1996 in television

This is a list of television-related events in 1996.

For the American network television schedule, please see 1996-97 American network television schedule.

Events

The finale of Only Fools and Horses gets an audience of 24.35 million viewers in the UK.

• January 1 - Speedvision premired as a new cable channel, it will change its name to the Speed Channel in 2002.
• January 15-March 11 - Our Friends in the North, a nine-part serial spanning the 1960s to the 1990s in the lives of four friends, is shown on BBC2.
• January 28 - Chris Isaak and Brooke Shields make guest appearances on the television show Friends.
• March 10 - Frequent Flyer a television movie starring Shelley Hack is shown in the US.
• April 29- TV Land, a United States cable network launches.
• May 14 - Doctor Who, an American television movie continuation of the famous British series of the same name, airs on the Fox Network in the Tuesday Night Movie slot. This television movie is regarded as being a part of the same story as the original series and is an unsuccessful pilot for a new, American co-produced series. A new weekly series was launched and debuted in the UK in 2005. Ironically, Jon Pertwee, one of the stars of the original series, dies only a couple of days after the telefilm's US premiere. Paul McGann stars as the Eighth Doctor.
• June 14 - After 32 years (barring six months in 1973), Top of the Pops moves from its traditional Thursday evening slot to Fridays.
• July - When it becomes evident that Anna Stuart will be next to die in a serial killer storyline on Another World, many fans start letter-writing campaigns to save the actress; the NBC studios in New York City also report a high number of switchboard calls regarding Stuart's imminent demise. Executive producer Jill Farren Phelps decides that actress Alice Barrett will be killed off the show instead.
• 14-15 July - America's Talking ceases transmissions, and using its transponders and positions, MSNBC, a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC, launches the following morning.
• September 1 - Sky 2 launches in the UK, a sister channel to Sky One. It closes a year later, but a channel of almost the same name (Sky Two) would later launch in 2005.
• September 2 - The ITV region Tyne Tees Television is rebranded as Channel 3 North East. The rebranding is unsuccessful, and the original name returns two years later. BSkyB's Sky 2 goes on air.
• September 13 - The dubbed version of the Japanese series Dragonball Z premieres in the U.S.
• September 17 - The O.J. Simpson civil trial begins.
• October 7 - News Corporation gets into the cable news fray with the launch of Fox News Channel.
• October 20 - Canada's Sesame Street switches to showing exclusively Canadian content, renaming itself Sesame Park 1996-2002), as it no longer uses any American made segments from Sesame Street
• December 29 - Time On Our Hands, the final episode of a Christmas trilogy of the popular sitcom Only Fools and Horses, airs on BBC1. Publicised as the last ever episode, it draws 24.35 million viewers, the largest ever audience for a sitcom in the UK, and discounting Diana, Princess of Wales's funeral, the biggest UK television audience of the 1990s. In the event, however, the show returns for three subsequent specials, one shown each Christmas from 2001.
• Zenith introduces the first HDTV-compatible front projection TV in the U.S. Broadcasters, TV & PC manufacturers set industry standards for digital HDTV.
• Over a billion households worldwide now own television sets.

Debuts

Television shows

1940s

• Meet the Press (1947-present).
• Candid Camera (1948-present).

1950s

• Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951-present).
• Guiding Light (1952-present).
• The Today Show (1952-present).
• Panorama (UK) (1953-present).
• Face the Nation (1954-present).
• The Tonight Show (1954-present).
• This Is Your Life (UK) (1955-2003).
• As the World Turns (1956-present).
• What the Papers Say (UK) (1956-present).
• The Sky at Night (UK) (1957-present).
• Blue Peter (UK) (1958-present).
• Grandstand (UK) (1958-present).

1960s

• Coronation Street (UK) (1960-present).
• Four Corners (Australia) (1961-present).
• It's Academic (1961-present).
• The Late Late Show (Ireland) (1962-present).
• General Hospital (1963-present).
• Another World (1964-1999).
• Top of the Pops (UK) (1964-present).
• Days of Our Lives (1965-present).
• Play School (Australia) (1966-present).
• The Money Programme (UK) (1966-present).
• 60 Minutes (1968-present).
• One Life to Live (1968-present).
• Sesame Street (1969-present).

1970s

• All My Children (1970-present).
• Monday Night Football (1970-present).
• Masterpiece Theatre (1971-present).
• Soul Train (1971-present).
• Emmerdale (UK) (1972-present).
• Newsround (UK) (1972-present).
• The Price Is Right (1972-present).
• Last of the Summer Wine (UK) (1973-present).
• The Young and the Restless (1973-present).
• Derrick (1974-1998).
• Wish You Were Here...? (UK) (1974-present).
• Arena (UK) (1975-present).
• Good Morning America (1975-present).
• Saturday Night Live (1975-present).
• the fifth estate (Canada) (1975-present).
• Wheel of Fortune (1975-present).
• 20/20 (1978-present).
• Grange Hill (UK) (1978-present).
• Antiques Roadshow (UK) (1979-present).
• Nightline (1979-present).
• This Old House (1979-present).

1980s

• Entertainment Tonight (1981-present).
• What Now (1982-present)
• Timewatch (UK) (1982-present)
• Jeopardy! (1964-1975, 1984-present).
• The Bill (UK) (1984-present).
• EastEnders (UK) (1985-present).
• Neighbours (Australia) (1985-present).
• Sally (1985-2002).
• The Oprah Winfrey Show (1986-present).
• Comic Relief (UK) (1986-present).
• Casualty (UK) (1986-present).
• ChuckleVision (UK) (1987-present).
• Inspector Morse (UK) (1987-2000).
• Married... with Children (1987-1997).
• The Bold and the Beautiful (1987-present).
• America's Most Wanted (1988-present).
• The American Experience (1988-present).
• Electric Circus (Canada) (1988-2003).
• Fair City (1988-present).
• Home and Away (1988-present).
• This Morning (UK) (1988-present).
• Red Dwarf (UK) (1988-1999).
• Murphy Brown (1988-1998).
• Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988-1999).
• Roseanne (1988-1997).
• The Ward (UK) (1988-2000).
• Baywatch (1989-2001).
• COPS (1989-present).
• Family Matters (1989-1998).
• Seinfeld (1989-1998).
• The Simpsons (1989-present).

1990s

• Law & Order (1990-present).
• America's Funniest Home Videos (1990-present).
• One Foot in the Grave (UK) (1990-2000).
• Home Improvement (1991-1999).
• Rugrats (1991-2004).
• The Jerry Springer Show (1991-present).
• The Red Green Show (1991-2006).
• Absolutely Fabulous (UK) (1992-1996, 2001-2003).
• Barney & Friends (1992-2002).
• Dateline NBC (1992-present).
• Mad About You (1992-1999).
• The Larry Sanders Show (1992-1998).
• The Real World (1992-present).
• Beavis and Butt-head (1993-1997).
• Frasier (1993-2004).
• Ricki Lake (1993-2004).
• Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993-present).
• Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993-1997).
• NYPD Blue (1993-2005).
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999).
• The Late Show with David Letterman (1993-present).
• The Nanny (1993-1999).
• The X-Files (1993-2002).
• WWF Monday Night RAW (1993-present).
• ER (1994-present).
• Friends (1994-2004).
• Time Team (UK) (1994-present).
• Touched by an Angel (1994-2003).
• JAG (1995-2005).
• Pamela Wallin Live (Canada) (1995-1999).
• Sesame Park (Canada) (1995-2002).
• Sliders (1995-2000).
• Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001).
• Stickin' Around (1996-1998, 2004).
• The Drew Carey Show (1995-2004).
• The Wheezer Bros. (1995-2001).
• Timon and Pumbaa (1995-1998).
• Doctor Who (UK) (1963-1989, 1996, 2005-present).
• Doug (1991-1994, 1996-1999).
• Only Fools and Horses (UK) (1981-1983, 1985-1993, 1996-1997, 2001-2003).
• Postman Pat (UK) (1981, 1996, 2004-present).
• Martin (1992-1997).

Ending this year

Changes of Network Affiliation

• Brotherly Love, from NBC to The WB.
• Doug, from Nickelodeon to ABC.

Deaths

• February 3 - Audrey Meadows, actress (Alice Kramden on The Honeymooners)
• February 13 - Martin Balsam, actor (Murray on Archie Bunker's Place)
• February 15 - McLean Stevenson, actor (Lt.Col. Henry Blake on M*A*S*H)
• February 15 - Tommy Rettig, former child actor (Jeff on Lassie)
• March 4 - Minnie Pearl, comedian
• March 5 - Whit Bissell, character actor
• March 9 - George Burns, 100, comedian
• March 11 - Vince Edwards, actor (Ben Casey)
• April 21 - Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder, sports commentator
• May 20 - Jon Pertwee, 76, former star of Doctor Who.
• June 2 - Ray Combs, 40, former host of Family Feud.
• June 16 - Mel Allen, sports commentator
• July 21 - Herb Edelman, actor (Stanley Zbornak on The Golden Girls)
• August 27 - Greg Morris, actor (Mission: Impossible)
• September 13 - Tupac Shakur, 25, actor/songwriter.
• October 6 - Ted Bessell, actor (That Girl)
• October 27 - Morey Amsterdam. actor and comedian (Buddy on The Dick Van Dyke Show)
• December 8 - Howard E. Rollins, Jr., actor (Tibbs on the TV version of In the Heat of the Night)
• December 11 - Willie Rushton, 59, comedian, actor, and performer.
• December 12 - Larry Gates, soap opera actor (Guiding Light)

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