>> nope. >> and i'll say it again. this is the stupidest show. >> i thought i would never want to do this show with you. >> now why? because you thought i was an -- >> an [ bleep ]. >> there's one rule i keep trying to abide by ait 12% of te time, it's only television. there's nothing sacred about television. >> steven is upstairs. >> dave, i was just curious. is there any way i can get mtv on this -- >> actually, that's just a monitor and all you can get on that is our show. oh, that's okay. >> there was a degree of cynicism that was needed in the art format 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.

>> welcome to the great white north kwacanadian corner. >> there was a second city chicago company and a second city toronto company. the toronto fueled the sec series that originally was syndicated and got to the states that way. >> hail, hail, thank you very much for that marvelous reception. i particularly want to thank my supporters over there in the caesarean section. >> it's healthy to be an outsider. as a comedian and canadians are always outsiders but they're looking at the other culture, which is right next door to them. >> i love you. i want to bear your children! >> it was the type of comedy that had only been accessible if you could have gotten into the improve clubs in chicago or

toronto. i had never seen anything like second city tv. >> james bridgeman, park dale. >> i'm sorry. no, never mind. i'm sorry. >> 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 just 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 going to be spending a lot -- >> where do you want me to put the kielbasa, mrs. brickley? >> put it in the fridge, butch. >> you were rooting for the show. therwas something you got behind, snl right from the gate. and through the 80s was this big enterprise. >> after five golden years, loren 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. >> well, 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. >> i read that stuff. "saturday night live" is saturday night dead. >> my favorite is vial from new york. >> it's funny, it's funny. >> they were having a hard time. then came the man that saved the show, eddie 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, damn it, you don't talk to me that way! >> after a while the show regained its status and its

clout and became even more of an institution than it had been. >> hey, bob. peters looks great today. >> listen, harry, if you're unhappy with my wife, tell me now! >> you're 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 worried at first because we had a new cast but everyone loves us. >> you've been so nice to us during our stay. >> isn't that special? >> we just want to pump you up. >> a lot of things 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 50 seconds left, mr. vice president. >> 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. >> i'll get it. >> it's gary shandling's show. >> people were taking all the old principles of comedy and turn them into something new. we knew by heart if somebody played on that and parodied that's, we got it instantly. >> i appreciate you coming in under these conditions. you want to hold the credits? we were going to show the credits and you screwed that up because you're late. >> "the gary shandling show" was aware of the fact it was a situational comedy. it highlighted that in many ways. >> are you looking into the camera? >> no. >> don't look into the camera. >> i didn't. >> 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 looking into the camera -- >> it's about that time.

>> pee wee's play house, a so-called adult kids show that adults could wink at each other while watching it was very clever. >> the word is good. ha-ha. >> it was a show for kids and for stoned baby boomers who were totally wasted on saturday morning and watched pee wee's play house and saw god. >> i sure had a lot of fun. see you soon. until then, you better be good! ♪ both on the track and thousands of miles away. with the help of at&t, red bull racing can share critical information about every inch of the car from virtually anywhere. brakes are getting warm. confirmed, daniel you need to cool your brakes. understood, brake bias back 2 clicks.

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abdbloating?in? you may have ibs. ask your doctor if non-prescription ibgard is right for you. ibgard calms the angry gut. available at cvs, walgreens and rite aid. 1968, the summer before junior high school. i don't mind saying i was a pretty fair athlete. "the wonder years" did it with grit and music. it was a performance by that entire staff. >> hey, steve. he and his girl friend found each other. >> she's not my girl friend.

>> kevin arnold is 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 is watching the apollo 8 take-off, but i'm sitting there just trying to call a girl. >> 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 ♪ >> it's about rebellion, about being students. by the 1980s, it's time to grow up. and so they shave their beards, and they put on power suits, a whole new notion. >> ah, the yuppies. last year the politicians were talking about winning their votes. now the young urban

professionals and the rest of their baby boom generations are being woo'd by advertisers and their agencies. >> by the 80s it was pretty clear the generation after the general ration of the 60s may be embodied by alex keaton on "family ties," seemed 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 steamer and going around the world. >> the 60s are over, dad. >> thanks for the tip. >> you weren't laughing at michael j. fox's character for being too conservative. you were latching at the parents for being too liberal. >> what is this? i found it in the shower. >> it's generic brand shampoo. >> ah! >> the genius is it's focused

more on a 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. 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 was 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's very conservative and very intense 17-year-old. >> the first thing your teacher is going to ask what you did over the summer. a lot of kids are going to say i went to the zoo, i went to the beach or i went to a baseball game. what are you going to say? >> i watched the iran-contra hearings. >> if mom and dad thought this

generation was going to the dogs, think again. this is the generation that has discovered hard working 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, ellen. good shoulder pads. are you looking to get drafted by the dodgers? >> that's life, pal. you be the bread winner now. >> is that what i am? >> "30 something" 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 going to go back to work and some of these issues that hadn't been talked about a whole lot, it was important to people. >> i was so looking forward -- 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 yuppy show. you mentioned it tonight. you said if there were a category for the most annoying show, this might win as well. >> what some people perceive as annoying has nothing to do with yuppie. >> i don't think it has anything to do with what the show is. >> "30 something" was not a giant hit but it was a niche hit. it attracted an enormously upscale watchers. >> the prosecutors will ask 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. >> "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 were willing to go with that because it was a whole new 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 corurse you would because it was juicy, newsy, exciting stuff. >> it was 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. >> what are you doing for dinner

tonight? >> i was planning on having you. >> in that case skip lunch. >> 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, okay, i get it. so it's like all right, what are the rules now? >> what are you doing? >> doing what i should have done all along. >> doing 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 primetime fare. >> "moonlighting" was another show that said i've seen the formulas up to here. let's do different things. >> hello. >> hello. >> we're looking a little pale

today, aren't we? who have we here? >> i don't know. >> "moonlighting" had a shakespeare show, they tried different stuff. >> i don't care about the crow's feet on my eyes or the altitude of my caboose. >> i'm at a loss. i don't know what a flying fig is. >> that's okay. they do. >> there's no trouble on the set. there is no trouble on the set. >> we have a very volatile relationship. there is a hate-love element to it. >> they were kept apart for a long time. >> what they did was they took the sam and diane dynamic from "cheers" and escalated it. "cheers" was will they or won't

they? "moonlighti "moonlighting" was do they even want to? >> stay away from me. i don't want you. i never wanted you. >> yeah, right. >> do they get together at some point? >> that's going to get resolved this year. we like to think of it as two and a half years of foreplay. >> people were waiting for this moment. when "be my baby" starts playing, it's like a perfect storm of romance. ♪ the night we met i knew i needed you so ♪ good thing geico offers affordable renters insurance. with great coverage it protects my personal belongings should they get damaged, stolen or destroyed. [doorbell] uh, excuse me. delivery. hey. lo mein, szechwan chicken, chopsticks, soy sauce and you got some fortune cookies.

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in recent years it seems that television has become a kind of 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. that's sort of a maturation of women's issues. 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. we'll be back in just a moment. >> if you look at the body of work we've had, you know, you're

going to see the 80s there. >> i'm not here to say you're wrong but 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. >> he really believed that daytime television needed to talk about the ideas we were thinking about, the issues we were concerned about. >> i don't want to characterize his question but why don't you get this fixed instead of doing this scurry stuff? >> there's not a single case in history that any transsexual through psychological treatment changed. it's never happened yet. >> we were putting important 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 just say this -- i

think he's probably the laziest president i've ever seen. >> the audience for phil donahue built and built and built and built and led the way to oprah. ♪ ♪ [ applause ] >> hello, everybody! hello! >> oprah has a particularly magical combination of her own background, her own experience, her own insizive mind and empathetic spirit. >> i'm oprah winfrey and welcome to the very oprah winfrey show! >> i was surprised at the rocket ways that oprah took off because it took as you lot longer. the donahue show rearranged the furniture but oprah remodelled the whole house. >> there are a lot of people out there watching who really don't understand what you mean when

you say we're in love. because i remember questioning my gay friends you mean like you feel about him the way i feel about -- it's kind of a strange concept 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? >> i was not aware of inspiring anyone. >> 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 dominates the talk show circuit both in the ratings and in 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. we get accused of being tabloid television and sensational and everything, but i think more than anything else we serve as a voice for a lot of people who felt perhaps up until my show or

some of the others they were alone. >> this is what 67 pounds of fat looks like. i can't lift it. it's 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 honesty and humility and courage on the part of a host. and that i think has a lot to do with her power. >> 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 downey jr. >> sit down and shut up! >> other competitors come and take the talk show into two different directions. you start seeing 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 jr.

being the offensive, caricaturish person that he was or geraldo. he did his own outlandish things. >> stay with us. we'll get into the mind of another all-american boy who came under the influence of satanism. >> geraldo rivera takes the power of the talk show, trying to put people on stage who hate each other, who are going to fight. >> we have not had any problems with criminal behavior in the church of -- >> and yet up hear stories of people creating these violent crimes in the devil's name. >> the morning tension and violence there is, the more the ratings go up. >> geraldo rivera is is back in controversy tonight. today he found himself in a real free for all. >> i get sick and tired of

seeing uncle tom here -- >> go ahead, go ahead. >> no. >> you got to be kidding me. you got to be kidding me. hey, hold it, hold it! >> rivera suffered a broken nose but he said the show will be broadcast later this month in its entirety. >> well, that's not something 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 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. >> over the years, television has deteriorated. >> give people light and they will find their own way. relax. america will survive the talk shows.

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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 spent talking about television goes up. one of the symbols of this

phenomenon is "entertainment tonight." >> hi. welcome to our opening night, the premiere edition of "entertainment tonight." >> all of the critics were kind of unanimous in that they said it will 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. >> i'm glad to see you. >> thank you. >> we can meet here every night if you'd like. >> thank you. >> 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 we didn't know all that much about. >> we could go behind the scenes in our effort to really give an insider's look. >> the crafty ol' j.r. of "dallas" fame was with his mother, mary martin, as he was presented with a star on the hollywood walk of fame. >> it was very honor isk. they would do serious coverage. it wasn't hellacious. you would see actors like an actors instead of on a johnny carson show. it was the beginning of a lot of money being made talking about entertainment and celebrities. >> robert redford talks about his movie. don't tell that to people in utah. >> the audience grew and grew. that was showing us the appetite for celebrity news was big. it was big. >> get ready for "lifestyles of the rich and famous,"

television's most dazzling and exciting hours. >> hi, i'm robin leach. you have a vip ticket to the prince's private party. >> your sunday newspaper paper is still delivered with the comics around the news. that's what i always thought lifestyles was, we were the comics around the news, september we did it as seriously as they did the news. >> finally, he burned rubber in a new direction. david hasselhoff. >> 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. >> 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. >> that'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! >> we'd never seen that kind of wealth before. we didn't mock it. we didn't say it was right or say it was wrong. we were just through the keyhole. sometimes it absolutely amazes me, ywe walk away from the shoo and i think, well we shall did it again. >> your opportunity is

increasingly vast. >> nbc pnts "real people." >> this dawned on me the application of a small motor and a pair of rollerskates might be a great thing. >> somebody once said that each one of us lab star for 15 minutes. and i think that's probably going to happen. >> american culture used to be a culture that celebrated privacy. in the 1980s as we were watching celebrities sort of play out on stage, hey, i want to join, too. all the world becomes a stage. you start seeing people like "real people" or "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! >> get over here! >> i told you not to be stupid! >> 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.

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♪ with this ring -- >> with this ring -- >> i thee wed. >> i thee wed. >> with this body -- >> with this body -- >> i do honor. >> i do honor. >> it was the final act of a spectacle that may never again be seen in this century if ever. >> they called the wedding prince charles and lady diana spencer the stuff of fantasy. >> when you have moments like the royal weddings, it's done beautifully. everyone has a chance to watch it all on television. everyone wants to drink a toast

to chuck and di. >> a princess who must 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. >> by the authority of the state of new york, i professional announce that they are 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 kind of popularity? >> i can't. 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 daytime so operas, especially for a show like "general hospital" which had that huge success with luke and laura's wedding. >> i remember when luke and laura got married because it was

nighttime newsworthy. >> the blockbuster mentality, the sweeps mentality, what can we do to get more people watching? you have a wedding, a kidnapping, an evil twin. and primetime stole from daytime. >> after dallas proved that ewing oil was better than real oil for cbs, the networks rushed to give the public more. >> they were 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? >> you miserable bitch! >> there was a bigness to the stories, and they could afford

to do on a network when you're doing one episode a week. you can't do that if you're doing five episodes a week for a daytime show. >> if you can't have it, watch others with it. the public is devouring it at such a rate that make believe money has become ratings gold. >> 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. >> it's he you should slap, dear, not i. >> we all wanted to live like we were on "dynasty," like the

carringto carringtons. it all ended up being a wonderful picture of fun and debauchery. >> greed was encouraged in the 80s. this was a sense of conspicuous consumption was okay. and primetime exploited that. >> the carings tons are not the on rich folk on tv. over half the shows feature the wealthy. ten years ago that number was zero. >> falcon crest was a wine family. >> 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 going to happen with that? he can't get away with that. and then you'd tune in, it was appointment television. >> what will become of the missing twins on "knots

landing." >> what? >> they all had spinoffs. they were seeing how much they could max this stuff out because it was really successful. >> where is your son myles? isn't he going to be a part of this venture or is he just playing polo as usual? >> we can always find room for another trophy. >> you had people fighting over oil and mansions and it was fantasy in a kind of so over the top way that it was fun. >> there's 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 love

be

australia is the most important export might be neither the animals nor the beer or the film, but one rupert murdock. he is building what forbes magazine said is the most extensive media empire in history. >> a huge development in

television, the three television business in britain and he arrives in america and says, i don't see why i can't have three broadcast networks. i'm going to make another one. this was a big, bold, bet. >> and meantime he'll have to become an american citizen if he is to own tv stations here which he said he will do. >> some people say it will take 20 years to get your fox network on the network with the par of the big three. are you prepared to wait that long. >> i intend to live that long but i don't believe the 20 years. the reaction to murdochs idea for a fourth network was similar to ted turner starting cnn it is ridiculous. what does he know about television. >> we don't think of ourselves as cbs, abc or nbc. we don't have to reach everyone. we have an inferior line and we have to work harder to get our message across and get shows sampled. >> they had an idea, in order to succeed, we have to differentiate ourselves and do things they would not do.

>> fox started throwing anything against the wall not knowing what was going to go. first things were like 21 jump street. what are we looking for? joan rivers in terms of late night. we have been banned in boston which i think is awful. >> we have been banned in -- >> and the tracy allman show. >> it was a sketch show. and they needed something to go between the sketches. again, they were looking for something different. >> i have to have the candy bars. >> you better not be thinking of stealing the candy bars. >> that's it! >> the simpsons would never have come along had it not been for the tracy uhlman show. >> ultimately, crime hurts the criminal. >> that is not true, mom, i got a free ride home. >> didn't i. >> 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. >> i'm home! >> married with children was the first big hit in that way that said, if all of 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? >> that should buy us about ten minutes. seven more than we'll need. >> the title was not "the cosby show." . that is great >> the bundys were like a purposeful reaction to the perfection of the huck stables it was funny because you had this wonderful perfect black family and this horrible miserable white family

each works on its own terms. and you could find things to relate to in both. >> howdy neighbor. >> yeah, yeah. >> there was a lot of fun to be had with al or peg bundy. >> after fox introduced married with children and it does very well, then back on abc they came up with another major hit. roseanne. >> you think this is a magic kingdom where you sit up here on your throne. you think everything is done by a wizard. . >> you want me to fix dinner. i'll fix dinner. i'm fixing dinner. >> oh, honey, but you just fixed dinner three years ago. >> typical american families weren't on television for the longest time. the donna reed days, the early days and the father knows best, hardly anybody really lived like that. that is the way advertisers wanted to you live. >> i know what will make you feel better. >> me too, i bet it is a different list than what you got. >> the ideal situation is if you can sub vert whatever common

stuff is said about families or parenting -- >> what is in this? lead? >> i got you kids new leg irons. her loudness and her unfilteredness were key to why we liked her. she was saying stuff about working-class people and saying stuff about men and women. so it was about marriage and raising kids and about how hard it is. >> i'm just 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, and the evolution of drama. it just pushed everything forward. >> 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 30 something and cheers and st. elsewhere, these are shows that are smartly written.

it is their words that define them. and i think that is what people like. >> 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 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 artform. 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 it was new and it was kind of interesting. >> it is like everyone in the '80s starts to want to tell their stories. that is what really changes things. >> the unexpected were more welcome in the '80s. predictability lost its cache. >> television has an impact on every era, every decade. >> television still shapes the

element of thinking like no other element in our country. sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. it. >> it gave rise for people pursuing artistic content that was raised the bar in television production exponentially. >> i love you guys! >> there is a shift in the '80s from wanting to placate the audience to wanting to please and challenge the audience and that is the decade when it happened. >> we had one hell of a run, didn't we, partner. >> we sure did, sonny. >> i'm going to miss you, man. >> i'm going to miss you too, sonny. >> can you give me a ride to the airport?

tonight television takes a look at itself. >> what's on the idiot box. >> it's only an idiot box if an idiot is watching. >> this golden age will be looked upon as the platinum age. >> our obligation is to entertain. in. >> if we left something to think about, so much the better. >> kunta. kunta kinte. >> entertainment should not be just entertainment. >> congress has no right to interfere with the media. >> excuse me! >> you have a responsibility to give the audience what it tuned in to see. ♪