See also: 2004 in television, other events of 2005, and the list of 'years in television'.

Events

• January 1 - DirecTV drops the Trio channel from its lineup. The network loses two-thirds of its 20 million viewers, putting in doubt the future of the NBC Universal channel.
• January 5 - The 35th anniversary episode of All My Children airs on ABC. The special episode, which brought back former characters Mark Dalton (Mark LaMura ) and Nick Davis (Larry Keith ), was also unique in that it was the last appearance of ailing actress Ruth Warrick. She died less than two weeks after the episode aired.
• January 8 - CBS airs the first episode of The Will , a reality series. Ratings for the show are so low, it becomes one of only a handful of series in American TV history to be cancelled after only one episode.
• February 2 - Paramount Television and UPN announce the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise. When the series leaves the air on May 13, it will bring to a close an 18-year, uninterrupted run of four consecutive Star Trek series dating back to 1987.
• February 6 - American Dad pilot episode aired on FOX.
• February 8 - Teachers' TV , run by the Department for Education and Skills, launched on Sky Digital (channel 686) and Freeview.
• February 19 - EastEnders celebrates its twentieth anniversary on the air, airing a special episode in which Dirty Den Watts is killed by his new wife Chrissie.
• February 23 - UKTV Style Gardens , a channel dedicated to gardening programmes, launched.
• February 26 - Sound TV, previously known as The Great British Television Channel, launched on Sky Digital (588).
• March 7 - ABC Australia launches its second TV station, available only to digital viewers, ABC2.
• March 26 - Nine years after its last new episode and over fifteen years since its last regular run, Doctor Who returns to BBC1 for a new season, the twenty-seventh in total since 1963. Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper star. An average 10.81 million viewers, over 40% of the watching audience, tune in, winning its timeslot and making it No. 3 BBC show and No. 7 across all channels for the week.
• April 2 - Digital channel BBC Four broadcasts a live re-make of the famous 1953 science-fiction drama The Quatermass Experiment. The production is the first live drama broadcast by the BBC for over twenty years, and draws BBC Four's second highest audience to date, with an average of 482,000 viewers.
• April 5 - The North American premiere of the new Doctor Who series occurs on the CBC in Canada, the first channel outside of BBC One in the UK to air the new show.
• April 8 - Nearly 13 million viewers watched Ken Barlow tie the knot with Deirdre Rachid on Coronation Street, one day before Prince Charles's wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles. The scheduling move echoed Ken and Deirdre's first marriage, which occurred two days before Charles's nuptials to Diana, Princess of Wales (see 1981 in television).
• April 8 - Live broadcast of the state funeral of Pope John Paul II.

Scheduled and expected events

• May 1 - Family Guy to return on FOX.
• June 30 - LOGO, a TV channel aimed at lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender adults, is scheduled to launch in the United States.
• August 1 - Current TV, a 24-hour youth-oriented news channel owned by the former U.S. vice president Al Gore, is scheduled to launch.
• September - Faze TV , a digital channel aimed at gay men, scheduled to launch in the United Kingdom.
• October - More4 , a digital channel from Channel 4 offering factual content, to launch.
• November 8 - Days of Our Lives celebrates its fortieth anniversary on the air.

Debuts (including scheduled)

• January 3 - Medium on NBC (2005-present).
• January 4 - Committed on NBC (2005-present).
• January 6 - Wickedly Perfect on CBS (2005-present).
• January 13 - Tilt on ESPN (2005-present).
• January 14 - Battlestar Galactica on SciFi in the US (2005-present).
• January 25 - NUMB3RS on CBS (2005-present).
• February 19 - Mew Mew Power (Tokyo Mew Mew in Japan and the manga version) debuts on 4Kids TV in the US (2005-present).
• March 3 - Law & Order: Trial by Jury on NBC (2005-present).
• March 24 - The Office (US version) premieres on NBC (2005-present).
• May 1 - American Dad on FOX (2005-present).
• June - Weeds on Showtime.

Television shows

• Meet the Press (1947-present).
• Candid Camera (1948-present).
• Guiding Light (1952-present).
• The Today Show (1952-present).
• Panorama (UK) (1953-present).
• Face the Nation (1954-present).
• The Tonight Show (1954-present).
• As the World Turns (1956-present).
• What the Papers Say (UK) (1956-present).
• The Sky at Night (UK) (1957-present).
• Blue Peter (UK) (1958-present).
• Grandstand (UK) (1958-present).
• Coronation Street (UK) (1960-present).
• Four Corners (Australia) (1961-present).
• The Late Late Show (Ireland) (1962-present).
• General Hospital (1963-present).
• Top of the Pops (UK) (1964-present).
• Days of Our Lives (1965-present).
• Play School (1966-present).
• The Money Programme (UK) (1966-present).
• 60 Minutes (1968-present).
• One Life to Live (1968-present).
• Sesame Street (1969-present).
• All My Children (1970-present).
• Monday Night Football (1970-present).
• Masterpiece Theatre (1971-present).
• Soul Train (1971-present).
• Emmerdale (UK) (1972-present).
• Newsround (UK) (1972-present).
• The Price Is Right (1972-present).
• Last of the Summer Wine (UK) (1973-present).
• The Young and the Restless (1973-present).
• Wish You Were Here...? (UK) (1974-present).
• Good Morning America (1975-present).
• Saturday Night Live (1975-present).
• the fifth estate (Canada) (1975-present).
• Wheel of Fortune (1975-present).
• 20/20 (1978-present).
• Grange Hill (UK) (1978-present).
• Entertainment Tonight (1981-present).
• Jeopardy! (1964-1975, 1984-present).
• The Bill (UK) (1984-present).
• EastEnders (UK) (1985-present).
• Neighbours (Australia) (1985-present).
• The Oprah Winfrey Show (1986-present).
• The Bold and the Beautiful (1987-present).
• Cops (1989-present).
• The Simpsons (1989-present).
• Law & Order (1990-present).
• The Jerry Springer Show (1991-present).
• Dateline NBC (1992-present).
• The Real World (1992-present).
• Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993-present).
• NYPD Blue (1993-present).
• The Late Show with David Letterman (1993-present).
• WWE Monday Night RAW (1993-present).
• ER (1994-present).
• JAG (1995-present).
• 7th Heaven (1996-present).
• Dexter's Laboratory (1996-present).
• Judge Judy (1996-present).
• The Daily Show (1996-present).
• Johnny Bravo (1997-present).
• King of the Hill (1997-present).
• South Park (1997-present).
• Stargate SG-1 (1997-present).
• The Wonderful World of Disney (1997-present).
• Charmed (1998-present).
• That '70s Show (1998-present).
• The King of Queens (1998-present).
• Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (UK) (1998-present).
• Will & Grace (1998-present).
• Family Feud (1976-1985, 1988-1995, 1999-present).
• Judging Amy (1999-present).
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999-present).
• Passions (1999-present).
• Rocket Power (1999-present).
• (1999-present).
• SpongeBob SquarePants (1999-present).
• Tenacious D (1999-present).
• The Sopranos (1999-present).
• The West Wing (1999-present).
• Third Watch (1999-present).
• Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (US) (1999-present).
• As Told by Ginger (2000-present).
• Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000-present).
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000-present).
• Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000-present).
• Malcolm in the Middle (2000-present).
• Survivor (2000-present).
• The Weakest Link (UK) (2000-present).
• Yes, Dear (2000-present).
• 24 (2001-present).
• According to Jim (2001-present).
• Adult Swim (2001-present).
• Alias (2001-present).
• Braceface (2001-present).
• Fear Factor (2001-present).
• Home Movies (1999, 2001-present).
• JR Digs (Canada) (2001-present).
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001-present).
• My Wife and Kids (2001-present).
• Pop Idol (UK) (2001-present).
• Scrubs (2001-present).
• Six Feet Under (2001-present).
• Smallville (2001-present).
• The Amazing Race (2001-present).
• The Bernie Mac Show (2001-present).
• The Fairly OddParents (2001-present).
• 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter (2002-present).
• Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2002-present).
• American Dreams (2002-present).
• American Idol: The Search for a Superstar (2002-present).
• Codename: Kids Next Door (2002-present).
• CSI: Miami (2002-present).
• I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! (UK) (2002-present).
• Kim Possible (2002-present).
• Less Than Perfect (2002-present).
• Spooks (UK) (2002-present).
• The Bachelor (2002-present).
• The George Lopez Show (2002-present).
• The Osbournes (2002-present).
• Without a Trace (2002-present).
• All Grown Up! (2003-present).
• Arrested Development (2003-present).
• Battlestar Galactica (UK) (2003-present).
• Carnivàle (2003-present)
• Chappelle's Show (2003-present).
• Cold Case (2003-present).
• Dead Like Me (2003-present).
• Eve (2003-present).
• Hope and Faith (2003-present).
• Joan of Arcadia (2003-present).
• Las Vegas (2003-present).
• Lilo & Stitch: The Series (2003-present).
• My Life as a Teenage Robot (2003-present).
• Navy NCIS (2003-present).
• Nip/Tuck (2003-present).
• One Tree Hill (2003-present).
• Penn & Teller: Bullshit! (2003-present).
• Postman Pat (UK) (1981, 1996, 2003-present).
• Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (2003-present).
• Reno 911! (2003-present).
• Romeo! (2003-present).
• Superstars (UK) (1975-1985, 2003-present).
• The O.C. (2003-present).
• Two and a Half Men (2003-present).
• Xiaolin Showdown (2003-present).
• Astro Boy (2004-present).
• Blue Collar TV (2004-present).
• Boston Legal (2004-present).
• Call for Help 2.0 (Canada) (2004-present).
• Corner Gas (Canada) (2004-present).
• CSI: New York (2004-present).
• Danny Phantom (2004-present).
• Desperate Housewives (2004-present).
• Green Wing (UK) (2004-present).
• Jack & Bobby (2004-present).
• Joey (2004-present).
• Lost (2004-present).
• Miguzi (2004-present).
• Quintuplets (2004-present).
• Shameless (UK) (2004-present).
• Stargate Atlantis (2004-present).
• The Apprentice (2004-present).
• Family Guy (1999-2002, 2005-present).
• Doctor Who (UK) (1963-1989, 1996, 2005-present).
• Kojak (1973-1978, 2005-present).

Ending this year

• May 13 - Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005).
• May 16 - Everybody Loves Raymond (1996-2005).

Deaths

• January 2 - Cyril Fletcher, British comedian, star of That's Life, (b. 1913).
• January 23 - Johnny Carson, 79, American comedian, host of The Tonight Show for 30 years.
• March 10 - Dave Allen, 68, Irish comedian, host of solo shows on BBC1 and ITV.
• March 25 - Paul Henning, 93, producer of The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, and Green Acres.