10 TV Shows That Changed Television Forever

[LennG]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/10-tv-shows-that-changed-television-forever/ar-AA16RPeE?ocid=mailsignout&pc=U591&cvid=67400257bb8b4c4ca1710cc97f6eeff2

in no particular order

24
CSI
X-Files
Scoobi-Doo
Looney Tunes
Dragnet
I Love Lucy
The Simpsons
Twilight Zone
Star Trek

Now, I'm sure we can name a few more, but  this isn't our favorite TV shows

All In The Family--- changed all comedy forever with the way it portrayed life at that time
MASH--was a completely new way to watch a comedy/drama
Sesame Street-Changed the way Kids watched TV
Survivor-Maybe the first of the reality boom
Seinfeld--A show about nothing
Ed Sullivan Show-- Something for everyone
Laugh-In--a hodge podge of jokes, stories, and famous people acting silly
The Tonight Show--Really changed the way we stayed up late, and then later.

[Sem]

I think your list would be a better representation of ground-breaking shows Len, hard to argue with any of them. I'd be tempted to also add one of the Steven Bocho series, probably Hill Street Blues, to the list.

[ozzie]

I was going to say the same. I think Lenn's list has more ground breaking shows than the original.

[Jolly Blue Giant]

I agree with you guys that Lenn's list is more groundbreaking. But I have a question, "Do you think All in the Family" would fly today? I don't think any major producer would pick the show up in this political environment

I might add the "The Smothers Brothers Show" as a television show that changed things after their show was cancelled for political reasons for the first time in TV land, i.e., "...the brothers' penchant for material that was critical of the political mainstream and sympathetic to the emerging counterculture - in particular angst about the Vietnam War, caused CBS to abruptly pull the plug on the show." ( The brothers sued CBS for breach of contract, and won, BTW). Since those days, late night shows (and others) make ridiculing political figures and ideas a standard repertoire of comedy routines

[LennG]

I agree with you guys that Lenn's list is more groundbreaking. But I have a question, "Do you think All in the Family" would fly today? I don't think any major producer would pick the show up in this political environment

I might add the "The Smothers Brothers Show" as a television show that changed things after their show was cancelled for political reasons for the first time in TV land, i.e., "...the brothers' penchant for material that was critical of the political mainstream and sympathetic to the emerging counterculture - in particular angst about the Vietnam War, caused CBS to abruptly pull the plug on the show." ( The brothers sued CBS for breach of contract, and won, BTW). Since those days, late night shows (and others) make ridiculing political figures and ideas a standard repertoire of comedy routines

I was thinking Smothers Brothers, but I just felt it wasn't on long enough to really be a game-changer.

AND, there is no way a show like All In The Family would even be allowed on the air today and that is a shame. To this day it is my all-time favorite comedy show and it made us all look at ourselves and laugh at ourselves thru Archie, Meathead and George Jefferson. It touched subjects that today no one would want to touch with a 20-foot pole, but it did it in a way that made us laugh,a nd what's wrong with that.

[Sem]

I agree with you guys that Lenn's list is more groundbreaking. But I have a question, "Do you think All in the Family" would fly today? I don't think any major producer would pick the show up in this political environment

I might add the "The Smothers Brothers Show" as a television show that changed things after their show was cancelled for political reasons for the first time in TV land, i.e., "...the brothers' penchant for material that was critical of the political mainstream and sympathetic to the emerging counterculture - in particular angst about the Vietnam War, caused CBS to abruptly pull the plug on the show." ( The brothers sued CBS for breach of contract, and won, BTW). Since those days, late night shows (and others) make ridiculing political figures and ideas a standard repertoire of comedy routines

Yes I do think All in the Family would have a hard time making it to television today. And yeah, The Smothers Brothers Show also has a place on the list. I think in many ways The Smothers Brothers Show, which debuted a few years before AitF, highlighted  many of the same controversies as AitF, but in a format that made the network executives uncomfortable enough to pull the plug on it. I know AitF was pulled in great ratings but I don't remember what Nielsen had to say about Tom and Dick.

[LennG]

Tom: You can tell who's running the country by how much clothes people wear, see?

Dick: Do you mean that some people can afford more clothes on, and some people have... less on? Is that what you mean?

Tom: That's right.

Dick: I don't understand.

Tom: See, the ordinary people, you'd say that the ordinary people are the less-ons.

Dick: So who's running the country?

Tom: The morons.

[Jolly Blue Giant]

According to the Chicago Tribune, a furious LBJ called CBS execs and told them "get those bastards off my back."

https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/tv/ct-ent-presidents-comedy-skits-20190319-story.html

Just some of the stuff that got them canned

[LennG]

https://youtu.be/kd2Mei-SihI

[EDjohnst1981]

I think Breaking Bad changed how we view TV shows.

It's remarkable television.

[Jolly Blue Giant]

After reading Lou's (squibber) thread on Ed Sullivan, I have to think his show definitely belongs in the group as he showcased black talent in an age when no one else in TV land would. For me as a kid, I never got the connection and simply loved music and never gave it a thought whether the songs were sung by blacks or any skin color. I was a young kid and it was before I knew that was a "no-no" on television in the early 60's. I never thought of Marvin Gaye as black...or the Surpremes, or Temptations, or the Jackson 5, etc. Sullivan's show took a risk, and it trained a whole new generation to accept as the norm, something that wasn't accepted as the norm by previous generations. Hat's off to Sullivan

[LennG]

After reading Lou's (squibber) thread on Ed Sullivan, I have to think his show definitely belongs in the group as he showcased black talent in an age when no one else in TV land would. For me as a kid, I never got the connection and simply loved music and never gave it a thought whether the songs were sung by blacks or any skin color. I was a young kid and it was before I knew that was a "no-no" on television in the early 60's. I never thought of Marvin Gaye as black...or the Surpremes, or Temptations, or the Jackson 5, etc. Sullivan's show took a risk, and it trained a whole new generation to accept as the norm, something that wasn't accepted as the norm by previous generations. Hat's off to Sullivan

I had Ed Sullivan's show on my own list, maybe for the reasons you mentioned but for so much more also. He brought so many different acts from so many areas of the world and so many different types of music and entertainment again to people wo would enver be able to experience it other than seeing it on his show.

[LennG]

Speaking of Ed Sullivan it was 59 years ago TODAY the Beatles first appeared on Ed's show.  Feb 4th 1964


https://youtu.be/hNhBMqR_t7c

[Jolly Blue Giant]

Brings back old memories when I was just a kid. Let's see...I'm 69, this was 59 years ago...I must've been 10. I remember my parents putting me and my two brothers in the back seat of our 2-door, cherry red '58 super eight Oldsmobile and taking us to get "conies" (white hots) in Binghamton. My baby sister was simply held in the front seat on my mother's lap (the old days huh???). On the way down, the Beatles came on the radio with "She Loves You" and we all said, "turn it up, turn it up". My father had a scowl on his face and told us it was loud enough, LOL

So we get to one of those stainless steel diners and we get a booth. There was a box on the table that you could play the juke box for a nickel from where you sat. I saw "She Loves You" by the Beatles and I remember begging my Dad to let us play it. He did, bless is heart in hindsight

I watched them each time they were on the Ed Sullivan Show and my Dad would scowl and say, "they need a hair cut and I shouldn't let you kids watch that crap". Oh how I miss him

[Ed Vette]

https://metv.com/lists/a-brief-history-of-tv-couples-sleeping-in-the-same-bed