1999 in American television

The following is a list of events affecting American television during 1999. Events listed include television series debuts, finales, cancellations, and channel initiations, closures and re-brandings, as well as information about controversies and disputes.

Events

January

Date	Event
1	The Biography Channel, a spinoff of A&E Network, launches.
1	DIY Network, a spinoff of Home and Garden Television, launches.
6	Bob Newhart receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
11	Jon Stewart debuts as host of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, replacing Craig Kilborn who moves to CBS to succeed Tom Snyder as host of The Late Late Show.
31	Family Guy airs its first pilot episode on Fox, after a new episode of The Simpsons which airs after Super Bowl XXXIII

February

Date	Event
1	Prevue Channel re-brands as The TV Guide Channel, an EPG-branded version of TV Guide magazine.
1	HBO Family, HBO's fourth multiplex channel, is re-launched and premieres four new shows; A Little Curious, George and Martha, Anthony Ant and Crashbox.
2	Noggin debuts.

March

Date	Event
1	Nickelodeon Games and Sports for Kids debuts.
26	Tom Snyder's last show on CBS' The Late Late Show. The following Monday, Craig Kilborn, late of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, takes his place as the show's host.

April

Date	Event
4	Odyssey Network introduced new programs: Jim Henson Programs, Classic Sitcoms, Children's Programmings, and Family Movies.
11	Fox airs new Sunday Block: The World's Funniest!, The Simpsons, Season Premiere of Family Guy, and The X-Files.
12	NBC announces the cancellation of its long-running daytime drama Another World after years of declining ratings (a new serial, Passions, replaces AW on July 5).

May

Date	Event
1	Starz launches two multiplex channels; Starz Cinema and Starz Family.
1	SpongeBob SquarePants premieres on Nickelodeon after Kids Choice Awards 1999, Mickey Mouse Works premieres on Disney's One Saturday Morning.
6	HBO launches two multiplex channels; HBO Zone and HBO Comedy.
21	Susan Lucci receives a Daytime Emmy Award for her role as Erica Kane on the ABC soap opera All My Children, after eighteen failed nominations during previous years. The ceremony is telecast live on CBS.

June

Date	Event
11	Cartoon Cartoon Fridays premieres on Cartoon Network.

July

Date	Event
18	The Simpsons actor Hank Azaria marries actress Helen Hunt. The couple would file for divorce over a year later.

August

Date	Event
30	Countess Vaughn leaves the cast of Moesha to star in her own television spin-off The Parkers with Mo'Nique, making her the first female African-American comedian to receive a spin-off.

September

Date	Event
6	A big day for children's television: On PBS, PTV is completely re-branded as PBS Kids with new IDs, bumpers, and promos, whilst on UPN, a new weekly block called Disney's One Too debuts, a spinoff of ABC's Disney's One Saturday Morning.
6	In Schenectady, New York, PBS member station WMHQ is relaunched as WEWB-TV, a commercial broadcast station affiliated with The WB Television Network (the Capital District's first affiliate of that network).
12	The 51st Primetime Emmy Awards presentation aired on Fox.
20	After a four-year hiatus, Family Feud resumes with a new host, Louie Anderson, a new set and a new theme.
20	After four years, WGN's superstation feed drops programming from The WB and Kids' WB at the request of the network. The network's programs are replaced by movie, sports from Chicago's sporting teams and other broadcasts.

October

Date	Event
1	The infamous "YOU FOOL!" episode of Hollywood Squares airs.

November

Date	Event
19	John Carpenter becomes the first player on ABC's game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? to win $1,000,000.

December

Date	Event
17	10th anniversary of the first half-hour episode of Fox's The Simpsons.
31	ABC participates in the global broadcast 2000 Today with ABC 2000 Today. Peter Jennings anchors ABC's broadcast of the special from New York City, joined later by Dick Clark who hosts the countdown in Times Square.

Programs

Debuts

Date	Show	Network
January 1	The Blame Game	MTV
	Cold Case Files	A&E
	Early Today	NBC
	Scrapbook Memories	DIY Network
January 5	Total Recall 2070	Showtime
January 5	Mega Babies	Fox Family
January 8	Providence	NBC
January 10	Batman Beyond	Kids' WB
	The Sopranos	HBO
	The PJs	Fox
January 11	Franklin	Nick Jr.
January 13	60 Minutes II	CBS
January 17	The Brothers Flub	Nickelodeon
January 18	So Weird	Disney Channel
January 25	Zoboomafoo	PBS
January 26	A Little Curious	HBO Family
January 26	Crashbox	HBO Family
January 30	The Jersey	Disney Channel
January 31	Family Guy	Fox
February 1	George and Martha	HBO Family
February 1	Anthony Ant	HBO Family
February 8	Kipper	Nick Jr.
February 11	Maisy	Nick Jr.
February 17	The Planet's Funniest Animals	Animal Planet
March 19	Farscape	Sci-Fi Channel
March 24	It's Like, You Know...	ABC
	The Norm Show	ABC
	Tenacious D	HBO
March 28	Futurama	Fox
March 30	The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn	CBS
April 26	Home Movies	UPN
May 1	Mickey Mouse Works	Disney's One Saturday Morning
May 1	SpongeBob SquarePants	Nickelodeon
May 8	The New Woody Woodpecker Show	Fox Kids
June 10	The Chimp Channel	TBS
June 19	Beggars and Choosers	Showtime
July 5	Passions	NBC
July 7	Good Eats	Food Network
July 11	Making the Video	MTV
July 26	Undressed	MTV
July 26	Phred on Your Head Show	Noggin
August 1	Grown Ups	UPN
August 3	Downtown	MTV
August 9	Independent Lens	PBS
August 14	Digimon: Digital Monsters	Fox Kids
August 16	Rocket Power	Nickelodeon
August 16	Who Wants to Be a Millionaire	ABC
August 17	City Confidential	A&E
August 17	Chicken Soup for the Soul	Pax TV
August 26	The Parkers	UPN
August 26	WWF SmackDown!	UPN
September 4	Battle Dome	Syndication
September 6	Dragon Tales	PBS
September 6	Sabrina: The Animated Series	UPN
September 8	Get Real	Fox
September 9	Early Today	NBC
September 11	Detention	Kids' WB
September 12	Hope Island	Pax TV
September 13	Blind Date	Syndication
	The Dr. Joy Browne Show
	The Martin Short Show
	The Queen Latifah Show
	Fox Report	Fox News Channel
September 16	Action	Fox
September 18	Beast Machines: Transformers	Fox Kids
	Monster Rancher	Fox Kids
	Rescue Heroes	CBS Kidshow
September 19	Judging Amy	CBS
September 20	Family Law
	Ladies Man
	Judge Mathis	Syndication
	Richard Simmons' DreamMaker
	Relic Hunter
	Cita's World	BET
	Safe Harbor	The WB
	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	NBC
September 21	The Mike O'Malley Show	NBC
September 21	Once and Again	ABC
September 22	Oh, Grow Up	ABC
September 22	The West Wing	NBC
September 23	Stark Raving Mad
September 23	Third Watch
September 24	Cold Feet
	Mission Hill	The WB
	Now and Again	CBS
	Odd Man Out	ABC
September 25	Freaks and Geeks	NBC
	Peter Benchley's Amazon	Syndication
	Xyber 9: New Dawn	Fox Kids
September 26	Snoops	ABC
September 26	Jack & Jill	The WB
September 29	Popular	The WB
	Judge Mathis	Syndication
	Work with Me	CBS
September 30	Curb Appeal	HGTV
October 2	Archie's Weird Mysteries	Pax TV
	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World	Syndication
	Spider-Man Unlimited	Fox Kids
October 5	Shasta McNasty	UPN
October 5	Angel	The WB
October 6	Roswell	The WB
October 7	House Hunters	HGTV
October 7	Wasteland	ABC
October 8	Harsh Realm	Fox
	Love & Money	CBS
	Random Acts of Comedy	Fox Family
October 9	Angela Anaconda	Fox Family
October 9	BeastMaster	Syndication
October 12	The Strip	UPN
October 15	Ryan Caulfield: Year One	Fox
October 16	100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd	Nickelodeon
October 16	The Amanda Show	Nickelodeon
October 18	Farmclub.com	USA Network
October 25	Time of Your Life	Fox
October 30	The Avengers: United They Stand	Fox Kids
November 1	The Early Show	CBS
November 4	Greed	Fox
November 12	Mike, Lu, & Og	Cartoon Network
November 12	Courage the Cowardly Dog	Cartoon Network
November 28	Little Bill	Nick Jr.
November 29	webRIOT	MTV

Ending this year

Date	Title	Debut
January 2	Birdz	1998
January 2	Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?	1994
January 16	The New Batman Adventures	1997
January 18	The Charlie Horse Music Pizza	1998
	Guys Like Us
	Toonsylvania
January 20	Brats of the Lost Nebula
January 20	Encore! Encore!
January 25	Working	1997
February 11	Cupid	1998
February 21	The Little Lulu Show	1995
February 27	Mad Jack the Pirate	1998
February 27	The Mr. Potato Head Show
March 1	DiResta
March 1	Hercules
March 7	Beast Wars	1996
March 8	Hyperion Bay	1998
March 11	Jumanji	1996
March 13	Maggie	1998
March 14	Due South	1994
March 16	LateLine	1998
March 17	Tracey Takes On...	1996
April 4	Women: Stories of Passion	1996
April 10	Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain	1998
April 13	The Sifl and Olly Show	1997
April 26	Caroline in the City	1995
May 4	NewsRadio	1995
May 10	L.A. Doctors	1998
May 14	Brother's Keeper	1998
May 16	Smart Guy	1997
May 20	The Wayans Bros.	1995
May 20	Promised Land	1996
May 21	Millennium	1996
May 21	Homicide: Life on the Street	1993
May 22	Viper	1994
May 23	Sister, Sister	1994
May 23	Unhappily Ever After	1995
May 24	Mad About You	1992
	Melrose Place	1992
	Home Movies (returned in 2001)	1999
	The Sentinel	1996
May 25	Clueless	1996
May 25	Home Improvement	1991
May 28	Hard Copy	1989
June 2	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	1993
June 11	Unsolved Mysteries (returned in 2001)	1987
June 23	The Nanny	1993
June 23	Turning Point	1994
June 25	Another World	1964
June 26	Doug	1991
July 9	Two of a Kind	1998
July 24	Cow and Chicken	1997
July 25	The Parent 'Hood	1995
July 30	Legacy	1998
August 11	In the House	1995
September 12	Mystery Science Theater 3000 (returned in 2017)	1988
September 17	Match Game (returned in 2016)	1998
September 24	Timon & Pumbaa	1995
September 28	The Mike O'Malley Show	1999
October 21	Wasteland	1999
October 29	CBS This Morning (returned in 2012)	1987
October 29	Cold Feet	1999
November 8	Downtown	1999
November 22	Hercules: The Legendary Journeys	1995
November 28	Safe Harbor	1999
December 10	Dexter's Laboratory (returned in 2001)	1996
December 17	Space Ghost Coast to Coast (returned in 2001)	1994
December 18	Power Rangers Lost Galaxy	1999
December 18	Snoops
December 28	Oh, Grow Up
December 31	Sunset Beach	1997

Entering syndication this year

Show	Seasons	In Production	Source
3rd Rock from the Sun	4	Yes	^[1]
Caroline in the City	4	Yes	^[2]
Clueless	3	No	^[3]
The Drew Carey Show	4	Yes	^[4]
In the House	5	No	^[5]
The Parent 'Hood	5	No	^[6]

Returning this year

Title	Last aired	Previous network	New/same network	Date of return
Timon & Pumbaa	1996	Disney Channel and CBS	Toon Disney	January 1
Zoom	1978	PBS	Same	January 4
Dirk Niblick of the Math Brigade	1994	PTV	Noggin	February 2
Are You Afraid of the Dark?	1996	Nickelodeon	Same	February 6
Reboot	1996	Syndication	Toonami	March 15
Johnny Bravo	1997	Cartoon Network	Same	July 2
Divorce Court	1992	Syndication	Same	September 7
Tales from the Cryptkeeper	1994	ABC	CBS	September 11
Family Feud	1995	Syndication	Same	September 20
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective	1997	CBS	Nickelodeon	October 29

Changes of network affiliation

Show	Moved from	Moved to
Franklin	CBS	Nick Jr.
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective	CBS	Nickelodeon
Tales from the Cryptkeeper	ABC	CBS
ReBoot (US terrestrial rights)	Syndication	Toonami
Pokémon	Syndication	Kids' WB
Rupert	Nick Jr.	CBS Kidshow
National Geographic Explorer	TBS	CNBC
Leeza	NBC	Syndication
Between Brothers	Fox	UPN
Dirk Niblick of the Math Brigade	PTV	Noggin

Made-for-TV movies and miniseries

Title	Channel	Date of airing
Great Expectations	PBS	May 9
Joan of Arc	CBS	May 15
Atomic Train	NBC	May 16
A Lesson Before Dying	HBO	May 22
Pirates of Silicon Valley	TNT	June 20
Cinderelmo	FOX	December 6

Births

Date	Name	Notability
January 18	Karan Brar	Actor (Jessie, Bunk'd)
January 22	Ricky Garcia	Actor (Best Friends Whenever)
February 10	Tiffany Espensen	Actress (Phineas and Ferb, Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures, Kirby Buckets)
March 5	Madison Beer	American singer
March 20	Olivia Stuck	Actress (Kirby Buckets)
March 22	Gavin MacIntosh	Actor (The Fosters)
April 2	Sophie Reynolds	Actress (Gamer's Guide to Pretty Much Everything)
April 6	Kwesi Boakye	Actor (Men of a Certain Age, The Amazing World of Gumball)
April 7	Conner Rayburn	Actor (According to Jim)
April 9	Isaac Hempstead-Wright	English actor (Game of Thrones)
May 5	Jonny Gray	Actor (Max & Shred)
May 11	Sabrina Carpenter	Actress (Girl Meets World, Milo Murphy's Law) and singer
May 25	Brec Bassinger	Actress (The Haunted Hathaways, Bella and the Bulldogs, School of Rock)
May 28	Cameron Boyce	Actor (Jessie, Jake and the Never Land Pirates, Gamer's Guide to Pretty Much Everything, Descendants: Wicked World)
May 30	Sean Giambrone	Actor (The Goldbergs, Clarence)
June 20	Kayla Maisonet	Actress (Dog with a Blog, Stuck in the Middle)
June 27	Chandler Riggs	Actor (The Walking Dead)
July 5	Gus Kamp	Actor (Best Friends Whenever)
August 4	Kelly Gould	Actress (Rita Rocks, Jessie)
August 13	Corey Fogelmanis	Actor (Girl Meets World)
August 21	Maxim Knight	Actor (Falling Skies)
August 22	Ricardo Hurtado	Actor (School of Rock)
September 7	Cameron Ocasio	Actor (Sam & Cat)
September 9	Ronni Hawk	Actress (Stuck in the Middle)
September 13	Zoey Burger	Actress (Every Witch Way)
October 2	Nathaniel Potvin	Actor (Mech-X4)
October 13	Nell Tiger Free	English actress (Game of Thrones)
October 15	Bailee Madison	Actress (Trophy Wife, Once Upon a Time, The Fosters)
November 1	Buddy Handleson	Actor (Shake It Up, Wendell and Vinnie, Bella and the Bulldogs)
November 10	Kiernan Shipka	Actress (Mad Men)

Deaths

Date	Name	Age	Notability
January 4	Iron Eyes Cody	94	Actor (well known for an anti-littering campaign ad of the 1970s)
February 20	Gene Siskel	53	Film critic (co-host of Siskel & Ebert)
March 22	David Strickland	29	Actor (Todd Stities on Suddenly Susan)
March 28	Freaky Tah	27	American rapper
March 30	Gary Morton	74	Producer, second husband of Lucille Ball
April 10	Jean Vander Pyl	79	Voice actor (Wilma Flintstone on The Flintstones and Rosie the Robot Maid on The Jetsons)
April 14	Ellen Corby	87	Actress (Grandma Esther Walton on The Waltons)
May 8	Dana Plato	34	Actress (Kimberly Drummond on Diff'rent Strokes)
May 23	Owen Hart	34	Wrestler (Superstar on WWF RAW is WAR)
June 11	DeForest Kelley	79	Actor (Bones McCoy on Star Trek)
July 16	John F. Kennedy Jr.	38	American lawyer and son of President John F. Kennedy
July 20	Sandra Gould	82	Actress (Gladys Kravitz #2 on Bewitched)
August 23	Martha Rountree	87	Broadcast journalist (Meet the Press)
August 24	Mary Jane Croft	83	Actress (I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy)
September 5	Allen Funt	84	Creator and host of Candid Camera
November 9	Mabel King	66	Actress (Mabel Thomas on What's Happening!!)
November 11	Mary Kay Bergman	38	Voice actress (South Park)
November 29	Gene Rayburn	81	Host of (Match Game)
December 3	Madeline Kahn	57	Actress
December 28	Clayton Moore	85	Actor (The Lone Ranger)

References

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[1] [1] from Broadcasting & Cable

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[6] [6] from Broadcasting & Cable

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