| Date |
Event |
| January 1 |
NBC Universal ends the channel program Trio and in its place begins Sleuth, a 24-hour entertainment cable tv channel dedicated to the crime, mystery and suspense genres. |
| January 2 |
The original Viacom officially divides into two companies, with the CBS television network and Showtime Networks becoming part of CBS Corporation, and the MTV Networks group of channels (which includes MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central) and Black Entertainment Television becoming part of the new Viacom. Eventually, the greatest casualty of the division was that Paramount Television, which became part of CBS Corporation, would cease to exist after 38 years of television production, as it was merged into the CBS Productions, part of the CBS network. The studio had the name of CBS Paramount Television for three years, later becoming CBS Television Studios. |
| January 3 |
Bob Woodruff and Elizabeth Vargas begin anchoring duties for ABC News's World News Tonight, replacing Peter Jennings, who died of cancer during 2005. |
| January 6 |
After several years as part of The WB Television Network's weekday programming sequence, The WB ends its weekday afternoon Kids' WB animation sequence. Kids' WB was relegated to Saturday mornings, and the weekday block is replaced by Daytime WB. |
| January 12 |
Second live episode of the program Will & Grace is broadcast by NBC on both the East and West coasts of the USA. |
| January 20 |
High School Musical, arguably Disney's Channel's most successful original movie, is released. It is shown about 12 times more to an audience of 37 million different people. |
| January 24 |
CBS and Warner Bros. announce the initiation of The CW Television Network for the 2006–2007 season. This network is, in a sense, a merger of The WB Television Network and UPN and was designed to replace both of those networks.[1] |
| January 28 |
The Directors Guild of America name Tony Croll and J. Rupert Thompson as best reality television directors for the programs Three Wishes and Fear Factor, respectively. Best director of a dramatic series is Michael Apted for Rome. Television comedy series director is Marc Buckland for My Name Is Earl. Directors Joseph Sargent (Warm Springs) and George C. Wolfe (Lackawanna Blues) share best television movie awards. General Hospital's Owen Renfroe is named best daytime television serial director. |
| February 5 |
After 36 years, ABC broadcasts its final National Football League program when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Seattle Seahawks, 21-10, in Super Bowl XL. |
| February 22 |
Fox announces plans for a new network, named "MyNetworkTV". The network was planned to be broadcast by UPN and WB affiliates which are not included in the initiation of The CW. |
| March 8 |
Bravo's premiere of one of its most popular shows to date, Top Chef. |
| March 16 |
SportsNet New York is begun. It is home of the New York Mets and New York Jets. |
| March 17 |
United States premiere of the new series of Doctor Who on Sci-Fi's Friday-night sequence. |
| March 26 |
Last first-broadcast episodes to date of the long-running TV series Soul Train. Reruns of the previous season are broadcast until October, when "The Best of Soul Train" reruns from the 1970s and 1980s begin being broadcasted instead of new episodes. |
| April 1 |
Kids Choice Awards are broadcasted by Nickelodeon with special "slimed" guest, Robin Williams. The event was hosted by Jack Black. |
| April 28 |
The 33rd Daytime Emmy Awards are bestowed. |
| May 21 |
Mike Wallace makes his last appearance on CBS' 60 Minutes. The WB series Charmed ends its eight year run with the final episode Forever Charmed. |
| May 24 |
Taylor Hicks wins American Idol (season 5). |
| May 31 |
Katie Couric performs as co-host of the program Today for the last time. |
| June 20 |
18.46 million watch England vs Sweden in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the UK's highest rated programme of the year. |
| June 26 |
MSG Network debuts SummerBall, a basketball series dedicated to the well-known summer streetball leagues in New York City. This was the first program ever broadcasted by the network that was strictly dedicated to streetball in New York City. |
| June 28 |
Charles Gibson co-hosts the program Good Morning America for the last time in his 19-year stint. |
| July 8 |
Pokémon broadcasts its final episode on Kids' WB!, "Pasta La Vista", also its final episode dubbed by 4Kids Entertainment. |
| July 24 |
The program Aquaman, previously not broadcasted, becomes available for download on the iTunes Music Store. |
| August 21 |
Stargate SG-1 is cancelled officially by SCI FI Channel after the premiere broadcast of the show's 200th episode after just five poor rated episodes. The tenth, and possibly final, season makes the show the longest broadcast Sci-Fi series in American television history. |
| August 25 |
The program The Cheetah Girls 2 premiered by the Disney Channel and became the best rated Original Movie at that time with ratings more than 8.1 million, exceeding that of High School Musical. |
| August 27 |
The 58th Primetime Emmy Awards are bestowed. |
| September 2 |
ESPN assumes production of ABC Sports broadcasts, renaming them ESPN on ABC. Both networks are owned by The Walt Disney Company. |
| September 5 |
Initiation of the new News Corp-owned American broadcast network MyNetworkTV. |
| September 5 |
Katie Couric becomes the first female sole anchor of the CBS Evening News, replacing the temporary anchor Bob Schieffer. |
| September 6 |
The longest-broadcast television drama program, Guiding Light, broadcasts its 15,000th televised episode. |
| September 8 |
The former Kids' WB! series, Pokémon, is debuted by Cartoon Network with new voice actors. |
| September 12 |
Mike Malin is named the winner of Big Brother: All-Stars and wins the $500,000 prize. Runner-Up Erika Landin wins $50,000. |
| September 13 |
Meredith Vieira begins co-hosting duties of the program The Today Show, replacing Katie Couric. |
| September 18 |
The new American network The CW is initiated. UPN and The WB cease operations. |
| September 18 |
Vickyann Sadowski wins $147,517 worth of cash and prizes for his performance for The Price is Right (U.S. game show). This not only made Sadowski the biggest winner of the daytime show's history, it also surpassed Press Your Luck's own Michael Larson, making her the biggest one day winner in the history of American network daytime game shows in general. |
| September 20 |
Program Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond is injured seriously after crashing a jet-powered car at 280 mph. |
| October 19 |
The company NBC Universal announces a major restructuring in order to save US$750 million after several years of decreasing ratings. Among the changes is the announcement that NBC will no longer broadcast scripted dramas or comedies during the first hour of prime time, emphasizing instead less-expensive reality and game shows during those hours. Its news division is also trimmed. The announcement is made despite the early success of several new NBC series such as Heroes. [2] |
| October 31 |
Bob Barker announces that he will be retiring from his hosting duties for the series The Price Is Right during June 2007. |
| November 9 |
Nickelodeon broadcasts a 24-hour marathon of SpongeBob SquarePants starting at 8:00 PM. The marathon increased Nickelodeon's ratings to an average of more than 6.7 million viewers and became the network's most highest-rated day ever. [3] |
| November 16 |
On the program General Hospital, Luke and Laura Spencer remarry to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their first nuptials, which were the highest-rated hour of US daytime television history. |
The following shows will air new episodes on a different network than previous first-run episodes.
| Date |
Name |
Age |
Cinematic Credibility |
| January 2 |
John Woodnutt |
81 |
actor |
| January 12 |
Anne Meacham |
80 |
actress (Another World). |
| January 14 |
Shelley Winters |
85 |
actress |
| January 28 |
Henry McGee |
76 |
actor (The Benny Hill Show) |
| February 3 |
Al Lewis |
82 |
actor (The Munsters, Car 54, Where Are You?). |
| February 5 |
Franklin Cover |
77 |
actor (The Jeffersons). |
| February 24 |
Don Knotts |
81 |
actor (The Andy Griffith Show, Three's Company). |
| February 24 |
Dennis Weaver |
81 |
actor (McCloud, Gunsmoke). |
| February 25 |
Darren McGavin |
83 |
actor (Mike Hammer). |
| March 13 |
Peter Tomarken |
63 |
game show host (Press Your Luck, Hit Man, Wipeout), killed in a plane crash |
| March 24 |
Lynne Perrie |
75 |
actress (Ivy Tilsley in Coronation Street), stroke |
| March 25 |
Buck Owens |
76 |
musician, host of Hee Haw |
| March 27 |
Dan Curtis |
78 |
creator of Dark Shadows, brain tumor. |
| April 30 |
Jay Bernstein |
69 |
producer (Mike Hammer also manager to Suzanne Somers and Farrah Fawcett), stroke. |
| May 29 |
James Brolan |
42 |
CBS News sound technician, killed by a car bomb in Iraq. |
| May 29 |
Paul Douglas |
48 |
CBS news cameraman, killed by a car bomb in Iraq. |
| May 30 |
Robert Sterling |
88 |
actor (Topper) |
| June 23 |
Aaron Spelling |
83 |
producer (Dynasty, Beverly Hills, 90210, 7th Heaven, and more) |
| June 28 |
Lennie Weinrib |
71 |
actor (The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan) |
| July 3 |
Benjamin Hendrickson |
55 |
actor (As The World Turns), suicide. |
| July 8 |
Peter Hawkins |
82 |
actor and voice artist (Doctor Who). |
| July 19 |
Jack Warden |
85 |
actor (Crazy Like a Fox, Brian's Song) |
| July 19 |
Tudi Wiggins |
70 |
actress (Love of Life) |
| July 21 |
Mako |
72 |
voice Iroh, Avatar: The Last Airbender |
| August 11 |
Mike Douglas |
81 |
Talk show host (The Mike Douglas Show) |
| August 13 |
Tony Jay |
73 |
voice Judge Claude Frollo, ( The Hunchback of Notre Dame) |
|
| September 5 |
Hilary Mason |
89 |
actress (Maid Marian and her Merry Men) |
| October 5 |
Jennifer Moss |
61 |
actress (Lucille Hewitt in Coronation Street) |
| October 20 |
Jane Wyatt |
96 |
actress (Father Knows Best) |
| November 1 |
Bettye Ackerman |
82 |
actress (Ben Casey) |
| November 9 |
Ed Bradley |
65 |
CBS News reporter (60 Minutes) |
| November 11 |
Belinda Emmett |
32 |
actress (Rebecca Nash in Home and Away) |
| December 12 |
Peter Boyle |
71 |
actor (Everybody Loves Raymond) |
| December 14 |
Mike Evans |
57 |
actor (All in the Family, The Jeffersons) |
| December 18 |
Joseph Barbera |
95 |
animator (The Flintstones and many others) |
| December 28 |
Jared Nathan |
21 |
child actor, ZOOM |
