In 1994, television in the United States saw a number of significant events, including the debuts, finales, and cancellations of television shows; the launch, closure, and rebranding of channels; changes and additions to network affiliations by stations; controversies, business transactions, and carriage disputes; and the deaths of individuals who had made notable contributions to the medium.
Notable events January Date Event18The Peanuts special You're in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown is broadcast by NBC. It will prove to be the last new Peanuts special broadcast on television for eight years until A Charlie Brown Valentine airs on ABC. It was the last special in creator Charles Schulz's lifetime to air on television and the gang's first appearance on NBC in over 25 years.CBS wins the rights to broadcast the 1998 Winter Olympics from Nagano, Japan, after paying roughly $375 million.22NBC broadcasts the NHL All-Star Game for the fifth consecutive year. This would also mark the last time that NBC would broadcast a National Hockey League game for 12 years.23CBS, which had broadcast National Football League games since 1956, broadcasts its final NFL telecast after 38 years, with the Dallas Cowboys defeating the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, 38–21. CBS had been outbid during December 1993 for rights to the NFC package by the Fox Network. CBS, however, would eventually regain NFL rights (taking over the AFC rights from NBC) in 1998.24During a segment on NBC's Today, host Bryant Gumbel asks "What is the internet, anyway?"30NBC airs the Super Bowl for the second consecutive year. It's the first time that a network has aired two straight Super Bowls outright. While CBS did air the first two Super Bowls back to back, the first ever Super Bowl was really a simulcast between CBS and NBC. 31Bill Cosby returns to NBC for a two-hour movie, The Cosby Mysteries, after ending production of The Cosby Show 21 months earlier.
February Date Event1American pay television channel Encore launches seven new themed multiplex channels (Westerns, True Stories, Love Stories, WAM!: America's Kidz Network, Action and Mystery), primarily on TCI cable systems, becoming the first premium service to offer a suite of thematic channels. Starz, which features more recent movie fare than its parent channel, also debuts on this date as part of the Encore multiplex and would eventually become a rival to HBO, Showtime, Cinemax and The Movie Channel.12KTSP-TV in Phoenix changes its call letters to KSAZ-TV, reflecting its newly adopted "Spirit of Arizona" slogan.19During the opening monologue on Saturday Night Live, guest host Martin Lawrence makes sexually explicit jokes about female genitalia and feminine hygiene, which results in NBC banning him from appearing on the network (for the next year) and SNL (for life). In repeats of the episode, the offending section of the monologue is replaced by a title card read by an off-screen player (writer Jim Downey), saying that although SNL is neutral about the issues mentioned by Lawrence, network policy prevents his remarks from being re-broadcast, and that the incident almost cost the entire cast of SNL their jobs.21Sony Pictures Entertainment merged Columbia Pictures Television and TriStar Television into Columbia TriStar Television. Two of the Sony owned game shows (Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!) will be produced by the new unit for Sony's then-new future programs. CPT and TriStar Television are still in-active until 1999 and the beginning of 2001, respectively.23CBS's coverage of the short program in women's figure skating at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway (fueled by the media coverage from a scandal in which associates of figure skater Tonya Harding attacked Nancy Kerrigan) immediately becomes one of the highest rated prime time television programs in American history.25Bob Costas hosts his final episode of Later on NBC with a one-hour retrospective titled "One Last Time".28Greg Kinnear debuts as host of NBC's Later.
March Date Event1The Pay television content advisory system, which describe the varying degrees of suggestive or explicit content in series and movies being broadcast by pay cable channels, are first implemented by HBO, Cinemax, Showtime and The Movie Channel. A streamlined version of the system—a categorized, ten-point system of content labels and abbreviated codes—was implemented on June 10.11Viacom assumes control of Paramount Pictures, which includes Paramount Television. Later during the year Paramount/Viacom announces plans to initiate a new over-the-air television network, in conjunction with United Television. The new network, the United Paramount Network (or UPN for short), is initiated during January 1995.15Major League Soccer with ESPN and ABC Sports announced the league's first television rights deal without any players, coaches, or teams in place. The three-year agreement committed 10 games on ESPN, 25 on ESPN2, and the MLS Cup on ABC. The deal gave MLS no rights fees but split advertising revenue between the league and networks.31Madonna appears on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman and makes headlines for going on a profanity-laden tirade—one of the most censored events of American talk-show history, swearing 13 times during the interview. Though infamous, it results in some of the highest ratings of Letterman's late-night career. (Robin Williams would later describe the segment as a "battle of wits with an unarmed woman.")
April Date Event3After 15 years, Charles Kuralt hosts CBS News Sunday Morning for the final time. He would be succeeded by Charles Osgood.6On the ESPN2 talk show Talk2 former Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jim Everett flips the table and attacks host Jim Rome in retaliation for Rome repeatedly calling Everett "Chris" in relation to female tennis player Chris Evert. 10Pat Summerall makes his final assignment and on-camera appearance as a broadcaster for CBS Sports, the final round of the Masters.14Turner Classic Movies, an extension of Turner Broadcasting System, debuted on the 100th anniversary of the first public movie showing in New York City.17ABC affiliate KARD in Monroe, Louisiana, which carried Fox on a secondary basis, switches to be a primary Fox affiliate.18Arsenio Hall announces that he won't continue his late night talk show, with the final episode of The Arsenio Hall Show ultimately airing on May 27, 1994.27Major networks cover the state funeral of Richard Nixon.28The Simpsons broadcasts its 100th episode on Fox.
May Date Event13Johnny Carson makes a surprise appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman to deliver Letterman his "Top Ten Lists". This would prove to be Carson's final television appearance.14Phil Hartman along with Melanie Hutsell, Rob Schneider, Sarah Silverman, and Julia Sweeney appear in their final Saturday Night Live episode as cast members. Hartman is presented with a bronzed stick of glue, symbolizing how he had become "The Glue" of the show, a term coined by Adam Sandler.23New World Communications reaches a multi-year affiliation agreement with Fox among their entire station group, seven of which were in the former Storer Broadcasting chain, along with four stations purchased from Argyle Television and four stations from Citicasters. In turn, Fox parent News Corporation purchased a 20 percent stake in New World. The terms of the agreement calls for all stations to switch to Fox after their existing contracts are up, initiating a wide-ranging realignment of television stations and network affiliations.Star Trek: The Next Generation concludes its seven-year run with the series finale, "All Good Things..." The two-hour finale was broadcast at 6 p.m. on most affiliates, rather than as part of the prime time lineup.25Shannen Doherty makes her final appearance as Brenda Walsh on Fox's Beverly Hills, 90210.27Airing in syndication, Ray Combs hosts his final episode of Family Feud. Combs' last taping session would see him abruptly leave the stage at its conclusion and leave the studio without acknowledging anyone on his way out.
June Date Event11World Wrestling Federation wrestler Hulk Hogan signs a deal with World Championship Wrestling on a live broadcast of WCW Saturday Night on TBS.16ABC and Scripps-Howard Broadcasting confirm a wide-ranging affiliation pact securing the network's links with WXYZ-TV in Detroit and WEWS-TV in Cleveland. At Scripps-Howard's insistence, it also calls for KNXV-TV in Phoenix, WFTS-TV in St. Petersburg/Tampa (both outgoing Fox affiliates) and WMAR-TV in Baltimore (the market's NBC affiliate) to switch to ABC. The deal comes at the expense of KTVK and WJZ-TV, whose long tenures with ABC spanned 40 years and 47 years, respectively. 17Former NFL player O. J. Simpson, suspected in the murder of his former wife and her acquaintance, flees from police with his friend Al Cowlings in his white Ford Bronco; the low-speed chase ends with Simpson's surrender to police at his Brentwood mansion. All of the big three television networks are providing live coverage of the events, with ABC breaking away from 20/20, and CBS preempting a rerun of the Picket Fences episode "Remote Control", while NBC, who was broadcasting Game 5 of the NBA Finals between New York and Houston in the meantime, periodically covers the chase via a split-screen.DirecTV, a direct broadcast satellite service, begins broadcasting in Jackson, Mississippi.19The World Wrestling Federation holds the second annual King of the Ring event on pay-per-view. The event in particular, is remembered among fans for featuring former National Football League player Art Donovan on commentary. Donovan seemingly had no familiarity with professional wrestling, and repeatedly asked the same questions throughout the event, notably, "How much does this guy weigh?"20NBC's Today moves into Studio 1A at Rockefeller Center.23The first ever Nurses Ball event airs on the ABC soap opera General Hospital.
July Date Event9British vintage puppet action series Thunderbirds is introduced to the United States when the series goes to air on Fox Kids on Saturday mornings with brand new music and voices.11PBS repackages their existing children's programs as a new block called PTV.12The 1994 Major League Baseball All-Star Game from Pittsburgh is broadcast on NBC (NBC's first Major League Baseball telecast since Game 5 of the 1989 National League Championship Series). The game is the first production of The Baseball Network, a joint venture between MLB, NBC, and ABC. Hampered by its much-criticized regional policy for game broadcasts and a players' strike that cancels the 1994 postseason, the venture will be termed a failure even before it dissolves at the end of the 1995 season.14Westinghouse Broadcasting agrees to affiliate all of their television stations with CBS, including long-tenured NBC affiliates WBZ-TV in Boston and KYW-TV in Philadelphia, along with outgoing ABC affiliate WJZ-TV in Baltimore. This deal consequently prompts CBS to sell WCAU-TV, owned by the network since 1957, and precipitated Westinghouse's outright buyout of CBS the following year.16Baseball Night in America premieres on ABC. This would mark the first time that Major League Baseball games would be broadcast on ABC since the 1989 World Series.
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