1991 in American television
The following is a list of events affecting American television during 1991.
| List of years in American television: |
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| 1990–91 United States network television schedule |
| 1991–92 United States network television schedule |
| List of American television programs currently in production |
Events
| 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 13 | The Simpsons gets its first ever broadcast in Malaysia, with the series airing on TV3. The series itself was only screened for one week, with only one episode as an introduction. TV3 has not indicated when they will be showing it on a regular basis. |
| 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 7 | NBC broadcasts an episode of L.A. Law which features the first in a series of "lesbian kiss episodes", in which a lesbian or bisexual character (in this case, C.J. Lamb) kisses a female character identified as heterosexual (here, Abby Perkins). |
| 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-anchors NBC's The Today Show for the final time. Going on maternity leave, she is replaced by Katie Couric, who stays a Today anchor into the early 21st century. |
| 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 21 | An episode of L.A. Law features Diana Muldaur's character Rosalind Shays plummeting to her death through an open elevator shaft. |
| 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. |
| An episode of Saturday Night Live guest hosted by actor Steven Seagal immediately becomes infamous due to Seagal being difficult and uncooperative to work with among the cast and crew. Seagal is soon banned from ever appearing on the series again and is branded by SNL creator and producer Lorne Michaels as the "worst host ever". | |
| May 3 | The final episode of Dallas is broadcast by CBS; the series is eventually revived in 2012 on TNT. |
| May 8 | The Simpsons finally gets its first proper broadcasting on Malaysian television with TV3 airing the show once again 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 22 | Tulsa's television station KGCT-TV returns to the air as KTFO-TV. |
| 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. |
| At an NBC network affiliate managers meeting at New York City's Carnegie Hall, Johnny Carson announces that he will be stepping down as host of The Tonight Show within May of the following year. | |
| 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 2–12 | NBC broadcasts the NBA Finals for the first time after the event aired on CBS for the previous 17 years. It was Michael Jordan's first NBA Finals appearance, Magic Johnson's last, and the last NBA Finals for the Los Angeles Lakers until 2000. This series would mark the end of the Lakers' Showtime era and the beginning of the Chicago Bulls' dynasty. |
| 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. |
| Scripps-Howard Broadcasting finalizes the purchase on Baltimore's NBC affiliate WMAR-TV from Gillett Communications, which was about to be divested into SCI television. | |
| July 1 | Court TV (now TruTV) goes on the air. |
| July 9 | The Major League Baseball All-Star Game airs on CBS for the second consecutive year. Emanating from Toronto, it is the second time that the All-Star Game is played outside of the United States, the first being the 1982 All-Star Game in Montreal, Quebec. CBS started their broadcast at the top of the hour with the customary pregame coverage. Because American President George H.W. Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney were throwing out the first ball, there was a slight delay from the 8:30 p.m. EDT start. The game eventually started about 15–20 minutes late. |
| July 28 | NBC airs a pilot for a proposed series starring Adam West and written and produced by Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel called Lookwell. While the pilot ultimately wouldn't be picked up as a series, it has since become a cult classic. |
| August 2 | 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. |
| August 11 | Nickelodeon introduces its series of Nicktoons, with Doug, Rugrats and The Ren & Stimpy Show the first three to air.[11] |
| 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 3 | Shining Time Station screens in Canada on the family cable channel YTV making it the first network to air the series in Canada. The series will later be sold for broadcasting in a number of countries including Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand and South Africa. |
| 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 19 | Michael Jackson (credited as John Jay Smith) guest voices on The Simpsons. |
| September 25 | Leonardo DiCaprio joins the cast of Growing Pains for what would be its final season. |
| 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.[12][13] 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.[14] |
| 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 20–22 | ABC airs the four-hour miniseries Dynasty: The Reunion, which continues the story of 1981–1989 prime time soap opera Dynasty. |
| October 19–27 | The World Series between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves airs on CBS. With five of its games decided by a single run, four decided in the final at-bat, and three going into extra innings,[15] this World Series immediately became regarded as one of the greatest postseason series in baseball history. In 2003, ESPN selected this championship as the "Greatest of All Time" in their "World Series 100th Anniversary" countdown. The Series telecast drew an overall national Nielsen rating of 24.0 and a 39 share for CBS; Game 7 drew a 32.2 rating and 49 share. |
| October 24 | Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry dies at the age of 70. After his death, Star Trek: The Next Generation airs a two-part episode of season five, called "Unification", which features a dedication to Roddenberry.[16] |
| October 25 | NBC's affiliate in Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville, WPTF-TV, changes its name to WRDC-TV. |
| 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 29 | Turner Broadcasting System purchases the Hanna-Barbera library for $320 million. |
| 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 6 | The fourth installment of the Gambler film series is broadcast on NBC. The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw features Kenny Rogers' character Brady Hawkes running across a galaxy of old TV western characters played by the original actors. This includes Gene Barry as Bat Masterson, Hugh O'Brian as Wyatt Earp, Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick, Clint Walker as Cheyenne Bodie, David Carradine as Kung Fu's Caine, Chuck Connors and Johnny Crawford from The Rifleman, Brian Keith as The Westerner, James Drury and Doug McClure from The Virginian, Paul Brinegar from Rawhide, and Reba McEntire as Burgundy Jones. |
| 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 9 | Hurricane Saturday, a one-off programming block of a three-way, two-hour crossover event airs on NBC. It involves three television sitcoms created by Susan Harris: The Golden Girls, Empty Nest and Nurses. The event depicts a fictional hurricane storming into the storylines of the three series set in Miami, Florida. |
| 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.[17] |
| 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 23 | An hour long television special commemorating the 19th anniversary of The Bob Newhart Show airs on CBS. |
| 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!". |
| December 17 | The Canadian children's animated series A Bunch of Munsch premieres on Showtime in the United States. |
Programs
Debuts
Returning this year
| Show | Last aired | Previous network | New network | Returning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The $100,000 Pyramid | 1988 | Syndication | same | January 7 |
| Seinfeld | 1990 | NBC | January 23 | |
| In Concert | 1975 | ABC | Same | June 7 |
| You Asked for It | 1959 | The Family Channel | September 1 | |
| Beetlejuice: The Animated Series | 1990 | Fox Kids | September 9 | |
| Candid Camera | 1988 | CBS | Syndication | September 16 |
| A Different World | 1990 | NBC | Same | September 19 |
| Baywatch | Syndication | September 23 |
Entering syndication this year
A list of programs (current or canceled) that have accumulated enough episodes (between 65 and 100) or seasons (3 or more) to be eligible for off-network syndication and/or basic cable runs.
| Show | Seasons |
|---|---|
| A Different World | 4 |
| Married With Children | 4 |
| Full House | 4 |
Changes of network affiliation
The following shows aired new episodes on a different network than previous first-run episodes:
| Show | Moved from | Moved To |
|---|---|---|
| Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures | CBS | Fox Kids |
| Beetlejuice | ABC | |
| Tom and Jerry Kids | TBS | |
| Baywatch | NBC | Syndication |
| Candid Camera | CBS |
Ending this year
Made-for-TV movies and miniseries
| Title | Channel | Premiere |
|---|---|---|
| Sarah, Plain and Tall | CBS | February 3 |
| The Josephine Baker Story | HBO | March 16 |
| Separate but Equal | ABC | April 7 |
| Switched at Birth | NBC | April 28 |
| Knight Rider 2000 | May 19 | |
| C. Everett Koop, M.D. | June 4 | |
| A Woman Named Jackie | October 13 |
Television stations
Station launches
Network affiliation changes
| Date | City of License/Market | Station | Channel | Old affiliation | New affiliation | Notes/Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 5 | Homewood, Alabama (Birmingham/Tuscaloosa/Anniston) |
WTTO | 21 | Independent | Fox | |
| May 23 | Augusta, Georgia | W67BE | 67 | Fox | Independent | |
Station closures
| Date | City of license/Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation | Sign-on date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December | Pago Pago, American Samoa | KVZK-5 | 5 | NBC | October 5, 1964 | |
Births
Deaths
| Date | Name | Age | Notability |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 8 | Steve Clark | 31 | English musician (Def Leppard) |
| January 12 | Keye Luke | 86 | Character actor (Kung Fu) |
| February 1 | Jimmy MacDonald | 84 | Voice actor (Mickey Mouse) |
| February 3 | Harry Ackerman | 78 | Producer (Bewitched) |
| Nancy Kulp | 69 | Actress (Miss Jane Hathaway on The Beverly Hillbillies) | |
| February 6 | Danny Thomas | 79 | Actor and comedian (Danny Williams on Make Room for Daddy) |
| February 24 | John Charles Daly | 77 | News journalist and game show host (What's My Line?) |
| George Gobel | 71 | Comedian (The George Gobel Show) | |
| March 3 | Vance Colvig | 72 | Actor (Bozo the Clown on KTLA in Los Angeles) |
| April 10 | Kevin Peter Hall | 35 | Actor (Misfits of Science, 227, Harry and the Hendersons) |
| Natalie Schafer | 90 | Actress (Lovey Howell on Gilligan's Island) | |
| April 23 | William Dozier | 83 | Producer (Batman) |
| April 28 | Ken Curtis | 74 | Singer and actor (Festus Haggin on Gunsmoke) |
| June 9 | Joe Hamilton | 62 | Producer (The Carol Burnett Show, Mama's Family), former husband of Carol Burnett |
| July 1 | Michael Landon | 54 | Actor and producer (Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie, Highway to Heaven) |
| July 15 | Bert Convy | 57 | Game show host (Super Password and Win, Lose Or Draw) |
| July 21 | Theodore Wilson | 47 | Character actor (Good Times, That's My Mama) |
| August 6 | Harry Reasoner | 68 | News anchor/reporter (60 Minutes) |
| August 22 | Colleen Dewhurst | 67 | Actress (Murphy Brown, Avonlea) |
| September 4 | Tom Tryon | 65 | Actor (Texas John Slaughter) |
| September 7 | Ben Piazza | 57 | Actor (Dallas) |
| September 15 | John Hoyt | 85 | Actor (Gimme a Break!) |
| October 9 | Thalmus Rasulala | 51 | Actor (Roots, What's Happening!!) |
| October 11 | Redd Foxx | 68 | Comedian and actor (Fred Sanford on Sanford and Son) |
| October 24 | Gene Roddenberry | 70 | Creator of (Star Trek) |
| November 2 | Irwin Allen | 75 | Producer (Lost in Space) |
| November 5 | Fred MacMurray | 83 | Actor (Steve Douglas on My Three Sons) |
| November 24 | Eric Carr | 41 | Drummer (Kiss) |
| Freddie Mercury | 45 | British singer (Queen) |
References
- Steve Berkowitz (January 20, 1991). "Bush Endorses Playing of NFL Championship Games". The Washington Post.
- Herb Gould (January 20, 1991). "Hawks'all-stars all stars Roenick, Larmer, Chelios on target". Chicago Sun-Times. Sun-Times Media Group. p. 1.
- 1991 NHL All-Star Game, Chicago Stadium (second intermission, third period) on YouTube
- Helene Elliot (February 17, 1989). "INSIDE THE NHL U.S. Coach Has Mellowed". Newsday. Cablevision Systems Corporation. p. 163.
- Rudy Martzke (March 16, 1989). "NBC to replace baseball with a few NHL games". USA Today. Gannett Company. p. 3C.
- Rudy Martzke (January 31, 1989). "NBC plans innovative ways to fill baseball void". USA Today. Gannett Company. p. 3C.
- Robert Fachet (March 14, 1989). "NOTEBOOK; Best of the West Enter Media Twilight Zone". The Washington Post. p. C08.
- Larry Jackson (April 7, 1989). "IS RISING SON SET FOR A TV FALL?". The Palm Beach Post. p. 2C.
- Steve Nidetz (April 18, 1989). "NHL providing SportsChannel with a Cupful of riches". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Publishing. p. 3.
- Jack Craig (February 12, 1989). "WILL THE NHL PINCH HIT? WITH SHIFT OF BASEBALL TO CBS, NBC NEEDS TO FILL HOLE IN ITS LINEUP". Boston Globe. p. 58.
- Charity, Justin (2021-08-12). "What's in a Nicktoon? How Nickelodeon Developed Its Eclectic Animation". The Ringer. Retrieved 2021-10-05.
- "Fames Comedian Redd Foxx Is Celebrated In New Book, 'The Life and Times of Redd Foxx'". Jet. Johnson Publishing Company. 96 (7). 19 July 1999. ISSN 0021-5996.
- Staff report (28 October 1991). Foxx felled by a heart attack taping TV show; calls for wife and dies. Jet
- Rich, Joshua (9 October 1998). Exit Laughing. Entertainment Weekly
- "The World Series 100th Anniversary – #1 1991 Minnesota Twins 4, Atlanta Braves 3". Page 2. ESPN. 2003.
- DeCandido, Keith (June 27, 2012). "Star Trek: The Next Generation Rewatch: 'Unification, Part I'". Tor.com. Archived from the original on April 9, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
- Pareles, Jon (November 16, 1991). "Review/Rock, New Video Opens the Jackson Blitz". The New York Times. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
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