>> and the tide is turning in terms of where late-night television is going to go and johnny was holding out and he was not of his time in the '80s but he did sustain a certain timelessness. he's the king. [ laughter ] >> he's just playing. >> playing my [ bleep ]. >> my next guest not only has a college degree, but he also has a high school degree. >> that is right, i do. >> as well. he's hosted the tonight show as long as johnny carson and now he has his very own show, weekday mornings at 10:00 on nbc. [ laughter ] >> witnessing here is a good idea. fun-filled surprise turning into

an incredible screwup. >> david letterman originally had a one-hour daytime show and nbc, after like 13 weeks, decided to cancel it. >> today is our last show on the air. monday in las vegas -- [ boo! [ >> have these people been frisked? >> it was a dismal failure in terms of the ratings, but not in terms of introducing us to letterman. >> david, thank you for being with us tonight. >> thank you for having me. i appreciate it. >> despite of this nonsense that goes on in the background, stay with us and don't give up. stay with us here in new york. >> dave is back in new york. you're going to host a late-night television program that premiers on monday night. what are critics going to say on tuesday morning? >> i don't much care because i found a way to deal with that pills and whiskey. >> david, you're on. proceed. >> i'm enjoying listening you to snort.

>> they gave him the late-night show, after the tonight show. and at the time, people thought who is going to watch television at 12:30 at night? who is up? i'll tell you who is up. young people. college people. >> i know this is the first show and i think this guy needs support, david letterman. >> he was anti-establishment at his core. he was thumbing his nose to any existing social structures. >> neighbors. >> i'll get rid of them. hey, excuse me. come on, get out. >> he kind of spoofed the whole notion of talk shows. >> it is the late night guest cam. please say hello to tom hanks. here he is. >> no one could go on the david letterman show and try to steer it toward a point of view or push something in particular. he just won't stand for it. you are on to do one thing and one thing only and be as funny as the rest of the show. >> we could get in a two-shot here, david.

>> send the crew home couldn't we? >> as a comedian, you want the biggest audience that you could get. for dave, he knew a lot of things that he would do that were going to alienate people, but he didn't care. he wanted s thumbprintut there and that was the most important thing. >> it's time for small town news. paul? excuse me, paul, do you have any accompanying music here for small-town news. paul schaefer, ladies and gentlemen. >> the show making fun of itself taurnding itself inside out that way was something kind of new. >> don't we look like guys you see hanging around together. >> absolutely. >> would you like to hang around with me? >> nope. >> 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 -- >> a [ bleep ]. >> 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 is only television. we're not doing cancer research. in the 40-year odd history of commercial broadcasting has taught us one thing, there is nothing sacred about television. >> steven is upstairs. >> dave, i was just curious, is there any way i can get mtv on this? >> that is just a monitor and all you can get on that is our show. >> oh, that's okay. >> there was a degree of cynicism needed in the artform and it was a cynicism that became common sense after a while because it never got old. >> i watched johnny carson, and you are no johnny carson. [ laughter ] >> welcome the great white north. bob mckenzie and my brother

doug. today we got a real big show. >> there was a second city chicago company and a second sit toronto company. the toronto one is the one that fueled the sc tv series that was syndicated and got to the states that way. >> hail caesar. >> thank you very much for that marvelous reception. i want to thank my supporters over there in the cesarean section. >> it's healthy to be an outsider. as a comedian, and canadians are outsiders but they are looking at the culture that is right next door to them. >> i want to marry your children. >> it was the pe of comedy that had only been accessible if you got into the improv clubs in toronto or chicago. i had never seen anything like second city tv. >> james bridgeton, parkdale. never mind, i'm sorry. >> it was far more conceptual in the humor because it didn't

have to be performed in front of an audience. also just the idea that it was this low-rent thing. by the seat of our pants kind of operation that give it an authenticity. >> now that our programming day has been extended -- >> where do you want me to put the kielbasa? >> put it in the frig. >> you were rooting for the show and the characters they created. there was something you got behind. whereas "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 frank. so nbc had to pick a new producer. now most knowledgeable people, as you might imagine, hoped it would be me, al frank. >> well there was a question of whether "saturday night live" would continue at all. whether it would die.

>> press hasn't been overly kind. >> yeah i read that stuff. >> saturday night live is saturday night dead. >> oh, come on. >> from yucks to yacks. >> and my favorite is vile from new york. >> it is funny. >> they were having a hard time. and then came the man to save the show, eddie murphy. ♪ >> there was buzz about him so you tuned in and there was this explosion of talent in front of your eyes. >> it really kind of rejuvenated the show. >> i'm gumby, you don't talk to me that way. >> after a while the show regained its status and clout and became even more of an institution than it had been. >> hey bob. penis looks great today. >> it's true. you'll never work in this town

again. don't leave me hanging. >> we were worried with the new cast. but everybody loves us. >> you guys have 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. 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 garry shandling show. >> people were taking the old principles of comedy and turn them into something new. we spent years watching sitcoms and dramas and talk shows and we knew them by heart, if somebody played on that and parodied that, we got it.

>> i appreciate you coming in under these conditions. you want to hold the credits. we were going to roll the credits and you screwed that up because you're late. >> "the garry shandling show" was aware of the fact that it was a situation comedy. >> it highlighted the cliches in funny ways. >> don't look into the camera. >> i didn't. >> you don't come in here and look in the camera. >> i didn't. >> i'll bop you. i will. if i see a tape of this show -- and you're loong into the camera- >> well, it's about that time. >> "peewee's playhouse" a saturday morning kids show that adults would watch and wink at each other at the same time was very clever. >> it was a show certainly for

kids and for stoned baby boomers who were totally wasted on saturday morning and watched pee wee's playhouse and saw god. >> sure is a lot of fun. see you all real soon. until then, everybody be good. audi pilotless vehicles have conquered highways, mountains, and racetracks. and now much of that same advanced technology is found in the audi a4. with one notable difference... ♪ the highly advanced audi a4, with available traffic jam assist. ♪ ...better than a manual, and my hygienist says it does. but... ...they're not all the same. turns out, they're really...

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1968, the summer before junior high school and i don't mind saying i was a pretty good 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 the wit and the music. and it was brilliantly written and a great performance by that entire young cast. >> hey, steve -- my baby brother and girlfriend have found each other. >> she's not my girlfriend. >> kevin arnold has to cope with timeless problems growing up during one of the most turbulent times that we've known. >> kevin arnold is just 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 just sitting there trying to call a girl. >> the first episode of the wonder years, anybody who saw it, remembers the ending where the first kiss with winnie and kevin arnold. the song they play is "when a man loves a woman." that moment seems to pure and so real. ♪ when a man loves a woman, can't keep his mind on nothing else ♪ >> the tone is about rebellion and being students. by the 1980s, it is time to grow up. and so they shave up their beards and put on power suits, a whole new notion. >> oh, the yuppies. last year the politicians were talking about winning their votes and now the rest of the baby boom generation are being wooed by advertisers and their agencies. >> it was clear that after the

-- the generation after the generation of the '60s, embodied by alex keaton on family ties were more interested in the corner office than the new jerusalem. >> you are 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 character for being too conservative. you were laughing at the parents for being too hopelessly liberal. >> what is this? i found that in the shower. >> that is generic brand shampoo. >> this is him. this is the guy i've been telling you about. this is everything you want -- >> the genius of family ties it allows a youthful reaganite to emerge that is focused on the future and 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, there is nothing you can do about it, jen. my advice that you just enjoy being a child for as long as you can. i know, i did. it is 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 very conservative and intense 17-year-old. >> the first thing the teacher will ask is what you did over the summer. a lot of kids will say i went to the zoo or to the beach or 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 work and success. >> american culture is changing in the '80s. and in terms of television, there is demographic segmentation.

>> networks were beginning to not be afraid to appeal to a very specific demographic. >> hey, handsome. look at that shirt. power shirt or what? >> nice suit, allen. good shoulder pads. you looking to get drafted by the eagles. >> "thirtysomething" said we're not going to have cops, lawyers or doctors. we're just going to be people. >> why did we start this business? >> to do our thing. but right now we have two wives, three kids, four cars, two mortgages and payroll. that is the life now. >> it's a very important show as you are going into the era of television being more introspective and emotional. and some people weren't buying it. but for other people when they were talking about having kids and going back to work and some of the 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. to be a grown-up. for just an hour. >> in the beginning, there was talk of this being the yuppy show. and 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 yuppy. it is a word that is made up. demographers and advertisers. it doesn't have anything to do with what the show. >> 30 something was not a giant hit. but it was a niche hit. it attracted an enormously upscale group of advertisers. >> the network cared who was watching and not how many were watching and that was catching on in the '80s. >> the prosecution will ask you you look to the law and this you must do, but i ask of you to 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 spin on a law show. >> tell the truth. if you had to do it all over again and if she walked into your office and said take my case, would you? of course, you would. because it is 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 with vastly different results. >> i wonder if i might engage with my client privately. >> certainly. >> will you join me for dinner tonight? >> i was planning on having you. >> okay, 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 were out, it is like, okay, i get it. so it is like, all right, what are the rules now. >> what are you doing? >> i'm doing what i should have done all along. what i wanted to do originally. what i should have done last night. stop that, david. i'm calling the police station. hello, police. >> the networks realized there was an audience looking for something less predictable than traditional prime time fare. >> "moonlighting" was another show that said i see the formulas we've had up to here. let's do different things. >> hello. >> hello. >> looking a little pale today aren't we? who have we here? >> i don't know. >> "moonlighting" was a really experimental show. they had a shakespeare episode and a black and white episode and a musical episode. they tried a lot of stuff.

>> i don't give a flying fig about the lines in my face, crow's feet in my eyes or attitude of my cabos.bo >> i'm at a loss, i don't know what a flying fig is. >> that's okay. they do. >> there is no trouble on the set. >> we have a very volatile relationship. there is a hate-love element to it. >> the flirtations were great >> and bruce and cybil were great and glen kept them apart for a long time and bravo to him. >> and they took the sam and diane dynamic from cheers and escalated it. "moonlighting" was, do they even want to. >> stay away from me. >> here i come. >> but i don't want you. i never wanted you. >> yeah right. >> does entertaining mean stopping the tease of dave and maddie? do they get together at some

point? >> that is going to be resolved this year. we like to think of it as two and a half years of foreplay. >> people were waiting for this moment and your emotions are already there built onto the emotions seeing on the excrete so when "be my baby" starts playing, it is a perfect storm of romance. ♪ i'm a concrete mason. i own my own company. i had some severe fatigue, some funny rashes. finally, listening to my wife, went to a doctor. and i became diagnosed with hodgkin's lymphoma ...that diagnosis was tough. i had to put my trust in somebody. when i first met steve, we recommended chemotherapy, and then we did high dose therapy and then autologous stem cell transplant. unfortunately, he went on to have progressive disease i thought that he would be a good candidate for immune therapy. it's an intravenous medicine that is going

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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 and that is a maturation of women's issues and he seemed to talk to them in the audience and 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'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 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 screwy stuff? >> there is not a single recorded case in history of any transsexual that ever, through psychological treatment, changed. it has never happened yet. >> and we were putting very important people on the program. all kinds of people. 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 led the way to oprah.

♪ >> hello, everybody. >> oprah has a particularly magical combination of her own background, her own experience, her own incisive mind, and empathetic spirit. >> thank you. i'm oprah winfrey and welcome to the very first national "oprah winfrey show." >> i was surprised at the rocket pace that oprah took off. it took us a lot longer. "donahue show" rearranged the furniture but oprah remodeled the whole house. >> people out there don't understand when you say we're in love. and remember questioning my gay friend, you mean you feel about him the way i feel about -- it is 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. >> 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. >> i think you did exactly what teachers are supposed to do, they create a spark for learning. it is the reason i have a talk show today. >> oprah winfrey now dominates the talk show circuit, both in the ratings and popularity. >> i want to use my life as a source of lifting people up. that is what i want to do. that is what i do every day on my show. we get accused of being tabloid television and sensation and so forth, but what we do more than anything else is we serve as a voice to a lot of people who felt perhaps up until my show or perhathers, that they were alone. >> that is what 67 pounds of fat looks like. i can't lift it. it is amazing, that i used to carry it around every day. >> there is nothing more

enduring 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. >> it feels like i could do some good here and i really do think that show does a lot of good. >> american television is drowning in talk shows. but it has never seen anything like morton downey jr. >> sit down and shut up. >> other competitors come and take the television talk show in two different directions. so you 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 jr. being the offensive person that he was or geraldo, who did his own outlandish things. >> stay with us, we're going to get into the mind of an american

boy who came under the influence of satanism. took part in a crime without passion or motive. >> he takes the power of the talk show to a whole different level to put people on stage who hate each other and who will fight. >> in the case of the temple of set and the church of satan, we have not had problems with criminal behavior. >> but when you hear story after story of people committed wretched and violent crimes in the devil's name. >> the more attention there is, the more conflict and violence there is, the more the ratings go up and the american people love to complain about it but they also love to watch. >> rivera drew sharp criticism with his recent television special on devil worship but today he's in a real free for all. >> i get sick and tired of seeing uncle tom here trying to be a -- >> go ahead. >> no. >> sit down. >> hey, hold it. hold it. >> hold it.

>> sit down. >> he suffered a broken nose but said the show will be broadcast later this month in its entirety. >> well, that is not something i would have done. but there was a lot of hypocrisy. >> one of the major magazines put geraldo getting hit with the chair on the cover. and they said this is awful, look at what happened to television and yet they couldn't wait to use it to sell their own magazine. >> let's go to the audience. i want to speak to you guys. >> over the years, broadcasting has deteriorated and in this era of deregulation, it is deteriorating further. >> 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 was the numbers of hours spent watching television, goes up. the number of hours spent talking about television is going up. and one of those symbols of

thissen phenomenon is "entertainment tonight." >> the critics were unanimous in saying that it would never last because there simply isn't enough entertainment news to fill half an hour every night. >> "entertain tonight" has surveyed critics in the united states and canada to find out -- which television shows have the most impact on viewers over the years. >> up until this time, nobody had done television like this. >> 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 want. >> what makes successful television programming is being in the right place at the right time. and it was the right time. >> entertainment journalism is evolving as audience was more curious and more access and until that point the entertainment business was something we didn't know all that much about.

>> we could go behind the scenes in our effort to really give an insiders' look. >> j.r. of "dallas" fame was with his mother as he was presented with a star on the hollywood walk of fame. >> it was very honorific of the industry. they would do serious coverage of it. it wasn't salacious. actors speaking as actors. >> what are you like off camera? >> like this. oh, this is on camera. >> it was the beginning of a lot of money being made talking about entertainment and celebrities. >> robert redford plays good guy in new movie but neighbors in utah -- still ire. >> the audience grew and grew and that told us that the appetite for celebrity audience was big. it was big. >> get ready for "lifestyles of the rich and famous." excitement. >> hi, i'm robin leach in monaco.

>> and you've got a vip ticket to the prince's private party. >> your sunday newspaper is still delivered with the comics around the news. and that was what i always thought "lifestyles" was. we were the comic around the news. except we did it as seriously as they did news. >> finally in the driving seat of his own career, he burned rubber in a new direction. david hasselhoff, rock idol. >> it was a time where pushing the limits with wealth and ostentatiousness in a lot of cases was very comfortable. >> one of the earliest stories we presented to you on "lifestyles" was about the a maz g real estate wizard donald trump. if he didn't shock and surprise you back then, he's had plenty of time since. >> with all of this costs billions, not millions, do the figures ever frighten you. >> no, the answer is it is my business and my life. it is my lifestyle. i love it. the good, the bad.

>> does this bring with it political aspiration? >> no political aspiration. >> and people say it is nothing more than trash. >> that doesn't upset me because i think it is the best trash there is on television. >> i'm not in the business of brain surgery. i'm in the business of fluff. >>i that is the fantasy element at a time when the access is possible. >> it is 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 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. and sometimes absolutely amazing to me. i walk away from a shoot and say, well, we did it again. >> there was more of everything in tv by the 80s. your opportunity for watching stuff is increasingly vast. >> nbc presents "real people."

>> dawned on me that application of a small motor on a pair of roller skates might be a great thing. >> somebody once said that each one of us will be a star for 15 minutes and i think that will happen. >> american culture celebrated privacy and in the 1980s as we're watching celebrities play out on stage, hey, i want to join too. all the world is a stage and you start seeing shows like "real people" or "people's court." >> 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. >> cocaine. possession of a stolen firearm no less.

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oral-b. brush like a pro. with this ring -- >> with this ring -- >> i thee wed. >> i thee wed. >> with my body -- >> with my body -- >> the biggest television event of the 1980s is the marriage of charles and diana. it is like the world stops when that happened. that was like, just massive. >> this was the final act of a spectacle that may never again be seen in this century, if ever. >> the archbishop of canterbury called this wedding today the stuff of fairy tales. >> the couple is off on the honeymoon while the people here in london are still talking about the events of the day. >> when you have great moments like the royal wedding, they are

part of history and it's done beautifully and everybody has a chance to watch it on television and everybody wants to drink a toast to chuck and di. >> a princess that 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 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 pronounce 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? >> oh, 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 day time soap operas, especially for general

hospital who had the success with luke and laura's wedding. >> i remember because it was night time news worthy. the soap opera discovers the blockbuster mentality, the sweeps month mentality. what can we do to get even more people watching? you have a wedding. you have a kidnapping and prime tame stole from day time. >> after "dallas" proved that tv oil was better than real oil, rushed to give you more. >> the great time time soap operas, dallas and dynasty, they are all about excess. this is about being over the top, and stabbing each other in the back and going for the gusto and having fun. >> i know what is 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 --

>> there was a bigness to the stories. and they could afford to do it on a network if you are doing one episode a week. you can't do that if you are doing five episodes a week for a daytime show. so just the production value gave it that pizzazz. >> if you can't have it, watch other people with it, or so say the three networks programming nearly 40% of the prime time fare with series about the very rich and the public is devouring it at such a rate that money has -- make believe money has become ratings cold. >> the characters were larger than life and 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 on dynasty, like the kerringtons and it ended up a wonderful picture of fun and debauchery. >> greed was encouraged in the '80s. there was a concept of conspicuous consumption being okay and those shows exploited that. >> prime time families like the carringtons who live here in luxury on the "dynasty" sound teenage are not the only rich folk on tv. in the last five years more than half of all new shows featured the wealthy. ten years ago, that figure was zero. >> it was an accident. your father is dead. >> "falcon crest" was a wine family. there is lorenzo lamas and reagan's first wife is on that show. >> emma is pregnant. >> i know a doctor who could take care of is right away. >> that will never happen. >> all of the shows, where oh, my god what is next. what is going to happen next? and he can't do that.

appointment television. >> what will become to the missing twins on "knott's landing." you are seeing how much they could max this stuff out. it was really successful. >> where is your son, miles? isn't he going to be a part of this venture or playing polo as usual? >> the colbies can always find room for another trophy. >> people were fighting over oil and mansions. it was fantasy, but in a kind of so over the top way thatt 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.

we knew what we were there for. we did it as best we could.

australia's most important export may not be beer or films. it could be rupert murdoch. he is in the mittst of building the most eh pensive media empire

in history. >> a huge development in-the three broadcast networks presumed to be complete having disrupted the newspaper business and the television business in britain. he said i don't see the broadcast networks. i will make another one. this was a big bold bet. >> he will have to be an american citizen if he has blown tv stations here. something he said he is willing to do. >> some said it will take you 20 years to get your fox network on par with the big three. are you prepared to wait that long? >> i 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 like ted turner starting cnn. what does he been television? >> there is no question we have an inferior lineup of stations. we have to work hard to get the

message across to get the shows sampled. >> they had an idea in order to succeed we have to differentiate ourselves and do things they would not do. for shows like 21 jump street. >> i don't know rivers in terms of late night. >> we're have been banned in boston which i think is wonderful. pick a finger. >> and the tracy you'llman show. >> it was a sketch show and they need something to go between the sketches. you were looking for something different. >> they better not steal the candy bars. >> the simpsons would never have come along had it not been for the tracy you'llman show. >> crime hurts the criminal. >> that's not true, mom.

i got a free ride home, didn't i? >> fox was thrilled that it was different. they said sure, be experimental and do whatever you want. we are happy to have a show on the air. >> married with children was the first big hit that said if all the rest of television is going this way, we are going that way. >> bud, kelly! you want to help me in the kitchen? that should buy us about ten minutes. seven more than we will need. >> the title was not "the cosby show." how great. you have to love that. fun. great fun. >> hurry up, bud. never wanted to get married. i'm married. never wanted kids and i have two. how did this happen. >> this was the perfection of

the huxtables. you have this wonderful perfect black family and horrible and miserable white people. you can find things to relate to in both. >> howdy, neighbor. >> yeah, yeah. i hate these people. >> there was a lot of fun to be had in al and peg bundy. >> after fox introduces married with children and it does very, very well. back on abc, they came up with another major. roseanne. >> you think this is a magic kingdom where you sit on your throne. you think everything gets done by a wonderful wizard. poof, laundry is folded and poof, dinner issa the table. >> i'm fixing dinner. >> you just fixed dinner three years ago! >> typical american families were not on television for the longest time. the donna reed days, the father knows best, hardly anyone lived like that. that was the way advertisers

wanted you to live. >> i know what might make you feel better. >> me too, but i bet it's different than what you got. >> you can subvert whatever common stuff is said about families and parenting. >> what are is in this? >> i got you leg irons. >> her loudness and her unfilteredness were key to why we liked her. she was saying stuff about working class people and 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 and drama. you pushed everything forward. >> you think this generation are paying more attention to the dialogue and the relationships that they see on television than in years previous? >> clearly people are watching

our shows like 30 something and cheers and st. elsewhere and shows that are smart. that's what people like. >> this is the one thing people can trust. if you go out there like a bunch of night riders, what are you but a vicious street gang? >> the decade spawned an extraordinary number of shows that carved out a unique niche for themselves. for the first time, people were proud to say i am right for television. >> up until that point, television was second class. in the 80s, it was something else. it was new and interesting. >> everyone in the 80s starts to want to tell their stories. that's what changes things. >> the unexpected were more

welcome in the 80s. predictability lost it. >> television has an impact on every era. every decade. >> television shapes the thinking of america like no other element in our country. sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. >> it gave rise to people pursuing artistic content in a way that 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. that's when it happened. >> you had one hell of arun. >> we sure did. >> i'm going to miss you, man. >> i'm going to miss you too, sonny. >> give me a ride to the airport?

>> in this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem. government is the problem. >> if ever a policy reflected the president's own character, it is reaganomics. >> we had faith and we are staying with the paid political complainer, put up or shut up. >> the president was. >> a story from sources hinged that iran has helped the united states free a hostage from lebanon. >> they called at this time reagan revolution. for me it seemed like the rediscovery. once you begin a great