tv The Nineties CNN July 14, 2017 10:00pm-12:00am PDT
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>> see the incredible vision that sheikh mohammed has been able to put forward for this country is truly awe inspiring. >> vancouver for a new trump hotel. all while operating in the bubble of secret service protection as the first son, and all while the absence of donald sr., the businessman, looms large. >> what's it like doing all this without your dad? >> he was such a great sounding board. not having that to go to is definitely something you miss. >> something else donald jr. apparently misses about his father -- >> say hello to don jr. >> the raucous campaign that he rode to a stunning victory. >> usa! usa! >> i thought i'd be going back to my regular job. i thought i would be really excited about that. but once you get a little taste of that action, it's hard to leave! listen, deals are still
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exciting. but when you're sorof the guy out there every day, 24/7 fighting in this thing, it's like a great fight, the nsity. >> despite sitting atop the trump business empire, donald jr.'s penchant for politics has many trump watchers wondering if that is where his true fate lies. what do you think the future holds for donald trump jr.? >> you know, up until the middle of 2017, i would have said that donald trump jr. is destined for a life in politics. i would have imagined him to hold a high office, maybe united states senator, maybe governor. but i think what he is seeing in his first's first six months and in the campaign may have sobered him up. you know, this is not an easy role for anyone, and he has witnessed his father's struggle to get some traction in washington. so my idea now is that ten or 20
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or 30 years from now, he'll be donald trump businessman. we'll have an office in trump tower, and he'll have preserved the family legacy. >> that family legacy is obviously still being written. now more than ever in both business and politics, it seems the first son, donald trump jr., may be getting a much bigger chapter. i'm randi kaye. thanks for watching. don't touch that dial. we're to be flip it for you. >> in five, four, three, two. >> tv is changing dramatically now with 150 channels that might be available in the near future. there. >> is a lot of things that we do that you couldn't have on network television. >> people are really trying to do something adventurous. >> shame on you! >> this is more celebration of culture and opening the doors and allowing america to come on inside. >> there is always something on television and some of it may be better than we deserve.
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>> ten, nine, eight, eight, eight, eight! >> oh, will this horrible year never end? >> when the '90s began, we started to see a lot of experimentation. and "the simpsons i think in some senses was inspired by not necessarily hatred of television, but a distrust of a lot of the ways in which television was talking to us. >> tv respects me. it laughs with me. not at me. >> you're stupid. i. >> doh! >> i think the sitcoms of the '80s were such a warm, safe, humor. >> i love you guys. >> the kids, they listen to the rap music which gives them the brain damage. >> and i think there was a real yearning for another type of humor. ♪ >> we were able to spoof
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fatherhood -- >> what a bad father. >> -- which at the time, and i stress at the time, was bill cosby as the shining example. ♪ did you ever know that you're my hero ♪ >> the stuff they got away with because it's a cartoon. the father strangling the child. >> why you little -- >> we are going to keep on trying to strengthen the american family to make american families a lot more like the waltons and less like the simpsons. >> we go to a completely bizarre period of time in 1992 when a sitting president is raging against a sitcom. >> they have dealt with politics. they have dealt with popular culture. they've dealt with all kinds of issues of racism, of sexism. >> don't ask me, i'm just a girl.
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>> right on, say it, sister. >> it's not funny, bart. millions of girls will grow up thinking this is the right way to act. >> they have found a way to talk about everything that's going on in our lives through the filter of "the simpsons." >> them immigrants. they want all the benefits to living in springfield, but they ain't bothered to learn themselves the language. >> yeah, those are exactly my sentimonies. >> i think one of the governin things that's happening with "the simpsons" is a distrust of anyone who tells us we should trust them and doesn't earn that trust. >> i'll take that statue of justice too. >> sold. >> when they make fun of how fox works -- >> you are watching fox. >> we are watching fox. >> they are telling you don't trust us either. >> eat my shorts. >> all right. i'll eat -- eat your shorts? >> "the simpsons" is like shakespeare in the fact that we
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quote the simpsons all the time, very often without knowing it. >> excellent! >> i wish i could create something that culturally indelible. it's unlike anything else tv has ever run. >> "twin peaks" showed up out of nowhere at the beginning of the decade. the pilot episode of that was one of the strangest and most exciting things i have ever seen. >> i'm at the twin peaks morgue. with the body of the victim. what's her name? >> it was incredible. just how slowly in the beginning the news spread around this little town that this young, beautiful girl had died and that haunting music was so dark and so beautiful. ♪
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>> i've got good news. the gum you like is going to come back in style. >> what on earth is essentially a art film doing in prime time television. >> american network television has long been considered the home of the blands, the cautious and the predictable. so it was with some trepidation that it the abc network launched a new series that was none of those things. "twin peaks" is already described by one critic that will change tv. it's directed by david lynch. >> david lynch was a filmmaker known for his taste in the eccentric and memorable. the idea that he would do television in the '90s was crazy. >> do you watch much of it? >> i like the idea of television, but i'm too busy too see very much of it. >> what do you think of that which you do see?
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>> some of it i really enjoy. >> are you being diplomatic? >> sort of. [ screaming ] >> the beautiful thing about television is you have the chance to do a continuing story. and that's the main reason for doing it. >> i think that "twin peaks" with the initial attention it got allowed all the other networks to say, let's do something fferent. >> what was interesting about "northern exposure" it was an odd sort of universe that this guy was dropped into. >> the day's coming. it ain't going to be long when you ain't going to have to leave your living room. no more schools, no more tabernacles. no more cineplexs, all right? you're going to snuggle up to your fiberoptics and bliss out. >> you also had experimentation that set the stage for a lot of what came later. >> it's kind of hard to pin down
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what exactly "the x files" is. i mean, on the surface, it's a show about investigating paranormal activities. >> unidentified flying objects. i think that fits the description pretty well. tell me i'm crazy. >> moulder, you're crazy. >> that dynamic, that dramatic tension of believer versus skeptic is one of the engines of the show. you were always seeing it from a specific is point of view. >> they're equals? >> yeah, absolutely. they are equals in a way they have kind of switched gender stereotypes because the character i play, maulder is the intuitive one. and scully is the rationalist, the doctor. >> a lot of folks who enjoyed "the x files" who otherwise didn't watch tv might have been drawn to the show by its, for lack of a better way to put it, stick it to the guys.
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the man ethos. don't trust the government or big business or anybody but yourself ask can your friends and family, i guess. it's a message that's somewhat dark and cynical, but was kind of a breath of fresh air in the early '90s. >> the '90s was a time of conspiracies. and the internet was starting to spread beyond just like hard-core computer users. so you could have message boards and use net news groups. and everybody wanted to talk about the black oil and the bees and moulde's sister and what the cigarette smoking man was up to. and people were so nuts for this show. >> it's just pure science fiction. that's probably what i like most about it. >> it changed the way people watched television. >> you could sense the successful creators trying to see how they could do things different five or ten years ago. sometimes that led to really challenging network television
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that was cool and fun to watch. and sometimes it seemed to fall off the edge a little bit. ♪ let's be careful out there >> at the time, steven bochco was a very successful producer of hour dramas and wanted to try something brand-new. >> we're the police! we have a warrant for your arrest. >> so hiidea w to combine a gritty cop show with a broadway musical. >> i saw one in which a bunch of gang bangers were in jail. they began to sing. life in the hood ain't no pizza pie, everybody die when the bullets fly. ♪ life in the hood ain't no pizza pie, people die when bullets fly ♪ >> and i said wait a minute. i thought this is it. this is great.
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this is going to be as innovative as anything i have ever done. ♪ he is guilty, he is guilty, judge, you can see it in his eyes ♪ ♪ he did the crime and now he's got to pay ♪ >> it circled the drain. >> i will give credit to anybody who goes outside the box and swings really hard for the fences. ♪ i worked real hard and i got my education ♪ >> i'm creatively proud of it. still. i'm very glad we tried it. i don't think i want to do it again. what are all these difft topped & loaded meals? it's an american favorite on top of an american favorite, alice. it's like labor day weekend on top of the fourth of july. hotdogs. get your favorites on top of your favorites. only at applebee's. get your favorites on top of your favorites. [music playing] across the country, we walk.
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carrying flowers that signify why we want to end alzheimer's disease. but what if, one day, there was a white flower for alzheimer's first survivor? what if there were millions of them? join us for the alzheimer's association walk to end alzheimer's. register today at alz.org/walk. ♪ if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis,... isn't it time to let the real you shine through? maybe it's time for otezla (apremilast). otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months,... with reduced redness,... thickness, and scaliness of plaques. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't take otezla if you're allergic to any of its ingredients. otezla may increase the risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts... or if these feelings develop.
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some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight... and may stop treatment. side effects may include diarrhea,... nausea, upper respiratory tract infection... and headache. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if you're pregnant or planning to be. ask your dermatologist about otezla today. otezla. show more of you. will you be ready when the moment turns romantic? cialis for daily use treats ed and thuriny symptoms of bph. tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have a sudden decrease or loss of hearing or vision, or an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis. and get medical help right away. oscwe went back toing bithe drawing board...s. and the cutting board. we removed the added nitrates and nitrites,
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by-products, and artificial preservatives in all of our meat. every. single. one. why? for the love of hot dogs. about to see progressive's new home quote explorer. where you can compare multiple quote options online and choose what's right for you. woah. flo and jamie here to see hqx. flo and jamie request entry. slovakia. triceratops. tapioca. racquetball. staccato. me llamo jamie. pumpernickel. pudding. employee: hey, guys! home quote explorer. it's home insurance made easy. password was "hey guys." generation x, the 20 something's, boomerangers, whatever the 46 million young souls are called are turning out to be hard sell.
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>> in the '90s, what we realized is advertisers would pay premiums for college educated young adults 18 to 49. we started reinventing nbc and trying to speak to that audience. >> where is someone? i'm starving. >> this is him right here. >> is there a table ready? >> the chinese restaurant was one of the very, very early episodes of "snfeld." and truly nothing happened in the episode. they were waiting for a table. >> i feel like just walking over there and taking some food off of somebody's plate. >> we said to larry david, hey, like nothing happens. and larry was offended. he was like wildly offended. >> nbc believed in the show so they said we're committing to four episodes. >> yes, yeah, right. four episodes. >> normally it's 13 or eight or something. >> yes, at least. %-p show. >> we didn't think it would
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work, but we thought they had to go through their process and they would learn and ultimately they knew better than we did. >> my mother caught me. >> caught you? doing what? >> you know. i was alone. >> the turning point for "seinfeld" from like nice show that all of the cool people kind of know about but that's it to massive hit was an episode called "the contest" where they tried to abstain from self-pleasure for as long as possible. >> 6:30, time for your bath. >> george, i'm hungry. >> hang on, ma. hang on. >> once you do 30 minutes on masturbation, you can pretty much get away with anything. >> i guess you'll be going back to that hospital.
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>> my mother, jerry. >> but are you still master of your domain? >> i am king of the county. >> the week after that aired, people were talking about that in the workplace the entire week. they still are talking about it. 52 seconds and two of the greatest words in sitcom history. >> i'm out. >> one of the shorthand descriptions of "seinfeld" is no hugs, no lessons. let's push it a little further than it's ever been pushed before. >> i think the big breakthrough of "seinfeld" was that the characters were not nice people. >> shut up, you old cow! >> they were narcissistic. >> help! >> they would screw each other at the drop of a hat. >> he's just a dentist. >> and you're an anti-dentite. >> and yet be best friends the next week.
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>> you don't have to love them. we just have to laugh at them. >> i'm really sorry. >> i was in the pool. i was in the pool. >> the idea of a character with darker tendencies, that was so taboo in television comedy. >> are you about done? >> i'm just getting warmed up. >> we're in the confines of network tv with commercials with still a lot of things that are very highly structured and yet we're able to find ways of pushing in the boundaries. >> no soup for you. >> it took us to a new level of comedy. and it kind of defined like, yeah, nbc, thursday night, this show, expect the unexpected. >> can you sing the theme song from "cheers"?
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♪ making your way in the world today ♪ today. >> come on, i know. it's cute. ♪ takes everything you got ♪ ♪ taking a break from all your worries sure can help a lot ♪ ♪ wouldn't you like to get away ♪ ♪ sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name ♪ >> we decided to end "cheers" in the 11th year. over 93 million people watched the finale of "cheers." it's a sad experience for everybody. this was our baby for 11 years and we're not going to be around these people every day. >> you people are as dear to me as my own family. >> we had been serving fake suds forever. it was time for everybody to sit. in fact, i was sipping along with them. >> time goes by so fast. people move in and out of your life. you must never miss an opportunity to tell these people how much they mean to you.
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>> we had been through so much together. you spend so much time with the same set of people, it does become your family. >> i feel pretty lucky to have the friends i do. >> i think the legacy of "cheers" is our needo belong. and i think that's what we as americans are longing for. >> thank you, guys. >> the final scene of "cheers" was really what was sam's real first love. >> you can never be unfaithful to your one true love. >> i'm the luckiest son of a -- on earth. >> his real first love was the bar. >> sorry, we're closed. ♪ ♪ award winning interface. award winning design.
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okay, watch this. do the thing we talked about. what do we say? it's going to be great. watch. remember what we were just saying? go irish! see that? yes! i'm gonna just go back to doing what i was doing. find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. okay, let's play show business. >> as a young kid in cleveland, i knew i would one day end up doing a talk show. >> it's arsenio hall! >> in less than two years, arsenio hall has fired a talk show for the mtv generation into
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a contender for the crown of late night television. >> yes, yes! >> how come i didn't hear all of that wolfing going on? when i would watch you? >> too many white people. >> johnny was the big dog. but i knew everybody on the planet wasn't watching him. and it dawned on me that i could go many weeks and not see a motown group on "the tonight show." >> arsenio hall has been dubbed the prince of late night. >> there was a whole world of talent that had never and would never have been on any late night show. ♪ >> 2livecrew came on and sang "meso horny", it was like the sex pistols. i'd never seen anything like it. it was an explosion in the audience. >> he appealed to a black and white young audience and it was a much broader appeal than the powers that be estimated.
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>> rap. rap is real big among our teens. that's poetry. >> of course it is. >> having maya angelou on, i mean, where would you have seen her otherwise? >> in 1892 wrote a poem that called "a negro love song." it says seen my lady home last night, jump back, honey, jump back. held her hand and squeezed it tight, jump back, honey, jump back. >> he didn't just have black people on his show. but if you were hip, you wanted to be on arsenio. >> this was something i heard a political analyst talk about recently. he said you kind of were -- i use the word chilling out. he said you were pulling back.d say as much or be outspoken. no? >> i've heard that, but i never know who says it. it's wishful thinking on the part of some people.
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>> guess who suggested to bill to do the arsenio hall show if you want to get a younger demo? hill-dawg. ♪ >> he attracted a lot of people who weren't fans before that night. ♪ >> the '90s was a glorious moment for black television. because you saw these representations that you'd never seen before. ♪ the premise of "the fresh prince" was this kid who comes from philadelphia. ♪ in west philadelphia born and raised on the playground is where i spent most of my days ♪ >> his mom says i'm going to send you to live with your uncle. he shows up at this mansion in bel air, baseball cap on backward. like he doesn't even know how to act in this environment.
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the black producers and directors and writers were always playing with this kind of subverting expectations of what is blackness. >> the incredible work of "the fresh prince" at its most triumphant is when it was showing the ways that being black is always going to be a problem no matter what. >> vehicle registration, please. >> just a second. but the thing, officer, this isn't my car. >> there's the episode i remember where they get pulled over in a car. >> what? >> he is going to tell us to get out of the car. >> you watch too much tv. >> get out of the car. >> we have an interaction with the police officer that is horrible and racist in a lot of ways. and carlton hathis epiphany about how money won't sa him. >> no map is going to save you. and neither is your glee club or your fancy bel air address or who your daddy.
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because when you're driving in a nice car in a strange neighborhood, none of that matters. they only see one thing. >> the writers of "the fresh prince of bel air" had a really tough task to approach these topics with nuance, and were doing it at a clip that was way ahead of their time. >> now don't touch that dial. we're about to flip it for you to one of the most talked about tv shows. it is, as they say, on another network. fox. ♪ ♪ in living color >> ladies and gentlemen. keenan ivory wayans. >> "in living color" was the first show created by, written by, directed by, starring an african american, all of those things in one. >> this is celebration of culture and of change. us opening the doors to allowing america to come inside. >> yo, yo, yo, all you bad bargain hunters out there, welcome to the homeboys shopping network. >> a lot of what they did on "in living color" was trying to take the stereotypes or the
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misperceptions about what black men are and turn them upside down. >> not only will you get all the cable stations out there, but you'll be able to talk directly to the astronauts. >> it brought this smart, very controversial comedy that black folks never seen before that centered around their life experiences. >> who are you? >> i am the minister louis farrakhan. >> african-americans composed 25% of fox's market. >> i always get trapped in the corner with somebody named bob. hey, listen, martin, i just saw "boys in the hood", all right? i didn't know, martin, i didn't know. >> they knew that they needed to capture this audience to grow. >> i guess you think you smart and cool. but if you think you get a job here, you're a damn fool. >> so they basically gave the
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black creators freedom to do whatever you want. just get the audience. >> the wb and upn took that concept from fox. >> your shoulders are harder than cheap breast implants. >> going after this underserved audience of urban and ran with it. >> i'm a new millennium woman who will not be defined by traditional roles. >> a lot of the networks built themselves up partly on african american viewers. >> the african-american chose indexed lower in terms of household income. so over the course of the decade, the network started to move away from those shows. >> i don't know about you people, but i'll be damned if it i'm going to let them destroy my neighborhood. >> black creators felt used and abused. you made your money. you built your audience on us and now, you know, you're done.
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movies. so we needed to compete and i felt that if we didn't, we were going to kind of get swept out. so i came up with a notion of doing a cop show that was r rated. when abc's broadcast standards read our script, they went berserk. >> i was sitting with a pad and a pencil drawing pictures of breasts to try to show them what we would show and what we wouldn't show. grown-ups sitting in a room doodling. >> then we started on th nguage >> we heard it with the brains of a flea and the balls of a moth. >> the program premiered with an advertising boycott. >> channel 7, shame on you! >> but it was such an immediate hit, that boycott lasted, oh, four weeks. >> they could use the nudity to
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and the curse words to go deeper into the actual emotional burden of being a cop. >> i'm an -- >> and it had this character, andy sipowicz. he is a raging alcoholic, racist, sexist, violent. he created the tv anti-hero. >> i know the great african american george washington carver discovered the peanut. but can you provide names and addresses of these friends? >> you know, you're a racist scumbag. >> despite flaws and prejudices, i think people identified with his pain. >> i wish there was a way to say this that wouldn't hurt you. >> there's a famous episode where they are investigating the rape and murder of a young boy. and they find a homeless child molester who murdered the kid and sipowicz to get the confession has to be very sensitive and very good cop. >> i know this has to be tearing you up inside. but you're going to feel a lot better if you just tell the
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truth. >> you can sort of see on dennis franz' face ths killing him to not destroy this guy right now. finally, he gets the confession he gets the signed statement. he walks out of the room, he goes into another interrogation room and he breaks the door in two with his fist. and i'm choking up talking about it right now, because that's how great a moment of tv that it is. >> 20 years from now, the best tv dramas, what do they look like? >> i don't know. >> bolder than what we see today? >> oh, assuredly, assuredly they will be. >> the '90s gave us several shows that didn't explode in the ratings, but were influential to others. "homicide" is one of them. ♪ shell me with questions all night ♪ ♪ i'm living in a danger zone >> "homicide: life on the
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street" was innovative in terms of style. it used music in ways that advanced the narrative and also used feature film directors that brought a look and style to the show that really stood out on television. >> tears coming out of your eyes. >> ain't no tears coming from my eyes. >> those eyes are brimming with tears. >> they had so many african american characters in the cast that on several occasions they were the only people on camera interacting with one another. and that sounds like, so, but as late as the '90s, that wasn't done on television. >> when a cop shoots somebody, he stands by. he picks up the radio mike and calls it in. he stands by the body. if notcops are no better than anybody else. >> in the '90s, television was getting more complicated, stories were starting to become more episodic and characters were starting to develop and change. none of that happened on "law and order." >> this was a show that completely delivered on its formula every time. you get a crime, you got the investigation into the crime.
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>> you better be packing more than a dirty mouth. >> you got an arrest. >> what's the zmarj hcharge? hey, i'm asking you a question! what's the charge? >> there's no charge. this one's on us. >> you had a trial. >> he's badgering, your honor. >> sit down and shut up. >> overruled. you will address the court from now on, mr. mccoy. >> every time you watched you got what you came for. >> tell me, doctor. all those women you ran through your examination rooms, do you remember their faces or did you not even bother to look up? >> you had in "law and order" the kind of characters people take to heart. >> i'll let you take me to lunch. one-time offer. >> and it you're ab actor and you say well, gee, maybe it's not really such a bad medium after all. >> miranda, the supreme court's mimic decision. the whole thing was illegally obtained. they were both represented by counsel.
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>> it's life and death and stuff. >> we know what you did. >> counsel. >> you hear me? >> do you hear me? >> "law and order" was like crack. you'd have to sit and watch me for 50 minutes just like, not moving, barely breathing. there's times i have almost passed out watching "law and order." >> i need your help. >> "er" had originally been written as a movie, forced steven spielberg to direct. we had this two-hour piece which was michael's reflection of experiences as a medical student. >> you need a large in case they bleed. do you know how to start an iv? >> actually, no. >> "e.r." is a hospital show, but it's really an action movie. >> walking wounded. red urgent, yellow critical and black a gurney. >> got it.
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>> a gurney comes in, people are shouting instructions, climbing on the body and doing cpr and racing off to the surgical suite. >> get that gurney out of there! >> someone wanders in. they're tossing around medical jargon. they don't stop to explain what it is. prep for a peritoneal lave valujet. i think i know what that is now, but only because i watched a lot of "er" over the years. >> you try. >> we can bypass him. >> what do you think? >> you're the attending. >> there was so much information coming at you that i think it made the experience feel as if you had to watch it in the same way that you'd watch a film. you had to stay involved the the whole time. >> come on, ben. hold on, buddy. hold on. >> there was a lot of research that said people didn't want to watch anybody have anything other than a happy outcome. >> it's not flood flight attendant line. another seven makes epi. >> we argued that wasn't really showing what the world was for physicians.
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[woman] we did it. [man] we're campers. look at us. look at us. it's so nice to get out of the city. it's so... quiet. is it, too quiet? it's awful. yeah. feel at home, pretty much wherever you are. t-mobile is america's best unlimited network. what are all these different topped & loaded meals? it's an american favorite on top of an american favorite, alice. it's like rodeos on top of rollercoasters. get your favorites on top of your favorites. only at applebee's. will you be ready when the moment turns romantic? cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph.
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tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have a sudden decrease or loss of hearing or vision, or an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis.
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>> and loews-tish brothers buying cbs. and all of them want their money's worth. >> we'll now have the strongest network. we'll have a stronger defense piece. this is going to be one dynamite company. >> there's a danger that news will be mixed up with the rest of television and considered just another profit. >> late 1920s, to early 1930s, to the 1980s, the sense was if some of the broadcasting time took public service, 1990s, journalism in the country changed a great deal. you couldn't talk about public service. what are the ratings going to be? what are the demographics going to be? what is the profit going to be? well, sensationalism sells. >> in a plea bargain, 18-year-old amy fisher got up to 18 years in prison for shooting the wife of her alleged lover. >> so intense is the interest in it this case there are three
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three made for tv movies now in the works about it. >> you make money off sex. you make money off death. you make money off crime. >> the press calls the case the beverly hills mansion murders. the story reads like a script that circulate here in hollywood. >> we enter into the television news soap. opera. . >> anger and fear. >> i was scared and i just wanted him to leave me alone. >> so brook journalism loses its purity and becomes much more shotty. and all comes together with o.j. simpson. >> i'm larry kor roll in los angeles. the los angeles director attorney signed charges against oren that will o.j. simpson. i have to interrupt this story i understand we're going to a live picture in los angeles. police leave overwhelm j. simpson is in that car. >> the o.j. simpson story starts
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with the chase and goes on and on and televised day after day after day. >> this is going to be a long trial, there's a lot of evidence to come in. >> the overwhelm j. simpson case was such a national fee not non that those of us who are covered it lived this case 24 hours a day because there was so much demand for people talking about it. >> as simpson struggled to slide the gloves on his hands and turned to our jurors to say they're too small, the prosecutors were -- >> the trial had been on television during hours that had traditionally been for soap opera. and o.j. was very much a soap opera. >> no question the best t.v. show of the '90s was the j.o.
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simpson trial. >> the simpson trial finally winding to a close. >> we the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant oren that will simpson not guilty in the crime of murder. >> the verdict of the o.j. simpson trial viewed by 150 million people. it's more people than watch presidential elections returns. that's crazy. >> because there was trial footage every day, cnn saw its audience increase five times. >> the success of cnn was not lost on other people, and so there were competing forces coming into play. >> a lot of land that's now reached this moment where they can announce starting of a fox news channel. >> unfortunately with cable news and the ability or the need to
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be on the air 27/7, where you try to get as many eye balls as possible as one time to gravitate towards those stories that are sensational, it brought us the ability to go too far. >> is the jon benet ramsey case turning into a circus. >> it's a fear that says if we don't cover this pig time our competition is. and wen they cover it being time they're going to be covering the and i we survive we got to do it. >> we also see a whole army of commentators. people who make their business talking about the news. >> what i say is what we should do is we should bomb his capability of producing oil, attack out his refineries, his stations --
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>> they don't have the capability of selling oil. >> the journalist were doing a good job. it's much cheaper to have someone in your studio than to have reporters out in the field reporting. >> i don't know if any of this is true but what i heard is that the father wen down, opened this basement room which the fbi has bypassed. >> every single sentence on cnn, perhaps cnbc begins with the reports i think. but after a while people get confused by what is speculation, by what is fact. and as far as the viewer is concerned, the very very careful of unsubstantiated information presented with great hype. at's ? yeah. ♪ everybody two seconds! ♪
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"dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance..." through the tuition assistance program, every day mcdonald's helps more people go to col. it's part of our commitment to being america's best first j. ♪ binders, done. super-cool notebooks, done. that's mom taking care of business. but who takes care of mom? office depot/office max. this week, get this ream of paper for just one cent after rewards. ♪ taking care of business. oscwe went back toing bithe drawing board...s. and the cutting board. we removed the added nitrates and nitrites, by-products, and artificial preservatives in all of our meat. every. single. one. why? for the love of hot dogs.
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it's so fluffy! look at that fluffy unicorn! he's so fluffy i'm gonna die! your voice is awesome. the x1 voice remote. xfinity. the future of awesome. t.v. is changing dramatically now with 150 channels that might be available in the near future. >> there are more choices than ever before and it's a tough job. you have to try and get a sense of what is the audience going to really make an atachlt to. >> in the '90s cable was coming on strong, so we had to examine who are regoing to be. well, we wanted to be smart
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sophisticated comedy. >> six months ago was living in boston. my wife had left me, which was very painful, then she came back to me which was kprus kprushuating. >> well i thought "frazier"ive dead with "cheers". >> we thought we built an audience in potential for building up to another place. ♪ >> "frazier" was kinds of like one-act plays. >> mother and i moved here when i was a small boy after the tragic death of my father. i kept the pain of that loss buried deep within me like a serpent koild within a damped cave. okay that's it. >> we all assumed the audience was smarter than other people did and we played to that. >> she's just unschooled.
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>> she'll be ready for the ball in no time. >> leave it to you to put the pig back. >> thank you. >> chelsea grammar played pomposity like nobody had ever seen and got huge laughs. >> what's taking so long? >> i am analyzing my options, i like to plan a strategy like a general leading his troops into battle. >> check mate. >> i think "frazier" probably stands as the single moat successful spin off at least in the series of sitcoms. >> and the emmy goes to. >> "frazier". >> we were lightning hot and it was critical for us to be leading the way not just
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following. ♪ >> "friends" is about that time in your life when your friends is your family. david crane and i lived in new york we were part of a group of six people, we were all attached at the hip, we wen every where together and celebrated everything together. and there's that period where you're looking to be out there on your own and the people you rely on are the ones who live down the hall. >> here we go pivot. pivot. pivot. pivot. pivot. pivot. >> shut up, shut up, shut up. >> "friends" for me in a culture that was really special. everybody was obsessed with the show and it became which one of these characters are you.
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>> this really does put me in a better mood. >> the kids who were watching these in the audience saw a life style that was as petitioner raon. >> i wish i had an apament in new york city that no one seems toe worried about the rent for. i wish that i looked like matt l eblanc. i wish i had jennifer aniston's hair. one thing that made phenomenon they emotionally were invested in ross and rachel's relationship. >> okay, more clothes in the dryer? >> i was dropping my daughter off for sunday school at our temple and literally my rap b rabbi stopped me and said what's going to happen with ross and
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rachel. >> i had a pretty good time. >> oh thanks. >> the one with the prom video is my favorite. >> hey guys we don't have to watch this. >> oh yeah it's fun. >> where's chip? why isn't he here yet? >> he'll be here okay. take a chill pill. >> this seemed like a really surprising way to get rachel to know how ross feels. >> i can't go to my own prom without a date. >> take her you can wear my tucks. >> she wouldn't want to go with me. >> she's learning something new and he thinks oh gosh please don't let her see this. rachel ready or not here comes your night and shiny -- oh no. >> bye. >> ross sees himself and you see that look on his face and how sad he is because he wanted to take her to the prom. >> when she cross the room i
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still kind of get chills from it, when she crossed the room and gave him that kiss audience went insane. >> at the high of must-see t.v., thursday nights on nbc, 75 million americans watched thursday night. that was at the time 1/3 of the country. >> oh, what is this stuff? >> the sweater it's angora. >> well it's wonderful. >> the machine that was nbc in the '90s for comedy was untouchable. >> you're not from around here are you? >> it generated so much viewership and money and awards. >> we do not need this. >> it's the top of our wedding cake. >> it's not a scrapbook it's a
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freezer. >> no. >> this part in television where we realized we were in the right place at the right time. >> let's see how you like this naughthty boy. >> you certainly associate nbc of the '90s will having extremely successful sitcoms, but they weren't the only net work that found their way to having some success. tgif was on abc on friday and it was their block of family oriented comedies. >> i can't take it, i need that cake. >> it was not sophisticated television, but these were shows that people adored. >> cbs was in a really bad spot. they had fallen apart over the early part of the '90s and gone through a couple of different
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executives. but then suddenly they had this hit with an unknown comic. this was a t year of "seinfeld" no hugging no learning. >> i love you. >> there was hugging there was learning. >> all right. >> if you worked for me your job was to go home get in a fight with your wife and come back in and tell me about it. >> don't sleep on the couch. i just cleaned down there. >> in fact, the pilot i put in this true thing that happened to me wherein i sent my parents a gift for the holidays of the fruit of the month club. >> did you know you sent me a box of pairs from a place called fruit of the month. >> that's right. how are they? >> and my mother reacted as if i had sent her a box of meds from a murderer. >> why did you do this to me. >> oh my gosh.
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>> like i don't keep fruit in the house. >> boy it's happening. >> what do you think we are, we can't go out and get our own fruit. >> all right i'm cancelling the fruit club. >> the real story is where the real connection with your audiences. >> thank god. all your families are crazy too. >> looks like you got the whole family together. >> yes, it's dysfunction palooz. with claim rateguard your rates won't go up just because of a claim. palooza. no! switching to allstate is worth it.
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do you... [both sobbing] don't worry, sweetie. this is gonna happen a lot. announcer: or... "nice, single boys." heh heh. that was weird. announcer: as a parent, there are no perfect answers, but you don't have to be perfect to a perfect parent. thousands of teens in foster care will love you just the same. and now ladies and gentlemen, here's johnny. >> johnny carson wouldn't just the host of ""the tonight show." hoefs the was the mantha americ said good night to for 30 years.
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on my watch johnny decided that 30 years was a great time to take a bow and say thank you and say good night. >> 30 years is enough. good time to get out while you're still on top of your game plan. >> johnny carson retiring in the '90s was a huge moment where the ice chunk of the shelf breaks off. >> it's a tremendous part of history. >> johnny had told no one what he planned to do and we weren't prepared. that set off a game of musical chairs for who would get the throne and there only was one late night throne. >> jay le know had been carson's substitute host wen he wen on vacation. >> only six months people were talking about donald trump as a
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presidential candidate. since then he's had an affair, length of time his wife, run up a debt of $7 million so i guess he's going to be run as a democrat huh? >> jalen know wanted to keep doing a johnny carson-type show. and david letterman followed carson and they had different styles. >> what's your name? we i'm going to ask you to turn the cameras off for this. >> part of it was attacking authorities. he liked that. >> cut the cameras please. >> he needed a bad guy to go up against. i was oftentimes that target. >> i can here this warren litter field guy about not getting his name on the card last year. he's on there. >>-always letterman's dream to be the host of the tonight show. he idolized johnny carson
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rightfully so. >> the feat of nbc's late night stars jay le know and david letterman. >> most of usthought the person who deserved to get it with letterman. but jay le know got it. >> le know who rode his car into a motorcycle still has a bruised ego the way the network labored in its support for him. >> when we found out that le know was beginning to get "the tonight show" we were obviously distressed. we felt like we were being punished for making fun of them and not cooperating and being as collaborative as we could have been. and we also felt like we were being disrespected because we did 11 years of great shows. >> just how pissed off are you?
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>> by all right, davidlerman should have taken or for johnny carson but his agent took a very very aggressive stand. we're going to really control all of late night, it's going to cost you a fortune and they put our backs to the walsh. >> i can only tell it's been an honor and a privilege to come in your homes all these years. i hope i find something that i want to do and you like and you come baa and be as dprashs and inviting in your homes as you have been. i wish your a very heart fell gone. >> the tonight show without johnny carson as the regular host made its debut last night. jay le know made i to the big current. >> cbs came to us and made a very attractive offer. >> number ten, cbs tells cbs number nine. >> letterman did place a call to
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johnny carson asking for his dwis. johnny said if it was me i would leave. and i think that device was really the lynch pen. letterman always took johnny's advice. >> the late night wars are about to begin in television. david letterman is headed for cb. >> cb houred him over with a salary of four times as le know. as letterman and jay prepare to go head to head late night t.v. will never be the same. >> all of a sudden there's a allaut war. >> on mony david letterman's new show debuts on cbs. followed a week later by chevy case on fox. and a week after that kobe
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bryant on nbc. >> it became a prouded space and the competition game that much more difficult. >> the third corner ratings fating rapidly, arsenio hall. some t.v. writers thing arsenio could be the big loser in this free-for-all. >> when letterman game in it essentially diluted arsenio's brand because there were alternatives. >> i'm sad to see you go because america's going to have a big chunk missing. >> losing arsenio, yeah, it was bad. he was the lone voice, gone. >> david letterman had the suits at nbc pausing for a moment. did we make the right choice because he game out gang busters and he was beating jay le know in the writings. >> there's some people who say you blew it by picking le know
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to replace carson over letterman that was a big programming mistake. >> it was a shaky start. a really really shaky first-season start. >> true confessions time for actor hugo grant who's trying hard to put h recent encounter with a hollywood prosecute behind him. >> wen hugo grant was arrested it have big live action news. hugo grant was suppose to do "the tonight show" that night. >> what the hell were you thinking? >> it all came together in that moment and everyone saw it and that's it. we were never number two again. >> for us, it was the fun experience. we got our own theater, our own unlimited budget, access to every star in the business who wants to do the show. >> somebody bring me the jaws of
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it's a new kind of network. xfinity mobile. that's why at comcast we're continuing to make4/7. our services more reliable than ever. like technology that can update itself. an advanced fiber-network infrustructure. new, more reliable equipment for your home. and a new culture built around customer service. it all adds up to our most reliable network ever. one that keeps you connected to what matters most. in the mid-1990s if you take a look at the 50 most watched shows on cable.
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the top would be "nickelodeon," "rug rats," blue's clues". "rent and stem pi" has this cartoon to it. this would be the splitting of the family audience. three or four t.v.s in the house you hid a kid watching "nickelodeon." a dad watching "espn sports". a mom watching "life time" they were in their own separate universes watching television. >> by the mid-1990s mtv wouldn't a music channel. they had shows that incooperated music but there were shows that stood on their own. >> that was cool. >> certainly "dee vis and butthead" established what t.v. could be because the show was
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about people making fun of music videos just like people in the audience were doing. >> woa. ♪ >> yeah. >> my manager would call me, like, hey you got this big bunk because you were on "beevis and butthead" the other nigh >> i'd sit there like a donut watching these guys and i find them endlessly entertaining because i know, you foe and the world knows this guys are and will be and cannot be anything been idiots. >> they are. ♪ >> mtv has a detrimental damaging developmental effect on the sexual assau the sexual yalt, the morality and maybe physical development of our young people. >> now we hit the '90s and once
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you can go for an audience of 5 million and have an unsuccessful show, you can say i don't care if i parents like this. >> can i tell you something mrs. ellen? >> of course wendy. >> don't [ bleep ] with me. >> what? >> you heard me. stay away from my man bitch i'll watch your -- back to next year. >> they're success story is truth that if you just say true to yourself you don't have to do anything else. >> people think, oh you came and did this show now you're big sell out. the truth is we were sell out to begin with. >> perhaps there is no stopping the corp machine. >> we were sleeping at friends' houses, had no money and one fox executive had seen a t.v. we had in college. and he said you make me another christmas video i can send out as christmas cards. he gave us 500 bucks and we made
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this five minute shorts. >> i come seeking retribution. crest he's going to kill you because you're jewish kyle. >> it went around the t.v. like wildfire. it was the funniest thing you've ever soon in your life. >> somebody showed me the short >> go jesus. >> i thought it was hisster call so i called and said get them in here right away. >> oh my god, you've killed kenny. you bastards. >> "south park" was able to be topical. it rally really detest hypocrites. >> this is the republicans and nazis oh my. >> well okay mr. car machine aisle legalize 40th trimester adorations for you. >> could you imagine back then these people would ever get on network television or any kind of television.
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it's a miracle. "south park" is a miracle. >> in the early 90s the h bo shows starts coming into their own. >> have i always had these interests? >> a lot of people want freedoms, they don't want to go back to the networks which will say come to us and you'll make more money but you'll also have content restreks. you can go to cable and not have restrictions. not make as much money but have freedom of expression which is what almost everybody works in these media wants. some of the con at the time truly was, you can't get this anywhere else. >> h bo turned to people who said i can't do that on television but you can do it on
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h bo. >> white people don't trust back people. that's why they won't vote for no black president. like the black brother will [ bleep ] up the warehouse. the grass won't be cut. cook outs, basketball goal in the back. >> in the late '80s h bo was gaining grown for series. >> by the 90s h bo has started to begin its explosion. >> when we started doing "dream on" one of thing h bo said to us was it got to be something that can't be on net wosh t.v. >> because h bo was driven by subscribers and not by commercials and selling advertising time, they had a different way of looking at success or failure. what they were looking for was critical acclaim. >> you watched letterman, leno,
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but what about larry. larry sanders that is. >> gary sandler wanted to do a show that deconstructed the kind of show "the tonight show" was. >> just pretend like you're talking to me. >> the larry sander show was ka that is rightic. because in the world of the show there was a network. >> up me to [ bleep ] with your budget ithat what you want me >> so it became the if any house more tng where you can use of from your misery and your career. >> don't take this as a threat but i killed a man like you in korea, hand to hand. my boy doesn't want to do any more commercials. >> larry sanders to me was db aside from being a brilliant television show. >> can you say hey now? >> hey now.
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>> it was my everyday life. >> last show big ratings, big, bam, boom. >> "the larry sanders" show was very unique. it was ground breaking. i think that made people really go,that's the level of work we may be able to do on the cable network. >> please, do not flip around. come right back. hey now. >> oh, you sound good. o takes c? office depot/office max. this week, get this ream of paper for just one cent after rewards. ♪ taking care of business. [woman] we did it. [man] we're campers.
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♪ in the '90s you had shows aiming at a young audience. one of the things that really made "90210" stand out is it was the first drama that gets into the teenager point of view. >> of course. >> always been my problem. no one to protect. >> i wanted to do a t.v. series that was going to be relevant to tierj teenagers. and it's not about the parents solving the kids' problems it's about the kids solving their own problems. >> what are we suppose to do sit him down and have a kid to pattern talk? >> no we can't talk to pattern
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on that level. >> if the '60s had beetle mania the '90s had "90210" manaea. >> "my so-called live" was like the -- of -- it showed teen heard break that was real for the time. >> how you like this? >> like what? >> like, how are you. >> hey jordan you coming or not? >> how am i? how -- how am i. >> "my so-called life" was your actual life. and the idea that everyone in high school is a misfit, you have this deep insecurity about
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how youe supposed to be. >> you kw how the last sentence you said echo in your pran and it just keep sounding stupider. and you have to say something else to make it stop. >> oh i just remembered i oh you $3. >> "my so-called life" was not the show the cheerleader and captain of the football team was watching. they were still watching "90210". . >> demarco was asked me if you were getting a sex change. >> i don't want to be a girl itch to hang with girls. >> rickey was out on the show and that was a story line that was treated with great sensitivity. >> i belong nowhere with no one. and i don't fit. >> i mean it was so deeply felt. it was saying to the viewer things that you have gone
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through they matter. >> "buffy the vampire slayi" depicted high school. rather than feeling like hell it was hell. her high school was literally bill on top of hell. so all of these creatures would come up that she'd have to fight. >> three in one night. >> it was a brilliant metaphor for add lessens and all the demons that you have to slay. >> you know buffy was a teenager and she was still finding out who she was. one of the story lines that was very popular and much talked about where was she had sex with her boyfriend for the first time and then in sort of the world of buffy he becomes literally evil. >> there must be some sort of you inside that still remembers who you are. >> dream on schoolgirl. >> in order to save the world
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literally she knows she has to send him to hell. >> buffy knows in an instant that angel has become good again. >> buffy. >> and so she has this moment of reckoning where she has to decide whether to do this owner and she makes the sacrifice to push him back into hell. >> the show was really working on multiple levels. and in buffy in particular we saw a character that was a reluck can protagonist, forced to make tough decisions. >> there was a kind of opening the flood gates in the '90s for women. the idea of being an ideal i think was keen of smashed through a lot of characters on television. >> you're a successful saleswoman in this city.
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you can bang your he against a wall try to fine relationship or just say screw it, gout and have sex like a man. >>" sex in the city" was a cheap from the start. >> a relationships a religion of the '90s? >> these were women who were making a living, independent and single and feeling their power. >> i said saall of them. >> what do you tip for them. >> i want women to be object tied in fining a man just like men were objectified in fanning women. >> your turn. >> oh sorry i have to go back to work. >> there never were people talking about organism or organs or sex. >> okay tell me exactly how he worded it. >> we've been seeing each other
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for a couple of weeks, i really like you, tomorrow night after dinner i want us to have anal sex. >> these are women who are discussing what anal sex means. >> it's going to have a shift in power either he'll have the upper hand or you will. >> sold he do this owner. >> this was an expression the body was designed to experience. >> bs. fabulous. >> the show took an interesting turn by really focusing on the relationship between the women and telling the story of them as rely soul matesing to as well. >> you did that right thing buying that pardon me. you love it right? >> yeah. >> and you won't be alone forever. >> historically women are set up in narrowtives in which only one can succeed. showing women not competing with each other and as supporting each other was also an important narrative change. >> okay girls see you tomorrow.
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>> okay. >> the show had a message of treatment, and liberation especially for women that really resonated. i think sex in the city helped make hbo a place where people would think, i wonder what they're doing next. i should take a closer look at geico... (dog panting) geico has a 97% customer satisfaction rating! and fast and friendly claims service. speaking of service? oooo, just out. it was in. out. in! out. in! what about now? that was our only shuttlecock. take a closer look at geico. great savings. and a whole lot more. what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah. ♪ everybody two seconds! ♪ "dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations
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on your acceptance..." through the tuition assistance program, every day mcdonald's helps more people go to college. it's part of our commitmto being erica's best first job. ♪ ♪ [vo] progress is seizing the moment. your summer moment awaits you now that the summer of audi sales event is here. audi will cover your first month's lease payment on select models during the summer of audi sales event.
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of your back pain?trol new icyhot lidocaine patch. desensitizes aggravated nerves with the max strength lidocaine available. new icyhot lidocaine patch. . in 1991 we got a call from mtv and they were toying with the idea of doing some kind of a scripted show about young people. >> they said it was a mix between -- >> but ultimately decided the idea of a show with writers and actors would be too expensive for them. >> the real world i guess this
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is what this is supposed to be. >> we certainly played all the drama rules to documentary to get a do cue soap. >> this is a true story. >> true story. >> seven trainingers. >> watch what happened when you put please people together in a house. stop being polite and getting real. >> you haven't seen anything like that on television. that open discussion of race. >> i can try as much as i can to deal with you. but ignorance is ignorance, studenty is stupidity that's it. black, white, green, purple whatever. >> "the real world kwt" becomes right lane of t.v. you had in the next season of l.a., a young woman who gets an abortion and the camera goes right up to the doctor's door. by the third season in san francisco, the young man who is
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dealing with aids. >> he told me he was hiv positive and i have just like no, not him. i like this guy and i don't want him to have the suffer. >> it was such a triumph that possession droe had the korj to come out with aids. in my small gay community we felt like wow, he was our hero. >> he falls in love and he and his partner shawn have a ceremony. and this is long before same-sex marriage was legal. >> i have to believe all the pain i'm going through, all the anger and frustration that there's something bigger than that. >> aids has claimed a young man who made an enormous impact on generations of americans. possession droe zamora died last night at the age of 22.
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>> i'm glad i got to know him. i hope you enjoy and learn from his life of compassion and fa fearlessness. >> the one many portrayals of gay people period on t.v. at that point. >> her name is marla, i'm seeing a woman. >> in the '90s gay characters were always secondary or third. there was never a gay character that was the lead of a show. >> say, you want to go look at apartments tomorrow. >> ellen degeneres the comedian was about to come out as a lesbian. and she does it on "time" magazine, yep, i'm gay. they decide that the ellen character played on t.v. would
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also come out. >> disney of all companies are beginning to feature ellen is coming out of the closet. it won't be long before you know what, bestial and who knows. >> we were getting bomb threats and plaque for thinking of having a coming out with ellen. >> i'm 35 years old, i'm so afraid of telling people, i mean this isn't -- i'm gay. >> ellen coming out was a huge moment for me personally because, you know i was a closeted gay guy, gay child at that time and it was the bravest thing i saw. >> it felt great. that felt so great. >> initial reports suggest abc made a bundle on the ellen's
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highly publicized outing on t.v. last night. it was a company on all of coming out parties including one in birmingham alama where the broadcast refused to air the show. >> i made the decision i wouldn't going to live my life as a lie anymore. i belong with everybody else and that's what i finally did. >> we used to say ellen opened the door and we knocked it down. ♪ >> i'm gay. >> "will and grace" was a great show in helping a mainstream
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connect to the gay community. >> they're not going to fix this thing with your landlord but -- >> play hardball baby. >> from low and inside he's crowding the plate and we got to go for sports. >> you're losing me. >> i figured 25% of the country wouldn't watch the show just based on the fact we had two gay member on it. >> give it to me. >> but if welcomed make believe that will and grace would getting to. >> will i told you, you live with a hetero long enough you're going to catch it. >> maybe we could get people to watch thinkin that uld happening know it will never happen. >> it's a shame, an image like this is completely wasted on us. >> i remember the network calling every other week saying can will just fall in love with grace.
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and the creators are like, well that's weird, he's gay. gay people don't do that, that's why they're gay. >> "will & grace" was the first time that you saw characters on television that made gay normal. yu wanted to be friends with them. >> guess what we are. a catholic girl gone bad. karen, what are you supposed to be? >> the best feeling i get is when people come up and say, gay community, and thank you for playing a part in that show. and you feel so fortunate to have been a part of something so great.
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end of the nineties was what was happening at the end of the '90s was audiences started to look towards television for what they had only found before in feature film. >> victory is mine. victory is mine. great day of the morning, people. victory is mine. >> and actors no longer felt that it was a comedown to come work in television. >> what did i ever do to you except deliver the south? >> you shouldn't have made me beg. >> the segment of the audience that showed up to watch "west wing" they watched the macneil lehrer newshour, they watched "west wing" and documentaries in foreign languages, right? >> if the name of this nominee is leaked out before i want it to be leaked out. i'm going to blame you and you're going to find that unpleasant. >> i have to tell you something, toby, you're hot when you're like this. >> '90s television is
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the first wave of what we now have, remarkably specific niche programming. >> "freaks and gks" rely sympathized with the losers and had great empathy for its characters. ♪ go ahead and laugh at me because you don't see ♪ ♪ i got something going on right here ♪ >> "freaks and geeks" breaks my heart every time i think about it. >> i'm sorry. did i crush your twinkies? >> it lasted 18 episodes. and they're perfect 18 episodes but nbc hated it so much. >> roll down the windows because i gots a big one a-brewing. >> they thought it was a show by losers, about losers for losers. they hated it. they wanted no part of it. they killed it. >> at the end of the '90s, the jig is starting to be up for the networks. basically quality migrates to cable.
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>> "oz" comes on in '97. it's set in this penitentiary. wow, what a strange show that was. >> in "oz" sometimes the thing you can't touch are more than the things you can. hatred, loneliness are more real to me than a shank and a soul. >> it was jaw-droppingly violent. it was a men's prison. it probably should be. but you know, it kind of announces the idea that hbo is going to get serious about doing scripted dramas. >> it's finished. it's over. >> but hbo really in my mind comes to its own in 1999 with "the sopranos." ♪ ♪ woke up this morning ♪ got yourself a gun >> "sopranos" was one of the
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shows that was like a benchmark. it changed a lot of things for everybody. >> throw out the handbook. tony soprano, the lead actor in a drama, he killed a man. we watched him. he took his daughter on a college tour. >> pretty, huh? >> yeah. >> it was just a melding of a guy and a world -- >> [ bleep ] you doing? all thfeelings that you would d have for a guy tt yolove in a guy that you hate. you know? >> "sopranos" came on tv and it really showed us the future whether we realized that was going to be the future of television or not. >> this husband of yours, carmella, how much we love him. he's the best. >> like a father to me. >> just make sure nothing
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happens to him. >> that character in that show was a great inspiration to a great many shows that came after it including one that i worked on. >> you know what i want, tony? i want those kids to have a father. >> they got one, this one, me. tony soprano. and all that comes with it. >> oh, you prick. >> some of my favorite shows of all-time aired in that decade and everybody was watching them. there was still that communal sense from the earlier decades of tv but it was being applied to shows that were reaching higher and farther, and they were great. >> because there was so many channels and because so much storytelling was going on, you started to get more variety of stories being told. >> get the skull film, schedule a c.a.t. scan and call the neurosurgery resident. >> objection! >> it showed us women in their depth and began to show us much more of a range of the african-american community. >> i'm always here for you.
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>> started focusing on teenagers in a more realistic way. >> things changed us. >> what are you talking about? >> and more outside the box in terms of what people might want to watch. >> you're out of order, he's out of order. this whole trial is sexy. >> after ten years of the '90s, we had a whole new television world that could take us anyplace we wanted and even places we had never imagined. >> was that the oven timer? >> that's right, my friend. it's time for "baywatch"! >> can you believe they gave stephanie skin cancer? >> i still can't believe they promoted her to lieutenant. >> you're just saying that because you're in love with yasmine bleeth. >> how could anyone not be in love with yasmine bleeth? >> they're running. see? this is the brilliance of the show.
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i say always keep them running. all the time running, run. run. run, yasmine, run like the wd. it seems that television has become a kind of electronic confessional. >> it's exciting newsy stuff. >> why did we start this business? >> any tool for human expression will bring out both the best and the worst in us and television has been there. >> here's michael at the foul line. a shot. >> they don't pay me enough to deal with an nal animals like this. >> why don't you just get off my back, okay? >> people are no longer embarrassed to admit they watch television. >> people used to say, i was there. now people say they watch it on television.
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