- January 1 - The U.S. television networks adopt Ratings Systems for their programming, similar to those used for motion pictures.
- January 3 - NBC 's '' The Today Show '' Bryant Gumbel signs off for the last time.
- January 6 - The UK 's Channel 4 Closes Down for the last time. From 6am, the channel broadcasts 24 hours a day.
- February 9 - '' The Simpsons '' surpasses '' The Flintstones '' as the longest-running prime-time animated series in terms of episodes aired.
- March 30 - Channel 5 , the UK's fifth & last Terrestrial channel, launches at 6.00pm. The first faces seen are the Spice Girls , who perform ''1-2-3-4-5'', a rewritten version of the Manfred Mann song '' 5-4-3-2-1 ''.
- April 20 - Retired WWE Superstar Bret Hart appeared on The Simpsons , the first wrestler appear on this longest running cartoon.
- June 6 - Actress Farrah Fawcett makes a bizarre appearance on '' The Late Show With David Letterman ''. Fawcett tells long, rambling stories without a point, fails to understand simple questions, and gets easily distracted by things like blinking lights on the set.
- July 15 - A tribute episode is aired on '' Another World '' in honor of core cast member Victoria Wyndham 's twenty-five years with the program.
- August 31 - BBC1 continues to air through the whole night in the UK for the first time, Simulcast ing with BBC World to bring news updates of Diana, Princess Of Wales 's car accident.
- September – After several years of anchoring ABC 's successful " TGIF " Friday night Situation Comedy programming block, '' Family Matters '' and '' Step By Step '' switch networks to CBS . Both shows, which were in their waning years (and would be cancelled in 1998 ), anchor CBS's new Friday night lineup of family-friendly programming.
- October 4 - BBC One adopts new "hot air balloon" globe identifications to coincide with the introduction of the network's new corporate logo. See BBC One Balloon Idents .
- October 13 - Canadian cable channels like Comedy Network , Food Network , HGTV , Prime , Teletoon began launching, Speedvision was introduced there.
- October 27 - UK Living changes its name to Living , to distance itself from the forthcoming UKTV network.
- November 1 - The UKTV network is launched in the UK. Existing channel UK Gold is joined by UK Horizons , UK Arena and UK Style .
- November 2 - A third production of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II 's version of '' Cinderella '' airs on ABC . This version, starring Brandy Norwood and Whitney Houston , is produced by The Walt Disney Company , who made their own version of the story as an animated film in 1950 .
- November 8 - BBC One closes down for the last time, making BBC Two England's last terrestrial channel to still closedown at night. From the next day, BBC News 24 broadcasts on BBC1 through the night.
- November 9 - BBC News 24 launched, the BBC 's first new UK channel since BBC Two in 1964 .
- November 9 - Bret Hart lost his last match in the WWF( WWE ) via submission to Shawn Michaels, however Hart never tapped out. see Montreal Screwjob .
- December 16 - An episode of Pokémon (called Electric Soldier Porygon) in Japan causes 685 children to have Epileptic Seizures .
- January 16 - Ennis Cosby , 27, Bill Cosby 's son is murdered.
- February 26 - David Doyle , 67, actor.
- April 15 - Donald Bexley , 87, actor on '' Sanford & Son ''.
- May 4 - Alvy Moore , 75, actor on '' Green Acres ''.
- May 11 - Howard Morton , 71, character actor.
- June 8 - Reid Shelton , 72, actor.
- June 24 - Brian Keith , 75, actor.
- July 4 - Charles Kuralt , 63, journalist.
- August 27 - Brandon Tartikoff , 48, former president of NBC.
- September 9 - Burgess Meredith , 89, actor.
- September 17 - Red Skelton , 84, Comedian .
- October 16 - Audra Lindley , 79, actress on '' Three's Company ''.
- October 24 - Don Messick , 71, Voice Actor .
- October 30 - Sydney Newman , 80, Producer .
- December 18 - Chris Farley , 33, accidental overdose of Cocaine and Morphine .
- December 25 - Denver Pyle , 77, actor.
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