2003 in American television
See also: 2002 in television, other events of 2003, 2004 in television and the list of 'years in television'.
Events
- February 16 - The landmark 300th episode of The Simpsons airs.
- Late February-March - Talk show host David Letterman is forced to take a few weeks off from his Late Show due to an illness. A string of celebrities guest host for Letterman while he's away including Bruce Willis, Regis Philbin, Will Ferrell and Elvis Costello.
- November 10 - The 4000th episode of Wheel of Fortune since the pairing of host and hostess Pat Sajak and Vanna White airs.
- Gary Coleman, former star of Diff'rent Strokes, is one of many candidates for Governor of California in the gubernatorial recall election. He comes in 8th place.
Debuts
- All Grown Up!, the Rugrats spinoff
- Eve
- Las Vegas
- Nip/Tuck
- Two and a Half Men
- Whoopi, with Whoopi Goldberg
Popular Television Shows
- Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2002-present)
- All My Children (1970-present)
- American Idol: The Search For A Superstar (2002-present)
- As Told By Ginger - (2000-present)
- Braceface (2001-present)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
- Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000-present)
- Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000-present)
- Cops (1989-present)
- Dharma & Greg (1997-2002)
- Everybody Loves Raymond (1996-2005)
- The Fairly Oddparents (2001-present)
- Farscape last season (1999-2003)
- 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 OC Premiered (2003-present)
- The Osbournes (2002-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)
- Spongebob Squarepants (1999-present)
- The Tonight Show (1954-present)
- VH-1 (1985-present)
- Wheel of Fortune (1975-present)
Births
Deaths
- January 12 - Maurice Gibb, 53, actor/songwriter of the Bee-Gees
- January 23 - Nell Carter
- February 27 - Fred Rogers, TV's Mister Rogers of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
- August 3 - Neil Gormet
- September 11 - John Ritter, known mostly as Jack Tripper from Three's Company, but at the time was involved in the sitcom 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter and the cartoon Clifford the Big Red Dog
- November 9 - Art Carney