon, the Meredith Corporation's duopoly of UPN affiliate KPTV and Fox affiliate KPDX (which Fox had sold to Meredith on June 17 in exchange for WOFL in Orlando, Florida and its semi-satellite in Gainesville, WOGX) swap affiliations. | |
| KPSP-LP in Palm Springs, California signs-on the air, giving the Coachella Valley its first-ever CBS affiliate. | |
| 4 | Kelly Clarkson wins the first season of Fox's reality series American Idol. |
| The Price Is Right celebrates its 30th anniversary. | |
| 7 | TNBC was renamed Discovery Kids on NBC. |
| 8 | In Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN, Fox O&O WFTC swaps affiliations with sister station and UPN affiliate KMSP.[2] |
| 14 | Fox Kids, then owned by ABC Family, is transferred back to Fox and is renamed Fox Box. |
| On ABC, Disney's One Saturday Morning ends, to be replaced by ABC Kids. | |
| Nick Jr. on CBS was renamed Nick on CBS. | |
| Cartoon Network shows the program Sailor Moon Super S: The Movie again, this is the last time Sailor Moon was featured in the United States, until 2009. | |
| 22 | Two NBC programs, Friends and The West Wing, respectively win Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Drama Series at the 54th Primetime Emmy Awards, which, by coincidence, airs on NBC. |
| 25 | Lisa Donahue is the winner of CBS' contest Big Brother 3 and wins the $500,000 prize; runner-up Danielle Reyes wins $50,000. |
| 30 | American Movie Classics is revamped to become a commercial general movie channel. |
| The ill-fated All News Channel ceases broadcasting. |
October
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | Cartoon Network celebrates its 10th anniversary. |
| 5 | Discovery Networks-owned programming strand Discovery Kids on NBC (a spinoff of a former digital cable channel Discovery Kids) debuts on NBC Saturday mornings, replacing the teen-oriented block TNBC. |
| 14 | Nickelodeon debuts its weekly programming variety block U-Pick Live. |
| 15 | The PBS children animated series Arthur airs its 100th episode. |
| 17 | Four television stations debut in Guam carrying programming from the Trinity Broadcasting Network: K28HS, K30HB, K32GB, and K36GJ. All four stations will become translators of NBC affiliate KUAM-TV in 2007. |
| 30 | Warren Zevon is featured on CBS' Late Show with David Letterman as the only guest for the entire hour, performing several songs and talking about being diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. |
| Longtime cast member Hunter Tylo's character, Dr. Taylor Hamilton Forrester, is killed in the CBS soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful, which is seen worldwide. |
December
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 15 | Animation for The Simpsons changed from cel animation to digital ink and paint. |
Programs
Debuts
Changes of network affiliation
| Show | Moved from | Moved to |
|---|---|---|
| The News with Brian Williams | MSNBC | CNBC |
| Stargate SG-1 | Showtime | SyFy |
| The Wiggles | Fox Family | Playhouse Disney |
| Digimon: Digital Monsters | Fox Kids | UPN and ABC Family |
| Power Rangers | ABC Kids and ABC Family | |
| Transformers | Cartoon Network | |
| NBA Inside Stuff | TNBC | ABC |
| The Weakest Link | Syndication | |
| Who Wants to Be a Millionaire | ||
| Making the Band | MTV | |
| Lloyd in Space | ABC | Toon Disney |
| Teacher's Pet | ||
| The Weekenders | ||
| A Walk in Your Shoes | Noggin | The N |
| Oswald | Nick Jr. on CBS and Nick Jr. (returned to Nick Jr. in 2003) | |
| Franklin | ||
| Mission Hill | The WB | Adult Swim |
| The Oblongs |
Resuming this year
| Show | Last aired | Previous network | Retitled as/Same | New/Same network | Returning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All That | 2000 | Nickelodeon | Same | Same | January 19 |
| Mission Hill | The WB | Adult Swim | July 14 | ||
| Lingo | 1988 | Syndication | Game Show Network | August 5 | |
| The Oblongs | 2001 | The WB | Adult Swim | August 25 | |
| The $100,000 Pyramid | 1992 | Syndication | Pyramid | Same | September 16 |
| Wild Kingdom | 1988 | NBC | Same | Animal Planet | September 17 |
| The Twilight Zone | 1989 | Syndication | UPN | September 18 | |
| The Powerpuff Girls | 2001 | Cartoon Network | Same | December 6 |
Ending this year
| Date | Show | Debut |
|---|---|---|
| January 1 | The PJs | 1999 |
| January 11 | Card Sharks | 1978 |
| The Ellen Show | 2001 | |
| January 15 | Max Steel | 2000 |
| January 18 | The Outer Limits | 1995 |
| January 21 | Daria | 1997 |
| January 26 | That's Life | 2000 |
| January 27 | Nikki | |
| January 31 | The Tick | 2001 |
| February 13 | Dr. Katz Professional Therapist | 1995 |
| February 17 | Jackass | 2000 |
| The Steve Harvey Show | 1996 | |
| February 24 | Angela Anaconda | 1999 |
| March 5 | 100 Centre Street | 2001 |
| March 12 | Undeclared | |
| March 15 | To Tell the Truth | 1956 |
| March 16 | The Nightmare Room | 2001 |
| March 19 | The Random Years | 2002 |
| March 23 | UC: Undercover | 2001 |
| March 28 | The New Woody Woodpecker Show | 1999 |
| March 31 | Dirk Niblick of the Math Brigade | |
| Phred on Your Head Show | ||
| The URL With Phred Show | 2001 | |
| The Further Adventures of Zook & Alison | 2000 | |
| April 7 | Sheep in the Big City | |
| April 15 | Once and Again | 1999 |
| April 21 | 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd | |
| April 26 | Lexx | 1997 |
| April 28 | Caitlin's Way | 2000 |
| April 30 | Dharma & Greg | 1997 |
| Spin City | 1996 | |
| May 1 | Wolf Lake | 2001 |
| May 3 | Dark Angel | 2000 |
| First Monday | 2002 | |
| Maybe It's Me | 2001 | |
| May 4 | So Little Time | |
| May 10 | Raising Dad | |
| Teacher's Pet | 2000 | |
| May 11 | Taina | 2001 |
| May 14 | Roswell | 1999 |
| May 17 | Talk Soup | 1991 |
| May 18 | V.I.P. | 1998 |
| May 19 | The X-Files | 1993 |
| May 20 | Ally McBeal | 1997 |
| Earth: Final Conflict | ||
| Relic Hunter | 1999 | |
| May 20 | The Hughleys | 1998 |
| May 22 | Felicity | |
| The Rosie O'Donnell Show | 1996 | |
| Sally | 1983 | |
| May 25 | Maximum Exposure | 2000 |
| May 27 | Family Law | 1999 |
| May 28 | Philly | 2001 |
| June 29 | Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action! | |
| July 5 | Politically Incorrect | 1996 |
| August 10 | The Zeta Project | 2001 |
| August 11 | For Your Love | 1998 |
| Greg the Bunny | 2002 | |
| Mission Hill | 1999 | |
| August 12 | Titus | 2000 |
| August 18 | A Nero Wolfe Mystery | 2001 |
| August 23 | What a Cartoon! | 1995 |
| August 24 | Galidor: Defenders of the Outer Dimension | 2002 |
| August 26 | Witchblade | 2001 |
| August 30 | Catchphrase | 1986 |
| Dennis Miller Live | 1994 | |
| September 1 | The Ink and Paint Club | 1997 |
| September 7 | Disney's One Saturday Morning | |
| Fox Kids | 1990 | |
| Nick Jr. on CBS (returned in 2005) | 2000 | |
| September 8 | Arliss | 1996 |
| September 20 | Unsolved Mysteries | 1987 |
| September 21 | The Amanda Show | 1999 |
| October 4 | That Was Then | 2002 |
| October 6 | Nickelodeon Robot Wars | |
| October 14 | The Oblongs | 2001 |
| October 18 | Grim & Evil | |
| October 20 | Celebrity Deathmatch (returned in 2006) | 1998 |
| October 24 | Push, Nevada | 2002 |
| October 27 | Bram & Alice | |
| October 28 | Girls Club | |
| October 31 | Off Centre | 2001 |
| November 2 | Medabots | |
| November 5 | Haunted | 2002 |
| November 14 | Pelswick | 2000 |
| November 16 | Power Rangers Wild Force | 2002 |
| November 22 | Courage the Cowardly Dog | 1999 |
| December 10 | Invader Zim (returned to 2006) | 2001 |
| December 15 | Do Over | 2002 |
| December 18 | Rescue Heroes | 1999 |
| December 20 | Firefly | 2002 |
Births
| Date | Name | Notability |
|---|---|---|
| February 5 | Davis Cleveland | Actor (Shake It Up) |
| April 8 | Skai Jackson | Actress (Jessie, Bunk'd) |
| May 9 | Cree Cicchino | Actress (Game Shakers) |
| June 2 | Madison Hu | Actress (Bizaardvark) |
| June 17 | Jake Goodman | Canadian actor (Max & Shred) |
| July 23 | Benjamin Flores Jr. | Actor (The Haunted Hathaways, Game Shakers) |
| September 27 | Jenna Ortega | Actress (Jane the Virgin, Stuck in the Middle) |
| October 3 | Felix Avitia | Actor (Gamer's Guide to Pretty Much Everything) |
| October 6 | Rio Mangini | Actor (Bella and the Bulldogs) |
| November 20 | Madisyn Shipman | Actress (Game Shakers) |
| December 6 | Cade Sutton | Actor (Kirby Buckets) |
Deaths
| Date | Name | Age | Notability |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 13 | Ted Demme | 38 | Director |
| February 13 | Waylon Jennings | 64 | Singer (balladeer/narrator on The Dukes of Hazzard) |
| February 22 | Chuck Jones | 89 | Animator (Looney Tunes), director (How the Grinch Stole Christmas!) |
| February 24 | Mel Stewart | 72 | Character actor (Henry Jefferson on All in the Family and Billy Melrose on Scarecrow and Mrs. King) |
| February 28 | Mary Stuart | 75 | Soap opera actress (Jo for the entire 35-year run of Search for Tomorrow) |
| March 15 | Sylvester Weaver | 93 | President of NBC, credited with creating The Today Show and The Tonight Show |
| March 17 | Rosetta LeNoire | 90 | Actress (Mother Winslow on Family Matters) |
| March 27 | Milton Berle | 93 | Comedian, actor (Texaco Star Theater) |
| April 2 | Jack Kruschen | 80 | Character actor (Papa Papadopolous on Webster) |
| April 16 | Robert Urich | 55 | Actor (Spenser on Spenser: For Hire and Dan Tanna on Vega$) |
| May 24 | Susie Garrett | 72 | Actress (Betty Johnson on Punky Brewster), sister of Marla Gibbs |
| June 13 | John Hope | 83 | Meteorologist of The Weather Channel |
| July 8 | Ward Kimball | 88 | Animator |
| September 14 | LaWanda Page | 81 | Comedian, actress (Aunt Esther on Sanford and Son) |
| September 28 | Whitney Blake | 76 | Actress (Dorothy Baxter on Hazel); co-creator of One Day at a Time; mother of Meredith Baxter |
| October 10 | Teresa Graves | 54 | Actress (Get Christie Love!) |
| October 13 | Keene Curtis | 79 | Actor (John Allen Hill on Cheers) |
| October 20 | Barbara Berjer | 82 | Actress (Claire Cassen Shea on As the World Turns, Barbara Norris Thorpe on Guiding Light, Bridget Connell on Another World) |
| November 3 | Jonathan Harris | 87 | Actor (Bradford Webster on The Third Man, Doctor Zachary Smith on Lost in Space, Commander Isaac Gampu on Space Academy) |
| November 9 | Merlin Santana | 26 | Actor (Romeo Santana on The Steve Harvey Show) |
| December 3 | Glenn Quinn | 32 | Actor (Mark on Roseanne) |
| December 5 | Roone Arledge | 71 | Sports producer, credited with creating (Monday Night Football) |
References
- ↑ 2 stations to fill TV-4's former CBS viewing area, The Florida Times-Union, July 14, 2002.
- ↑ Kamenick, Amy (May 23, 2002). "Channels 9 and 29 swap affiliations". Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal. Retrieved September 19, 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.