don't touch that dial, we're about to flip it for you. >> there's a lot of things that we do that you couldn't have on network television. weise people are starting to do something adventurous. >> this is more celebration of culture and opening the doors and allowing america to come on inside. >> there's always something on television and some of it make it better than they deserve. >> cool.

they know when it hits the bottom it will be 1990, good-bye to the '80s.

in -- >> eight eight eight. >> oh will this horrible year never end? >> when the '90s began we started seeing a lot of experimentation. and "the simpsons" i guess was inspired not necessarily hatred of television but distrust in the way television talks to us. >> tv respects me. it laughs with me not at me. >> i think the sitcoms of the '80s. >> i love you guys. >> or such a warm sort of safe humor. >> you see, the kids, they listen to the rap music which gives them the brain damage. >> i think there was a real yearning for another type of tv. >> we were able to spoof fatherhood. >> what a bad father.

>> which, at the time, i stress, at the time was bill cosby as the shining example. ♪ did you ever know that you're my hero ♪ >> stuff they got away with because it's a cartoon. the father strange lg 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 wolves and a lot less like the simpsons. >> huh? >> we go to a complete bizarre period in 1992 when a sitting president is raging against the sitcom. >> they deal with politics, popular culture, all kinds of issues of racism, sexism. >> don't ask me, i'm just a girl. >> right on, say it sister. >> t not if afunny, bart, milli

of girl wills grow up thinking this is the right way to act. >> they have talked about everything going on in offer lines through the filter of the testimonies. >> dumb immigrants, want all the benefits living in springfield but don't bother to learn themselves the language. >> yeah, those are my sentiments. >> i think one of the government things happening with "the simpsons" is everyone -- >> i'll take the justice too. >> sold. >> when they make fun of how fox works. >> you are watching fox. >> we are watching fox. >> they're telling us, don't trust us either. >> eat my shorts. >> "the simpsons" is like shakespeare in the source that we quote it all the time without knowing it. >> excellent.

>> i wish i could create something that culturably indelible, it's like anything t.v. ever brought. >> "twin peaks" showed up out of nowhere. the pilot of that was one of the strangest thing i've ever seen. >> another "twin peaks" county -- what's her name -- >> it was incredible. i mean, just how slowly in the beginning the news spread around this little town that this young beautiful girl had died. >> oh, god. >> and that haunting music was so dark and so beautiful. ♪ >> i've got good news too.

that gum you like is going to come back in style. >> what on earth is essentially an art film doing in prime time television? >> american network television has long-been considered the home of the bland, and cautious and predictable. it was with some trepidation that the abc network launched a knew series that was none of those things. "twin peaks" have already been described that will change tv. it's districted by david lynch. >> david lynch was a film maker ♪ ♪ for his tasknown for his tast memorable. the idea that he'd do television in the '90s was in credible. >> i like the idea but i don't get to see much of it. >> what do you think of that, that you do see on television?

>> some of it i enjoy. >> are you being diplomatic sort of? >> a beautiful thing about television is you have a chance to do a continuing story, that's the main reason, you know for doing it. >> i think that "twin peaks" with the initial attention that it got, allowed all the other networks to say, let's do something different. >> what was interesting about the exposure, it was an odd sort of universe that this guy was dropped into. >> the day's coming and it ain't going to be long where you don't have to leave your living room. no more schools, bodegas, tabernacles and you're going to snuggle up next to your fire and blitz out. >> you -- >> it's kind of hard to pin down

what exactly "the "x-files." it's a show about investigating -- >> unidentified suspecting, i think that fitting it pretty well. tell me i'm crazy. >> you're crazy. >> that tension of believer versus skeptics is one of the engines of the show. you're all seeing it from a specific point of view. >> their equals. absolutely, they're equals in a way they've kind of switched gender stereo types. the character i play is the intuitive one. skully is the rationalist, the doctor. >> lot of folks who enjoyed the "x-files" who didn't watch tile might have been drawn to the show by its -- for lack of the better way to put it -- stick it to the man e tlos. don't trust god, don't trust big

business, trust no one but yourself. it's a message that's cynical but kind of a breath of fresh air in the early '90s. >> the '90s was a time of conspiracies and the internet started to spread across commuter yeezers. everyone wanted to talk with the black oil and the bees and what the cigarette smoking man was up to. go to alt.ppv and people were so nuts for this show. >> it's sign fiction and that's what i like about it. >> the "x-files" changed the way people watched television. >> you can sense the court reporterers trying to see how they can do things different than a 5 or 10 years ago. >> sometimes it seemed to fall off the edge a little bit.

♪ >> at the time, steven bochco was a very successful producer of our dramas, and wanted to try something brand new. >> this is a police, we have a warn for your arrest. >> and so, his idea was to combine a grid di cop show with a broadway musical. >> i saw one in which a bunch of gang bangers were in jail and they began to sing. ♪ live in the hood ain't no piece of pie ♪ ♪ everybody die when the bullets fl fly. and i said wait a minute. i thought, this is it. this is going to be great.

♪ he's guilty judge he's guilty ♪ ♪ you can see it in his eye ♪ he did the crime and now he's got to pay ♪ >> it circled the dream. >> i will give credit to anybody who goes outside the box. ♪ i work 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'd want to do it again. this car is literally my baby.

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somethings, boom rangers, whatever these are called are turning out to be kind of a hard sell. >> in the '90s, what rerealized is advertisers would pay premiums for college educated young adults 18-49. we started reinvented nbc and trying to speak to that audience. >> where is someone, i'm starving? is there a table ready. >> the chinese restaurant was one of the very very early episodes of "seinfeld." 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 committed to four episodes. >> yes, right, four episodes.

>> normally it's 13 or 8 or something. >> yes, at least. >> so i don't think they had too much confidence in the show. >> we didn't think it would work, but we felt that 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 nice show to all the cool people kind of know about, but that's it. to massive hit, the episode called "the contest" where they try to abstain from self-pleasures as much as possible. >> 6:30 time for your bath. >> george, i'm hungry.

>> hang on, ma, hang on. >> one you do 30 machine on masturbation, you can pretty much get away with anything. >> i guess you'll be going back to that hospital. >> for my mother. >> 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. >> they're still talking about it. >> i'm out. >> one of the short-hand descriptions of "seinfeld" no hugs no lessons. let's push it a little further than its ever been pushed before. >> i think the big breakthrough on "seinfeld" was that the characters were not nice people. >> someone help. >> shut up you old bag. >> that were narcissistic.

they would screw each other over at the drop of a hat. >> he's just a dentist. >> and you're a anti-den title. >> and then be best friends the next week. ♪ >> 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? >> oh, i'm just getting warmed up. >> we're in the confines of tv with no commercials, there were still a lot of things highly structured and we were able to find ways of pushing within those boundaries.

>> it took us to a new level of comedy, it kind of defined like, yeah. nbc, thursday night, this show, expect the unexpected. >> can you sing the theme song from "cheers?" >> yeah, how does it start? s ♪ making your way in the world today ♪ >> yeah. ♪ sometimes you want to go ♪ where everybody knows your name ♪ >> we decided to end "cheers" in the 11th series. over 34 million people watched it. >> it's a said day for everybody. this was our baby for 11 years and we're not going to be around these people every day. >> you people are scared of me as my own family. >> we had been serving fake fogs

forever, it was time for people to sip. instead i was sipping along with them. >> people move in and out of your life. you must never miss an opportunity to tell these people how much they mean to you. >> we had been through so much together. you spend that much time with a same set of people it does become your family. >> i was pretty lucky to have the friends i do. >> i think the legacy of "cheers" was i need to belong. 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 bitch on earth. >> his real first love was the bottle.

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let's see who delivers more. comcast business gives you gig-speed in more places. the others don't. we offer up to 6 hours of 4g wireless network backup. everyone else, no way. we let calls from any of your devices come from your business number. them, not so much. we let you keep an eye on your business from anywhere. the others? nope! get internet on our gig-speed network and add voice and tv for $34.90 more per month. call or go on line today. okay, let's play show business. >> as a young kid in cleveland, i always knew i would one day end up doing a talk show.

>> it's "arsenio hall". >> less than two years arsenio hall has turned his talk show into -- >> how come i didn't hear all that woofing going on? >> too many white people. >> johnny was the big dog, but i knew everybody on the planet wasn't watching him. it dawned on me that i could go many weeks and not see a motown group on ""the tonight show." k >> there was a world of talent that wouldn't have been on "the tonight show." >> 2 live crew came on and sang "me so horny" it was like an

explosion in the audience. >> he appealed to a black and white, young audience and it was a mauuch broader appeal than th powers that be had estimated. >> rap is real big among our teens -- >> having maya angelou on, where would you have seen her otherwise. >> paul on stand by in 1982 wrote a poe yes, ma'am walled knee -- >> he didn't just have black people on his show, but if you were him, you wanted to be on "arsenio." >> this was something i heard a political analyst talking about recently. he said you were kind of -- i use the word chilling out.

correct he w he said you were pulling back a bit. >> i heard that but i never know who says it. i think it's wishful thinking on some people. >> guess who suggested to bill to do the "arsenio hall show" if you want to get a younger generation? he attracted a lot of people who weren't fans before that night. >> the '90s was a glorious moment for black television. you saw these representations that you've never seen before. ♪ >> but the premise in "the fresh prince" was this kid comes from philadelphia. ♪ in west philadelphia born and raised ♪ ♪ on the playground is where i spend most of my days ♪

>> his mom says, i'm going to send you to live with your uncle. he shows up at a mansion, cap on backwards. he don't know how to act in this environment. the black producers and writers were always playing with these exceptions of what was blackness. >> the incredible work of "the fresh prince" was 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 is officer this isn't my car. >> there's a episode where i remember where they get pulled over the car. >> he's going to tell us to get out of the car. >> you watch too much tv will. >> they have interaction with an officer that is horrible and racist in a lot of ways. ♪ >> and carlton has this epiphany

about how money isn't going to save him. >> no map is going to save you, neither is your glee club or fancy bel-air address or neither who your daddy is. when your drivering in a car in a strange neighborhood it doesn't matter, they only see one thing. >> now, don't touch that dial, we're about to flip it for you to one of thissier's most talked about tv shows. it is as they a, on another network. fox. ♪ you can do what you want to do ♪ ♪ in living color >> ladies and gentlemen, keenan ivory wayne. >> "the living color "was the first show created by, written by, starring an african-american, all the thing in one. >> this is a celebration of culture in exchange. us sort of opening the doors, allowing america to come on inside. >> yo yo yo, all you bad bargain

hunters out there, welcome to the home boy shopping network. >> a lot of what they did on "in living color" was trying to take the stereo types or misperceptions about what black men were, and turn them upside down. >> not only will you get like all of the color stations out there, you'll be able to talk directly to the astronauts. >> it brought this smart controversial comedy black folks that had never seen before, that centered around their life experiences. >> who are you? >> i am the minister lewis farrah conn. >> african-american post 25% of america's economy. >> i always get trapped in a corner by some white guy. hey, i just sow b"boy z in d ar

hood" i didn't know. >> you think your smart and cool, but if you think you gettin' a job here you're a damn fool. >> going after this underserved audience of urban minority viewers and ran with it. >> i'm a new millennial woman who will not be defined by traditional female roles, okay. >> a lot of americans built themselves up partially on african-american viewers. the african-american shows indexed lower in terms of household income. >> what. >> so, of course a decade the network started to move away from them shows. >> i don't know about you people, but i be damned if i'm gone let them destroy my

neighbor neighborhoods. >> black creators were used and abused. you made your money, built your audience on us, and now, you know, you're done. -and we welcome back gary,

who's already won three cars, two motorcycles, a boat, and an r.v. i would not want to pay that insurance bill. [ ding ] -oh, i have progressive, so i just bundled everything with my home insurance. saved me a ton of money. -love you, gary! -you don't have to buzz in. it's not a question, gary. on march 1, 1810 -- [ ding ] -frédéric chopin. -collapsing in 226 -- [ ding ] -the colossus of rhodes. -[ sighs ] louise dustmann -- [ ding ] -brahms' "lullaby," or "wiegenlied." -when will it end? [ ding ] -not today, ron.

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rated-rr rated-r. >> in 1990, '91 there was not a lot of original programming for cable, but they are airing movies. so, we needed to compete. i felt if we didn't, we were going to kind of get swept out. so, i came up with the 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, what we wouldn't show. grown ups in a room, doodling. >> then we started on the language. >> we heard some reporter called the low life -- >> the program premiered with an advertising boycott.

but it was such an immediate hit, that boycott lasted oh, four weeks. >> they could use curse words to go deeper into the actual emotional burden of being a cop. >> i'm an ass hole, i'm an asshoe, huh. >> then they had this character, he's a raging alcoholic, violent. >> i know that great african-american george washington carver discover it had peanut, but can you provide names and addresses of these friends? >> you're a racist scum bag. >> despite his flaws and prejudices, i think people identified with his pain. >> of course there was a way to say this, that won't hurt you. >> there's a famous episode where they're investigates the rape and murder of a young boy. and, they find a homeless child molester who murdered the kid.

to get the confession he has to be very sensitive and good cop. >> i know this has got to be tearing you up inside, but you're going to feel a lot better if you tell the truth. >> you can see on dennis's face this is killing him to not destroy this guy right now. finally he gets a confession, a signed statement. he walks out of the room, go into another interrogation room and break it is door with his fist. i'm choking up talking about it right now, because that's how great a in the meantime of tv it is. >> 20 years from now, the best tv dramas, what do they look like? >> i don't know. >> maybe bold r than today? >> oh, assuredly. >> the '90s gave us several shows that didn't explode in the ratings, but very influential to other people. "homicide" was one of them.

>> "homicide" life on the street was -- in its style. it used music in a way that advanced the narrative. it used future film and directors that brug a look and style to the show that stood out on television. >> tears coming out of your eyes. >> ain't no tears coming out of my eyes. >> they had so many african-american on the cast, several occasions they were the only people on camera intacting with one another. 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 mic and call it in, he stand by the body. if not, cops are no better than everybody else. >> in the '90s. characters were starting to develop and change. none of that happened on "law

and order". >> this was a show that completely differed in its time. you get a crime, you get the investigation that delivers on the crime. >> you better be packing more than a dirty mouth. >> what's the charge? i'm asking you a question, what's the charge? >> there's no charge this one's on us. >> then you had a trial. >> he's badgering you honor. >> sit down and shut up. >> overruled. and you will address the court mr. mccoy. >> tell me doctor, all those women you ran through your examination rooms, did you remember their faces or did you not even bother to look up. >> you had in law and order the kinds of character people take to heart. >> long time offer. >> and if you're an actor and you say, well, gee, maybe it's not really such a bad medium afterall. >> miranda, the supreme court's

decision, the whole thing was illegally obtained, they were both represented by counsel. >> you get hooked in. it's life and death stuff. >> we know what you did. >> counsel. >> you hear me ryan, do you hear me? >> law and order was like crack. you had to sit and watch me for 15 minutes, just like, not moving, barely breathing. there are times i almost passed out watching "law and order." >> got to get over there he need your help. >> "er" was written as a movie for steven king to direct. >> he's a cap with a 16 needle. you need a large point in case their bleeding. do you know how to star an rv? >> no.

"er" is a hop show but it's a movie. a gour any comes in, people shouting ininstructions, climbing up on the body, doing cpr, and their racing off to the surgery suite. >> get that gournny out of there. >> someone running in tossing medical garbage. >> a plural rush. >> you can try but i don't think his heart will take it. >> we can bypass directly. what do you think? >> you're the attendee. >> there's so much information coming at you, i think the experience made you feel you'd watch it the same way you watch a film. you had to stay involved the whole time. >> come on, ben, hold on buddy. hold on. >> there's a lot of research that said people didn't want to watch anybody have anything other than a happy outcome.

>> we are argued that that wasn't really showing what the world was for for phy s cian s. >> i had unbelievable amount of respect for people who did this, because i understood how human they were.

a new era of technology and competition is forcing network news operations to reexamine the way they do business. >> new owners spent billions buying the networks recently. ge buying nbc, capital cities, abc, and lowe's tissue brothers bying cbs and all of them want their money's worth. >> we'll have a stronger network, this is going to be one dynamite company. >> there is danger news will be mixed up with other -- >> to early 1980s it seince was real good -- some of the broadcasting time to public service. what 1990s journalism in the country changed a great deal. you can't talk about public

service, it was what are the ratings going to be, what are the demographics going to be, what is the profit going to be. boom. >> in a plea bargain, 18-year-old amay fisher got up to 15 years in prison for shooting the wife of her alleged lov lover. >> so intense in this case is there are three made-for-tv in the works about it. >> the story reads like one of the unsolved scripts that circumstance late here in hollywood. >> we enter into the world of the television news soap opera. >> the story of basic instincts. >> i was scared, and i just wanted him to leave me alone. >> broadcaster europeanism loses its purity and becomes more of a shoddy -- it all comes together with o.j. simpson.

>> i'm larry kennel in los angeles. the language district attorney just filed murder charges against o.j. simpson. >> i have to interrupt this call, i understand we're going to go to a live picture in los angeles. police believe that o.j. simpson is in that car. >> the o.j. simpson story starts with the chase and goes on to his arrest, and then on to the trial which goes on, and on and on. and televiced day after day after day. >> this is going to be a long trial. there's a lot of evidence to come in. >> the o.j. simpson case was such a national phenomenon. those of us that were covering it lived this case 24 hours a day because there was such a demand of people talking about it. >> as simpson slid the gloves on his hands and turned towards jurors and say they're too small, the prosecution was

incensed. >> the trial was on television during the hours that would have been traditionally been for soap oprahs. o.j. was very much a soap opera. >> i ask that you put a stop to it -- >> excuse me, >> no question that the best tv show of the '90s was the o.j. simpson trial, and everybody on it was riveting. >> the simpson trial finally winding to a close. >> we the jury in the above entitled action find orenthal james simpson not guilty of the crime of murder. in violation of penal code section 187-a -- >> the verdict of the o.j. simpson trial viewed by 150 million people. it's more people than watch presidential election returns. that's crazy. >> because there was trial footage every day, cnn saw its audience increase like five times.

the success of cnn was not lost on other people. and so there were competing forces coming into play. >> how delighted i am we have now reached this moment when we can firmly announce the starting of a fox news channel. >> unfortunately, with cable news and the ability -- or the need to be on the air 24/7, where you try to get as many eyeballs as possible at one time, to gravitate toward those stories that are sensational, it brought us the ability to go too far. >> is the jonbenet ramsey murder investigation turning into a media circus? >> yes, it's tabloid. but on the other hand it's a tabloid era. here's the point. here's where the fear comes into it, i think, larry. it's the fear that says, gosh, if we don't cover it big time, our competition is. when they cover it big time, they'll get a big jump in the ratings. the first thing is to last, to last and survive, we've got to do it.

>> what you also see is 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. take out his refineries, his stations, his wells. >> they don't have any capability. >> they're certainly selling a lot of oil -- >> no, they're not -- >> the networks were doing good journalism but they became much more preoccupied by profits. it's much cheaper to have someone in your studio pontificating 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 went down, opened his basement room, which the fbi had bypassed. >> every single sentence on cnn, perhaps, on cnbc, on fox, on msnbc, begins with the words "i think" but after a while people get confused by what is speculation, by what is innuendo, by what is fact.

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>> there are more choices than ever before. it's a tough job. you have to try and get a sense of what is the audience going to really make an attachment to. >> in the '90s, cable was coming on strong. so we had to examine, who are we going to be? well, we wanted to be smart, sophisticated comedy. >> six months ago i was living in boston. my wife had left me, which was very painful. then she came back to me. which was excruciating. >> i thought frasier was dead with "cheers." but we thought, we got a built-in audience, and great potential to build out the character to another place. ♪ >> "frasier" was kind 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 coiled within a damp cave. okay, that's it. >> we always assumed the audience was smarter than most other people did. and we played to that. >> just unschooled like liza doolittle. henry higgins. she'll be ready for a ball in no time. >> leave it to you to put the pig back in pygmalion. >> kelsey grammer played pomposity like nobody you've ever seen and got huge laughs. >> don't consider a move until my fingers have completely cleared the piece. >> what's taking so long? >> but i am analyzing my options. unlike your wing-it approach i like to plan a strategy, like a general leading his troops into battle. >> checkmate, schwarzkopf. >> i think "frasier" stands as the single most successful

spinoff, at least in the history of sitcoms. >> and the emmy goes to "frasier." >> "frasier." >> "frasier." >> we were lightning hot and it was critical for us to be leading the way, not just following. ♪ >> "friends" is about that time in your life when your friends are your family. >> ow! >> when 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 went everywhere 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" permeated the culture in a way that was really special. everybody was obsessed with the show. and it became like which one of these characters are you? if you were a girl, were you phoebe, monica, or rachel? >> i got to tell you this really does put me in a better mood. >> the kids who were watching, the young audience, saw a lifestyle that was aspirational. i wish i had an apartment in new york city that no one seems to be worried about the rent for. i wish that i looked like matt leblanc. i wish that i had jennifer aniston's hair. one of the things that made "friends" a phenomenon is people beyond the laughs actually bonded with these characters. they emotionally were invested in ross and rachel's relationship. >> i could not have done this without you.

>> okay. more clothes in the dryer? >> i was dropping my daughter off for sunday school at our temple, and literally my rabbi stopped me and said, what's going to happen with ross and rachel? >> you look pretty tonight. >> oh, thanks. >> the one with the prom video is one of my favorites. >> you guys, we don't have to watch this. >> yeah, we do. >> come on. come on. >> 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 tux. >> dad, she won't want to go with me. >> she's learning something new and he thinks, oh, god, please don't let her see this. please don't let her see this. >> rachel, ready or not, here comes your knight in shining --

oh, no. >> bye! >> chip! >> oh, dear. >> 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 crossed the room, i still kind of get chills from it. when she crossed the room and gave him that kiss -- [ cheers and applause ] >> -- the audience went insane. >> at the height of must-see tv, thursday nights on nbc, 75 million americans watched thursday night. that was at the time one-third of the country. >> ooh! what is this stuff? >> the sweater is 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. >> you do not need this. >> it's the top of our wedding cake. >> we're not -- it's not a scrapbook, it's a freezer. >> no! >> we were all kind of part of this chapter in television where we realized we were in the right place at the right time. >> let's see how you like this, naughty boy. >> we certainly associate nbc of the '90s of having extremely successful sitcoms but they weren't the only network 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 the cake. >> it was not sophisticated television.

but these were shows that people adored. [ laughing and snorting ] >> cbs. >> cbs was in a really bad spot. they had just fallen apart over the early part of the '90s and had gone through a couple different network executives. >> but then suddenly they had this hit with an unknown comic. this was the year of seinfeld, no hugging, no learning, and this was a show being made as if it was produced in the era of the dick van dyke show. >> i love you. >> there was hugging. there was learning. >> i love you, son. >> all right, 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. >> and did you know you sent me a box of pears from a place called fruit of the month. >> that's right. that's right. how are they? >> and my mother reacted as if i had sent her a box of heads from a murderer. >> why did you do this to me? >> oh, my gosh. >> i can't talk. there's too much fruit in the house! >> oh! what is happening? >> what do you think we are, invalids? we can't go out and get our own fruit? >> i tried to tell him. >> all right. i'm cancelling the fruit club. >> the real story is where the real connection with your audience is. thank god, all your families are crazy, too. >> looks like you got the whole family together. >> yeah, yeah, it's dysfunction palooza.

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and now, ladies and gentlemen, here's johnny! [ cheers and applause ] ♪ >> johnny carson wasn't just the host of "the tonight show." johnny carson was the man that america said good night to for 30 years. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ >> and on my watch, johnny decided that 30 years was a great time to take a bow and say thank you and good night. >> 30 years is enough.

it's a good time to get out while you're still on top of your game plan. >> johnny carson retiring in the early '90s was the great moment where a huge chunk of the ice shelf breaks off. something that has been there for centuries, for thousands of years, suddenly is no longer there. >> a tremendous part of history. and that's lovely to have made your mark on an era like that. >> johnny had told no one what he had planned to do, and we weren't prepared. and that set off a game of musical chairs for who would get the throne, and there only was one late-night throne. >> hi, you guys! >> jay leno had been pretty much carson's regular substitute host when he went on vacation. >> you know what's amazing, only six months ago people were talking about donald trump as a presidential candidate. right? that's true. since then he's had an affair, left his wife, run up debt of several million dollars so i guess he's going to be running as a democrat, huh?

>> jay leno wanted to essentially just continue doing a johnny carson-type show. and david letterman was the show immediately following carson. and they had different styles. >> what is your name? >> i'm going to ask you to turn the cameras off, please. >> okay, we just wanted to drop off this basket of fruit -- >> part of dave's thing was attacking authority, he liked that. >> he needed a corporate bad guy to go up against. i was oftentimes that target. >> i can hear this warren littlefield guy whining all year long about not getting his name on the card last year. >> he's on it. >> look, what about me? i could be on there, couldn't i? >> it was always letterman's dream to be the host of "the tonight show." he idolized johnny carson, rightfully so. >> the big decision that's had the entertainment industry buzzing is due this week. that of course is the fate of nbc's "late night" stars jay leno and david letterman.

>> most of us thought the person who deserved to get it was david letterman. he didn't get it. jay leno got it. >> leno, who earlier rode his motorcycle into a news conference hosted by nbc entertainment president warren littlefield, still has a bruised ego about the way the network wavered in its support for him. >> when we found out leno was going to get "the tonight show," we were all obviously depressed. we felt like we were being punished for making fun of them and not cooperating and not 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? [ laughter and applause ] >> by all rights, david letterman should have taken over 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 wall. >> i can only tell you it's been an honor and a privilege to come into your homes all these years and entertain you. and i hope when i find something i want to do and i think you will like and come back, that you will be as gracious inviting me into your home as you have been. i bid you a very heartfelt good night. >> "the tonight show" without johnny carson as the regular host made its debut last night. jay leno emerged from behind the curtain, stepping into the big shoes that were filled for 30 years by johnny. >> cbs came to us and made a very attractive offer. >> here we go, number ten. head cbs, tails cbs. number nine -- >> letterman did place a call to johnny carson asking for his advice and johnny said, if it was me, i would leave. and i think that advice was really the linchpin.

letterman always took johnny's advice. >> the late-night wars are about to begin in earnest on american television. david letterman is now headed for cbs. >> cbs had lured him over with a salary more than four times that of leno and given him what he really wanted, the 11:30 time slot. now, as dave and jay prepare to go head to head, one thing is clear -- late-night tv will never be quite the same. >> all of a sudden, there's a talk show war. >> start up your remote controls. the late-night race is about to begin. >> on monday, david letterman's new show debuts here on cbs. followed a week later by chevy chase on fox and a week after that by conan o'brien on nbc. these combatants join "the tonight show" with jay leno, arsenio, and "nightline." >> it became a crowded space and the competition became that much more difficult. >> in the third corner, his

ratings fading rapidly, arsenio hall. some tv writers think arsenio could be the big loser in this free-for-all. >> when letterman came in, it essentially diluted arsenio's brand because there were so many alternatives. >> i'm sad to see you go because america is going to have a big chunk missing out of its existence. >> 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 came out gangbusters and he was beating jay leno in the ratings. >> there's some people who say, you blew it, that by picking leno to replace carson over letterman, that that was a big programming mistake. >> it was a shaky start. a really, really shaky first

season start. >> it's true confessions time for actor hugh grant who is trying hard to put his recent encounter with a hollywood prostitute behind him. >> when hugh grant was arrested, it was big, live action news and hugh grant was supposed to do "the tonight show" that night. >> what the hell were you thinking? [ rim shot ] [ cheers and applause ] >> it all came together in that moment and everyone saw it and that's it. we were never number two again. >> hey, hey! >> for us it was the fun experience. we got our own theater, an unlimited budget, we've got access to every star in the business who wants to do the show. >> somebody bring me the jaws of life! >> so, i think going to cbs was heaven-sent. it really was. >> good night, everybody!

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very surreal, high-concept humor to it. this is the beginning of the splintering of the television audience and splintering of the family audience, really, because with families having three or four tvs in the house you had a kid watching nickelodeon, the dad watching espn sports, the mom watching lifetime. you know, they were in their own separate universes watching television. by the time of the '90s, mtv wasn't merely a music channel. they were having great success in terms of creating shows that incorporated music but that also were shows and programs that stood on their own. >> yes! >> that was cool! >> "beavis and butthead" established what mtv could be because the shows were about making fun of music videos just like people in the audience were doing. >> whoa, check out his neck. >> yeah.

there's like all these bones and stitches moving around. >> yeah. >> my manager would call me, like, hey, you got this big bump because you were on "beavis and butthead" last night. >> i sit there like a doughnut watching these guys. and i find them endlessly entertaining because i know and you know and the world knows, these guys are, always will be, and cannot be anything but idiots. >> that's right. >> mtv has a detrimental, damaging, developmental effect on the sexuality, on the morality, on the spirituality, maybe even the physical development of our young people. ♪ >> now we hit the '90s and once you can go for an audience of 5 million and have a successful show, you can say, i don't care if the parents don't like this. >> can i tell you something, miss ellen? >> of course, wendy.

>> don't [ bleep ] with me! >> what? >> you heard me. stay away from my man, bitch, or i'll whoop your sorry little ass back to last year! >> trey parker and matt stone were two of the funniest people i ever met. and their success story is proof that if you just stay true to yourself, you don't have to do anything else. >> people think, oh, you came and did the show and now you're big sellouts. the truth is, we were sellouts to begin with. >> perhaps there is no stopping the corporate machine. >> i mean, we were sleeping at friends' houses, had no money, and then one fox executive had seen a cartoon we had made in college and he said, make me another christmas video i can send out as a christmas card. he gave us like 700 bucks. we went and made this five-minute short. >> i come seeking retribution. >> he's come to kill you because you're jewish, kyle. >> oh [ bleep ]. >> it went around the tv community like wildfire.

>> i mean, it -- it was the funniest thing you'd ever seen in your life. >> go, santa! >> somebody showed me the short. >> go, jesus! >> i thought it was hysterical. i called and said, get them in here right away. >> oh, my god! they killed kenny. you bastards! >> "south park" was able to be topical. >> "south park" really, really detests hypocrites. >> christians and republicans and nazis, oh, my! >> well, okay, mrs. cartman, i'll legalize 40th trimester abortions for you. >> could you imagine back then that these people would ever get on network television or any kind of television? >> it's a miracle. "south park" is a miracle.

>> the early '90s, the hbo shows start to kind of come into their own. >> and then have i always had these breasts? >> a lot of people want freedom. they don't want to go back to the networks, which are saying you can come to us where you'll make more money but you'll also have content restricted. you could go to cable and have no restrictions. not make as much money but have freedom of expression, which almost everybody who works in these mediums wants. >> some of the content truly was, you can't get this anywhere else. >> you're a fantasy maker, the only limit on the kinds of fantasies is people's imagination. >> hbo turned to people who said, i can't do that on television, but you can do it on hbo. >> white people don't trust black people. that's why they won't vote for no black president. like a black brother will [ bleep ] up the white house.

like the grass won't be cut. dishes piled up. cousins running through the white house. cookouts. basketball going in the back. >> in the late '80s hbo was just sort of gaining ground for series. >> by the '90s hbo had started to begin its explosion. >> when we started doing "dream on," one of the things hbo said to us was, it's got to be something that couldn't be on network tv. ♪ >> because hbo 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've watched letterman, you've watched leno, but what about larry? larry sanders, that is. he's the tv alter ego of comedian garry shandling. >> garry shandling wanted to do a show that deconstructed the

kind of show "the tonight show" was. >> just pretend like you're talking to me till we're off the air so it won't seem weird. >> okay. blah, blah, blah, blah. >> "the larry sanders show" was sort of cathartic. because in the world of "the larry sanders show," there was a network. >> you want me to [ bleep ] your budget? is that what you want me to do? >> so it became this weird funhouse mirror thing, where you could use stuff from your misery, your career, as fodder. >> 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, aside from being a brilliant television show -- >> can you say, hey now. >> hey now. >> it was my everyday life. >> i'm here for three good reasons. last show. big ratings. movie coming out. bim, bam, boom. >> "the larry sanders show" was very unique in that it was very

deadpan. and really groundbreaking in its day. >> i think it made people really go, that's the level of work you may be able to do on a cable network. >> please, do not flip around. come right back. >> hey now! oh, you sound good. i am all about living joyfully.

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in the '90s you suddenly had shows that were aiming at a young audience. one of the things that really made "90210" stand out is it was one of the first dramas to really get into the teenager's point of view. >> do you have protection? >> of course. it's always been my problem. lots of protection but nothing to protect. >> i wanted to do a tv series that was going to be relevant to teenagers. and it's not about the parents solving the kids' problems. it's about the kids basically solving their own problems. >> what are we supposed to do,

sit him down and have a kid-to-parent talk. >> no, you can't talk to parents on that mature level. tragic but true. >> if the '60s had beatlemania, the '90s had "90210" mania. when tv guide had its "youth-quake" cover, that was a sign that suddenly television was focused on these young people. ♪ "my so-called life" was the punk rock version of "90210." it was earnest but not at all saccharine. it didn't have easy answers. it showed teen heartbreak in a way that was staggeringly real for the time. >> you like this. >> like what? >> like how you are. >> hey, jordan, you coming or not? >> how am i? how am i? >> "my so-called life" was your actual life.

and the idea that everyone in high school is a misfit, that you have this deep insecurity about who you're supposed to be. >> you know how sometimes the last sentence you said like echoes in your brain? and it keeps just sounding stupider? and you have to say something else just to make it stop. >> oh, i just remembered. i owe you $30. >> "my so-called life" was not necessarily the show the cheerleader or captain of the football team were watching. they were still watching "90210". but it was the people who maybe didn't recognize themselves in "90210" who felt like, aha, now i recognize myself in "my so-called life." >> demarco asked me if you were getting a sex change. >> exactly. i don't want to be a girl. i just want to hang with girls. >> ricky was out on the show eventually, and that was a storyline treated with great sensitivity. >> and i belong nowhere. with no one. and i don't fit.

>> i mean, it was -- it was so deeply felt. it was saying to the viewer, things that you have gone through, they matter. >> "buffy the vampire slayer" depicted high school in a similar way to "my so-called life" except rather than just feeling like hell, it actually was hell. her high school was literally built on top of hell. and so all of these creatures would come up that she would have to fight. >> three in one night. >> it was a brilliant metaphor for adolescence 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 storylines that was very popular and much talked about was where she has sex with her boyfriend for the first time, and then in sort of the world of buffy, he becomes literally evil. >> there must be part of you

inside that still remembers who you are. >> dream on, schoolgirl. >> in order to save the world, literally, she knows she has to send him to hell. >> buffy knows in an instant that angel has become good again. >> buffy! >> so she has this moment of reckoning that she has to decide whether to do this or not, and she makes the sacrifice to push him back into hell. >> the show was really working on multiple levels. in buffy in particular, we saw a character that was a reluctant protagonist. forced to make tough decisions. >> there was a kind of opening of the floodgates in the '90s for women. the idea of being an ideal, i think, was kind of smashed through a lot of the characters on television.

>> look, if you're a successful saleswoman in this city, you have two choices. you can bang your head against a wall and try to find a relationship or you can say screw it and just go out and have sex like a man. >> "sex and the city" was a huge success right from the start. it was very funny, very clever, and very candid. >> are relationships the religion of the '90s? >> these are women who are making a good living, they were independent, they were single, and they were sort of feeling their power. >> i said all of them. bad waiter, bad waiter. >> what do you tip for that? >> i wanted these women to be objectifying men in the way men had always objectified women. >> all right. my turn. >> sorry, i have to go back to work. >> you didn't used to be able to discuss sex as sex. network shows, there never were people talking about orgasms or organs or sex. >> okay, words are essential.

tell me exactly how he worded it. >> we've been seeing each other for a couple of weeks, i really like you, and tomorrow night after dinner i want us to have anal sex. >> these are women who shared everything with each other and they're discussing what anal sex means. >> it goes up there, there's going to be a shift in power. either he'll have the upper hand or you will. >> and should she do this or not? >> this is a physical expression that the body -- well, it was designed to experience. and p.s., it's fabulous. >> what are you talking about? i went to smith. >> the show took an interesting turn by really focusing on the relationship between the women and telling the story of them as really soul mates together as well. >> you did the right thing buying that apartment. you love it, right? >> yeah. >> and you won't be alone forever. >> historically women are often set up in narratives in which only one can succeed. and so showing women not competing with each other and as

supporting each other was also an important narrative change. >> okay, girls, see you tomorrow. >> okay. >> night-night. >> the show had a message of freedom and liberation especially for women that really resonated. i think "sex and the city" helped make hbo a place for people to think, i wonder what they'll be doing next. sometimes a day at the ballpark is more than just a day at the ballpark. [park announcer] all military members stand and be recognized. sometimes fans cheer for those who wear a different uniform. no matter where or when you served, t-mobile stands ready to serve you. that's why we're providing half off family lines to all military.

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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 like a mix between "the big chill" and "the breakfast club." >> but ultimately decided the idea of a show with writers and actors would be too expensive for them. >> the real world, that's what this was supposed to be. >> so we essentially applied all the drama rules to documentary to get our, what we called at that time, a docusoap. >> this is the true story. >> true story. >> of seven strangers -- >> it was kind of a social experiment to watch what happens when you put these strangers together in a house. when people stop being polite and start getting real. >> do you sell drugs? why do you have a beeper? >> you hadn't seen anything like that on television, that kind of open, honest discussion of race. >> i can try as much as i can to try to deal with you, but ignorance is ignorance. stupidity is stupidity. and that's it. black white, green, purple, blue, whatever. >> "the real world" becomes this

big bang moment for reality tv. the idea is that, oh, my god, all we have to do is take cameras and put them on people and we'll get great stuff. you had in the next season in l.a. a young woman who gets an abortion, and the camera literally goes right up to the doctor's door. >> give me a hug. >> by the third season in san francisco you have a young man who is dealing with a.i.d.s. >> i'm hiv positive. >> when he told me he was hiv positive, it was just like -- no, not him. i like this guy and i don't want him to have to suffer. >> it was such a triumph that pedro had the courage at his age to come out as someone with a.i.d.s. in my small gay community on campus, we all felt like, wow, he was our hero. >> he falls in love. and he and his partner, shawn, have a ceremony. you know, this is long before same-sex marriage was legal. the tv shows weren't doing this. movies weren't doing this. >> i have to believe that all the pain that i'm going through,

that all the anger, all the frustration, that there's something bigger than that. >> a.i.d.s. has claimed a young man who made an enormous impact on a generation of young americans. pedro zamora died in miami today at the age of 22. >> i'm really glad i got to know pedro zamora. i'm grateful that his rich and fulfilling work is still remembered today. and i hope you enjoy and learn from pedro's life of compassion and fearlessness. >> you have to credit "the real world" with sort of helping the acceptance of the lgbt community. because there weren't many portrayals of gay people period on television 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.

>> so you want to go look at apartments tomorrow? >> great idea! >> ellen degeneres, the comedian, was about to come out. as a lesbian. and she does it on "time" magazine. yup, i'm gay. but they decide that the character ellen plays on tv will also come out. >> it is just reprehensible that abc, now owned by disney of all companies, is going to feature ellen as coming out of the closet. it won't be long before god knows what, you know. bestiality, incest, who knows. >> we were getting bomb threats. disney was really getting a lot of flack for even thinking about having a coming-out episode with ellen. >> i'm 35 years old. i'm so afraid to tell people. i mean, i just -- susan, 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. >> that felt great. that felt so great. >> initial report suggests abc made a bundle on ellen's highly publicized outing on national tv last night. the broadcast was accompanied by coming-out parties all around the country, including one in birmingham, alabama, where the local abc station refused to broadcast the show. >> she did a great thing. she was brave. >> i made the decision that i wasn't going to live my life as a lie anymore. i was -- 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 love my mister

♪ tell me lazy tell me so ♪ tell me i'm crazy maybe i know ♪ ♪ can't help loving that man of mine ♪ >> take it, jack! >> and pas de bouree, pas de bouree, i'm gay! >> "will & grace" was a great show in sort of helping a mainstream straight community connect to the gay community. >> i think i can fix this thing with your landlord but might get a little ugly. >> play hardball, baby. throw low and inside. he's crowding the plate and we've got to -- >> grace, sports, you're losing me. >> i figured 25% of the country wouldn't watch the show just based on the fact that we had two gay men on it. >> give it to me! >> but if we could make believe that will and grace would get together. >> will, i told you, you live with a hetero long enough, you're going to catch it. >> maybe we could get people to

watch thinking that would happen, knowing it would never happen. >> suffering sappho! >> you know, 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? and the creators were like, well, that's weird, he's gay. gay people don't do that. that's why they're gay. >> why wasn't i your girlfriend, queer bait? >> "will and grace" was the first time you saw characters on television that made gay normal. you wanted to be friends with them. >> guess what we are. >> a catholic girl gone bad -- and, karen, what are you supposed to be? >> the best feeling i get is when people come up and say, thank you for all you do for the gay community, and thank you for playing that part in that show. and you feel so fortunate to

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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 mcneil 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've got to tell you something, toby. you're hot when you're like this. >> '90s television was the first wave of what we now have, remarkably specific niche programming.

♪ >> "freaks and geeks" really sympathized with the losers and had great empathy for its characters. ♪ because you don't see that i got something going 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 got 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. >> "oz" comes on in '97. and it's set in this fictional penitentiary. wow. what a strange show that was. >> in "oz," sometimes the things you can't touch are more real than the things you can. for instance, here, hatred, fear, 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" just is one of those shows that was a benchmark change. 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 -- >> what the [ bleep ] you doing? what the [ bleep ] you doing? >> and a behavior that promoted all the feelings that you would have for a guy that you love 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. >> oh, come on. he's like a father to me. >> just make sure nothing 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. >> the '90s is a mixed decade of tv. 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.

>> started focusing on teenagers in a more realistic way. >> things changed us. evolved. >> what are you talking about? >> had you thinking a little 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? >> hey, hey, they're running. see? this is the brilliance of the

show. i say always keep them running. all the time running, run. run. run, yasmine, run like the wind. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com in the 90s we're going to revolutionize human communication using these desktop computers. >> you've got mail. >> what is the worldwide web? >> in the world of computers it's kill or be killed. >> please welcome bill gates. >> do you agree or disagree that you have a monopoly? >> check out windows 95. >> this is imac. >> it's a technological revolution that's changing the way we do everything from making friends to falling in love. >> when the new millennium arrives so will a technological tidal wave. ♪