and they're all coming? those who are still with us, yes. grandpa! what's this? your wings. light 'em up! gentlemen, it's a beautiful... ...day to fly.

free text l0 to three-to-one, three-to-one today, i hanako montgomery in tokyo and this jensen: it's a time of enormous turmoil. shut up in here. the '60s are over dad. durham: here's michael at the foul line, a shot on ehlo. -good! -yeah! ha-ha! turner: we intend to cover all the news all the time. we won't be signing off until the world ends. isn't that special? any tool for human expression will bring out the best and the worst in us, and television has been that. they don't pay me enough to deal with animals like this. people are no longer embarrassed to admit they watch television. we have seen the news and it is us. ♪

clark: slowly but surely, the 1970s are disappearing. the 1980s will be upon us. what a decade it is coming up. happy new year! [ cheers and applause ] auletta: as you begin the '80s in the television world, the landscape was, on any given evening, 9 out of 10 people were watching only one of three networks.

more than 30 million people are addicted to it. social critics are mystified by its success. what is it? it's television's prime-time, prairie pot boiler, "dallas." bobby: a move like that will destroy all of ewing oil, and it'll ruin our family name. i assure you, a thought like that never crossed my mind. brother or no brother, whatever it takes, i'll stop you from destroying ewing oil. "dallas" really did establish new ground in terms of the weekly, one hour show that literally captivated america for 13 years. "dallas" is a television show which in some ways is rooted in the 1970's and one of the crazy things that emerges is this character, j.r. ewing as a pop phenomenon. tell me, j.r., which slut are you gonna stay with tonight? what difference does it make? whoever it is it's got to be more interesting than the slut i'm looking at right now. levine: he was such a delicious villain. everyone was completely enamored by this character. bianculli: at this point so many people were watching television

that you could do something so unexpected that it would become news overnight. who's there? [ gunshot ] [ groans ] [ gunshot ] [ gasping ] the national obsession in 1980 around who shot j.r. it's hard to imagine how obsessed we all were with that question, but we were. who shot j.r. is about as ideal a cliffhanger as you possibly could get. brokaw: who did shoot j.r.? we may never get the answer to that question. i mean, the people who produced that program are gonna keep us in suspense for as long as they possibly can. duffy: we shot j.r. and then we broke for the summer. then coincidentally, the actors went on strike and it delayed the resolution. and it just started to percolate through the world. i remember going on vacation to england that summer and that's all that people were talking about there. lovejoy: well we know you don't die.

i mean, you couldn't die? you don't know that. well, how could you die? you couldn't come back next season. that's what i mean. i couldn't come back, but the show could still go. oh, but you wouldn't? what is that show without j.r.? well, that's what i figure. [ chuckles ] well, i guess if you don't know by now who shot j.r., you probably do not care. but last night, some 82 million americans did and they watched the much-touted "dallas" episode. it could become the most watched television show ever. troy: who shot j.r. is a reflection of old-fashioned television. it's a moment that gathers everybody around the electronic fireplace, which is now the television set. now, about one special american television program, a critic said it transcends in popularity every other american statement about war. and something special happened today to mobile army surgical hospital 4077 that will touch millions of americans. bowen: it was the kind of an event that would draw the world's press. stage nine, 20th century fox studios, the end of the korean war -- the television version, "m.a.s.h."

o'houlihan: it's been an honor and a privilege to have worked with you. and i'm very, very proud to have known you. hart: there were those landmark times when shows that had been watched through the '70s and into the '80s, like "m.a.s.h.," had its final episode. and were all sad to see them go. i'll miss you. i'll miss you. a lot. naversen: all over the country, armies of fans crowded around television sets to watch the final episode and to bid "m.a.s.h." farewell. levine: the finale of "m.a.s.h." was unprecedented. 123 million people watched one television program at the same time. you know, i really should be allowed to go home. there's nothing wrong with me. when we ended the show, we got telegrams of congratulations from henry kissinger and ronald reagan.

the size of the response and the emotional nature of the response that we were getting was difficult for us to understand. connelly: who shot j.r. and the last episode of "m.a.s.h." are the last call for the pre-cable world of television. it's like they are the last time that that huge audience will all turn up for one event. esterhaus: all right. that's it. let's roll. hey... let's be careful out there. dispatch. we have a 9-11. armed robbery in progress. mcqueen: when quality does emerge on television, the phrase "too good for tv" is often heard. one recent network offering that seems to deserve that phrase is "hill street blues." "hill street" is one of the changing points of the entire industry in the history of tv. bochco: we had all watched a documentary about cops and it had this real hand-held,

in the moment quality that we were very enamored of. [ screaming ] [ screaming ] come in! come in! [ telephone ringing ] graham: the minute you looked at it, it looked different. it had a mood to it. you could almost, you could almost smell the stale coffee. bochco: we didn't want to do a standard cop show where, you know, you got a crime and you got your two cops and you go out and you catch the bad guy and you sweat him and he confesses and that's it. cops have personal lives that impact their behavior in profound ways. well, what about it? is he here or is he elsewhere? let's don't get excited counselor. we're working on it. how's this for logic, furillo -- if he's not here and if he's not elsewhere, he's lost. we didn't say that, counselor. you lost my client. not lost, per se. never in my entire life have i listened to so much incompetence covered up by so much unmitigated crap. find my client, furillo, or i swear i'll have you up on charges.

yost: there'd be these ongoing arcs for these characters that would play out over five, six episodes, sometimes an entire season. and in a way, for certain stories, over the entire series. and no one had really done that in an hour-long dramatic show. these past four months i've missed you. i had to find that out. come home, pizza man. bochco: i think in the past, people had watched television passively and the one thing i think we did set out to be were provocateurs. you want an accident report? you fill it out. what the hell's the matter with you man? i'll tell you something. they don't pay me enough to deal with animals like this. the first thing they see is a white face and all they want to do is do him in! you listen to me, renko. it was a white finger that pulled the trigger, not a black one! it was a white one. graham: it set a trend. the idea that the audience can accept its characters being deeply flawed, you know, even though they're wearing this uniform. and i thought that that was important

to finally get across. don't do it! no biting! bochco: we wanted to make a show that made you participate, made you pay attention. and i think that worked pretty well. and the winner is... "hill street blues." [ cheers and applause ] bochco: we got 21 nominations and we went on to win eight emmys and it put us on the map, literally. and that's when people finally checked us out. tartikoff: the programming chief of one of the networks used to say to me about shows like "hill street" and "st. elsewhere," what the american public wants is a cheeseburger and what you're trying to give them is a french delicacy. and he said, your job is to keep shoving it down their throat until after a while they'll say, "that doesn't taste bad." and maybe they'll even order it themselves when they go to the restaurant. nice of you to join us dr. morrison. connelly: the success of "hill street blues" is a critical phenomenon, influenced everything that came after. and then, of course, you saw shows like "st. elsewhere."

do you know what people call this place? not st. eligius. st. elsewhere. a place you wouldn't want to send your mother-in-law. yost: when it first came on, it was actually promoted as "hill street" in a hospital. you give your patients the wrong antibiotics. you don't know what medications they're on. you write the worst progress notes. you're pathetic. pathetic! nurse: phil!what?! dr. moray needs you right away. i'm sorry. "st. elsewhere" broke every rule there was and then built some new rules. bobby, the blood bank called a little while ago. they ran a routine panel on that pint of blood. t-cell count was off. yost: they would have tragic things happen to these characters. there was real heartache in these people's lives. and you really felt for them. i've got aids? television at its best is a mirror of society in the moment. harmon: "st. elsewhere" challenged people. it challenged you as an actor much less the audience, to think. the stuff they gave you was extreme and what they did

whether they were dealing with aids or having one of their main doctor characters raped in a prison. they tackled lots of difficult subjects. "st. elsewhere" was run by people who were trying to stretch the medium, and in the '80s, television producers were encouraged to stretch the medium. okay. clear.

[ indistinct conversations ] man: a lot of people used to say, "i was there." now people say they watch it on television. connelly: there's just a lot of excitement connected to sports in the '80s. you used to have to depend on the five minutes at the end of your local newscast.

there just hadn't been enough, you know? give us a whole network of sports. announcer: there's just one place you need to go for all the names and games making sports news -- "espn sports center." what happens in the 1980s is sports becomes a tv show and what are tv shows built around? they're built around characters. you can't be serious, man. you cannot be serious! you guys are the absolute pits of the world, you know that? connelly: mcenroe, the perfect villain. the new yorker that people loved to hate. borg the cool swede, never giving any emotion away. what tennis really wants is to get its two best players playing over and over again in the final. whether there's john mcenroe and bjorn borg or chris evert and martina navratilova. that's what we want to tune into over and over and over again. announcer: oh, could this be? net court at three match points to martina navratilova. know that this man has a smile

that lights up a television screen from here to bangor, maine. futterman: and then there is magic johnson, this urban kid from michigan and larry bird, this guy who worked carrying trash. one plays for the los angeles lakers, the other plays for the boston celtics. it's a great story. announcer #1: off the back. lakers had several chances and here's larry bird dunking down the court. announcer #2: magic johnson leads the attack. look at that pass. oh, oh! what a show! what a great play! oh! what a show! when those championship games are in prime time and people are paying attention to that, television feeds into those rivalries and makes them bigger than they've ever been before. [ cheers and applause ] connelly: every mike tyson fight was an event because every fight was like an ax murder. when he fought michael spinks, the electricity, you could just feel it watching it on tv. announcer: here comes mike, spinks in! he leads with a right hand! down he goes!

tyson was made for tv because there was drama. announcer: it's all over! mike tyson has won it! firestone: not a lot of junior high school kids can dunk, especially at five feet. but everybody tries now. everybody tries. [ laughs ] i bet now. i think that he is starting to transcend just his sport. he's becoming something of a public figure. futterman: michael jordan becomes the model that every other athlete wants to shoot for. they want to be a brand. and that's what television does for these athletes. it turns them into worldwide, iconic brands. announcer: the inbound pass comes in to jordan. here's michael at the foul line. a shot on ehlo. -good! -yeah! the bulls win! athletes in the '80s became part of an ongoing group of people that we cared about. we just had an enormous, pent-up demand for sports and the '80s began to provide. thank goodness. cable television is continuing to grow. it's estimated that it will go into one million more u.s. households this year. with cable television suddenly offering an array of different channel choices, the audience bifurcated.

that's an earthquake. i want my mtv! i want my mtv! ■■■■ i want my m! i want my mtv. i want my mtv. ♪ goodman: a new concept is born -- the best of tv combined with the best of radio. this is it. welcome to mtv, music television -- the world's first 24-hour, stereo, video music channel. julie brown: music television, what a concept. mtv was, pow!, in your face. you were not gonna turn us off. hanks: mtv did nothing but play current music videos all day long. so let me get this straight -- you turn on the tv and it's like the radio? i'm martha quinn. the music will continue non-stop on mtv music television, the newest component of your stereo system. when mtv launched, a generation was launched. 18 to 24-year-olds were saying, "i want my mtv."

i want my mtv videos. i want my mtv fashion. yo! connelly: mtv was the first network really focused on the youth market and becomes hugely influential because they understand each other, the audience and the network. mtv had a giant impact visually and musically on every part of the tv culture that came next. -freeze! -freeze! miami vice. pauley: friday nights on nbc are different this season, thanks to "miami vice." it's a show with an old theme, but a lot of new twists. described by one critic as containing flashes of brilliance, nonetheless. shot entirely on location in south miami, the story centers around two undercover vice cops. i don't know how this is gonna work tubbs. i mean, you're not exactly up my alley style- and persona- wise. heaven knows i'm no box of candy. michael mann: television very much was the small screen. what was interesting about tony yerkovich's pilot screenplay

for "miami vice" is that it was exactly not that. very much the approach was, okay they call this a television series, but we're gonna make one-hour movies every single week. okay, here we go. standby. action! police! police! pauley: you were just describing the show as sort of a new-wave cop show. johnson: yeah, it's a cop show for the '80s. i mean, we use a lot of mtv images and rock music to help describe the mood and feeling of our show. graham: in a lot of ways, you don't get "miami vice" without mtv because in a lot of ways, "miami vice" was a long video. the music was such a big part of that show. [ phil collins' "in the air tonight" plays ] michael mann: there was an allure to using great music that everybody was listening to as opposed to the routine kind of tv scoring of that period. ♪ and i can feel it coming in the air tonight ♪ not only was it not afraid to let long scenes play out, it would drag -- a car going from point a to point b could be a four-minute phil collins song,

you know, and it was. ♪ oh, lord ♪ michael mann: being able to take a television series like "miami vice" and let's really kind of rock 'n' roll with this until somebody says, "stop, are you guys crazy? you can't do that." and nobody ever did. [ people screaming ] go! freeze! police!

♪ [ bleating ] thomas magnum? marion hammond? the private investigator? oh [ chuckles ] you're probably wondering about the goat. um, just let me drop off my friend, and then we'll talk. levine: when we entered the '80s, a lot of one-hour dramas that were light hearted, like "magnum, p.i.," were very popular. [ gunfire ] [ tires squeal ] bianculli: after "m.a.s.h." went off the air, the next season there wasn't a single sitcom in the top 10. first time that had ever happened in tv history. the prevailing feeling was that the sitcom was dead. greenfield: brandon tartikoff, nbc programming chief, says reports of the sitcom's death were greatly exaggerated. time and time again, if you study television history, just when someone is counting a form out, that is exactly the form of programming

that leads to the next big hit. ♪ graham: so 1984, "the cosby show" comes on. now, bill cosby's not new to tv. he's had other tv shows. but "the cosby show" is very different. it stands apart from everything else he's done. mom, i wanted my eggs scrambled. coming right up. mandabach: they talked about parenting. previous to that, on television the kids were cool and the parents were idiots. and then cosby says the parents are in charge and that was something new. instead of acting disappointed because i'm not like you, maybe you can just accept who i am and love me anyway because i'm your son. that's the dumbest thing i've ever heard in my life! shales: you know, it helps, the casting of anything helps a lot in television. and the kids were just great. if you were the last person on this earth, i still wouldn't tell you. you don't have to tell me what you did.

just tell me what they're gonna do to you. graham: unlike every other show on tv, it's showing an upper-middle-class black family. this wasn't "all in the family." they weren't tackling, you know, deep issues. but that was okay. the mere fact that they existed was a deep issue. mandabach: the decade was waiting for something real. in other words, unless it's real it doesn't seem like it moves anybody. if someone's feeling something, you get to the heart, you get to the mind. and if you can hit the hearts and minds, you got yourself a hit. how was school? school, dear? i brought home two children that may or may not be ours. long: cosby's show brought this tremendous audience to nbc. and that was a bridge to us. i mean, our ratings went way up. ♪ sometimes you want to go ♪ ♪ where everybody knows your name ♪ even the theme song to "cheers" put you in a good mood.

evening everybody. norm! ■■■■■ norm! norm! ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ no! norman. what's shaking norm? all four cheeks and a couple of chins, coach. levine: by the end of the "cheers" pilot, not only did you know who everybody was, but you wanted to come back and see what was gonna happen. bianculli: it's like all you have to do is watch it once, you're gonna love these people. these are universal characters and the humor worked on so many levels. last night i was up till 2:00 in the morning finishing off kierkegaard. i hope he thanked you for it. you have to create a community that people are identifying with. and "cheers" gives you that community. boy i tell you, i've always wanted to sky dive. i've just never had the guts. what did it feel like? well, imagine it's a lot like sex, sammy. not that i have to imagine what sex is like. but i've had plenty of sex, and plenty of this, too. what don't you just get off my back, okay? long: in the first episode, there was a rather passionate annoyance.

i was saying, uh, something's going on here. a really intelligent woman would see your line of b.s. a mile away. i've never met an intelligent woman that i'd want to date. on behalf of the intelligent women around the world, may i just say, phew! burrows: when we saw what ted and shelley had together, we said, "oh no, we gotta do this relationship." ted and i understood what they were writing right away. if you'll admit that you are carrying a little torch for me, i'll admit that i'm carrying a little one for you. well, i a-am carrying a little torch for you. well, i'm not carrying one for you. diane knew how to tease sam. sam knew how to tease diane. and i guess we knew how to tease the audience.

burrows: this incredible chemistry between the two of them ignited the show. and that's what drove the show for the first five years. oh, i'm devastated. i need something expeditious and brutal to numb my sensibilities and blast me into sweet oblivion. how about a boilermaker? make it a mimosa. burrows: we had the luck to be able to rotate cast and every time we put somebody in, there were explosions. bwah! levine: there was something very special about that setting, those characters, that i never got tired of writing that show. sophisticated surveys, telephonic samplings, test audiences, all of those things help to separate winners from losers and make mid-course corrections. but you can't cut all comedies from the same cookie cutters. all you can hope is that every night turns out like thursday. yo, angela! larry, larry. next... how rude.

[ cat yowling ] he's quick, i'll give him that. bianculli: all of television said, "oh, well, maybe the sitcoms are alive again." and that's all that it took. it took one success. greenfield: a few years from now, something new may tempt the people who pick what we see. but it's a very safe guess that whatever gets hot for a season or two, the men and women who create good television comedy will be laughing all the way to the bank.

this is my last broadcast as the anchorman of the "cbs evening news." for me it's a moment for which i long have planned, but which nevertheless comes with some sadness. for almost two decades after all, we've been meeting like this in the evenings and i'll miss that. and that's the way it is, friday, march 6, 1981. i'll be away on assignment and dan rather will be sitting in here for the next few years. good night. uncle walter had dominated certainly cbs, but in a way the country. people used to say that he was the most trusted man in the country. bianculli: once walter cronkite retires, all three network news anchors within a period of a couple of years switch over to a new generation. the '80s may have been the last gasp where people watching the media liked and trusted the media. nuclear arms and how to prevent global destruction are expected to be the major topic of president reagan's news conference tonight.

that conference will be nationally televised within the hour. lesley stahl is at the white house. stahl: the white house is hoping that tomorrow's... in the '80s, women came into the newsroom. when i first joined, it was '72 and there were very few. by the '80s, there were more and more. woodruff: the decade of the '80s was still a time of sink or swim. you had to be resilient in your own way to survive in a period when you were going up against a lot of people who still didn't think women had what it took. these are some of the most famous faces in broadcasting, all of whom happen to be women. the best producers, i'm gonna get fired -- the best producers at cbs news are women. and they are at the level of taking hold and making decisions about individual pieces. they're not yet executive producers of all the news shows, but they will be. clayton: for the past 24 hours, her cause craft has taken to many of the nation's news and talk programs. i didn't set out to be joan of arc. but i think that what happened to me deserves some attention.

woodruff: christine craft had a very successful career, but there she was in her late 30s and the tv station said to her, we're taking you off the air because you've gotten older and you're not as attractive as you once were, which was outrageous. and she decided to make an issue of it. she filed a lawsuit and it became a huge national topic of discussion. woman: a jury said she got a raw deal because she is a woman. woodruff: and so women in television news everywhere were asked, what do you think about christine craft? i think unfortunately in recent years, the emphasis has been increasingly on physical appearance and to the extent this decision helped swing the emphasis back to substance and to good journalism, i think we've got something to be happy about. it was important to make the point that what mattered was what kind of reporter are you? but it took the christine craft incident, i think, to bring that conversation out into the open. this coming sunday, a new television network opens for business -- cnn.

cable news network. you're throwing all the dice on this one? why not? nothing ventured, nothing gained. faint heart never won fair lady. well on that original point, mr. turner, thank you very much indeed. turner: i wanted to see what was going on in the world. and there was no way that you could do it watching the regular television stations. the news only comes on at 6:00 and 10:00. but if there was news on 24 hours, people could watch it any time. we sign on on june 1 and barring satellite problems in the future, we won't be signing off until the world ends. greenfield: there was a widespread belief this was a fool's errand. how can this possibly find an audience? well, he did. ready camera three. one center up. good evening. i'm david walker. and i'm lois harp. now here's the news. president carter has arrived... television news before this was stuff that had already happened. for the first time, cnn brought the world to people in real time. announcer: cnn -- the world's most important network.

turner: i didn't do cable news network because somebody told me it couldn't be done. i figured it was a very viable concept and i went ahead and did it. it was after we announced that we were going to do it that the detractors showed up. gumbel: is cable news network just gonna be a new means of delivering the same kind of fare? no. it already does provide different fare and cable news network is a perfect and maybe the best example of that. people love news and we had lots of it. and the other guys had not very much. so choice and quantity won out. new york city, hello. mintier: a major catastrophe in america's space program... i'm lou dobbs along with financial editor myron kandel. jessica mcclure trapped for almost three days now in a dry artesian well. miller: the iron curtain between east germany and west berlin has come tumbling down. good evening i'm pat buchanan the conservative in "crossfire."

buchanan: the american people appreciated the new television. they certainly came to -- came to cnn in droves. mr. gorbachev and i both agree on the desirability of freer and more extensive personal contact between the peoples of the soviet union and the united states. we began to realize that the best way to get a message to a foreign leader was to have the president go in the rose garden and make a statement. because everybody was watching cnn. cnn was a breakthrough. it changed the whole world. stahl: it changed quickly, the network news business. that business that we weren't the only ones. and it was hard, you know. it's hard to be on the top little perch and have to come down off it. a special segment tonight, the network news. the first in a two-part series on the profound changes taking place in television news. changes being brought about by business, competition, and technology. heilemann: there are a variety of reasons why people who worked

at the broadcast networks were freaked out in the 1980s. one of them was cnn and the rise of cable. another was being taken over by foreign entities in corporate america. hart: new owners spent billions buying the networks recently, and all of them want their money's worth. people began to find out that news could be a profit center. and that focused a lot of attention on us. a lot from people in wall street, for instance. if you think about the news divisions of cbs, nbc and abc, they were part of a really proud tradition, a journalistic tradition that really matters. we serve the public. this is not about profit and loss. and the people who worked at those news divisions were totally freaked out by what it meant that they were now owned by these larger corporate entities. if the television news isn't profitable at some point, there won't be any more television news on the networks. shales: i worry about people who are interested only in money and power getting ahold of television. it has higher purposes than that. we have seen the news and it is us.

♪ collins: sometimes ambition in a woman is considered to be a dirty word unfortunately.

bloodworth-thomason: i don't hear a lot of female voices reverberating in the halls of power in this business. well i'm surprised there aren't more shows about women that are talking about who they are. directing seems to be an area that is almost impossible to break through. i think the '80s were the era when women were being looked at with a little skepticism, but definitely with more acceptability. you could see the door opening, but it wasn't wide open. stahl: "cagney & lacey" was huge. that there would be two women and they had a serious job and they solved crimes and they were out on the streets. they were tough. that was emblematic or maybe out in front a little of what was actually happening in the country. so, we're a terrific team. this is true. what do you say we go out and celebrate how terrific we are? bianculli: there had been by that point hundreds of buddy cop shows, but these buddies were women. that had never been done before. i didn't go after this job

because i couldn't find anything else. all right? i did not come here because i needed some kind of work to help pay the orthodontist. this means something to me. what the hell are we talking about here? corday: we didn't even realize that this was gonna be such a big deal, and strangely, all these guys would say to us, "well yeah, i mean, it's a good script, but who's gonna save them in the end?" all right, come on. we're taking you out of here. [ sobbing ] come on. you're taking my wife?! you don't take one step. you understand me? sergeant nelson, you have until 8:00 tomorrow morning to turn yourself into iad. phyllis! if you don't, i will. hart: it was a time where you really saw an emergence of women on television who were not necessarily just 20 and blond and had a small role. but women who had substantial roles. ♪ thank you for being a friend ♪ ♪ traveled down the road and back again ♪

it was unpredictable that an audience, a young audience, a not so young audience and lots in between could relate to those older ladies. ma, if you couldn't see, why didn't you call me to come get you? i tried to but every time i put in a dime and dialed, a condom popped out. [ laughter ] i got five in my pocket. here dorothy. [ laughter ] a lifetime supply. mitchell: she was recently named along with norman lear and jim brooks as one of television's most gifted creator/writers. and when you look back at the past women role models on television, well it's easy to see susan harris' impact. mandabach: susan harris was the greatest writer, in my opinion, of her generation, of that time. singularly, so, you know, all credit to her for coming up with so many iterations of something so amazing. mitchell: do you think there is a woman's voice as a writer? woman's voice -- well generally they speak higher, softer.

[ laughter ] i should have known not to ask that of a writer. yes, of course, there's a woman's voice. women have a different perspective. women laugh at different things. so yes, they're very definitely is a woman's voice. oh, do you know how many problems we have solved over a cheesecake at this kitchen table? no, dorothy, exactly how many? 147, rose! oh. hi bryant. it's cutthroat prime time time this fall as some 23 new shows compete in one of the hottest ratings races in years. here's one just about everybody predicts will be a big hit. "designing women" on cbs. four femmes forming an interior decorating business and giving each other the business. suzanne, if sex were fast food, there'd be an arch over your bed. corday: linda bloodworth-thomason created one of the funniest, most unusual shows in "designing women." they were a different group of women than you really saw on television.

they were feisty, they were sexy, and linda's voice came through shining. a man can get away with anything. i mean, look at reagan's neck. it sags down to here. everybody raves about how great he looks. can you imagine if nancy had that neck? they'd be putting her in a nursing home for turkeys. [ cheers and applause ] they'd given me this 23 minutes to address whatever topic i want. and it's such a privilege. it's more than the president of the united states gets and it's kind of thrilling to have that every week. i would lying if i said i didn't put my opinions in the show. excuse me, but you lovely ladies look like you're in need of a little male companionship here. trust me when i tell you that you have completely mis-assessed the situation at this table. all right. moving onto scene b. english: i am a woman and i am a writer, but i don't really enjoy being called a woman's writer.

i think labels are harmful to us. mitchell: with "murphy brown," just about everything about that program felt new. the civil rights movement and the women's movement had just begun to sort of be reflected in the programming that you saw on television in the '80s. murphy, you know the dunfries club is for men only? and they have great dinners with great guests and i don't get to go for one reason and one reason only. and it has to do with something you've got and i don't. a tiny, pathetic, little y chromosome. stahl: "murphy brown" was sea change because she was so popular and such a strong, independent, tough woman. no matter what you think of a guest or their views, you are obligated to ask the questions in a dignified manner. jim, she was unprofessional, am i right? well, i, uh... do you believe this jim? he thinks it's neat that his office chair swivels and he's calling me unprofessional.

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you are in a good mood tonight. and i tell you, we have put a great show together. it'll be on a week from thursday. [ laughter ] connelly: johnny carson in the '80s is making the transition from being the king of late night to being a national treasure. he was a throwback to that old show biz stuff.

i haven't been on with you for some time. you, you've been... it's been a long time. yeah, well, you've been busy with other things. that's -- [ chuckles ] [ laughter ] connelly: the tide is starting to turn in terms of where late-night television is gonna go. but johnny is kind of holding out. he was not necessarily of his time in the '80s. but he did sustain a certain timelessness. he's the king. on your chair. [ laughter ] whoa! hyah! he's all right. he's just playing. playing my [bleep] [ laughter ] my next guest not only has a college degree, but he also has a high-school degree. that's right, i do. as well, un-huh. yes. he's hosted "the tonight show" practically as often as johnny carson and now he has his very own show, weekday mornings at 10:00 on nbc. ladies and gentleman what you're witnessing here is a good idea gone awry.

yes, and a fun-filled surprise turning into an incredible screw up right here. david letterman originally had a one-hour daytime show. and nbc, after like 13 weeks, decided to cancel it. today is our last show on the air. monday, las vegas. [ crowd booing ] have these people been frisked before they... it was a dismal failure in terms of the ratings. but not in terms of introducing us to letterman. david, thank you for being with us tonight. thank you very much for having me, i appreciate it. and in spite of all this nonsense that goes around in the background, stay with it. don't give up. and stay with us here in new york. we like having you. i like being here. thank you very much. dave is back in new york. you're going to host a late-night television program that premieres monday night. what are, what are critics likely to say tuesday morning? i don't much care because i found a way to deal with that -- pills and whiskey. [ laughs ] [ laughs ]

[ snorts ] [ chuckles ] you're on. oh, i'm on. i'm sorry, i was enjoying listening to you snort. [ laughs ] levine: they gave him the "late night" show after "the tonight show," and at the time, people thought, who's gonna watch television at 12:30 at night? who's up? i'll tell you who's up. young people. college people. is it going well? i know this is the first show and i think this guy needs a little support. dave letterman. mandabach: he was antiestablishment at his core. he was thumbing his nose to any existing social structures. lettermen: who are those women out there, by the way? woman: neighbors. i'll get rid of them. hey, excuse me. just keep it moving, come on. he kind of spoofed the whole notion of talk shows. it's the "late night" guest cam. please say hello to tom hanks. here he is. [ cheers and applause ] hanks: no one can go on the "david letterman show" and try to steer it towards a point of view or push something in particular.

he just wouldn't stand for it. you're on to do one thing and one thing only -- be as funny as the rest of the show. you know, we could get in a two shot here, dave. we could actually send the crew home, couldn't we? [ laughter ] steinberg: you know, as a comedian, you want the biggest audience that you could get. for dave, he knew a lot of things that he would do were gonna alienate people. and he didn't care. he wanted his thumbprint out there and that's the most important thing. it's time for "small town news." paul? excuse me. paul? do you have any -- do you have any accompanying music here for "small town news"? paul shaffer, ladies and gentlemen. shales: the show making fun of itself and turning itself inside out that way was something kind of new. i mean, don't we look like guys that you'd see hanging around together? absolwould you like to hang around with me? nope. i've said it before and i'll say it again. this is the stupidest show i've... i thought that i would never want to do this show with you. now why? because you thought i was a... an [bleep]

[ laughter ] there's one rule i keep trying to abide by and unfortunately i only get to it about 12% of the time. and that is, it's only television. we're not doing cancer research. if the 40 year-odd history of commercial broadcasting has taught us one thing, there's nothing sacred about television. all right. steven is upstairs. [ laughter ] hey dave, i was just curious, is there any way i can get mtv on this... actually, steve, that's a -- that's just a monitor and all you can get on that is our show. oh. that's okay. hanks: there was a degree of cynicism that was needed in the art form at that time. and it's a cynicism that just became common sense after a while. because it never got old. i've watched johnny carson, and you are no johnny carson. [ cheers and applause ] [ whooping ] good day, welcome to the great white north canadian corner.

i'm bob mckenzie, this is my brother doug. and today we got a real big show 'cause we got a... bianculli: there was a second city chicago company, there was a second city toronto company. the toronto one is the one that fueled the sctv series, which originally was syndicated and got to the states that way. hail caesar! ■■■■■■■■ hail caes! hail, hail. thank you very much for that marvelous reception. i particularly want to thank my supporters over there in the caesarian section. [ laughter ] steinberg: it's healthy to be an outsider, you know, as a comedian. and canadian are always outsiders but they're looking at the other culture, which is right next door to them. i love you sammy maudlin! i want to bear your children! [ laughs ] hanks: it was the type of comedy that had only been accessible if you could have gotten into the improv clubs in chicago or toronto. i had never seen anything like second city tv. alex trembel: james bridgeman, parkdale. [ laughter ] sorry, no, never mind. i'm sorry.

yost: it was far more conceptual in its humor because it didn't have to be performed in front of an audience. and there was also just the idea that it was this sort of low-rent thing. it was this sort of by the seat of their pants kind of operation that gave it an authenticity. now that our programming day has been extended, i'm gonna be spending a lot... where do you want me to put the kielbasa mrs. prickley? put it in the fridge, butch. yost: you were rooting for the show and the characters that they had created. there was just something that you got behind. whereas, you know, "snl" right from the -- from the gate and through the '80s was this big enterprise. franken: after five golden years, lorne decided to leave and so did those close to him, including me, al franken. so nbc had to pick a new producer. now most knowledgeable people, as you might imagine, hoped it would be me, al franken.

shales: there was a real question of whether "saturday night live" would continue at all or whether it would just die. the press hasn't been overly kind. yeah, i read that stuff. "saturday night live" is saturday night dead. man: oh, man, come on. geez. from yucks to yech. [ all groan ] my favorite, though, is "vile from new york." please, bill, come on. it's funny, it's funny. shales: they were having a hard time and then came the man that saved the show, eddie murphy. ♪ wookin' pa nub ♪ shales: there was buzz about him so you tuned in and there was this kind of explosion of talent in front of your eyes. [ as james brown ] hey! too hot in the hot tub! burn myself! it really kind of rejuvenated the show. i am gumby, damn it! you don't talk to me that way. shales: after a while, the show regained its status and its clout and became even more of an institution than it had been. hey bob. [ chuckles ] hey, penis looks great today. listen, harry, if you're unhappy with my work, tell me now! you're through, do you hear me?

through! you'll never work in this town again. don't leave me hanging by a thread! let me know where i stand! we were a little worried at first because we had a new cast, but everyone loves us. you guys have been so nice to us during our stay. isn't that special? i am hans. and i am franz. and we just want to pump you up! levine: a lot of things that they could do on "saturday night live" they couldn't do on a sitcom. the humor was more daring and more satirical. and it was political. you still have, uh, 50 seconds left mr. vice president. well let me just sum up, on track, stay the course, a thousand points of light. stay the course. governor dukakis, rebuttal? i can't believe i'm losing to this guy. [ laughter ] [ telephone ringing ] i'll get it. oh, geez. it's garry shandling's show. connelly: people were taking all the old principles of comedy and trying to turn them into something new.

we spent years and years watching sitcoms and dramas and talk shows by then. we knew them by heart that if somebody played on that and parodied it, we got it instantly. yeah, i appreciate you coming in under these conditions lewis. i really do. you want to hold the credits. okay. now, see, we were gonna show the credits and you screwed that up, okay? 'cause you're late. "the garry shandling show" was aware of the fact that it was a situation comedy. [ gasps ] it highlighted the cliches in funny ways. are you looking into the camera? no. no, i didn't. don't -- don't look into the camera. i didn't. don't. i didn't. you don't come in here and look in the camera. i didn't. i'll bop you. i will, if i see a tape of this show... [ laughter ] ...and you're looking into the c-- [ cheers and applause ] well, it's about that time. shales: "pee-wee's playhouse" on cbs, a so-called saturday morning kids show that adults could watch and wink at each other as they were watching it. it was very clever.

ha-ha! morning conky. what's today's secret word? today's secret word is good! levine: it was a show certainly for kids and it was for stoned baby boomers who were totally wasted on saturday morning and watched "pee-wee's playhouse" and saw god. i sure had a lot of fun. see you all real soon. until then, everybody be good! ha-ha! [ bell dinging ] [ all screaming ]

arnold: 1968, the summer before junior high school. and i don't mind saying i was a pretty fair little athlete. bianculli: "the wonder years" was a guy in modern times looking back on his childhood. that in itself is not new, but "the wonder years" did it with a wit and with the music. it was a brilliantly written show and a great performance by that entire young cast. hey, steve. it looks like my baby brother and his girlfriend have found each other. [ chuckles ] she's not my girlfriend. kevin arnold has to cope with all the timeless problems of growing up during one of the most turbulent times that we have known. kevin arnold is just like a regular kid except in the 1960s. and he's not really aware of many of the events. like in one of the episodes, the whole family's watching the apollo 8 take off.

but i'm just sitting there trying to call a girl. bianculli: the first episode of "the wonder years," anybody who saw it remembers the ending where, you know -- the first kiss with winnie and kevin arnold. the song that they play is "when a man loves a woman." that moment seemed so pure and so real. ♪ when a man loves a woman ♪ ♪ can't keep his mind on nothing else ♪ troy: the tone of the baby boomers of the 1960s is about rebellion, about being students. by the 1980s, it's time to grow up. and so they shave their beards, give up their dashikis, and they put on power suits -- a whole new notion. ah, the yuppies. last year the politicians were all talking about winning their votes. now those young, urban professionals and the rest of their baby boom generation are being wooed by advertisers and their agencies. greenfield: by the '80s, it was pretty clear that the generation after the generation of the '60s

may be embodied by alex keaton on "family ties." soon to be a lot more interested in the corner office than the new jerusalem. you're a young man. you shouldn't be worried about success. you should be thinking about hopping on a tramp steamer and going around the world. the '60s are over, dad. thanks for the tip. bianculli: you weren't laughing at michael j. fox's character for being too conservative. you were actually laughing at the parents for being too hopelessly liberal. what is this? i found it in the shower. that's generic brand shampoo. ah! this is him. this is the guy i've been telling you about. this is everything you'd want in a president. troy: the genius of "family ties" is it allows a kind of youthful reaganite to emerge that's focused more on the future, that's focused more on the a critique of the '60s. levine: michael j. fox as alex keaton really became the center of the show. and writers were smart enough to see

that they had something special and they wrote to that. it's not fair, alex. yeah. there's nothing you can do about it, jen. my advice to you is that you just enjoy being a child for as long as you can. i know i did. it's the best two weeks of my life. [ laughter ] fox: alex is a little bill buckley. he -- the wall street journal is his bible. [ laughs ] he has a tie to go with his pajamas. he's very conservative and a very intense 17-year-old. now the first thing your teacher's gonna ask is what you did over the summer. now, a lot of kids are gonna say, i went to the zoo. or i went to the beach. or i went to a baseball game. what are you gonna say? i watched the iran contra hearings. [ laughter ] peterson: if mom and dad thought this generation was going to the dogs, think again. this is the generation that has discovered hard work and success. troy: american culture is changing in the '80s. and in terms of television, there's a whole notion of demographic segmentation.

bochco: networks were beginning to not be afraid to appeal to a very specific demographic. hi, handsome. look at that shirt. is that a power shirt or what? nice suit ellen, good shoulder pads. you looking to get drafted by the eagles? [ chuckles ] "thirtysomething" said, we're not gonna have cops, lawyers, or doctors. we're just gonna be about people. what are we doing here? why did we start this business? to do our thing. but right now we got two wives, three kids, four cars, two mortgages, a payroll. and that's life, pal. you be the breadwinner now. is that what i am? holmes: "thirtysomething" is a very important show as you're going into this era of television being more introspective and more emotional. and some people weren't buying it. but for other people, when they were talking about things like having kids and who was gonna go back to work and some of these issues that hadn't been talked about a whole lot, it was important to people. [ fussing, crying ] i was so looking forward --

[ louder ] i was so looking forward to doing this, to be a grownup for just an hour. in the beginning, there was talk of this being the yuppie show and you mentioned it tonight. you-you said that if there were a category for the most annoying show, this might win as well. no, what some people perceive as annoying has nothing to do with yuppie. i think yuppie is a word made up by demographers and advertisers to sell soap. i don't think it has anything to do with what the show is. "thirtysomething" was not a giant hit. but it was a niche hit. it attracted an enormously upscale group of advertisers. shales: the network cared who was watching, not how many were watching. and that was more and more catching on in the '80s. ♪ sifuentes: the prosecution will ask you that you look to the law and this you must do. but i ask of you that you look to your hearts as well. thank you. holmes: "l.a. law" was partly a classic lawyer show. but it was intertwined with their personal lives

and different lawyers who were sleeping together and trying to get ahead. yost: the reality level on that show was like a foot or two off the ground. and you were willing to go with that because it was a whole new spin on a law show. unh-unh, tell the truth. if you had to do it all over again and she walked into your office and she said, take my case, would you? well... of course you would, because it is juicy, newsy, exciting stuff. bochco: it was really fun to take the "hill street blues" format and use it to frame an entirely different social and cultural strata with vastly different results. i wonder if i might engage with my client privately. certainly. [ sighs ] what are you doing for dinner tonight? i was planning on having you. in that case, skip lunch. bianculli: the formula had gotten established

of how you can do a dramatic show and yet still have an awful lot of fun. we didn't used to be able to accept that very easily in a tv hour. and even before the '80s are out, it's like, "oh, okay, i get it. you know, so it's like, all right, what are the rules now?" what are you doing? i'm doing what i should have done all along. ...should have done all along. what i wanted to do originally. ...do originally. what i should have done ...last night.last night. stop that david! stop that david! i'm calling the police, david! ...the police, david! hello, police? ■■■■ hello, poli? shriver: the networks realized there was an audience looking for something less predictable than traditional prime-time fare. -[ groans ] -[ gasps ] bianculli: "moonlighting" was another of those shows that said, "okay, i see the formulas that we've had up to here. let's do different things. hello. hello. we're looking a little "pale" [pail] today, aren't we? and who have we here? i don't know. moonlighting was a really experimental show. they had a shakespeare episode. they had a black and white episode. they did a musical episode.

they tried a lot of different stuff. i don't give a flying fig about the lines in my face, the crow's feet by my eyes, or the altitude of my caboose. well, i'm at a loss. i don't know what a flying fig is. that's okay, they do. [ cheers and applause ] there's no trouble on the set. there is no trouble on the set. well, we have a very volatile relationship. there is a hate/love element to it. easy come, easy go! ha! burrows: the flirtations were great, and bruce and cybill were great. glenn caron kept them apart for a long time. and bravo to him. bianculli: what they did was they took the sam and diane dynamic from "cheers" and escalated it. "cheers" was, "will they or won't they?" "moonlighting" was, "do they even want to?" stay away from me. here i come. but i don't want you. i never wanted you. yeah, right. does entertaining mean at some point stopping the tease of dave and maddie? i mean, do they get together at some point? i hope so. well, that, that's gonna be resolved this year.

we like to think of it as two and a half years of foreplay. bianculli: people who had been watching "moonlighting" for years were waiting for this moment. and your emotions are already there, built onto the emotions that you're seeing on the screen. so when "be my baby" by the ronettes starts playing, it's like a perfect storm of romance. [ "be my baby" plays ] ♪ the night we met i knew i ♪ ♪ needed you so ♪

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in recent years, it seems that television has become a kind of an electronic confessional where guests are willing to expose painful and sometimes embarrassing aspects of their lives quite readily to millions of viewers. bianculli: at the beginning of the decade, we get the dominance of phil donahue. and that's sort of a maturation of women's issues. and he seemed to talk to them, in the audience, he seemed to talk to them through the tv screen. i'm glad you called. kiss the kids. [ laughter ] we'll be back in just a moment. if you look at the body of work we've had, you know, you're gonna see the '80s there. i'm not here to say you're wrong, but let's understand this. when you bring a moral judgment without knowing them, against them for the way that they look they feel that confirms the reason for their rebellion,

if that's what you want to call it. mitchell: he really believed that daytime television needed to talk about the ideas we were thinking about, the issues we were concerned about. [ chuckles ] i don't want to characterize his question, but why don't you get this fixed instead of doing this screwy stuff? there's not a single recorded case in history of any transsexual, that ever, through psychological treatment, changed. it has never happened yet. we were putting very important people on the program. all kinds of people. gay people. people going to jail. people running for office, you know? sometimes the same people. it was a magic carpet ride. you really do paint a very, very grim, picture of the sitting president of the united states. let me just say this -- i think he's probably the laziest president that i've ever seen. the audience for phil donahue built and built and built and built and led the way to "oprah."

♪ [ cheers and applause ] whoo! hello, everybody. hello! mitchell: oprah has a particularly magical combination of her own background, her own experience, her own incisive mind, and empathetic spirit. thank you. i'm oprah winfrey and welcome to the very first national "oprah winfrey show"! [ cheers and applause ] donahue: i was surprised at the rocket pace that "oprah" took off because it took us a lot longer. the donahue show rearranged the furniture, but oprah remodeled the whole house. winfrey: there are a lot of other people who are watching who really don't understand what you mean when you say, well, you know, we're in love. because i remember questioning my gay friends saying, you mean, like, you feel about him the way i feel about... it's kind of a strange concept, you know, for a lot of people to accept.

oprah was connecting with people in a way that no one had on tv before. and it was really special to see. well, did you know that for the longest time, i wanted to be a fourth grade teacher because of you? my, i was not aware of inspiring anyone. i think you did exactly what teachers are supposed to do. they create a spark for learning. that's the reason i have a talk show today. oprah winfrey now dominates the talk show circuit both in the ratings and popularity. i want to use my life as a source of lifting people up. that's what i want to do. that's what i do every day on my show. you know, we get accused of being tabloid television and sensational and so forth, but what i really think we do more than anything else is we serve as a voice to a lot of people who felt up until perhaps my show or some of the others, that they were alone. this is what 67 pounds of fat looks like. [ audience murmurs, gasps ] i can't, i can't lift it. it is amazing to me that i can't lift it, but i used to carry it around every day. there's nothing more endearing to an audience

than to have that kind of honest and humility and courage on the part of a host. and that, i think, has a lot to do with her power. it feels like i can do some good here. and i really do think that the show does a lot of good. ♪ american television is drowning in talk shows. but it's never seen anything like morton downy, jr. i want to tell you this story -- sit down and shut up! troy: other competitors come and take the television talk show into two different directions. so you start seeing the phenomenon of daytime television shows becoming less tame and more wild. hart: the '80s brought a lot of belligerence to television. whether it was morton downey, jr. being the offensive, caricature-ish person that he was, or geraldo. he did his own outlandish things. stay with us ladies and gentlemen. we're gonna get into the mind of another all american boy

who came under the influence of satanism and took part in a crime without passion or motive. troy: geraldo rivera takes the power of the talk show to a whole other level, trying to put people on stage who hate each other, who are gonna fight. in the case of the temple of set and the church of satan, we have not had any problems with criminal behavior. yet when you hear story after story after story of people committing these wretched crimes, these violent crimes in the devil's name? troy: the more tension there is, the more conflict there is, the more violence there is, the more the ratings go up. and the american people love to complain about it, but they also love to watch. brokaw: geraldo rivera is back in a controversy tonight. rivera drew sharp criticism with his recent television special on devil worship. but today he found himself in a real free for all. i get sick and tired of seeing uncle tom here, sucking up, trying to be a white man. go ahead, troy, go ahead. now, let me tell you -- [ audience shouting ] sit down, man. hey! come on. no. you got it coming. you got it coming. dude... get up and get it. nah. hey, hold it! hold it! sit down!

[ indistinct shouting ] brokaw: rivera suffered a broken nose but he says the show will be broadcast later this month in its entirety. well, that's not something, you know, i would have done. but there was a lot of hypocrisy. one of the major magazines put the picture of geraldo getting hit with a chair on the cover. and the article said, "isn't this awful? look what's happened to television." and yet they couldn't wait to use it to sell their own magazine. let's go to the audience, all right. i want to speak to you guys. you guys are... shales: over the years, broadcasting has deteriorated. and now in this era of deregulation, it's deteriorating further. give people light, and they will find their own way. relax. america will survive the talk shows.

♪ troy: a big thing that changes in the '80s is the number of hours spent watching television. [ whistles ] goes up. the number of hours spent talking about television goes up. one of the symbols of this phenomenon is "entertainment tonight." hi, i'm tom hallick and welcome to our opening night, the premiere edition of "entertainment tonight." hart: all of the critics were kind of unanimous in that they said,

"it'll never last because there simply isn't enough entertainment news to fill a half-hour every night. "entertainment tonight" has surveyed tv critics in the united states and canada to find out which television shows had the most impact on viewers over the years. now, up until this time, nobody had done television like this. nobody. burt reynolds, the hottest actor in hollywood. i'm surprised to see you here. well, i'm glad to see you. well, thank you. we can meet here every night if you'd like. thank you. i'd love it. [ women "ohh" ] leach: a lot of what makes successful television programming is being in the right place at the right time. and it was the right time. mitchell: entertainment journalism evolved as the audience got more curious and had more access. until that point, the entertainment business had been something that we didn't know all that much about. hart: we could go behind the scenes in our effort to really give an insider's look. the crafty old j.r. of "dallas" fame was with his mother, actress mary martin as he was presented with a star

on the hollywood walk of fame. it was very honorific of the industry. they would do serious coverage of it. it wasn't salacious and you would see actors speaking as actors instead of on a johnny carson show. man: what are you like off camera? i'm like this. oh, this is on camera. this is on camera. hanks: it was the beginning of a lot of money being made talking about entertainment and celebrities. robert redford plays the good guy in the movies, but don't tell that to his neighbors in utah. they are still bitter and redford is the target of their ire. hart: the audience grew and grew. and that was showing us that the appetite for celebrity news was big. it was big. get ready for "lifestyles of the rich and famous," television's most dazzling hour of excitement! hi, i'm robin leach in monaco, the glittering gem of the riviera. and you've got a vip ticket to prince rainier's private party. your sunday newspaper is still delivered with the comics around the news.

and that was what i always thought "lifestyles" was. we were the comic around the news. except we did it as seriously as they did news. finally in the driving seat of his own career, he burned rubber in a new direction. david hasselhoff -- rock idol. hart: it was a time where pushing the limits with wealth and ostentatiousness in a lot of cases was very comfortable. one of the earliest stories that we presented to you on "lifestyles" was about the amazing real-estate wizard donald trump. if he didn't shock and surprise you back then, he's had plenty of time since. with all of this costing billions, not millions, do the figures ever frighten you? the answer is no. it's my business. it's my life. it's my lifestyle. i love it. the good, the bad. does this bring with it political aspirations? no political aspiration. bob brown: your show has gotten a lot of ridicule. there are people who say it's nothing more than trash.

that doesn't upset me because i think it's the best trash there is on television. i am not in the business of brain surgery. i am in the business of fluff. connelly: it's the fantasy element at a time when the access is possible. it's escapism and it's aspirational. you want to stand in a hot tub with a glass of champagne? rock on! leach: we'd never seen that kind of wealth ever before. we didn't mock it, we didn't say it was right, and we didn't say it was wrong. we were just through the keyhole. sometimes, you know, it absolutely amazes me. i walk away from a shoot and i think, "well, we did it again." there was more of everything in tv by the '80s. your opportunities for watching stuff is increasingly vast. announcer: nbc presents "real people." my name's michael b. wilson. the thought dawned on me that the application of a small motor on a pair of roller skates might really be a great thing. barbour: somebody once said that each one of us will be a star for 15 minutes.

and i think that that's probably going to happen. troy: american culture used to be a culture that celebrated privacy and in the 1980s as we're watching celebrities sort of play out onstage, "hey, i want to join, too." all the world becomes a stage and you start seeing shows like "real people" or "the people's court." announcer: the people's court -- where reality television is taken one step further. to see more tv, producers had to come up with new and different ways to give them television. don't. be. stupid. carl, get over here! [ screams ] i told you not to be stupid! bianculli: what "cops" did was it took away the script and just brought the camera people and the crews on location to try and catch actual things happening. cocaine... possession of a stolen firearm no less. what else are you gonna do?

♪ officiant: with this ring... with this ring... i thee wed. i thee wed. with my body... with my body... i thee bond. i thee bond.

connelly: the biggest television event of the 1980s is the marriage of charles and diana. it's like the world stopped when that happened. i mean, that was, like, just massive. reporter: this was the final act of a spectacle that may never again be seen in this century, if ever. rather: the archbishop of canterbury called the wedding of prince charles and lady diana spencer today the stuff of fairy tales. chancellor: good evening. the royal couple at this hour is off on the honeymoon, while a lot of people here in london tonight are still talking about the events of the day. troy: when you have great moments like the royal wedding, they're a part of history and it's done beautifully and everybody has a chance to watch it all on television. everybody just wants to drink a toast to chuck and di. jennings: a princess who must now be aware as it was on this day that every single move she makes in public will be recorded and observed. a very difficult life indeed. we'll be back in just a moment with some closing observations and one final look at what has justifiably been called

the wedding of the century. officiant: by the authority of the state of new york, i pronounce that they are husband and wife. you may kiss the bride. [ cheers and applause ] your wedding was seen by an astonishing number of people -- 16 and 19 million viewers. how do you account for that kind of popularity? oh, i can't. i can't. the way it's grown, it's just -- it's amazing to me. connelly: it did appear in the '80s that it was a good time for daytime soap operas, especially for a show like "general hospital," which had that huge success with luke and laura's wedding. duffy: i remember when luke and laura got married because it was nighttime newsworthy. the soap opera discovers the blockbuster mentality, the sweeps month mentality. like, what can we do to get even more people watching. you have a wedding. you have a kidnapping. you have an evil twin. and prime time stole from daytime. reporter: after "dallas" proved that ewing oil was better

than real oil for cbs, the networks rushed to give the public more. troy: the great prime-time soap operas of the 1980s. "dallas," "dynasty." they're all about excess. this is about being over the top, stabbing each other in the back, going for the gusto, and having fun. i know what's wrong with you. the empty armed madonna. mourning the baby that she couldn't have and the baby that she almost got to adopt. that is it, isn't it? oh, you miserable bitch! yost: there was a bigness to the stories. and that they could afford to do on a network, if you're doing one episode a week. now you can't do that if you're doing five episodes a week for a daytime show. so just the production value gave it that pizzazz. reporter: if you can't have it, watch other people with it. or so say the three networks who are programming nearly 40% of their prime-time fare with series about the very rich. and the public is devouring it at such a rate

that make believe money has become ratings gold. [ screams ] hart: the characters were larger than life. they were more evil and more cunning and manipulative. and more gorgeous. i mean, really. look at the way they were dressed. look at the way they lived. everything, it was fascinating. -alexis? -yes. i didn't thank you for your present. [ gasps ] [ sighs ] it's he you should slap, dear, not i. julie brown: we all wanted to live like, you know, we were on "dynasty," like the carringtons. and it all just ended up being a wonderful picture of fun and debauchery. yost: greed was encouraged in the '80s. there was a sense of conspicuous consumption as being okay. and those shows kind of exploited that. catherine mann: prime-time families like the carringtons who live here in luxury on the "dynasty" sound stage are not the only rich folk on tv.

in the last five years, more than half of all new shows have featured the wealthy. 10 years ago, that figure was zero. there was an accident. your father's dead. connelly: falcon crest was a wine family. there's lorenzo lamas and there's ronald reagan's first wife, jane wyman is on that show. emma is pregnant. i know a doctor who can take care of it right away. that will never happen. all of those shows were, "oh, my god, what's next? what's gonna happen with that? he can't get away with that." and then you tune in. it was appointment television. announcer: what will become of the missing twins on knots landing? what? connelly: they all had spin-offs. "dallas" had the spin-off "knots landing." "the colbys" was the spin-off for "dynasty." they were seeing how much they could max this stuff out. 'cause it was really successful. where's your son miles? isn't he going to be a part of this venture, or is he just playing polo as usual? [ laughter ] the colbys can always find room for another trophy.

[ laughter ] corday: you had these people fighting over oil and mansions and it was fantasy, but in a kind of so over the top way that it was fun. there's nothing devious about using your femininity. bianculli: these shows took themselves so unseriously that they were camp. but that was okay with the central audience that was loving them. duffy: it was entertainment. we weren't trying to do high drama. we were there to entertain. we were glossy. there was no getting around it. we knew what we were there for and we did it as best we could.

it may not sound like it, but this... is actually progress at 225 miles per hour. shell renewable race fuel. reducing emissions by 60% in all ntt indycar® series races. ♪♪ we're moving forward with indycar. because we're moving forward with everybody. ♪♪ shell. powering progress. her uncle's unhappy. i'm sensing an underlying issue.

it's t-mobile. it started when we tried to get him under a new plan. but they they unexpectedly unraveled their “price lock” guarantee. which has made him, a bit... unruly. you called yourself the “un-carrier”. you sing about “price lock” on those commercials. “the price lock, the price lock...” so, if you could change the price, change the name! it's not a lock, i know a lock. so how can we undo the damage? we could all unsubscribe and switch to xfinity. their connection is unreal. and we could all un-experience this whole session. okay, that's uncalled for. gumbel: australia's most important export may be neither its animals nor its beer nor its films. could in fact be one rupert murdoch. 55-year-old mr. murdoch is in the midst of building what forbes magazine says is the most extensive media empire in history. heilemann: a huge development in television. the gemini of the three broadcast networks was presumed to be complete and rupert murdoch having disrupted the newspaper business in australia,

the television business in britain. he arrives in america and basically says, i don't really see why there should only be three broadcast networks. i'm gonna make another one. this was a big, bold bet. jensen: meantime, he will have to become an american citizen if he is to own tv stations here. something murdoch says he is willing to do. gumbel: there are some people who are saying that it'll take you 20 years to get your fox network on a par with the big three. are you prepared to wait that long? sure, i certainly intend to live that long. but i don't believe in the 20 years. auletta: the reaction to murdoch's idea for a fourth network was similar to the reaction at ted turner starting cnn. it's ridiculous, you know. what does he know about television? we don't think of ourselves as abc, cbs or nbc. we don't have to reach everyone. there's no question we have an inferior lineup of stations to our counterparts. that means we'll all have to work harder to get our-our message across and get shows sampled. auletta: they had an idea that, "in order to succeed we have to differentiate ourselves from the networks. we have to do things they would not do." fox started throwing anything against the wall,

not knowing what was gonna go. first shows were things like "21 jump street"... what exactly are we looking for here? bianculli: ...joan rivers in terms of late night... we have been banned in boston, which i think is wonderful. wxne, so pick a finger wxne. bianculli: ...and "the tracey ullman show." oh, polly! levine: it was a sketch show and they needed something to go between the sketches. and again, they were looking for something different. i gotta have those candy bars. you better not be thinking of stealing those candy bars. that's it! "the simpsons" would never have come along had it not been for "the tracey ullman show." ultimately, crime hurts the criminal. but that's not true mom. i gotta free ride home didn't i? bart! levine: fox was thrilled that it was different. they said, sure, be experimental. do whatever you want. we're just happy to have a show on the air. [ laughter ]

i'm home! bianculli: "married with children" was their first big, big hit in that way that said if all the rest of television is going this way, we're going that way. bud, kelly, you want to come down and help me in the kitchen? [ doors slam ] [ chuckles ] there, that should buy us about 10 minutes. 7 more than we'll need. [ chuckles ] mandabach: the title of "married with children" on the script was "not the cosby show." how great. i mean, you know, you have to love that. they just were taking the piss out of american families. fun, great fun. hurry up bud. never wanted to get married, i'm married. never wanted to have kids, i got two of them. how the hell did this happen? the bundys were almost like a purposeful reaction to the perfection of the huxtables. and it was funny because, you know, you had this wonderful, perfect black family and these horrible, miserable white people. and each show worked on its own terms because you could find things to relate to in both. howdy neighbor.

yeah, yeah, yeah. [ whispers ] i hate these people. why don't we sit down? there was a lot of fun to be had in, you know, al and peg bundy. bianculli: after fox introduces "married with children," it does very, very well, then back on abc, they came up with another major hit, "roseanne." you think this is a magic kingdom where you just sit up here on your throne. oh yeah? yeah! and you think everything gets done by some wonderful wizard. oh, poof, the laundry's folded. poof, dinner's on the table. you want me to fix dinner? i'll fix dinner. i'm fixing dinner! oh, but, honey, you just fixed dinner three years ago. bianculli: typical american families weren't on television for the longest time. the donna reed days, you know, the early days, the "father knows best," hardly anybody really lived like that. that was the way advertisers wanted you to live. i know what just might make me feel better. me too, but i bet it's a different list than what you got. the ideal situation is if you can subvert whatever common stuff is said about families

and about parenting. what's in this, lead? oh, i got you kids new leg irons. [ cackles ] her loudness and her unfilteredness were key to why we liked her. she was saying stuff about working class people, she was saying stuff about men and women. so it was about marriage and about raising kids and about how hard it is. oh, great, i'm just gonna look like a freak, that's all. what else is new? shut up! this is why some animals eat their young. tv in the '80s was a big decade for the evolution of comedy, for the evolution of drama. it just pushed everything forward. shriver: do you think perhaps this generation are paying more attention to the dialogue, to the relationships that they see on television than in years previous? well, clearly the people that are watching our shows are. and "thirtysomething" and "cheers" and "st. elsewhere." these are shows that are smartly written. it's their words that define them.

and i think that's what people like. furillo: what we're supposed to be here is the one thing people can trust. if you go out there like a bunch of night riders, what the hell are you but just another vicious street gang? that decade spawned an extraordinary number of shows that really carved out a unique niche for themselves. we began to turn television into an art form. and for the first time, people were proud to say, "i write for television." yost: up until that point, television was second class. in the '80s, it was something else entirely and it was new and it was kind of interesting. connelly: it's like everyone in the '80s starts to want to tell their stories. that's what really changes things. shales: the unexpected was more welcome in the '80s. predictability lost its cache. television has an impact on every era, every decade. television still shapes the thinking of america like

no other element in our country. sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. duffy: it gave rise to people pursuing artistic content in a way that i think has raised the bar in television production exponentially. i love you guys! bianculli: there's a shift in the '80s from just wanting to placate the audience to wanting to please and challenge the audience. and that's the decade when it happened. we had one hell of a run. didn't we partner? yeah. we sure did, sonny. i'm gonna miss you man. i'm gonna miss you, too, sonny. can i give you a ride to the airport? why not? ♪