latka: you took the tongue right out of my mouth. danny: outsiders help us relate as an audience. penny: what are you some kind of nerd? leonard: i'm not some kind of nerd, i am the king of nerds. tina fey: they're seeing everything with fresh eyes. lurch: you rang? jaleel white: that dynamic is pretty awesome, it's special. melissa joan hart: that confidence really made people feel like they could be ok to be whoever they are, urkel: did i do that? melissa joan hart: and i think, if i believe in who i am and own it, i can still be cool. mork: hello? anybody in there? fly, be free! ♪ john lithgow: the absolute essence of a successful sitcom is one word and that is emotion. mork: we abolished emotions on ork a billion bleams ago. they took a vote, and everyone said all in favour? [noise] john lithgow: we have a great love for these alien characters who were struggling with the same human dilemma that we all struggle with. how do we behave like good human beings? alf: yo kay, where do you keep your casserole dishes? kate: why? alf: the cat won't fit in the toaster. jim colucci: aliens make for great comedy, because you get the ultimate outsider who can make fun of us, but you also can do anything with them. jim colluci: and in the 60s with the space race... u.s. versus russia, it was just such a natural fit, i think, to satirize. laura morowitz: you still have the suburbs, but now they're being invaded by martians. tim: well, you're the martian, you're supposed to be smarter than i am. martian: i know. it's just living here on earth begins to rub off on one. george lopez: my favorite martian, hid a spaceship in the garage over, with a sheet. i mean, come on, man. tim: uncle martin, all you have is a simple common cold. martian: all? common? simple? don't you realize i'm not the common man, i'm a martian! and my system is not prepared for this [sneezes] patrick gomez: my favorite martian only lasted a few years in the 1960s. martian: you people baffle me. so illogical, so emotional. earth's alright for a visit but i wouldn't want to live here. patrick gomez: and by the 1970s, we saw nostalgia take over from science fiction. ♪ gerrad hall: but garry marshall who was executive producer of happy days was a fan of my favorite martian. henry winkler: and his son scott, says to his father, "i think there should be an alien on happy days. that would be funny." richie: oh, come in. henry: garry writes, mork from ork. all of a sudden head of casting comes down with a young man, very quiet, very shy, this young man, robin williams, picks up the script. and we start doing the scene. richie: fonz, it's that finger of his. he just points it once and wham bam, goodbye cunningham! henry winkler: and that was the last time i ever heard the script, the way it was written. mork: come along specimen. fonzi: uhh wait a minute. let me tell you something, you ain't taking my buddy here. you wanna rumble? mork: rumble? [sings] it is a [unintelligible] let's make it official. [makes noises] let me introduce the local celebrities [makes noises] henry winkler: it's like the soundstage 19, was picked up off its foundation, rattled like a baby rattle and thrown back down and i realized that my job was, get out of this man's way. robin williams: because it was so free-form, at that time, it was different than all the other situation comedies. larry king: you adlibbed a lot of that? robin williams: oh yeah, huge. you would go off, and you had people who would you know, go with it, three cameras... good luck. fonzie: must be a pretty tough bugger. mork: no, not a question of toughness i am protected by a stellar force field, watch! [makes noises] see? tina fey: mork on happy days. that is a star driven performance. you know, he was a force of nature. cedric: robin williams was just a unique comic at the time, when he came on, just had so much energy and so magnetic. gerrad: people loved the character and thus mork was mindy born. mindy: how do you say thank you in your language? mork: we spit. pam: the mork character was, he was just sort of a misfit failure on his planet. they just sent him to earth and said, "you go study that." mork: you expect me to eat this slop?! pam: mindy wasn't all that complex. mindy: what are you doing?! mork: i'm putting your buns in orbit, that's what i'm doing. mindy: what is wrong with you?! pam: i was the best paid actress in hollywood for going, "oh, mork, what did you do?" mork: early sensor reading says anxiety, depression, and state of defunct. what seems to be the matter? mindy: oh, i'm just disappointed in the mail. mork: ah let me teach you something. you see it's common throughout the universe for the female species to be disappointed in the male. michael schneider: by the late 70s, when mork and mindy became a huge success, the producers of that show decided, you know, why don't we make this show more about something? pam: we had a lot of young writers that were in their early 20s. and there was also some social upheaval that, i think they tried to wake people up. white supremacist: are you sure you're in the right place? gerrad: the night they raided minsky's is a fascinating episode because mork, unbeknownst to him, is supporting this politician who happens to be part of a white supremacist group. white supremacist: try this on for size. mork: oh, dress up, do you have a frankenstein mask? white supremacist: there are no steins allowed in here. gerrard: and mork doesn't really realize what this, this fascist group stands for. mindy: mork do you know what bigotry is? mork: sure, bigotry, that's why they have in italian forests, big-a-tree! pam: i think what made the alien character work so beautifully is his observations were pure. racist: i feel strange. racist 2: me too. racist 3: look, blake is black. mindy: mork, what happened? mork: i'm just going to reprogram their genes. tom werner: mork and mindy was explosive, and it surpassed everybody's expectations just because it just felt original. john lithgow: i had never watched my favorite martian, mork and mindy. i just never thought i would do a sitcom, but it was that captivating of an idea. 4 aliens came on a research mission trying to figure out how to be human. dick: ten fingers, eleven toes? sally, harry and tommy: check dick: good, i guess we're in. everyone comfortable? harry: um, i have three holes in my face. lithgow: they were looking for an actor who was a combination of errol flynn and bugs bunny. jim colucci: john lithgow was this dramatic actor but in 1996 here his is, displaying what turned out to be his deliciously goofy side. dick: look, life forms! and they're cleaning each other. john lithgow: we were a whole school of fish out of water and i was an alien who could do anything but understood nothing. dick: what is that thing on top of your head? nina: it's called a duku. mary: it's beautiful. nina: thank you it's authentic, it makes me feel connected to my ancestors. dick: ohh, so that's the traditional head dress of ancient secretaries? amy fox: 3rd rock from the sun is looking at our society from a different perspective and going, "oh, my goodness, we're ridiculous, aren't we?" nina: in case you haven't noticed. i'm black... dick: of course, i noticed, and doctor albright, you are? mary: could i be any whiter? john lithgow: 3rd rock was a curiosity. it had a certain comedy style that was like nothing else on television. nina: what? dick: i'm sorry all you people look alike to me. nina: excuse me?! mary: what did you say? john lithgow: oh, i'm incredibly proud of playing dick solomon. i guess it was the first time i tapped into just how important the sitcom is to everybody. i guess it's because it's a shared experience. dick: i just don't see why people have to divide up in these arbitrary subsets. i mean skin color? please. you may see color but i see people. $5 all you can eat pancakes are back to celebrate ihop's 65th anniversary. so come on in. even if it's your birthday, too. available for a limited time only at ihop. download the app and start earning free food. and there he is. chaz. the rec league's self-crowned pickleball king. do you just bow down? no you de-thrown the king. pedialyte. 3x the electrolytes. here's how tommy lost 30 lbs on noom weight. i'm tom. noom helped him use psychology to lose weight. the mindful aspect made me feel more conscious about what i was eating and why i was eating it. it's actually working. lose weight and make it last with noom weight. want your clothes to smell freshly washed all day without heavy perfumes? try downy light in-wash freshness boosters. it has long-lasting light scent, no heavy perfumes, and no dyes. finally, a light scent that lasts all day. downy light! ♪ma ma ma ma♪ [clears throut] for fast sore throat relief, try vicks vapocool drops with two times more menthol per drop*, and the powerful rush of vicks vapors for fast-acting relief you can feel. vicks vapocool drops. fast relief you can feel. ♪ tourists tourists that turn into scientists. tourists photographing thousands of miles of remote coral reefs. that can be analyzed by ai in real time. ♪ so researchers can identify which areas are at risk. and help life underwater flourish. ♪ titus: i am so proud of you little kim, going back to school like a lil' red headed rodney dangerfiled. kimmy: i can't wait. there's so many things i don't know. like what that is or that or that! titus: bus, pants, car, kimmy. tina fey: an outsider like kimmy schmidt is a great character for the twenty first century because she's seeing the world as it is, and she has a lot of questions about it. kimmy: i feel like a butterfly bursting from it's chrysalis and falling from the nest. titus: yeah you need this education. i love you. don't get lice. jennifer: the outsider is super important especially in comedy, because it's someone struggling with traditions and norms that they might not be used to. herman: ladies? excuse me but i seem to be lost, could you direct me to mockingbird lane? lady: [screams] jennifer keishin armstrong: it's delightful to sort of see them have this conflict and it helps us to understand our culture better. ♪ butch patrick: back in the 60s what was going on in the country was uh, a lot of people were having issues about who was living next door to who. neighbor: this was such a nice neighborhood, until they moved in. butch patrick: we were of color, even though it was green, but we were like the family you didn't want to have move into the block. sheryl lee ralph: i saw the munsters as the black people. and i thought, i like this. this is good. marilyn: uncle herman i'd like you to meet my date. this is... oh uncle herman what's the matter with me anyway? sheryl: back then, the world is bubbling up for a change. i just wish the producers could've cast black people, but they couldn't... they had to go with real monsters, which is deep in itself. butch patrick: joe connelly and bob mosher created the munster's were powerhouse hollywood writers. laura morowitz: they had just finished 'leave it to beaver' and they really wanted to keep this kind of mold of the family sitcom but marry it to something new and strange. lily: marilyn, take the chicken back to the kitchen. i'm afraid it's not quite done. grandpa: looks good to me. butch patrick: the fact of the matter remains is we were a normal family. you know? herman went to work. lily kept the house. cousin marilyn went to college and i was a regular kid... it was perfect. herman: can i try kicking one? eddie: sure! herman: thank you! alysson hannigan: herman munster, he's just a soft little teddy bear on the inside. so. so it's really your first lesson of like don't judge a book by its cover. herman: i think i am going to take up golf, although i am not sure about being out in the sun too much. i'd hate to lose my parlor pallor... stephen cox: in a desperate effort to, to be one of the rest of the neighborhood, they even joined a country club cc board member: when that mr. munster shows up to play golf, if he doesn't turn out to be our idea of a human being... i'll throw them out personally. butch patrick: country clubs were like... certain people weren't allowed in, certain religions. herman: i made it, i made it, i made it. laura morowitz: so, as a stand-in for ethnic minorities, the munsters really are striving to be accepted... herman: as they say in golf, eddie. you've got to play 'em where ya hit 'em! laura morowitz: ...and i don't think that the, the addams family cares. ♪ tracy morgan: the theme song was great. do do do do [snap, snap], ♪ they're creepy and they're kooky ♪ ♪ mysterious and spooky, they're all together ooky ♪ ♪ the addams family! [snap, snap] butch patrick: the addams family was a comic strip by charles addams in the new yorker. very dark humor. man: that doll doesn't have a head. wednesday: it's marie antoinette. grandmama told us about the french revolution and pugsley chopped off her head. laura morowitz: the addams family are more subversive because they're not striving to be like the typical american family. morticia: gomez, we have ourselves some very peculiar neighbors... grandmama: there's only one thing to do, get rid of them. uncle fester: i'll get rid of 'em! grandmama: i'll come with you fester. i haven't used this beauty since the tax man was here! tina fey: the addams family has a complete different set of values that are real to them, that don't align with anything else in the world. morticia: do you remember our honeymoon, gomez? gomez: who could forget our first night in death valley? laura morowitz: morticia and gomez have a lot of sexual tension that was verboten . i mean, she does not look like a suburban mom. tracy morgan: she was hot. that was my first crush. gomez: let's go down to the cave... morticia: that we save for special occasions, boo ba la. gomez: you know what you do when you call me that. morticia: it just slipped out. now control yourself gomez. jason alexander: you love it as a kid because you love pugsley, you love wednesday. lurch is a riot. tracy morgan: that's what i remember most about the addams family. lurch: you rang? tracy morgan: 'you rang?' jason alexander: cousin it, thing, all great... but i didn't get it until i was older, and then could really sit back and go, that's some smart, clever, satirical writing in the best sense. gomez: darling, there's something i was hoping i wouldn't have to tell you. the other afternoon i saw pugsley playing with a bat. morticia: a bat! oh, well that's more like our boy. gomez: a baseball bat. it's a game, played outdoors... in the sun. morticia: oh dear. steve cox: the addams family, just like the munsters, lasted just two years, two seasons. laura morowitz: while they were there they served a very, very important function. emily vanderworth: they are tackling the changing face of the american family. it's sort of this idea of like, 'oh, american society is really messed up and these are the only people that understand why it's messed up.' grandma: go ahead fester you get another shot. gomez: this time get him right in the old heart. man: [screams] grandma: what's the matter with your friend? gomez: i don't know. weird, isn't he? ♪ chevy silverado has what it takes to do it all. with up to 13 camera views. and the z71 off-road package. ♪ you ok? yeah. any truck can help you make a living. this one helps you build a life. chevy silverado. they fell in love with the irresistible scent. ♪ ♪ huh, huh, so did their dog roger. ♪ ♪ gain scent beads keep even the stinkiest stuff smelling fresh. $5 all you can eat pancakes are back to celebrate ihop's 65th anniversary. so come on in. even if it's your birthday, too. available for a limited time only at ihop. download the app and start earning free food. i'm sholeh, and i lost 75 pounds with golo. i went from a size 20 to a size 6. before golo, nothing seemed to work. i was exercising for over an hour every day. it was really discouraging. but golo's so easy, the weight just falls off. >> woman: why did we choose safelite? we were loading our suv when... crack! safelite came right to us, and we could see exactly when they'd arrive with a replacement we could trust. that's service the way we want it. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ let innovation refunds help with your erc tax refund so you can improve your business however you see fit. rosie used part of her refund to build an outdoor patio. clink! dr. marshall used part of his refund to give his practice a facelift. emily used part of her refund to buy... i run a wax museum. let innovation refunds help you get started on your erc tax refund. stop waiting. go to innovationrefunds.com you really got the brows. [honking car horns] darrin: ah, there it is. melissa joan hart: that fantasy of what if i was a genie, and i can make anything come true with a snap? jeannie: my handsome master would look like a king with a warrior's beard! melissa joan hart: everyone can relate to wanting that magic in their lives. jeannie: behold... beautiful! jim colucci: sitcoms about magic become really popular in the 1960s on television. laura morowitz: you're really beginning to get this backlash to the shows in the 50's like "leave it to beaver" or "father knows best" james ackerman: the boomers are now coming of age and they're not interested in the culture in which they grew up in. they want change. feminism is rising... ♪ james ackerman: and bewitched captured that. darrin: i wish i had a drink... and a straw... james ackerman: the premise of bewitched is this nerdy ad executive from new york city ends up falling madly in love with a woman who can do magic. darrin: you're a witch?! samantha: that's what i've been trying to tell you. laura morowitz: it could be a typical suburban family, except for the fact that her entire family are witches... and they have one adorable little girl. witch: her powers are amazing despite the fact she's a product of a mixed marriage. jasmine guy: i wanted to be able to be invisible like her. pop from one side of the room to the other. tina fey: these ladies are straight up magic, and their husbands want them to hide it. endora: don't tell me you've forgotten how to levitate. samantha: well of course i haven't forgotten, mother. it's just that darren prefers if i don't do any of that stuff anymore. tina fey: i remember that really pissing me off as a little kid, she's magic ! endora: young man! samantha: mother, don't! endora: just consider yourself lucky that you are not at this moment, an artichoke. patrick gomez: you can watch that show as a minority of any kind and identify with how she feels like she has to hide a part of herself. patrick gomez: and you look at paul lynde as uncle arthur. who a lot of the lgbt community could look at and say, i see myself in that character?... you even look at agnes moorehead as endora and you could see a lot of early touchstones for drag. samantha: don't you realize you're under a spell? endora: i know dear, but when you're in love the whole world is under a spell. patrick gomez: that was groundbreaking. herbie pilato: the great thing about the show is that samantha wasn't defined by her supernatural powers. she was really defined by her humanity. samantha: that picture, it's offensive. darrin: offensive? samantha: is that how you think i look? darrin: will you calm down - samantha: well do you? darrin: of course not. herbie pilato: the real message of bewitched was about prejudice. samantha: why did you do it? darrin: because that's the way most people think witches look. samantha: is that any reason to discriminate against a minority group? darrin: what minority group? samantha: witches of course! herbie pilato: bewitched is an immediate hit. everybody is twitching their nose. it put abc on the map. it was below bonanza, which was nbc's number one series. so now nbc wanted to do a witch show. jon cryer: i dream of jeannie was about an astronaut who ended up on a deserted island where he found a bottle and he rubbed it and of course there's a genie and boom! tony: i must have gone further into orbit than i thought. laura morowitz: i think the only way to understand i dream of jeannie is to see it as a backlash against what's happening in the real world. jeannie: yes master, one egg and two slices of bacon. tony: that's right. margaret cho: you couldn't do it today. like, the cultural appropriation, the misogyny... tony: hey, this is wild, oh no no - ladies please, stop! herbie: but the 70s... news: welcome to the giant history that is the 1970s... herbie: ...brought a different sophistication to television. it was the days of all in the family, the mary tyler moore show. patrick: and so magic largely disappeared in the late 70s and 80s until the explosion of youth-oriented content brought that magic back in the 90s. zelda: it's a cauldron. sabrina: wow zelda: sabrina, we have something to tell you. you see, there are two realms, the natural and the supernatural, and it turns out the... hilda: you're a witch. melissa joan hart: sabrina the teenage witch is your fun, magical comedy about a girl who finds out her 16th birthday that she's actually a witch. aunt zelda: alright, let's start with the basics. orange into apple. melissa joan hart: here she was with this magical gift, but she was a lot like teenagers in the way that she didn't feel confident, didn't feel empowered. aunt zelda: apple? pineapple. that's very close. hilda: no it's not. melissa joan hart: her aunts are looking after her, the cat's looking after her... but sabrina is sort of on her own. salem: i'm the wrong witch to ask, they weren't very lenient with me sentenced to a hundred years as a cat. tawny newsome: i loved the cat, i love the idea of just, like a 90s club comic talking cat... salem: the sound of the can opener is the only thing that makes me feel truly alive. tawny newsome: it was my version of bewitched. that's how i grew up. cheerleader: but if we can't make fun of geeks, who will we make fun of? libby: hi sabrina, super freak. tawny newsome: you just want to see a weirdo outsider who has secret powers kind of cut through everyone's nonsense. melissa joan hart: and i think that that's why we had a lot of success with sabrina. a seven-year run. one hundred and sixty-three episodes did an animated series, three tv movies and a huge franchise internationally. it was crazy. businesses need 5g solutions today. that's why they choose t-mobile for business. mlb partners with t-mobile to not only enhance the fan experience, but to advance how the game is played. aaa relies on t-mobile's network to stay connected nationwide, so they can help get their members back on the road. and we're helping pano ai innovate, to stop the spread of wildfires. now's the time to see what america's largest 5g network can do for your business. and there he is. chaz. the rec league's self-crowned pickleball king. do you just bow down? no you de-thrown the king. pedialyte. 3x the electrolytes. $5 all you can eat pancakes are back to celebrate ihop's 65th anniversary. so come on in. even if it's your birthday, too. available for a limited time only at ihop. download the app and start earning free food. each day is a unique blend of going, doing, and living. glucerna protein smart with 30 grams of protein to help keep you moving. uniquely designed with carbsteady to help manage blood sugar response. glucerna, bring on the day. time stops. ♪ (music plays) ♪ your heart races. ♪ ♪ your eyes close. and you realize you're in love... steve? ...with a laundry detergent. new gain flings. seriously good scent. and now, 50% more fresh. that's love at first sniff. okay everyone, our mission is complete balanced nutrition. together we provide nutrients to support immune, muscle, bone, and heart health. yaaay! woo hoo! ensure with 25 vitamins and minerals and ensure complete with 30 grams of protein. ♪ bob: this is nice. roomy. i thought there would be more weirdos. abishola: you are the weirdo. emily vanderwerff: the sitcom is important in american culture because it's where we work out our anxieties about society. bob: so, where you from? abishola: nigeria. bob: wow, that's a heck of a commute, huh? emily vanderwerff: we have class. we have race. we have gender. all of it's here, because we are a nation of people who came from somewhere else. devi: i went for a run. mom and uncle: at night?! uncle: you cannot run in los angeles at night, this is the city of charles manson and harvey weinstein! emily vanderwerff: where every week, no matter what show you're watching, there are these little pressure release valves that go off... and you see that playout throughout the history of the sitcom. patrick gomez: at first thought, you may imagine, 1940s, 50s sitcoms as being very white suburbia. bambi haggins: but there were a lot of shows about immigrants becoming a part of the american dream. jim colucci: life with luigi, about an italian family. i remember mama, about a norwegian family. sheryl lee ralph: the goldbergs was about a jewish family in this jewish ghetto. mom: yoo hoo! jim colucci: those shows certainly mirrors what americans were trying to accomplish in the 50s for good or for bad, which was assimilation, and then later when immigrant characters would pop up in comedies, it would often be for comedic effect. tony: hey latka, tell me something, how come i never understand a single word you say, and i always know what you're talking about. judd hirsch: i think everybody thought that andy kaufman was nuts. latka: oh [unintelligible] tony: yeah, that must be it judd hirsch: i don't think anybody really believed he was a sane individual. latka: in my country everyone shares with everyone. elaine: oh, that's beautiful latka: or otherwise, they shoot you. alan sepinwall: latka may as well have been an alien for as much sense as he made half the time. tony: do you know anything about bisexuals? latka: well of course they are very popular in my country. tony: they are? latka: one of our favourite sports is racing them and then... when we are not using them, we have special racks where we chain them up at night... tony: latka i'm not talking about bicycles i'm talking about bisexuals! latka: so am i. jim colucci: what was brilliant about taxi, with latka, and also later with perfect strangers with balki... balki: am i looking up larry appleton? larry: larry appleton, that's me. balki: larry, larry, larry! jim colucci: they both came from made-up countries so they could have the most outlandish traditions. bronson: which was great because nobody ever got insulted. jim colucci: so they could get away with a lot more as outsiders and have a perspective on us. balki: i am balki bartokomous, philo my fifth cousin three times removed is the step uncle to your father on my mother's side larry: i see, so we're sort of related by rumour. mark linn baker: tom miller and bob boyett who were the creators of perfect strangers were an incredible production team. bronson pinchot: they had been at the los angeles olympics in '84. and they said, we love this spirit of like you know people coming to america and loving it so we want to do a show about an ebullient, innocent... mark linn baker: who is making his way in america. balki: what this? [blows party horn] balki: isn't that something? only in america. you know in mypos to do that we had to squeeze a frog. bronson pichot: i mean so everybody's a fish out of water in some way and it's like, oh, that silly old balki, he doesn't know anything... but i mean, it allows you to see yourself. larry: when i nod my head, you hit it. balki: come again? larry: when i nod my head, you hit it. balki: i can't do that. larry: balki don't make this complicated. i'll hold the wrench, you've got the hammer. when i nod my head, you hit it. you hit it! mark linn baker: the blind leading the blind is often how we, we described it. larry: ready? balki: yes. larry: wait! patrick: the reagan era was a time in which republican politics was embracing immigrants and so to get this rosy picture of what it's like to be an immigrant in america made sense. balki: i'm turning right now. larry: signal, signal, signal! bronson: there are people that really do feel marginalized who get the marginalized character. larry: take it! take it! [yelling] bronson: anywhere i went during the run of that show, every kid from the age of 2 to whatever, they would come over and they would hug me. [ninja noises] [choking] bronson: because i was balki, i was one of them. they got it, and that was one of the great, great treats of that show. balki: now we are so happy, we do the dance of joy! balki and larry: hey hey hey hey! are you tired of clean clothes that just don't smell clean? downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters keep your laundry smelling fresh waaaay longer than detergent alone. if you want laundry to smell fresh for weeks, make sure you have downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters. i realized that jade was overweight. i wish i would have introduced the fresh food a lot sooner. after farmer's dog, she's a much healthier weight. she's a lot more active. and she's able to join us on our adventures. get started at betterforthem.com ♪ tourists tourists that turn into scientists. tourists photographing thousands of miles of remote coral reefs. that can be analyzed by ai in real time. ♪ so researchers can identify which areas are at risk. and help life underwater flourish. ♪ eva's about to learn her fear of missing out leads to overeating. i totally eat stuff to not miss out. and that's just a bit of psychology eva learned from noom weight. sign up now at noom.com $5 all you can eat pancakes are back to celebrate ihop's 65th anniversary. so come on in. even if it's your birthday, too. available for a limited time only at ihop. download the app and start earning free food. ♪ neal: bill, it looks like you're having a seizure bill: women love this. neal: okay... bill: you cut me off mid-funk aramide: i think being an adolescent means that you are a natural outsider. troy patterson: it's kind of like the defining experience of being fourteen, fifteen, sixteen. michael schneider: but, this younger audience, they have always been so underserved by primetime tv. aramide: but in the 90s networks started to really put the teenager and what they want front and center. tony thomas: the time was right to tell the story about blossom because there was a vacuum of young girl's points of view on television. blossom: my best friend six told me that william zimmerman who is only slightly better looking than mel gibson is interested in me. this is so cool. but why wouldn't he be interested in me? i'm smart, i'm funny... and i've got the body of a 13 year old. tony thomas: she was not the average girl, maybe not the best looking girl in class, but certainly one of the brightest. blossom: oh my gosh, you don't suppose this means we're the girls with 'good personalities?" tony thomas: and that was one of the points of blossom. how she made her way in life not fitting in. aramide: they're saying, you might not be a jock or, you know, a popular person or a cheerleader. but we're all a little bit different and quirky. ♪ alice leppert: saved by the bell is all about the kids and their world. alice leppert: i mean, screech is just weird. zach: whatever you're doing... don't. aramide: with the shift toward teenagers on the sitcom you also see the advent of the nerd. screech: hey lisa, my horoscope says that we're destined to dance together. lisa: my horoscope says, beware of dorks. alice leppert: but there's sort of this lost puppy aspect to screech that takes him from a caricature of you know, just the nerd, to someone that the viewer actually roots for. jacqueline coley: then with fresh prince, carlton was the first one of the first black nerds on screen. carlton: wait till we come downstairs in those tuxes. people may not think we're twins but i'll bet they think we're brothers. will: you know, i don't think you have to worry about anybody mistaking you for a brother. danny: i always loved carlton, just the way he was true to himself. group: go carlton! go carlton! gerrad hall: a lot of these outsider characters, they were just a sidekick of sorts, but once you start to get into the 90s, geeks are becoming more and more part of the national conversation. ♪ troy patterson: freaks and geeks is a pushback against the cookie cutter characters and the typical teen sitcoms of that era. sam: i'm sick of being called a geek, what's so geeky about us anyway. we're just guys. nerd: gentlemen good news, new dungeons and dragon's handbook deities and demigods we're going to have fun friday night. judd apatow: paul feig handed me the finished script of freaks and geeks, and i loved it even before i opened it up. i just thought, that's the best title. mr. weir: there was a girl in our school she had pre-marital sex, you know what she did on graduation day? died! of an overdose! heroin! judd apatow: paul, thought that he had never seen a truthful presentation of high school on tv. the good and the really ugly. lindsey: hey amy. amy: hey lindsey. ken: nice threads. amy: nice voice. jake kasdan: freaks and geeks is about two groups of friends. a freak group, a geek group. ken: hey sgt. pepper where's the rest of the lonely-hearts club band? amy: looks like you ate them. judd apatow: the people that most tv shows ignore, you know, the nerds, the potheads. rosso: i understand you've just been through puberty and you don't think anyone understands but lots of people do. even mr. alice cooper jake kasdan: at the time, it was very unusual to have an hour -long comedy. rosso: you know this song? ♪ lines form on my face and hands ♪ ♪ i'm eighteen, i get confused every day ♪ ♪ eighteen, i just dont know what the say ♪ judd apatow: i really thought it would catch on. i thought there must be a hunger for something that's quality like this. jake kasdan: because everybody can relate to what it feels like, to be an outsider in some way or another. bill: i can't believe she's going to hang out with us. neil: what if i'm asleep right now and this is just a dream, and any moment maurine and i are about to make love. bill: ew! sam: then what are we doing here? andy greene: but in 1999, it was a different world and it was just snuffed out after one season. neil: lindsey, lindsey, wait, wait! i got something for you, it's chocolates for a sweet trip. lindsey: thanks neil, that's nice. alright i'll see you... troy patterson: and i think that it's okay because we are able to remember freaks and geeks as an all-time great depiction of high school life because it was killed before it could age and wither. >> woman: why did we choose safelite? we were loading our suv when... crack! safelite came right to us, and we could see exactly when they'd arrive with a replacement we could trust. that's service the way we want it. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ $5 all you can eat pancakes are back to celebrate ihop's 65th anniversary. so come on in. even if it's your birthday, too. available for a limited time only at ihop. download the app and start earning free food. jessie loves playing detective. but the real mystery was her irritated skin. so, we switched to tide pods free & gentle. it cleans better, and doesn't leave behind irritating residues. and it's gentle on her skin tide free & gentle is epa safer choice certified. it's got to be tide let innovation refunds help with your erc tax refund so you can improve your business however you see fit. rosie used part of her refund to build an outdoor patio. clink! dr. marshall used part of his refund to give his practice a facelift. emily used part of her refund to buy... i run a wax museum. let innovation refunds help you get started on your erc tax refund. stop waiting. go to innovationrefunds.com you really got the brows. wake up, achievers. you're making the most of every hour of your life. except the hours that you're sleeping. so why do we leave so much untapped potential on the table? this is a next level bed, for a next level you. my circadian rhythm is kicking your circadian rhythms butt! it's not a competition. i know, but i'm still winning! so, it is a competition. save up to $500 on the new sleep number® smart bed. plus, free home delivery when you add an adjustable base. shop now only at sleep number®. so, you've got the power of xfinity at home. now take it outside with xfinity mobile. like speed? it's the fastest mobile service around. with the best price for two lines of unlimited. only $30 bucks a line per month. that's hundreds in savings a year when you wave bye to the other guys. no wonder xfinity mobile is one of the fastest growing mobile services. you really shouldn't walk out the front door without it. switch today at xfinitymobile.com leonard: if you don't come out of there, i'm going to have to drag you out. sheldon: you can try, but you'll never catch me. if you don't come out of there, i'm going to have to drag you out. >> you can try. but you'll never catch me. >> we live in an age now, where being nerdy and being supergeeky about something is cool. >> that's not really our logo is it? it looks like a guy sucking a m m [ bleep ]. and he has another [ bleep ] later. >> it's pied piper. >> the sitcom had a large part in pushing geek culture to the forefront. >> hi, mr. winslow. i'm steve urkal. >> "family matters" was set in chicago. it was about the winslow family. >> hello, ladies. i thought we would do our homework together. >> uh-oh. i'm out of here. >> they had an annoying neighbor, steve urkal. >> i was supposed to be a day player. they give me his glasses. >> i hear you can't get a date for the dance. you want to go with me? >> she would rather eat worms. >> okay, some other time then. >> he was so quirky and so odd. he was so beloved. >> he loves polka and cheese. >> got any cheese? >> you got the dancing. did i do that? >> did i do that? >> he took over the series. >> a lot of people feel awkward. in the weirdest way, he instilled self-pride in other people. like, hey, that guy can be awkward and go after the girl of his dreams. >> what did you invent this time? >> well, you'll see. >> there are neighborhoods, where you had to be such a tough guy when you're outside your house, this was the character that you get to be when you're with family members and friends and you can be your goofy self and dance around. >> steve urkel made the statement that we can be whoever we want. i played bruce lee. elvis, albert einstein. >> the evolution of the nerd in sitcoms is an interesting one to watch. we went from urkel and screech, which is the joke character. to something like "big bang theory" where you have a group of nerds that are the stars of the show. ♪ it started with a big bang ♪ >> inconceivably brilliant, guys that can figure pi to 80 decibels but were very child like. >> smell that? that's the smell of new comic books. >> oh, yes. >> sheldon played so wonderfully by jim parsons, injected this humanity into him. >> you care about sheldon. he's not comic relief. he's the hero in a way. >> sheldon, what are you doing? >> same thing for three days. figure out if electrons have no mass when traveling through a gr graphine sheet. >> the characters want to be included. >> there's the beautiful penny who lives across the hall. >> welcome to the building. >> thank you. maybe we can have coffee sometime. >> great. >> great. >> she's funny. but they show her as having a fr fraction of their i.q. >> you may be familiar with some of my work. it's orbitborbiting, taking high-resolution photographs. >> there's a bunch of women and it's balanced. >> hello amy farah fowler. >> she was sheldon's love interest. that opened up another pandora's box. >> may i ask you a question before i give it to you? >> of course. >> why are we saying give it to you like that? >> in the beginning, sheldon is an outcast and a geek. by the end, he's won a nobel prize. >> i have been encouraged, sus sustained, inspired, and tolerated, not only by my wife, but by the greatest group of friends anyone ever had. >> you have "big bang theory" that stayed on forever. it's huge and they're nerds. >> we saw articles how young people were going into s.t.e.m. fields in school because "the big bang theory" made it look cool. >> i need to get to here. >> what's there? >> the earliest estimate of self-awarty. >> you're upset. >> by this much. >> it used to be chic to be normal and regular. but now, it's 's chic to be an outsider. >> the fish out of water works. everybody really does feel out of place part of their lives. >> what's going on? >> i don't know. i looked around the room and i saw the faces and the presents. and it was too much. >> it's the nature of comedy that you provide an audience, an object, of identify. >> there was a time i wouldn't be friends with someone like you. now, you're one of my favorite people. if what you need is to spend your birthday in a bathroom, i'm happy to do it with you. >> you make people laugh. not only at you, but themselves. >> everyone will think i'm weird. hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and all around the