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tv   The Eighties  CNN  July 2, 2016 4:00pm-6:01pm PDT

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♪ it's a time of enormous turmoil. >> '60s are over. >> here's michael at the foul line. good! >> 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 both the best and worst in us. and television has been that. >> they don't pay me enough to deal with animals like this. >> people are no longer
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embarrassed to admit they watch television. >> we have seen the news, and it is us. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ slowly but surely, the 1970s
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are disappearing. the 1980s will be upon us. and what a decade it is coming up. happy new year! >> as we began the '80s in the television world, the landscape was on any given evening, 9 out of 10 people 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 primetime prairie pot boilers "dallas." >> a move like that will destroy all of ewing oil and ruin our family name. >> a thought like that never crossed my mind. >> brother or no brother, whatever it takes, i'll stop you from destroying ewing oil. >> "dallas" established new ground in a weekly hour-long show. it literally captivated america for 13 years. >> "dallas" is a television show
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which is rooted in the 1970s 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 going to stay with tonight. >> what difference does it make? it's got to be more interesting than the slut i'm looking at right now. >> such a delicious villain. everyone was completely enamored by this character. >> 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? [ gunshots ] >> 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. >> who did shoot j.r.? we may never get the answer to that question.
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the people who produce that program are going to keep us in suspense as long as they possibly can. >> who shot j.r. and then we broke for the summer. then the actors went on strike. 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. >> we know you don't die. you couldn't die. >> we don't know that. >> how could you die? you couldn't come back next season. >> i couldn't come back but the show could still go on. >> but you wouldn't. what is that show without j.r.? >> that's what i figure. >> i guess if you don't know by now who shot j.r., you probably do not care. last night some 82 million americans did. and they watched the much touted "dallas" episode." it could become the most watched television show ever. >> who shot j.r. is a reflect job of old-fashioned television. it gathers everybody around the electric fireplace which is now the television set.
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>> one special american television program. critics said it transcends in popularity ever other american statement about war. and something special happened today to hospital 4077. that will touch millions of americans. it was the kind of event that would draw the world's breath. the end of the korean war. the television version "m.a.s.h." >> it's been an honor and privilege to have worked with you. i'm very, very proud to have known you. >> 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 we were all sad to see them go. >> i'll miss you. >> i'll miss you. a lot. >> all over the country, armies of fans crowded around television sets to watch the final episode and to bid "m.a.s.h." farewell.
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>> the finale of "m.a.s.h." was unprecedented. 123 million people watched one television program at the same time. >> 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. >> 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. >> all right. that's it. let's roll. hey. let's be careful out there. >> dispatch, we have a 911. armed robbery in progress.
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>> when quality does emerge on television, the phrase" too good for tv" is often heard. one recent network offering that seems is 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. >> we had all watched a documentary about cops and had this real hand-held in the moment quality that we were very enamored of. >> the minute you looked at it, it looked different. it had a mood to it. you could almost smell the stale coffee. >> we didn't want to do a standard cop show where, you know, you have a crime and you have your two cops and you go out and catch the bad guy and you sweat him and he confesses, and that's it. cops have personal lives that impact their behavior in
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profound ways. >> is he here or elsewhere? >> don't get excited. we're working on it. >> how is this for logic. if he's not here, and if he's not elsewhere, he's lost. >> we didn't say that. >> you lost -- >> never in my entire life have i listened to so much incompetence covered up by so much unmitigated crap. find my client, or, i swear, i'll have you up on charges. >> there would be these ongoing arcs for their 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 on. >> in the past, people had watched television passively. and the one thing i think we did set out to be were provocateurs.
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>> you fill it out. >> what the hell is the matter with you, man? >> they don't pay me enough to deal with animals like this. all they see is a white face and all they -- >> listen to me. it was a white man that pulled the trigger, not a black one. >> it set a trend. the idea that the audience can accept its characters being deeply flawed even though they were wearing this uniform. i thought that was important to finally get across. >> 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." >> 21 nominations. and we went on to win eight emmys. it put us on the map, literally. that's when people finally checked us out. >> programming chief of one of the networks used to say to me about shows like "hill street" and "st. elsewhere" what's the
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american public wants is a cheeseburger. what you are 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 for you to join us. >> the success of "hill street blues" influenced everything that's came after. and then of course you saw shows like "st. elsewhere. >> you know what people call this? st. elsewhere. a place you wouldn't want to send your mother-in-law. >> when it first came on, it was promoted as "hill street hospital." >> you gave your patients the wrong antibiotics. you write the worst progress notes. you're pathetic. >> bill? >> what? >> dr. moring needs you right away. >> i'm sorry. >> "st. elsewhere" broke every rule there was and then built some new rules. >> the blood bank called a little while ago.
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they ran a routine panel. t-cell count was off. >> 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. >> "st. elsewhere" challenged people and challenged you as an actor, much less the audience to think the stuff they gave you was extreme in 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 trying to stretch the medium and in the '80s, television producers were encouraged to stretch the medium. >> clear.
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a lot of people used to say, i was there. now people say, they watch it on television. >> 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. give us a whole network of sports. >> there's just one place you need to go for all the names and games making sports news. espn "sportscenter." >> what happened in the 1980s is sports becomes a tv show. and what are tv shows built around? characters.
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>> you can't be serious, man. you cannot be serious! you got the absolute -- >> mcenroe, the perfect villain. the new yorker that people loved to hate. 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 they are john mcenroe and bjorn borg or chrissy and navratilova. that's what we want to turn in over and over. >> three match points to martina navratilova. >> this man has a smile that lights up a television screen from here to bangor, maine. >> and that there is magic johnson, this urban kid from michigan and larry bird, this guy who worked carrying trash. one plays for the lakers. the other plays for the boston celtics. it's a great story.
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>> lakers had several chances. here's larry bird. >> magic johnson leads the attack. >> look at that pass. oh, what's a show! oh, what a show! >> when the championship games are in primetime and people are paying attention to that, television feeds into those rivalries and makes them bigger than they've ever been before. >> primitive skill. they're just as good as dead. >> every mike tyson fight was an event. every fight was like an ax murder. when he fought michael spinks. the energy, you could just feel the electricity on tv. tyson was made for tv because there was drama. >> it's all over! mike tyson has won it! >> not a lot of junior high school kids can dunk. especially at -- >> everybody tries. >> i think that he is starting to transcend his sport that he's becoming a public figure.
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>> michael jordan becomes the model every other athlete wants to shoot for. they want to be a brand. for these athletes.evision does turns them into worldwide iconic brands. >> the inbounds pass comes in to jordan. michael at the foul line. good! the bulls win. >> athletes in the '80s became part of an ongoing group of people we cared about. we 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 it will go into 1 million more u.s. households this year. >> with cable television 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 mtv! ♪ >> a new concept is born. the best of tv combined with the best of radio. this is it.
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welcome to mtv music television. the world's first 24-hour stereo video music channel. >> music television, what a concept. mtv was, pow, in your face. you were not going to turn us off. >> 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 nonstop on mtv music television's 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. >> 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.
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>> freeze, miami vice. ♪ >> 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, shot entirely on location in south miami, the story centers around two undercover vice cops. >> i don't know how this is going to work, tubbs. i mean, not exactly up my alley style and persona-wise. heaven knows i'm no box of candy. >> television very much was the small screen. it was interesting about tony's pilot screen play for "miami vice." it was not that. very much the approach was, okay, they call this a television series. but we're going to make one-hour movies every single week. >> here we go. stand by. >> action. >> police. >> just describing the show as a new wave cop show. >> it's a cop show for the '80s. we use a lot of mtv images and
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rock music to help describe the mood and feeling of our show. >> 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. >> 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. ♪ i can feel it coming in the air ♪ >> it was only 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. and it was. ♪ >> being able to take a television series like "miami vice" and let's rock 'n' roll with this until somebody says stop or are you guys crazy, you can't do that? and nobody ever did. >> freeze! police.
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magnum? >> hammond? >> private investigator? >> oh, you are probably wondering about the goat. just let me drop off my friend, and then we'll talk.
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>> when we entered the '80s, a lot of dramas that were lighthearted like "magnum p.i." were very popular. after "m.a.s.h." went off the air, the next season there wasn't a single sitcom in the top ten. first time that had ever happened in tv history. the prevailing feeling was that the sitcom was dead. >> 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 forum out, that's exactly the form of programming that leads to the next big hit. ♪ >> 1984 "the cosby show" comes on. bill cosby is not new to tv but "the cosby show" is different. it stands apart from everything else he's done.
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>> i wanted my eggs scrambled. >> coming up. >> they talked about parenting. before that, the kid were cool and the parents were idiots. "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! >> it helps the casting a lot in television. 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's they're going to do to you. >> 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 deep issues but that was okay. the mere fact they existed was a deep issue. >> the decade was waiting for something real.
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in other words, unless it's real, it doesn't seem like it moves anybody. if someone is feeling something, you get to the heart and the mind. if you can hit the hearts and minds, you've got yourself a hit. >> how was school? >> school? dear, i brought home two children that may or may not be ours. >> "the cosby show" brought this tremendous audience to nbc. and that was a bridge to us. our ratings went way up. ♪ sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name ♪ >> even the theme song to "cheers" puts you in a good mood. >> hello, everybody. >> what's shaking, norm? >> all four cheeks and a couple of chins. >> 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 going to happen. it's like all you have to do is
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watch it once. you're going to love these people. these are universal characters, and the humor worked on so many levels. >> i was up until 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. >> i've always wanted to skydive. i've just never had the guts. >> what's did it feel like? >> i imagine a lot like sex. >> i have to imagine what sex is like. but i have plenty of sex. and plenty of this, too. why don't you just get off my back, okay? >> in the first episode, there was a rather passionate annoyance. something is going on here. a really intelligent woman would see your line of bs a mile away. >> i never met an intelligent woman that i would want to date. >> on behalf of the intelligent women around the world, may i just say, phew.
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>> you saw what ted and shelly had together. we said, oh, no. we've got to 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. >> oh, i 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 know how to tease the audience. >> incredible chemistry between the two of them ignited the show. that's what's drove the show for the first five years. >> what's the matter? >> i'm devastated. i need something brutal to blast me into sweet oblivion. make it a mimosa. >> we had the luck to be able to rotate cast and every time we
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put somebody in, there were explosions. >> 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 help to separate winners from losers and make midcourse corrections. you can't cut all comedies from the same cookie cutters. all you can hope is every night turns out like thursday. >> yo, angela! >> next. >> how rude. >> quick, i'll give him that. >> all of television said, oh, maybe sitcoms are alive again. and that's all that it took. it took one success. >> a few years from now, something new may tempt the people that pick what we see. but it's a very safe guess that
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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
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all, we've been meeting like this in the evenings, and i'll miss that. and that's the way it is, friday, march 6th, 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 he was the most trusted man in the country. >> once walter cronkite retires, all three network news anchors within a couple of years switch over to a new generation. the '80s may have been the last gasp where people liked and trusted the media. >> nuclear arms and how to prevent global destruction expected to be the major topic of president reagan's news conference tonight. that conference will be nationally televised within the hour. leslie stahl is at the white house. >> the white house is hoping -- >> in the '80s, women came into the newsroom. when i first joined, it was '72. there are very few. by the '80s, there were more and more. the decade of the '80s was still
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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 them happen to be women. >> the best producers, i'm going to get fired -- the best producers at cbs news are women. and they're at the level of taking hold and making decisions about individual pieces. they are not yet executive producers of all the news shows. but they will be. >> the past 24 hours, christine craft has taken her cause to many of the nation's news and talk programs. >> i didn't set out to be joan of arc, but i think what happened to me deserves some attention. >> reporter: 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 aren't as attractive as you once were, which was outrageous. she decides to make an issue of it.
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she filed a lawsuit and it became a huge national topic of discussion. >> a jury said she got a raw deal because she is a woman. >> women in television news everywhere were asked, what do you think about christine craft. >> unfortunately in recent years the emphasis has been 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? 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 are throwing all the dice on this one. >> why not? nothing ventured, nothing gained. >> well, on that original point, mr. turner, thank you very much, indeed. >> i wanted to see what was going on in the world.
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and it was no way that you could do it watching regular television stations. 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 decided on june 1 and barring satellite problems in the future, we won't be signing off until the world ends. >> it was widely believed it was a fool's errand. how could this possibly find an audience? >> well, he did. >> camera three. >> good evening. i'm david walker. >> 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 realtime. >> cnn, the world's most important network. >> 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 we were going to do it that the detractors showed up.
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>> is cable news network just going to be a new means of delivering the same kind of fare? >> no. it already does provide different fare. 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. >> the major catastrophe in america's space program. >> i am lou dobbs along with financial editor myron kandel. >> jessica mcclure trapped for almost three days now in a dry artesian well. >> the iron curtain between east germany and west berlin has come tumbling down. >> i'm pat buchanan, the conservative on "crossfire." >> the american people appreciated the new television. they certainly 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.
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>> 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. >> it changed quickly. the network news business. that business that we weren't the only ones. and it was hard. 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. >> there were a variety of reasons why people who worked at the broadcast networks were freaked out in 1980s. one of them was cnn. and the rise of cable. another was being taken over by foreign entities in corporate america. >> new owners spend billions buying the networks recently, and all of them want their money's worth.
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>> 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. the people who worked at those news divisions were totally freaked out by what it meant they were now owned by these larger corporate entities. >> the television news isn't profitable at some point there won't be any more television news on the networks. >> i worry about people only worried about money and power getting a hold of television. it has higher purposes than that. >> we have seen the news, and it is us. what if we designed a stain for your deck... that not only looked as handsome as charles stephens' barrel on his farewell voyage over niagara falls... but stood up to any kind of weather... ...no matter if the forecast is this...
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sometimes ambition in a woman is considered to be a dirty word unfortunately. >> i don't hear the female voices reverberating in the halls. >> i'm surprised there aren't more shows about women. >> it seems to be an area almost impossible to break through. >> i think the '80s were the era
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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. >> cagney "& lacey" was huge. that there would be two women and they had a serious job and they solved crimes and were out on the streets and tough. that was emblematic or ot in front of what was happening in the country. >> so we're a terrific team. >> by that point, hundreds of buddy cop shows. but these buddies were women. it 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? >> we didn't even realize this was going to be such a big deal.
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and strangely, all these guys would say to us, well, yeah. i mean, it's a good script, but who is going to save them in the end? >> come on. we're getting out of here. >> you don't take one more step. you understand me? >> sergeant nelson, you have until 8:00 tomorrow morning to turn yourself in. if you don't, i will. >> it was the 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, you couldn't see, why didn't you call me to come get you. >> i tried to. every time i put in a dime and dialed, a condom popped out.
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i got five in my pocket. here, dorothy. a lifetime supply. >> she was recently named as one of television's most gifted creative writers. when you look back at the past women's role models on tv, it's easy to see susan harris' impact. >> susan harris was the greatest writer of her generation at that time, singularly. so all credit to her for coming up with so many iterations of something so amazing. >> do you think there is a woman's voice as a writer? >> woman's voice? they speak higher, softer? >> i should know 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, there very definitely is a woman's voice. >> oh, do you know how many problems we have solved over a
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cheesecake at this kitchen table? >> no, dorothy. exactly how many. >> 147, blanche. >> cut-throat primetime time this fall as some 23 new shows compete in one of the hottest ratings races in years. designing women, four fri d frienfrien friends forming an interior decorator business. >> susan, there would be an arch over your bed. >> linda created one of the most unusual shows in designing women. they were a group of different women than you really saw on television. they were feisty, they were sexy, and linda's voice came through shining. >> men can get away with anything. i mean, look at reagan's neck,
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it sags down to here. and everybody raves about how great he looks. imagine if nancy had that neck they would be putting her in a nursing home for turkeys. >> they had given me this 23 minutes to address whatever topic i wanted. it was such a privilege. more than the president of the united states gets. it's thrilling, i would be 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. >> trust me when i say you completely misassessed the situation at this table. >> i'm a woman and a writer, but i don't enjoy being called a woman's writer, i think labels are harmful to us. >> with murphy brown, just about everything about that program seemed new. the women's movement, civil
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rights movement had just began to be reflected in the television that you saw in the ' '80s. >> murphy, you know it's a men's club. >> i don't get to go for one reason, and it has to do with something you have and something i don't. a tiny little pathetic little y chromosome. >> murphy brown was so popular and strong, independent and tough. >> no matter what you think of a guest or their views, you're obligated to ask the questions in a dignified manner, jim, am i right? >> well -- >> do you believe this, he is calling me unprofessional.
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i tell you, we have put a great show together, it will be a week from thursday. >> johnny carson was the king of national treasure, a throwback to that old show biz stuff. >> i haven't seen you in a long time. >> yeah, well, you have been busy with other things. >> and the tide is starting to turn in terms of where late
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night television is going to 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 is the king. >> [ bleep ]. >> my next guest not only has a college degree, but he also has a high school degree. >> that's right, i do. >> as well, he hosted the tonight show practically as often as johnny carson and now he has his own show, weekday mornings at 10 on nbc. >> what you see here ladies and gentlemen, is a good idea gone awry, one surprise after another turning into an incredible
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screw-up. >> david letterman had a show and they decided to cancel after a few weeks. >> today is our last show, monday on las vegas -- have these people been frisked? >> it was a dismal failures, in terms of the rating, but not in terms of introducing us to david letterman. >> david, thank you for joining us. >> stay with us, in spite of all the nonsense, stay with us here in new york. >> dave is back in new york. he is going to host a late night television program that premieres monday night. what are critics likely to say tuesday? >> i don't much care, because i find ways to deal with it. pills and whiskey. >> you're on. >> oh, i'm on -- >> just enjoying listening to you snort. >> and they gave him the late night show after "the tonight show."
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and at the time, people thought who is going to watch television thursday night. who is up? i tell you who is up, young people, college people. >> going well, this is the first show. i think this guy needs a little support, david letterman. >> he was anti-establishment at his core, he was thumbing his nose at any existing social structures. >> who are those women out there, by the way? >> neighbors. >> i'll get rid of them. hey, excuse me. >> kind of spoofed the whole notion of talk shows. >> it's the late night guest cam, please say hello to tom hanks, there he is. >> no one could go on the david letterman show and try to steer it towards a point of view and push something. he just wouldn't stand for it. you're on to do one thing and one thing only. be as funny as possible. >> you know, we could do a two-man show.
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>> 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 good at aiming at people. and he didn't care, he wanted his thumb print out there. that was what was important. >> excuse me, do you have any accompanying music here? paul schafer, ladies and gentlemen. >> the show making fun of itself and turning itself inside out that way was something kind of new. >> don't we look like guys that kind of look like they hang around together? >> absolutely. >> and do you want to hang out? >> no. >> i thought i would never do this show with you. >> now, why? because you thought i was a believe wleep. >> there is 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
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television. we're not doing cancer research. if the 40-year broadcasting in television has taught us something, there is nothing sacred. >> our steve is upstairs. >> hey, dave, i was just curious, is there any way i can get mtv? >> actually, steve, that is just a monitor, the only thing you can get is our show. >> there was a degree of cynicism that was needed, it never got old. >> i watched johnny carson, are no johnny carson. >> good day, welcome to great white north. i'm bob mckenzie, this is my brother, doug, and today we have a show. >> there was a second city chicago company and a second city toronto company. that was the one that fuelled
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the tv series which was originally the one that was syndicated and got to the states that way. >> thank you very much for that marvelous reception, i particularly want to thank my supporters over there. >> it's wonderful to be an outsider as a comedian, but the canadians are right out there looking at the neighbor next door. >> i want to bury your children! >> it was the type of comedian 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. >> james bridgeman. sorry, no, never mind. >>conceptual in its humor because it didn't have to be performed in front of an audience. and also just this idea it was sort of a low rent thing, sort
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of a by the seat of their pants operation. it gave it an authenticity. >> you were rooting for the show and the characters that they created. there was just something that you got behind. where as you know, snl right from the gate and through the '80s was this big enterprise. >> after five golden years, lauren decided to leave and so did those close to him, including me, al franken. so nbc had to pick a new producer. now, most knowingly people as you may imagine hoped it would be me, al frank. >> there was a real question if saturday night live would continue at all, whether it would just die. >> the press has not been overly kind. >> saturday night live is
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saturday night dead? from yucks to yuck. >> they were having a hard time, then came the man that saved the show, eddy murphy. >> there was a buzz about him. so you tuned in and there was this kind of explosion of talent in front of your eyes. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> it really kind of rejuvenated the show. >> i am gumby, damnmit, you don't talk to me that way. >> after a while the show regained its clout and became more of an institution than it had been. >> hey, peter looks great today. >> tell me now. >> you will 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. >> isn't that special?
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>> i am hans. >> i am franz, and we just want to pump you up. >> a lot of things they could do on saturday night live they could not do on a sitcom. the humor was more daring and more satirical, and it was political. >> you still have 50 seconds left, mr. president. >> well, let me just sum up, on track, stay the course. a thousand points of lights. stay the course. >> governor dukakis, rebuttal? >> i can't believe i'm losing to this guy. >> it's gary shandling show. >> people are trying to turn this into something new. we spent years and years on drama and talk shows and knew by heart that if somebody played on that and parodied it, we got it. >> yeah, i appreciate you coming in on these conditions, i really
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do. you want to hold the credits? see, we were going to scroll the credits and you were late. >> the gary shandling show was aware of the fact that it was a situation comedy. it highlighted the cliches in funny ways. >> are you looking into the camera? >> no. >> don't look into the camera. don't come in here and look into the camera. >> i didn't. >> i'll bop you. i will, if i see a tape of this show. and you're looking into the camera. [ cheers and applause ] >> about that time. >> peewee's playhouse on cbs had the show that adults could wink at and laugh at each other. it was very funny. >> the word is, good! >> it was a show. certainly for kids. and it was for stoned baby boomers who were totally wasted
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and i don't mind saying that i was a pretty fair little athlete. 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 the music. it was a brilliantly written show. and a great performance by the entire young cast. >> hey, steve. they found each other. >> she is not my girlfriend. >> kevin arnold has to cope with all the timeless problems of growing up during one of the worst times that we have known. >> kevin arnold is just a kid in the '60s and he is not really aware of the events. in one of the episodes, the whole family is watching the apollo 8 takeoff, but i'm just trying to call a girl. >> anybody who saw that first
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episode remembers the first kiss. 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 ♪ ♪ ♪ he can't keep his mind on nothing else ♪ ♪ >> the tone is about rebellion and students. by the '80s, it's time to grow up. so they shave their beards and put on power suits, a whole new notion. >> the yuppies, last year the politicians were all talking about winning their votes. now those young urban professionals and the rest of the generation are being wooed by the advertisers. >> it was pretty clear after the generation of the '60s may be embodied by alex keaton on family ties. >> you're a young man, you should not be worried about success. i should be thinking about
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hopping on a tramp steamer and going around the world. >> the '60s are over, dad. >> thanks for the tip. >> you were not laughing at michael j. fox's character for being too conservative, you were actually laughing at the kids for being hopelessly liberal. >> that is generic brand shampoo. >> this is the guy i told you about, everything you want in a president. >> this is allowing the reaganite that is focused more on the critique of the '60s. >> 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. nothing you can do about it. my advice to you is that you
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just enjoy being a child for as long as you can. i know i did. it's the best two weeks of my life. >> alex is a little bill buckley. "the wall street journal" is his bible. he has a tie to go with his pajamas. he is a very intense and conservative 17-year-old. >> and the teacher is going to ask what you did over the summer. now, a lot of kids are going to say i went to the beach or the zoo or the baseball game, now, what are you going to say? >> i watched the iran contrahan. >> if they think it's going to the dogs, think again, this is the generation working on success. >> 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, allen.
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good shoulder pads, you look to get drafted by the eagles? >> 30-something said we're not going to have cop, lawyers or doctors. we're just going to be about people. >> what are you doing here? what is this business? >> to do our thing. >> right now we have two wives, three kids, four cars, two mortgages and a payroll. and that is life, pal. you be the breadwinner now. >> is that what i am? >> 30-something is a show is more emotional. and some people were not buying it. but for other people when they were talking about things like having kids and who was going back to work, it was important to people. >> i was so looking forward to doing this. being a grown-up for just an hour. >> in the beginning, there was talk of this being the yuppie show. and you mentioned it tonight. you said if there was a category
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for the most annoying show -- >> i think it's made up. i don't think it has anything to do with what the show is. >> third-something was not a giant hit. but it was a niche hit. it attracted an enormously upscale group of advertisers. >> it was more about what were they watching, that was more important in the '80s. >> the prosecution will ask that you look to the law and that, you must do. but i ask that you look to your hearts as well. thank you. >> 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. >> the reality level on that show was like a foot or two off the ground. and you're willing to go with that because it was a whole new
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spin on a law show. >> 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 was juicy, newsy, exciting stuff. >> it was really fun to take the hill street blues format and use it to frame an entirely different social and cultural strata and engage in different results. >> i wonder if i may engage with my client. >> what are you doing for dinner tonight? >> i was planning on having you? >> in that case, skip lunch. >> the formula had gotten to the point of how you could skip the show and yet still have a lot of fun. we didn't used to be able to accept that very easily in a tv hour, and it's like oh, i get it. it's like all right, what are
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the rules now? >> what are you doing? >> what i should have done all along, what i should have done last night. stop that, david, i'm calling the police, david! hello, police! >> the networks realized there was an audience looking for something less predictable than traditional prime time fare. >> moonlighting was another of those shows that said okay, i see the formulas we have had up to here. that is two different things. >> hello. >> hello. >> we're looking a little pale today, aren't we? and who have we here? >> i don't know. >> moonlighting was really an experimental show, they had a shakespeare show. >> i don't care about the crows lines around my eyes or the altitude of my caboose. >> well, i'm at a loss, i don't
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know what that is. >> that is okay, they do. >> there is no trouble. there was no trouble on the set. >> we have a very volatile relationship. there is a hate/love element to it. >> the flirting between bruce kept them apart for a long time. and bravo to him. >> 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 want to? >> here i come. >> stay away from me. >> i never wanted you. >> does entertainment at some point stop the tease of david and maddie, do they get together? >> that is going to be resolved this year. we like to think of it as two and a half years of foreplay. >> people who were watching moonlighting for years were waiting for this moment. the emotions were built in. so when they start playing it's
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in recent years it seems that television has become 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. >> at the beginning of the decade, we get the dominance of phil donahue. he seemed to talk to them through the audience and tv screen. >> i'm glad you called. kiss the kids. we'll be right back in just a moment. >> if you look at the body of work we have had you're going to 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 is what you want to call it. >> he really believed that daytime television needed to talk about the ideas we were thinking about. the issues we were concerned
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about. >> i don't want to characterize his question, but why don't you get this fixed instead of doing this stuff? >> there is never a recorded case in history that any transsexual ever changed in history. there never has been. >> we were putting all kinds of people on the program, gay people, people going to jail. people running for office. 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 say this, i think he is probably the laziest president that i have ever seen. >> the audience for phil donahue led the way to oprah. [ cheers and applause ]
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>> oprah has a particularly magical combination of her own background. her own experience. her own incisive mind. >> i'm oprah winfrey, welcome to the very first oprah winfrey show! >> i'm surprised at the pace that it took off at. it took us a lot longer, donahue rearranged the furniture, but oprah took off. >> there are really a lot of people who don't understand what you mean by, we're in love. because i remember questioning my gay friend, you really feel that way that i feel? it's kind of a strange concept. >> oprah was connecting with people the way nobody had on tv before. and it was really the special thing to see. >> well, did you know for a long
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time i wanted to be a teacher because of you. >> i was not aware of inspiring anyone. >> i think you do exactly what people want to do. you inspired. that is the reason i have a show today. >> oprah dominates in the ratings and popularity. >> i want to use my light as a source of lifting people up. that is what i want to do every day on my show. we get accused of being tabloid television more than anything. but i really feel more than anything we serve as a voice, many felt they were alone. >> this is what 67 pounds of fat looks like. i want lift it. it is amazing to me that i can't lift it but i used to carry it around every day. >> there is nothing more endearing to an audience than to have a kind of honesty and humility and courage as a host.
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i feel like that is a lot of her power. >> i feel like i can do some good here, and i really do feel like the show has a lot of good. >> american television is drowning in talk shows. but it's never seen anything like morton downey jr. >> sit down and shut up! >> other competitors come and take a talk show into two different directions. so you start to see the phenomenon of daytime television shows becoming less tame and more wild. >> the '80s brought a lot of belligerence to television, whether it was morton downey being the kind of character he was, or geraldo. he did these outlandish things. >> stay with us, while we get into the mind of a boy who had a criminal mind.
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>> geraldo put ideas differently into people's minds. >> yet when you hear story after story after story of people committing these horrible, violent crimes in the devil's name? >> the more tension there is the more conflict there is, the more violence there is the more the ratings go up. the american people love to complain about it but they also love to watch. >> rivera is back in a controversy tonight, he drew sharp criticism with his daytime television show, worship of the devil. but today, he had another incident. >> go ahead. >> hey -- >> hey, hold it! hold it. >> sit down. sit down. >> rivera suffered a broken nose but he says the show will be broadcast later this month in its entirety.
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>> well, that's not something you know i would have done. but there was a lot of hypocrisy. and one of the major magazines put the picture of him getting hit with the chair. and the other said look, it's awful, what is happening to television? and yet they couldn't wait to put it in their own magazine. >> over the years, broadcasting has deteriorated. and now in this era of deregulation, it's deteriorating more. >> relax, america will survive the talk shows. the lobster and shrimp summerfest is happening now at red lobster. and if you love lobster and shrimp, ...check out all these new entrees. like new coastal lobster and shrimp... ...with summer ale barbeque sauce, ...and new lobster and shrimp overboard. overboard? nah, ...it's just right. so hurry in. staying in rhythm, it's how i try to live, how i stay active. and to keep up this pace, i need the right nutrition. so i drink boost®.
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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ big thing that changes in the '80s is the number of hours spent watching television. goes up. the number of hours talking about television goes up. one of the symptoms of this phenomenon is entertainment tonight. >> hi, i'm tom hallock and welcome to our opening edition, the premiere of entertainment tonight. >> all of our critics were kind of unanimous in that they said it will never last because there is simply not enough entertainment news to fill a half hour every night. >> entertainment tonight has surveyed tv critics in the
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united states and canada to see how much television shows had the most impact on viewers over the years. >> now, up until this time nobody had done television like this. >> bert reynolds, the hottest actor in hollywood. >> surprised to see you here. >> i am glad to see you. we can meet here every night if you like. >> a lot of what makes successful television programming is being in the right place at the right time. and it was the right time. >> 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. >> we could go behind scenes in our effort to really give the insider's look. >> the crafty old dallas fame, he was presented with a star on the hollywood walk of fame. >> it was very horrific of the industry. they would do serious coverage of it. it was not salacious, and you
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would see actors speaking of other actors. >> i am like this on camera. >> this is on camera. >> it was the beginning of a lot of money being made talking about entertainment and celebrities. >> robert redford plays the good guys. don't tell that to the guys in utah. they are still bitter. >> the audience grew and grew, it was showing us the appetite for celebrity news was big. it was big. >> get ready for the most exciting television. >> hi, i'm robin leech in monaco. the gem of the riviera. >> your sunday newspaper is still delivered with the comics around the news. and that was what i always thought life-styles was. we were the comic around the
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news, except we did it as seriouslily as they did news. >> finally, in the driving seat of his own career he burned rubber in a new direction. david hasslehoff, rock idol. >> it was the time where pushing the limits of wealth was very comfortable. >> one of the earliest stories that we presented to you on life-styles was about the amazing real estate wizard donald trump. if he didn't shock and surprise you back then he has 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-style, i love it. the good, the bad. >> does this bring with you political aspirations? >> no political aspirations. >> your show has gotten a lot of ridicule. >> that doesn't upset me, i am
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not in the business of brain surgery, i'm in the business of fluff. >> it's escapism, and aspirational. >> you want to stand in a hot tub with a glass of champagne? rock on. >> we've 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 key hole. sometimes it amazed me, i would walk away saying well, we did it again. >> there is more of everything in the '80s on tv. your opportunity for watching everything is increasingly vast. >> nbc presents real people. >> my name is michael b. wilson, this dawned on me that the application of a pair of roller skates might be a good thing. >> somebody once said each one of us will be a star for 15 minutes and i think that is probably going to happen. >> american culture used to be a culture that celebrated privacy. in the '80s as we watched celebrities sort of play out on
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stage, hey, i want to join too. all the world becomes a stage. and you start to see shows like real people or the people's court. >> 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! >> i told you not to be stupid! >> what cops did, was it took away the script and just brought the camera people and crews on location to try and catch actual things happening. >> cocaine, possession of a stolen firearm no less? what else are you going to do? at experian, we believe credit isn't just a score. it's a skill. and like anything else, you can get better. so we make it easy for you to spot trouble in your report. or know if fraud is hurting your fico score. and if you need it, a dedicated fraud resolution agent can help you set things right.
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with this ring. >> with this ring. >> i thee wed. >> i thee wed. >> with my body. >> with my body. >> the marriage of charles and diana was like, the world stopped when that happened. i mean, that was just like massive. >> this was the final act of a spectacle that would never again be seen in this century. >> the archbishop called the wedding of the prince and diana stuff of fairy tales. >> they're off on honeymoon while a lot of people are still talking about the events of the day. >> when you have great moments they're a part of history and it's done beautifully and everybody just has a chance to
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watch it on television. everybody wants to just drink a toast to chuck and di. >> 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. >> by the state of new york, i pronounce they're husband and wife. you may kiss the bride. >> your wedding was seen by an astonishing number of people. 16 and 19 million viewers. how do you account for that popularity? >> oh, i can't, the way it's grown, it's amazing to me. >> it did appear in the '80s it was a good time for soap operas, which was a success with luke and laura's wedding. >> i remember when luke and
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laura got married because it was nighttime newsworthy. >> the soap opera, it's like the blockbuster mentality, it's like what can we do to get more people watching? you have a wedding, a kidnapping, an evil twin, and primetime stole from daytime. >> the networks rushed to give the public more. >> the great primetime soap operas of the '80s, dynasties, dallas, they're all about excessiveness, this is all about going over the top, stabbing each other in the back, going for gusto, and having fun. >> i know what's wrong, mourning the baby she could not have and the baby that she almost got to adopt. that is it, isn't it? well, you miserable bitch! >> there was a bigness to the stories. and that they could afford to do
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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 of it gave it that pizzaszz. >> if you can't watch it, more than 40 million with the primetime series about the very rich the public is devouring it at a rate that makes it a ratings gold. >> the characters were larger than life, more evil and cunning and manipulative. and more gorgeous, i mean, really, look how gorgeous, everything, the way they lived was fascinating. >> alexis? >> yes. >> i didn't thank you for your present. >> it's he you should slap, dear. not i. >> we all wanted to live like you know, everyone on dynasty. like the carringtons.
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and it all just ended up being a wonderful picture of debauchery. >> there was a sense of conspicuous consumption of being okay. those shows exploited it. >> prime time families who lived in luxury are not the only rich folk on tv. in the last five years more than half of all new shows have featured the wealthy. ten years ago that figure was zero. >> it was an accident. your father is dead. >> they were a wine family. there is lorenzo lamas, and ronald reagan's first wife was on that show. >> emma was pregnant. >> i know a doctor who can take care of it right away. >> that will never happen. >> all of those shows are like, oh, my god, what is going to happen next? he can't get away with that. >> what will become of the
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missing twins on knott's landing? it was a spin off for dynasty, they were seeing how much they could max this stuff out because it was really successful. >> where is your son, miles, is he going to be part of this adventure or is he just playing polo as usual? >> the colbys can always fight or another trophy. >> you had these people fighting over mansions and oil. it was fantasy, but in a kind of so over the top way that it was fun. >> there is nothing devious about using your femininity. >> these shows took themselves so unseriously that they were camp. but that was okay with the central audience that was loving them. it was entertainment. we were not 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 did the best we could.
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australia's most important export may be neither its animals, beer, or films. 55-year-old mr. murdoch is in the midst of building the most extensive media empire in
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history. >> the three networks, rupert murdoch arrives in america and says i don't know why i can't have three broadcast networks, i'm going to make another one. >> meantime, he'll have to become an american citizen if he's to own tv stations here, something murdoch says he's willing to do. >> there are some people who are saying it will 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. >> the reaction to murdoch's idea for a fourth network was similar to the reaction of ted turner starting cnn. it's ridiculous, what does he know about television? >> we don't think of ourselves as abc, cbs, nbc. we don't have to reach anyone. no question we have interior lineup -- >> they had an idea that in order to succeed, we had to
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differentiate ourselves and the network, we'd have to do things they would not do. >> fox started throwing anything against the wall. first shows were likes like "21 jump street. "joan rivers in terms of late night. >> we've been banned in boston which i think is wonderful. wxne. pick a finger, wxne. >> the tracy almond show." >> oh, please. >> it was a sketch show and they needed something to go between the sketches. again, they were looking for something different. >> got to those candy bars. >> better not be thinking of stealing those candy"the simpsi come along can it weren't for the "tracy almond" show. fox was thrilled that it was
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different. they said, sure, be experimental, do whatever you want, we're just happy to have a show on the air. >> i'm home. >> "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. >> but kelly, you want to come down and help me in the kitchen? there, that should buy us about ten minutes. seven more than we'll need. >> the title of "married with children" on the script was not "the cosby show." have to love that. just taking the piss out of american families' fun. great fun. >> never want to have kids. i get two of them. how the hell did this happen? >> the bundys were the perfection of the huxtables. you had this wonderful perfect black family and these horrible
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white people and each show works on its own terms because you could find things to relate to in both. >> howdy, neighbor. >> yeah, yeah, yeah. i hate these pants. >> why don't we sit down? >> there was a lot of fun. al and peg bundy. >> fox introduces "married with children," on abc they came up with at hit, "roseanne." >> you think sthis is a magic kingdom while you sit up on your throne. poof, laundry's finished, poof, dinner eegs dinner's on the table. >> you want me to fix dinner? i'll fix dinner. >> you fixed dinner three years ago. >> typical american families weren't on television for the longest time. the donna reed days, early days, father lives best, nobody lived that way. that's the way dadvertisers wanted you to live.
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>> i know what might you feel better. >> if you can subvert whatever common stuff is said about families and parenting. >> what's in this, lead? >> i got you kids new leg irons. >> her loudness and unfilteredness were key to why we liked her. she was saying stuff about working class people, stuff about men and women. it was about marriage and raising kids and about how hard it is. >> great. i'm going to 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. >> 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
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"30 something" and "cheers," these are shows that are smartly written. it's their words that define them and i think that's what people like. >> 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. >> up until that point, television was second class. in the '80s it was something else entirely and new and kind of interesting. >> like everyone in the '80s sta starts to want to tell their stories. >> the unexpected was more welcome in the '80s. predictability lost its cachet. >> television has an impact on
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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 worst. >> it gave rise to people pursuing artistic content in a way i think has raised the bar in television production exponentially. >> i love you guys. >> 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. >> oh, we had one hell of a run, didn't we, partner? >> yeah, we sure did, sonny. >> i'm going to miss you, man. >> i'm going to miss you, too, sunny. >> give you a ride to the airport? >> why not? ♪
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we'll be doing for tv what fm did for radio. >> there are some that have accused your videos of being soft porn. >> we like to call them tastefully smutty. >> they never had any problems saying how they feel. you, too. >> what are your dreams? >> to rule the world. >> michael jackson is the man of the '80s. >> music is all beat and all talk. it's rap music. ♪ i'll speak my mind >> heavy metal. it glorifies sex and violence. it hates authorities. and adolescent boys love it. >> this weird beastly presentation that was birthed in the pit of hell.

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