New Jersey Network

Generic billing for Channels 49 (Connecticut) & 50 (New Jersey)

NJN Logo

NJN Pledge Caption

A network of four channels covering the state:

WNJS Channel 23 (Camden)
WNJM Channel 50 (Montclair)
WNJT Channel 52 (Trenton)
WNJB Channel 58 (New Brunswick)

• 23 November 1983: The Five Doctors airs, 8.00 to 9.30pm.

• December 1983/January 1984: The Tom Baker stories commence screening.

• 16 February 1985: The newly-released package of all 24 Jon Pertwee stories makes its US debut. This package sees Spearhead from Space, Frontier in Space, Planet of the Daleks and Invasion of the Dinosaurs screening for the first time in the US.

• 1985: Channel 50 screens the series episodically on a weekly basis, with a complete 'movie' Saturday nights.

• 1985: The NJN-produced special Doctor Who's Who's Who airs.
  • NJN DOCUMENTARIES

• 31 August 1985: K9 and Company screens, followed by the documentary, Doctors Who Old and New.

• 7 September 1985: The 17 repackaged William Hartnell stories make their US debut on NJN, on Saturday, 9.00pm, in omnibus "movie" format.

• 26 October 1985: The Colin Baker stories make their US debut on NJN, screening one full story on the last Saturday of each month. (This means that the Bakers play between Hartnell and Troughton runs of episodes.)

• 1 February 1986: The repackaged five Patrick Troughton stories make their US debut on NJN.

• 22 February 1986: By design or purely coincidentally, The Two Doctors plays during the Troughton run.

• March 1986: Timelash and Revelation of the Daleks play between the two halves of The War Games!

• 1986: The series aired on Saturdays, at 9.00pm, during the year.

• A transmission error occurred during a repeat screening of The Ambassadors of Death: with 15 minutes or so left in the story, the screen faded to black and the end titles started. The station later showed the last 15 minutes three weeks later, after The Mind of Evil.

• 24 January 1987: The Trial of a Time Lord begins. NJN is one of the first US stations air this.

• 9 January 1988: The NJN-produced special "Doctor Who Then & Now" airs.
  • NJN DOCUMENTARIES

• January 1988: Time and the Rani screens.

"The Making of Dr Who Special", 19 November 1988

• 19 November 1988: Following a screening of The Five Doctors (7.00 to 9.00pm), Channel 50 screens "The Making of Doctor Who Special" (from 9.00 to 10.00pm), another of the specially-commissioned behind the scenes / interview specials produced by the Network. This one goes behinds the scenes during the making of Silver Nemesis. This was followed by another regular omnibus, from 10.00 till midnight.

• 3 March 1990: Season 26 of the Sylvester McCoy stories makes its US debut, with the four stories played in production order.

• 23 May to 29 August 1992: A 15-week Marathon of Dalek and Cybermen serials - but not The Tomb of the Cybermen, which is deemed too expensive! (The Tomb of the Cybermen did eventually screen at a later date.)

• 5 September 1992: The week after the Marathon, the series moves to an earlier 5.00pm timeslot.

• 13 August 1994: After over ten years of almost uninterrupted screenings of Doctor Who, the New Jersey Network drops the series; the final story to be broadcast is The Deadly Assassin. The reasons cited for this are declining viewers, dwindling donations and increased residual payment demands made by Lionheart.

• In the final years, stories were played episodically, rather than as omnibus "movies", weekly at 11.00pm.

• Between 1983 and 1994, NJN enjoyed runs of every surviving full story at least twice, with the Tom Baker stories played as many as six times.

Promos and Pledges

• PROMO / PLEDGE (1987): 1987 Commercial with John Nathan-Turner and Sylvester McCoy

• PROMOS / PLEDGES (1988): NJN PROMOS and PLEDGES from NOVEMBER 1988 (many filmed with cast and crew of Silver Nemesis).

• PROMOS / PLEDGES: PATRICK TROUGHTON on NJN