From
all of our friends at Wikipedia.com
Comedy
Central
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Comedy central)
Jump to: navigation,
search
|
Comedy Central |
|
|
|
|
|
Type |
|
|
Country |
|
|
Availability |
National |
|
Owner |
Comedy Partners LLC |
|
Key people |
|
|
Launch date |
|
|
|
|
Comedy
Central is a cable
television channel in the United
States. As its name implies, the channel carries predominantly comedy programming,
both original and syndicated. While once a small cable network that
few watched, in recent years it has grown to be one of the most popular cable
channels, earning the praise of many entertainment-based media along the way.
Contents[hide] |
[edit]
History
In
November of 1989, Time Warner, owners of HBO, launched The Comedy Channel as the first cable channel
devoted exclusively to comedy-based programming. Five months later, Viacom (who owned MTV, VH1, and Nickelodeon)
launched an edgier rival channel called HA!. After two years of limited distribution, the two channels
merged into one, relaunching, fittingly, on April
Fool's Day 1991 as CTV: The Comedy Network. However,
trademark issues with the Canadian network CTV forced the merged channel to rebrand itself Comedy Central
on June 1, 1991 (coincidentally, the Canadian channel The Comedy Network is owned by Bell
Globemedia, which also owns the Canadian CTV, of which both names were used
on the American merged network). Viacom bought out Time Warner's half in April 2003
for $1.225 billion.
From
the 1980s through
mid-1990s, much of
Comedy Central's and its predecessors programming consists of comedy
movies and stand up comedians. With the exception of cult
favorite Mystery Science Theater 3000, the
channel had a relatively small viewership. A notable early success was Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher,
which after showing promise on Comedy Central was quickly snapped up by the ABC network. The channel made a
breakthrough when South Park premiered in 1997. The first major cable show to carry the TV-MA rating for mature audiences, the
show was too controversial to get picked up by a mainstream network. As
word-of-mouth spread, the number of people who requested that Comedy Central be
added to their cable systems increased, and the channel became available in
over 50% of American homes by 1998.
The
success of
Since
2003, Comedy Central has created a tradition of "roasting" comedians
in tradition of the
In
late 2004, it was reported that the top four rated
shows on Comedy Central, in order, were South Park,
Chappelle's Show, The
Daily Show, and Reno 911!. Shortly thereafter, Dave
Chappelle famously backed out of the anticipated third season of Chappelle's
Show; meanwhile, The Daily Show continued to climb in ratings. In October
2005, on the occasion of a new three-year contract for South Park
and the launch of The Colbert Report, it was reported that
On April 5, 2006, in a controversial two part episode arc
titled Cartoon Wars Part I and Cartoon Wars Part II, South Park
touched the issue of the recent Muslim protest
over the Danish
comic strips depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad. The image of Muhammad did not appear in the
episode. On April
13, 2006, Comedy
Central issued a statement [1]
which appears to confirm that the network prohibited the show's creators from
airing an image of Muhammad. The statement reads, "In light of recent
world events, we feel we made the right decision." An anonymous source
close to the show indicated that
[edit]
Previous logos
|
The Comedy Channel Logo. |
A Promo For Mystery Science Theater 3000 On CTV: The Comedy Network. |
Original Comedy Central Logo. |
Comedy Central Logo From 1992. |
|
Current Comedy Central Logo since 2000. |
|
|
|
[edit]
Notable original programming
[edit]
Current
[edit]
Animated
- Drawn
Together (2004-present)
- Freak Show (2006-present)
- South
Park (1997-present)
[edit]
Game Shows
- Distraction (
[edit]
Reality Shows
- Dog Bites Man (2006-present)
- Reno
911! (2003-present)
[edit]
Sketch Comedy
- Mind
of Mencia (2005-present)
[edit]
Talk Shows/Variety
- The
Daily Show (1996-present)
- The Colbert Report (2005-present)
- The Showbiz Show with David
Spade (2005-present)
[edit]
Standup Comedy
- Comedy Central Presents (1998-present)
- Friday Night Stand Up With
Greg Giraldo (2006-present),
replaces Weekends at the D.L.
- Premium
Blend (1997-present)
[edit]
Past
[edit]
Animated
- Bob and Margaret (1998-2001) (co-produced with Nelvana)
- Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist (1995-1999)
- Kid
Notorious (2003)
[edit]
Clip Shows
- The Higgins Boys and Gruber (1999)
- Short Attention Span Theater (1989-1994)
- Shorties Watching Shorties (2004)
- Stand-Up Sitdown with Paul
Provenza
[edit]
Game Shows
- Battlebots (2000-2002)
- Beat
the Geeks
(2001-2002)
- Don't Forget Your Toothbrush (2000)
- Let's
Bowl (season 2)
(2001-2002)
- Win Ben Stein's Money (1997-2003)
- VS. (game show) (hosted by Greg
Proops, 1999)
[edit]
Reality Shows
- Comedians of Comedy (2005)
- Con (2005)
- Crossballs (2004)
- I'm
with Busey
(2003)
- Straight Plan for the Gay Man (2004)
- Wanda
Does It (2004)
[edit]
Sitcoms
- Frank
Leaves For The Orient (1999)
- Strangers With Candy (1999-2000)
- Strip
Mall (2000-2001)
- That's My Bush! (2001)
[edit]
Sketch Comedy
- Chappelle's Show (2003-2006)
- Crank
Yankers
(2002-2005 Comedy Central)
- Exit 57 (1995-1996)
- The Hollow Men (2005)
- Stella (2005)
- Trigger Happy TV (2003)
- TV
Funhouse
(2000-2001)
- Upright Citizens Brigade (1998-2000)
- The Vacant Lot (1994)
[edit]
Standup Comedy
- The A List (1992-93)
- Comic Justice (1993)
- Comic Remix
- Stand-Up Stand-Up (1992-1995)
[edit]
Talk Shows/Variety
- The Chris Wylde
Show
(2001)
- Comics Only hosted by Paul
Provenza and featuring Fred Wolf
- The Graham Norton Effect (2004)
- Insomniac with Dave Attell (2001-2003)
- The
Man Show
(1999-2004)
- Night After Night with Allan
Havey
(1989-1992)
- Politically Incorrect (1993-2002) (later on ABC)
- Too Late with Adam Carolla (2005)
- Tough
Crowd
(2003-2004)
- Turn Ben Stein On (1999-2001)
- Viva
Variety
(1996-1998)
- Weekends at the D.L. (Hosted by D.L.
Hughley) (2005)
[edit]
Other
- Mystery Science Theater 3000 (seasons 1—7) (1988-1996)
- Sports Monster (1990-1991)
- Jump Cuts (2004)
- The Sweet Spot with Bill Murray
[edit]
Notable non-original programming
- Absolutely Fabulous
- Banzai
- Beavis and Butt-head (briefly around the release of the Beavis
and Butt-head: The Mike Judge Collection, Volume 1 DVD collction)
- The Benny Hill Show (now on BBC
America)
- Blue
Collar TV
- Bob
& Margaret
(British version)
- The
Critic
- Drew Carey's Green Screen Show
- Dilbert
- Duckman
- Futurama (reruns currently air on Adult
Swim; reruns and 13 new episodes will air in 2008 on Comedy
Central)
- Kids in the Hall
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien (no longer syndicated)
- MADtv
- Monty Python's Flying Circus (now on BBC America and PBS)
- Mr. Show with Bob and David
- Saturday Night Live (now on E!)
- Scrubs — starting Fall 2006 [2]
- Soap
- Sports
Night
- The Tick (animated series) (Now On Jetix On Toon
Disney)
- The Tracey Ullman Show
- Travel
Sick
- Trigger Happy TV (British
version)
- Whose Line Is It Anyway? (British version)
- Wonder
Showzen
- Clerks: The Animated Series (no longer syndicated)
[edit]
External link
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy_Central"
Categories: Comedy
| MTV Networks | American television networks
| 1991 establishments
Views
Personal tools
Navigation
- Main Page
- Community Portal
- Featured articles
- Current events
- Recent changes
- Random article
- Help
- Contact Wikipedia
- Donations
Search
Toolbox
- What links here
- Related changes
- Upload file
- Special pages
- Printable version
- Permanent link
- Cite this article
In other languages
- This page was last modified 03:36, 27 August
2006.
- All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free
Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.)
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. - Privacy policy
- About
Wikipedia
- Disclaimers