In American television in 2005, notable events included television series debuts, finales, cancellations, and new channel initiations.
Events
January
Date
Event
1
The U.S. channel package PT East, originally created by the New York, New York, company PrimeTime 24, and used by satellite TV viewers where over-the-air TV is unavailable, changes its ABC affiliate from WKRN-TV (Nashville, Tennessee) to flagship station WABC-TV (New York City).
DirecTV removed Trio from its EPG lineup. The network loses two-thirds of its 20 million viewers, putting in doubt the future of the NBCUniversal-owned channel.
The 35th anniversary episode of the series All My Children is broadcast by ABC. The special episode, which used former characters Mark Dalton (Mark LaMura) and Nick Davis (Larry Keith), was also unique in that it was the last appearance of ailing actress Ruth Warrick. She died less than two weeks after the episode was broadcast.
CBS airs the first episode of the reality series The Will. Ratings for the show are so low, it is canceled after only one episode, following Fox's Who's Your Daddy? which was cancelled six days ago.
After over 6 years, Big Tigger hosts Rap City: Tha Bassment for the last time on BET. He reveals that his mother has sold the basement and forced him out to live with his father. The following day, the show is retitled as Rap City with Mad Linx taking over as the new host.
Nickelodeon's successful Saturday night block, SNICK, is discontinued after 12 years. It would then be revamped as a Saturday night edition of TEENick for the 2004–05 television season and onward until the TEENick name was dropped in February 2009 and shifted into a 24-hour channel (rebranding The N) months later.
February
Date
Event
2
Paramount Television and UPN announce the cancellation of the series Star Trek: Enterprise. Soon afterward, fan efforts begin to save the show, climaxing in a campaign that raises more than $3 million (US) towards funding further production, an offer Paramount ultimately rejects.
Jeopardy! held its Ultimate Tournament of Champions and concluded on May 25; Brad Rutter emerged as the champion of the tournament and won the grand prize of $2,000,000; with his career winnings of $3,270,102 (which include another $15,000 for winning a match), Rutter surpassed Ken Jennings's $3,022,700 as the new largest winner in the show's program, as well as the all-time biggest game show winner in the history of American and international television, a title which Rutter held on until October 10, 2008, where Jennings regained the status (Rutter would later top Jennings' record on May 16, 2014, after winning another Jeopardy! tournament, Battle of the Decades; Rutter would later lose the record to Jennings on January 14, 2020, after losing to another Jeopardy! tournament, The Greatest of All Time).
After a 16-year hiatus, Doctor Who returns to BBC television in the UK. Around this time efforts are under way to get the cult program a berth on an American network, however Sci-Fi Channel rejects it for the entire first two seasons on its revival run. The following Doctor Who episodes were returned to the air on BBC America in December 2009.
April
Date
Event
1
ABC news anchorman Peter Jennings anchors what will turn out to be his final World News Tonight telecast. Four days later, Jennings informs viewers of World News Tonight, via a taped segment, that he has been diagnosed with lung cancer and beginning of chemotherapy. He dies four months later at the age of 67.
15
PBS Kids Go! celebrates Tax Day with the first two-hour Cyberchase special "Know Your Dough".
May
Date
Event
1
Family Guy begins airing new episodes on Fox with "North by North Quahog". Initially cancelled by Fox in 2002, the unexpected popularity of the show's reruns on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block and DVD releases, as well as letters addressed to Fox, forces the network to renew the show. Fox's revival of Family Guy coincides with the launch of the network's Animation Domination block, which also debuts on this night and pairs Family Guy with King of the Hill, The Simpsons, and the official series premiere of American Dad!.
2
Hunter Tylo resumes her role as Dr. Taylor Forrester on the CBS soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful, after the character was "killed off" three years ago. The revelation that she was alive surprises many viewers as it had not been hinted by any other sources, print or online.
The controversial final episode of Star Trek: Enterprise is broadcast in the United States on UPN, ending an 18-year, uninterrupted run of four consecutive or concurrent Star Trek series dating back to 1987.
In response to Linda Vester's year-long maternity leave, Fox News Channel announces that she will not be hosting DaySide again.
29
Hurricane Katrina strikes the Greater New Orleans area, causing major disruption of the region's television broadcasts. Local television news programs relocate to other cities to cover the story, though most are interrupted by the storm; some continue to broadcast reports by the Internet.
September
Date
Event
2
While presenting for the NBC telecast of A Concert for Hurricane Relief, music producer and rapper Kanye West ignores his script and addresses what he perceives as the racism of both the government and of the media, stating: George Bush doesn't care about black people, and calls for the media to stop labeling African-American families as "looters" while white families were depicted as "looking for food."
5
In Champaign, Illinois, NBC affiliates WICS/WICD end their 46-year relationship with the network and swap affiliations with ABC affiliate WAND due to an affiliation deal between LIN Media, operators of WAND, and NBC.
Rap City host Mad Linx temporarily leaves the show to host BET's The Road Show. For the next several months his place is taken by J-Nicks, until Mad Linx returns the following February.
5
The Outdoor Life Network broadcast its first NHL game. The network eventually rebranded into Versus the following year and then to NBCSN in 2012.
