January 16, 1995: UPN Is Launched

January 16, 1995: UPN, the United Paramount Network, is launched by Paramount Pictures, just 5 days after the launch of The WB. Its New York station was WWOR-Channel 9. Its first show: Star Trek: Voyager.

The 3 previous live-action Star Trek shows -- Star Trek (often now called "The Original Series"), Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine -- aired on independent stations that, by this point, were part of The WB. UPN were smart enough to not further confuse things by running Voyager on the same night as the still-running Deep Space Nine.

The show was the 1st Trek show with a female lead, with Captain Kathryn Janeway forced to join forces with a rebel cell in order to bring the crew of the starship USS Voyager back from the Delta Quadrant: At top speed, it would take them 70 years to get home.

French-Canadian actress Geneviève Bujold was originally cast, but, though accomplished in film, she was not used to the shooting schedule of a TV series, she left after 2 days of filming. She was replaced by Kate Mulgrew.

A few days before the premiere, I saw an ad for Voyager on a billboard at the New Brunswick train station, and someone had scrawled "TUVOK RULES!" on it, a reference to Tim Russ' Lieutenant (later Lieutenant Commander) Tuvok, the Voyager's Vulcan Chief of Security and the closest confidant of Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew, playing the 1st female lead of a Star Trek series). So I wrote next to it, "An emotional outburst? Highly illogical."

But Voyager wasn't like most UPN shows. For one thing, like The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, it lasted 7 seasons. But, for the most part, the network specifically targeted the African-American audience. Sitcoms like Moesha and its spinoff The Parkers, Malcom & Eddie and In the House, became popular. So did later sitcoms like Girlfriends, The Hughleys, One on One, All of Us, Half & Half, Eve, and Everybody Hates Chris.

But 2 black-themed sitcoms became albatrosses around the network's neck. Homeboys in Outer Space centered around 2 astronauts, Tyberius "Ty" Walker (Flex Alexander) and Morris Clay (Darryl Bell), who flew around the universe in a winged car in the 23rd Century. The car, nicknamed the Space Hoopty, was a cross between a lowrider and an 18-wheeler, and was piloted by a talking female computer named Loquatia. The show was grounded after 21 episodes.

Then, in 1998, came The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer. Lampooning Abraham Lincoln is one thing. Lampooning the American Civil War is another. But this sitcom lampooned slavery. It went too far, and only 9 episodes were filmed, with only 4 being aired before it was canceled.

On September 18, 2006, both admitting failure, the WB and UPN merged to form The CW.

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January 16, 1995 was a Monday. Jonathan Allen, the Pro Bowl defensive tackle for the Washington Commanders, was born.

Baseball was out of season. The NFL's Conference Championship Games had been played the day before, won by the San Francisco 49ers and the San Diego Chargers. And the NHL team owners' lockout of the players meant that the season wouldn't start for another 4 days.

There were 8 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the New Jersey Nets, 107-90 at Madison Square Garden. Patrick Ewing scored 35 points. Remember: The Nets, now in Brooklyn, consider the Knicks their arch-rivals, but the feeling is not mutual.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 116-110 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Joe Dumars scored 35 points.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Chicago Bulls, 109-101 at the USAir Arena (formerly the Capital Centre) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Miami Heat, 99-95 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Utah Jazz beat the Indiana Pacers, 99-98 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. Karl Malone led all scorers on the day with 42 points.

* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Houston Rockets, 94-75 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Denver Nuggets, 77-73 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 96-88 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Remember: The Clippers consider the Lakers their arch-rivals, but the feeling is not mutual.