wants to. >> i'll say that the music of the 80s is more effective than what came to us in the 60s, simply because all of us were included. this time, no decade was more effective in dance music, and politics and different genres than the 80s. there will never, ever be another decade like it ever anybody wants to know there's a rule where i don't find you for the hands, while the walls come tumbling down when they do, i'll be right behind you so glad we've almost made it so sad they had to. >> made it everybody wants to move

>> it's a time of enormous turmoil. >> shut up in here. the 60s are over, dad. here's michael at the foul line. >> a shot on goal we intend to cover all the news all the time. >> we won't be signing off until the world ends. >> isn't that special? >> any tool for human expression will bring out both the best and the worst in us. and television has been there. >> they don't pay me enough to deal with animals like this. >> people are no longer embarrassed to admit they watch television. >> we have seen the news and it is us

lowly but surely, the 1970s are disappearing. >> the 1980s will be upon us and what a decade it is coming up happy new year as you begin the 80s in the television world, the landscape was on any given evening, nine out of ten people

watching only one of three networks. >> more than 30 million people are addicted to it. social critics are mystified by its success. what is it? it's television's prime time prairie potboiler. >> dallas, a move like that will destroy all of ewing oil, and it'll ruin our family name. i assure you, a thought like that never crossed my mind brother or no brother, whatever it takes i'll stop you from destroying ewing oil dallas really did establish new ground in terms of a weekly one hour show that literally captivated america for 13 years. >> dallas is a television show, which in some ways is rooted in the 1970s, and one of the crazy things that emerges is this character j.r. ewing, as a pop phenomenon. >> tell me, j.r., which are you going to stay with tonight? what difference does it make? >> whoever it is has got to be more interesting than the i'm looking at right now. >> he was such a delicious villain. everyone was completely enamored by this

character at this point. >> so many people were watching television that you could do something so unexpected that it would become news overnight. who's there the national obsession in 1980, around who shot j.r.? >> it's hard to imagine how obsessed we all were with that question, but we were. >> who shot j.r.? is about as ideal a cliffhanger as you possibly could get. who did shoot j.r.? >> we may never get the answer to that question. i mean, the people who produced that program are going to keep us in suspense for as long as they possibly can. >> we shot j.r., and then we broke for the summer. then, coincidentally, the actors went on strike and it delayed the resolution and it just started to percolate through the world. >> i remember going on vacation to england that summer, and that's all the people were

talking about there. >> well, we know you don't die. i mean, you couldn't die. >> i don't know that. >> well how could you die? you couldn't come back next season. >> that's what i mean. i couldn't come back, but the show could still go. >> oh, but you wouldn't. what is that show without j.r.? >> well, that's what i figured, huh? >> well, i guess if you don't know by now who shot j.r., you probably do not care. but last night, some 82 million americans did, and they watched the much touted dallas episode. it could become the most watched television show ever. >> who shot j.r.? is a reflection of old fashioned television. it's a moment that gathers everybody around the electronic fireplace which is now the television set. >> how about one special american television program? a critic said it transcends in popularity every other american statement about war and something special happened today to mobile army surgical hospital, 477. that will touch millions of americans. it was the kind of event that would draw the world's press stage. nine 20th century fox studios.

the end of the korean war. the television version mash. >> it's been an honor and a privilege to have worked with you, and i'm very very proud to have known you there were those landmark times when shows that had been watched through the 70s and into the 80s, like mash had its final episode, and we were all sad to see them go. i miss you. >> i'll miss you a lot all over the country armies of fans crowded around television sets to watch the final episode and to bid mash farewell. >> the finale of mash was unprecedented. 123 million people watched one television program at the same time. >> you know, i really should be allowed to go home. there's nothing wrong with me. >> when we ended the show we got telegrams of congratulations from henry

kissinger and ronald reagan the size of the response and the emotional nature of the response that we were getting was difficult for us to understand. who shot j.r.? and the last episode of mash are the last call for the pre-cable world of television. it's like they are the last time that that huge audience will all turn up for one event. >> all right, that's it. let's roll hey, hey let's be careful out there dispatch, we have a 911. >> armed robbery in progress. >> when quality does emerge on television, the phrase too good for tv is often heard. one recent network offering that seems to deserve that phrase is hill street blues. >> hill street is one of the changing points of the entire industry and the history of tv. >> we had all watched a documentary about cops and had

this real hand-held, in-the-moment quality that we were very enamored of the minute you looked at it it looked different. >> it had a mood to it. you could almost you could almost smell the stale coffee. >> we didn't want to do a standard cop show where, you know, you got a crime and you got your two cops, and you go out and you catch the bad guy and you sweat him and he confesses, and that's it. cops have personal lives that impact their behavior in profound ways. >> well, what about it? is he here? is he get excited, counselor. we're working on it. how's this for logic, furillo? if he's not here and if he's not elsewhere, he's lost. we didn't say that, counselor. not never in my entire life have i listened to so much incompetence covered up by so much unmitigated crap. find my client, furillo or i swear i'll

have you up on charges. >> there'd be these ongoing arcs for these characters that would play out over 5 or 6 episodes. sometimes an entire season. and in a way, for certain stories over the entire series and no one had really done that on an hour long dramatic show these past four months. >> i've missed you. i had to find that out come home pizza man. >> i think in the past, people had watched television passively, and the one thing i think we did set out to be were provocateurs you are an action report you fill it out. >> what the hell's the matter with you, man? >> i'll tell you something. they don't pay me enough to deal with animals like this. the first thing they see is a white face, and all they want to do is doge. >> you listen to me, renko there was a white finger that pulled the trigger, not a black one. who's the white one? >> it set a trend. the idea that the audience can accept its characters being deeply

flawed. you know, even though they're wearing this uniform. and i thought that that was important to to finally get across. don't do it. >> no biting. >> we wanted to make a show that made you participate made you pay attention and i think that worked pretty well and the winner is hill street blues. >> i got 21 nominations and we went on to win eight emmys, and it put us on the map, literally. >> and that's when people finally checked us out. >> programing chief of one of the networks used to say to me about shows like hill street and saint elsewhere what the american public wants is a cheeseburger and what you're trying to give them is a french delicacy. and he said, your job is to keep shoving it down their throat until after a while, they'll say that doesn't taste bad. and maybe they'll even order it themselves when they go to the restaurant. >> nice of you to join us, doctor morrison. >> the success of hill street blues is a critical phenomenon influenced everything that came after and then, of course, you

saw shows like saint elsewhere. >> do you know what people call this place? not saint eligius, saint elsewhere. a place you wouldn't want to send your mother in law when it first came on. >> it was actually promoted as hill street in the hospital. >> you give your patients the wrong antibiotics. you don't know what medications they're on. you write the worst progress notes. you're pathetic. pathetic. bill. what? >> doctor maury needs you right away. >> i'm sorry. >> saint elsewhere broke every rule there was. and then built some new rules bobby, the blood bank called a little while ago. >> they ran a routine panel on my pint of blood t cell count was off. >> they would have tragic things happen to these characters. there was real heartache in these people's lives and you really felt for them. >> i've got aids. >> television at its best, is a mirror of society in the moment. >> saint elsewhere challenged people and they challenged you as an actor. much less the audience to think. the stuff they gave you was extreme. and

what they did, whether they were dealing with aids or having one of their main doctor characters raped in a prison. they tackled lots of difficult subjects. >> saint elsewhere was run by people who were trying to stretch the medium, and in the 80s, television producers were encouraged to stretch the medium okay, we're everyone's running to subway for three. >> all new spicy footlongs. wait. subway did what? that's right. they're bringing the heat with creamy sriracha jalapenos and all new ghost pepper bread. but hurry! these subs are only here for a limited time emergency crystals pop and fizz when you throw them back and who doesn't love a good throwback now, with vitamin d for the dark days of winter i feel like

new sunglasses. >> like a brand new pair of jeans. i feel like taking chances. >> i feel alive brand new oh book celebrity cruises black friday event today. >> growing old is part of the journey even when you have heart failure. but when he had shortness of breath carpal tunnel syndrome and lower back pain, we wondered, could these be warning signs of something bigger thank goodness we called his cardiologist because these were signs of atcm a rare and serious disease that gets worse over time. if you see any of the warning signs, don't wait. ask your cardiologist about atcm today. >> it's the

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who accepts medicare patients so if you have this. consider adding this call unitedhealthcare today for your free decision guide your parents have given you some amazing gifts celebrate the ones you inherited with ancestry dna. >> explore the detailed family roots cultures, and traits that shaped who you are today. for only $39. >> closed captioning is brought to you by skechers. slip ins. >> what a great idea for a holiday gift. give hands free skechers slip ins footwear you just step into and they're on. there's no bending down and no touching your shoes. hands free skechers slip ins didn't realize that behind him there were a lot of people used to say i was there. >> now people say they watch it on television. >> there's just a lot of excitement connected to sports in the 80s. you used to have to

depend on the five minutes at the end of your local newscast. >> there just hadn't been enough, you know, give us a whole network of sports. >> there's just one place you need to go for all the names and games. making sports news, espn sportscenter. >> what happens in the 1980s is sports becomes a tv show and what are tv shows built around? they're built around characters you can't be serious, man. >> you cannot be serious. >> you got the absolute pits of the world. you know that mcenroe, the perfect villain, the new yorker that people love to hate. >> borg, the cool swede, never giving any emotion away. >> what? tennis. really wants is to get its two best players playing over and over again in the final whether they're john mcenroe and bjorn borg or chris evert and martina navratilova. that's what we want to tune into over and over and over again oh goodness me. >> net caught and three match points to martina navratilova

know that this man has a smile that lights up a television screen from here to bangor, maine. >> and then there is magic johnson. this urban kid from michigan and larry bird, this guy who worked carrying trash one place for the los angeles lakers, the other place for the boston celtics. it's a great story. paul clement lakers had several chances. >> and here's larry bird dunking down the court magic johnson leads the attack. >> look at that pass. >> oh, what a shot. oh. >> so when those championship games are in prime time and people are paying attention to that television feeds into those rivalries and makes them bigger than they've ever been before i didn't challenge me with that somewhat primitive skill. >> they're just as good as dead every mike tyson fight was an event because every fight was like an ax murder when he fought michael spinks, the electricity you could just feel it watching it on tv.

>> here comes mike spinks in. he leads the right hand. >> down he goes. >> tyson was made for tv because there was drama. it's all over, mike tyson has won it not a lot of junior high school kids can dunk especially at five. >> but everybody tries now. i bet daddy tries. >> i think that he is starting to transcend just this sport, that he's becoming something of a public figure. >> michael jordan becomes the model that every other athlete wants to shoot for. they want to be a brand. and that's what television does for these athletes. turns them into worldwide, iconic brands. >> the inbounds pass comes in to jordan. here's michael at the foul line a shot on goal. >> the bulls win it. >> athletes in the 80s became part of an ongoing group of people that we cared about. we just had an enormous pent up demand for sports. and the 80s began to provide thank goodness cable television is continuing to grow. >> it's estimated that it will go into 1 million more u.s. households. this year, with cable television suddenly offering an array of different

channel choices. >> the audience bifurcated. that's an earthquake. i want my mtv. >> i want my mtv. >> i want my mtv a new concept is born. >> the best of tv, combined with the best of radio. this is it. welcome to mtv music television the world's first 24 hour stereo video music channel. >> music television. what a concept. mtv was pow in your face. you were not gonna turn us off mtv did nothing but play current music videos all day long. >> so let me get this straight. you turn on the tv and it's like the radio. >> i'm martha quinn. the musical continued nonstop on mtv music television. the newest component of your stereo system. when mtv launched a generation was launched 18 to 24 year olds were saying, i

want my mtv. i want my mtv videos. i want my mtv fashion. >> yo, mtv was the first network really focused on the youth market and becomes hugely influential because they understand each other, the audience and the network. >> mtv had a giant impact visually and musically on every part of the tv culture that came next. miami vice on friday nights on nbc are different this season thanks to miami vice. >> it's a show with an old theme, but a lot of new twists. described by one critic as containing flashes of brilliance nonetheless shot entirely on location in south miami, the story centers around two undercover vice cops i don't know how this is going to work, tubbs. >> i mean, you're not exactly up my alley. style and persona wise heaven knows i'm no box of candy. >> television. >> very much was the small screen it was interesting about

tony yankovic's pilot screenplay for miami vice is that it was exactly not that. very much the approach was okay. they call this a television series, but we're going to make one hour movies every single week. okay, here we go. >> stand by. action please. >> you were just describing the show as sort of a new wave cop show. >> yeah, it's a cop show for the 80s. i mean, we use a lot of mtv images and rock music to help describe the mood and feeling of our show in a lot of ways, you don't get miami vice without mtv because in a lot of ways, miami vice was a long video. >> the music was such a big part of that show there was an allure to using great music that everybody was listening to as opposed to the routine kind of tv scoring of that period i can feel it coming. >> it not only wasn't not afraid to let long scenes play out, it would drag a car going from point a to point b could

be a four minute phil collins song you know? and it was all love being able to take a television series like miami vice and let's really kind of rock and roll with this until somebody says, stop. >> are you guys crazy? you can't do that. and nobody ever did please, please december 8th on cnn. >> it's a night that's good for the soul. join anderson cooper and laura coates for cnn heroes, an all star tribute. thank you guys. meet the honorees and celebrate their life changing achievements. >> they're ordinary people doing extraordinary things. >> then find out who will be named the cnn hero of the year. >> it's really incredible. >> plus, don't miss a special tribute to this year's legacy award honoree, michael j. fox cnn heroes, an all star tribute sunday, december 8th on cnn lowes knows when it comes to

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thomas magnum, marion hammond the private investigator. >> oh, you're probably wondering about the goat. um just let me drop off my friend and then we'll talk. >> when we entered the 80s, a lot of one hour dramas that were light hearted, like magnum p.i. were very popular after mash went off the air. >> the next season there wasn't a single sitcom in the top ten. first time that had ever happened in tv history. >> the prevailing feeling was that the sitcom was dead. >> brandon tartikoff, nbc programing chief, says reports of the sitcoms death were greatly exaggerated. >> time and time again, if you study television history, just when someone is counting a form out, that is exactly the form

of programing that leads to the next big hit so 1984, the cosby show comes on. >> now bill cosby is not new to tv. he's had other tv shows, but the cosby show is very different. it stands apart from everything else he's done. mama one of my eggs scrambled. >> coming right up they talked about parenting previous to that on television. >> the kids were cool. and the parents were idiots. and then cosby says the parents are in charge. and that was something new. >> instead of acting disappointed because i'm not like you maybe you can just accept who i am and love me anyway because i'm your son. that's the dumbest thing i've ever heard in my life. >> you know, it helps the casting of anything helps a lot in television and the kids were just great. >> if you were the last person on this earth, i still wouldn't tell you. you don't

have to tell me what you did just tell me what you're going to do to you unlike every other show on tv, it's showing an upper middle class black family. and this wasn't all in the family they weren't tackling, you know, deep issues. but that was okay. the mere fact that they existed was a deep issue the decade was waiting for something real. >> in other words, unless it's real, it doesn't seem like it moves anybody if someone's feeling something, you get to the heart, you get to the mind. and if you can hit the hearts and minds you got yourself a hit. >> how was school? >> school, dear, i brought home two children that may or may not be ours. >> cosby's show brought this tremendous audience to nbc, and that was a bridge to us. >> i mean, our ratings went way up sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name

even the theme song to cheers puts you in a good mood, even though everybody know norman. >> what's shakin on all four cheeks and a couple of chins? coach by the end of the cheers pilot, not only did you know who everybody was, but you wanted to come back and see what was going to happen. >> it's like all you have to do is watch it. once you're going to love these people. these are universal characters and the humor worked on so many levels. last night i was up till two in the morning, finishing off kierkegaard. >> i hope he thanked you for it you have to create a community that people are identifying with and cheers gives you that community. boy, i tell you, i've always wanted to skydive. i've just never had the guts. what did it feel like? well, imagine it's not like sex saying, well i have to imagine what sex is like but i have plenty of sex and plenty of this too why don't you just get off my back, okay in the first episode, there was a rather

passionate annoyance. >> i was saying, huh something's going on here. a really intelligent woman would see your line of bs a mile away. >> i've never met an intelligent woman that i'd want to date on behalf of the intelligent women around the world, may i just say whew! >> and we saw what ted and shelly had together we said, oh, no, you got to do this relationship. >> ted and i understood what they were writing right away. if you'll admit that you are carrying a little torch for me i'll admit that i'm carrying a little one for you. >> well, i am carrying a little torch for you well i'm not carrying one for you diane knew how to tease sam. >> sam knew how to tease diane. and i guess we know how to tease the audience

this incredible chemistry between the two of them ignited the show. >> and that's what drove the show for the first five years. >> oh, i'm devastated. i need something expeditious and brutal to numb my sensibilities and blast me into sweet oblivion. how about a boilermaker? make it a mimosa we had the luck to be able to rotate, cast and every time we put somebody in, they were explosions booyah there was something very special about that setting. >> those characters that i never got tired of writing that show sophisticated surveys, telephonic samplings, test audiences, all of those things helped to separate winners from losers and make midcourse corrections. >> but you can't cut all comedies from the same cookie cutters all you can hope is that every night turns out like thursday. yo angela, lovey lovey. >> next how rude

is quick. >> i'll give him that. >> all of television said oh, well, maybe the sitcoms are alive again and that's all that it took. it took one success. >> a few years from now, something new may tempt the people who pick what we see but it's a very safe guess that whatever gets hot for a season or two, the men and women who create good television comedy will be laughing all the way to the bank i'm going to let you in on a little secret happiness could lead to living longer. >> you want to know how on my podcast, chasing life, i'm uncovering the secrets of people around the world who are living happy healthy, extraordinary lives. hear how they do it and the science behind why it works. join me as i reveal their secrets and discover how we can chase life together. listen to chasing life with me, doctor sanjay gupta. wherever you get your podcasts

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pentagon and this is cnn this is my last broadcast as the anchorman of the cbs evening news. >> for me, it's a moment for which i long have planned but which nevertheless comes with some sadness. for almost two decades, after all, we've been meeting like this in the evenings, and i'll miss that. and that's the way it is friday, march 6th, 1981. i'll be away on assignment and dan rather will be sitting in here for the next few years. >> good night, uncle walter had dominated certainly cbs, but in a way the country people used to say that he was the most trusted man in the country. >> once walter cronkite retires, all three network news anchors within a period of a couple of years, switch over to a new generation. the 80s may have been the last gasp where people watching the media liked and trusted the media nuclear arms and how to prevent global destruction are expected to be the major topic of president

reagan's news conference tonight. >> that conference will be nationally televised within the hour. lesley stahl is at the white house. >> the white house is hoping that tomorrow's in the 80s, women came into the newsroom. when i first joined, it was 72 and there were very few by the 80s, there were more and more. the decade of the 80s was still a time of sink or swim. >> you had to be resilient in your own way to to survive in a period when you were going up against a lot of people who still didn't think women had what it took these are some of the most famous faces in broadcasting, all of whom happen to be women. >> now, the best producers. i'm going to get fired. the best producers at cbs news are women, and they are at the level of taking hold and making decisions about individual pieces they're not yet executive producers of all the new shows, but they will be for the past 24 hours. christine kraft has taken her cause to many of the nation's news and talk programs i didn't set out to be joan of arc, but i think

that what happened to me deserves some attention what happened? >> christine kraft had a very successful career, but there she was in her late 30s, and the tv station said to her, we're taking you off the air because you've gotten older and you're not as attractive as you. once were, which was outrageous. and she decided to make an issue of it. she filed a lawsuit and it became a huge national topic of discussion. >> a jury said she got a raw deal because she is a woman and so women in television news everywhere were asked, what do you think about christine kraft? >> i think, unfortunately, in recent years, the emphasis has been increasingly on physical appearance. and to the extent this decision helps swing the emphasis back to substance and to good journalism, i think we've got something to be happy about. it was important to make the point that what mattered was what kind of reporter are you? but it took the christine kraft incident. i think, to to bring that conversation out into the open. >> this coming sunday, a new television network opens for

business. cnn cable news network. you're throwing all the dice on this one. >> why not? nothing ventured, nothing gained. faint heart. never won, fair lady. >> well, on that original point, mr. turner, thank you very much indeed. >> i wanted to see what was going on in the world and there was no way that you could do it watching the regular television stations. and this only comes on at six and 10:00. but if there was news on 24 hours, people could watch it any time we signed on on june 1st. >> and barring satellite problems in the future, we won't be signing off until the world in there was a widespread belief that this was a fool's errand. >> how can this possibly find an audience well, he did ready? >> camera three one. center up. >> good evening i'm david walker, and i'm lois hart. >> now here's the news. president carter has arrived television news. >> before this was stuff that had already happened for the first time. >> cnn brought the world to people in real time cnn, the

world's most important network. >> i didn't do cable news network because somebody told me it couldn't be done. i figured it was a very viable concept and i went ahead and did it. it was after we announced that we were going to do it that the detractors showed up. >> is cable news network just going to be a new means of delivering the same kind of fare no. >> it already does provide different fare and cable news network is a perfect and maybe the best example of that. >> people love news and we had lots of it and the other guys had not very much. so choice and quantity went out. >> new york city, hello, a major catastrophe in america's space program. i'm lou dobbs, along with financial editor myron kandel, jessica mcclure trapped for almost three days now in a dry artesian well, the iron curtain between east germany and west berlin has come tumbling down.

>> good evening. i'm pat buchanan, the conservative in crossfire the american people appreciated the new television. >> they certainly came to came to cnn in droves. >> mr. gorbachev and i both agree on the desirability of freer and more extensive personal contact between the peoples of the soviet union and the united states. >> we began to realize that the best way to get a message to a foreign leader was to have the president go into the rose garden and make a statement because everybody was watching cnn. >> cnn was a breakthrough. it changed the whole world. >> it changed quickly. the network news business, that business that we weren't the only ones. and it was hard, you know, it's hard to be on the top, little perch and have to come down off it on special segment tonight, the network news the first in a two part series on the profound changes taking place in television news changes being brought about by business competition and technology. >> there are a variety of

reasons why people who worked at the broadcast networks were freaked out in the 1980s. one of them was cnn and the rise of cable. another was being taken over by foreign entities in corporate america. new owners spent billions buying the networks recently, and all of them want their money's worth. >> people began to find out that news could be a profit center, and that focused a lot of attention on us, a lot from people in wall street for instance, if you think about the news divisions of cbs, nbc and abc, they were part of a really proud tradition a journalistic tradition that really matters we serve the public. >> this is not about profit and loss. and the people who worked at those news divisions were totally freaked out by what it meant that they were now owned by these larger corporate entities. >> the television news isn't profitable at some point, there won't be any more television news on the networks. >> i worry about people who are interested only in money and power. getting ahold of television. it has higher

purposes than that. >> we have seen the news and it is us their everyday people doing extraordinary things in their communities and in our world who should be the 2024 cnn hero of the year? >> it's your chance to weigh in. meet this year's honorees, and discover the life changing work they're doing then cast up to ten votes a day every day. visit cnn heroes.com with straight talks reel unlimited data. >> say yes to unlimited streaming. >> yes. unlimited gifting no. >> and unlimited holiday moments. >> yes. >> get a free phone with plan activation on america's most reliable 5g network. >> straight talk reel, unlimited data lowe's knows our deals. >> let you give more and get more to shop now for big black friday deals on holiday decor and tools from our top brands,

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free book to answer questions you may have. >> call now and we'll come to you. >> 800 821 4000. >> sometimes ambition in a woman is considered to be a dirty word. >> unfortunately, i don't hear a lot of female voices reverberating in the halls of power in this business i'm surprised there aren't more shows about women they're talking about who they are directing seems to be an area that is almost impossible to break through i think the 80s were the era when women were being looked at with a little skepticism, but definitely with more acceptability. >> you could see the door opening but it wasn't wide open. cagney and lacey was huge, that there would be two women, and they had a serious job, and they solved crimes and they were out on the streets. they were tough, and that was emblematic. or maybe out in front a little of what was

actually happening in the country. so we're a terrific team. >> this is true. >> what do you see? we're getting sober. how terrific we are. >> we've been, by that point, hundreds of buddy cop shows. but these buddies were women that had never been done before i didn't go after this job because i couldn't find anything else all right. >> i did not come here because i needed some kind of work to help pay the orthodontist. >> this means something to me what the hell are we talking about here we didn't even realize that this was going to be such a big deal. >> and strangely, all these guys would say to us, well yeah, i mean, it's a good script, but who's going to save them in the end all right, come on. >> we're taking you out of here come on. >> will you take my wife? >> you don't take one more step, you understand me sergeant nelson? >> you have until 8:00 tomorrow morning to turn yourself in to iad. phyllis, if you don't, i will. >> it was a time where you really saw an emergence of women on television who were

not necessarily just 20 and blond and had a small role, but women who had substantial roles. thank you for being a friend traveled down the road and back again it was unpredictable that an audience, a young audience of not so young audience and lots in between could relate to those older ladies ma, if you couldn't see, why didn't you call me to come get you? >> i tried to, but every time i put in a dime and dialed a condom, popped out i got five in my pocket here. >> dorothy a lifetime supply she was recently named along with norman lear and jim brooks, as one of television's most gifted, creative writers. >> and when you look back at the past women role models on television, well, it's easy to see susan harris's impact

susan harris was the greatest writer, in my opinion, of her generation of that time singularly so, you know all credit to her for coming up with so many iterations of something so amazing do you think there is a woman's voice as a writer? >> woman's voice? >> well, generally they speak higher softer i don't know not to ask that of a writer. >> um yes, of course there's a woman's voice. >> uh, women have a different perspective. >> women laugh at different things. so, yes, there very definitely is a woman's voice oh, do you know how many problems we have solved over a cheesecake at this kitchen table? >> no. dorothy exactly how many? >> 147. >> hi, brian. it's cut throat prime time. >> time this fall as some 23 new shows compete in one of the hottest ratings races in years. >> here's one just about everybody predicts will be a big hit. >> designing women on cbs for femmes forming an interior decorating business and giving each other the business.

>> suzanne, if sex were fast food, there'd be an arch over your bed linda bloodworth-thoma son created one of the funniest most unusual shows in designing women. >> they were a different group of women than you really saw on television. they were feisty they were sexy, and linda's voice came through shining men can get away with anything. >> i mean, look at reagan's neck. it sags down to here everybody raves about how great he looks. can you imagine if nancy had that neck? he'd be putting her in a nursing home for turkeys they've given me this 23 minutes to address whatever topic i want. >> and it's such a privilege. it's more than the president of the united states gets. and it's kind of thrilling to have that every week. i would be lying if i said i didn't put my opinions in the show. >> excuse me, but you lovely

ladies look like you're in need of a little male companionship here. >> trust me when i tell you that you have completely mis assessed the situation at this table hey, moving on to scene d, i am a woman and i am a writer, but i don't really enjoy being called a woman's writer. >> i think labels are harmful to us. with murphy brown just about everything about that program felt new the civil rights movement and the women's movement had just begun to sort of be reflected in the programing that you saw on television in the 80s. >> murphy you know, the dumfries club is for men only, and they have great dinners with great guests and i don't get to go for one reason and one reason only. >> and it has to do with something you've got. and i don't a tiny, pathetic little y chromosome murphy brown was sea change because she was so popular and such a strong

independent, tough woman no matter what you think of a guest or their views, you are obligated to ask the questions in a dignified manner. >> jim, she was unprofessional. am i right? >> well, i believe this, jim. >> he thinks it's neat that his office chair swivels and he's calling me unprofessional he is the smartest son of a he's ever done this for a living james was famous for winning races james believes that change wins it's the economy, stupid i ain't apologizing to no one. >> the man is a two fisted catcher. >> i am saying publicly what people are saying to themselves. i have enough money i could just shut up. carville winning is everything stupid now streaming on max the best part of the party snooping in the bathroom. >> oh. party fell not listening to your dentist. make the sonicare switch for a champ. be

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you are in a good mood tonight and i tell you, we have put a great show together. >> it'll be on a week from thursday johnny carson in the 80s is making the transition from being the king of late night to being a national treasure. >> he was a throwback to that old showbiz stuff i've been on with you for some time. >> you've been a long time. >> yeah, well you've been busy with other things. >> that's right and the tide is starting to turn in terms of where late night television is going to go. >> but johnny is kind of holding out. he was not necessarily of his time in the 80s, but he did sustain a certain timelessness. he's the king. let's go knock on your chair, on your khuza'a he just played playing my my next guest. >> not only has a college degree but he also has a high

school degree. that's right. i do as well. he's hosted the tonight show practically as often as johnny carson. and now he has his very own show weekday mornings at ten on nbc what you're witnessing here is a good idea. >> gone awry. yes a fun filled surprise turning into an incredible screw up right david letterman originally had a one hour daytime show and nbc after, like 13 weeks, decided to cancel it. today is our last show on the air monday. las vegas have these people been frisked before? they. >> it was a dismal failure in terms of the ratings but not in terms of introducing us to letterman. >> david thank you for being with us tonight. thank you very much for having me. i appreciate it. and in spite of all this nonsense that goes around in the background, stay with it. don't give up and stay with us. here in new york. we like to i like to thank you

dave is back in new york. >> you're going to host a late night television program that premieres monday night. >> what are what are critics likely to say tuesday morning? >> i don't much care because i found a way to deal with that pills and whiskey you're on. >> oh. >> i'm on. i'm sorry enjoying listening to you snort they gave him the late night show after the tonight show. >> and at the time, people thought, who's going to watch television at 1230 at night? who's up? i'll tell you who's up. young people, college people. >> is it going well? i know this is the first show, and i think this guy needs a little support. dave letterman he was anti-establishment at his core. >> he was thumbing his nose to any existing social structures. >> who are those women out there by the way? >> neighbors. >> i'll get rid of them hey excuse me keep it moving. >> come on, get up he kind of spoofed the whole notion of

talk shows. >> it's the late night guest cam, please say hello to tom hanks. there he is no one could go on the david letterman show and try to steer it towards a point of view, or push something in particular. >> he just wouldn't stand for it. you're on to do one thing and one thing. only be as funny as the rest of the show. >> you know, we could get in a two shot here. dave we could actually send the crew home couldn't we you know, as a comedian, you want the biggest audience that you could get for dave, he knew a lot of things that he would do were going to alienate people. >> and he didn't care. he wanted his thumbprint out there. and that's the most important thing it's time for small town news. >> paul. excuse me. paul, do you have any have any accompanying music here for small town news paul shaffer, ladies and gentlemen, the show making fun of itself and turning itself inside out that way was, uh, something kind of

new. >> i mean, don't we look like guys that you'd see hanging around together? >> absolutely. would you like to hang around with me? nope how are you doing? and i'll say it again. this is the stupidest show i've. >> i thought that i would never want to do this show with you. now why? >> because you thought i was a there's one rule i keep trying to abide by. and unfortunately, i only get to it about 12% of the time. and that is, it's only television we're not doing cancer research. if the 40 year odd history of commercial broadcasting has taught us one thing, there's nothing sacred about television. all right steven is upstairs hey, dave, i was just curious. is there any way i can get mtv on this? actually, steve, that's a that's just a monitor and all you can get on that is our show. oh, that's okay there was a degree of cynicism that was needed in the art form at that time, and it's a

cynicism that just became common sense after a while because it never got old. >> i've watched johnny carson and you are no johnny carson goo goo goo goo goo goo. >> good day. welcome to great white north canadian corner. >> i'm bob mackenzie. >> it's my brother doug. and today we got a real big show because we got a there was a second city chicago company. >> there was a second city toronto company the toronto one is the one that fueled the ctv series, which originally was syndicated and got to the states that way. hey, hey hail, hail hail, hail. >> thank you very much for that marvelous reception. i particularly want to thank my supporters over there in the cesarean section i think it's healthy to be an outsider. >> you know, as a comedian and canadians are always outsiders, but they're looking at the other culture which is right next door to them. i love you, sammy maudlin. >> i want to bury our children

it was the type of comedy that had only been accessible. >> if you could have gotten into the improv clubs in chicago or toronto. i had never seen anything like second city tv. >> james bridgman parkdale i'm sorry. >> no, never mind i'm sorry. >> it was far more conceptual in its humor because it didn't have to be performed in front of an audience. and there was also just the idea that it was this sort of low rent thing. it was this sort of by the seat of their pants kind of operation that gave it an authenticity. >> now that our programing day has been extended, i'm going to be spending. do you want me to put the kibosh on mrs. prickley? >> what is in the fridge butch? >> you were rooting for the show and the characters that they created. there was just something that you got behind. whereas you know, snl, right? from the from the from the gate and through the 80s, was this, this big enterprise after five golden years, lorne decided to leave

and so did those close to him, including me, al franken so nbc had to pick a new producer now, most knowledgeable people, as you might imagine, hoped it would be me, al franken. >> well, it was a real question of whether saturday night live would continue at all, whether it was just die. >> the press hasn't been overly kind. >> yeah, i read that stuff. >> is that a night live? >> is saturday night dead? oh, man. come on geez. from judge to. yeah. oh my favorite though is vile from new york please. come on. that's funny. it's funny. >> they were having a hard time. and then came the man that saved the show, eddie murphy putnam there was buzz about him. so you tuned in and there was this kind of explosion of talent in front of your eyes. i too hot and hotter famously it really kind of rejuvenated the show i'm gumby,

it. >> you don't talk to me that way. >> after a while, the show regained its status and its clout and became even more of an institution than it had been. >> hey bob. >> hey, looks great today listen, harry, if you're unhappy with my work, tell me now you're through do you hear me through? >> you'll never work in this town again. >> don't leave me hanging by a thread. let me know where i stand. >> we were a little worried at first because we had a new cast but everyone loves us. >> you guys have been so nice to us during our stay. >> isn't that special? i am hon and i am flossing. >> we just want to pop you are a lot of things that they could do on saturday night live. >> they couldn't do on a sitcom the humor was more daring and more satirical, and it was political. >> you still have 50s left mr. vice president. >> well, let me just sum up on track stay the course a thousand points of light stay

the course governor dukakis rebuttal. >> i can't believe i'm losing to this guy oh, i'll get it. >> oh it's garry shandling's show, people were taking all the old principles of comedy and trying to turn them into something new. >> we'd spent years and years watching sitcoms and dramas and talk shows. by then we knew them by heart that if somebody played on that and parodied it, we got it instantly yeah, i appreciate you coming in under these conditions, louis, i really do. >> you want to hold the credits? >> okay. now, see, we were going to show the credits and you screwed that up, okay? because you're late. >> the garry shandling show was aware of the fact that it was a situation comedy it highlighted the cliches in funny ways. >> are you looking into the camera? no no, i didn't dunka don't look into the camera. i didn't don't you don't come in here and look in the camera i didn't i'll bop you i will

if i see a tape of this show and you're looking into the well it's about that time pee-wee's playhouse on cbs, a so-called saturday morning kids show that adults could watch and wink at each other as they were watching it. >> it was very clever morning, conky. >> what's today's secret word today's secret word is good it was a show certainly for kids and it was for stoned baby boomers who were totally wasted on saturday morning and watched pee wee's playhouse and saw god i shared a lot of fun. >> i'll see you all real soon. till then everybody be good ha ha group play concludes for the emirates nba cup. >> the competitiveness has been palpable for this tournament. >> the magic take on the nets, followed by warriors and nuggets. and away we go. the

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oh book celebrity cruises black friday event today. >> closed captioning brought to you by book.com if you or a loved one have mesothelioma we'll send you a free book to answer questions you may have. >> call now and we'll come to you. >> 808 two one 4000. >> 1968. the summer before junior high school and i don't mind saying i was a pretty fair little athlete the wonder years was a guy in modern times looking back on his childhood that in itself is not new, but the wonder years did it with a wit and with the music. >> it was a brilliantly written show and a great performance by that entire young cast. hey steve, it looks like my baby brother and his girlfriend have found each other she's not my girlfriend.

>> kevin arnold has to cope with all the timeless problems of growing up during one of the most turbulent times that we have known. >> kevin arnold is just like a regular kid except in the 1960s, and he's not really aware of many of the events. like in one of the episodes the whole family is watching the apollo eight takeoff, but i'm just sitting there trying to call a girl. >> the first episode of the wonder years anybody who saw it remembers the ending where, you know the first kiss with winnie and kevin arnold. the song that they play is when a man loves a woman. that moment seemed so pure and so real. when i a man loves a woman can't keep his mind on nothing else the tone of the baby boomers of the 1960s is about rebellion, about being students. >> by the 1980s, it's time to grow up. and so they shave their beards, give up their dashikis, and they put on power

suits. a whole new notion are the yuppies. >> last year, the politicians were all talking about winning their votes. now those young urban professionals and the rest of their baby boom generation are being wooed by advertisers and their agencies. >> by the 80s, it was pretty clear that the generation after the generation of the 60s may be embodied by alex keaton on family ties seemed to be a lot more interested in the corner office than the new jerusalem. >> you're a young man. >> you shouldn't be worried about success. >> you should be thinking about hopping on a tramp steamer and going around the world. >> the 60s are over, dad. >> thanks for the tip. >> you weren't laughing at michael j. fox's character for being too conservative you were actually laughing at the parents for being too hopelessly liberal. what is this? >> i found it in the shower. >> that's generic brand shampoo this is him. >> this is the guy i've been telling you about. >> i mean, this is everything you'd want in a president.

>> the genius of family ties is it allows a kind of youthful reaganite to emerge. that's focused more on the future, that's focused more on a critique of the 60s. >> michael j. fox as alex keaton. really became the center of the show, and the writers were smart enough to see that they had something special and they wrote to that. >> it's not fair, alex. >> yeah, there's nothing you can do about it. >> jen. >> my advice to you is that you just enjoy being a child for as long as you can no, i did its best two weeks of my life alex is a little bill buckley. >> he the wall street journal is his bible. he has a tie to go with his pajamas. he very conservative and a very intense 17 year old. and now the first thing you teach is going to ask is what you did over the summer. now, a lot of kids are going to say, i went to the zoo, or i went to the beach, or i went to a baseball game. what are you going to say?

>> i watched the iran-contra hearings if mom and dad thought this generation was going to the dogs, think again. >> this is the generation that has discovered hard work and success. >> american culture is changing in the 80s and in terms of television there's this whole notion of demographic segmentation. >> networks were beginning to not be afraid to appeal to a very specific demographic. >> hey, handsome look at that shirt. >> is that a power shirt or what? >> nice suit. alan. good shoulder pads. >> you're looking to get drafted by the eagles, 30 something said we're not going to have cops, lawyers or doctors. >> we're just going to be about people. >> what are we doing here? why did we start this business? >> to do our thing. >> but right now, we got two wives, three kids, four cars, two mortgages, a payroll. >> and that's life pal. >> you be the breadwinner now. >> is that what i am? >> thirtysomething is a very important show. as you're going into this era of

television being more introspective and more emotional, and some people weren't buying it, but for other people, when they were talking about things like having kids and who was going to go back to work and some of these issues that hadn't been talked about a whole lot it was important to people i was so looking forward. >> i was so looking forward to doing this, to be growing up for just an hour in the beginning there was talk of this being the yuppie show, and you mentioned it tonight. >> you said that if there were a category for the most annoying show, this might win as well. >> now, what some people perceive as annoying has nothing to do with yuppie. i think yuppie is a word made up by demographers and advertisers to sell soap. i don't think it has anything to do with what the show is. >> thirtysomething was not a giant hit, but it was a niche hit. it attracted an enormously upscale group of advertisers. >> the network aired who was watching, not how many were watching, and that was more and more catching on in the 80s.

>> now the prosecution will ask you that you look to the law, and this you must do but i ask of you that you look to your hearts as well. thank you. >> l.a. law was partly a classic lawyer show, but it was intertwined with their personal lives and different lawyers who were sleeping together and trying to get ahead. >> the reality level on that show was like a foot or two off the ground, and you were willing to go with that because it was a whole new spin on a law show. uh tell the truth, if you had to do it all over again and she walked into your office and she said, take my case, would you? >> well, of course you would, because it is juicy newsy, exciting stuff. >> it was really fun to take the hill street blues format and use it to frame an entirely different social and cultural strata, with vastly different results. >> i wonder if i might engage

with my clie what are you doing for dinner tonight i was planning on having you. >> in that case, skip lunch. >> the formula had gotten established of how you can do a dramatic show and yet still have an awful lot of fun. we didn't used to be able to accept that very easily in a tv hour. and even before the 80s are out, it's like, oh, okay, i get it. you know, so it's like, all right, what are the rules now? >> what are you doing? >> i'm doing what i should have done all along. >> what i wanted to do originally, what i should have done last night stop that. david. i'm calling the police. >> david hello? hello police. >> the networks realized there was an audience looking for something less predictable than traditional primetime fare. >> moonlighting was another of those shows that said, okay, i see the formulas that we've had up to here. let's do different things

hello. >> hello. >> so we're looking a little pale today, aren't we? and who have we here? i don't know. >> moonlighting was a really experimental show. they had a shakespeare episode. they had a black and white episode. they did a musical episode. they tried a lot of different stuff. >> i don't give a flying fig about the lines in my face. the crow's feet by my eyes, or the altitude of my caboose. >> well i'm at a loss. i don't know what a flying free is. that's okay. >> they do there's no trouble on the set. >> there is no trouble on the set. >> well, we have a very volatile relationship. there is a hate love element to it. easy. >> come easy go. ha! >> the flirtations were great and bruce and sybil were great. glen karen kept them apart for a long time and bravo to him. >> what they did was they took the sam and diane dynamic from cheers and escalated it. cheers was will they or won't they?

moonlighting was do they even want to stay away from me? >> here i come but i don't want you. i never wanted you. yeah, right. >> does entertaining mean at some point stopping the tease of of dave and maddie? >> i mean, do they get together at some point? well that's going to be resolved this year. >> we like to think of it as two and a half years of foreplay people who have been watching moonlighting for years were waiting for this moment, and your emotions are already there, built onto the emotions that you're seeing on the screen. >> so when be my baby by the ronettes starts playing it's like a perfect storm of romance the night we met, i knew i needed you so december eighth on cnn. >> it's a night that's good for the soul. join anderson cooper and laura coates for cnn heroes, an all star tribute. thank you guys. meet the honorees and celebrate their

life changing achievements they're ordinary people doing extraordinary things. then find out who will be named the cnn hero of the year. >> it's really incredible. >> plus, don't miss a special tribute to this year's legacy award honoree, michael j. fox. cnn heroes, an all star tribute. sunday, december 8th on cnn with straight talks. >> real unlimited data. say yes to unlimited streaming. >> yes. unlimited gifting no and unlimited holiday moments? yes. >> get a free phone with plan activation on america's most reliable 5g network. >> straight talk real unlimited data. >> what do people want more of? more? oh yeah. more laughs more hangouts. more mhm. so good. yeah. give us more of all that little stuff that makes life so great. but if you're older or have certain health conditions, you also have more risk from flu covid 19 and rsv. vaccines help keep you from getting really sick. and that

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taylor app on ios or android, or visit m taylor dot com. >> i'm pete muntean at reagan national airport. >> this is cnn in recent years, it seems that television has become a kind of electronic confessional where guests are willing to expose painful and sometimes embarrassing aspects of their lives quite readily to millions of viewers. >> at the beginning of the decade, we get the dominance of phil donahue, and that's sort of a maturation of women's issues. and he seemed to talk to them in the audience. he seemed to talk to them through the tv screen. >> i'm glad you called kiss the kids we'll be back in just a moment. >> if you look at the body of

work we've had you know you're going to see the 80s there. >> i'm not here to say you're wrong, but let's understand this when you bring a moral judgment without knowing them against them for the way that they look, they feel that confirms the reason for their rebellion, if that's what you want to call it. >> he really believed that daytime television needed to talk about the ideas. we were thinking about the issues we were concerned about. >> i don't want to characterize his question, but why don't you get this fixed instead of doing this screwy stuff? >> there's not a single recorded case in history of any transsexual that ever, through psychological treatment, changed. >> it has never happened yet. >> and we were putting very important people on the program. >> all kinds of people gay people, people going to jail, people running for office, you know, sometimes the same people. it was a magic carpet ride. >> you really do paint a very,

very grim picture of the sitting president of the united states. let me just say this. i think he's probably the laziest president i've ever seen. >> the audience for phil donahue built and built and built and built and led the way to oprah hello everybody. >> hello. >> oprah has a particularly magical combination of her own background, her own experience, her own incisive mind and empathetic spirit. thank you. >> i'm oprah winfrey, and welcome to the very first national oprah winfrey show i was surprised that the rocket pace that oprah took off, because it took us a lot longer. >> the donahue show rearranged the furniture, but oprah remodeled the whole house.

>> there are a lot of other people out there who are watching, who really don't understand what you mean when you say, well, you know, we're in love. >> because i remember questioning my gay friend saying, you mean like you feel about him the way i feel about you? >> it's kind of a strange concept, you know for a lot of people to accept. >> oprah was connecting with people in a way that no one had on tv before and it was really special to see. >> well, did you know that for the longest time i wanted to be a fourth grade teacher because of you? >> i was not aware of inspiring anyone. >> i think you did exactly what teachers are supposed to do they create a spark for learning. it's the reason i have a talk show today. >> oprah winfrey now dominates the talk show circuit, both in the ratings and popularity. >> i want to use my life as a source of lifting people up. that's what i want to do. that's what i do every day on my show. you know, we get accused of being tabloid television and sensational and so forth, but what i really think we do more than anything else is we serve as a voice to a lot of people who felt up

until perhaps my show or some of the others, they were alone. >> this is what, 67 pounds of fat looks like. >> i can't. i can't lift it. it is amazing to me that i can't lift it, but i used to carry it around every day. >> there's nothing more endearing to an audience than to have that kind of honesty and humility and courage on the part of a host, and that i think has a lot to do with her power. >> it feels like i can do some good here, and i really do think that the show does a lot of good for the american television is drowning in talk shows, but it's never seen anything like morton downey jr.. i want to tell you the story and shut up. >> other competitors come and take the television talk show into two different directions. so you start seeing the phenomenon of daytime television shows becoming less tame and more wild. >> the 80s brought a lot of

belligerence to television, whether it was morton downey jr.. being the offensive caricaturish person that he was or geraldo. he did his own outlandish things. >> stay with us, ladies and gentlemen. >> we're going to get into the mind of another all-american boy who came under the influence of satanism and took part in a crime without passion or motive. >> geraldo rivera takes the power of the talk show to a whole other level, trying to put people on stage who hate each other, who are going to fight in the case of the temple of set and the church of satan we have not had any problems with criminal behavior yet. >> when you hear story after story after story of people committing these wretched crimes, these violent crimes in the devil's name. >> the more tension there is, the more conflict there is the more violence there is, the more the ratings go up. and the american people love to complain about it but they also love to watch geraldo rivera is back in a controversy tonight. >> rivera drew sharp criticism with his recent television special on devil worship, but today he found himself in a

real free for all. >> i get sick and tired of seeing uncle tom here sucking up, trying to be a white. >> go ahead. go ahead. no, you sit down. >> hey, come on, you got to be kidding. you have got to be kidding. you have got to be kidding. hey! >> hold it hold it. sit down rivera suffered a broken nose, but he says the show will be broadcast later this month. >> in its entirety well, that's not something you know, i would have done but there was a lot of hypocrisy. >> one of the major magazines put the picture of geraldo getting hit with a chair on the cover, and the article said, isn't this awful? look what's happened to television. and yet they couldn't wait to use it to sell their own magazine. let's go to the audience. >> all right. i want to speak to you guys. >> you guys, over the years, broadcasting has deteriorated. and now, in this era of deregulation, it's deteriorating further. >> give people light and they will find their own way relax.

>> america will survive. the talk shows i'm going to let you in on a little secret. >> happiness could lead to living longer. you want to know how? on my podcast, chasing life, i'm uncovering the secrets of people around the world who are living happy healthy, extraordinary lives. hear how they do it and the science behind why it works. join me as i reveal their secrets and discover how we can chase life together. listen to chasing life with me, doctor sanjay gupta wherever you get your podcasts when i was younger, my calling was to play football. >> but as i grew older, i realized life isn't about how many people you can knock down it's about how many people you can lift up. >> at ram our calling is to build game changing trucks. >> so when you find your calling nothing can stop you from answering it right now. >> during the ram black friday

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moments? >> yes. >> get a free phone with plan activation on america's most reliable 5g network. >> straight talk, real unlimited data lowe's knows when it comes to the holidays. >> everything has to be seamless. save on lg's first ever zero clearance refrigerator that has near flush installation for the ultimate built in look. don't miss our best deals of the season during black friday in-store and online. >> everyone's running to subway for three all new spicy footlongs. wait. subway did what? that's right. they're bringing the heat with creamy sriracha jalapenos and all new

♪ you know i'm a dreamer ♪ ♪ but my heart's of gold ♪ ♪ just one more night ♪ ♪ and i'm coming off this long and winding road ♪ ♪ i'm on my way ♪ ♪ i'm on my way ♪ ♪ home sweet home ♪ there's no place like the road home. receive a $5,500 bonus on a new 2024 audi q5 plug-in hybrid during the season of audi sales event. sunday, december 8th on cnn the big thing that changes in the 80s is the number of hours spent watching television goes up, the number of hours spent

talking about television goes up. >> one of the symbols of this phenomenon is entertainment tonight. hi i'm thom hallock and welcome to our opening night, the premiere edition of entertainment tonight. >> all of the critics were kind of unanimous in that they said it'll never last because there simply isn't enough entertainment news to fill a half hour every night. entertainment tonight has surveyed tv critics in the united states and canada to find out which television shows had the most impact on viewers over the years. >> now, up until this time, nobody had done television like this. nobody. >> burt reynolds, the hottest actor in hollywood. >> i'm surprised to see you here. >> well, i'm glad to see you. >> thank you. >> we can meet here every night. thank you. i'd love it. >> a lot of what makes successful television programing is being in the right place at the right time. and it was the right time. >> entertainment journalism evolved as the audience got more curious and had more access until that point, the

entertainment business had been something that we didn't know all that much about. >> we could go behind the scenes in our effort to really give an insider's look. >> the crafty old j.r. >> of dallas fame was with his mother, actress mary martin, as he was presented with a star on the hollywood walk of fame. >> it was very honorific of the industry. they would do serious coverage of it. it wasn't salacious and you would see actors speaking as actors instead of on a johnny carson show. >> what are you, like off camera? >> i'm like this. oh, this is on camera. >> this is on camera. >> it was the beginning of a lot of money being made. talking about entertainment and celebrities. >> robert redford plays the good guy in the movies. but don't tell that to his neighbors in utah. they are still bitter. and redford is the target of their ire. >> the audience grew and grew, and that was showing us that the appetite for celebrity news was big. it was big. get ready for lifestyles of the rich and famous.

>> television's most dazzling air of excitement. hi. i'm robin leach in monaco. the glittering gem of the riviera and you've got a vip ticket to prince rainier's private party. your sunday newspaper is still delivered with the comics around. the news and that was what i always thought lifestyles was. we were the comic around the news. except we did it as seriously as they did news. finally, in the driving seat of his own career, he burned rubber in a new direction david hasselhoff rock idol. >> it was a time where pushing the limits with wealth and ostentatiousness in a lot of cases, was very comfortable. >> one of the earliest stories that we presented to you on lifestyles was about the amazing real estate wizard, donald trump. if he didn't shock and surprise you back then, he's had plenty of time since with all of this costing billions, not millions d

does this bring with it political aspirations? >> no. >> political aspiration. >> your show has gotten a lot of ridicule. i mean, there are people who say it's nothing more than trash that doesn't upset me because i think it's the best trash there is on television. >> um, i am not in the business of brain surgery i am in the business of fluff. >> that's the fantasy element at a time when the access is possible. it's escapism and it's aspirational. you want to stand in a hot tub with a glass of champagne? rock on we'd never seen that kind of wealth ever before. >> we didn't mock it. we didn't say it was right. and we didn't say it was wrong. we were just through the keyhole sometimes, you know, but absolutely amazes me. i walk away from a shoot and i say, well, we did it again. >> there was more of everything in tv by the 80s. your opportunities for watching

stuff is increasingly vast. >> nbc presents real people my name is michael g. >> wilson. this thought dawned on me that the application of a small motor on a pair of roller skates might really be a great thing. >> somebody once said that each one of us will be a star for 15 minutes. >> and i think that that's probably going to happen. >> american culture used to be a culture that celebrated privacy. in the 1980s, as we're watching celebrities sort of play out on stage hey, i want to join two all the world becomes a stage and you start seeing shows like real people or the people's court. >> the people's court, where reality television is taken one step further. >> to see more tv producers had to come up with new and different ways to give them television. >> don't be stupid. get out of here! >> i told you not to be stupid. >> what cops did was it took away the script and just brought the camera. people and the crews on location to try

and catch actual things happening. >> cocaine possession of a stolen firearm no less. >> what else are you going to do this is what you want. >> this is what you need. this is the path to true happiness oh, man, i'm loving the sauce already delicious. it's a good day at the office for me good to see you. >> you seem sounds like you need to vaporize that sore throat. >> vapocool drops. it's sore throat relief with a rush of vicks vapors vapocool oh vaporized. >> sore throat pain with vicks vapocool drops. >> everyone's running to

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>> with this ring with this ring, i thee wed. >> i thee wed. with my body. with my body i thee honor. >> i the honor. >> the biggest television event of the 1980s is the marriage of charles and diana. it's like the world stops when that happened. i mean, that was like, just massive. >> this was the final act of a spectacle that may never again be seen in this century. >> if ever. the archbishop of canterbury called the wedding of prince charles and lady diana spencer today the stuff of fairy tales. good evening. >> the royal couple at this hour is off on the honeymoon. while a lot of people here in london tonight are still talking about the events of the day. >> when you have great moments like the royal wedding, they're a part of history and it's done beautifully and everybody has a chance to watch it all on television. everybody just wants to drink a toast to chuck and die. >> a princess who must now

be aware, as it was on this day, that every single move she makes in public will be recorded and observed. >> a very difficult life indeed. we'll be back in just a moment with some closing observations and one final look at what has justifiably been called the wedding of the century by the authority of the state of new york, i pronounce that they are husband and wife. >> you may kiss the bride your wedding was seen by an astonishing number of people, 16 and 19 million viewers. >> how do you account for that kind of popularity? >> oh, i can't. >> i can't the the way it's grown is just. >> it's amazing to me. >> it did appear in the 80s that it was a good time for daytime soap operas, especially for a show like general hospital, which had that huge success with luke and laura's wedding. >> i remember when luke and laura got married because it was a nighttime newsworthy. >> the soap opera discovers the

blockbuster mentality. the sweeps month mentality, like, what can we do to get even more people watching? you have a wedding. you have a kidnaping, you have an evil twin and prime time stole from daytime. >> after dallas proved that ewing oil was better than real oil for cbs. the networks rushed to give the public more. >> the great primetime soap operas of the 1980s dallas dynasty. they're all about excess. this is about being over the top, stabbing each other in the back, going for the gusto and having fun. >> i know what's wrong with you. >> the empty armed madonna mourning the baby that she couldn't have and the baby that she almost got to adopt. that is it isn't it? >> oh, you miserable there was a bigness to the stories, and that they could afford to do on a network. >> if you're doing one episode a week now, you can't do that if you're doing five episodes

a week for a daytime show. so just the production value gave it that pizzazz. >> if you can't have it, watch other people with it. or so say, the three networks who are programing nearly 40% of their primetime fare with series about the very rich and the public is devouring it at such a rate that make believe money has become ratings gold. >> the characters were larger than life. they were more evil and more cunning and manipulative, and more gorgeous. i mean really look at the way they were dressed. look at the way they lived. everything. it was fascinating. >> alexis. yes. i didn't thank you for your present it's he. you should slap dear. not i. >> we all wanted to live like you know. >> we were one dynasty. like the carringtons and it all just ended up being a wonderful picture of fun and debauchery.

>> greed was encouraged in the 80s, there was a sense of conspicuous consumption as being okay, and those shows kind of exploited that. >> prime time families like the carringtons who live here in luxury on the dynasty soundstage, are not the only rich folk on tv. >> in the last five years, more than half of all new shows have featured the wealthy. ten years ago, that figure was zero. >> it was an accident. your father's dead. >> fallon crest was a wine family. there's lorenzo lamas and there's ronald reagan's first wife, jane wyman is on that show. >> emma is pregnant i know a doctor who can take care of it right away. >> that will never happen. >> all of those shows were. oh my god, what's next? what's going to happen with that? he can't get away with that. and then you tune in. it was appointment television. >> what will become of the missing twins on knots landing? >> what they all had spin offs. dallas had the spin off knots

landing. the colbys was the spin off for dynasty. they were seeing how much they could max this stuff out because it was really successful. >> where's your son miles? >> isn't he going to be a part of this venture, or is he just playing polo as usual? >> oh, the colbys can always find room for another trophy. >> you had these people fighting over oil and and mansions and it was fantasy but in a in a kind of. so over the top way that it was fun. >> there is nothing devious about using your femininity. >> these shows took themselves so unseriously that they were camp, but that was okay with the central audience that was loving them. >> it was entertainment. we weren't trying to do high drama. we were there to entertain. we were glossy. there was no getting around it. we knew what we were there for and we did it as best we could i'm going to let you in on a little secret.

>> happiness could lead to living longer. you want to know how? on my podcast, chasing life, i'm uncovering the secrets of people around the world who are living happy healthy, extraordinary lives. hear how they do it and the science behind why it works. join me as i reveal their secrets and discover how we can chase life together. listen to chasing life with me. doctor sanjay gupta. wherever you get your podcasts your parents have given you some amazing gifts. >> celebrate the ones you inherited with ancestry, dna explore the detailed family roots, cultures, and traits that shaped who you are today for only $39. >> with straight talk, unlimited data, say yes to unlimited streaming. >> yes unlimited gifting. no and unlimited holiday moments yes. >> get a free phone with plan activation on america's most reliable 5g network. >> straight talk real unlimited data. >> i've got this.

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>> go to deal dash dot com right now and see how much you can save. >> i'm arlette saenz in nantucket massachusetts and this is cnn australia's most important export may be neither. >> its animals nor its beer, nor its films could in fact be one. rupert murdoch, 55 year old mr. murdoch is in the midst of building what forbes magazine says is the most extensive media empire in history, a huge development in television. >> the hegemony of the three broadcast networks was presumed to be complete, and rupert murdoch having disrupted the newspaper business in

australia, the television business in britain, he arrives in america and basically says, i don't really see why there should only be three broadcast networks. i'm going to make another one. this was a big, bold bet. >> meantime, he will have to become an american citizen if he is to own tv stations. here something murdoch says he is willing to do there are some people who are saying that it will take you 20 years to get your fox network on a par with the big three. >> are you prepared to wait that long sure. >> i certainly intend to live that long, but i don't believe in the in the 20 years, the reaction to murdoch's idea for a fourth network was similar to the reaction to ted turner starting cnn. >> it's ridiculous. you know what does he know about television we don't think of ourselves as abc cbs or nbc. >> we don't have to reach everyone. there's no question we have an inferior lineup of stations to our counterparts. that means we all have to work harder to get our message across and get shows sampled. >> they had an idea that in order to succeed we have to differentiate ourselves from the networks. we have to do things they would not do.

>> fox started throwing anything against the wall, not knowing what was going to go first. shows were things like 21 jump street, what exactly are we looking for here? joan rivers, in terms of late night, we have been banned in boston, which i think is wonderful w z. >> so pick a finger w x and e and the tracey ullman show. >> oh, polly it was a sketch show and they needed something to go between the sketches. >> and again, they were looking for something different. i've got to have those candy bars. >> you better not be thinking of stealing those candy bars. that's it. >> the simpsons would never have come along had it not been for the tracey ullman show. ultimately crime hurts the criminal that's not true, mom. >> i got a free ride home, didn't i, bart fox was thrilled that it was different. >> they said, sure be experimental. do whatever you want. we're just happy to have

a show on the air i'm home married with children was their first big, big hit in that way. >> that said, if all the rest of television is going this way, we're going that way bud kelly, you want to come down and help me in the kitchen there. >> that should buy us about ten minutes, seven more than we'll need the title of married with children on the script was not the cosby show how great. >> i mean, you know, you have to love that. they just were taking the out of american families. fun great fun. hurry up bud never wanted to get married. >> i'm married. never want to have kids. >> i get two of them. how the hell did this happen the bundys were almost like a purposeful reaction to the perfection of the huxtables and it was funny because, you know, you had this wonderful, perfect black family and these horrible, miserable white people, and each show worked on its own terms because you could find things to relate

to in both. >> howdy neighbor. >> yeah, yeah, yeah, i hate these bills. why don't we sit down? >> there was a lot of fun to be had. and you know, al and peg bundy after fox introduces married with children, it does very very well. >> then back on abc, they came up with another major hit, roseanne. do you think this is a magic kingdom where you just sit up here on your throne? >> oh, yeah yeah. >> and you think everything gets done by some wonderful wizard? oh poof. the laundry's folded. >> poof dinner's on the table. >> you want me to fix dinner i'll fix dinner. i'm fixing dinner. >> oh, honey, you just fixed dinner three years ago typical american families weren't on television for the longest time. >> the donna reed days. you know, the early days. the father knows best. hardly anybody really lived like that. that was the way advertisers wanted you to live. i know what just might make you feel better. >> me too. but i bet it's a different list than what you got. >> the ideal situation is if you can subvert whatever common

stuff is said about families and about parenting. what's in this lead? >> oh, i got you kids. >> new leg irons. >> her loudness and her unfiltered ness were key to why we liked her. she was saying stuff about working class people. she was saying stuff about men and women so it was about marriage and about raising kids and about how hard it is oh, wait, i'm just gonna look like a freak that's all. >> what else is new? shut up. >> this is why some animals eat their young tv in the 80s was a big decade for the evolution of comedy, for the evolution of drama. >> it just pushed everything forward. >> do you think perhaps this generation are paying more attention to the dialog to the relationships that they see on television than in years previous? >> well, clearly the people that are watching our shows are and 30 something and cheers and saint elsewhere these are shows that are smartly written. >> it's their words that

define them and i think that's what people like what we're supposed to be here is the one thing people can trust if you go out there like a bunch of night riders, what the hell are you? >> but just another vicious street gang that decade spawned an extraordinary number of of shows that really carved out a unique niche for themselves. >> we began to turn television into an art form, and for the first time, people were proud to say, i write for television. >> up until that point, television was second class in the 80s, it was something else entirely, and it was new, and it was kind of interesting it's like everyone in the 80s starts to want to tell their stories that's what really changes things the unexpected was more welcome in the 80s. >> predictability lost its cachet television has an impact on every era, every decade. >> television still shapes the

thinking of america like no other element in our country. sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. >> it gave rise to people pursuing artistic content in a way that i think has raised the bar in television production exponentially. i love you guys. >> there's a shift in the 80s from just wanting to placate the audience to wanting to please and challenge the audience and that's the decade when it happened oh, we had one hell of a run, didn't we partner? >> yeah, we sure did sonny. >> i'm gonna miss you, man. i'm gonna miss you too, sonny i'll give you a ride to the airport why not