slowly but surely, the 1970s are disappearing. the 1980s will be upon us. and what a decade it is coming up. happy new year! as we began the 80s in the television world, the landscape was on any given evening, 9 out of 10 people watching only one of three networks. more than 30 million people are addicted to it. social critics are mystified by its success. what is it? it s television s primetime prairie potboiler dallas. a move like that will destroy all of ewing oil and 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 slut are you g
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 kerring on thes 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 featured the wealthy. ten years ago, that figure was zero. it was an accident. your father is dead. falcon crest was a wine family. there is lorenzo llamas and reagan s first wife, jane wyman on that show? emma is pregnant. i know a doctor who could take care of is right away. that will never happen. all of the shows, where oh, my god what is next. what is going to happen next? and he can t do that. and then you tune in. it was a point with television. what will become of the missing twins on knott s
one episode a week. you can t do that if you are 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 programming nearly 40% of the prime time fare about series of the very rich and the public is devouring it at such a rate that money has become gold. the characters were larger than life and 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. everythingit was fascinating. i didn t thank you for your present. we all wanted to live like on dynasty, like the kerringtons
and it was a wonderful picture of fun and debauchery. greed was encouraged in the 80s. there was a concept of conspicuous consumption being okay and those shows exploited that. the kerringtons who live here in luxury on the dynasty sound stage are not the only rich folk on tv. in the last five years more than half of all new shows featured the wealthy. ten years ago, that figure was zero. it was an accident. your father is dead. falcon crest was a wine family. there is lorenzo llamas and reagan s first wife is on that show. emma is pregnant. i know a doctor who could take care of is right away. that will never happen. all of the shows, where oh, my god what is next. what is going to happen next? and he can t do that. it was a point to tune into television.
you can t do that if you are 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 programming nearly 40% of the prime time fare with series of 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 and 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 is he you should slap, dear. not i. we all wanted to live like on dynasty, like the kerringtons