The first episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 aired on KTMA Channel 23 in Minneapolis, marking the debut of the cult classic show.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 moved from its local KTMA station to The Comedy Channel, expanding its audience reach substantially.
The Comedy Channel merged with HA! to become Comedy Central, and MST3K continued to air on this new cable network, increasing its popularity.
Original host and creator Joel Hodgson left the show after season 5, marking a major transition point in the series with a new host.
Mike Nelson took over as host of Mystery Science Theater 3000 starting with season 6, leading the show through its later seasons.
Comedy Central cancelled MST3K after its tenth season in 1999, ending an era of new episodes on the network.
The Sci-Fi Channel revived MST3K in 2000 for seasons 11 and 12, bringing the show back for new episodes and a new generation of fans.
After producing two seasons, MST3K was cancelled again by Sci-Fi Channel in 2001 due to declining ratings and network changes.
Joel Hodgson launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund the revival of Mystery Science Theater 3000, demonstrating continued fan enthusiasm.
The new season of Mystery Science Theater 3000 produced through Kickstarter funds premiered on Netflix, introducing the series to new streaming audiences.
Joel is stranded in space aboard the Satellite of Love and forced to watch cheesy B-movies as part of an experiment by the evil scientists.
To keep Joel sane, the scientists build the robots Crow T. Robot, Tom Servo, and Gypsy to watch movies with him.
The tradition of watching and making humorous comments on bad movies begins aboard the Satellite of Love.
After Joel escapes from the Satellite of Love, Mike is sent as the new test subject forced to watch movies and riff them.
The main antagonists responsible for the movie experiments appear regularly during host segments.
Gypsy takes over power systems and Shorty is introduced as the maintenance robot companion.
Mike eventually escapes and Jonah becomes the new human test subject in later revival seasons.
