comic voice. just like in life. you know, two people contributing to the same thing can bring it more power than than one person acting on their own. >> i think we'll just stand here until they fade to black. >> how about a nice hand? for my part, you don't know why chemistry works. >> you don't know how to manufacture it. it's just either there or it's not. uh, and it's just beautiful when it works. >> i forgot to put in another piece of film. >> i know this is a little off track, but just for fun, why don't you just tell me who is on first? yes, i mean the fellow's name. who? the guy on first. who? the first baseman who was on first. what are you asking me for? i'm not asking you. i'm telling you. i'm asking you who's on first. well, that's the man's name. that's who's name? yes. well, go and tell me who. the guy on first. who? the first baseman. when you pay off the first baseman every month. who gets the money? every dollar of it. and why not? the man's entitled to it. who is? yes. so who gets it? absolutely. sometimes his wife comes down and collects it. whose wife? yes. so i pick

up the ball, i throw it to first base, then who gets it? naturally. >> 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 ehlo. good. >> 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.

>> slowly but surely, the 1970s are disappearing. >> the 1980s will be upon us. 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 were 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 will 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. >> we 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. 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 in 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? 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, 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 in 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 don't you listen to me, renko. >> it was a white finger that pulled the trigger, not a black one. who's a 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 that 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 and 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. >> kick back and embrace the southern charm. enter for your chance to win hgtv dream home 2025. brought to you by wayfair. every style, every home. >> whoa! yes! >> how do you sleep at night on a mattress from mattress firm? >> i sleep at the semiannual sale in clearance. >> save up to $500 on tempur-pedic. >> get matched at mattress firm. >> sleep at night. huh? >> noom has glp one meds now. >> the psychology based weight loss company.

>> yes, noom combines medication and healthy habits so you can lose the weight and keep it off, and they guarantee it. >> sustainable weight loss? >> yes, please. whoa. >> noom gives you an off ramp so you don't have to be on the meds forever. >> whoa, that's really smart. >> that's noom smart. >> oh, you want to hear the best part? >> they start at $149. >> whoa! want to know the other best part? they're delivered to your door in seven days. >> noom. the smart way to lose weight. >> i told you, i don't need these anymore. i have sling, okay. >> good i only left sling, deliver the news. >> i need to stay informed. >> thank you very much. nice one. nope. sling gives us all the news we want in a quick and reliable manner. >> and at a wonderful price. >> this critical time calls for the critical news coverage that sling provides. >> okay, see you tomorrow. >> the most important news at the best price. sling lets you do that. >> you don't stop being you just because you

turn 65. but you do face more risk from flu and covid. last year alone, those viruses hospitalized nearly 1 million people 65 and older. 1 million vaccines lower your risk of getting really sick so you can keep doing you. >> you make good choices. they've shaped your journey to leave all that your life built. rock solid for generations. with ambition like that, you need someone who elevates advice to a craft. at ubs, we match your vision with insight and expertise to shape a unique outcome for you. advice is our craft. >> discrimination, lies, hate crimes and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual,

transgender and queer americans are happening in your community every day. we are your colleagues, your friends, your teachers, your children, or maybe even you. at the human rights campaign, we are fighting for full equality because all people deserve to thrive and live their best lives. join us today and help create a world with equal rights for all. learn more at hrc. org. >> kevin, where are you? kevin. hey, what's going on? >> i'm right here. i was busy cash backing for the holidays with chase freedom unlimited. you know, i can't believe you lost another kevin. >> it's a holiday tradition. >> earn big time with chase freedom unlimited. how do you cash back? chase. make more of what's yours. hurry, hurry, hurry. >> didn't realize it asked you to come in behind him. >> there are 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 that 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 lakers had several chances. >> and here's larry bird took him 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 skills. >> 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. >> there 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 nobody 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. p.o.w.! 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 music will continue 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. >> 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 gyurkovics 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 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. feel it coming in. >> 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. >> welcome to times square. >> it's the biggest party of the year. happy new year with the biggest guests. >> we have even more amazing guests lined up for you with performances by music's biggest stars and appearances by comedians, celebrities and more. >> yes, anything can happen on new year's eve. oh oh, my gosh. >> wow. >> new year's eve live with anderson and andy. live coverage starts at eight on cnn and streaming live on max. i'm kevin hart, i'm a leading man,

ceo, media mogul. >> yeah, a board member. >> he keeps going and going and going. >> it's like my chase freedom unlimited rewards. >> is there an off switch? >> no, you can't shut it off. >> tis the season of cash back with chase freedom unlimited. >> how do you cash back? >> my moderate to severe crohn's symptoms kept me out of the picture. now i have skyrizi. i've got places to go and i'm feeling free. >> controlling my crohn's means everything to me. control is everything to me. >> and now i'm back in the picture. feel significant symptom relief at four weeks with skyrizi, including less abdominal pain and fewer bowel movements. skyrizi helped visibly improve damage of the intestinal lining, and with skyrizi, many were in remission at 12 weeks, at one year, and even at two years. >> don't use if allergic. serious allergic reactions, increased infections, or lower ability to fight them may occur before treatment. get checked for infections and tb. tell your doctor about any flu like symptoms or vaccines. liver problems leading to

hospitalization may occur when treated for crohn's, now's the time to take control of your crohn's. >> control is everything to me. ask your doctor about skyrizi, the number one prescribed biologic in crohn's disease. >> now's the time to go back in time and shine a light on the family journey that led to you. learn when they said, i do. when they became heroes, how they ruled the school, and what you got from your parents. the place is on mom's side and dad's side. detailed dna results, inspiring family history, memberships. now's the time to save at ancestry. >> every parent knows when it's time to go into. protect mode. kill 99.9

z's bakery is looking to add a pizza oven, arissa's hair salon wants to expand their space, and steve's t-shirt shop wants to bring on more help. with the comcast business 5-year price lock guarantee, they can think more about possibilities for their business and not the cost of their internet. it's five years of gig-speeds and advanced security. all from the company with 99.9% network reliability. get the 5-year price lock guarantee, now back for a limited time. powering five years of savings. powering possibilities™. grab it for yourself, just go to go. friday plans.com. it's go friday plans.com. >> all the best or the worst

2024 thursday at 11 on cnn. >> 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. mom, i wanted 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 they'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 no, norman. >> what's shaking? mom? >> 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, sammy. >> well, not that 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, oh, 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, 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 betwtheen ow. and that's what de 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. >> more. >> 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 mid-course 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. >> you only come across an artist like luther vandross. once in a lifetime. he was a boss from the beginning, luther said. >> i have a sound in my head. i got to get it out. you are my shining star. >> my. >> it was the most exciting time in the world. >> his life had extremely joyful moments and some really difficult moments. >> if we were to be able to talk to luther as fans, we would be able to say. >> we just love you, luther. >> never too much new year's day at eight

on cnn. >> does someone need a hug? >> sing the world bah, humbug somewhere inside, every lost grown up is the kid they once were. >> it seems to me they need us now more than ever. >> i'm enchanted. joy to the world. >> joy to the all the wow joy to you and me. >> unlimited 1.5% cash back is just the beginning. cash back 3% on dining, 5% on chase travel and 3% at drugstores. apply today at chase.com/go unlimited start cash back with chase freedom unlimited. >> do we get something from my dad? >> i'll grab the car keys. >> looking for a last minute gift idea? give hands free sketcher slip ins. the perfect gift for everybody from kids to grandparents. just step in and run. there's no bending down and no touching your shoes. there's still time. give hands free sketcher slip ins today,

my friend. >> you did it. >> you did it. pursue a better you with centrum. it's a small win toward taking charge of your health. so this year you can say you did it. >> every parent knows when it's time to go into. protect mode. adding lysol disinfectant spray to your cleaning routine is three times more effective at stopping the spread of germs. >> doctor box there were many failed attempts to fix my teeth. >> i retouched all my wedding photos and it was even affecting my health. i trusted you because you specialize in dental implants. you created a permanent solution and customized my teeth, so it still felt like me. my new teeth have improved my life and change my future. thank you. you're so welcome. >> get the smile you want from the numberh

myself. >> see if glp one are right for you. >> start today at four. com.

>> i'm natasha bertrand at the 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 happened 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 craft 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 craft 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 craft? 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 craft 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 ends. >> 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 they say things take time and effort, but it's worth the wait. >> i can tell some stories. >> i'm so excited. >> i don't believe twitter brought the world together and the world was not ready to see itself. >> you read the comments. >> yeah, i might recommend that you don't. yeah, that's how i get by. >> we never backed away. we never stepped down. oh, that's how i get by. >> i feel at home here. lord, that's how i get by hi, susan. >> honey. yeah, i respect that. but that cough looks pretty bad. try this. robitussin, honey. >> the real honey you love. plus the powerful cough relief you need. >> mind if i root through your trash? >> robitussin with real honey and elderberry. >> sirups don't touch. it's sick.

some sick. people. >> painted up. powdered up. and you ought to be glad. hold your. good. girls are gonna go bad. >> you were made to chase your passions. >> we were made to put them in a package. >> long after guests leave, viruses and bacteria linger. air fresheners add a scent, but only lysol air sanitizer helps erase the trace, eliminating odor and killing 99.9% of viruses and bacteria in the air. scent can't sanitize lysol can. >> we all love a surprise, but not if it's flu or covid. >> if you're 65 or older. vaccines are your best defense. getting your flu and covid vaccines cuts your risk of severe illness and hospitalization in half. this season, protect yourself so your surprises are the good

ones. risk less, do more. get this season's vaccines. let's go. >> boom boom boom boom the world is my oyster. >> what can i tell you? >> bang bang bang. >> i'm gonna shoot you right down. boom boom boom boom. take you home with me. >> stream exclusive new originals on paramount plus. >> everyone's watching. and i do mean everyone. oh, no no, no. >> from tried and true. to try something new. ooh. so many ways to save life. ready? wallet. happy. that's 365 by whole foods market. >> 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 wish my tv provider let me choose what i pay for. >> sling lets you do that. >> i wish my tv provider let me choose what i pay for and let me pause my subscription when i want. sling let you do that. >> yeehaw! >> i wish my tv provider let me choose what i pay for and let me pause my subscription when i want and have hundreds of free channels. >> sling let you do that too. >> ek navy. choose and customize your channel lineup or watch for free. sling lets you do that. >> closed captioning brought to you by inventhelp. call one( 800) 710-0020. >> do you have an invention idea but don't know what to do next? call inventhelp today. they can help you get started with your idea. >> call now( 800) 710-0020. >> 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 say we go out and celebrate 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 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 primetime 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-thomason 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.

>> andy anderson, take a seat. look at this. you're wet, disheveled. there's debris hitting you. >> why do you have that on your phone? >> i watch it all the time. >> hey, listen, we need to be ready for new year's eve. >> there could be an ice storm or a hurricane. and obviously, confetti. >> maybe you are ready. >> new year's eve live with anderson and andy. live coverage starts at eight on cnn and streaming live on mac's today. >> my friend. you did it. >> you did it. pursue a better you with centrum. it's a small win toward taking charge of your health. so this year you can say. >> you did it one second, grandma, this guy's gonna buy my car. >> okay? >> you need carvana entering plate number. no accidents. >> right?

>> no generating offer. >> carvana can pick it up tomorrow. >> that's an amazing offer. >> sell your car the easy way with carvana, you make good choices. >> always planning ahead. like to not just chase a career, but one day. follow your heart. with ambition like that, you need someone who elevates advice to a craft. at ubs, we match your vision with insight and expertise to shape a unique outcome for you. advice is our craft. huh? >> noom has glp1 mets now. >> yes, noom combines medication with healthy habits so you can lose the weight and keep it off. >> yeah. >> glp one starting at $149. >> that's noom smart noom. >> the smart way to lose weight at the salvation army. emil isn't just a meal, it's fuel for imagination, determination,

and dreams. it's energy to be role models, change makers, and to just be kids with your gift. a full meal means a full heart, a full night's sleep, and a future full of possibilities. love. >> long after guests leave viruses and bacteria linger, air fresheners add a scent, but only lysol air sanitizer helps erase the trace, eliminating odor and

licensed medical provider today. get started at forhours.com. >> i'm rahel solomon in new york and this is cnn. >> 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. >> show he's all right. >> 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. 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 and what you're witnessing here is a good idea

gone awry. >> and 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 having i like being here. >> thank you very much. >> 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. david 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. here 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 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.

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?' 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. hulu. goo goo goo goo goo goo.

>> good day. welcome to great white north canadian corner. i'm bob mackenzie. this is 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 sctv series, which originally was syndicated and got to the states that way. hey, caesar! >> 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. 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 would 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. >> jeez from new york city? >> 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. looking, but not. there was a buzz about him. so you tuned in and there was this kind of explosion of talent in front of your eyes. i hot and hot tub famous ek. >> 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. penis 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 franzen. >> 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, don't. 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. >> you only come across an artist like luther vandross once in a lifetime. >> he was a boss from the beginning, luther said. i have a sound in my head. i got to get it out. you are my shining star. >> my. >> it was the most exciting time in the world. >> his life had extremely joyful moments and some really difficult moments. if we were to be able to talk to luther as fans, we'd be able to say, i,

we just love you, luther. >> never too much new year's day at eight on cnn. >> now's the time to go back in time and shine a light on the family journey that led to you detailed dna results, inspiring family history, memberships. now's the time to save at ancestry. >> this holiday season. kevin. catherine. all aboard the freedom unlimited. >> kevin. kevin. kevin, kevin and kevin i mean macaulay. >> take a very special trip to the mall where anything can. >> your little kid is cash. >> back of really? >> yeah. anything is cash back a team? >> sorry, tis the season to cash back with chase freedom unlimited. >> how do you cash back, chase? make more of what's yours? >> 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, no more gross cough sirup. >> we all want you to feel better. >> i want extra tv time or i'll walk. >> how about this? introducing the only kids soft shoe for medicated cough relief. new mucinex children's mighty chews are mighty clever. look out, cause here i come. >> have you always had trouble with your weight same. >> discover the power of wegovy with wegovy. >> i lost 35 pounds and some lost over 46 pounds. >> and i'm keeping the weight off. >> i'm reducing my risk. wegovy is the only weight management medicine proven to reduce risk of major cardiovascular events such as death, heart attack or stroke in adults with known heart disease and obesity. >> don't use wegovy with semaglutide or glp one medicines or in children under 12. don't take if you or your family had mtc men2 or if allergic to it. tell your provider if you plan to have surgery or a procedure, are

breastfeeding, pregnant, or plan to be. stop taking and get medical help right away. if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or any of these allergic reactions. serious side effects may include pancreas inflammation and gallbladder problems. call your prescriber if you have any of these symptoms. wegovy may cause low blood sugar in people with diabetes, especially if you take medicines to treat diabetes. call your prescriber about vision changes. if you feel your heart racing while at rest, or if you have mental changes, depression or thoughts of suicide may occur. common side effects include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, stomach pain, flu or upset headache, feeling tired, dizzy or bloated, gas and heartburn. some side effects lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems with wegovy. >> i'm losing weight. >> i'm keeping it off and i'm lowering my cv risk. >> ask your prescriber about wegovy. >> long after guests leave, viruses and bacteria linger. air fresheners add a scent, but only lysol air sanitizer helps erase the trace, eliminating

odor and killing 99.9% of viruses and bacteria in the air. scent can't sanitize lysol can. >> the assignment with audie cornish. listen wherever you get your podcasts. >> 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 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, maybe 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. 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 his best two weeks of my life. alex is a little bill buckley. uh, he, uh, the wall street journal is his bible. uh, he has a tie to go with his pajamas. uh, he very conservative and a very intense 17 year old. 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? >> 30 something 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 grown 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. >> 30 something was not a giant hit, but it was a niche hit. it attracted an enormously upscale group of advertisers. >> the network cared 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. >> la 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 client privately. certainly. 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, hello. >> 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 fig 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. huh? the flirtations were great and bruce and sybil were great. glenn. 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 andy, it has been one wild year. >> i know that whole live stream was crazy. what? >> oh, wait, you mean the rumors about me and the french pole vaulter? >> who's saying that? is it everybody? >> i have zero idea what you're talking about. >> and you think i'm the one that doesn't follow the news? >> i did like that one new song about coffee. >> espresso. >> oh, i'd love one, actually. >> oh, sweetie, you have been following actual news, right?

oh, boy. >> new year's eve live with anderson and andy. live coverage starts at eight on cnn and streaming live en masse. >> every parent knows when it's time to go into. protect mode. kill 99.9% of bacteria when you add lysol laundry sanitizer to your laundry routine. >> how do you sleep at night on a mattress from mattress firm? >> they have the nicest beds, and i wanted to upgrade. i sleep. all night long, get matched at mattress firm, sleep at night 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 just need. >> make exceptional the standard in the all new buick

enclave experience. truly effortless driving that invites you to let go, and stunning technology that's in a class of its own, with quiet tuning that comes standard and room to bring everything along for the ride, the enclave puts you at the center of it all. buick exceptional by design, no more gross cough sirup. >> i'll want you to feel better. >> i want extra tv time or i'll walk. >> how about this? introducing the only kid's soft shoe for medicated cough relief. new mucinex children's mighty chews are mighty clever from dress the bird to deck the halls. so many ways to save life. >> ready? wallet. happy. that's 365 by whole foods market. >> when a tough cough finds you on the go, it's sirup would be silly. hey, trying to rob bonta

the sa'ar juice pack with the jen b asks, "how can i get fast download speeds while out and about?" jen, we've engineered xfinity mobile with wifi speeds up to a gig, so you can download and do much more all at once. it's an idea that's quite attractive. or... another word... -fashionable? i was gonna say- "popular! you're gonna be pop-uuuu-larrr!" can you do defying gravity?! yeah, get my harness. buy one line of unlimited, get one free for a year with xfinity mobile. and see “wicked,” in theaters now.

skin. i get this beautiful natural coverage. learn more at laura geller.com. hurry up, hurry. >> 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 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. >> what did you know that for the longest time, i wanted to be a fourth grade teacher because of you? >> man, i was not aware of inspiring anyone. >> i think you did exactly what teachers are supposed to do. they create a spark for learning. that'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, that 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. >> and 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, among others. >> 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 being an uncle tom here, sucking up, trying to be a white. >> go ahead, go ahead. >> no, you just sit down.

>> hey, come on, you got to be kidding. you've got to be kidding you got to be, kid. >> 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. >> you only come across an

artist like luther vandross once in a lifetime. >> he was a boss from the beginning. >> luther said. i have a sound in my head. i got to get it out. you are my shining star. >> my god. >> it was the most exciting time in the world. >> his life had extremely joyful moments and some really difficult moments. >> if we were to be able to talk to luther as fans, we'd be able to say, we just love you, luther. >> never too much new year's day at eight on cnn today, my friend. >> you did it. >> you did it. >> pursue a better you with centrum. >> it's a small win toward taking charge of your health. so this year you can say. you did it. >> you make good choices. they've shaped your journey to leave all that your life built. rock solid for generations. with ambition like that, you need someone who elevates

advice to a craft. at ubs, we match your vision with insight and expertise to shape a unique outcome for you. advice is our craft. >> that's monopoly. go hippie chris. >> kiki. >> ready tycoons. >> it's go time. cash grab kiki i won again. >> ah, daddy will be back soon. >> we're swimming in it now. >> rent's due. >> little. >> nothing beats playing with friends except bankrupting friends. >> give it to me. >> every parent knows when it's time to go into protect mode. adding lysol disinfectant spray to your cleaning routine is three times more effective at stopping the spread of germs.

>> someone need a hug? sing to the world bah, humbug. >> somewhere inside, every lost grown up is the kid they once were. it seems to me they need us now more than ever. >> i'm enchanted. to the are not the same thing.

hate speech can cost someone their peace of mind, safety, and even their life-- things no one can afford to lose. think before you post-- grab it for yourself, just go to joe friday plans.com. it's go friday plans.com. >> i'm dr. sanjay gupta in atlanta and this is 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 tom hallick, 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, was surprised to see you here. >> well, i'm glad to see you. >> thank you. we can meet here every night. >> i'd love 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. do the figures ever frighten you? >> the answer is no. it's my business. it's my life. it's my lifestyle. i love it, the good, the bad. >> 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 lee 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 over 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?

>> welcome to times square. >> it's the biggest party of the year. happy new year with the biggest guests. >> we have even more amazing guests lined up for you with performances by music's biggest stars and appearances by comedians, celebrities and more. >> yes, anything can happen on new year's eve. oh my gosh. >> wow. >> new year's eve live with anderson and andy. live coverage starts at eight on cnn and streaming live on max. >> from tried and true. >> to try something new. >> so many ways to save life. >> ready? wallet. >> happy. that's 365 by whole foods market. >> not again. >> the cold is coming. your cold is coming. >> thanks, revere. >> we really need to keep zicam in the house. >> only if you want to shorten

your cold. when you feel a cold coming, shorten it with zicam. >> memory and thinking issues keep piling up. >> it may seem like normal aging, but could be due to a buildup of amyloid plaques in the brain. >> the sooner you talk to your doctor, the more options you may have. learn more at amyloid.com. >> long after guests leave, viruses and bacteria linger, air fresheners add a scent, but only lysol air sanitizer helps erase the trace, eliminating odor and killing 99.9% of viruses and bacteria in the air. scent can't sanitize lysol can o our car's value went up. maybe we should track all our car's value on carvana. >> we need more trackers. >> ooh, i'm getting a value update. >> do you see which one is going on? >> how's it tracking? >> some dips, some rises. >> now what? hold. >> sold. track your car's value on carvana today. >> my moderate to severe crohn's symptoms kept me out of the picture. now i have skyrizi. i've got places to go, and i'm feeling free. >> controlling my crohn's means everything to me

control is everything to me. >> and now i'm back in the picture. feel significant symptom relief at four weeks with skyrizi, including less abdominal pain and fewer bowel movements. skyrizi helped visibly improve damage to the intestinal lining and with skyrizi. many were in remission at 12 weeks, at one year, and even at two years. >> don't use if allergic serious allergic reactions, increased infections, or lower ability to fight them may occur. >> before treatment, get checked for infections and tb. tell your doctor about any flu like symptoms or vaccines. liver problems leading to hospitalization may occur when treated for crohn's. >> now's the time to take control of your crohn's. control is everything to me. ask your doctor about skyrizi, the number one prescribed biologic and crohn's disease in this family. >> we take care of every kid at saint jude like they are our kid. because at saint jude, we believe all children deserve a chance to live. but 1 in 5 kids in the u.s. still won't survive

cancer. and globally, that number is even higher in this family. we won't stop until no child dies from cancer this holiday season. join our saint jude family. we need you. please donate now. >> 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. >> closed captioning brought to you by inventhelp. call one( 800) 710-0020. >> do you have an invention idea but don't know what to do next? call inventhelp today. they can help you get started with your idea. >> call now( 800) 710-0020. >> with this ring. >> with this ring, i thee wed.

>> i thee wed with my body. with my body i the armor i the armor, 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 di, 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 rush 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. >> falcon 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? >> 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. >> you only come across an artist like luther vandross. once in a lifetime. >> he was a boss from the beginning. >> luther said, i have a sound in my head. i got to get it out. you are my shining star.

>> it was the most exciting time in the world. >> his life had extremely joyful moments and some really difficult moments. >> if we were to be able to talk to luther as fans, we'd be able to say. we just love you. >> luther. never too much. new year's day at eight on cnn. >> what a great idea for a holiday gift. >> give hands free sketcher slip ins, footwear you just step into and they're on. there's no bending down and no touching your shoes. plus, hands free sketcher slip ins are perfect for everybody, from kids to grandparents. give your loved ones hands free sketcher slip ins. >> i bought the team, kevin. >> i bought the team. i put it on my chase freedom unlimited card, and i'm a cash back on a few other things too. started with the sound system. >> gary from deep vasquez. i prefer the old intros. >> this is way better. >> i don't think so. steph, one more thing. the team owner gets five minutes a game. >> all right, let's go then. >> cash brothers. dad. cash back like a pro with chase freedom unlimited. how do you

cash back? chase, make more of what's yours. >> i wish my tv provider let me choose what i pay for. >> sling lets you do that. >> hey, where are you going? >> i wish my tv provid choose what i pay for. >> and let me pause my subscription when i want. >> two sling. >> i wish my tv provider let me choose what i pay for and let me pause my subscription when i want and have hundreds of free channels. >> sling lets you do that too. mr. fish, choose and customize your channel lineup or watch for free. >> sling lets you do that. >> 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. >> you don't stop being you just because you turn 65. but you do face more risk from flu and

covid. last year alone, those viruses hospitalized nearly 1 million people 65 and older. 1 million vaccines lower your risk of getting really sick so you can z's bakery is looking to add a pizza oven, arissa's hair salon wants to expand their space, and steve's t-shirt shop wants to bring on more help. with the comcast business 5-year price lock guarantee, they can think more about possibilities for their business and not the cost of their internet. it's five years of gig-speeds

and advanced security. all from the company with 99.9% network reliability. get the 5-year price lock guarantee, now back for a limited time. powering five years of savings. powering possibilities™. app today. enter $5 and get $50 instantly with code tv prize picks. run your game. >> i'm hanako montgomery in tokyo 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 zn so pick a finger w x e and the tracey ullman show all 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. but 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 people. 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. won't 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 going to 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 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 give you a ride to the airport, why not?