the white house, cookouts, basketball in the back. in the late 80s hbo was just sort of gaining ground for series. by the 90s hbo had started to begin its explosion. when we started doing dream on, one of the things hbo said to us was it s got to be something that couldn t be on network tv. because hbo was driven by subscribes are and not by commercials and selling advertising time, they had a different way of looking at success or failure. what they were looking for was critical acclaim. you ve watched letterman. you ve watched leno, but what about larry? larry sanders, that is. he s the tv alter ego of comedian garry shandling. garry shandling wanted to do a show that deconstructed the kind of show the tonight show was. just pretend like you re talking to me till we re off
described by one critic as the series that will change tv. it s directed by david lynch. david lynch was a filmmaker known for his taste in the eccentric and memorable. the idea that he would do network television in the 90s was crazy. do you watch much of it? well, i-i-i like, uh, the idea of television, but i m too busy to see very much of it. and i, what do you think of that which you do see on television? well, some of it i, you know, i really, uh, enjoy. are you being diplomatic? sort of. [ scream ] the beautiful thing about television is you have the chance to do a continuing story and that s the main reason, you know, for doing it. i think that twin peaks with the initial attention that it got allowed all the other networks to say, let s do something different.
things that s happening with the simpsons is a distrust of anyone who tells us that we should trust them and doesn t earn that trust. oh, and, i ll take that statue of justice, too. sold! and when they make fun of how fox works. you are watching fox! we are watching fox! they re telling you, don t trust us, either. eat my shorts. alright, i ll eat eat your shorts?! the simpsons is like shakespeare in the sense that we quote the simpsons all the time, very often without even knowing it. excellent. i wish i could create something that culturally indelible. it s unlike anything else tv s ever wrought. twin peaks showed up out of nowhere at the beginning of the decade and the pilot episode of that was one of the strangest and most exciting things i ve ever seen. diane, i m at the twin peaks county morgue with the body of the victim, what s her name? laura palmer.
him to not like destroy this guy right now. and finally, he gets the confession, he gets a signed statement, he walks out of the room, he goes to another interrogation room, and he breaks the door in two with his fists. and i m choking up talking about it right now, because, like, that s how great a moment of tv that it is. 20 years from now, the best tv dramas, what will they look like? i don t know. i don t know whether will they be bolder than what we see today? oh, assuredly. assuredly they will be. the 90s gave us several shows that didn t really explode in the ratings, but were very influential to other people making television. homicide is one of them. shell me with questions all night, i m living in a danger zone. homicide: life on the street was really innovative in terms of its style. it used music in ways that advanced the narrative and it also used feature film directors
directors and writers were always playing with this kind of subverting expectations of what is blackness. the incredible work of the fresh prince at its most triumphant was when it was showing the ways that being black is always going to be a problem no matter what. vehicle registration, please. just a sec. but the thing is, officer, this isn t my car. there s the episode i remember where they get pulled over in a car. what? he s going to tell us to get out of the car. you watch too much tv, will. get out of the car. they have an interaction with the police officer that is horrible and racist in a lot of ways. and carlton has this epiphany about how money won t save him. no map is going to save you, and neither is your glee club or your fancy bel-air address or who your daddy is, cause when you re driving in a nice car in a strange neighborhood, none of that matters.