there is a lot of things we do that you couldn't have on network television. people are trying to do something adventuring. >> those that are good stand out. >> cool.

♪ they know when it hits the bottom that it will be 1990. good bye to the '80s. >> we were starting to see a lot of experimentation.

the simpsons i think was inspired not necessarily a hatred of television but a distropical storm in a lot of the ways in which it was talking to us. >> it laughed with me, not at me. >> i think the sitcoms of the '80s were such a sort of 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 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 a lot 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. >> 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 even bothered to learn themselves the language. >> yeah, those are exactly my sentimonies. >> i think one of the governing 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 sense that we 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 county 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. ♪ >> 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 as the series 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 to see very much of it. >> what do you think of that which you do see? >> 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 different. >> no more schools, no more asin plexes. >> you can sense trying to see how they could do things different than they have done five or ten years ago. sometimes that led to really challenging network television that was cool and fun to watch. sometimes it just 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 his idea was 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. 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'm creatively proud of it still. i'm very glad we tried it. i don't think i will want to do it again.

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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 the language. >> 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 and the curse words to go deeper into the actual emotional burden of being a cop. >> i'm an asshole.

>> 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 his flaws, despite his 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 truth. >> you can sort of see on dennis franz's face this is 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. >> will they be 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 other people making television. "homicide" is one of them. ♪ shell me with questions all night ♪ ♪ i'm living in a danger zone >> "homicide: life on the street" was really innovative in terms of its 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 mic and calls it in. he stands by the body. if not, cops 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 & order." >> this was a show that completely delivered on its formula every time. you get a crime, you got the investigation into the crime. >> you better be packing more than a dirty mouth. >> you got an arrest. >> what's the charge?

hey, 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, your honor. >> sit down and shut up. >> overruled. you will address the court from now on, mr. mccoy. >> so 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 & order" the kind of characters people take to heart. >> i'll let you take me to lunch. one-time offer. >> and if you're an 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. >> you just get hooked in. it's life and death and stuff. >> we know what you did. >> counsel. >> you hear me? >> do you hear me? >> look at me!

>> "law & 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 & order." >> i need your help. >> "e.r." 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're bleeding. do you know how to start an i.v.? >> actually, no. >> "e.r." is a hospital show, but it's really an action movie. >> three walking wounded. red urgent, yellow critical and black a gurney. >> got it. >> 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 lavage. i think i know what that is now, but only because i watched a lot of "e.r." over the years. >> you try. >> we can bypass him. >> that would be the fastest way. 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 in it 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 flat line, it's defib. another line of epi. >> we argued that wasn't really showing what the world was for physicians.

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>> can you sing the theme song from "cheers"? ♪ making your way in the world today ♪ >> come on, i know. it's cute. just sing it. ♪ 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 sip. 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. >> 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 need to 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.

how big of a loss was this for nbc? >> out of the sad, sad sorrow and being scared to death that i would quickly lose my job i was like what are we going to do? >> in the 90s cable was coming on strong. we had to examine who we are going to be. 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 grammar played pom positive 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." >> 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 >> 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 so 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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ge buying nbc, capital cities abc and low's buying cbs and all want their moneys worth. >> we will have a stronger defense piece. this will 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 to public service. 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 15 years in prison for shooting the wife of her alleged lover. >> so intense is the interest in it this case there are three, 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 circulates here in hollywood. >> we enter into the television news soap opera. >> a story of basic instincts, anger and fear. >> i was scared and i just wanted him to leave me alone. >> and so, broadcast journalism loses its purity and becomes much more shoddy and sensationalistic. and then it all comes together with o.j. simpson. >> i'm larry carrol in los angeles. the los angeles district attorney has 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 then goes on to his arrest and then culminates with the trial, which goes on and on and on and is televised 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 that those of us who were covering it just 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 to his hands and turned to a juror saying "they're too small," prosecutors were incensed. >> the trial was on television during the hours that had traditionally been the time for soap operas. >> he appears to have pulled the

gloves on, counsel. >> and o.j. was very much a soap opera. >> impeached by his own witness. >> i ask you to put a stop to it. >> excuse me, mr. bailey. will you stand up and speak when it's your turn. >> 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. and as far as the viewer is concerned, be very, very careful

of unsubstantiated information presented with great hype. ♪

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in the mid-1990s if you took a look at the list of the 50 most-watched shows on cable, at the top would be nickelodeon. "rug rats," "blues clues." >> don't you know cartoons will ruin your mind? >> "ren and stimpy" had some 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! >> huh huh huh!

huh huh huh! huh huh huh! 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 >> 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. 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. ♪

>> that was shocking even for us as writers who created it. we're like, oh, my god, really? >> what do you want, baby? >> 911! >> i've never done that. >> call 911! ahh, a h...and a half.... but they can relax. they got an unbeatable price on a suite. with an extra bed. no one looks out for you, like travelocity. with price match guarantee, you'll always wander wisely. gives skin the moisture it needs and keeps it there longer with lock-in moisture technology skin is petal smooth after all, a cleanser's just a cleanser unless it's olay.

>> 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. >> "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, fear, hate red, 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. >> because of that quality, actors felt there was no longer a comedown to go on television.

audiences looked to television for what they had only found before in feature film. >> what have i ever done to you except deliver the south? >> you shouldn't have made me beg. >> network dramas became very innovative. they were making a new mark. >> once we started making the kinds of shows that we were making in the '90s, you couldn't shut the door on them. >> get me out. >> some of my favorite shows of all time aired in that decade. 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. >> damn it! you know, i think if parents would spend less time worrying about what their kids watched on tv and more on what was going on in their kids' lives, they would be in a better place.

television on! >> while it's tempting to play it safe, the more we're willing to risk, the more alive we are. in the end, what we regret most are the chances we never took. >> advertising is based on one thing. happiness. >> is there any taboo that you wouldn't break? >> not if there was a funny idea. >> what is wrong with you? >> clear eyes, full heart. >> the drama of every episode comes first. >> i don't think dramatic series

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