1996 In Television Article Index for
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1996 In Television




''For the American network television schedule, please see 1996-97 American Network Television Schedule .''


EVENTS


  • 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 ''.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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 .

  • 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


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ENDING THIS YEAR



CHANGES OF NETWORK AFFILIATION




DEATHS