♪ tonight television takes a look at itself. >> what's on the idiot box? >> it's only an idiot box if an idiot is watching it. >> i'll tell you about the age of television, the platinum age. >> our obligation is to entertain and we have left something to think about, so much the better. >> television should not be just entertainment. >> charges were leveled at the commercial television networks. >> congress has no right to interfere with the media. >> excuse me. >> you have a responsibility to give the audience what it tuned in to see.

>> the years of the 60s that end in a few hours have a reputation that's not entirely justified. some things got worse but tv and other news coverage is better,

not worse. we simply develop more demanding standards. >> i think of the 70s. >> the american public was hungry for more. >> more was allowed that hasn't been before. >> i want to watch an all black show for a change. >> where you going to find one. >> here's one, the los angeles lakers against the milwaukee bucks. >> young people were interested in relevant things so television began to reflect that. >> this is cbs. >> it was very simple. you had three channels plus pbs. >> when the decade turned over into the 70s, television was very rural. >> the beverly hill billys. >> beverly hill billys.

>> green acres. >> petticoat junction. >> the shows were everywhere and then they weren't. >> fred silverman running programming at cbs said we're going to get rid of the shows that are the most highly rated and replace them with shows they thought would be more appealing to the younger audience. >> it changed the face of television. >> until 1971, he was a very successful if largely unharolded producer writer in hollywood but then took on bigotry with his all in the family. >> they created absolutely iconic shows. >> tlef luhey revolutionized al american television. >> our world is crumbling down. >> to use language like that on tv was unheard of but it captured a certain moment. >> archie, 12% of the population is black. there should be a lot of black

families living out here. >> this is only a beginning but i think it's wonderful. >> let's see how wonderful it is when the watermelon rinds come flying out the window. >> what scared me i thought they better be careful. there was no doubt in my mind american people were going to accept it. >> do you have a quick answer for the people that say the show reinforces bigotry? >> my quick answer is no. >> everybody was going to see something they knew was going on and wasn't surprising. >> i bought some yesterday. it's in the closet in the kitchen. >> i ain't in the kitchen. >> hearing a toilet flush for the first time was a big deal and made headlines. >> what's this country coming to anyhow? >> what is it? bad news? >> what else? >> we get out of vietnam or something. >> don't be a wise guy, huh? >> i wasn't going to play around with mom dented the car and how are we going to keep dad from

finding out about it. >> just because a guy is sensitive and wears glasses you make him out a queer. >> i never said a guy that wears glasses is a queer. a guy that wears glasses is a four eye. >> all in the family did something really new for television. it put before the american public archie's friend that's very masculine and happened to be gay. >> how long have you known me? 10, 12 years. >> yeah. >> in all that time, did i ever mention a woman. >> come on, steve. >> nixon objecting to the show, that was a badge of honor. >> it was culturally on point. every time, for a sitcom, that was unheard of.

>> i wanted to do an episode where somebody could give archie what he earned. we created a character that could really let him have it. >> i'm only here because of edith. the fact that you happen to be here with her is beyond my control. like any other freak of nature. >> he was on the telephone with me. >> hello. this is mrs. finley. mr. finley has a much higher voice. >> get your coat and come on. >> what makes you think you can order me around like that, henry? >> you're my wife. that gives me the right. >> when he says wife he means possession. >> so what maude. >> you told me 100 times you want to feel possessed. i never said that standing up and you know it.

>> they really turned the spin off series into an art form. >> hates to hear it called the lear factory. all of thiz series come out of this building allowing him to move from show to show. >> good times was like, holy smokes, there's black people on tv. >> there had never been a complete black family on tv before with the father. >> we have the same problems in hour household and we do not live in the projects in chicago. >> we got $32 in the shoe box and another $6 in my pocket. >> you worked all night and all they paid you was $6? >> there was a lot of folks that were not happy with the show. the black panthers were very upset. the big complaint was why can't we see a black man that's doing better than that? >> the jeffersons started as

neighbors of archie bunker. >> don't call me honkey. >> why are you so sensitive all of a sudden? >> you're right. nothing is worse than honky except being married to one. >> other shows in the 70s brought gravitas to television. >> what are you staring at? >> i was just thinking, i'll bring my neighbor's kids over here. this place is better than the zoo.

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and i don't add trup the years.s. but what i do count on... is boost® delicious boost® high protein nutritional drink has 20 grams of protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals. boost® high protein. be up for life. >> bob newhart show. >> and it ended with the carl burnett variety show at 10:00. >> they used to call it murder's row. >> people had no dvrs or nothing with initials so people would stay home on saturday night. they wouldn't go to movies or

restaurants. >> that may be the best night of television in all of television history. >> mary tyler moore was a single woman working as an associate producer on a nightly tv show. >> you know what, you got spunk. i hate spunk. >> there were a lot of young women entering the work place and for some of them mary tyler moore was like a port of entry. >> i'm doing as good a job as he did. >> better. >> better. i'm being paid less than he was because -- >> you're a woman. >> she could be the main event. >> all right. >> out loud. >> the first script had mary coming in as divorced and very quickly they said no, no, no. >> at the beginning of the decade, divorce was considered

some what scandalous. she went on dates with a lot of guys but the guys weren't really important. >> we seemed to be hitting it off and i just thought -- >> you just thought -- >> she is not obsessed with finding a husband. >> don't forget to take your pill. >> i won't. >> people coping with one another and the work place was like a family. >> i told ted to close with the copy for sue ann. >> oh my god. >> what's wrong? >> i told them it was the other way around. >> oh my god. >> rising corn prices are forcing them to find other means to feed their stock. here's one pig -- presenting another feature, dining out with sue ann. >> i know there's a world of

comedy in my wife's purse. i just can't access it. we have to find some female writers for this show. >> did you crash the men's room? >> of course not. i went as somebody's guest. >> why do you think it's such a winner? >> i think because of the casting and i think because of the writing. they don't sacrifice the character for the sake of a good joke. >> that effort to keep the female sensibility is what made it authentic and good. people would say you're just like me and my girlfriends. >> how can you gorge yourself like that and stay so skinny? i'm going crazy with hunger. >> well eat something. >> i can't. i got to lose 10 pounds by 8:30. >> the head of the network at the time said listen i'm going to spin you off and i thought oh my god, i'm fired because spin off is a term that was originated in the 70s. >> if we're going to start living together we have to tell each other everything. >> okay, joe, i want to be

married. >> their wedding became a huge national event. 52 million people tuned in to see it. >> they wrote them a happy relationship and didn't know what to do with it so then they had to have her get divorced to reboot the show. >> why did you marry me? >> you made me marry you. >> i feel so funny. >> just a matter of trust. >> she's not going to do it. >> where does that leave us? where do we go from here. >> that we'll have to discuss at future sessions. >> also had this therapeutic overlay. >> hi, bob. >> hi, bob. >> hello. >> we decided to make him a psychologist. i didn't know anything about therapy prior to that. >> it's in the galaxy.

>> how long are you going to be in town? >> i didn't want to do a show where we had children. i didn't want to be the dad. >> i don't care. i just don't want to make any more decisions. >> people will say, ge, my dad and i used to watch the show and it was great and then you realize that you're part of people's lives. >> the 70s was the year where a certain artistry developed. >> mash really changed many people's perception of what a sitcom can be. a sitcom can be cinematic. >> mash was shot like a movie and mash was maybe the single most unique situation comedy ever. >> i have a head ache. a tremendous head ache. it goes all the way down to my waist. >> the television series mash

had one thing which was heart. >> there's certain rules about a war and rule number one is young men die and rule number two is doctors can't change rule number one. >> it was about korea but we were talking about and doing things that had to do with vietnam and everybody knew it. >> action. >> war is war. and hell is hell. of the two war is a lot worse. >> we had 30 million people a week watching mash. >> i prefer girls. >> better not bump into henry. >> i intent only to bump into nurse baker repeatedly. >> these were people that would go through the scripts and say we can't use this word. we felt like we were in the midst of a battle. this is freedom of speech. >> at the senate hearings on television violence today, strong charges were leveled at the commercial television networks. >> the broadcasting industry now stands charged with having molested the minds of our

nation's children to serve the cause of corporate profit. >> the family hour was established by the three networks and the federal communications commission in response to complaints of too much sex and violence on early evening television. >> the family hour, the two hours from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. during which parents and children are supposed to be able to watch television without being made to feel uncomfortable. >> so it seemed all together unfair and we sued. >> family hour is under attack from some producers, unions and others in the television industry. they filed a lawsuit to have it abollished. >> they passed through a picket line protesting the hearing. >> congress has no right whatsoever to interfere in the content of the media. >> that you can sensor a joke today and tomorrow you can senator the expression of any thought if you can sensor a joke, it just becomes easier the next day. >> a federal judge in los

angeles ruled the so-called family hour on television from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. was unconstitutional. a violation of a first amendment guarantee of free speech. >> first amendment was upheld in a most important decision and it's really, truly a victory for everybody. it's an adventure. a test. [ grunting ] a test that jeff failed miserably. [ upbeat music starts ] the spacious volkswagen tiguan. more room means more fun. ♪ ♪ exciting, everything that i'm gonna do in my life ♪

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tonight, television takes a look at itself. >> we're looking at what you watch most of the time. entertainment programming on the three commercial networks. what are you looking at? and is it good for you? >> somewhere around the middle or late 70s people got tired of talking about real stuff. >> if the good lord provided us with berries, we ought to eat them. >> there was a longing for a simpler time when there wasn't so much anger and contentiousness. when people weren't so mad at each other. >> during last season, the waltons caught on. this year there will be more nostalgia. >> now that dinner is over, let's try out the piano. >> good. >> i'm taking requests. ♪ >> i created happy days not what a family really was. i thought it would be good if there were some families that didn't get divorced.

>> it wasn't by accident everybody on happy days hugged each other. it wasn't by accident everybody in the family ate at the same time at the same table. it was a sweet tender show. looking back on that era of the 50s with a certain affection. >> abc wanted fonzie's aye to compete with jimmy j.j. walkers dynamite. >> catch phrases were big. >> sit on it howard. >> does anyone say thank you, arnold? >> no, do you know what they say? >> sit on it arnold. that's what they say. >> you watch fonzie and you want to be fonzie. >> girls, knock yourselves out. i'm sorry. it was a slip of the fingers. >> it's a fantasy of what teen

life could be. >> they're here. >> all right. >> laverne and this is shirley. she's yours as you can see. >> nice to meet you richie. >> my pleasure. >> when they made a guest appearance, one of the camera men said look at this two shot. that's a series. ♪ >> tuesday night between 8:00 and 9:00 is called the death spot. death to my program that dares to go head on against happy days and laverne and shirley. >> it's one of the few sitcoms that ever debuted as number one. >> the absolute top number one show this season is laverene and shirley. >> a harmless but blameless exercise in silliness. >> you have to go all the way back to i love lucy to get the same sort of physical comedy. >> we never thought about it's importance except that it was two girls trying and the value of friendship.

>> it must have something going for it. >> i don't vote. >> you do. >> i don't. >> they couldn't say sex. >> so they said vodio. >> everybody knew what we were talking about. >> once. >> i said, you know -- he says i like it. but what's missing? spacemen. because we were getting into space so that's when i created a spaceman. >> wait a minute, who are you? >> the writers all rolled their eyes. an alien. he wants an alien. i had to make up a story. fonzie is running out of adversaries. >> that's right. >> we got the home planet advantage. >> then we got him his own show and mork and mindy was the hip show of the 70s.

>> the audience, talk about a willing suspension of disbelief is willing to buy the premise just so they can watch robin williams. >> excuse me. >> that was an interesting part of the balance i think of the television diet. that there was an attempt to explore deeper into the psyche of what makes us tick but there was also a need to escape. >> i'm going to a beach barbecue. >> i can see what's going to heat up the coals. >> if there's any phenomenon that's tilted it in their direction it's t and a. he explained to us how they're concocted. >> they want them to run a few times so they jiggle. all in well endowed. they say let's get three undressed scenes and three jiggles and write a skip around it. >> some tell you it's on its way

out but abc has shows like the love boat and threes company. >> it referred to the fact that these were women who were, you know -- >> good morning, angles. >> good morning, charlie. >> charlie's angles became a very enduring trademark out of the 70s. >> i already made arrangements for you three to go to prison. >> i'll be standing as erect as ever. >> good luck angels. >> oh, i did battle of the network stars a couple of times and i hated it. >> i think i made good time on billy crystal. >> tv stars to compete in a series of quasi olympic-type events. >> got a great set of legs. >> i think that we have a lot to apologize for. >> my only defense was it was

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almost half of noncommercial program hours are aimed at children. and it's meant so many things to so many people. >> the pbs children's programming in the 70s became the platinum standard on the planet for how you use this medium to educate kids. >> it was fred rogers that made it okay to speak to an audience of kids like they were human beings. >> there's some things that are very difficult to understand in a newspaper. >> every now and then i think back to mr. rogers and i think he would say, don't be scared. life is good. life is special. >> everybody is so special because everybody is different. >> just go and do the thing that you love and that always stuck with me. >> see you tomorrow. >> sesame street introduced my children to the interaction of people with different

backgrounds. >> it's not that easy being green. >> yeah. >> okay. >> sesame street was aggressive in terms of learning not only concepts of reading but concepts of interacting. >> i may be small, but i am somebody. >> sesame street was, you know, as big as it got in terms of celebrity. everybody wanted to hang with the muppets. >> aren't you johnny trash. >> cash. >> cash, cash. >> educational children's television really matured in the 70s. >> i'm leaving. >> i love you. >> i love you too. >> thanks. >> now for something completely different. >> when i was 13, this show from england came on pbs which before that was only the realm of my

parents. and suddenly they're doing the most outlandish, racy type of humor and killing me, the 13-year-old. >> it's extraordinary what you can't do on american television. i think you can do it on pbs. that why both of you watch it. >> this generation of comedy nerds who don't even know that they're comedy nerds. >> it's no more. it has ceased to be. >> it turned out to break so many rules. it changes everything. just like with the beatles, you can say oh, they came after the beatles. you look at saturday night live. >> beginning on october 11th, saturday night will open up a whole new live venture from new york city. we just happen to have the producer of the program. members of his company. what should we look for on your program? >> anxiety.

>> lauren michaels was given free reign. >> i'm the producer of saturday night. >> he winds up hiring a bunch of improv comics. >> rehearsal warm up. face left. >> george carlin was the first host and wanted to be a permanent host. >> nice to see you. welcome and thanks for joining us live. >> there were a lot of names in terms of permanent hosts. >> that's one of those tv rules that you must not break until you do and then you realize why don't you have a different host every week, but it was the cast that finally won people's hearts. >> come on. who is this? >> we give you the sauce. >> thank you. you're beautiful. thank you. >> you were drawn to the tv set because you knew something insane might happen. >> live. >> live from new york. >> partly because it was live but partly because you knew

television was now in the hands of the television generation. and these were kids who just might do anything. >> within these very walls. >> it was counter television and that's part of what made it attractive. >> no problem. >> every one of their episodes became worthy of study. >> when i hosted he called him into his office and said you realize the kids are the stars. the host wasn't merely as impactful. >> that's not quite it. >> because the thing was all the rage. >> they called themselves the not ready for primetime players. not because they felt they weren't good enough but because they felt they were too good. >> good evening, i'm chevy chase and you're not. >> he became an instant star. >> our top story tonight --

>> chevy chase was on the show for one year. >> are you sorry to leave saturday night. >> i'm deeply, deeply sorry. >> he decided he was too big for the show so he left. in some ways it was a blessing because it showed that saturday night live was going to do much more than survive. >> hello, i'm bill murray. you can call me billy but around here everybody just calls me the new guy. >> when chevy chase leaves, bill murray comes in. >> get in here please. sorry fellas. >> that just opened up other doors and saturday night live was just kind of taking it on. >> you'll never have to steagai

>> where do we come from? >> france. >> it was the show for us, it was the show about us. >> you wanted to be apart of it. >> it was linked with the times. >> that's the news. the iphone xr is a marvel in technology. yeah. this edge to edge screen is unbelievable. am i nuts or does everything look better on an iphone? both. and with our unlimited plan, people can choose the best in entertainment. hbo, cinemax, showtime...

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monday night football got it's start on september 21st, 1970 with the cleveland browns hosting the new york jets. >> welcome to abc's monday night primetime national football league television series. >> and this game is underway on abc. >> frank was there to do play by play. there to do replays and provide some humor to the telecast and

howard was there to be the straw that stirred the drink. >> let's go. let's go. >> the pairing of howard with don is a classic sitcom odd couple kind of pairing. you couldn't help but be swept up by what those guys were saying. the booth itself was almost like a variety show. >> i called it a traveling freak show and it really was. and the head freak was howard. no question about that. >> the tension between the two of them made for the kind of thing you wanted to see every week. >> professional football is rapidly growing into a very big business. you understand it. >> i like to watch it. >> would you like to learn more about it? >> we were on a mission that took us very close to saying screw the football fan because he's going to come anyway. what we needed to do was appeal to women. we needed to appeal to the casual football fan. that's why we started telling stories that humanized the

players. >> one of the greatest of all time. unfortunately his leg did not go with that arm. >> they recognize this fella. >> what's been your view of this american professional football. >> it's an amazing event. it makes rock concerts look like tea parties. >> i'd like to have your job and be a sports caster. >> it became week after week one of the most highly rated shows in america. >> it showed football was an entertainment experience on par with any primetime show you could imagine. >> maybe it was better because you didn't know how it was going to end. >> 60 minutes decided to pieer into the electronic future to take a look at what might be in store for television viewers in the decade of the 70s. it's television by cable. the communications revolution that could radically alter our way of life. >> there's nothing distinctive about it. it's just a way for you to get

what everybody else can already get and that's the way it is up until -- >> welcome to home box office subscription television. >> hbo debuts november 8th, 1972 and it's not an overnight success. >> and the repeated saying was getting people to pay for tv would be like getting them to pay for air. >> you see slides of nothing. >> nobody knew what you could do and nobody knew what you couldn't do. >> you could quickly warm up and take the stage. >> i do the tonight show and i sit and have to be funny in a hurry. get so little time. 6 minutes and boom, boom, boom. >> it wasn't contrived. it was a full throated performance. >> it's not regular television.

>> because you're not using public air waves the fcc can't regulate your content. >> i understand you had two or gac orgasms yesterday, can you tell us about them? >> you were getting movies uncut in your home. all the naughty bits intact. >> then september 1975, we debut coast-to-coast with the thriller and that's when hbo explodes. after that you're counting in millions. that's really day one for both businesses. hbo and the cable industry. >> what you'd see in the minutes to follow may be sports heaven.

>> in the mid 70s there were three giants, cbs, abc, nbc and in connecticut somebody got ahold of a transponder. >> the picture you're watching now has been taken by a camera sent to this earth transmitting station. >> this guy who had been fired from his job just trying to figure out a way to deliver local cable sports. then they said so can we cover the whole state? and the guy said you don't understand. >> for another 25 cents or whatever, you could send this all over the country and they went, oh, why would anyone want to do that? they didn't quite know what they had. >> and he wound up revolutionizing television sports. >> welcome everyone to the espn sports center. at this very desk in the coming weeks and months we'll be filling you in on the pulse of sporting activity. not only around the country but around the world as well. >> they didn't have the money to

go out and buy baseball games or nfl games. what they did was take all the leftovers out there. >> i'll be handling the play by play for tonight's game. >> that gave birth to arguably the greatest media success story of all time. >> at its best cable television could provide . a refreshing relief from the trend toward bigness, toward centralization. at its worst cable tv could invade our privacy, tranquilize our children, remove us electronically from the flesh and blood world. and we'd have to pay for the privilege. the question is, indeed, will the miracle be managed? son: i can do whatever i want. mom: i can drive up here anytime i want. mom: he's going to be so homesick. son: this is gonna be so sick. no matter if your journey takes six years... or 72,000 miles...

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♪ the best thing pbs did for adults in the '70s was the miniseries. the idea of novels for television. >> good evening. i'm alastair cook here with the ninth episode of "i, claudius." we ought to put up a sign, "discretion is advised." >> i was not allowed to watch it because it had nudity in it. i very much wanted to. >> rather than try to come up with a show that would run for years and years, it was this idea that, here is a limited story, we're going to tell it in "x" number of episodes, and let's just do this one self-contained thing. >> we all did things during the reign of my mad brother that we might not otherwise have done. >> it looks cheap. it was the script and the performances that mattered. in other words, it could be good for you, but it was fun at the same time. the miniseries was such a huge success for public television. abc was the network that hit

gold with "rich man, poor man." >> how do you even tell a story that isn't controlled by the clock? characters that can grow and change and differ. >> i want to talk to you. >> about what? >> about making an honest man out of me. >> it's a subject i rarely discuss in the nude. >> what we saw in the '70s was big-event television, if it was done right and if it was compelling, the audience kept coming back and back. >> here you have topics that start to get serious and important and groundbreaking for television. >> there's no life left here. and i don't want harm to come to you because of me. >> i won't -- i won't listen to this. >> the majority reaction to the holocaust program has been positive, it has not been without debate. >> with "holocaust" the heat was you shouldn't even touch this subject, it's disrespectful. but finally the thinking was, no, to not talk about it would be disrespectful.

to not perpetuate the memory for another generation. so if you're too young to know, here's a depiction. >> not since the war have emotions been so high in germany. the "holocaust" telecast caused heated discussion. its most tangible political effect was shown when the german legislature debated the search for nazi war criminals. "holocaust" made it easier for lawmakers to vote to continue the hunt for nazis. >> "holocaust" brought it home. it made it real, even though it was a hollywood creation. >> sunday night, "roots" begins in eight parts on abc. if it sounds like i'm plugging it, i am. basically, television will never be the same again. >> there was really no bigger television event than "roots." it was based on a 1976 book by alex haley about his family in africa and coming to america as slaves and what happens to them as the centuries go on. >> i will go to my grave believing that "roots" is america's story.

it's not just black america's story. >> we might have come over in the bottom of the ship, but we all came over on ships. >> my name means stay put. but it don't mean stay a slave. >> as a 19-year-old kid, "roots" was my first job. >> we're not children. we're very close to being men. >> what's your name? >> kunta. kunta kinte. >> the character that i got to portray in "roots" was a dream role. >> it was really genius to cast all of america's favorite television dads in the roles of the white slave owners and the villains. >> i'll be by to fetch ya in the morning, captain. sleep well. >> it is difficult to explain in today's culture how unprecedented "roots" was. no one had ever seen the story of slavery before told from the point of view of the africans. >> it may be the first time that television allowed an embracing of black pride.

>> them is freed. we is free, honey. >> one of the reasons that "roots" was so incredibly popular is not because abc had so much faith in it, but because abc didn't. >> earlier miniseries were broadcast in weekly installments. and the abc executives determined that if "roots" were to fail, they could just be done with it in seven or eight nights. >> it was high risk, high reward. if it didn't work, you were out a lot of tv time and not many people watching. >> the television premiere on eight consecutive nights attracted the largest audience in the history of the medium. >> there's something about it that seems to touch all human beings. it transcends age and race. >> entertainment was meeting humanity. i think that's the primary value is to lead humanity forward. >> if there's a legacy of television in the '70s, it's that you matter.

>> while there's a lot going on in the world, television was a reminder of how much little things mean to us. the smallest of situations. >> no matter what the subject matter was, it wanted to include you. you're in the family. don't make fun of the outsider. include them. >> its legacy is, look how long it's lasted. >> those shows were about people who were kind and nice. they were not mean-spirited shows. >> there was a certain elegance to that. i kind of miss it. >> oh, it was so delicious. five different flavors. and archie was sitting at another table with jefferson pratt, remember him? anyway, archie was trying to get my attention. so first he put two straws up his nose. like a walrus.

♪ the idea of wearing a wire into the white house, in an explosive interview, the former acting zrdirector of the fbi offered the attorney general a recording device to wear about the u.s. president. plus, hundreds of militants are believed to have fled to iraq from isis territories. and -- >> there's no way you're going to stand in the way of a people whose children are starving to death, and they don't have the medicine. >> as piles of aid