In American television in 2021, notable events include television show debuts, finales, and cancellations; channel launches, closures, and re-brandings; stations changing or adding their network affiliations; and information about controversies and carriage disputes.
Awards Category/Organization 79th Golden Globe Awards 12th Critics' Choice Television Awards Producers Guild and Screen Actors Guild Awards 74th Primetime Emmy Awards Best Drama Series Succession Best Comedy Series Hacks Ted Lasso Best Limited Series The Underground Railroad Mare of Easttown The White Lotus Best Actor in a Drama Series Jeremy StrongSuccession Lee Jung-jaeSquid Game Best Actress in a Drama Series Michaela Jaé RodriguezPose Melanie LynskeyYellowjackets Jung Ho-YeonSquid Game ZendayaEuphoria Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series O Yeong-suSquid Game Kieran CulkinSuccession Matthew MacfadyenSuccession Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Sarah SnookSuccession Julia GarnerOzark Best Actor in a Comedy Series Jason SudeikisTed Lasso Best Actress in a Comedy Series Jean SmartHacks Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Brett GoldsteinTed Lasso Brett GoldsteinTed Lasso Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Hannah WaddinghamTed Lasso Sheryl Lee RalphAbbott Elementary Best Actor in a Limited Series Michael KeatonDopesick Best Actress in a Limited Series Kate WinsletMare of Easttown Amanda SeyfriedThe Dropout Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series Murray BartlettThe White Lotus Murray BartlettThe White Lotus Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series Jennifer CoolidgeThe White Lotus Jennifer CoolidgeThe White Lotus
Notable events January Date Event Source5Caillou is dropped by PBS Kids after 20 years, as they lost the rights to air the series. The show, which had not aired any new episodes since 2011, attracts widespread online celebration from critics of the show. 6Due to news coverage of the attack on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., broadcast networks ABC, CBS and NBC swap their primetime schedule for continuing news coverage. The preempted programmes are celebrity editions of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire on ABC, repeats of SEAL Team and S.W.A.T. on CBS, and new episodes of Chicago Med, Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D on NBC, while Fox carrys its normal lineup, which features the second episode of The Masked Dancer and the premiere of a new version of Name That Tune. 7Morning Joe on MSNBC airs a powerful opening, featuring startling images of the U.S. Capitol attack against the Johnny Cash song “Hurt.”. During the show, co-host Joe Scarborough made an impassioned speech about the level of policing during the riot, later dropping a F-bomb live on air as he called for the arrests of Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Rudy Giuliani for their roles in inciting the attack. The opening was later removed from the show's Twitter page. 8Jeopardy! airs the final episode (pushed back from Christmas Day) of Alex Trebek's hosting tenure, recorded 10 days before his November 8, 2020, death from stage IV pancreatic cancer. Starting with the January 11 episode and for the rest of the season, a series of guest hosts, the first being highest-winning Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings, fill in at the host lectern Trebek had occupied for 36 years. 10While sister network CBS airs an NFL playoff between the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints, Nickelodeon airs a special children-oriented version of the game. The broadcast added classic Nickelodeon gags such as CGI-created slime cannons "spraying" the end zones after touchdowns; prerecorded explanations of penalties, offered by Young Sheldon star Iain Armitage; and announcer and former NFL star Nate Burleson analogizing successful plays with such childhood activities as staying in school. Although Nickelodeon's broadcast was aimed at younger, new-to-football viewers, it was reportedly enjoyed more so by Generation X and millennial parents who grew up watching the channel in its 1980s/1990s heyday. The 1st Critics' Choice Super Awards, an event honoring films in the science fiction, action, horror and superhero genres, airs on The CW. The virtual ceremony saw The Boys as the top winner with four awards (including "Best Superhero Series").22Tom Brokaw announces his retirement from NBC News. A special correspondent and commentator since ending a 22-year run as Nightly News anchor in 2004, Brokaw spent 55 years with NBC, including roles as anchor/reporter at O&O KNBC/Los Angeles, White House correspondent, co-anchor of Today, and interim moderator (after Tim Russert's 2008 death) of Meet The Press.23Food Network pulls all content related to season 20 of Worst Cooks in America (which aired in Summer 2020) from its linear, streaming and social platforms (including discovery+), after season winner Ariel Robinson and her husband, Austin Robinson, were charged in the January 14 death of their adopted three-year-old daughter at their Simpsonville, South Carolina, home. Ariel Robinson would be convicted and sentenced to life in prison for homicide by child abuse in May 2022, one month after Austin had pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting in the killing.25Two top executives of the CBS Television Stations group, division president Peter Dunn and Senior VP/News David Friend, are placed on administrative leave after a Los Angeles Times investigation reveals, among other allegations, their discriminatory and disparaging behavior concerning Black and female news employees at the station level, in particular at KYW-TV/Philadelphia. CBS would commission a third-party investigation into the matter and the broad culture within the station division; by the time it concludes in July, both Dunn and Friend would depart CBS (on April 7), and the general managers at CBS stations in Chicago (WBBM-TV) and Los Angeles (KCBS-TV/KCAL-TV) would be dismissed."CBS suspends top TV station executives after L.A. Times investigation," from Los Angeles Times, 1/25/2021"Inside CBS' fraught investigation into allegations of racism and misogyny," from Los Angeles Times, 1/24/2021"CBS Opens Probe Into Racist, Sexist Behavior By Local TV Execs; "Your Voice Will Be Heard," George Cheeks Promises," from Deadline, 1/28/2021"Top CBS Local Station Executives Exit Amid Probe of Racism Allegations," from Variety, 4/7/2021"CBS Concludes Probe Into Racist, Abusive Conduct At Stations; "Difficult Period," George Cheeks Says; L.A. & Chicago Managers Out," from Deadline, 7/22/2021
February Date Event Source1Gray Television announces its intent to acquire Quincy Media's broadcasting properties for $925 million. The deal—which was completed on August 2—saw Gray acquire eleven television (and two radio) stations, which was to have expanded its portfolio to 198 TV outlets in 102 markets with a collective reach of 25.4% of U.S. television households (as estimated prior to Gray's purchase of 16 additional stations from Meredith Local Media, see May 3 entry). The expanded portfolio would not include stations Gray had to divest to alleviate market conflicts with existing Gray properties (see April 29 entry). Quincy's newspaper holdings were sold to Phillips Media Group in a separate transaction announced on February 13."Gray Television Closes Quincy Acquisition" , Gray Television, 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021."Herald-Whig, Courier-Post sold to Phillips Media Group LLC" , Quincy Herald-Whig, 13 February 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021. Marilyn Manson is dropped from future episodes of American Gods and Creepshow due to multiple abuse allegations against him. The following day, Creative Artists Agency announced that it had dropped Manson as a client. 3 Country music channel CMT joins numerous country radio stations, including those owned by Cumulus Media and iHeartMedia among others, in pulling Morgan Wallen's music from its video library after he was captured on video saying a racial slur that was posted by TMZ. In addition, he was dropped from his record labels, Big Loud and Republic Records along with being pulled from consideration for the Academy of Country Music Awards. 5 Fox Business cancels Lou Dobbs Tonight, the network's highest-rated show. The cancellation came one day after its host, Lou Dobbs, was one of several Fox hosts – and Fox itself – were sued for $2.7 billion by electronic voting system producer Smartmatic for defamation, regarding Dobbs and others' role in spreading conspiracy theories about the 2020 United States presidential election. Fox News hosts Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro and frequent Fox News guests and ex-President Donald Trump's former lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell were also named in the suit.7 The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs to win Super Bowl LV and become the first team to win the championship game in their home stadium. The game aired on CBS in English and ESPN Deportes in Spanish. The game was watched by 90.8 million people on linear television and another 5.6 million people on streaming platforms. It was the smallest audience since Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005.Super Bowl 2021: Tom Brady wins seventh title as Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat Kansas City Chiefs BBC, February 7, 2021Predictably, Super Bowl TV Ratings Were Down Crossing Broad, February 9, 202110 Gina Carano is fired from The Mandalorian due to her controversial social media posts, with Lucasfilm announcing that they are ending their relationship with her. Carano is also dropped by United Talent Agency as a client.24NBC pulls from digital distribution an episode of the medical drama Nurses that aired on the network on February 9. Titled "Achilles Heel," a plotline in the episode features an Orthodox Jewish patient and his father objecting to a bone graft from a cadaver to treat a leg injury; the characters' depiction received criticism from Jewish rights groups for "demonizing" those of the Jewish faith, and of the ethical quandary presented in the plot being completely fictional. The episode of the Canadian-produced Nurses had already aired in that country in February 2020 (host network Global would follow NBC's suit in pulling "Achilles Heel" from its own digital platforms)."NBC Accused of Having "Demonized" Jews in Nurses Episode," from The Hollywood Reporter, 2/24/2021. Retrieved 1/20/22"Global pulls 'Nurses' episode after scene with Orthodox Jews deemed anti-Semitic," from Toronto Star, 2/25/2021 28 The 78th Golden Globe Awards aired on NBC with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as the hosts. The COVID-19 pandemic moved it from its usual first Sunday of January berth, along with film awards season in general. Jane Fonda was honored with the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award. Norman Lear was honored with the Carol Burnett Award. This was the first Golden Globe Awards ceremony to go bicoastal with Fey co-hosting from the Rainbow Room in New York City, and Poehler co-hosting from The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California.
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