2002 in American television
See also: 2001 in television, other events of 2002, 2003 in television and the list of 'years in television'.
Events
- October 30 - Warren Zevon is featured on the Late Show with David Letterman as the only guest for the entire hour. Zevon performs several songs and talks in length about being diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer.
- December - Talk show host David Letterman, Paul Shaffer and a stage hand from the Late Show, Biff Henderson, spend Christmas in Afghanistan with United States and international military forces stationed in the country
- Sesame Park, a Canadian spin-off of the American show Sesame Street, is cancelled due to low ratings, after more than three decades of airing on the CBC.
- Fox News Channel overtakes CNN as the #1 cable TV news service in the US.
Debuts
- Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius premieres (2002-present)
- June 18 - American Idol: The Search For A Superstar premieres. The show is based on the 2001 British ITV programme, Pop Idol
- The Osbournes reality show premieres on cable television. (2002-present)
Popular Television Shows
- All My Children (1970-present)
- As Told By Ginger (2000-present)
- Braceface (2001-present)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
- Cops (1989-present)
- Everybody Loves Raymond (1996-present)
- The Fairly Oddparents (2001-present)
- Farscape (2001-present)
- Friends (1994-2004)
- General Hospital (1963-present)
- Hey Arnold! (1996-present)
- Jeopardy! (1984-present)
- King of the Hill (1997-present)
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993-present)
- The Late Show with David Letterman (1993-present)
- Law & Order (1990-present)
- MTV (1981-present)
- The Real World (1992-present)
- Rocket Power (1999-present)
- Rugrats (1991-2004)
- Saturday Night Live (1975-present)
- Sesame Street (1969-present)
- Sex and the City (1998-2004)
- Shocking Behavior: Caught On Tape (1999-present)
- The Simpsons (1989-present)
- The Sopranos (1999-present)
- The Tonight Show (1954-present)
- Spongebob Squarepants (1999-present)
- VH-1 (1985-present)
- Wheel of Fortune (1975-present)
Ending this year
- Dharma & Greg (1997-2002)
- Family Guy (1999-2002)
- [[Spin City (1996-2002)
Births
Deaths
- January 13 - Ted Demme (37), film and television director (Blow, Beautiful Girls)
- February 28 - Mary Stuart, Soap opera actress
- March 27 - Milton Berle, comedian, actor
- June 5 - Dee Dee Ramone, 49, actor/songwriter of the Ramones
- December 5 - Roone Arledge, sports producer