don't touch that dial. we're to be flip it for you. >> in five, four, three, two. >> tv is changing dramatically now with 150 channels that might be available in the near future. >> is a lot of things that we do that you couldn't have on network television. >> people are really trying to do something adventurous. >> shame on you! >> this is more celebration of culture and opening the doors and allowing america to come on inside. >> there is always something on television and some of it may be better than we deserve. >> that was cool. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ >> they know when it hits the bottom, it'll be 1990. good-bye to the '80s in -- >> ten, nine, eight, eight, eight, eight! >> oh, will this horrible year never end? >> when the '90s began, we started to see a lot of experimentation.

and "the simpsons" i think in some senses was inspired by not necessarily hatred of television, but a distrust of a lot of the ways in which television was talking to us. >> tv respects me. it laughs with me. not at me. >> you're stupid. >> doh! >> i think the sitcoms of the '80s were such a warm, safe, humor. >> i love you guys. >> the kids, they listen to the rap music which gives them the brain damage. >> and i think there was a real yearning for another type of humor. ♪ >> we were able to spoof fatherhood -- >> what a bad father. >> -- which at the time, and i stress at the time, was bill cosby as the shining example.

♪ did you ever know that you're my hero ♪ >> the stuff they got away with because it's a cartoon. the father strangling the child. >> why you little -- >> we are going to keep on trying to strengthen the american family to make american families a lot more like the waltons and less like the simpsons. >> we go to a completely bizarre period of time in 1992 when a sitting president is raging against a sitcom. >> they have dealt with politics. they have dealt with popular culture. they've dealt with all kinds of issues of racism, of sexism. >> don't ask me, i'm just a girl. >> right on, say it, sister. >> it's not funny, bart. millions of girls will grow up thinking this is the right way to act. >> they have found a way to talk about everything that's going on in our lives through the filter

of "the simpsons." >> them immigrants. they want all the benefits to living in springfield, but they ain't bothered to learn themselves the language. >> yeah, those are exactly my sentimonies. >> i think one of the 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 fact 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 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 that will change tv. it's directed by david lynch. >> david lynch was a filmmaker known for his taste in the eccentric and memorable. the idea that he would do television in the '90s was crazy. >> do you watch much of it? >> i like the idea of television, but i'm too busy too see very much of it. >> what do you think of that which you do see? >> 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. >> what was interesting about "northern exposure" it was an odd sort of universe that this guy was dropped into. >> the day's coming. it ain't going to be long when you ain't going to have to leave your living room. no more schools, no more tabernacles. no more cineplexes, all right? you're going to snuggle up to your fiberoptics and bliss out. >> you also had experimentation that set the stage for a lot of what came later. >> it's kind of hard to pin down what exactly "the x files" is. i mean, on the surface, it's a show about investigating paranormal activities. >> unidentified flying objects. i think that fits the description pretty well.

tell me i'm crazy. >> moulder, you're crazy. >> that dynamic, that dramatic tension of believer versus skeptic is one of the engines of the show. you were always seeing it from a specific is point of view. >> they're equals? >> yeah, absolutely. they are equals in a way they have kind of switched gender stereotypes because the character i play, mulder is the intuitive one. and scully is the rationalist, the doctor. >> a lot of folks who enjoyed "the x files" who otherwise didn't watch tv might have been drawn to the show by its, for lack of a better way to put it, stick it to the man ethos. don't trust the government or big business or anybody but yourself friends and family, i

guess. it's a message that's somewhat dark and cynical, but was kind of a breath of fresh air in the early '90s. >> the '90s was a time of conspiracies. and the internet was starting to spread beyond just like hard-core computer users. so you could have message boards and use net news groups. and everybody wanted to talk about the black oil and the bees and mulder's sister and what the cigarette smoking man was up to. and people were so nuts for this show. >> it's just pure science fiction. that's probably what i like most about it. >> it changed the way people watched television. >> you could sense the successful creators trying to see how they could do things different five or ten years ago. sometimes that led to really challenging network television that was cool and fun to watch. and sometimes it seemed to fall off the edge a little bit. ♪ let's be careful out there >> at the time, steven bochco was a very successful producer

of hour dramas and wanted to try something brand-new. >> we're the police! we have a warrant for your arrest. >> so 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 will give credit to anybody who goes outside the box and swings really hard for the fences. ♪ i worked real hard and i got my education ♪ >> i'm creatively proud of it. still. i'm very glad we tried it. i don't think i want to do it again. generation x, the 20 something's, boomerangers, whatever the 46 million young souls are called are turning out to be hard sell. ♪ whoa! the mercedes-benz winter event is back and you won't want to stop for anything else. [ barks ] ho! lease the c 300 sport sedan for $399 a month

at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. hey, guys, get something for nana. brian! thomas! yeah. hey! hey, uh, quick question. do you like paying for things you don't need? no. and do you want to get things you love for free? who wouldn't? exactly! right. that's why verizon decided that everyone in the family should get the unlimited they want, without paying for things they don't. and why it now comes with six months free apple music. dad, apple music. he gets it. this guy gets it. (vo) this holiday, get the gift you want, the music you love, on the network you deserve. now, buy one google pixel 3 and get one free. so shark invented duo clean. while deep cleaning carpets, the added soft brush roll picks up large particles, gives floors a polished look, and fearlessly devours piles. duo clean technology, corded and cord-free. hi. maria ramirez!

mom! maria! maria ramirez... mcdonald's is committing 150 million dollars in tuition assistance, education, and career advising programs... prof: maria ramirez mom and dad: maria ramirez!!! to help more employees achieve their dreams. mom and dad: maria ramirez!!! this is my paris, follow me. ♪ mon paris. the feminine fragrance. yves saint laurent i've slain your dreaded dragon. for saving the kingdom what doth thou desire? my lord? hey good knight. where are you going?

♪ ♪ climbing up on solsbury hill ♪ grab your things, salutations. coffee that is a cup above is always worth the quest. nespresso. tis all i desire. did thou bring enough for the whole kingdom? george: nespresso, what else? ♪♪ i'm 85 and i wanna lifego home ♪savannah ♪ [ding] [boxing bell ding] [applause]

>> in the '90s, what we realized is advertisers would pay premiums for college educated young adults 18 to 49. we started reinventing nbc and trying to speak to that audience. >> where is someone? i'm starving. >> this is him right here. >> is there a table ready? >> the chinese restaurant was one of the very, very early episodes of "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 said we're committing to four episodes. >> yes, yeah, right. four episodes. >> normally it's 13 or eight or something. >> yes, at least. >> we really didn't think they had too much confidence in the show. >> we didn't think it would work, but we thought they had to go through their process and they would learn and ultimately they knew better than we did. >> my mother caught me. >> caught you? doing what? >> you know. i was alone. >> the turning point for "seinfeld" from like nice show that all of the cool people kind of know about but that's it to massive hit was an episode called "the contest" where they tried to abstain from self-pleasure for as long as possible. >> 6:30, time for your bath. >> george, i'm hungry.

>> hang on, ma. hang on. >> once you do 30 minutes on masturbation, you can pretty much get away with anything. >> i guess you'll be going back to that hospital. >> my mother, jerry. >> but are you still master of your domain? >> i am king of the county. >> the week after that aired, people were talking about that in the workplace the entire week. they still are talking about it. 52 seconds and two of the greatest words in sitcom history. >> i'm out. >> one of the shorthand descriptions of "seinfeld" is no hugs, no lessons. let's push it a little further than it's ever been pushed before. >> i think the big breakthrough of "seinfeld" was that the characters were not nice people. >> shut up, you old cow!

>> they were narcissistic. >> help! >> they would screw each other at the drop of a hat. >> he's just a dentist. >> and you're an anti-dentite. >> and yet be best friends the next week. >> you don't have to love them. we just have to laugh at them. >> i'm really sorry. >> i was in the pool. i was in the pool. >> the idea of a character with darker tendencies, that was so taboo in television comedy. >> are you about done? >> i'm just getting warmed up. >> we're in the confines of network tv with commercials with still a lot of things that are very highly structured and yet we're able to find ways of pushing in the boundaries.

>> no soup for you. >> it took us to a new level of comedy. and it kind of defined like, yeah, nbc, thursday night, this show, expect the unexpected. >> can you sing the theme song from "cheers"? ♪ making your way in the world today ♪ today. >> come on, i know. it's cute. ♪ takes everything you got ♪ ♪ taking a break from all your worries sure can help a lot ♪ ♪ wouldn't you like to get away ♪ ♪ sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name ♪ >> we decided to end "cheers" in the 11th year. over 93 million people watched the finale of "cheers." it's a sad experience for everybody. this was our baby for 11 years and we're not going to be around these people every day. >> you people are as dear to me as my own family.

>> we had been serving fake suds forever. it was time for everybody to 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. we are doing it! it's the holidays! t-mobile is offering the awesome iphone xr, with unlimited, for just 40 bucks a month. wooooo! unlimited, with the new iphone xr included? no one else is doing that! so they get unlimited, with iphone xr included, for just 40 bucks? the new iphone xr, that's bananas! at t-mobile get unlimited with iphone xr included for just 40 dollars.

opportunity is everywhere. like here. where you can explore the world knowing you can always find your way home. ♪ i can choose from all their different hotel brands... like a doubletree for my cousins. a homewood suites for my uncle. a hampton for my sister and her kids.

and the waldorf astoria beverly hills for me. can i get a..? thank you. book at hilton.com and get the hilton price match guarantee.

book a♪ there's no place likargh!e ♪ i'm trying... ♪ yippiekiyay. ♪ mom. ♪ okay, let's play show business. >> as a young kid in cleveland, i knew i would one day end up doing a talk show.

>> it's arsenio hall! >> in less than two years, arsenio hall has fired a talk show for the mtv generation into a contender for the crown of late night television. >> yes, yes! >> how come i didn't hear all of that wolfing going on? when i would watch you? >> too many white people. >> johnny was the big dog. but i knew everybody on the planet wasn't watching him. and it dawned on me that i could go many weeks and not see a motown group on "the tonight show." >> arsenio hall has been dubbed the prince of late night. >> there was a whole world of talent that had never and would never have been on any late night show. ♪ >> 2livecrew came on and sang

"meso horny", it was like the sex pistols. i'd never seen anything like it. it was an explosion in the audience. >> he appealed to a black and white young audience and it was a much broader appeal than the powers that be estimated. >> rap. rap is real big among our teens. that's poetry. >> of course it is. >> having maya angelou on, i mean, where would you have seen her otherwise? >> in 1892 wrote a poem that called "a negro love song." it says seen my lady home last night, jump back, honey, jump back. held her hand and squeezed it tight, jump back, honey, jump back. >> he didn't just have black people on his show. but if you were hip, you wanted to be on arsenio. >> this was something i heard a political analyst talk about recently. he said you kind of were -- i

use the word chilling out. he said you were pulling back. you had been instructed not to say as much or be outspoken. no? >> i've heard that, but i never know who says it. it's wishful thinking on the part of some people. >> guess who suggested to bill to do the arsenio hall show if you want to get a younger demo? hill-dawg. ♪ >> he attracted a lot of people who weren't fans before that night. ♪ >> the '90s was a glorious moment for black television. because you saw these representations that you'd never seen before. ♪ the premise of "the fresh prince" was this kid who comes from philadelphia.

♪ in west philadelphia born and raised on the playground is where i spent most of my days ♪ >> his mom says i'm going to send you to live with your uncle. he shows up at this mansion in bel air, baseball cap on backward. like he doesn't even know how to act in this environment. the black producers and directors and writers were always playing with this kind of subverting expectations of what is blackness. >> the incredible work of "the fresh prince" at its most triumphant is when it was showing the ways that being black is always going to be a problem no matter what. >> vehicle registration, please. >> just a second. but the thing, officer, this isn't my car. >> there's the episode i remember where they get pulled over in a car. >> what? >> he is going to tell us to get out of the car. >> you watch too much tv. >> get out of the car. >> we have an interaction with the police officer that is horrible and racist in a lot of ways.

and carlton has this epiphany about how money won't save him. >> no map is going to save you. and neither is your glee club or your fancy bel air address or who your daddy. because when you're driving in a nice car in a strange neighborhood, none of that matters. they only see one thing. >> the writers of "the fresh prince of bel air" had a really tough task to approach these topics with nuance, and were doing it at a clip that was way ahead of their time. >> now don't touch that dial. we're about to flip it for you to one of the most talked about tv shows. it is, as they say, on another network. fox. ♪ ♪ in living color >> ladies and gentlemen. keenan ivory wayans. >> "in living color" was the first show created by, written by, directed by, starring an african american, all of those things in one. >> this is celebration of

culture and of change. us opening the doors to allowing america to come inside. >> yo, yo, yo, all you bad bargain hunters out there, welcome to the homeboys shopping network. >> a lot of what they did on "in living color" was trying to take the stereotypes or the misperceptions about what black men are and turn them upside down. >> not only will you get all the cable stations out there, but you'll be able to talk directly to the astronauts. >> it brought this smart, very controversial comedy that black folks never seen before that centered around their life experiences. >> who are you? >> i am the minister louis farrakhan. >> african-americans composed 25% of fox's market. >> i always get trapped in the corner with somebody named bob. hey, listen, martin, i just saw "boys in the hood," all right? i didn't know, martin, i didn't

know. >> they knew that they needed to capture this audience to grow. >> i guess you think you smart and cool. but if you think you get a job here, you're a damn fool. >> so they basically gave the black creators freedom to do whatever you want. just get the audience. >> the wb and upn took that concept from fox. >> your shoulders are harder than cheap breast implants. >> going after this underserved audience of urban and ran with it. >> i'm a new millennium woman who will not be defined by traditional roles. >> a lot of the networks built themselves up partly on african american viewers. >> the african-american shows indexed lower in terms of household income. so over the course of the decade, the network started to move away from those shows. >> i don't know about you

people, but i'll be damned if it i'm going to let them destroy my neighborhood. >> black creators felt used and abused. you made your money. you built your audience on us and now, you know, you're done. the following movie is rated r. except for cable. cable? oh you can quit cable. because we are cougars and we don't quit!! unless what?!?!?! [team in unison] unless it's cable! quit cable and switch to directv and get the most live sports in4k more for your thing. that's our thing. 1-800-directv

you could tell the truth,s, or a better version of it. just ask dos equis, the only beer on draft in dan marino's dan cave. woo! dos equis. keep it interesante.

infallible pro-matte long wear foundation by l'oreal. matte without the flat. up to 24 hours. resists, sweat heat humidity now available in even more shades. infallible pro-matte foundation by l'oreal paris.

>> in 1990, '91, there was not a whole lot of original programing for cable, but they were airing movies. so we needed to compete and i felt that if we didn't, we were going to kind of get swept out. so i came up with a notion of doing a cop show that was r rated. when abc's broadcast standards read our script, they went berserk. >> i was sitting with a pad and a pencil drawing pictures of breasts to try to show them what we would show and what we wouldn't show. grown-ups sitting in a room doodling. >> then we started on 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 -- >> and it had this character, andy sipowicz. he is a raging alcoholic, racist, sexist, violent. he created the tv anti-hero. >> i know the great african american george washington carver discovered the peanut. but can you provide names and addresses of these friends? >> you know, you're a racist scumbag. >> despite flaws and prejudices, i think people identified with his pain. >> i wish there was a way to say this that wouldn't hurt you. >> there's a famous episode where they are investigating the

rape and murder of a young boy. and they find a homeless child molester who murdered the kid and sipowicz to get the confession has to be very sensitive and very good cop. >> i know this has to be tearing you up inside. but you're going to feel a lot better if you just tell the 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. >> bolder than what we see today? >> oh, assuredly, assuredly they will be. >> the '90s gave us several shows that didn't explode in the

ratings, but were influential to others. "homicide" is one of them. ♪ shell me with questions all night ♪ ♪ i'm living in a danger zone >> "homicide: life on the street" was innovative in terms of style. it used music in ways that advanced the narrative and also used feature film directors that brought a look and style to the show that really stood out on television. >> tears coming out of your eyes. >> ain't no tears coming from my eyes. >> those eyes are brimming with tears. >> they had so many african american characters in the cast that on several occasions they were the only people on camera interacting with one another. and that sounds like, so, but as late as the '90s, that wasn't done on television. >> when a cop shoots somebody, he stands by. he picks up the radio mike and calls it in. he stands by the body. if 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 and order." >> this was a show that completely delivered on its formula every time. you get a crime, you got the investigation into the crime. >> 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. >> you had a trial. >> he's badgering, your honor. >> sit down and shut up. >> overruled. you will address the court from now on, mr. mccoy. >> every time you watched you got what you came for. >> tell me, doctor. all those women you ran through your examination rooms, do you remember their faces or did you not even bother to look up? >> you had in "law and order" the kind of characters people take to heart. >> i'll let you take me to lunch. one-time offer.

>> and it you're ab actor and you say well, gee, maybe it's not really such a bad medium after all. >> miranda, the supreme court's mimic decision. the whole thing was illegally obtained. they were both represented by counsel. >> it's life and death and stuff. >> we know what you did. >> counsel. >> you hear me? >> do you hear me? >> "law and order" was like crack. you'd have to sit and watch me for 50 minutes just like, not moving, barely breathing. there's times i have almost passed out watching "law and order." >> i need your help. >> "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 bleed. do you know how to start an iv? >> actually, no.

>> "e.r." is a hospital show, but it's really an action movie. >> walking wounded. red urgent, yellow critical and black a gurney. >> got it. >> 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. >> what do you think? >> you're the attending. >> there was so much information coming at you that i think it made the experience feel as if you had to watch it in the same way that you'd watch a film. you had to stay involved the the whole time. >> come on, ben. hold on, buddy. hold on. >> there was a lot of research

that said people didn't want to watch anybody have anything other than a happy outcome. >> it's not flood flight attendant line. another seven makes epi. >> we argued that wasn't really showing what the world was for physicians. i had unbelievable amount of respect for the people who did this because i understood how human they were. (atlas) do humans know they are paying too much with verizon? (paul) no, they just don't know that sprint's unlimited plan gives you 5 lines for just $24 dollars per month, per line. (mom) wow, that would save us... (atlas)...nearly $1,000 dollars? (mom) what about the network? (paul) now sprint has lte advanced. (atlas) it's up to two times faster than before.

(mom) no way! (dad) robots don't lie. (atlas) the man in the mom jeans is correct. (avo) get up to two times faster speeds and see how you can for people with hearing loss save nearly $1,000 dollars over verizon and at&t with sprint. visit sprintrelay.com discover card. i justis this for real?match, yep. we match all the cash back new cardmembers earn at the end of their first year, automatically. whoo! i got my money! hard to contain yourself, isn't it? uh huh! let it go! whoo! get a dollar-for-dollar match at the end of your first year. only from discover. i got beaten within an inch of my life [ grunts ]was different. it's a hate crime. so, i created a world where i could be anyone i want. this is hoagie, kind of a braver versions of me. we're one in the same pal. i walk in your shoes.

♪ i got dreams in my head... ♪ you need to face those jerks who beat you up. i'm not really sure how to do this. if i can be a hero, so can you. yee-haw! i've slain your dreaded dragon. for saving the kingdom what doth thou desire? my lord? hey good knight. where are you going? ♪ ♪ climbing up on solsbury hill ♪ grab your things, salutations. coffee that is a cup above is always worth the quest. nespresso. tis all i desire. did thou bring enough for the whole kingdom? george: nespresso, what else? ♪'cause this is already bigger♪ [♪] ♪this is already bigger than love♪ dare to be devoted. jared®

for a limited time, $50 for them $10 for you. applebee's. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood.

a new era of technology is forcing networks to re-examine the way they do business. >> new owners spent billions buying the networks recently. ge buying nbc. capital cities, abc. >> and loews-tisch brothers buying cbs. and all of them want their money's worth. >> we'll now have the strongest network. we'll have a stronger defense piece. this is going to be one dynamite company.

>> there's a danger that news will be mixed up with the rest of television and considered just another profit. >> late 1920s, to early 1930s, to the 1980s, the sense was if some of the broadcasting time took public service, 1990s, journalism in the country changed a great deal. you couldn't talk about public service. what are the ratings going to be? what are the demographics going to be? what is the profit going to be? well, sensationalism sells. >> in a plea bargain, 18-year-old amy fisher got up to 18 years in prison for shooting the wife of her alleged lover. >> so intense is the interest in it this case there are three, three made for tv movies now in the works about it. >> you make money off sex. you make money off death. you make money off crime. >> the press calls the case the beverly hills mansion murders. the story reads like a script that circulate here in hollywood. >> we enter into the television news soap.

opera. >> i was scared. i just wanted him to leave me alone. >> it loses its purity and becomes much more shoddy. >> it all comes together with o.j. similar upon. >> the los angeles county 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 cull min nates with the trial that goes on and on and on and is televised day after day after day. >> this is going to be a long trial. there is a lot of evidence to

come in. >> it was such a phenomenal that those of us that were covering it lived this case 24 hours a day because there was so much demand for people and turn to jurors 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. >> put the gloves on. >> o.j. was very much a soap opera. >> he was impeached by his own witness. >> put a stop to it. either put him on the stand or -- >> excuse me, 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 the defendant 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. >> 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 towards those stories that are sensational, you know, it brought us the ability to go

too far. >> is the jonbenet ramsey murder investigation turning into a media circus? >> yes, it's tabloid, on the other hand, it's a tabloid era. here's the point. here's where the fear comes into it, larry. the fear is if we don't cover it big time, our competition is. when they cover it big time they're going to get a big jump in the ratings. fear ing with to last, we have to survive. if we're going to survive we have to do t. >> what you 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 wealth. >> they don't have any capability of producing oil. >> they're certainly selling -- >> the networks were doing good journalism. but they became more preoccupied by profits. it's much cheaper to have someone in your studio pontificating than 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 this basement room which the fbi had bypassed. >> every single sentence on cnn, perhaps cnbc, on fox on msnbc begins with the words, "i think." but after awhile, people get confused by what is speculation, by what is innuendo, by what is fact. >> and as far as the viewer is concerned, tbe very, very carefl of unsubstantiated information presented with great hype. 't be ! we are doing it! it's the holidays! t-mobile is offering the awesome iphone xr, with unlimited, for just 40 bucks a month. wooooo! unlimited, with the new iphone xr included? no one else is doing that! so they get unlimited, with iphone xr included, for just 40 bucks? the new iphone xr, that's bananas! at t-mobile get unlimited with iphone xr

included for just 40 dollars. ♪ si passione. the new fragrance. giorgio armani. opportunity is everywhere. like here. where nothing stands between you and your best friends.

♪

♪ there's no place likargh!e ♪ i'm trying... ♪ yippiekiyay. ♪ mom. ♪

tv is changing dramatically now with 150 channels that might be available in the near future. >> there are more choices than ever before, and it's a tough job. you have to try and get a sense of what is the audience going to really make an 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.

>> well, i thought frazier was dead with "cheers." [ laughter ] >> but we thought -- we built an audience and great potential for building out to character to another place. >> no. >> frazier 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 coyled within a damp cave. okay, that's it. >> we always assumed the audience was smarter than most other people did. we played to that. >> she is just unschooled like lizadoolittle. >> leave it to you to put the pig back in pig --

>> kelsey grammer played pomposity like no other. >> i am analyzing my options. unlike your eye, like a general leading his troops into battle. >> check mate, schwarz cough. >> i think frazier stands as the sing the most successful spin-off, at least in the history of sitcoms. >> and the emmy goes to -- >> frazier. >> frazier. >> frazier. >> 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. 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, and we went everywhere together and celebrated everything together. and there is 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. tip it. tip it. tip it. tip it. tip it. [ laughter ] tip it. >> shut up. shut up, shut. up. >> friends permeated culture in a way that was 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 or rachel? >> i've got to tell you, this really does put me in a better mood. >> the kids who were watching, the young audience -- >> 5, 6, 7, 8. >> saw a life-style 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 lablanc. i wish that i had jennifer aniston's hair. one of the things that made friends a phenomena was people, beyond the laughs, actually bonded with these characters. they emotionally were invested in ross and rachel's relationship. >> i can't do this without you. mwa. [ laughter ] >> okay. um, uh, 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? >> oh, thanks. >> the one with the prom video is one of my favorites. >> you guys, we don't have to watch this. >> 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 prom without a date. >> take her. you can wear my tux. >> gosh, she wouldn'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 -- [ applause ] >> the audience went insane.

[ cheers and applause ] >> 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. >> it's not a scrapbook, it's a freezer. >> we all were 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.

[ applause ] >> we certainly associate nbc in the '90s with having extremely successful sitcoms. but they weren't the only network that found their way to having some success. >> t.g.i.f. was on abc on friday and it was their block of family-oriented comedies. >> i can't take it. i need that cake. [ laughter ] >> it was not sophisticated television, but these were shows that people adored. >> oh. >> cbs. cbs was in a really bad spot. they had just fallen apart over the early part of the '90s. they had gone through a couple network executives. >> but then suddenly they had this hit with an unknown comic. this was the year of seinfeld, no hugging, no learning. this was a show being made as if it was produced in the era of

the dick van dyke show. there was hugging, there was learning. >> i love you, son. >> all right. >> if you work for me, your job was to go home, get in a fight with your wife and come back and tell me about it. >> don't sleep on the couch. i just cleaned down there. >> in fact, the pilot, i put in this true thing that happened to me wherein i sent my parents a gift for the holidays of the fruit of the month club. >> did you know you sent me a box of pears from a place called fruit of the month? >> yeah, 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. >> the fruit in the house. >> 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. >> announcer: the cnn original series "the nine advertise" is brought to you by mercedes-benz, the best or nothing. whoa! the mercedes-benz winter event is back, and you won't want to stop for anything else. lease the gla 250 for $359 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing.

something important. it's not going to be easy. quicksilver earns you unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere. actually, that's super easy. my bad.

that's super easy. opportunity is everywhere. like here. where you can explore the world knowing you can always find your way home. ♪ don't you get the one of those travel sites? they tell you that, but when you book at hilton.com, you get the price match guarantee. so if you find your room at a lower rate, hilton is like... we're gonna match that rate and give you an extra 25% off. what would travel sites do if you found a better price? that's not my problem, it's your problem. get outta here! whoa, i really felt that performance. it's just acting, i'm really good at it. book at hilton.com and get the hilton price match guarantee. if you find a lower rate, we match it and give you 25% off that stay. it's not what champions do. it's what champions don't do.

they don't back down. they don't settle. and they don't quit... except for cable. cable? oh you can quit cable. because we are cougars and we don't quit!! unless what?!?!?! [team in unison] unless it's cable! quit cable and switch to directv and get the most live sports in4k more for your thing. that's our thing. 1-800-directv 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.

>> 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 1990s was a great moment where a huge shock of the ice shelf breaks off. something that has been there for centuries, for thousands of years suddenly is no longer there. >> 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 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. >> jay leno had pretty much been carson's substitute host when he

went on vacation. >> you know what's amazing? this is true. six months ago people were talking about donald trump as a presidential candidate, right? that's true. now, since then, he's had an affair, he's left his wife, he's run up a 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? going to ask you to turn the cameras off, please. >> we just wanted to drop off a basket of fruit. >> part of dave's thing used to always be attacking authority. he liked that. >> cut the cameras, please. >> he need aid corporate bad guy to go up against. i was oftentimes that target. >> i could hear this warren little field guy whining all year about not getting his name on the card last year. what about me? just put it on there. 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 entertainment is buzzing this week. that 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 show hosted by little field has a bruised ego about the way the network wavered in its support for him. >> when we found out that 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 ] [ cheers 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 fortunate, and they put our backs to the wall. >> i can only tell you that it has been an honor and a privilege to come into your homes all these years and entertain you. and i hope and i find something i want to do and like and come back and you'll be as gracious inviting me into your home as you have been. i bid you a very heartfelt good night. [ cheers and applause ] >> "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 with 30 years by johnny. >> cbs came to us and made a very attractive offer.

>> here we're going to pretend. heads cbs tails, cbs number 9. >> letterman did place a call to johnny carson asking for his advice. 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 ernest 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 joined "the tonight show" with jay leno, arsenio, and night line. >> it became a crowded space, and the competition became that much more difficult. >> the third corner, his ratings fading rapidly, arsenio hall. some tv writers think that 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 -- [ cheers and applause ] >> 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 gang busters

and he was beating jay leno in the ratings. >> there are some people who say you blew it, that by picking leno over letterman, that was a mistake. >> it was a shaky start. >> it's confession time for hugh grant, trying to put 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? [ laughter ] >> it all came together in that moment and everyone saw it, and that's it. we were never number two again. [ cheers and applause ] >> hey! >> for us it was the fun experience. we got our own theater. we got 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! missed out on this. don't worry, the biggest deal is happening right now at t-mobile. when you buy one of the latest sumsung phones you get a free 50" samsung 4k tv. seriously, no! [announcer]seriously! t-mobile is giving you a free 50" tv. you gotta be kidding me. this deal won't last long. so get your free samsung tv at t-mobile store today. woooo!! pop pop pop!! ♪ ♪ acqua di giò. absolu. the new sensuality. giorgio armani. i've slain your dreaded dragon.

for saving the kingdom what doth thou desire? my lord? hey good knight. where are you going? ♪ ♪ climbing up on solsbury hill ♪ grab your things, salutations. coffee that is a cup above is always worth the quest. nespresso. tis all i desire. did thou bring enough for the whole kingdom? george: nespresso, what else? coaching means making tough choices. jim! you're in! but when you have high blood pressure and need cold medicine that works fast, the choice is simple. coricidin hbp is the #1 brand that gives powerful cold symptom relief without raising your blood pressure. coricidin hbp.

♪ there's no place likargh!e ♪ i'm trying... ♪ yippiekiyay. ♪ mom. ♪ in the mid 1990s, if you took a look at the list of the

50-most watched shows on cable, the top would be nickelodeon. rug rats. lose clues. >> don't you know that can ruin your mind? >> brad and stempe had some humor to it. this was the beginning of the splintering of the television audience and the splintering of the family television audience really. 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 nineties, 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. >> that was cool.

>> certainly beavis and butthead established what mtv could be. it was about making music videos. just like people in the audience were doing. >> just like all these bones and stitches floating around. >> my manager would call me. hey, you've got this big bumkiss on beavis and butthead. >> i find them endlessly entertaining because you know and i know these guys will not be anything but idiots. >> that's right. >> mtv has a detrimental, damaging, developmental effect on the sexuality, on the morality, on the spirituality, on maybe even the physical development of our young people.

>> ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. >> now we hit the nineties 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 way from my man, bitch, oregon i'll whiep you to last year. >> they were two of the funest 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 this show, and now you're big sell outs. the truth is we were sell outs to begin with. >> perhaps there is no stopping the corporate machine. >> we were sleeping at friends houses, had no money and one fox executive saw a cartoon we made in college and said, make me another christmas video i can send out as a christmas card.

he gave us like 700 bucks and we went and made this 5-minute short -- >> i come seeking retribution. >> he's come to kill you because you're jewish, kyle. >> it went around the tv community like wildfire. >> i mean, it was the funnyest thing you'd ever seen in your life. >> somebody showed me the short. i thought it was hysterical, so i called and said, get them in here right away. >> oh, my god, they killed jenny. you bastards. >> south park was able to be topical. >> south park really, really detests hypocrites. >> republicans and nazis, oh, my. >> okay, i'll legalized 40th trimester abortions for you. >> ho, ho, ho, ho. >> could you imagine back then

these people would ever get on network television, or any kind of television? >> it's a miracle. "south park" is a miracle. >> the early nineties, the hbo show starts to kind of come into their own. >> 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 can go to cable and have no restrictions. not make as much money, but have freedom of expression, which everybody who works in these mediums wants. >> some of the content truly was, you can't get this anywhere else. >> your fantasy maker is the only limit on the kind 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. >> black people don't trust black people. that's why they won't vote for no black president. like a black brother will [ bleep ] the white house. like the grass won't be cut. running through the white house, cookouts, basketball in the back. >> in the late 80s, hbo was gaining ground for the series. >> by the nineties, hbo had started to begin its explosion. >> when we started doing dream on, one of the things that hbo said to us was -- [ coughing ] >> 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

successor failure. what they were looking for was critical acclaim. >> you have watched letterman. you've watched leno. but what about larry? larry sanders, that is. he's the tv alter ego of comedian gary shanly. >> gary shanly wanted to do a show that dee constructed the kind of show "the tonight show" was. >> just pretend like you're talking to me till we're off the air. >> okay. blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. >> larry sanders' show was kind of cathartic because in the world of the larry sanders show, there was a network. >> you want me to [ bleep ] with your budget, is that what you want me to do? >> it game this mirror thing where you can use your misery from 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. >> last show, big ratings, bim, bam, boom. >> the larry sanders show was very unique in that it was very dead pan 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. [ cheers and applause ] >> hey now. >> hey now. >> you sound good. with your choice of the best in tv, movies, or music. it's the perfect holiday upgrade. i know what i'm asking santa for this year. you still write letters to santa? no. please. i send him emails. can i get his email address? oh... i don't feel comfortable sharing it. get the iphone 10 s and our unlimited plan with your choice of the best in tv, movies, or music.

more for your thing. that's our thing. what they did to you... it hurts like hell. it's a hate crime. i got beaten up because i was different. so, i created a world where i can heal. are all of the dolls people you know? yeah, there's anna... [ gasps ] caralala... nicol... i just moved in across the street. and julie. you gotta love the pain. pain is our rocket fuel. you need to face those jerks who beat you up. maybe the dolls should stay in the car. i never go anywhere without my back-up. ♪whooh! ♪ just released. i got it. new pixel 3. ♪ chloë! give again! ♪ ♪

whoooo. with tripadvisor, finding your perfect hotel at the lowest price... is as easy as dates, deals, done! simply enter your destination and dates... and see all the hotels for your stay! tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites... to show you the lowest prices... so you can get the best deal on the right hotel for you. dates, deals, done!

in the nineties, you suddenly had shows that were aiming at a young audience. one of the things that really made 09210 stand out is it was one of the first dramas to get into the teenager's point of view. ♪ ♪ >> protection? >> of course. that's always been my problem, lots of protection, but no one 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 them 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 beatle mania, the nineties had 90210 mania. when tv guide had its youth-quake cover, that was a sign that it was focused on these people. my so-called life was the punk rock version of 90210. it was ernest, but not at all sack rim. it didn't have easy answers. it showed teen heart break in a way that was staggeringly real for the time. >> how do you like this? >> like what? >> how you are? >> hey, jordan, are 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 echos in your brain and it keeps sounding stupider, and you have to say something else just to make it stop? >> oh, i just remembered, i, um, i owe you $30. >> my so-called life was not necessarily the show that the cheerleader or the captain of a football team were watching. they were still watching 90210. but it was the people who maybe didn't recognize themselves in 90210, aha, now i recognize myself in my so-called life. >> dimarco 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, and that was a show treated with great sensitivity. >> but i belong nowhere, with no one.

and i don't fit. >> i mean, it was so deeply felt. it was saying to the viewer, things that you have gone through, they matter. >> buffy the vampire slayer depicted high school in a similar way to "my so-called life." rather than feeling like hell t was hell. her high school was literally built on top of hell. [ screaming ] >> so all these creatures would come up that she would have to fight. >> it was a brilliant metaphor for adolescents and all the demons that you have to slay. >> you know, buffy was a teenager and she was still finding out who she was. one of the story lines that was very popular and much talked about was where she had sex with her boyfriend for the first time, and then in sort of the world of buffy, he becomes

literally evil. >> there must be some part of you inside that still remembers who you are. >> dream on, school girl. >> in order to save the world literally, she knows that she has to send him to hell. buffy knows in an instant angel has become good again. >> buffy? >> and 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. and 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 nineties 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 sales woman in the city, you have two choices. you can bang your head against the wall or try and find a relationship or just say screw it and go out and have sex like a man. >> sex in the city was a huge success right from the start. it was very funny and very clever and very candid. >> ouare relationships the religion of the nineties? >> these women were making money, they were independent, single and they were sort of feeling their power. >> i said all of them. >> waiter, what do you tip for them? >> i wanted women to object identify men in the way men objectify women. >> there weren't people talking

about orgasms or sex. >> 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. >> there's going to be a shift in power. either he'll have the upper hand or you will. >> should she do this or not. >> this is a physical expression, that the body 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

one can succeed. it shows them not compete ing with each other, but supporting each other. was also an important narrative change. >> okay, girls, see you tomorrow. >> the show had a message of 23r50e d freedom and liberation for women that resonated. i think "sex and the city" made people think, i wonder what they're doing next. we can't do it! i'm telling you, it can't be done! we are doing it! it's the holidays! t-mobile is offering the awesome iphone xr, with unlimited, for just 40 bucks a month. wooooo! unlimited, with the new iphone xr included? no one else is doing that! so they get unlimited, with iphone xr included, for just 40 bucks? the new iphone xr, that's bananas! at t-mobile get unlimited with iphone xr included for just 40 dollars.

opportunity is everywhere. like here. where nothing stands between you and your best friends. ♪ introducing the new capital one savor card. earn 4% cash back on dining and 4% on entertainment. now when you go out, you cash in. what's in your wallet? blended with purpose, for dry, damaged hair. with lush honey, known to replenish and royal jelly and propolis, known to nourish and repair.

as a whole blend, it helps heal damage to the ends. blended makes us better. whole blends. blended makes us better. don't you get the one of those travel sites? they tell you that, but when you book at hilton.com, you get the price match guarantee. so if you find your room at a lower rate, hilton is like...

we're gonna match that rate and give you an extra 25% off. what would travel sites do if you found a better price? that's not my problem, it's your problem. get outta here! whoa, i really felt that performance. it's just acting, i'm really good at it. book at hilton.com and get the hilton price match guarantee. if you find a lower rate, we match it and give you 25% off that stay.

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 a breakfast club. >> the idea of a show with writers and actors would be too expensive for them. >> the real world, that's what this is supposed to be. >> we essentially applied all the drama rules to documentary to get our -- what we called at that time a docu-soap. >> this is the true story. >> true story. >> seven strangers. >> a social experiment to watch what happens when you put these things together in a house. when people stop being polite and start getting real. >> do you sell drugs? why do you have a beamer?

>> we hadn't seen anything like that on television, that kind of open honest discussion of race. >> i could try as much as i can to try to deal with you, but ignorance is ignorance. stupidity is stupidity and that's t. black, white, green, purple, blue, whatever. >> the real world becomes this big bang moment for reality tv where the idea is, 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 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 aids. >> i'm hiv positive. >> when he told me he was hiv positive, i'm like, no, not him. i like him 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 aids. 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 sean have a ceremony. 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, the frustration, that there's something bigger than that. >> aids has claimed a young man who made an enormous impact on a generation of young americans, pedro zamora died in miami at the age of 22. >> i'm glad i got to know pedro zamora. i'm glad his rich and fulfilling work is today. i hope you learned from pedro's life of compassion and fearlessness. >> we credit the real world with sort of helping the acceptance of the lgbt community. there weren't portrayals of gay people on television. >> i'm marla. i'm single. >> in the nineties, gay

characters were always secondary or third. there was never a gay character that was the lead of a show. [ laughter ] >> so, you want to go look at apartments tomorrow? >> ellen degeneres the comedian was about to come out as a lesbian. >> i'm on the cover of time. >> and she does it on time magazine. yep, i'm gay. but they decide that the character that 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, beastiality, 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 -- susan, i'm gay. [ cheers and applause ] >> 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 braveest thing i saw. >> that felt great. that felt so great. >> initial reports, abc made a bundle on ellen's highly publicized outing on national tv last night. the broadcast was accompanied by coming out parties across the country including one in birmingham, alabama, where the local abc stationery fuse today 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 any more. 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 -- [ laughter ] ♪ tell me lazy, tell me so, tell me i'm crazy, maybe i know ♪ ♪ can't help loving that man ♪ >> a pot of beret and soufflet. 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 them low and inside. he's crowding the plate and we have to -- >> 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.

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 sappo. 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 are look, 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 & grace" was the first time you saw characters on television that made >> guess who 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. you feel so fortunate to have been a part of something so great. and our unlimited plan really takes things to the next level with your choice of the best in tv, movies, or music. it's the perfect holiday upgrade. i know what i'm asking santa for this year. you still write letters to santa? no. please. i send him emails. can i get his email address? oh... i don't feel comfortable sharing it. get the iphone 10 s and our unlimited plan with your choice of the best in tv, movies, or music. more for your thing. that's our thing. i've slain your dreaded dragon. for saving the kingdom what doth thou desire? my lord? hey good knight. where are you going? ♪

♪ climbing up on solsbury hill ♪ grab your things, salutations. coffee that is a cup above is always worth the quest. nespresso. tis all i desire. did thou bring enough for the whole kingdom? george: nespresso, what else? you could tell the truth or a better version of it., just ask dos equis sweden's most celebrated mexican-- cerveza! ohhh! jaa, two xs. ooh! dos equis. keep it interesante. for a limited time, $50 for them $10 for you. applebee's. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood.

>> what was happening at the end of the 90s is audiences started to look towards television for what they had only found before in feature film. >> victory is mine. victory is mine. great day in the morning, people, victory is mine. >> actors no longer felt it was a come down in television. >> what did i ever do to you except deliver the south. >> you shouldn't have made me pick. >> the audience that showed up to watch west wing. the news hour and they watched west wing and documentaries in foreign languages. right? >> if the name of this nominee is leaked out before i want it leaked out, i will blame you and you will find that unpleasant. >> you're hot when you're like this. >> 90s television was the 50

wave of what we have. the niche programming. >> freaks and geeks really sympathized with the losers. it had great empathy for the characters. >> 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 the perfect 18 episodes, but nbc hated it so much. >> i have a big one brewing. >> they thought it was a show by losers about losers for losers. they hated it. they killed it. >> at the end of the 90s, the jig is starting to be up for the jet works.

basically quality migrates to cable. >> oz comes on in 97 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, hatred, loneliness. i'm more real to me than a shank and a soul. >> it was jaw dropingly violent. it probably should be because it's a men's prison, but it announces the idea that hbo will be serious about doing scripted dramas. >> it's finished. it's over! >> hbo comes to its own in 1999 with the sopranos.

>> sopranos just is one of the shows that was a benchmark of change like for everybody. >> throw out the handbook. the lead actor in a drama. he killed a man. we watched him. he took his daughter on a college tour. >> it was a melding of a guy and a world. and a behavior that promoted all of the feelings that huh 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 of whether we realized that was going to be the future of television or not. >> this husband of yours, carmela, how much we love him. he's the best. >> come on.

>> he's like a father to me. >> make sure nothing happens to him. >> that character was a great inspiration to a great many shows that came after it including one i worked on. >> i want the kids to have a father. >> they're got one. this one. me. tony soprano. and all that comes with it. >> you prick. >> some of my favorite shows of all time aired in that decade and everybody was watching them. there was that communal sense from the earlier decades of tv being applied to shows reaching higher and further and they were great. because there were so many channels and because so much r story teleing was going on, there was a variety. >> get the cat scan and call the neurosurgeon. >> it showed us women in their depth and much more of a range of the african-american community.

>> i'm always here for you. >> teenagers in a more realistic way. >> things changed us and it evolved. >> in terms of what people want to watch. >> you are out of order. this whole trial is sexy. >> after 10 years of the 90s, we had a whole new television world that could take us anyplace we want and even places we had never imagined. >> that was the oven >> 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. going into 2000, it seems like it was a cultural shift for television in the terms of how people reacted to it. >> it seemed like the bar got raised and raised and raised. >> there are so many opportunities in television there are so many platforms. >> i hate you all. >> go! >> in the end, what we regret most are t