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 . Its televisions 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, ill stop you from destroying ewing oil. Dallas established new ground in terms of a weekly hourlong 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 going to stay with tonight . What difference does it make . Whoever it is its got to be more interesting than the slut im looking at right now. He was such a delicious villain, everyone was completely enamored by this character. At this point, so many people were watching television that you could do something so unexpected that it would become news overnight. Whos there . [ gunshots ] the National Obsession in 1980 around who shot j. R. Its hard to imagine how obsessed we all were with that question. But we were. Who shot j. R. Is about as ideal a cliffhanger as you possibly could get. Who did shoot j. R. . We may never get the answer to that question. The people who produce that program are going to keep us in suspense as long as they possibly can. We shot j. R. And then we broke for the summer. Coincidentally the actors went on strike. It delayed the resolution, and it just started to percolate through the world. I remember going on vacation to england that summer and thats all that people were talking about there. We know you dont die. You couldnt die. We dont know thats. How could you die . You couldnt come back next season. I couldnt come back but the show could still go on. But you wouldnt. What is that show without j. R. . Thats what i figure. I guess if you dont know by now who shot j. R. , you probably do not care. Last night some 82 million americans did. And they watched the much touted dallas episode. It could become the most watched Television Show ever. Who shot j. R. Is a reflection of oldfashioned television. Its a moment that gathered everybody around the electronic fireplace, which is now the television set. One special American Television program. A critic said it transcends in popularity every other american statement about war. And Something Special happened today to mobile Army Surgical hospital 4077. That will touch millions of americans. It was the kind of event that would grab the worlds breath. Fox studios, the end of the korean war, the Television Version m. A. S. H. Its been an honor and a privilege to have worked with you. Im very, very proud to have known you. There were those landmark times when shows that had been watched through the 70s and into the 80s, like m. A. S. H. Had its final episode. And we were all sad to see them go. Ill miss you. Ill miss you. A lot. All over the country, armies of fans crowded around Television Sets to watch the final episode and to bid m. A. S. H. Farewell. The finale of of m. A. S. H. Was unprecedented. 123 Million People watched one Television Program at the same time. I really should be allowed to go home. Theres nothing wrong with me. When we ended the show, we got telegrams of congratulations from Henry Kissinger and ronald reagan. The size of the response and the emotional nature of the response that we were getting was difficult for us to understand. Who shot j. R. And the last episode of m. A. S. H. Are the last call for the precable world of television. Its like the last time that that huge audience will turn up for one event. All right. Thats it. Lets roll. Hey. Lets be careful out there. Dispatch, we have a 911. Armed robbery in progress. When quality does emerge on television, the phrase too good for tv is often heard. One recent Network Offering that seems to deserve that phrase is hill street blues. Hill street is one of the changing points of the entire industry in the history of tv. We had all watched a documentary about cops and had this real handheld in the moment quality that we were very enamored of. The minute you looked at it, it looked different. It had a mood to it. You could almost smell the stale coffee. We didnt want to do a standard cop show where, you know, you have a crime and you have your two cops and you go out and catch the bad guy and you sweat him and he confesses, and thats it. Cops have personal lives that impact their behavior in profound ways. Well, what about him . Is he here or elsewhere . Dont get excited. Were working on it. How is this for logic, furillo . If hes not here and if hes not elsewhere, hes lost. We didnt say that, counselor. Never in my entire life have i listened to so much incompetence covered up by so much unmitigated crap. Find my client, or i swear, ill have you up on charges. There would be these ongoing arcs for these characters that would play out over five, six episodes, sometimes an entire season. And in a way for certain stories, over the entire series. And no one had really done that in an hourlong dramatic show. These past four months, ive missed you. I had to find that out. Come on. I think in the past people had watched television passively. And the one thing i think we did set out to be were provocateurs. You fill it out. What the hell is the matter with you, man . Ill tell you something, they dont pay me enough to deal with animals like this. The first thing they see is a white face and the first thing they want to do is listen to me. It was a white man that pulled the trigger, not a black one. It was a white one. It set a trend. The idea that the audience can accept its characters being deeply flawed even though theyre wearing this uniform. And i thought that was important to finally get across. No biting. We wanted to make a show that made you participate. Made you pay attention. And i think that worked pretty well. And the winner is hill street blues. We got 21 nominations and we went on to win eight emmys. And it put us on the map literally. Thats when people finally checked us out. Programming chief of one of the networks used to say to me about shows like hill street and st. Elsewhere what the American People wants is a cheeseburger and what youre trying to give them is a french delicacy. And he said your job is to keep shoving it down their throat until after a while theyll say, thats doesnt taste bad. And maybe theyll even toward themselves when they go to the restaurant. Nice for you to join us, dr. Morrison. The success of hill street blues as a critical phenomenon influenced everything that came after. And then of course you saw shows like st. Elsewhere. Do you know what people call this place . Not st. Elegias. St. Elsewhere. A place you wouldnt want to send your motherinlaw. When it first came on, it was actually promoted as hill street in a hospital. You gave your patients the wrong antibiotics. You dont know what medications theyre on. You write the worst progress notes. Youre pathetic. Pathetic bill . What . Dr. Morning needs you right away. Im sorry. St. Elsewhere broke every rule there was and then built some new rules. That guy called a little while ago. They ran a routine panel. Tcell count was off. They would have tragic things happen to these characters. There was real heartache in these peoples lives and you really felt for them. Ive got aids . Television at its best is a mirror of society in the moment. St. Elsewhere challenged people and challenged you as an actor, much less the audience to think. The stuff they gave you was extreme. And what they did, whether they were dealing with aids or having one of their main doctor characters raped in a prison. They tackled lots of difficult subjects. St. Elsewhere was run by people who were trying to stretch the medium, and in the 80s Television Producers were encouraged to stretch the medium. Okay. Clear. Successful people have one thing in common. They read more. How do they find the time . With audible. Audible has the Worlds Largest selection of audiobooks. Books like peak performance. And endurance. Books that energize and inspire for just 14. 95 a month. Less than youd pay for the hardcover. 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Dial your bingewatching up to eleven. Join the uncarrier right now, and get four unlimited lines for only thirtyfive bucks each. Woah. Plus, netflix for the whole family. On us. Prrrrrrr. So, they get their shows. Lets go, girl youre gonna love this bit and you get yours. Watch however you want. On your phone, tablet, or tv. For a limited time, get 4 lines for just thirtyfive bucks per line, with no extra charges. Its showtime all on americas best unlimited network, tmobile. A lot of people used to say, i was there. Now people say, they watch it on television. A lot of excitement connected to sports in the 80s. You used to have to depend on the five minutes at the end of your local newscast. There just hadnt been enough. You know . Give us a whole network of sports. Theres just one place you need to go for all the names and games making sports news. Espn sportscenter. What happened in the 1980s is sports becomes a tv show. And what are tv shows built around . Theyre built around characters. You cant be serious, man. You cannot be serious you got the absolute pits of the world. You know that . Mcenroe, the perfect villain. The new yorker that people loved to hate. Borg the cool swede, never giving any emotion away. What tennis really wants is to get its two best players playing over and over again in the final. Whether they are john mcenroe and bjorn borg or chris evert and martina navratilova. Thats what we want to turn in over and over. 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. Its a great story. Lakers have several chances. Heres 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 primetime and people are paying attention to that, television feeds into those rivalries and makes them bigger than theyve ever been before. . What primitive skill. Theyre just as good as dead. Every mike tyson fight was an event. Because every fight was like an ax murder. When he fought michael spinks, the electricity, you could just feel it on tv. Tyson was made for tv because there was drama. Its all over mike tyson has won it not a lot of Junior High School kids can dunk. Especially at everybody tries. I think that he is starting to transcend just his sport, that hes becoming somewhat of a public figure. Michael jordan becomes the model that every other athlete wants to shoot for. They want to be a brand. And thats what television does for these athletes. Turns them into worldwide iconic brands. The inbounds pass comes in to jordan. Michael at the foul line. The shot. Good bulls win athletes in the 80s became part of an Ongoing Group of people we cared about. We had an enormous pentup demand for sports and the 80s began to provide. Thank goodness. Cable television is continuing to grow. Its estimated it will grow into 1 million more u. S. Households this year. With Cable Television suddenly offering an array of different channel choices, the audience bifurcated. Thats an earthquake. I want my mtv i want my mtv i want my mtv a new concept is born. The best of tv combined with the best of radio. This is it. Welcome to mtv music television. The worlds first 24hour stereo video music channel. Music television, what a concept. Mtv was, pow, in your face. You were not going to turn us off. Mtv did nothing but play current music videos all day long. So let me get this straight. You turn on the tv and its like the radio . Im martha quinn. The music will continue nonstop on mtv music television, the newest component of your stereo system. When mtv launched, a generation was launched. 18 to 24yearolds were saying, i want my mtv. I want my mtv videos. I want my mtv fashion. Yo. Mtv was the First Network really focused on the youth market. And becomes hugely influential because they understand each other, the audience and the network. Mtv had a giant impact visually and musically on every part of the tv culture that came next. Freeze, miami vice friday nights on nbc are different this season thanks to miami vice. Its a show with an old theme but a lot of new twists. Described by one critic as containing flashes of brilliant nonetheless, shot entirely on location in south miami. The story centers around two undercover vice cops. I dont know how this is going to work, tubbs. I mean, not exactly up my alley style and personawise. Heaven knows im no box of candy. Television very much was the small screen. What was interesting about tony jurkovics pilot screenplay for miami vice was it was very much not that. Very much the approach was, okay, they call this a Television Series but were going to make onehour movies every single week. Here we go. Stand by. Action. Police. They were just describing the show as sort of a new wave cop show. Yeah, its a cop show for the 80s. We use a lot of mtv images and rock music to help describe the mood and feeling of our show. In a lot of ways you dont get miami vice without mtv because in a lot of ways miami vice was a long video. The music was such a big part of that show. There was an allure to using great music that everybody was listening to as opposed to the routine kind of tv scoring of that period. I can feel it coming in the air it not only was not afraid to let long scenes play out. It would drag a car going from point a to point b could be a fourminute phil collins song. You know. And it was. Oh lord being able to take a Television Series like miami vice and lets really kind of rock and roll with this until somebody says stop, are you guys crazy, you cant do that, and nobody ever did. Freeze police. I dont want to lie down. I refuse to lie down. Why suffer . Stand up to chronic migraine with botox®. Botox® is the only treatment for chronic migraine shown to actually prevent headaches and migraines before they even start. Botox® is for adults with chronic migraine, 15 or more headache days a month each lasting 4 hours or more. Its injected by a doctor once every 12 weeks. And is covered by most insurance. Effects of botox® may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away, as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness can be signs of a life threatening condition. Side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue, and headache. 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When we entered the 80s, a lot of onehour dramas that were lighthearted like magnum p. I. Were very popular. After m. A. S. H. Went off the air, the next season there wasnt a single sitcom in the top ten. First time that had ever happened in tv history. The prevailing feeling was that the sitcom was dead. Brandon tartikoff, nbc programming chief, says reports of the sitcoms death were greatly exaggerated. Time and t