In American television in 1998, notable events included television series debuts, finales, cancellations, and channel initiations, closures and rebrandings, as well as information about controversies and disputes.
| Date | Event |
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| 2 | The "Powerhouse" era begins on Cartoon Network. The animated bumpers were all done by Primal Screen, an Atlanta-based studio. The era's colorful backgrounds typically represent the time periods: Yellow (mornings), Green (afternoons), Blue (evenings/weekends), Black/Dark Blue (midnights) and Purple (action shows). Red was originally the color for midnights but this was later removed due to older TVs were struggling to display it. The era was named after Raymond Scott's instrumental song from 1937. |
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| 18 | A wanted child molester named Matthew Fenwick appears as a contestant on the game show Wheel of Fortune and wins $4,400. At the time of the episode's airing, Matthew was on the run after being accused of molesting two underage girls, ages 8 and 10, who discovered Matthew on the game show after a warrant was issued for him in November 1997 by the police. He was arrested two days after his appearance on the game show and subsequently pled guilty in July 1998 for two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. |
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| 29 | World Wrestling Federation wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin defeats Shawn Michaels, winning his first WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XIV. With this, it has been cited to be the full beginning of the "Attitude Era". | |
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| Date | Event |
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| 4 | CatDog premieres on Nickelodeon following the 1998 Kids' Choice Awards. The show did not air every day until October. |
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| 6 | Long-running British children's television series Teletubbies begins its U.S. television debut on PBS Kids. |
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| 9 | The Price Is Rights 5,000th episode is broadcast on CBS. On the show, every pricing game is played for a car (something Price had only done once before. It has been repeated only once since then). At the beginning of the show, CBS announces it has renamed Studio 33 (the studio at CBS Television City where The Price Is Right has taped since its 1972 return) the Bob Barker Studios in honor of the show's then-host and executive producer. |
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| 11 | The National Cable Television Association announces they will discontinue the CableACE awards, due to the Emmy Awards recognizing cable programming. |
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| 24 | A second special episode of Dallas, , airs on CBS seven years after the original series finished. |
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| 30 | Seven television stations broadcast the suicide of maintenance worker Daniel V. Jones on live television. The incident causes many to criticize Los Angeles television stations' practice of airing police pursuits live and calls for proposed changes in the way live coverage of events are handled in the future. | |
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| Date | Event |
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| 8 | The Milwaukee, Raleigh, Birmingham and Charleston stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group aired many episodes viewers left out of the last season, with the permission of UPN and Paramount Television. |
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| 17 | Barney & Friends aired its 100th episode on PBS Kids |
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| 18 | The Powerpuff Girls premieres on Cartoon Network. |
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| 20 | The Rugrats Movie, based on Nickelodeon's hit series Rugrats is released in theaters. The movie introduces the character of Dil Pickles, who became a main character in Rugrats the following January. The Rugrats Movie was a commercial success, making a grand total of $100,494,675 domestically and another $40,400,000 in international markets.[7] To promote the movie, Nickelodeon put all Rugrats episodes on hiatus for the week. It was the first time since 1994 that Rugrats was not part of Nick's daily schedule. | |
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| Network | Type | Launch date | Notes | Source |
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| Zee TV | Cable television | Unknown | | |
| Discovery en Espanol | Cable television | Unknown | | |
| ESPN Classic | Cable television | January 1 | | |
| Showtime Extreme | Cable and satellite | March 10 | Showtime Extreme, a multiplex channel from Showtime, airs action and adventure films, thrillers, gangster films and sporting events. The channel's launch coincided with Viacom's channels (excluding the Showtime networks) moving from USSB to DirecTV. | |
| BBC America | Cable and satellite | March 29 | BBC Worldwide and Discovery Communications launched BBC America as part of a $565 million alliance to develop new channels and co-productions. The channel carried British drama, comedy, and documentary programs and live news broadcasts from BBC World. | |
| Toon Disney | Cable and satellite | April 18 | Toon Disney, devoted to carrying animated series and movies 24 hours a day, was launched by The Walt Disney Company on Disney Channel's 15th anniversary. The first program to air was "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment from Fantasia. | |
| ZDTV | Cable and satellite | May 11 | A channel launched by Ziff Davis airing technology-based programs. | |
| CityVision | Cable television | June 8 | | |
| Lifetime Movie Network | Cable and satellite | June 29 | A offshoot of Lifetime carrying made-for-TV movies aimed at women. | |
| Discovery Health Channel | Cable and satellite | July 1 | Discovery Health Channel aired repeats of health-oriented programs from other Discovery networks, plus some original programming. | |
| Discovery Wings Channel | Cable and satellite | July 15 | Named after the Discovery Channel series Wings, Discovery Wings Channel aired programs related to aircraft and aerospace. Discovery Wings also showed top-of-the-hour interstitials featuring aviation forecast data provided by the National Weather Service. | |
MTV S
MTVX
VH1 Country
VH1 Smooth
VH1 Soul | Digital cable | August 1 | MTV Networks launches "The Suite from MTV and VH1", five music channels initially exclusive to digital cable. | |
| PAX | Over-the-air multicast | August 31 | Paxson Communications launches PAX TV (now named Ion Television), a family-oriented broadcast network. Paxson's stations previously carried a number of paid programming services (as well as the overnight Christian block The Worship Network), branded as the Infomall Television Network until at the time of PAX's launch.[17] | |
| The WB 100+ Station Group | Cable television | September 21 | The WB launches its programming service of cable-only networks, branded as the 100+ Station Group. It was originally known as The WeB, which was from its launch until March of next year. Several cable providers that carried The WB's programming on WGN Superstation feed (until it was dropped the following September) were replaced by its own service.[18] | |
| The Biography Channel | Cable and satellite | November 16 | First announced in June 1996, The Biography Channel aired episodes of A&E's profile series Biography and related series. | |
| History Channel International | Cable and satellite | November 16 | History Channel International broadcast programs focusing on world history, plus a selection of programs in foreign languages for the Cable in the Classroom initiative. | | |
| Date | Name | Notability |
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| January 4 | Coco Jones | Actress (So Random!, Good Luck Charlie) and singer |
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| January 9 | Kerris Dorsey | Actress (Brothers & Sisters, Ray Donovan) |
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| January 12 | Nathan Gamble | Actor (Runaway, Hank) |
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| January 22 | Joe Serafini | Actor () |
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| January 23 | Rachel Crow | Actress (Fred: The Show, ) and singer |
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| January 28 | Ariel Winter | Actress (Modern Family, Sofia the First) |
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| February 9 | Isabella Gomez | Actress |
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| February 15 | Zachary Gordon | Actor (Bubble Guppies, Diary of a Wimpy Kid) |
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| February 20 | Matt Hunter | Colombian-American singer and voice actor (Go, Diego, Go!) |
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| March 5 | Micah Fowler | Actor (Speechless) |
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| March 22 | Paola Andino | Actress (Every Witch Way) |
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| April 6 | Peyton List | Actress (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Jessie, Bunk'd, Light as a Feather, Cobra Kai) |
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| Spencer List | Actor |
| April 9 | Elle Fanning | Actress and sister of Dakota Fanning |
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| April 11 | Oliver Dillon | English actor (Lumpy on My Friends Tigger & Pooh) |
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| April 12 | Larry Saperstein | Actor () |
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| April 24 | Ryan Newman | Actress (Zeke and Luther, See Dad Run, The Thundermans) |
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| April 27 | Froy Gutierrez | Actor (Teen Wolf) |
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| June 11 | Charlie Tahan | Actor (Wayward Pines) |
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| June 16 | Lauren Taylor | Actress (Best Friends Whenever) and singer |
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| June 19 | Atticus Shaffer | Actor (The Middle, Fish Hooks, Steven Universe, The Lion Guard) |
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| June 24 | Coy Stewart | Actor (Are We There Yet?, Bella and the Bulldogs) |
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| July 7 | Dylan Sprayberry | Actor (Teen Wolf) |
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| July 8 | Jaden Smith | Actor (All of Us, The Get Down), rapper and son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith |
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| July 9 | Robert Capron | Actor (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) |
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| July 10 | Haley Pullos | Actress (General Hospital) |
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| Angus Cloud | Actor (Euphoria) (d. 2023)[19] |
| July 17 | Kennedy Lea Slocum | Actress (WITS Academy) |
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| July 22 | Madison Pettis | Actress (Cory in the House, Phineas and Ferb, Life with Boys, Lab Rats, The Fosters) |
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| July 24 | Bindi Irwin | Australian actress (Dancing with the Stars season 21 [winner]) |
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| Logan Grove | Voice actor (Gumball on The Amazing World of Gumball (2011–14)) |
| July 25 | Kyson Facer | Actor (I Am Frankie) |
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| July 31 | Rico Rodriguez | Actor (Modern Family) |
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| August 1 | Khamani Griffin | Actor (All of Us, Carpoolers, Ni Hao, Kai-Lan) |
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| August 3 | Cozi Zuehlsdorff | Actress and singer |
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| August 8 | Shawn Mendes | Canadian singer |
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| August 13 | Devan Leos | Actor (Mighty Med) |
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| August 25 | China Anne McClain | Actress (Tyler Perry's House of Payne, Jonas, A.N.T. Farm, , Descendants, Black Lightning) and singer |
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| September 4 | Elizabeth Elias | Actress (Every Witch Way) |
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| October 1 | Danika Yarosh | Actress (See Dad Run, Shameless, Heroes Reborn) |
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| October 6 | Matt Cornett | Actor () |
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| October 28 | Nolan Gould | Actor (Modern Family) |
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| November 4 | Darcy Rose Byrnes | Actress (The Young and the Restless, Desperate Housewives, The Legend of Korra, Sofia the First, Spirit Riding Free) |
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| November 17 | Kara Hayward | Actress |
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| November 22 | Eric Unger | Actor |
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| November 23 | Samantha Diaz | Singer (American Idol)[20] |
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| Bradley Steven Perry | Actor (Good Luck Charlie, Mighty Med, , ) |
| November 24 | | Actor (Girl Meets World) |
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| December 2 | Annalise Basso | Actress |
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| Amber Frank | Actress (The Haunted Hathaways, Spirit Riding Free) |
| December 8 | Tanner Buchanan | Actor (Designated Survivor, Cobra Kai) |
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| December 16 | Kiara Muhammad | Voice actress (Doc McStuffins, Sofia the First) |
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| December 17 | Jasmine Armfield | English actress (EastEnders) |
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| December 22 | G Hannelius | Actress (Surviving Suburbia, Sonny with a Chance, Good Luck Charlie, Dog with a Blog) and singer |
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| December 23 | Jackie Radinsky | Actor (Bella and the Bulldogs) |
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| December 29 | Paris Berelc | Actress (Mighty Med, , Alexa & Katie) |
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| December 31 | Hunter Schafer | Actress (Euphoria) | |
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| Date | Name | Age | Notability |
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| January 4 | Mae Questel | 89 | Actress (voice of Olive Oyl in Popeye the Sailor) |
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| January 5 | Sonny Bono | 62 | Singer and entertainer (The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour) |
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| January 21 | Jack Lord | 77 | Actor (Steve McGarrett on Hawaii Five-O) |
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| February 3 | Fat Pat | 27 | American rapper |
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| February 6 | Carl Wilson | 51 | Singer-songwriter (The Beach Boys) and brother of Brian Wilson |
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| February 19 | Grandpa Jones | 84 | Comedian and musician (Hee Haw) |
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| February 23 | Philip Abbott | 74 | Actor (The F.B.I.) |
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| March 10 | Lloyd Bridges | 85 | Actor (Mike Nelson on Sea Hunt) |
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| April 17 | | 56 | Musician (guest star on The Simpsons) (Paul McCartney's wife) |
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| May 14 | Frank Sinatra | 82 | Singer, actor, and producer |
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| May 28 | Phil Hartman | 49 | Actor, comedian (Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, NewsRadio) |
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| July 6 | Roy Rogers | 86 | Singer and actor (The Roy Rogers Show) |
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| July 21 | Robert Young | 91 | Actor (Father Knows Best, Marcus Welby, M.D.) |
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| July 30 | Buffalo Bob Smith | 80 | Children's show host (Howdy Doody) |
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| August 2 | Shari Lewis | 65 | Puppeteer (Lamb Chop's Play-Along) |
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| September 23 | Mary Frann | 55 | Actress (Joanna on Newhart) |
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| October 2 | Gene Autry | 91 | Musical performer (The Gene Autry Show) |
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| October 3 | Roddy McDowall | 70 | Actor (Tales of the Gold Monkey) |
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| November 17 | Dick O'Neill | 70 | Actor (Family Matters, Home Improvement) |
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| Esther Rolle | 78 | Actress (Florida on Maude and Good Times) |
| December 6 | Michael Zaslow | 56 | Actor (Roger Thorpe on Guiding Light) |
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| December 14 | Norman Fell | 74 | Actor (Stanley Roper on Three's Company) |
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| December 23 | Michelle Thomas | 30 | Actress (Myra on Family Matters, Justine on The Cosby Show) |
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| December 25 | Richard Paul | 58 | Actor (Carter Country, Match Game) | |
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