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 a 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 looking to get drafted by the eagles? 30-somethings 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 are going into this era of television
each show worked on its own terms. you could find things that worked for both. it was a lot of fun to be had and al and peg bundy. after fox introduces married with children, it does very well, then back on abc, they came up with another major hit roseanne. you think you just sit up here on your throne. oh, yeah? yeah, and you think everything gets done by some wonderful wizard. poof, the laundry s folded. poof, dinner s on the table. you want me to fix dinner? i ll fix dinner. i m fixing dinner. oh, but honey, you just fixed dinner three years ago. typical american families weren t on television for the longest time. the donna reed days, the father knows best. hardly anybody lived that way. 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 different than what you got.
and bjorn borg, or chris everett and martina navratilova. that s what we want to tune into over and over. oh, goodness me, net cord and three match points to martina navratilova. 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 plays for the los angeles lakers. the other plays for the boston celtics. it s a great story. lakers had several chances. here s larry bird. magic johnson leads the attack. look at that pass. oh, what a show! oh, what a show! 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. how dare you challenge me
they said, sure, be experimental, do whatever you want. we re just happy to have a show on the air. i m home. married with children was their first big, big hit in that way that said if all the rest of television is going this way, we re going that way. bud, kelly, you want to come down and help me in the kitchen? there, that should buy us about 10 minutes. seven more than we ll need. the title of married with children on the script was not the cosby show. how great. you have to love that. they were taking the piss out of american families fun. great fun. never wanted to get married, i m married. never wanted kids, i got two of them. how did this happen? the bundys were like a reaction to the perfection of the huxtables. you had this wonderful black family and these horrible white family.
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 aspiration? no political aspiration. your show has gotten a lot of ridicule. 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. 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 ve 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 it absolutely amazes me. i walk away fro