In American television in 1996, notable events included television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and channel initiations, closures and rebrandings, as well as information about controversies and disputes.
Peter Argyropolous and Deborah Cohen win a combined total of $146,529 cash prizes from two episodes (including the $10,000 wedge played with the Double Play token and two Ford Mustangs), making the couple the biggest winner in the history of Wheel of Fortune; They remain the biggest winners for a team, and will hold the record until Michelle Lowenstein wins $1,026,080 on October 14, 2008.
Paxson Communications completes their $40 million purchase of ABC affiliate WAKC-TV in Akron, Ohio, from ValueVision.[1] Hours after the sale closed, Paxon president Dean Goodman arrives at WAKC-TV's studios and tells the staff, "news ceases at this moment", firing the entire news department and all station management.[2] This makes Akron (a part of the larger Cleveland–Akron–Cantontelevision market) the largest city in the United States without a commercial television newscast.[3]
Fox airs a television film that serves as the first attempt to revive Doctor Who following its suspension in 1989. It was intended as a backdoor pilot for a new American-produced Doctor Who TV series. It introduced Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor in his only televised appearance as the character until "The Night of the Doctor" in 2013. Although a ratings success in the United Kingdom, the film did not fare well on American television and no series was commissioned. The series was later relaunched on the BBC in 2005.
16
More than 12 million Americans watch the final episode of Murder, She Wrote on CBS, "Death By Demographics". Through its 12-year run, the series had become the longest-running American murder mystery drama.
New York PBS member station WNYC-TV, owned by the city of New York, signs off for the final time; sold to a joint venture between Dow Jones & Co. and ITT Corp., it relaunches as commercial sports-oriented independent station WBIS-TV (while operating as a non-commercial educational station, WNYC-TV had been licensed with a commercial classification).
July
Date
Event
6
When it becomes evident that Anna Stuart will be next to die in a serial killer storyline on the NBC soap opera Another World, many fans start letter-writing campaigns to save the actress; the NBC studios in New York City also report a great number of switchboard telephone calls regarding Stuart's imminent demise. Executive producer Jill Farren Phelps decides that actress Alice Barrett will be killed off the show instead.
Fox Kids airs for the final time on St. Louis affiliate KNLC, which is dropped due to KNLC owner Larry Rice's decision on putting ministry messages instead of ads. KTVI picks up the program block the following Monday.
Wheel of Fortune introduced a gameplay round called Jackpot which contestants can win an accumulated pot based on the value spun throughout the round. The round would remain intact until 2013.
A revival of the game show Shop 'til You Drop premieres on the Family Channel along with a new game show called Shopping Spree. Both shows would last on the channel until August 14th 1998, the final day of the Family Channel branding. Shop would get revived in 2000 on PAX.
October
Date
Event
2
Seven newscasters were dismissed by WCBS-TV (channel 2) in New York.
WBKP in Calumet, Michigan signs on the air, giving the Upper Peninsula both its first full-time ABC affiliate (WLUC-TV had dropped its primary ABC affiliation the previous year in favor of its secondary NBC affiliation) and full-time affiliates of the "Big Three" networks.
Paramount Television and Viacom purchased a 50% stake in UPN from Chris-Craft and United Television for approximately $160 million. It made UPN a joint partnership between Chris-Craft and Viacom (and later a Viacom property as a whole) at this point.
6 years after dropping the title, TBS resumes using the term Superstation.
31
ABC affiliate WAKC-TV in Akron, Ohio, disaffiliates from the network after 53 years and drops all remaining entertainment programming to carry Paxson Communications' inTV infomercial network. The station's studios had previously relocated from Akron to the Cleveland suburb of Warrensville Heights.[7][8]
Prime Deportiva Prime Sports Intermountain West Prime Sports KBL Prime Sports Midwest Prime Sports Northwest Prime Sports Rocky Mountain Prime Sports Southwest Prime Sports West
Advance Entertainment Corporation, which had acquired WWOR EMI Service in mid-1996, discontinued the channel on December 31. WWOR's satellite transponder slot was given to Discovery Communications' Animal Planet channel.
^"Briefs: ValueVision International Inc". Star Tribune. Minneapolis, Minnesota. March 1, 1996. p. D3. Archived from the original on January 21, 2022. Retrieved December 25, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
