Editing 2003 in American television (section)

==Events==

===January===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event
|-
!2
| [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] affiliate [[WBKP]] in [[Calumet, Michigan]] greatly improves its coverage area in the [[Upper Peninsula of Michigan|Upper Peninsula]] when it signs-on satellite station [[WBUP]] in [[Ishpeming, Michigan|Ishpeming]].
|-
!20
| KMAY-LP (now [[KAGS-LD]]) in [[Bryan, Texas]] signs-on as a satellite of [[Temple, Texas|Temple]]-based [[NBC]] affiliate [[KCEN-TV]].
|-
!26
| The 37th edition of the [[Super Bowl XXXVII|Super Bowl]] is broadcast on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]], making the last ever Super Bowl to be scheduled on January. The [[2003 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season|Tampa Bay Buccaneers]] win their first championship, defeating the [[2003 Oakland Raiders season|Oakland Raiders]] by score of 48–21. [[John Madden]], who provided color commentary alongside [[Al Michaels]], becomes the first person to announce Super Bowls on different networks in consecutive years, having called [[Super Bowl XXXVI]] on [[Fox NFL|Fox]].
|}

===February===
{| class="wikitable"
|+
|-
! Date
! Event
|-
!16
| The 300th episode of the series ''[[The Simpsons]]'' is broadcast on [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] the same night as the ''[[Married... with Children]]'' reunion special.
|-
!21
| ''[[Late Show with David Letterman|Late Show]]'' host [[David Letterman]] begins a few weeks' leave from the [[CBS]] talk show due to a bout of [[shingles]] (during this time, guest hosts will include [[Bruce Willis]], [[Regis Philbin]], [[Will Ferrell]] and [[Elvis Costello]]).
|-
! rowspan="2" |24
|''[[CBS Evening News]]'' anchor [[Dan Rather]] [[February 2003 Saddam Hussein interview|interviews]] [[Saddam Hussein]] on national television, shortly before the [[2003 invasion of Iraq|Iraq invasion]] began.
|-
| The miniseries [[Toonami#T.O.M. 2 era: 2000–'03|Giant Robot Week]] is broadcast by [[Cartoon Network]], which includes 2 [[Editing of anime in American distribution|edited episodes]] of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''. This is the first attempt to broadcast the series by network TV.
|-
!26
| On [[CBS]], ''[[The Young and the Restless]]'' celebrates its 30th anniversary.
|-
!27
| [[Fred Rogers]], host of the television series ''[[Mister Rogers' Neighborhood|Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood]]'' dies of [[stomach cancer]] at the age of 74.
|}

===March===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event
|-
!27
| [[C-SPAN]] airs a press conference being held in the [[White House]] in which [[President of the United States|President]] [[George W. Bush]] and [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|British Prime Minister]] [[Tony Blair]] spoke about the [[2003 Invasion of Iraq]] which had begun roughly one week prior.  The event was one of the most-watched C-SPAN broadcasts of the year according to [[Nielsen ratings]] and was simultaneously broadcast on [[CNN]] and [[Fox News]].  A similar broadcast in April of the following year was similarly widely viewed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?175782-1/summit-iraq|title=Summit on Iraq &#124; C-SPAN.org|website=www.c-span.org}}</ref>
|-
!29
| [[K13VC]] ends operations.
|}

===April===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event
|-
!1
| On [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]], ''[[General Hospital]]'' celebrates its 40th anniversary.
|-
!1
| [[WRBU]] was disaffiliated from the [[HSN|Home Shopping Network]] to become a [[List of former UPN affiliates|UPN station]].
|-
!5
| ''[[Everyday Italian]]'' debuts on [[Food Network]] hosted by [[Giada De Laurentiis]]. The show, which De Laurentiis focuses for her viewers on traditional [[Italian cuisine]] with an [[United States|American]] flair, would result in becoming one of Food Network's most popular daytime cooking shows.
|-
!7
| [[Noggin (brand)|Noggin]] revises its branding and lineup, introducing new hosts [[Moose and Zee]], and a new slogan, "It's Like Preschool on TV."
|-
!12
| ''[[All Grown Up!]]'', a spin-off of ''[[Rugrats]]'', premieres right after the [[2003 Kids' Choice Awards]] on [[Nickelodeon]].
|-
!22
| Bianca Montgomery ([[Eden Riegel]]) kisses Lena Kundera ([[Olga Sosnovska]]) on the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] soap opera ''[[All My Children]]''; this is the first [[lesbian]] kiss on American daytime television.
|-
!22-29
| The [[NCIS backdoor pilot|two-part backdoor pilot]] for ''[[NCIS (TV series)|NCIS]]'' airs [[JAG season 8|as part of]] the [[CBS]] series ''[[JAG (TV series)|JAG]]''.
|}

===May===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event
|-
!1
| [[TBS (American TV channel)|TBS]] broadcast its last [[NBA on TBS|NBA]] game (not counting alternate broadcasts or simulcasts of the [[NBA All-Star Game]] and overflow broadcast of playoff games) to date. Subsequent NBA playoff games on the [[TNT Sports (United States)|Turner Sports]] family of networks were broadcast on either [[TNT (American TV network)|TNT]] or [[NBA TV]].
|-
!rowspan="2"|8
| Nancy Christy becomes the first woman to win $1,000,000 on the syndicated version of ''[[Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (American game show)|Who Wants to Be a Millionaire]]''.
|-
| On a special episode of ''[[Primetime (American TV program)|Primetime]]'' entitled ''Major Fraud'' (which originally aired as an episode of ''[[Tonight (1999 TV programme)|Tonight]]'' on [[ITV (TV channel)|ITV]] on April 21), segments of an unaired 2001 episode of [[Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (UK game show)|the British version of ''Millionaire'']] featuring [[Charles Ingram]] were broadcast. The program featured additional interviews with witnesses of the [[R v Ingram, C., Ingram, D. and Whittock, T.|criminal trial]] that happened after Ingram was stripped of the £1,000,000 prize; Ingram had been found guilty of [[Deception (criminal law)|deception]] at [[Southwark]] Crown Court on April 7.
|-
!16
| The [[30th Daytime Emmy Awards]] are given, in a ceremony telecast by [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]].
|-
!19
| [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] broadcasts a four-hour 50th anniversary special. 
|-
!20
| ''[[America's Next Top Model]]'' premieres on [[UPN]]. UPN also aired the [[Chosen (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|final episode]] of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' after 2 additional seasons and 44 episodes after being picked up by [[The WB]] (after being the smash hit on the network in the series's beginnings).
|-
!21
| On [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]], [[Ruben Studdard]] becomes the winner of ''[[American Idol]]'' – [[American Idol season 2|season two]]. His debut single "[[Flying Without Wings]]" reaches number two in the [[Billboard Hot 100]] in June 2003.
|}

===June===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event
|-
!13
| [[Liz Cho]] co-anchors her last ''[[World News Now]]'' newscast on [[ABC News (United States)|ABC]] before heading to the [[American Broadcasting Company|network]]'s flagship station [[WABC-TV]] in [[New York City]]. She is replaced by Andrea Stassou.
|}

===July===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event
|-
!14
| [[David Muir]] is named the new co-anchor of [[ABC News (United States)|ABC]]'s ''[[World News Now]]'', replacing [[Derek McGinty]], who left for [[WUSA (TV)|WUSA]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]
|}

===August===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event
|-
|}

===September===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event
|-
!1
| In [[Casper, Wyoming]], [[ION Television|Pax TV]] affiliate [[KCWY-DT|KCWY]] switches its affiliation to [[NBC]], taking that affiliation from [[KTWO-TV]] which will join [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] in March 2004. In the interim, KTWO-TV becomes an [[Independent station (North America)|independent]] station with select programming from Pax.
|-
!8
| [[Amerie]], host of [[Black Entertainment Television|BET]]'s ''[[The Center (TV series)|The Center]]'',  leaves the show so she could work on her new music.
|-
!10
| [[UPN]]'s series ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise|Enterprise]]'' begins a season-long story sequence – the first time a full season of a ''Star Trek'' series has been devoted to one storyline. (Three episodes into the new season, the series title is changed to ''Star Trek: Enterprise''.)
|-
!rowspan=2|11
| [[John Ritter]] dies from an undiagnosed [[aortic dissection]] at the age of 54 hours after falling ill on the set of his sitcom ''[[8 Simple Rules|8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter]]''.
|-
|''[[Wheel of Fortune (American game show)|Wheel of Fortune]]'' incorporates "Prize Puzzle" in one of the first three rounds and awards a trip to the contestant who solve the themed puzzle for this round. The initial incarnation occurs weekly during the first two seasons of appearance, but has changed to a daily format beginning on Season 23 and has used since.
|-
!21
| The [[CBS]] comedy ''[[Everybody Loves Raymond]]'' wins its first [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series|Outstanding Comedy]] award and the [[NBC]] drama ''[[The West Wing]]'' wins its fourth straight Emmy for [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series|Outstanding Drama Series]] at the [[55th Primetime Emmy Awards]]. The ceremonies are telecast by [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]].
|}

===October===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event
|-
!1
| [[James Marsters]] joins the cast of ''[[Angel (1999 TV series)|Angel]]'' on [[The WB Television Network|The WB]], carrying his ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' character of [[Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Spike]] over from the former series.
|-
!4
| [[Kenan Thompson]] makes his [[Saturday Night Live season 29|first appearance]] as a cast member on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]''. Thompson would eventually become the longest serving [[List of Saturday Night Live cast members|cast member]] in ''SNL'' history.
|-
!16
| The [[2003 New York Yankees season|New York Yankees]] win Game 7 of the [[2003 American League Championship Series|ALCS]] over the [[2003 Boston Red Sox season|Boston Red Sox]] with a walk-off home run by [[Aaron Boone]] from pitcher [[Tim Wakefield]].
|-
!20
| [[Rod Roddy]] makes his final appearance as announcer of ''[[The Price Is Right (American game show)|The Price Is Right]]'' on [[CBS]]. Roddy died from colon cancer exactly a week later, on October 27.
|-
!25
| Game 6 of the [[2003 World Series|World Series]] airs on [[Fox Major League Baseball|Fox]]. The [[2003 Florida Marlins season|Florida Marlins]] win their second world championship over the [[2003 New York Yankees season|New York Yankees]]. Marlins starter [[Josh Beckett]] made the final out by tagging [[Jorge Posada]] through first base, making this one of the biggest upsets in baseball history. This was the very last World Series played at the original [[Yankee Stadium (1923)|Yankee Stadium]] before its demolition in 2008.
|}

===November===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event
|-
!2
| ''[[CBS]] at 75'', the special celebrating the network's 75th anniversary, is broadcast by CBS.
|-
!10
| The 4,000th episode of ''[[Wheel of Fortune (American game show)|Wheel of Fortune]]'' (since the 1982 pairing of host and hostess [[Pat Sajak]] and [[Vanna White]]) is broadcast in [[Television syndication|syndication]], featuring a [[clip show]] of ''Wheel's'' most memorable moments over the years. The milestone episode would air in syndication on January 23, 2004.
|-
!19
| The [[Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2003|2003 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show]] is broadcast on [[CBS]]. 9.4 million people tune in.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:DFPB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0FE856345804ECBB&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=0D0CB579A3BDA420|title=Victoria's Secret Likes Somerset – Local Store Is First To Get New Model Makeup Kit|access-date=March 7, 2009|date=October 30, 2003|work=[[Detroit Free Press]]|author=Hanson, Holly}}</ref><ref name="POT">{{cite news|url=https://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:NYPB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0FED4BE9843C978D&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=0D0CB579A3BDA420|title=Playing Our Thong – Victoria's Celebs Lead Undie Fun Day|access-date=March 7, 2009|date=November 14, 2003|work=[[New York Post]]|author=Hoffmann, Bill}}</ref><ref name="IMDB03">{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390600/|title=The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show (2003)|date=19 November 2003|access-date=March 7, 2009|publisher=[[Internet Movie Database]]}}</ref><ref name="VLSNoS">{{cite news|url=https://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=10999793EE6EECEB&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=0D0CB579A3BDA420|title=Victoria's Latex Secret Now on Show|access-date=March 7, 2009|date=November 17, 2003|work=[[Newsday]]|author=Kahn, Robert}}</ref><ref name="FPe">{{cite news|url=https://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:BNHB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0FEEFF0C5D424AD5&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=0D0CB579A3BDA420|title=Fashion – Peek experience – Behind the scenes at the Victoria's Secret fashion show |access-date=March 7, 2009|date=November 19, 2003|work=[[Boston Herald]]|author=Radsken, Jill}}</ref>
|}

===December===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event
|-
!2
| [[Tamala Edwards]] is named the new co-anchor of [[ABC News (United States)|ABC]]'s ''[[World News Now]]'', replacing Andrea Stassou.
|-
!20
| During a [[2003 NFL season|National Football League]] game between the [[2003 New England Patriots season|New England Patriots]] at [[2003 New York Jets season|New York Jets]], former Jets quarterback [[Joe Namath]] in a sideline interview with [[ESPN Sunday Night Football|ESPN]]'s [[Suzy Kolber]] twice stated that he wanted to kiss her, and "couldn't care less about the team strugg-a-ling." Namath later apologized and blamed the incident on his obvious intoxication. Soon after, Namath entered an outpatient alcoholism treatment program. Namath chronicled the episode, including his battle with alcoholism in his book, ''Namath'' ({{ISBN|0-67003-329-4}}).
|}