The year involved some significant events.
Below is a list of Television -related events in 1997 .
''For the American TV schedule, see: 1997-98 United States Network Television Schedule .''
- 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 3 - UK channels Bravo And Trouble changed identity
- February 9 - '' The Simpsons '' surpasses '' The Flintstones '' as the longest-running prime-time animated series in terms of episodes aired.
- March 10 - Dave Spikey becomes the 6th host of the final series of ITV weekday morning game show Chain Letters .
- March 17 - Toonami debuts on Cartoon Network.
- March 30 - Five , 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 - World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Superstar Bret Hart appeared on '' The Simpsons '', the first wrestler appear on this longest running cartoon.
- and Jonathan Dimbleby anchor rival results programmes on BBC 1 and ITV respectively. The same arrangement will occur for the general elections in 2001 and 2005.
- 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.
- June 21 - ABC Sports 's Pro Bowlers Tour ends after 36 years.
- July 3 - Peter Snow presents '' Newsnight '' for the last time, though he will continue to make occasional appearances as a policial analyst until 2005 .
- July 15 - A tribute episode is aired on '' Another World '' in honor of core cast member Victoria Wyndham 's 25 years with the program.
- August 13 - South Park is aired for the first time on Comedy Central.
- August 31 - BBC1 continues to air through the whole night in the UK for the first time (apart from General Election s), 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 TV , 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 ( World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)) via submission to Shawn Michaels , however Hart never tapped out. see Montreal Screwjob .
- December 1 - The 25 Days of Christmas Special started on The Family Channel , starting one of the longest running Christmas Specials.
- December 16 - An episode of Pokémon (called Dennō Senshi 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 (Bubba on '' Sanford & Son '').
- May 4 - Alvy Moore , 75, actor on (Hank Kimball on '' Green Acres '').
- May 11 - Howard Morton , 71, character actor (Officer Ralph Simpson on '' Gimme A Break! '').
- June 8 - Reid Shelton , 72, actor.
- June 24 - Brian Keith , 75, actor (Uncle Bill on '' Family Affair '').
- 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 (Mrs. Roper on '' Three's Company '').
- October 24 - Don Messick , 71, Voice Actor who voiced Scooby-Doo among others.
- October 30 - Sydney Newman , 80, Producer .
- December 18 - Chris Farley , 33, accidental overdose of Cocaine and Morphine .
- December 25 - Denver Pyle , 77, actor (Uncle Jesse on '' The Dukes Of Hazzard '').
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