See also:
2000 in television,
other events of 2001,
2002 in television and the
list of 'years in television'.
Events
- February 25 - *NSYNC is featured on an episode of The Simpsons entitled "New Kids On The Blecch".
- June 18 - Luke and Laura Spencer, widely regarded as the soap opera pairing that helped coin the term "supercouple", signed divorce papers on General Hospital, dissolving their fictional two-decade union.
- September 1 - All four commercial television stations in Vancouver, British Columbia change network affiliations, the largest such change in a single market in television history.
- September 11 - Viewers around the world are horrified as they witness a terrorist attack on the United States, and the collapse of the Twin Towers in New York City. Additionally, the ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates' broadcast towers are knocked out by the attacks, but New Yorkers can still view them on cable. American broadcasters abandon regular programming for more than a week, and numerous major daily talk shows go off the air for several weeks until their hosts feel comfortable in returning to the airwaves.
- The start of the 2001-2002 fall season is delayed as a result of the attacks, with some shows such as The West Wing substituting special episodes dealing with the event in lieu of their originally scheduled season premieres. Some series, such as the military-themed JAG and New York-based Third Watch have to be retooled to encompass the aftermath of the attacks.
- The attacks also had some cancellations. Most notably, a mini-series was planned for spring 2002, which would have united the cast of Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. The plot was to deal with terrorist attack in New York City.
- Concert For New York: A Tribute To Heroes airs on VH1, with performances by Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Billy Joel and others. It raises funds for the families of those killed in the attacks.
- Continually scrolling news headlines along the bottom of the screen become a standard feature on CNN and other news broadcasters after they are used to great affect during coverage of the attacks.
- Canada rolls out hundreds of new digital cable channels (see List of Canadian digital television channels for complete list).
- TSN changes its logo to match with ESPN's though the N is not slashed.
- Lloyd in Space premieres on One Saturday Morning.
- Kirby: Right Back At Ya premieres on Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting Company in Japan.
Debuts
Television shows
Ending this year
Changes of network affiliation
Notable TV movies and events
Deaths
- March 12 - Morton Downey, Jr., television personality.
- March 21 - Norma Macmillan, voice actor.
- March 22 - William Hanna, cofounder (with Joseph Barbera) of famous Hanna-Barbera animation studio.
- April 15 - Joey Ramone, 49, actor/songwriter of the Ramones.
- June 21 - Carroll O'Connor, 76, actor who played Archie Bunker on All in the Family.
- August 4 - Lorenzo Music, 64, writer and actor who co-created The Bob Newhart Show and did the voices of Carlton the doorman on Rhoda and Garfield the cat in the animated cartoon Garfield and Friends.
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