2008 in American television

In American television in 2008, notable events included television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and new channel launches.

Notable events

January Date Event 2An interim agreement between Worldwide Pants Incorporated and the Writers Guild of America allows the Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, both on CBS, to return with their full writing staffs, in spite of the ongoing WGA strike. By contrast, NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and Last Call with Carson Daly and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which are all produced by their respective networks, went back on the air without writers (except for Jay Leno, who writes his own material). 4Jason Luna become the program's first (and only) $1,000,000 winner in the NBC's game show 1 vs. 100 during the program's second-season premiere titled Battle of the Sexes. 7Due to the writers strike, it is announced that plans to hold the 65th Golden Globe Awards ceremony will be scrapped. A press conference that announced the winners is substituted for the program, and NBC, which would have broadcast the ceremony, airs Golden Globe-related programming in its place. 27Discovery Times was renamed "Investigation Discovery". In addition to the television network, an Investigation Discovery website was also launched. Contributors to the website include crime writers David Lohr, Corey Mitchell, and Gary C. King.

February Date Event 2VH1 Uno is discontinued by MTV Networks to expand distribution of mtvU beyond college campuses and onto regular cable systems. 3Fox's telecast of Super Bowl XLII surpasses Super Bowl XXX as the most-watched Super Bowl game on television (up to this point), and the most-watched program in the network's history. It also becomes the second most-watched television program trailing the 1983 M*A*S*H series finale and the highest-rated telecast in Nielsen ratings since Super Bowl XXXIV.Animal Planet "relaunched" itself as part of a new branding campaign that "sheds its soft and furry side for programming and an image with more bite." As part of the relaunch, Animal Planet replaced its elephant and spinning globe logo for a starker text image that allows more flexibility in its usage. 4The Mr. Men Show debuts on Cartoon Network and Boomerang. Based on the British book series of Mr. Men Little Miss. 8The CW Television Network and the WWE announced that WWE Friday Night SmackDown would leave the CW primetime schedule at the end of the 2007–2008 season. The news stepped in after negotiations between the CW and WWE failed to reach a deal to keep the show on the CW lineup. Three weeks later on February 26, MyNetworkTV announced that they would pick up the program and would add it to its lineup in September. 9Both the Writers Guild of America and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers reach a tentative deal resolving the strike. Members vote three days later to end the strike.17The conversion of NTSC analog channels to DT channels using the ATSC system begins in the United States, with TV stations making last-minute filings and their intentions about when they will start their switchover ahead of the February 17, 2009, mandatory date. Also, the US government starts mailing out (USD)$40.00 coupons/rebates to consumers to use in buying DTV converters before the switchover.In a two-hour television film, Knight Rider returned to NBC with a new KITT being portrayed as a black 2008 Ford Shelby GT500KR Mustang and voiced by actor Val Kilmer. 22 Adam Rose become the first $1,000,000 winner in Drew Carey's first primetime episode of The Price is Right on CBS. At $1,153,908 cash & prizes won, Rose surpassed Joanne Segeviano's winnings of A$664,667 (about $406,274.45; or $475,593 by Inflation as of ) from the Australian version as the franchise's largest winnings record in the show's history. Until James Holzhauer's Jeopardy! appearance in 2019, Rose was placed in the top ten largest game show winners in history until April 24, 2019 (Holzhauer's total game show career winnings at the time after the episode was $1,193,508.33 (including J!'s career winnings of $1,135,175; Holzhauer's final winnings were $2,464,216 after his defeat on his 33rd game on June 3, and $3,022,549 as of Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time tournament, the latter currently was placed third in the top ten list)). 24ABC's telecast of the 80th Academy Awards draws record-low ratings in the history of the ceremony's telecast surpassing the ratings from the ceremony that took place in 2003. 31.76 million on average watched the show over its entire run with a Nielsen rating of 18.66 households watching. 25Fox News Channel rebrands its Fox News Live and Weekend Live telecasts as America's Election Headquarters, a news program related to the 2008 presidential election. The weekday edition replaces The Big Story in the 5 p.m. timeslot. The Fox News Live name would still be used for headline segments through November. 29CBS's soap opera Guiding Light unveils a new opening for the town of Peapack-Gladstone, New Jersey, while still filming in New York City, New York.

March Date Event 7Michael Hanes, a former contestant on Press Your Luck, wins $1,127,062 on a prime-time episode of The Price is Right on CBS. 10Fox Sports New York rebranded MSG Plus because Cablevision announced that it would be (branded in logos as "MSG+"), restructuring it as a spin-off of MSG Network. 15Laurie Dhue, anchor of Fox Report Weekend, leaves Fox News Channel after opting not to renew her contract.Laurie Dhue leaves FNC TVNewser, March 15, 2008 She is replaced by Julie Banderas, co-anchor of America's Election Headquarters on weekends. 20As part of that same rebranding effort, The History Channel dropped "The" and "Channel" from its name to become simply "History".International Herald Tribune Television's The History Channel Drops 'The' and 'Channel' from Its Name, Keeps History March 20, 2008 27WNBC/New York City, NBC's flagship station, scraps the scheduled airing of Access Hollywood in favor of an infomercial for Lend America. Station GM Frank Comerford resigned in the wake of the controversy and the station management apologized a day after the incident. 6 days after the incident, the station restored the "4 New York" branding for non-news programming and News 4 New York for news programming.

April Date Event 4 In CBS, Cynthia Azevedo became the third and final $1,000,000 winner (the only winner who won the $1,000,000 bonus from a Pricing Game, Clock Game) on a prime-time episode of The Price is Right with a total winning of $1,089,017. Another contestant from the same episode won an $87,910 Dodge Viper on Golden Road, and this was the game's last win until December 23, 2014. Price would later cancel the $1,000,000 spectacular on May 7 due to budget. 7Bill Self's Kansas Jayhawks defeat John Calipari's Memphis Tigers 75–68 at the 2008 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship Game at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, and celebrate their victory in front of a national television audience on CBS. 17 On F, former American Idol contestant Kimberley Locke became the first contestant in history to attempt, but unsuccessfully, the final level ($1,000,000 song; Ringo Starr's You're Sixteen) in the game show Don't Forget the Lyrics! and left with $100,000 that was raised for Camp Heartland. Locke, however, announced after the game that she would raise the $400,000 that she risked earlier along with the help of host Wayne Brady. 28The WB Television Network, a former television channel launches again as an online website only.

May Date Event 11 On CBS, former model Parvati Shallow was announced the winner of Survivor: Micronesia. It was also announced that the next season will be filmed in high definition. The ABC drama series Brothers & Sisters airs its second season finale, which depicts the wedding of Kevin Walker and Scotty Wandell. Although it is the ninth same-sex wedding ceremony to be portrayed on American network television, it is the first same-sex wedding of series regulars on an American television series. 16 The Wilmington, North Carolina television market is selected by the FCC to be the first television market in the United States to sign off their analog channels for ATSC early, starting September 8. 21 On Fox, David Cook became the seventh winner of American Idol. 24 After over thirteen years, Kids' WB, The CW's children's programming block, ceases airing and becomes The CW4Kids when the network sells the air time to Grupo Clarin (through its subsidiary Kids WB was shut down 4Kids Entertainment). (Kids' WB, like The WB Television Network that the block originated, then relaunches as an online-only video on demand service.)Superstation WGN changed its name to WGN America (initially, the use of the new name was limited to on-air promotions, as the Superstation WGN channel IDs remained in place). The new WGN America name and logo went into full-time use on May 26, 2008. The new logo was also the first used by the superstation feed to not incorporate WGN-TV's on-air logo branding in some capacity (the "WGN" text was similar in resemblance, although the "G" was not formed into an ovular arrow as it is in WGN-TV's logo), and its design featured the eyes of a female, which was used alongside the new slogan "TV You Can't Ignore".

June Date Event 1 A large fire damages portions of Universal Studios Hollywood near Los Angeles, south of Burbank where NBC's soap opera Days of Our Lives is filmed. 4Facing increased competition in the home-oriented programming sector, Discovery Communications planned a 24-hour channel focused on eco-friendly living in an attempt to capitalize on a rising environmental movement. Discovery Home was relaunched as the environmentally-themed Planet Green at 6:00 p.m. ET.17Game 6 of the NBA Finals is broadcast on ABC. The Boston Celtics won their 17th world championship, and first since 1986, against the longtime rivals Los Angeles Lakers. Paul Pierce was awarded the Finals MVP. A memorable post-game interview had a very emotional Kevin Garnett claiming out loud that "anything is possible". 19Big Ten Network and Comcast announced a carriage agreement deal. The channel was added to Comcast on August 15. 28The first episode of Saturday Night Live is rerun on NBC following the death of first host George Carlin, who died six days earlier on June 22.

July Date Event 7The Jewelry Channel, an American home shopping service that was shown mostly on DirecTV and Dish Network, launches a going-out-of-business sale for its remaining items that was shown on the channel that would last until December 1. From December 1 onwards, TJC is now doing business as The Liquidation Channel. 21MGM Television and Weigel Broadcasting announce the launching of a new broadcast network designed for digital subchannels in the United States called This TV.Film critic Richard Roeper announces that he will be leaving the syndicated movie review show At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper after he and Disney-ABC Domestic Television did not reach an agreement on a new contract, with his last show airing the weekend of August 16. Roger Ebert (who had been sidelined from the program for two years due to various cancer surgeries) announced that he would also be no longer be associated with the program after Disney had decided to take the show in a different direction. The following day, Disney announced that E! Entertainment's Ben Lyons and Turner Classic Movies' Ben Mankiewicz would take over as the new hosts of the newly-titled At the Movies beginning the week of September 6–7.

August