In American television in 1995, notable events included television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and channel initiations, closures and rebrandings, as well as information about controversies and disputes.
Notable events January Date Event 2The 1994–96 United States broadcast televiqion realignment continues in two major markets: as a by-product of an affiliation deal between ABC and The E.W. Scripps Company, and a related deal between CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting, Westinghouse-owned WBZ-TV (channel 4) in Boston, Massachusetts switches from NBC to CBS, while NBC aligns with former CBS affiliate WHDH (which will remain affiliated with the network until New Year's Eve 2016). In Baltimore, CBS switches affiliations to Westinghouse-owned WJZ-TV (channel 13) after 46 years as an ABC affiliate, while ABC joins Scripps-owned WMAR (channel 2) and NBC reunites with WBAL-TV (channel 11) after 13 years as a CBS affiliate. Later that year, Westinghouse acquires CBS, making both WBZ-TV and WJZ-TV CBS owned-and-operated stations.G-Force: Guardians of Space, the second American adaptation of the Japanese anime series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (the first being Battle of the Planets) becomes the first-ever anime to air on Cartoon Network. On January 29, Robot Carnival, Vampire Hunter D, and Twilight of the Cockroaches also debut, followed in February of next year by Speed Racer. This predates the March 1997 debut of Toonami, which will go on to popularize anime on the network and in the West. 5All My Children celebrates its 25th anniversary and broadcasts a prime-time special on ABC.In an interview with Kathleen Gingrich, mother of Republican politician Newt Gingrich, on CBS' Eye to Eye, Mrs. Gingrich said she could not say what her son thought about First Lady Hillary Clinton on the air. Connie Chung asked Mrs. Gingrich to "just whisper it to me, just between you and me," and Mrs. Gingrich's microphone volume was turned up as she replied "He thinks she's a bitch." Many people interpreted Chung's suggestion that if Mrs. Gingrich would whisper this statement it would be promised that the statement would be off the record. Bill Carter for The New York Times reported, "Ms. Chung had become the object of some of the most ferocious criticism, justified or not, ever directed at any network anchor as a result of her now infamous interview with Speaker Newt Gingrich's mother, Kathleen." The interview was also parodied on Saturday Night Live. 11The WB, a joint venture between Warner Bros. Television and Tribune Broadcasting in conjunction with original network CEO Jamie Kellner, launches. Among the programs offered are four situation comedies (two family-oriented, one family-focused but adult-targeted and one adult-oriented soap opera-inspired satire): The Wayans Bros. (starring former In Living Color DJ/cast member Shawn Wayans and his younger brother, Marlon Wayans), The Parent 'Hood (starring Robert Townsend), Unhappily Ever After and Muscle. While the former three series wound up lasting five seasons, Muscle fails to survive its first season. In addition to being available on around 70 affiliates, The WB is also initially distributed directly to cable and satellite providers via the superstation feed of Chicago charter affiliate WGN-TV (owned by Tribune) to serve markets where the lack of available independent stations or stations that passed over the network in favor of fellow fledgling network UPN prevented The WB from maintaining an exclusive affiliation at launch. (This ended in August 1999, as a result of The WB gaining full-time affiliates in some underserved mid-sized markets and a small-market cable feed being launched to serve smaller markets.) 16The United Paramount Network (UPN) launches, with a two-hour premiere of Star Trek: Voyager. This results in an affiliation change in San Antonio between Fox affiliate KRRT (now KMYS) and independent station KABB, as KRRT leaves Fox for the new network (due to its then-ownership by Paramount Pictures, UPN's part-owner) and KABB assumes the Fox affiliation.The 1994–96 United States broadcast television realignment continues in the Flint/Tri-Cities, Michigan market, as NBC affiliate WNEM-TV in Bay City and CBS affiliate WEYI-TV in Saginaw swap affiliations. The move is deemed necessary by CBS to restore coverage in areas underserved by its then-new affiliate WGPR in adjacent Detroit, since WNEM-TV's signal is stronger than that of WEYI-TV. 24Live broadcasts of the O. J. Simpson trial begin; as a result, many network daytime programming are partially pre-empted, more or less, for nine months.
February Date Event 2Seinfeld broadcasts its 100th episode on NBC. 20What a Cartoon! (also known as World Premiere Toons) launches on TBS, TNT and Cartoon Network simultaneously as part of the Space Ghost Coast to Coast special "1st Annual World Premiere Toon-In". The first short, "The Powerpuff Girls in Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins", was shown at the end of the special. The series will prove to launch the careers of many prominent animators such as Butch Hartman, Craig McCracken, Genndy Tartakovsky, and Seth MacFarlane. 21Ted Danson reprises his role as Sam Malone from Cheers in an episode of its spin–off Frasier on NBC. 25In what would be his final television appearance, George Burns is presented with the very first SAG Lifetime Achievement Award by the Screen Actors Guild.
March Date Event 6Deborah Norville begins assuming her duties as host of Inside Edition.The Jenny Jones Show taped an episode titled "Revealing Same Sex Secret Crush", in which the secret admirers of six guests were revealed. Three days after the episode was taped, one of the guests, Jonathan Schmitz, murdered his secret admirer, Scott Amedure. 13The 1994–96 United States broadcast television realignment continues in Seattle-Tacoma, as Gaylord Broadcasting-owned KSTW joins CBS for the third time while former CBS affiliate KIRO-TV joins the UPN network. 31All major U.S. networks interrupt their regular programming to break the news regarding the murder of Tejano music superstar Selena Quintanilla-Pérez."In the spirit of Selena: Tributes, a book and an impending film testify to the Tejano singer's enduring" . by Gregory Rodriguez. Pacific News, March 21, 1997. Retrieved on July 18, 2006. The lead item on national television network evening news programs in Corpus Christi, Texas had been the end of the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike. Within thirty minutes of its announcement, Selena's murder became the lead item on all television stations in South Texas. Univision and Telemundo are among the first national news stations to arrive at the crime scene. Coverage of the singer's death and the murder trial would dominate American newscasts in 1995.
April Date Event 2Fox airs National Hockey League games for the first time. 12Drew Barrymore appears on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman. In honor of Letterman's birthday, guest Barrymore dances on his desk and flashes him "on-air". 18Rox becomes the first television series distributed via internet.Radio Free Cyberspace Time. June 24, 2001. Retrieved May 13, 2022The Real Real WorldWired. Dec. 1995. Retrieved May 13, 2022Break out your bong; kill your TV. Usenet. April 18, 1995.28–29WCW and New Japan Pro-Wrestling showcase the "Collision in Korea". It is the first ever American pro wrestling event held in North Korea. It is rebroadcast in both Japan and the United States with the main event being between Ric Flair and Antonio Inoki.
May Date Event 7 Jurassic Park makes its network broadcast television premiere on NBC. 9CBS broadcasts Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan, starring Elizabeth Montgomery. This turned out to be Montgomery's final live-action acting role (her final acting role in general was in a voice-over role on Batman: The Animated Series) as she would die on May 18. 12As the World Turns broadcasts its milestone 10,000th episode on CBS. 21Above Suspicion starring Christopher Reeve premieres on HBO. In it, Reeve plays a paralyzed cop who plots to murder his wife. Six days after Above Suspicion first airs, Reeve is seriously injured in a fall while riding on horseback, resulting in him becoming a quadriplegic for the remainder of his life. 24ABC announces that an episode of the soap opera All My Children was deleted from broadcasting due to the then-recent Oklahoma City bombing; in the story, villainess Janet Green was supposed to explode the church in which her ex Trevor Dillon was to marry her rival Laurel Banning.
June Date Event 24Fox broadcasts the fourth game of the Stanley Cup Final between the New Jersey Devils and Detroit Red Wings. This marks the first time that a clinching game from the Stanley Cup Final is broadcast on American network television since the sixth game of the 1980 Final on CBS.
July Date Event 1After being purchased by New World Communications from Argyle Television, three additional stations switch to Fox as part of the 1994–96 United States broadcast television realignment: KDFW (channel 4) in Dallas-Ft. Worth, KTBC (channel 7) in Austin, Texas and KTVI (channel 2) in St. Louis. KDFW and KTBC both defect from CBS, while KTVI leaves ABC. Independent station KTVT (channel 11) in Dallas takes the CBS affiliation in that area through an affiliation deal between the network and Gaylord Broadcasting (owners of KTVT); in Austin, former Fox affiliate KBVO (channel 42) swaps affiliations with KTBC and changes its calls to KEYE; and in St. Louis, KDNL (channel 30) swaps its Fox affiliation with KTVI and joins ABC. Former Fox-owned station KDAF-TV (channel 33) joins The WB, taking that affiliation from KXTX-TV (channel 39) due to a temporary arrangement in which KXTX would carry WB programming, until such time Fox was cleared to move to channel 4. KXTX-TV then becomes an independent station. Fox Kids, Fox's children programming block, doesn't follow the rest of the network's programming to KTBC and KTVI because of their commitments to news, and instead air on independent stations K13VC and KNLC. As a result of a dispute between Fox and KNLC, however, Fox Kids is moved to KTVI the following year. 11ABC airs the 66th annual Major League Baseball All-Star Game from Arlington, Texas. It was ABC's first broadcast of baseball's All-Star Game since 1988 and their last to date. 24WFMZ-TV initiates their very first daytime Berks Edition at 5:30 pm and the First Nighttime Newscast at 10:30 pm, covering the entire Berks County and all across the Lehigh Valley of Eastern Pennsylvania and Western New Jersey. 31The Walt Disney Company announces that it would acquire and merge with Capital Cities/ABC Inc. The purchase would include the ABC network itself, stakes in A&E Television Networks, Lifetime and ESPN Inc., and the ownership in the limited partnership-ran animation studio DIC Productions, L.P. The sale would be completed in 1996.
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