In
American television in 2000, notable events included television series debuts, finales, cancellations, and channel initiations, closures and rebrandings, as well as information about controversies and disputes.
Chris-Craft Broadcasting (the 50% owner of
UPN) filed a lawsuit against
Viacom in the New York Supreme Court to block it's partner's merger with
CBS, claiming that a pact signed between the two partners in 1997 had prevented either from owning "any interest, financial or otherwise" in "any competing network," including CBS, for a four-year period through January 2001. The following month, New York Supreme Court ruled against Chris-Craft's move for a permanent injunction to curtail the Viacom-CBS merger and the enforcement of Viacom's ultimatum.
15
Rick Rockwell marries stranger
Darva Conger watched by 22 million viewers on the
Foxreality showWho Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire? While he and Darva are honeymooning, it becomes apparent that Rockwell—who is sometimes a
comedian—had a restraining order against a former girlfriend, and he was not really a multi-millionaire. As a result, Fox cancels a rerun scheduled the next week, and does not broadcast any new installments. In addition the couple end their relationship soon after the show's taping.
David Legler wins a combined $1,765,000 from the six episodes he appeared on the
NBC game show, Twenty One, surpassing Curtis Warren's total of $1,546,988, and becoming, at the time, the
largest winner in game show winnings totals. (Warren had set the record 4 days earlier on
Fox's Greed, winning $1,000,000 by correctly answering a special Million Dollar Moment question.)
21
David Letterman resumes hosting Late Show with David Letterman on
CBS following his quintuple heart bypass surgery in January. On the show, Letterman (whose father died of heart failure in his 50s) brings all of the doctors that had performed the operation out on stage with him, including Dr. O. Wayne Isom and physician
Louis Aronne, who makes frequent appearances on the show. In an unusual show of emotion, Letterman is nearly in tears as he thanks the doctors. The episode will earn an
Emmy Award nomination.
18
Just as
FCC's
duopoly rules relaxed,
Fox Television Stations buy out
KDFI from Dallas Media Inventors, creating the first television duopoly to be owned by Fox (the same strategy was used when Fox bought the
Chris-Craft company and
WPWR-TV the following year).
WWHO in Columbus, Ohio and
WLWC in Providence, Rhode Island became primary UPN affiliates, and eventually becoming secondary WB affiliates.
12
The
Fox series Get Real airs its 20th and final aired episode (leaving 2 more unaired). Both
Annie Hathaway and
Jesse Eisenberg subsequently appeared in successful movie roles.
The WB broadcasts the third-season finale of Dawson's Creek, entitled "
True Love". The episode features the first male
gay kiss on U.S. primetime television, which has been called "a milestone in the timeline of gay representation in pop culture".[2]
31
The first season of
CBS's long-running reality competition of Survivor, titled Survivor: Borneo, based on Sweden's game show Expedition Robinson, premieres its first episode. Sonja Christopher was the first contestant to be eliminated.
July
Date
Event
3
KNTV (channel 11) in
San Jose, California drops its ABC affiliation for the
Monterey Bay area and begins carrying minimal programming from
The WB. (At that time, The WB affiliate for the Bay Area was
KBWB channel 20).
5
The first season of
CBS's long-running reality competition of Big Brother, based on the
Dutch series of the same name, premieres its first episode. It was the only televised U.S. season to use the traditional format to eliminate contestants via
televoting, however, as the season received negative reception.
Will & Grace moves permanently to
Thursday nights, ending two years of airing the series on different nights. On July 25, Frasier moves back to Tuesday nights after two years on Thursday nights due to competition from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, confirming the swap
NBC had discussed their schedule in May.
28
Kathie Lee Gifford made her final appearance as co-host on Live!, after 17 years (eleven and a half years for national syndication).
Regis Philbin will continue to serve the only host until
Kelly Ripa introduced as new co-host the following year.
August
Date
Event
3
KBEJ Channel 2, (now
KCWX) commences programming in
Fredericksburg, Texas, taking the
Austin market's
UPN affiliation from low-powered station
KVC 13 and returning full-time
UPN service to
San Antonio (between
KRRT (now
KMYS)'s switch to
The WB in 1998 and KBEJ's sign-on,
NBC affiliate
KMOL-TV aired UPN programming on a secondary basis).
23
In
CBS, corporate trainer
Richard Hatch was declared the
inaugural "Sole Survivor" in Survivor and won the $1,000,000 grand prize; Kelly Wiglesworth was named the runner-up.
The
2000 Summer Olympics are televised by
NBC. Opening ceremonies are watched by 27 and a half million viewers.
16
After the completion of
Viacom's $37 billion merger with the CBS Corporation, the
CBS Kidshow block is replaced with
Nick Jr. on CBS, programmed by new corporate sister
Nickelodeon.
Eddie McGee wins the first U.S. season of Big Brother and won the $500,000 grand prize. It is the only season at the time the final vote was determined by public viewers instead of a Jury vote.