| Date |
Event
|
| January 3
|
The first television sets with built-in closed-caption display are introduced in the United States.
|
| January 4
|
The Fox cartoon-comedy The Simpsons begins airing on TVNZ 2 (which was originally TV2 and Channel 2) in New Zealand.
|
| January 14
|
Wheel of Fortune returns to NBC (but would ultimately be canceled on September 20, after a 16½ year run on daytime network television).
|
| January 16
|
All major television network schedules are pre-empted by Gulf War coverage right after the evening news broadcasts. The planned broadcasts included Seinfeld.
|
| January 19
|
NBC breaks away[1][2] from their telecast of the NHL All-Star Game in the third period[3] to televise a briefing from The Pentagon involving the Gulf War. SportsChannel America[4][5] included the missing coverage in a replay of NBC's telecast (NBC owned 50%[6][7][8][9] of Rainbow Enterprises, the parent of SportsChannel America).[10]
|
| January 25
|
Steve Urkel of Family Matters makes a guest appearance on Full House.
|
| January 27
|
Whitney Houston delivers her now legendary rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" during the pre-game ceremonies for Super Bowl XXV. During halftime, ABC broadcast a special ABC News report anchored by Peter Jennings on the progress of the Gulf War. ABC eventually aired the halftime show, headlined by New Kids on the Block on tape delay following the game.
|
| February 3
|
After 17 years, the 1st generation CBS Special Presentation bumper is shown for the final time.
|
| February 9
|
Tim Meadows and Adam Sandler join the cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live. (Meadows stays with the show until 2000, while Sandler departs during 1995.)
|
| February 10
|
The Simpsons comes to Australia when Network Ten begins airing the show with "Bart the Genius" and "Homer's Odyssey".
|
| February 22
|
Deborah Norville co-anchor's NBC's The Today Show for the final time.
|
| March 3
|
In Los Angeles, California, African-American Rodney King is beaten severely by police officers after leading them on a high-speed chase and allegedly resisting arrest. A video is made by an observer, and portions of the tape are broadcast repeatedly, resulting in massive rioting in the Los Angeles area.
|
| March 16
|
A. Whitney Brown makes his final appearance on the program Saturday Night Live.
|
| March 27
|
Deidre Hall returns on-screen to the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives after a four-year absence in which her character, Marlena Evans is revealed to be mysteriously alive and kept hidden outside of Salem after being presumed dead in an accident nearly four years prior.
|
| April 1
|
The premium movie channel Encore launches in the United States, primarily on TCI cable systems. The channel initially displayed movies from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, before eventually phasing in more recent movies by the 2000s (decade). Showtime Networks initiated Flix, a premium channel with a format identical to Encore less than a year-and-a-half later.
|
| CBS begins broadcasting a late-night crime-investigation program block entitled Crimetime After Primetime.
|
| April 5
|
Katie Couric is designated as co-host of The Today Show on NBC after substituting as host since February 1991.
|
| The Simpsons arrives in Hong Kong with ATV airing the series.
|
| April 20
|
The Museum of Broadcasting, now known as The Paley Center for Media, relocates into its new 17-story building, located a block from its previous location in New York City.
|
| May 3
|
The final episode of Dallas is broadcast by CBS; the series is eventually revived in 2012 on TNT.
|
| May 8
|
The Simpsons gets its first ever broadcast in Malaysia with the series airing on TV3 starting off with the first ever episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire".
|
| May 9
|
After being diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer in April 1991, Michael Landon appears as a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Landon would succumb to the disease seven weeks later at the age of 54.
|
| May 13
|
Delta Burke makes her final appearance as Suzanne Sugarbaker on Designing Women.
|
| May 19
|
Knight Rider 2000 is first televised by NBC.
|
| May 21
|
Financial News Network ceases broadcasting after being bought out by CNBC.
|
| May 23
|
WFXG in Augusta, Georgia signs-on as a Fox affiliate, taking that affiliation from W67BE (now NBC affiliate WAGT-CD) which becomes an independent station.
|
| June 1
|
After merging with Ha! and The Comedy Channel. CTV: The Comedy Network becomes Comedy Central. This is to avoid confusion with the Canadian broadcast network known as CTV.
|
| June 3
|
The Australian soap Neighbours makes its American debut, on KCOP-TV in Los Angeles, CA. Two weeks later, WWOR-TV debuts this for its New York, NY market.
|
| July 1
|
Court TV (now TruTV) goes on the air.
|
| August 11
|
Nickelodeon introduces its series of Nicktoons, with Doug, Rugrats and The Ren & Stimpy Show the first three to air.
|
| WGMB-TV in Baton Rouge, Louisiana signs-on the air, giving the Baton Rouge area its first full-time Fox affiliate (NBC affiliate WVLA had previously aired Fox programming on a delayed basis).
|
| August 13
|
The time slot for Full House was moved from Friday's TGIF lineup on ABC to Tuesday nights (remaining there until its finale in 1995).
|
| September 1
|
E! News debuts.
|
| KLSB-TV in Nacogdoches, Texas signs-on as a satellite of the Tyler market's NBC affiliate KETK-TV. KLSB-TV will eventually become the market's CBS affiliate in 2004 when the station is sold to Max Media.
|
| September 6
|
KLNO (now MyNetworkTV affiliate KBVO) in Llano, Texas is signed-on by NBC affiliate KXAN-TV to improve coverage of that station in parts of the Texas Hill Country.
|
| September 8
|
Minnie Pearl makes her final appearance on the program Hee Haw.
|
| September 9–13
|
The 20th Anniversary week of The Price Is Right is celebrated during this week on CBS.
|
| September 9
|
After being fired from World Championship Wrestling following a contract dispute, Ric Flair makes his World Wrestling Federation debut on Prime Time Wrestling with the "Big Gold Belt".
|
| September 29
|
Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video debuts on MTV's 120 Minutes.
|
| September 30
|
Square One TV returns for its fourth season on PBS.
|
| October 6
|
On the Major League Baseball Game of the Week on CBS, the Atlanta Braves cap off their "worst to first" season by defeating the Houston Astros to clinch their first divisional title in nine years.
|
| October 11
|
Redd Foxx suffers a fatal heart attack on the set of the CBS sitcom The Royal Family.[11][12] It was noted that initially cast mates on set thought Foxx was only fooling around after he clutched a chair and fell to the floor, since his character on Sanford and Son often faked heart attacks.[13]
|
| October 13
|
Jennifer Lopez joins the cast as one of the Fly Girls on the Fox sketch comedy series In Living Color (she would leave the show after the next season). Other cast additions include future Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx and Steve Park (who left after the season ended). Shawn Wayans, the original DJ for the show, also becomes a regular cast member (and will remain in the cast until the end of the next season). Wayans' original DJ role is assumed by Twist.
|
| October 26
|
In front of a national television audience on CBS, play-by-play man Jack Buck famously says "And we'll see you tomorrow night!" while calling Minnesota Twins star Kirby Puckett's game-winning home run to send the World Series against the Atlanta Braves to a decisive seventh game.
|
| October 31
|
KLSR-TV in Eugene, Oregon signs-on, giving Fox a full-power home in the Eugene market. Sister station K25AS (now MyNetworkTV affiliate KEVU-CD) becomes an independent station before joining UPN in 1995.
|
| November 4
|
The first part of a two part episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation featuring Leonard Nimoy as Spock airs.
|
| November 7
|
In a nationally televised press conference, NBA superstar Magic Johnson announces that he is HIV-positive and is retiring from the Los Angeles Lakers, effective immediately. Johnson would appear as a guest on The Arsenio Hall Show the very next night.
|
| November 14
|
The music video for "Black or White", the first single from Michael Jackson's forthcoming eighth album Dangerous, is first televised by Fox. Despite controversy over the video's ending, Fox, which simulcasts the video along with MTV, VH1, and BET, scores its highest Nielsen ratings to date.[14]
|
| November 16
|
Ellen Cleghorne, Melanie Hutsell and Beth Cahill join the cast of Saturday Night Live.
|
| KTMF in Missoula, Montana signs-on the air, giving the Missoula market its first full-time ABC affiliate.
|
| November 18
|
Shining Time Station returns for a second season on PBS with George Carlin taking over the role as Mr. Conductor after the departure of Ringo Starr and new characters will be introduced such as Billy Twofeathers (played by Tom Jackson, Schemer's nephew Schemee (played by Jonathan Shapiro), Matt and Tanya's cousins Dan and Kara (played by Ari Magder and Erica Luttrell and their friend Becky played by Danielle Marcot. The series is now filmed in Toronto and Carlin ends up narrating the Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends segments starting off with season 3 and re-narrating seasons 1 and 2 for both Shining Time Station and Thomas home video releases.
|
| November 27
|
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial makes its broadcast network television premiere on CBS.
|
| December 1
|
Britney Spears appears on the program Star Search.
|
| December 8
|
Tim Russert becomes moderator of the NBC discussion program Meet the Press, a job he possesses until his sudden death in 2008.
|
| December 14
|
Steve Martin kicks off Saturday Night Live by singing "Not Gonna Phone It In Tonight!"
|