The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that operated from 1995 to 2006. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' subsidiary, United Television. Viacom turned it into a joint venture in 1996 after acquiring a 50% stake in the network, and subsequently purchased Chris-Craft's remaining stake in 2000. On December 31, 2005, UPN was kept by CBS Corporation, which was the new name for Viacom when it split into two separate companies. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Time Warner jointly announced that the companies would shut down UPN and competitor The WB to launch a new joint venture network later that year. UPN ceased broadcasting on September 15, 2006, with The WB following two days later. Select programs from both networks moved to the new network, The CW, when it launched on September 18, 2006.
Steven Ronald Bochco was an American television writer and producer. He developed a number of television series, including Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, Doogie Howser, M.D., Cop Rock, and NYPD Blue.
The Walt Disney Company has produced an anthology television series since 1954 under several titles and formats. The program's current title, The Wonderful World of Disney, was used from 1969 to 1979 and again from 1991 onward. The program moved among the Big Three television networks in its first four decades, but has aired on ABC since 1997 and Disney+ since 2020.
Leonard Francis Penn was an American actor and director and the father of musician Michael Penn and actors Sean and Chris Penn.
Jaleel Ahmad White is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Steve Urkel on the sitcom Family Matters. The character was originally intended to be a one-time guest appearance on the show; however, he was an instant hit with audiences and White became a regular cast member. The series aired for a total of nine seasons, from 1989 to 1997 on ABC, mostly on its Friday night TGIF lineup, and from 1997 to 1998 on CBS, again on Friday nights, via their short-lived CBS Block Party attempt. White then reprised his role as Urkel for the first time in 21 years in the 2019 series Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?.
The Original Amateur Hour is an American radio and television program. The show was a continuation of Major Bowes Amateur Hour, which had been a radio staple from 1934 to 1945. Major Edward Bowes, the originator of the program and its master of ceremonies, left the show in 1945 and died the following year. He was ultimately succeeded by Ted Mack, when the show was brought into television in 1948.
The "Friday night death slot" or "Friday evening death slot" is a perceived graveyard slot in American television. It implies a television program in the United States scheduled on Friday evenings is likely to be canceled.
Andrea Anders is an American actress. She is best known for her work on television, notably through her main roles on five anticipated but short-lived sitcoms, Joey, The Class, Better Off Ted, Mr. Sunshine and Mr. Mom, as well as recurring and guest roles on numerous TV series including Cruel Summer, Oz, Young Sheldon, Modern Family,Necessary Roughness, and That '90s Show. Additionally, she has been cast in nearly ten produced but unsold pilots.
Timothy Busfield is an American actor and director. He has played Elliot Weston on the television series thirtysomething; Mark, the brother-in-law of Ray Kinsella in Field of Dreams; and Danny Concannon on the television series The West Wing. In 1991 he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for thirtysomething. He is also the founder of the 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization Theatre for Children, Inc.
Robert Fuller is an American horse rancher and retired actor. He began his career on television, guest-starring primarily on Western programs, while appearing in several movies, including: The Brain from Planet Arous, Teenage Thunder, Return of the Seven (1966), Incident at Phantom Hill (1966), and The Hard Ride (1971). In his five decades of television, Fuller was known for his deep, raspy voice and was familiar to television viewers throughout the 1960s from his co-star roles on the popular 1960s Western series Laramie as Jess Harper and Wagon Train as Cooper Smith. He was also well known for his starring role as Dr. Kelly Brackett in the 1970s medical/action drama Emergency!
Jeanette Nolan was an American actress. Nominated for four Emmy Awards, she had roles in the television series The Virginian (1962–1971) and Dirty Sally (1974), and in films such as Macbeth (1948).
Miriam Flynn is an American voice and character actress. She is best known as Cousin Catherine in the National Lampoon's Vacation and Grandma Longneck in The Land Before Time franchises. She has acted in other films and in several television series, the latter including a recurring role as Sister Helen on the Fox/WB sitcom Grounded for Life.
The following is the 1958–59 network television schedule for the four major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1958 through March 1959. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1957–58 season.
20th Television is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment distributes the television series produced by 20th Television in home media formats through the 20th Century Home Entertainment banner.
Zachary Andrew Knighton is an American actor, best known for starring as Dave Rose on the ABC comedy series Happy Endings. Prior to that, he co-starred as Dr. Bryce Varley on ABC's science fiction series FlashForward. He also starred in the FOX sitcom Weird Loners and stars as Orville "Rick" Wright in the current reboot version of Magnum P.I.
Charles Leonard Aidman was an American actor of stage, film, and television.
Robert Gary Vinson was an American actor who appeared in significant roles in three television series of the 1960s: The Roaring 20s, McHale's Navy, and Pistols 'n' Petticoats.
A teen situation comedy, or teen sitcom, is a subgenre of comedic television program targeted towards young people. In general, these type of programs focus primarily on characters between 11 and 19 years of age and routinely feature characters involved in humorous situations, and often focus on the characters' family and social lives. The primary plot of each episode often involves the protagonist(s) the program centers on, while secondary plotlines often focus on the character(s') parents, siblings or friends, although the secondary characters may sometimes also or instead be involved in the episode's main plot.
Witt/Thomas Productions is an American television and movie production company run by TV producers Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas. The company was consistently productive between its founding in 1973 and 1999, but is still active, producing an occasional film or TV series project. It has produced more than 25 American primetime television series, mostly half-hour sitcoms. Witt/Thomas is perhaps best known for producing the popular sitcoms Soap, Benson, It's a Living, The Golden Girls, Empty Nest, Blossom, and Brotherly Love. Witt and Thomas have also produced many cinematic works, including the 1989 box office collection success Dead Poets Society.
In 1995, Viacom and Chris-Craft Industries' United Television launched United Paramount Network (UPN) with Star Trek: Voyager as its flagship series, fulfilling Barry Diller's plan for a Paramount network from 25 years earlier. In 1999, Viacom bought out United Television's interests, and handed responsibility for the start-up network to the newly acquired CBS unit, which Viacom bought in 1999 – an ironic confluence of events as Paramount had once invested in CBS, and Viacom had once been the syndication arm of CBS as well. During this period the studio acquired some 30 television stations to support the UPN network as well acquiring and merging in the assets of Republic Pictures, Spelling Television and Viacom Television, almost doubling the size of the studio's television library.
