Dragon Ball on American TV - A Concise History

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I thought it would be a good idea to make a topic on this because the history of Dragon Ball in the US is so overwhelming, and there doesn't seem to be any place with all the broadcast dates, timeslots etc. I've put together what I could find and remember from my brief time living in the US in 1999.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Harmony Gold dub of OG Dragon Ball aired on WGPR & WGBS. Dragon Ball Z aired on WB & UPN affiliate networks from 1996-1998, followed by Cartoon Network from 1998 to 2008.

It is not known exactly what dates the episodes of the Harmony Gold dub aired, although The Daily Journal from 23rd December 1989 lists the movie as having aired on 28th December from 20:00 to 22:00 on Channel 57. The earliest known date of the Harmony Gold dub airing was the week of January 1st-5th 1990 at 15:00 in Detroit.

Nippon Golden Network in Hawaii premiered the original Dragon Ball on 5th January 1992, with the run concluding on 11th December 1994. Dragon Ball Z debuted the next day at 12th December 1994 at 6:30am and airing over 100 episodes. Both of these airings were in Japanese with English subtitles. The last recorded broadcast of Dragon Ball Z on this channel was on 8th August 2000 at 6:00am. The show's Monday evening and Tuesday morning timeslots were taken up by Dragon Ball GT the following week.

The Latin Spanish dub also aired on Telemundo with previews coming before the credits, and was used as an additional audio track on Funimation's Ultimate Uncut DVDs of Dragon Ball Z episodes 1-27 in 2005.

International Channel aired Z in Japanese without subtitles on a weekly basis, Freeza arc was ongoing in summer 1998. The International Channel aired new episodes of Dragon Ball Z Sunday nights, initially at 21:00 but later switched to 22:30 and also had reruns on Thursday mornings at 01:00.

Funimation aired their test dub of OG Dragon Ball where Goku was named "Zero" in August 1995 at a 1pm timeslot on KtZZ. Funimation's first widely available dub of OG Dragon Ball aired on September 9th 1995 on WUHF, virtual channel 31, a Fox-affiliated station in Rochester, New York, owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group from Hunt Valley, Maryland. It is known that this dub aired at very early timeslots, which led to it not becoming as popular as it could have been.

The debut date for Funimation's English dub of Dragon Ball Z is disputed. The show did air on Saturday, September 14, 1996 on WXIN, an Indiana-based Fox affiliate, although given the Statesman Journal from Salem, Oregon lists 13th September it is possible that Z may have aired on channel 49 KPDX, another Fox affiliate. Additionally the 7th September 1996 issue of the Albuquerque Journal from New Mexico lists a 7:30am timeslot for the show on UPN affiliate KASY (channel 50) on that day, although considering programming changes are possible this is not definitive. WB affiliate WAWB (channel 65) aired the show Saturdays at 07:30, this station later became a UPN affiliate, and a CW affiliate in 1997 and 2006 respectively, but it's not known if Dragon Ball was rerun on either. Funimation's original Z dub was produced in conjunction with Ocean Studios with music outsourced to Ron Wasserman, often credited as Shuki Levy, this dub ran for 2 broadcast seasons, first season was episodes 1-26, second season covered episodes 27-53 and the 3-episode version of 'Tree of Might'.

Examples of timeslots Dragon Ball Z received when it aired on affiliate networks include Sundays at 8:30am on WPIX, Saturdays at 7:00am on KCAL, Saturdays at 6:30am on WPWR, Sundays at 9:30am on KOFY, Sundays at 9:30am on WLVI and Saturdays at 9:00am on WUPA.

Dragon Ball Z was moved to the hour timeslot on Sundays on network TV in the fall of 1997, part in due to the massive success of its first season in 1996, as well as Saban's prowess. Funimation an Saban parted ways in early 1998, but it wasn't long before Dragon Ball Z would be moved to Cartoon Network and their "Toonami" block for the September of that year. The last syndicated episode was shown May 23rd 1998, and the show premiered on Toonami on August 31st 1998, airing weekdays, with the exception of a few Fridays where it was absent. Episode 10, which didn't air in syndication finally premiered on Toonami on September 14, 1998.

Cartoon Network aired the three episode version of Tree of Might on 29 January 1999 at 16:00 EST, which took the place of TV episode slots during the original syndication run of DBZ season 2. World's Strongest and Dead Zone aired at 5 February 1999 and 12 February 1999 respectively at the same timeslot.

September 13, 1999 was the beginning of the inhouse Z dub on Cartoon Network, the last 2 episodes of season 2 ran before this.

Original Dragon Ball began airing on Cartoon Network's Toonami block on August 20, 2001.

The Demon King Piccolo saga began on 1st September 2001 with new episodes at 17:30 EST. The final US season covered episodes 102 to 153.

Dragon Ball GT began airing on Cartoon Network on 3rd October 2003 at 18:30, and airing every Friday beginning from the Funimation recap episode 16 'A Grand Problem'.

Dragon Ball Z Uncut started in June 2005 airing at 10:30pm Monday-Thursday nights just before Adult Swim. From 15th October 2005, Dragon Ball Z was moved from this slot to an earlier slot (possibly 19:30) to rerun these uncut episodes. The entire uncut run covered 9 episodes week by week until 21st January 2006 when they switched back to the original edited Z dub

In late 2003 the Z movies were shown on Toonami with the US replacement scores. Z movies 1-3 aired with the Pioneer versions, Z movies 4-6 and movies 12-13 used Funimation's inhouse cast. Edits were produced for Z movies 7-11 but never aired.

The Dragon Ball Z "features" ran every Friday in September 2003 at 18:00 EST. Dates for the movies and specials premiering are as follows:
- 5th September : Bardock TV special
- 12th September : Trunks TV special
- 19th September : Cooler's Revenge
- 26th September : Return of Cooler

Fusion Reborn aired Saturday November 11, 2006 and Wrath of the Dragon aired on Saturday December 2, 2006.

Dragon Ball returned to US TV on May 24, 2010 when Funimation's English dub of Kai premiered on Nicktoons. Nicktoons aired a version of Funimation's Dragon Ball Kai dub edited by Ocean Studios that featured Kenji Yamamoto's score up to episode 63. Similarly Kai aired on the CW's Toonzai block beginning on August 14, 2010. CW4Kids aired the temporary Kikuchi replacement score that was used right after TOEI's announcement of Yamamoto's plagiarism.

The initial US broadcast of Kai ended on 1st January 2012, although the show would continue in reruns on Nicktoons.

Nicktoons began airing Dragon Ball GT on January 16, 2012 at 19:00, using the edited Funimation dub seen on Toonami less than a decade previously.

With regards to Kai at this time, in April 2012 Saban purchased 4Kids' assets, which included the first 52 episodes of Kai, although no new episodes were yet licensed.

In early 2013 Kai was moved from its 02:00 timeslot on Nicktoons to two afternoon double bills at 15:00, 15:30 and 18:00 and 18:30. On 12th April 2013 it was confirmed Nicktoons had not renewed their contract with Funimation to continue broadcasting Kai.

Nicktoons aired History of Trunks on 8th February 2013 at 20:00 followed by the premiere of Kai episode 98.

From May 2013 Nicktoons began to air the Dragon Ball Z movies, which were shown with Funimation's replacement scores.

On 24th May 2014 Funimation announced Kai would be broadcast on Toonami in fall of that year, although The Final Chapters was still yet to be announced officially.

Ever since 2014 and 2017 Dragon Ball Kai and Dragon Ball Super respectively have been airing on Adult Swim. Dragon Ball Super premiered alongside Dragon Ball Kai : The Final Chapters. Both series began airing on January 7, 2017. The Final Chapters and Super wrapped up on June 23, 2018 and October 5, 2019 respectively.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I'm sure there is plenty I have missed, but if anyone else has anything to add or memories, etc feel free to do so and discuss.

[Vidsigma]

Slight correction, but the version of movie 3 Toonami aired was not the Pioneer version, but the Saban version. Easiest source for me to back this up is one of the promos that aired for it.

[ikaos]

Funimation aired their test dub of OG Dragon Ball where Goku was named "Zero" in August 1995 at a 1pm timeslot on KtZZ.

I have never heard of the test dub actually airing. Do you have a source for this?

Cartoon Network aired the three episode version of Tree of Might on 29 January 1999 at 16:00 EST, which took the place of TV episode slots during the original syndication run of DBZ season 2.

CN never aired the 3 episode version, they always ran the movie version, although as the previous commentor stated it is the same Saban dub. The 3 episode version aired in syndication during a break in season 2, between "Immortality Denied" and "Big Trouble for Bulma", in November 1997.

[Someoneimportant]

Funimation aired their test dub of OG Dragon Ball where Goku was named "Zero" in August 1995 at a 1pm timeslot on KtZZ.

I have never heard of the test dub actually airing. Do you have a source for this?

Cartoon Network aired the three episode version of Tree of Might on 29 January 1999 at 16:00 EST, which took the place of TV episode slots during the original syndication run of DBZ season 2.

CN never aired the 3 episode version, they always ran the movie version, although as the previous commentor stated it is the same Saban dub. The 3 episode version aired in syndication during a break in season 2, between "Immortality Denied" and "Big Trouble for Bulma", in November 1997.

Thank you, I was just about to post this too.

[Gilby1385]

Funimation aired their test dub of OG Dragon Ball where Goku was named "Zero" in August 1995 at a 1pm timeslot on KtZZ.

Are you sure you didn't get that mixed up with their final version of "Curse of the Blood Rubies" that reverted the name changes?

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Slight correction, but the version of movie 3 Toonami aired was not the Pioneer version, but the Saban version. Easiest source for me to back this up is one of the promos that aired for it.

Brilliant, thank you for this. I'll update in the spreadsheet.

Funimation aired their test dub of OG Dragon Ball where Goku was named "Zero" in August 1995 at a 1pm timeslot on KtZZ.

I have never heard of the test dub actually airing. Do you have a source for this?

I'm still looking for one, I can't remember where I read this but it probably was a conflation of this test dub circulating amongst certain fans (perhaps hoarders) and the BLT dub we know airing at that time.

Funimation aired their test dub of OG Dragon Ball where Goku was named "Zero" in August 1995 at a 1pm timeslot on KtZZ.

Are you sure you didn't get that mixed up with their final version of "Curse of the Blood Rubies" that reverted the name changes?

I believe this was a mixup, thanks for pointing this out. It does seem unlikely the test dub would have aired.

Also, thanks to Tian for this thread, which has some great info about the Nicktoons airings.

[Json1233]

Speaking of the "official" premiere episodes from the Z series that was on Syndication. Is there any particular reason why episodes premieres starting on September 13, 1996 a Friday but then on episode 16 debuts, February 1, 1997 that day is a Saturday and every episode later debut on Saturdays.

[VegettoEX]

Speaking of the "official" premiere episodes from the Z series that was on Syndication. Is there any particular reason why episodes premieres starting on September 13, 1996 a Friday but then on episode 16 debuts, February 1, 1997 that day is a Saturday and every episode later debut on Saturdays.

Two quick notes:

Be careful about responding to posts that are multiple years old with no activity (this is called necroposting and is highlighted in our community guidelines)…

… and then this feature on our actual website covers everything you need to know with regard to your question!

https://www.kanzenshuu.com/features/the ... ebut-date/

[Json1233]

Speaking of the "official" premiere episodes from the Z series that was on Syndication. Is there any particular reason why episodes premieres starting on September 13, 1996 a Friday but then on episode 16 debuts, February 1, 1997 that day is a Saturday and every episode later debut on Saturdays.

Two quick notes:

Be careful about responding to posts that are multiple years old with no activity (this is called necroposting and is highlighted in our community guidelines)…

… and then this feature on our actual website covers everything you need to know with regard to your question!

https://www.kanzenshuu.com/features/the ... ebut-date/

The article refers to the debut day of Z and while I am referring to the shift to episodes 1 through 15 being debuted on a Friday while episode 16 to at least end of Season 1 being referred to as debuting on a Saturday.

[MasenkoHA]

Speaking of the "official" premiere episodes from the Z series that was on Syndication. Is there any particular reason why episodes premieres starting on September 13, 1996 a Friday but then on episode 16 debuts, February 1, 1997 that day is a Saturday and every episode later debut on Saturdays.

Two quick notes:

Be careful about responding to posts that are multiple years old with no activity (this is called necroposting and is highlighted in our community guidelines)…

… and then this feature on our actual website covers everything you need to know with regard to your question!

https://www.kanzenshuu.com/features/the ... ebut-date/

The article refers to the debut day of Z and while I am referring to the shift to episodes 1 through 15 being debuted on a Friday while episode 16 to at least end of Season 1 being referred to as debuting on a Saturday.

Reading the article it sounds like most local affiliates were airing Dragon Ball Z on a Saturday or Sunday. The affiliates airing episodes on a Friday might have just moved to Saturday at the request of Saban or something.

It's not like Dragon Ball Z aired on a specific network at a specific time nationwide so you're not going to find an answer that satisfies you

[VegettoEX]

So, again, all of those dates are "correct" at the same time -- depending on where you lived and which syndication block you were watching, the series aired on a different day at a different time.

When I lived in Maine, it aired on Saturday. When I lived in Pennsylvania, it aired on Sunday.

I don't know which list of episodes that has which list of dates you're referring to, but the person coordinating it clearly didn't understand what they were looking at and didn't have the necessary context to be consistent with what they listed out.

[Json1233]

Two quick notes:

Be careful about responding to posts that are multiple years old with no activity (this is called necroposting and is highlighted in our community guidelines)…

… and then this feature on our actual website covers everything you need to know with regard to your question!

https://www.kanzenshuu.com/features/the ... ebut-date/

The article refers to the debut day of Z and while I am referring to the shift to episodes 1 through 15 being debuted on a Friday while episode 16 to at least end of Season 1 being referred to as debuting on a Saturday.

Reading the article it sounds like most local affiliates were airing Dragon Ball Z on a Saturday or Sunday. The affiliates airing episodes on a Friday might have just moved to Saturday at the request of Saban or something.

It's not like Dragon Ball Z aired on a specific network at a specific time nationwide so you're not going to find an answer that satisfies you

The premiere episode episodes being shifted is something I'm trying to find to be recorded somewhere to match what is recorded as the "official premieres" I was just wondering if there was an answer that I was just oblivious to.

[ikaos]

Funimation aired their test dub of OG Dragon Ball where Goku was named "Zero" in August 1995 at a 1pm timeslot on KtZZ.

I have never heard of the test dub actually airing. Do you have a source for this?

Cartoon Network aired the three episode version of Tree of Might on 29 January 1999 at 16:00 EST, which took the place of TV episode slots during the original syndication run of DBZ season 2.

CN never aired the 3 episode version, they always ran the movie version, although as the previous commentor stated it is the same Saban dub. The 3 episode version aired in syndication during a break in season 2, between "Immortality Denied" and "Big Trouble for Bulma", in November 1997.

This post is ancient but since it popped up I should correct myself, Toonami did air Movie 3 in 3 parts, specifically on April 19-21 1999, and again on June 22-24. It did however premiere on Toonami on Jan 29 1999 as one movie.

[Cure Dragon 255]

I thought it would be a good idea to make a topic on this because the history of Dragon Ball in the US is so overwhelming, and there doesn't seem to be any place with all the broadcast dates, timeslots etc. I've put together what I could find and remember from my brief time living in the US in 1999.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Harmony Gold dub of OG Dragon Ball aired on WGPR & WGBS. Dragon Ball Z aired on WB & UPN affiliate networks from 1996-1998, followed by Cartoon Network from 1998 to 2008.

It is not known exactly what dates the episodes of the Harmony Gold dub aired, although The Daily Journal from 23rd December 1989 lists the movie as having aired on 28th December from 20:00 to 22:00 on Channel 57. The earliest known date of the Harmony Gold dub airing was the week of January 1st-5th 1990 at 15:00 in Detroit.

Nippon Golden Network in Hawaii premiered the original Dragon Ball on 5th January 1992, with the run concluding on 11th December 1994. Dragon Ball Z debuted the next day at 12th December 1994 at 6:30am and airing over 100 episodes. Both of these airings were in Japanese with English subtitles. The last recorded broadcast of Dragon Ball Z on this channel was on 8th August 2000 at 6:00am. The show's Monday evening and Tuesday morning timeslots were taken up by Dragon Ball GT the following week.

The Latin Spanish dub also aired on Telemundo with previews coming before the credits, and was used as an additional audio track on Funimation's Ultimate Uncut DVDs of Dragon Ball Z episodes 1-27 in 2005.

International Channel aired Z in Japanese without subtitles on a weekly basis, Freeza arc was ongoing in summer 1998. The International Channel aired new episodes of Dragon Ball Z Sunday nights, initially at 21:00 but later switched to 22:30 and also had reruns on Thursday mornings at 01:00.

Funimation aired their test dub of OG Dragon Ball where Goku was named "Zero" in August 1995 at a 1pm timeslot on KtZZ. Funimation's first widely available dub of OG Dragon Ball aired on September 9th 1995 on WUHF, virtual channel 31, a Fox-affiliated station in Rochester, New York, owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group from Hunt Valley, Maryland. It is known that this dub aired at very early timeslots, which led to it not becoming as popular as it could have been.

The debut date for Funimation's English dub of Dragon Ball Z is disputed. The show did air on Saturday, September 14, 1996 on WXIN, an Indiana-based Fox affiliate, although given the Statesman Journal from Salem, Oregon lists 13th September it is possible that Z may have aired on channel 49 KPDX, another Fox affiliate. Additionally the 7th September 1996 issue of the Albuquerque Journal from New Mexico lists a 7:30am timeslot for the show on UPN affiliate KASY (channel 50) on that day, although considering programming changes are possible this is not definitive. WB affiliate WAWB (channel 65) aired the show Saturdays at 07:30, this station later became a UPN affiliate, and a CW affiliate in 1997 and 2006 respectively, but it's not known if Dragon Ball was rerun on either. Funimation's original Z dub was produced in conjunction with Ocean Studios with music outsourced to Ron Wasserman, often credited as Shuki Levy, this dub ran for 2 broadcast seasons, first season was episodes 1-26, second season covered episodes 27-53 and the 3-episode version of 'Tree of Might'.

Examples of timeslots Dragon Ball Z received when it aired on affiliate networks include Sundays at 8:30am on WPIX, Saturdays at 7:00am on KCAL, Saturdays at 6:30am on WPWR, Sundays at 9:30am on KOFY, Sundays at 9:30am on WLVI and Saturdays at 9:00am on WUPA.

Dragon Ball Z was moved to the hour timeslot on Sundays on network TV in the fall of 1997, part in due to the massive success of its first season in 1996, as well as Saban's prowess. Funimation an Saban parted ways in early 1998, but it wasn't long before Dragon Ball Z would be moved to Cartoon Network and their "Toonami" block for the September of that year. The last syndicated episode was shown May 23rd 1998, and the show premiered on Toonami on August 31st 1998, airing weekdays, with the exception of a few Fridays where it was absent. Episode 10, which didn't air in syndication finally premiered on Toonami on September 14, 1998.

Cartoon Network aired the three episode version of Tree of Might on 29 January 1999 at 16:00 EST, which took the place of TV episode slots during the original syndication run of DBZ season 2. World's Strongest and Dead Zone aired at 5 February 1999 and 12 February 1999 respectively at the same timeslot.

September 13, 1999 was the beginning of the inhouse Z dub on Cartoon Network, the last 2 episodes of season 2 ran before this.

Original Dragon Ball began airing on Cartoon Network's Toonami block on August 20, 2001.

The Demon King Piccolo saga began on 1st September 2001 with new episodes at 17:30 EST. The final US season covered episodes 102 to 153.

Dragon Ball GT began airing on Cartoon Network on 3rd October 2003 at 18:30, and airing every Friday beginning from the Funimation recap episode 16 'A Grand Problem'.

Dragon Ball Z Uncut started in June 2005 airing at 10:30pm Monday-Thursday nights just before Adult Swim. From 15th October 2005, Dragon Ball Z was moved from this slot to an earlier slot (possibly 19:30) to rerun these uncut episodes. The entire uncut run covered 9 episodes week by week until 21st January 2006 when they switched back to the original edited Z dub

In late 2003 the Z movies were shown on Toonami with the US replacement scores. Z movies 1-3 aired with the Pioneer versions, Z movies 4-6 and movies 12-13 used Funimation's inhouse cast. Edits were produced for Z movies 7-11 but never aired.

The Dragon Ball Z "features" ran every Friday in September 2003 at 18:00 EST. Dates for the movies and specials premiering are as follows:
- 5th September : Bardock TV special
- 12th September : Trunks TV special
- 19th September : Cooler's Revenge
- 26th September : Return of Cooler

Fusion Reborn aired Saturday November 11, 2006 and Wrath of the Dragon aired on Saturday December 2, 2006.

Dragon Ball returned to US TV on May 24, 2010 when Funimation's English dub of Kai premiered on Nicktoons. Nicktoons aired a version of Funimation's Dragon Ball Kai dub edited by Ocean Studios that featured Kenji Yamamoto's score up to episode 63. Similarly Kai aired on the CW's Toonzai block beginning on August 14, 2010. CW4Kids aired the temporary Kikuchi replacement score that was used right after TOEI's announcement of Yamamoto's plagiarism.

The initial US broadcast of Kai ended on 1st January 2012, although the show would continue in reruns on Nicktoons.

Nicktoons began airing Dragon Ball GT on January 16, 2012 at 19:00, using the edited Funimation dub seen on Toonami less than a decade previously.

With regards to Kai at this time, in April 2012 Saban purchased 4Kids' assets, which included the first 52 episodes of Kai, although no new episodes were yet licensed.

In early 2013 Kai was moved from its 02:00 timeslot on Nicktoons to two afternoon double bills at 15:00, 15:30 and 18:00 and 18:30. On 12th April 2013 it was confirmed Nicktoons had not renewed their contract with Funimation to continue broadcasting Kai.

Nicktoons aired History of Trunks on 8th February 2013 at 20:00 followed by the premiere of Kai episode 98.

From May 2013 Nicktoons began to air the Dragon Ball Z movies, which were shown with Funimation's replacement scores.

On 24th May 2014 Funimation announced Kai would be broadcast on Toonami in fall of that year, although The Final Chapters was still yet to be announced officially.

Ever since 2014 and 2017 Dragon Ball Kai and Dragon Ball Super respectively have been airing on Adult Swim. Dragon Ball Super premiered alongside Dragon Ball Kai : The Final Chapters. Both series began airing on January 7, 2017. The Final Chapters and Super wrapped up on June 23, 2018 and October 5, 2019 respectively.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I'm sure there is plenty I have missed, but if anyone else has anything to add or memories, etc feel free to do so and discuss.

I bet Vegetto EX must be wondering "Why do these weirdos from OUTSIDE the USA CARE so much about this sort of stuff! They dont live here!" And to be honest I cant really blame him if he does feel this way, but he doesnt really mind... unless you REALLY abuse his patience like I did.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I mean, I did live in the US for like 4 months from late summer up to just before Christmas in 1999, and that's where I first saw Dragon Ball Z.

Of course it premiered in the UK and Ireland the following March, but I still fondly remember first seeing that promo sometime after I'd arrived home and learning this amazing new show I saw while in America was coming.

I was also in the US in late 2000 and 2001 as well as my dad's job used to bring him to Arizona quite a lot. So I got to experience some of that golden age of Toonami, albeit not as much as native American fans, but it was a part of my childhood growing up with this series in general.

The US broadcasts are fascinating though because of all this syndication stuff in the 90s, and the US was one of the few territories where syndicates were widespread.

[Cure Dragon 255]

One Local TV Affiliate that was ALWAYS there for Dragon Ball is WPIX. It was one of the earliest affiliates to air DBZ in Syndication and was there until the end of Vortexx.

[Json1233]

Funimation aired their test dub of OG Dragon Ball where Goku was named "Zero" in August 1995 at a 1pm timeslot on KtZZ.

I have never heard of the test dub actually airing. Do you have a source for this?

Cartoon Network aired the three episode version of Tree of Might on 29 January 1999 at 16:00 EST, which took the place of TV episode slots during the original syndication run of DBZ season 2.

CN never aired the 3 episode version, they always ran the movie version, although as the previous commentor stated it is the same Saban dub. The 3 episode version aired in syndication during a break in season 2, between "Immortality Denied" and "Big Trouble for Bulma", in November 1997.

This post is ancient but since it popped up I should correct myself, Toonami did air Movie 3 in 3 parts, specifically on April 19-21 1999, and again on June 22-24. It did however premiere on Toonami on Jan 29 1999 as one movie.

I wonder if Toonami used the 3 part episodes or by chance, they cut up their movie into three parts. I suggest this because they had cut up Dead Zone and World's Strongest into episodes as well. I have this documented in a table somewhere if you care to look at every airing of Dragon Ball Movies in the US.

[Json1233]

One Local TV Affiliate that was ALWAYS there for Dragon Ball is WPIX. It was one of the earliest affiliates to air DBZ in Syndication and was there until the end of Vortexx.

I recently went through hundreds of TV schedules from old magazines and then used old Usenet conversations to verify this. WLVI aired at least once Curse of the Blood Rubies as a two part episode in early September 1995 on starting on Monday and concluding the next day, Tuesday.

[Json1233]

I thought it would be a good idea to make a topic on this because the history of Dragon Ball in the US is so overwhelming, and there doesn't seem to be any place with all the broadcast dates, timeslots etc. I've put together what I could find and remember from my brief time living in the US in 1999.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Harmony Gold dub of OG Dragon Ball aired on WGPR & WGBS. Dragon Ball Z aired on WB & UPN affiliate networks from 1996-1998, followed by Cartoon Network from 1998 to 2008.

It is not known exactly what dates the episodes of the Harmony Gold dub aired, although The Daily Journal from 23rd December 1989 lists the movie as having aired on 28th December from 20:00 to 22:00 on Channel 57. The earliest known date of the Harmony Gold dub airing was the week of January 1st-5th 1990 at 15:00 in Detroit.

Nippon Golden Network in Hawaii premiered the original Dragon Ball on 5th January 1992, with the run concluding on 11th December 1994. Dragon Ball Z debuted the next day at 12th December 1994 at 6:30am and airing over 100 episodes. Both of these airings were in Japanese with English subtitles. The last recorded broadcast of Dragon Ball Z on this channel was on 8th August 2000 at 6:00am. The show's Monday evening and Tuesday morning timeslots were taken up by Dragon Ball GT the following week.

The Latin Spanish dub also aired on Telemundo with previews coming before the credits, and was used as an additional audio track on Funimation's Ultimate Uncut DVDs of Dragon Ball Z episodes 1-27 in 2005.

International Channel aired Z in Japanese without subtitles on a weekly basis, Freeza arc was ongoing in summer 1998. The International Channel aired new episodes of Dragon Ball Z Sunday nights, initially at 21:00 but later switched to 22:30 and also had reruns on Thursday mornings at 01:00.

Funimation aired their test dub of OG Dragon Ball where Goku was named "Zero" in August 1995 at a 1pm timeslot on KtZZ. Funimation's first widely available dub of OG Dragon Ball aired on September 9th 1995 on WUHF, virtual channel 31, a Fox-affiliated station in Rochester, New York, owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group from Hunt Valley, Maryland. It is known that this dub aired at very early timeslots, which led to it not becoming as popular as it could have been.

The debut date for Funimation's English dub of Dragon Ball Z is disputed. The show did air on Saturday, September 14, 1996 on WXIN, an Indiana-based Fox affiliate, although given the Statesman Journal from Salem, Oregon lists 13th September it is possible that Z may have aired on channel 49 KPDX, another Fox affiliate. Additionally the 7th September 1996 issue of the Albuquerque Journal from New Mexico lists a 7:30am timeslot for the show on UPN affiliate KASY (channel 50) on that day, although considering programming changes are possible this is not definitive. WB affiliate WAWB (channel 65) aired the show Saturdays at 07:30, this station later became a UPN affiliate, and a CW affiliate in 1997 and 2006 respectively, but it's not known if Dragon Ball was rerun on either. Funimation's original Z dub was produced in conjunction with Ocean Studios with music outsourced to Ron Wasserman, often credited as Shuki Levy, this dub ran for 2 broadcast seasons, first season was episodes 1-26, second season covered episodes 27-53 and the 3-episode version of 'Tree of Might'.

Examples of timeslots Dragon Ball Z received when it aired on affiliate networks include Sundays at 8:30am on WPIX, Saturdays at 7:00am on KCAL, Saturdays at 6:30am on WPWR, Sundays at 9:30am on KOFY, Sundays at 9:30am on WLVI and Saturdays at 9:00am on WUPA.

Dragon Ball Z was moved to the hour timeslot on Sundays on network TV in the fall of 1997, part in due to the massive success of its first season in 1996, as well as Saban's prowess. Funimation an Saban parted ways in early 1998, but it wasn't long before Dragon Ball Z would be moved to Cartoon Network and their "Toonami" block for the September of that year. The last syndicated episode was shown May 23rd 1998, and the show premiered on Toonami on August 31st 1998, airing weekdays, with the exception of a few Fridays where it was absent. Episode 10, which didn't air in syndication finally premiered on Toonami on September 14, 1998.

Cartoon Network aired the three episode version of Tree of Might on 29 January 1999 at 16:00 EST, which took the place of TV episode slots during the original syndication run of DBZ season 2. World's Strongest and Dead Zone aired at 5 February 1999 and 12 February 1999 respectively at the same timeslot.

September 13, 1999 was the beginning of the inhouse Z dub on Cartoon Network, the last 2 episodes of season 2 ran before this.

Original Dragon Ball began airing on Cartoon Network's Toonami block on August 20, 2001.

The Demon King Piccolo saga began on 1st September 2001 with new episodes at 17:30 EST. The final US season covered episodes 102 to 153.

Dragon Ball GT began airing on Cartoon Network on 3rd October 2003 at 18:30, and airing every Friday beginning from the Funimation recap episode 16 'A Grand Problem'.

Dragon Ball Z Uncut started in June 2005 airing at 10:30pm Monday-Thursday nights just before Adult Swim. From 15th October 2005, Dragon Ball Z was moved from this slot to an earlier slot (possibly 19:30) to rerun these uncut episodes. The entire uncut run covered 9 episodes week by week until 21st January 2006 when they switched back to the original edited Z dub

In late 2003 the Z movies were shown on Toonami with the US replacement scores. Z movies 1-3 aired with the Pioneer versions, Z movies 4-6 and movies 12-13 used Funimation's inhouse cast. Edits were produced for Z movies 7-11 but never aired.

The Dragon Ball Z "features" ran every Friday in September 2003 at 18:00 EST. Dates for the movies and specials premiering are as follows:
- 5th September : Bardock TV special
- 12th September : Trunks TV special
- 19th September : Cooler's Revenge
- 26th September : Return of Cooler

Fusion Reborn aired Saturday November 11, 2006 and Wrath of the Dragon aired on Saturday December 2, 2006.

Dragon Ball returned to US TV on May 24, 2010 when Funimation's English dub of Kai premiered on Nicktoons. Nicktoons aired a version of Funimation's Dragon Ball Kai dub edited by Ocean Studios that featured Kenji Yamamoto's score up to episode 63. Similarly Kai aired on the CW's Toonzai block beginning on August 14, 2010. CW4Kids aired the temporary Kikuchi replacement score that was used right after TOEI's announcement of Yamamoto's plagiarism.

The initial US broadcast of Kai ended on 1st January 2012, although the show would continue in reruns on Nicktoons.

Nicktoons began airing Dragon Ball GT on January 16, 2012 at 19:00, using the edited Funimation dub seen on Toonami less than a decade previously.

With regards to Kai at this time, in April 2012 Saban purchased 4Kids' assets, which included the first 52 episodes of Kai, although no new episodes were yet licensed.

In early 2013 Kai was moved from its 02:00 timeslot on Nicktoons to two afternoon double bills at 15:00, 15:30 and 18:00 and 18:30. On 12th April 2013 it was confirmed Nicktoons had not renewed their contract with Funimation to continue broadcasting Kai.

Nicktoons aired History of Trunks on 8th February 2013 at 20:00 followed by the premiere of Kai episode 98.

From May 2013 Nicktoons began to air the Dragon Ball Z movies, which were shown with Funimation's replacement scores.

On 24th May 2014 Funimation announced Kai would be broadcast on Toonami in fall of that year, although The Final Chapters was still yet to be announced officially.

Ever since 2014 and 2017 Dragon Ball Kai and Dragon Ball Super respectively have been airing on Adult Swim. Dragon Ball Super premiered alongside Dragon Ball Kai : The Final Chapters. Both series began airing on January 7, 2017. The Final Chapters and Super wrapped up on June 23, 2018 and October 5, 2019 respectively.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I'm sure there is plenty I have missed, but if anyone else has anything to add or memories, etc feel free to do so and discuss.

I have references for these facts if you request it.

1. Harmony Gold's Dub of Dragon Ball also aired (or was at least listed) in the The Blade (Toledo Ohio) Newspaper and it lists a rerun of episodes 1 through 5 from February 5, 1990 to February 9, 1990 at 3:30 PM.
2. Additionally, Detroit Free Press newspaper lists airings from January 8, 1990 to January 10, Monday through Wednesday. Episodes 1 through 3 perhaps but the rest got pulled off air or a mistake upon the newspaper.
3. Prior to the series debut on September 9,10,11 or 12 of 1995, random affiliates did air the Curse of the Blood Rubies or in WLVI's case they aired the movie in two part episodes, one on Monday and one on Tuesday. The movie also debuted in some areas right after the episode 1 premiere (no proof on it being September 9 yet).
4. Dragon Ball Z is documented to have aired in Syndication until September 1998, running alongside the Toonami run.
5. Toonami split Z movies 1 and 2 into 2 and 3 part episodes along with Tree of Might, unknown if it is the same 3 episode cut of the Saban syndicated version or the just cut up their own stitching of the 3 parter. This was done to give more episodes into the original two seasons during reruns.
6. Dragon Ball Z before being uncut also aired on Cartoon Network off the Toonami block as well as did GT.
7. Dragon Ball, Z and GT also aired on the Toonami blocks, Rising Sun, Midnight Run and Super Saturdays. Also on a different programming block SVES.
8. Dragon Ball Z was beamed over to Kids WB for two weeks thanks to a Toonami run on the kids programing block.
9. Nicktoons had a programming block where there was no commercial breaks, called Break Free and DBZ Kai was shown there.
10. Dragon Ball Z Kai also aired on CW's Vortexx.
11. Dragon Ball Z returned to the US airwaves for the Toonami April Fools joke.
12. Broly, the Legendary Super Saiyan and Cooler's Revenge (twice) aired prior to Kai on [Adult Swim]'s Toonami.
13. Dragon Ball also aired on Colors TV (in 2006) and the Funimation Channel.
14. Dragon Ball Super debuted on [Adult Swim] while the Toonami episode was a repeat.
15. Off the Toonami block, Dragon Ball Z Kai and Dragon Ball Super also warmed Adult Swim's tv schedule.

*pants* I think I missed a key detail or two somewhere in there.

[Json1233]

I thought it would be a good idea to make a topic on this because the history of Dragon Ball in the US is so overwhelming, and there doesn't seem to be any place with all the broadcast dates, timeslots etc. I've put together what I could find and remember from my brief time living in the US in 1999.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Harmony Gold dub of OG Dragon Ball aired on WGPR & WGBS. Dragon Ball Z aired on WB & UPN affiliate networks from 1996-1998, followed by Cartoon Network from 1998 to 2008.

It is not known exactly what dates the episodes of the Harmony Gold dub aired, although The Daily Journal from 23rd December 1989 lists the movie as having aired on 28th December from 20:00 to 22:00 on Channel 57. The earliest known date of the Harmony Gold dub airing was the week of January 1st-5th 1990 at 15:00 in Detroit.

Nippon Golden Network in Hawaii premiered the original Dragon Ball on 5th January 1992, with the run concluding on 11th December 1994. Dragon Ball Z debuted the next day at 12th December 1994 at 6:30am and airing over 100 episodes. Both of these airings were in Japanese with English subtitles. The last recorded broadcast of Dragon Ball Z on this channel was on 8th August 2000 at 6:00am. The show's Monday evening and Tuesday morning timeslots were taken up by Dragon Ball GT the following week.

The Latin Spanish dub also aired on Telemundo with previews coming before the credits, and was used as an additional audio track on Funimation's Ultimate Uncut DVDs of Dragon Ball Z episodes 1-27 in 2005.

International Channel aired Z in Japanese without subtitles on a weekly basis, Freeza arc was ongoing in summer 1998. The International Channel aired new episodes of Dragon Ball Z Sunday nights, initially at 21:00 but later switched to 22:30 and also had reruns on Thursday mornings at 01:00.

Funimation aired their test dub of OG Dragon Ball where Goku was named "Zero" in August 1995 at a 1pm timeslot on KtZZ. Funimation's first widely available dub of OG Dragon Ball aired on September 9th 1995 on WUHF, virtual channel 31, a Fox-affiliated station in Rochester, New York, owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group from Hunt Valley, Maryland. It is known that this dub aired at very early timeslots, which led to it not becoming as popular as it could have been.

The debut date for Funimation's English dub of Dragon Ball Z is disputed. The show did air on Saturday, September 14, 1996 on WXIN, an Indiana-based Fox affiliate, although given the Statesman Journal from Salem, Oregon lists 13th September it is possible that Z may have aired on channel 49 KPDX, another Fox affiliate. Additionally the 7th September 1996 issue of the Albuquerque Journal from New Mexico lists a 7:30am timeslot for the show on UPN affiliate KASY (channel 50) on that day, although considering programming changes are possible this is not definitive. WB affiliate WAWB (channel 65) aired the show Saturdays at 07:30, this station later became a UPN affiliate, and a CW affiliate in 1997 and 2006 respectively, but it's not known if Dragon Ball was rerun on either. Funimation's original Z dub was produced in conjunction with Ocean Studios with music outsourced to Ron Wasserman, often credited as Shuki Levy, this dub ran for 2 broadcast seasons, first season was episodes 1-26, second season covered episodes 27-53 and the 3-episode version of 'Tree of Might'.

Examples of timeslots Dragon Ball Z received when it aired on affiliate networks include Sundays at 8:30am on WPIX, Saturdays at 7:00am on KCAL, Saturdays at 6:30am on WPWR, Sundays at 9:30am on KOFY, Sundays at 9:30am on WLVI and Saturdays at 9:00am on WUPA.

Dragon Ball Z was moved to the hour timeslot on Sundays on network TV in the fall of 1997, part in due to the massive success of its first season in 1996, as well as Saban's prowess. Funimation an Saban parted ways in early 1998, but it wasn't long before Dragon Ball Z would be moved to Cartoon Network and their "Toonami" block for the September of that year. The last syndicated episode was shown May 23rd 1998, and the show premiered on Toonami on August 31st 1998, airing weekdays, with the exception of a few Fridays where it was absent. Episode 10, which didn't air in syndication finally premiered on Toonami on September 14, 1998.

Cartoon Network aired the three episode version of Tree of Might on 29 January 1999 at 16:00 EST, which took the place of TV episode slots during the original syndication run of DBZ season 2. World's Strongest and Dead Zone aired at 5 February 1999 and 12 February 1999 respectively at the same timeslot.

September 13, 1999 was the beginning of the inhouse Z dub on Cartoon Network, the last 2 episodes of season 2 ran before this.

Original Dragon Ball began airing on Cartoon Network's Toonami block on August 20, 2001.

The Demon King Piccolo saga began on 1st September 2001 with new episodes at 17:30 EST. The final US season covered episodes 102 to 153.

Dragon Ball GT began airing on Cartoon Network on 3rd October 2003 at 18:30, and airing every Friday beginning from the Funimation recap episode 16 'A Grand Problem'.

Dragon Ball Z Uncut started in June 2005 airing at 10:30pm Monday-Thursday nights just before Adult Swim. From 15th October 2005, Dragon Ball Z was moved from this slot to an earlier slot (possibly 19:30) to rerun these uncut episodes. The entire uncut run covered 9 episodes week by week until 21st January 2006 when they switched back to the original edited Z dub

In late 2003 the Z movies were shown on Toonami with the US replacement scores. Z movies 1-3 aired with the Pioneer versions, Z movies 4-6 and movies 12-13 used Funimation's inhouse cast. Edits were produced for Z movies 7-11 but never aired.

The Dragon Ball Z "features" ran every Friday in September 2003 at 18:00 EST. Dates for the movies and specials premiering are as follows:
- 5th September : Bardock TV special
- 12th September : Trunks TV special
- 19th September : Cooler's Revenge
- 26th September : Return of Cooler

Fusion Reborn aired Saturday November 11, 2006 and Wrath of the Dragon aired on Saturday December 2, 2006.

Dragon Ball returned to US TV on May 24, 2010 when Funimation's English dub of Kai premiered on Nicktoons. Nicktoons aired a version of Funimation's Dragon Ball Kai dub edited by Ocean Studios that featured Kenji Yamamoto's score up to episode 63. Similarly Kai aired on the CW's Toonzai block beginning on August 14, 2010. CW4Kids aired the temporary Kikuchi replacement score that was used right after TOEI's announcement of Yamamoto's plagiarism.

The initial US broadcast of Kai ended on 1st January 2012, although the show would continue in reruns on Nicktoons.

Nicktoons began airing Dragon Ball GT on January 16, 2012 at 19:00, using the edited Funimation dub seen on Toonami less than a decade previously.

With regards to Kai at this time, in April 2012 Saban purchased 4Kids' assets, which included the first 52 episodes of Kai, although no new episodes were yet licensed.

In early 2013 Kai was moved from its 02:00 timeslot on Nicktoons to two afternoon double bills at 15:00, 15:30 and 18:00 and 18:30. On 12th April 2013 it was confirmed Nicktoons had not renewed their contract with Funimation to continue broadcasting Kai.

Nicktoons aired History of Trunks on 8th February 2013 at 20:00 followed by the premiere of Kai episode 98.

From May 2013 Nicktoons began to air the Dragon Ball Z movies, which were shown with Funimation's replacement scores.

On 24th May 2014 Funimation announced Kai would be broadcast on Toonami in fall of that year, although The Final Chapters was still yet to be announced officially.

Ever since 2014 and 2017 Dragon Ball Kai and Dragon Ball Super respectively have been airing on Adult Swim. Dragon Ball Super premiered alongside Dragon Ball Kai : The Final Chapters. Both series began airing on January 7, 2017. The Final Chapters and Super wrapped up on June 23, 2018 and October 5, 2019 respectively.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I'm sure there is plenty I have missed, but if anyone else has anything to add or memories, etc feel free to do so and discuss.

I have references for these facts if you request it.

1. Harmony Gold's Dub of Dragon Ball also aired (or was at least listed) in the The Blade (Toledo Ohio) Newspaper and it lists a rerun of episodes 1 through 5 from February 5, 1990 to February 9, 1990 at 3:30 PM.
2. Additionally, Detroit Free Press newspaper lists airings from January 8, 1990 to January 10, Monday through Wednesday. Episodes 1 through 3 perhaps but the rest got pulled off air or a mistake upon the newspaper.
3. Prior to the series debut on September 9,10,11 or 12 of 1995, random affiliates did air the Curse of the Blood Rubies or in WLVI's case they aired the movie in two part episodes, one on Monday and one on Tuesday. The movie also debuted in some areas right after the episode 1 premiere (no proof on it being September 9 yet).
4. Dragon Ball Z is documented to have aired in Syndication until September 1998, running alongside the Toonami run.
5. Toonami split Z movies 1 and 2 into 2 and 3 part episodes along with Tree of Might, unknown if it is the same 3 episode cut of the Saban syndicated version or the just cut up their own stitching of the 3 parter. This was done to give more episodes into the original two seasons during reruns.
6. Dragon Ball Z before being uncut also aired on Cartoon Network off the Toonami block as well as did GT.
7. Dragon Ball, Z and GT also aired on the Toonami blocks, Rising Sun, Midnight Run and Super Saturdays. Also on a different programming block SVES.
8. Dragon Ball Z was beamed over to Kids WB for two weeks thanks to a Toonami run on the kids programing block.
9. Nicktoons had a programming block where there was no commercial breaks, called Break Free and DBZ Kai was shown there.
10. Dragon Ball Z Kai also aired on CW's Vortexx.
11. Dragon Ball Z returned to the US airwaves for the Toonami April Fools joke.
12. Broly, the Legendary Super Saiyan and Cooler's Revenge (twice) aired prior to Kai on [Adult Swim]'s Toonami.
13. Dragon Ball also aired on Colors TV (in 2006) and the Funimation Channel.
14. Dragon Ball Super debuted on [Adult Swim] while the Toonami episode was a repeat.
15. Off the Toonami block, Dragon Ball Z Kai and Dragon Ball Super also warmed Adult Swim's tv schedule.

*pants* I think I missed a key detail or two somewhere in there.