Editing 1997 in American television (section)

== Events ==
{| class="wikitable"
|- "
! Date || Event
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!rowspan="2"|January 1
|The [[television rating system]], a system similar to the one used for motion pictures, goes into effect.
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|The [[Emergency Alert System]] comes into effect and replaces the [[Emergency Broadcast System]].
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!January 3
|[[Bryant Gumbel]] anchors his last ''[[Today (NBC program)|Today]]'' show on [[NBC]]. The following Monday, [[Matt Lauer]] takes over alongside [[Katie Couric]] until he was fired 20 years later in November 2017.
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!January 22
|[[New World Pictures|New World Communications]] is acquired by [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]]. The deal makes 10 New World-owned stations that affiliated with Fox as a result of the [[1994 United States broadcast TV realignment]] network [[Owned-and-operated station|O&O]]'s.
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!January 26
|[[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] broadcasts its first [[Super Bowl XXXI|Super Bowl]], making it the last of the big four networks to [[List of Super Bowl broadcasters|air a Super Bowl]]. The [[1996 Green Bay Packers season|Green Bay Packers]] defeat the [[1996 New England Patriots season|New England Patriots]] 35–21 in a game that gives Fox its highest ratings to date.
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!February 1
|The final affiliation switch resulting from the [[1994–1996 United States broadcast television realignment|1994–96 United States broadcast TV realignment]] takes place when [[Allbritton Communications]] (owners of [[WJLA-TV]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], one of the strongest [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] affiliates in the country) converts [[The WB|WB]] affiliate [[WPXC-TV|WBSG]] in [[Brunswick, Georgia]], into a semi-satellite of new sign-on [[WJXX]] in [[Orange Park, Florida]], which assumes the ABC affiliation for the [[Jacksonville, Florida|Jacksonville]] market. Former ABC affiliate [[WCWJ|WJKS]] promptly discontinues its news operation and assumes the WB affiliation from WBSG.
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!February 9
|On [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]], ''[[The Simpsons]]'' airs the episode "[[The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show]]". With this episode, ''The Simpsons'' surpasses ''[[The Flintstones]]'' as the longest-running primetime animated series in terms of episodes aired.
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!February 23
|''[[Schindler's List]]'' makes its network television debut on [[NBC]]. The film is broadcast virtually unedited and is the first telecast to receive a TV-M (now [[TV-MA]]) rating under the [[TV Parental Guidelines]] that had been established earlier in the year.
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!February 26
|Various [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] characters appeared with [[Las Vegas]] settings in the shows ''[[Grace Under Fire]]'', ''[[Coach (TV series)|Coach]]'', ''[[The Drew Carey Show]]'', and ''[[Ellen (TV series)|Ellen]]''.
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!February 28
|After 23 years, the game show ''[[Wheel of Fortune (American game show)|Wheel of Fortune]]'' retires their old [[trilon]] puzzle board and replaces it with a new touch screen puzzle board.
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!March 17
|[[Toonami]] debuts on [[Cartoon Network]].
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!March 23
|The [[WrestleMania 13|13th annual]] [[WrestleMania]] [[List of WWE pay-per-view events|event]] airs on [[pay-per-view]]. While the event as a whole receives mixed reviews, the [[submission match]] between [[Bret Hart]] and [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]] is highly praised, being called one of the greatest matches in wrestling history, and has been cited by some as the beginning of the [[Attitude Era]].<ref name=ign>{{cite web|first=Jon|last=Robinson|title=Top 20 Matches in WrestleMania History|url=https://uk.sports.ign.com/articles/775/775590p20.html|access-date=December 25, 2010|archive-date=February 21, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110221103650/https://uk.sports.ign.com/articles/775/775590p20.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
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!April 6
|[[Disney Channel]] is revamped with the [[Cable television in the United States|cable television]] premiere of ''[[Pocahontas (1995 film)|Pocahontas]]''. The film would have its network television premiere on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] one year later. Disney Channel continues to convert from subscription television to a basic cable channel.
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!April 13
|[[Extreme Championship Wrestling]] broadcasts its first ever [[pay-per-view]] dubbed "[[ECW Barely Legal|Barely Legal]]".
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!April 25
|[[CBS]] broadcasts a [[The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!|reunion film]] featuring the surviving cast of ''[[The Dukes of Hazzard]]'', which originally aired on the network from 1979–1985. This proved to be [[Denver Pyle]]'s final performance before his death on [[Christmas Day]], 1997.<ref>{{cite news|title=Denver Pyle; Uncle in 'Dukes of Hazzard'|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-dec-28-me-2938-story.html|access-date=July 16, 2017|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=December 28, 1997}}</ref>
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!April 30
|The ''[[Ellen (TV series)|Ellen]]'' episode "[[The Puppy Episode]]" is broadcast on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]], showing for the first time the revelation of a main character as a homosexual.
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!May 7
|[[CBS]] begins airing the two-part ''[[Knots Landing]]'' reunion miniseries ''[[Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac]]'', airing on two non-consecutive nights, on May 7 and May 9.
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!May 9
|[[Bob Saget]] hosts his final regular episode of ''[[America's Funniest Home Videos]]'' on ABC, with the other cast members of ''[[Full House]]'', minus [[The Olsen Twins]]. The $100,000 season finale (his final episode) aired nine days later on May 18. 
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!June 6
|[[Farrah Fawcett]] makes a bizarre appearance on [[CBS]]'s ''[[Late Show with David Letterman]]''. Fawcett tells long, rambling stories without a purpose, fails to understand simple questions, and gets easily distracted by things like blinking lights on the set.
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!June 21
|The [[Professional Bowlers Tour]] ends after 36 years on [[ESPN on ABC|ABC]]. [[CBS Sports|CBS]] assumes the rights to the tour and will televise several events over the next two years.
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!June 30
|In [[Seattle]], [[KIRO-TV]] (CBS) and [[KSTW]] (UPN) reverse their 1995 swap.
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!rowspan="2"|July 8
|[[KONG (TV)|KONG-TV]], [[Seattle]]'s [[Independent station (North America)|independent station]] goes on the air.
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|[[Major League Baseball on Fox|Fox]] broadcasts the [[1997 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|Major League Baseball All-Star Game]] from [[Progressive Field|Cleveland]], marking the first time that the [[List of Major League Baseball All-Star Game broadcasters|network would broadcast]] the midsummer classic.
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!July 14-16
|[[Cartoon Network]] launches the "[[Cartoon Cartoons]]" brand with the debut of three animated series, ''[[Johnny Bravo]]'', ''[[Cow and Chicken]]'' and ''[[I Am Weasel]]'', as well as the season two premiere of [[Dexter's Laboratory]].
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!July 15
|A tribute episode of ''[[Another World (TV series)|Another World]]'' is broadcast on [[NBC]] in honor of [[Victoria Wyndham]]'s 25 years with the program.
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!July 24
|[[George Harrison]] appears on a [[VH-1]] special to promote his friend [[Ravi Shankar]]'s album ''[[Chants of India]]''. This would prove to be Harrison's final television appearance. 
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!August 31
|[[WFFF-TV]] in [[Burlington, Vermont]], signs-on the air, giving the Burlington/[[Plattsburgh, New York|Plattsburgh]] market its first full-time [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] affiliate (prior to this, Fox programming was seen on a secondary basis on [[CBS]] affiliate [[WCAX-TV]]).<ref name=nerw-wfffstart>{{cite news|last=Fybush|first=Scott|title=You Drive 1100 Miles And What Do You Get?|url=http://www.bostonradio.org/nerw/nerw-970904.html|accessdate=August 28, 2016|newspaper=North East RadioWatch|date=September 4, 1997}}</ref>
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!September 3
|[[Jeri Ryan]] makes her [[Scorpion (Star Trek: Voyager)|first appearance]] as [[Seven of Nine]] on [[UPN]]'s ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]''.
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!September 5
|[[Joan Lunden]] makes her final appearance as co-anchor for ABC's ''[[Good Morning America]]'', after being on the program since 1980. Lunden would be succeeded by [[Lisa McRee]].
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!September 6
|Various networks broadcast the [[Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales|Princess Diana funeral]]; 2.7 million viewers at home watched this special.
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!September 8
|[[KDAF|KDAF-TV]] gives up the rights on [[Fox Kids]] to [[KDFI]], as KDFW airs news, talk shows, [[Infomercial|paid]]/real estate and E/I-[[Regulations on children's television programming in the United States|complaint programming]] instead of the block (KDFI also airs said programs, as well as Fox programs, just in case for local news emergencies and [[Fox Sports (United States)|sports]] preemptions).
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!September 13
|[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] revamps its [[Saturday morning cartoon|Saturday morning]] cartoon schedule, and adds more new series from parent company [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]] to become [[ABC Kids (TV programming block)|Disney's One Saturday Morning]]. This, along with many other programming, was delayed one week from its originally planned debut as a result of the aforementioned [[Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales|Princess Diana funeral]].
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!September 14
|The [[49th Primetime Emmy Awards]] presentation was broadcast on [[CBS]].
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!September 19
|After several years of being a part of ABC's successful "[[TGIF (ABC)|TGIF]]" [[sitcom]] programming block, ''[[Family Matters (TV series)|Family Matters]]'' and ''[[Step by Step (TV series)|Step by Step]]'' switch to [[CBS]] to form the basis of the "[[CBS Block Party]]", a [[Counterprogramming (television)|direct competitor]] to TGIF. Both series, as well as the Block Party, would be cancelled after one season.
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!September 25
|''[[ER (TV series)|ER]]'' produces a live episode for its [[ER (season 4)|fourth season]] premiere on [[NBC]].
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!September 26
|''[[Jeopardy!]]'''s 3,000th syndicated episode airs. The categories in the Jeopardy! and Final Jeopardy! rounds from its debut episode in 1984 are used on this episode.
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!October 5
|The [[WWE|World Wrestling Federation]] [[List of WWE pay-per-view events|event]] [[Badd Blood: In Your House]] is broadcast on [[pay-per-view]]. Not only is the event notable for featuring the promotion's first-ever [[Hell in a Cell]] match, which pitted [[The Undertaker]] against [[Shawn Michaels]] and saw the debut of Undertaker's [[kayfabe|storyline]] brother [[Kane (wrestler)|Kane]], it marked the last time that [[Vince McMahon]] would be featured as the chief broadcaster of the commentating team for a pay-per-view event. According to WWE, the [[Montreal Screwjob]], which took place at [[Survivor Series (1997)|Survivor Series 1997]], is considered the beginning of the [[Attitude Era]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wwe.com/inside/wwefeaturepage/attitude-era|title=A special look at the Attitude Era|work=[[WWE]]}}</ref> Thus, Badd Blood: In Your House was the last WWF PPV of the [[History of WWE#New Generation Era (1993–1997)|New Generation Era]].
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!rowspan="2"|October 20
|''[[Bear in the Big Blue House]]'' [[List_of_Bear_in_the_Big_Blue_House_episodes#Season_1_(1997–1998)|premieres]] on [[Disney Channel]]. 
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|''[[Arthur (TV series)|Arthur]]'' begins its [[Arthur season 2|second season]] on [[PBS Kids|PBS]] with [[Fred Rogers]] from ''[[Mister Rogers' Neighborhood]]'' guest starring.
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!rowspan="2"|October 25
|[[Chris Farley]] guest hosts [[NBC]]'s ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' in what would turn out to be his final [[Saturday Night Live (season 23)|television appearance]] before his death on December 18, 1997.
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|''[[Under Wraps (1997 film)|Under Wraps]]'', the first [[Disney Channel Original Movie]] (DCOM) by [[Disney Channel]], is broadcast.
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!October 26
|Game 7 of the [[1997 World Series|World Series]] is broadcast on [[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]. The [[1997 Florida Marlins season|Florida Marlins]] defeat the [[1997 Cleveland Indians season|Cleveland Indians]], becoming the first baseball wild card team to win the world championship. This was the first World Series that NBC would broadcast in its entirety since [[1988 World Series|1988]]. NBC aired only Games 2-3 and the decisive sixth game of the [[1995 World Series]], while [[Major League Baseball on ABC|ABC]] aired the other three and a seventh game had it been necessary.
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!November 2
|A third production of [[Richard Rodgers]] and [[Oscar Hammerstein II]]'s version of ''[[Cinderella (1997 film)|Cinderella]]'' is aired on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]. This version, featuring [[Brandy Norwood]] and [[Whitney Houston]], is produced by ABC's parent company [[The Walt Disney Company]] (which released its own version of the story as an animated movie 1950).
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!November 6
|The [[NBC]] discussion show ''[[Meet the Press]]'' celebrates its 50th anniversary.
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!November 7
|A [[Crossover (fiction)|crossover]] event featuring [[Salem Saberhagen|Salem]] in a [[Time travel in fiction|time ball]] with [[Sabrina Spellman|Sabrina]] appeared on all four [[TGIF (TV programming block)|TGIF]] shows around that time, ''[[Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996 TV series)|Sabrina the Teenage Witch]]'', ''[[Boy Meets World]]'', ''[[You Wish (TV series)|You Wish]]'', and ''[[Teen Angel (1997 TV series)|Teen Angel]]''.
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!November 9
|During a [[pay-per-view]] broadcast of the [[WWE|World Wrestling Federation]]'s ''[[Survivor Series (1997)|Survivor Series]]'', then-[[WWE Championship|WWF Champion]] [[Bret Hart]] loses his title to [[Shawn Michaels]]. The finish is mired in controversy when WWF chairman [[Vince McMahon]], who had been sitting at ringside, orders [[Earl Hebner]], the assigned [[Referee (professional wrestling)|referee]], to end the match as Michaels is holding Hart in Hart's own finishing maneuver, the [[Sharpshooter (professional wrestling)|Sharpshooter]], even though Hart had not [[Professional wrestling#Submission|submitted]]. The incident becomes known as the [[Montreal Screwjob]] and will mark the final appearance of Hart on WWE television until 2010.<ref name="MainEvent">{{cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/survivorseries/history/1997/mainevent/|title=WWE Championship Match: Shawn Michaels def. Bret "Hit Man" Hart to become new WWE Champion|publisher=[[World Wrestling Entertainment]]|date=November 9, 1997|accessdate=March 2, 2015}}</ref>
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!November 17
|[[Rick Rude]] becomes the only person to appear on both [[USA Network]]'s ''[[WWE Raw|Raw]]'' and [[TNT (American TV network)|TNT]]'s ''[[Monday Nitro]]'' on the same night. Whereas the ''Raw'' that aired that night was pre-recorded six days in advanced, Rude appeared on a live edition of ''Nitro'' about an hour earlier.   
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!November 29
|The [[Emergency Broadcast System]] is replaced by the [[Emergency Alert System]] and it continues to this day.
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!December 8
|[[WVIT]] becomes an [[NBC Owned Television Stations|NBC O&O]] for the second time, and [[Paramount Stations Group]] had purchased [[WLWC]] and [[WWHO]], dropping off newscasts, although Paramount had to run these two as a WB affiliate until 2000, while getting [[UPN]] to secondary status.
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!December 15
|[[WWE|World Wrestling Federation]] chairman [[Vince McMahon]] announces the introduction of the [[Attitude Era]] (a term used by WWF for its adult-oriented programming) on ''[[WWE Raw|Raw Is War]]'', during a segment entitled "The Cure for the Common Show". The WWF Attitude's scratch logo also makes its on-screen debut within the episode, replacing the New Generation's block logo.
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!December 24
|[[TNT (American TV network)|TNT]] and [[TBS (American TV channel)|TBS]] broadcast "24 Hours of ''[[A Christmas Story]]''", consisting of 12 consecutive airings of the 1983 film from the evening of Christmas Eve to the evening of Christmas Day.<ref name="latimes.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-ca-st-1224-tvhighlights-20171224-story.html|title=TV This Week, Dec. 24-30: 'A Christmas Story' marathon and more|first=Matt|last=Cooper |work=Los Angeles Times |date=December 22, 2017|via=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> 
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!December 28
|[[World Championship Wrestling]]'s fifteenth annual [[Starrcade (1997)|Starrcade]] [[List of NWA/WCW closed-circuit events and pay-per-view events|event]] airs on [[pay-per-view]]. The [[Card (sports)#Main event|main event]] would see [[Sting (wrestler)|Sting]] defeat [[Hulk Hogan|Hollywood Hogan]] to win the [[WCW World Heavyweight Championship]]. Overall, this would become the highest grossing pay-per-view in WCW history. 
|}