Transcripts For CNNW The Sixties 20160820

The years of the 60s which end in a few hours, have a reputation of things that is not justified. Some things got worse, obviously but tv and tv coverage is better, northwest worse, we simply developed more demanding standards. When i think of tv, i think of the 70s. What is this world coming to . The American Public was hungry for more. More was allowed. That hadnt been before. It was the last decade where it was a campfire television where there was one in the living room. I want to watch allblack show for a change. Where you going to find one . Heres one, the range lakers heres one, the Los Angeles Lakers against the milwaukee bucks. Young people were interested in relevant things. And so Television Began to reflect that. This is cbs. Really it was very simple, you had three channels and plus pbs. When the decade turned over into the 70s, television was very rural. The beverly hillbillies. Cbs had the beverly hillbillies. Peticoat junction and the rural fantasies of mayberryism. The hillbilly shows were everywhere and then they werent. Fred silverman who was running programming at cbs said were going to get rid of the shows that are the most highly rated and replace them with shows that they thought would be more appealing to the younger audience. They changed the face of television. My name is norman leer. He was a very successful if largely unheralded producer writer in hollywood. He burst upon the public consciousness when he took on bigotry with his all in the family. Norman lear and bud yorken created iconic shows. They revolutionized cbs and all of television. Our world is crumbling down. The coons are coming. To use language on tv like that was unheard of. But it captured a certain moment. Archie, 12 of the population is black. There should be a lot of black families living out here. I think its wonderful. Lets see how wonderful it is when watermelon rinds coming flying out the window. I thought they better be careful. There was no doubt in my mind American People were going to accept it. Do you have a quick answer for the people who say the show reinforces bigotry and you know that charge started . Yes, my quick answer is no. Everybody is going to see something they knew damn well was going on and nothing that surprising. Edith, were out of toilet paper. No, were not, i bought some yesterday. Its in the closet in the kitchen. I aint in the kitchen. Oh. Hearing a toilet flush for the first time was a big deal and made headlines. Whats this country coming to anyhow. Whats it, archie, bad news . Bad news. We get out of vietnam or something . Mom dented the car, how are we going to keep dad from finding out about it. Not when i see everything thats going on in our country. Just because a guy is sensitive and hes an intellectual and he wears glasses you make him out a queer. I never said a guy who wears glasses is a queer. A guy who wears glasses is a foureyes, a guy who is a tag is a queer. All in the family did something really new for television. It put before the American Public archies friend who is very masculine and who happened to be gay. How long you known me . 10, 12 years . Yeah. In all that time, did i ever mention a woman . Oh, come on, steve. Glorify on public television, homosexuality. You dont glory whores. Nixon objecting to the show was a badge of honor. And it was really, culturally on point. Every time for a sitcom, that was unheard of. One, two, three. I wanted to do an episode where somebody could give archie what he earned. Shut up all of you. We created a character that you know could really let him have it. Maude. Im only here because of edith. The fact that you happen to be here with her is beyond my control. Like any other freak of nature. Before that show was off the air Fred Silverman was on the television with me saying theres a show in that woman. Hello . No, this is not mr. Findley its mrs. Findley. Mr. Findley has a much higher voice. Now get your coat and come on. What makes you think you can order me around like that, henry . Youre my wife that gives me the right. When he says wife, he means possession. So what, maude. You told me 100 times you want to feel possessed. Walter findley, i never said that standing up and you know it. Norman lear and bud yorken really turned the Spinoff Series into an art form. Norman lear hates to hear it called the lear factory. All of his series come out of this building. Allowing him to move from show to show like a durvish. Good times was like holy smokes theres black people on tv. There had never been a complete black family on tv before with a father. What made it so unique and universal was that we have the same problems in our household and we do in the live in the projects in chicago. Dynomite you want to worry your head about nothing, go ahead and do it. We got 32 in the shoe box and i got another 6 in my pocket. You worked all night and all they paid you was 6 . There were a lot of folks who were not happy with the show . The black panthers were very upset when huey newton came to see me, the big complaint was, why cant we see a black man thats doing better than that . The jeffersons started as neighbors of archie bunker. Dont call me punk. Why you so sensitive all of a sudden . How would you like it if i called you nigger . He called me nigger. Thats no worse than honky. You right. Nothing is worse than honky. Except being married to one. Norman lear set the stage for other shows in the 70s that just brought gravitas to television. What are you staring at . I was just thinking. I would bring my neighbors kids over here. This place is better than the zoo. A true travelers journey doesnt end at the horizon. So it most certainly doesnt end. At gate c47. With travelocity, get help through social media 24 7. Travelocity® wander wisely™ that i was ion the icelandic game show. And everyone knows me for discounts, like safe driver and paperless billing. But nobody knows the box behind the discounts. Oh, its like my father always told me put that down. Thats expensive. Of course i save people an average of nearly 600, but whos gonna save me . [ voice breaking ] and thats when i realized. Im allergic to wasabi. Well, i feel better. Its been five minutes. Talk about progress. [ chuckles ] okay. Across new york state, from long island to buffalo, from rochester to the hudson valley, from albany to utica, Creative Business incentives, infrastructure investment, university partnerships, and the lowest taxes in decades are creating a stronger economy and the right environment in new york state for business to thrive. Let us help grow your companys tomorrow today at business. Ny. Gov lion its peyton on sunday mornings. peyton you know with directv nfl sunday ticket you can watch your Favorite Team no matter where you live. Like broncos or colts. cashier cool. peyton ah. 18. The old number. Ooh. I have got a coupon for that one. vo get nfl sunday ticket only on directv. And watch live games anywhere. On saturday nights, the cbs lineup in the early 70s was amazing. 8 00, all in the family. 8 30, m. A. S. H. 9 00, the Mary Tyler Moore show, and you have the bob newhart show. And it ended with the Carol Burnett variety show at 10 00. They used to call it murderers row. People had no dvrs, no vhs, nothing with initials. So people would stay home on saturday nights. They wouldnt go to the movies. They wouldnt go to restaurants. That may be the best night of television in all of television history. Mary tyler moore was a single Woman Working as an associate producer on a nightly tv show. You know what . Youve got spunk. Yeah. I hate spunk there were a lot of young women entering the workplace then. And for some of them, Mary Tyler Moore was like a port of entry. Im doing as good a job as he did. Better. Better and im being paid less than he was because youre a woman. The television female could be a hero. She could be the main event. Rita. All right. Out loud the first script written by allen burns and jim gricks had mary coming to minneapolis divorced. And very quickly cbs says, no, no, no, no, no. At the beginning of the decade, divorce was considered somewhat scandalous. She went on dates with a lot of guys. But the guys were really important. We seem to be hitting it off. And i just thought you just thought . Shes not obsessed with finding a husband. Dont forget to take your pill. I wont. I wont. This was about people coping with one another. And the workplace was like a family. I told ted to close with the copy for sue ann. Oh, my god. Whats wrong . I told the projectionist it was the other way around. Oh, my god. Local pig farmers served notice today that rising corn prices are forcing them to find other means to feed their stock. Heres one pig. Just look at her gobble up that slop. Starting tomorrow well be presenting a new feature on wjm, dining out with sueann nivens. Once jim brooks said to me, i know theres a world of comedy in my wifes purse, i just cant access it, weve got to find some female writers for this show. Did you crash the mens room . Of course not. I went as somebodys guest. Why do you think its such a winner . I think because of the casting. And i think because of the writing. They dont sacrifice the character for the sake of a good joke. That effort to keep the female sensibility is what made it authentic and good. People would say youre just like me and my girlfriends. How can you gorge yourself like that and stay so skinny . Im going crazy with hunger. Well, eat something. I cant. I have to lose 10 pound by 8 30. Pretty soon the head of network at the time said, valerie, listen, im going to spin you off. And i thought, oh my god, im fired. Because spinoff is a term that was originated in the 70s. If women start living together weve got to tell each other everything. Okay, joe. I want to be married. Rhoda and joes wedding became a Huge National event. 52 Million People tuned in to see that. Suddenly rhoda is in a happy relationship. They didnt know what to do with that. Then they had to have her get divorced to try to reboot the show. Why did you marry me . Just answer me that. Why did you marry me . You made me marry you. I feel so funny. Its a matter of trust. Oh, shes not going to do it. Where does that leave us, where do we go from here . That well have to discuss at future sessions. The 70s also had this therapeutic overlay. Hi, bob. Hi, bob. Hello . We decided to make him a psychologist. We seem to have run out of things to say. Why dont we pray . Lets pray for the end of this session. I didnt know anything about therapy prior to that. Im from the planet bluthar. Its in the galoo galaxy. How how long you going to be in town . I didnt want to do a show, where are your children . I didnt want to be the dumb dad. Sit, boy. Howard, i dont care, i just dont want to make any more decisions. People will say, gee, my dad and i used to watch the show. And it was great. And then you realize youre part of peoples lives. The 70s was the era where a certain artistry developed. M. A. S. H. Really changed peoples perception of what the sitcom can be. The sitcom could be cinematic. M. A. S. H. Was shot like a movie. And m. A. S. H. Was maybe the single most unique situation comedy ever. I have a headache. A tremendous headache. It goes all the way down to my waist. The Television Series m. A. S. H. Had one thing the movie in my estimation did not, which was heart. There are certain rules about a war. Rule number one is young men die. Rule number two is doctors cant change rule number one. It was about korea but we were talking about and doing things that had to do with vietnam and everybody knew it. Rolling. Action. War isnt hell. War is war and hell is hell and of the two war is a lot worse. We had 30 Million People a week watching m. A. S. H. Have you ever really considered the foot . Yeah, but i prefer girls. Better not bump into henry in that jungle. I intend only to bump into nurse baker. Repeatedly if possible. These were people who would go through the scripts and say you cant use this word. We felt like we were in the midst of a battle. This is freedom of speech. At the Senate Hearings on Television Violence today, strong charges were leveled at the commercial television networks. The broadcasting industry now stands charged with having molested the minds of our nations children to serve the cause of corporate profit. The family hour was established by the three networks and the federal Communications Commission in response to complaints of too much sex and violence on early evening television. The family hour, the two hours from 7 00 to 9 00 p. M. During which parents and children are supposed to be able to watch Television Without being made to feel uncomfortable. Its topless, edith and so it seemed altogether unfair, and we sued. Family hour is under attack from some producers, unions and others in the television industry. They have filed a lawsuit to have it abolished. As those scheduled to testify arrive, Mary Tyler Moore enterprises. They passed through a picket line protesting the hearing. Congress has no right whatsoever to interfere in the content of the media. If you can censor a joke today, and tomorrow you can censor expression of any thought if you can censor a joke. It just becomes easier the next day. A federal judge in los angeles ruled the socalled family hour on television from 7 00 to 9 00 p. M. Was unconstitutional, a violation of the First Amendment guarantee of free speech. The First Amendment was upheld and a most important decision, and its really truly a victory for everybody. 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The rookies will not be seen tonight so we may bring you the following special program. Tonight television takes a look at itself. We are looking at what you watch most of the time. Entertainment programming on the three commercial networks. What are you looking at . Is it good for you . Somewhere around the middle or late 70s its like people got tired of talking about real stuff. If the good lord provided us with berries, i think we ought to eat them. There was a longing for simpler time when it didnt seem like there was so much anger and contentiousness, when people werent so mad at each other. During last season the waltons caught on. Good night, john boy. Good night. This year there will be more nostalgia and wholesome family drama. Now that dinner is over lets try out the piano. Oh, good. I am taking requests. Sunday monday happy days i created happy days not what a family really was. I thought it would be good if there were some families that didnt get divorced. You guys are really it wasnt by accident everybody on happy days hugged each other. It wasnt by accident that everybody in the family ate at the same time at the same table. It was a sweet, tender show. In the vein of american graffiti. Looking back on the era of the 50s with a certain affection. Haaay abc wanted fonzis haaay to compete directly with jimmy j. J. Walkers dynomite. Cause im the fonz haaay catch phrases were big. Sit on it sit on out howard. Does any one say, thank you, arnold . You know what they say . Sit on it, arnold. Thats what they say. You watch fonzi and you just want to be fonzi. Oh. Hey, girls. Knock yourselves out. Im really sorry it was a slip of the fingers, slip of the fingers. Its a fantasy of what teen life could be. Hey, dafazio. Theyre here. All right. Laverne. This is laverne dafazio. Shes mine. This is shirley feeney. Shes yours. As you can see. Nice to meet you, ritchie. My pleasure. When Laverne Shirley made a guest appearance, one of the cameramen said, look at this two shot. Thats a series. Shamele, shamozle hossenfere incorporated. Tuesday night between 8 00 and 9 00 is called the death spot, death to any program that dares to go headon between abcs happy days and Laverne Shirley. Laverne shirley was one of the few sitcoms that debuted as number one. The absolute top number one show this season is Laverne Shirley. A seemingly harmless but essentially brainless exercise in adolescent silliness. You have to go all the way back to i love lucy to get the same sort of slapstick and physical comedy. We never thought about its importance, except that, you know, it was two girls trying and the value of friendship. It must have something going for it. I dont rodeododo. You rodeododo. I dont rodeododo. They couldnt say sex. But they said rodeodo. You rodeodo. Once. Everybody knew what they were talking the about. My son didnt want to watch laverne and shirley or happy days. I said, you dont like it . He said, i like it. But whats missing . Spacemen. Because we were getting into space. So thats when i created a space man. Wait a minute, who are you . I am mork from ork. The writers all rolled their eyes, an alien. He wants an alien. I had to make up a story. Fonzi is running out of adversaries. Thats right, fonzi never lost a hall attacker yet. We got the home planet advantage. Then weve got him on his own show. And mork mindy was the hit show of the 70s. The audience, talk about a willing suspension of disbelief, is willing to buy the premise. Mind if i do . Just so they can watch robin williams. Nanunanu. Well, excuse me that was an interesting part of the balance i think of the television diet. That there was an attempt to explore deeper into the psyche of what makes us tick. But there was also, you know, a need to escape. Im going to a beach barbecue. Uhhuh. I can see whats going to heat up the coals. If theres any single phenomenon thats tilted the ratings books in abcs direction, its t a. At the cbs affiliates meeting he explained how these t a shows are concocted. They take the clothes off three times. They get idea. And then they have to run three times. So they jiggle. Theyre all wellendowed. Of course. And then they say, now, lets get three undressed scenes. And three jiggles. And write a script around it. There are some who will tell you t a has peaked and is on its way out. Abc has shows like the love boat and threes company. Jiggle tv referred to the fact that these were women who were, you know, who were, you know good morning, angels. Good morning, charlie. Charlies angels became a very enduring trademark out of the 70s. Ive already made arrangements for you three to go to prison. Open your towel. Ill be standing as erect as ever. Good luck, angels. Oh god, i did battle of the Network Stars a couple of times. And i hated it. I think i made up some pretty good time on billy crystal. Networks would loan out their tv stars to compete in a series of quasi olympictype events. She is leaning so far over she seems to be wobbling a little bit. Erin gray. With that spry, supple body. Shes got a great set of legs, what the heck . I think we have a lot to apologize for for the worst of television. My only defense, it was the 70s. Did i jiggle much . Live and learn. Tmobiles coverage is unstoppable. And with extended range lte it reaches farther than ever. From the powder to the pavement, skylines, coastlines, out in the country, deep in the city. We got you covered. 311 million americans and counting. And we wont stop. Come see why tmobile is the 1 recommended Wireless Company in america. The still feels better after 10 shaves than a disposable on its first mach 3 blades have twice the coatings. For a closer shave with zero redness shave after shave after shave gillette. The best a man can get. Hhis stellar notebooks will last through june. Get back to great. This week sharpie twelvepacks just three dollars. Office depot officemax. Gear up for school. Gear up for great. Americas Small Business owners. And heres to the heroes behind the heroes, who use their expertise to keep those businesses covered. And heres to the heroes behind the heroes behind the heroes, who brought us delicious gyros. Actually, the gyro hero owns veros gyros, so he should have been with those first heroes. Ha ha thats better. So, to recap Small Business owners are heroes, and our heroes help heroes be heroes when theyre not eating gyros delivered by ah, you know what i mean. Public television has been expected to do a great deal. Almost half of all noncommercial Program Hours are aimed at children. And it has come to be so many thins to so many people. The pbs childrens programming in the 70s became the platinum standard on the planet for how you use this medium to educate kids. Would you be mine could you be mine wont you be my neighbor it was fred rogers who made it okay to speak to an audience of kids like they were human beings. There are some new things that are very difficult to understand in a newspaper. Every now and then i think back to mr. Rogers and i think, he would say dont be scared, life is good, life is special. Everybody is so special because everybody is different. Just go and do the thing you love. That always stuck with me. See you tomorrow. Can you tell me how to get how to get to sesame street sesame street introduced my children to the interaction of people with different backgrounds. Its not that easy being green count it. Count that penny . Yeah, count it. Okay. Count. One. Sesame street was aggressive in terms of learning not only concepts of reading, but concepts of interacting. I may be small. I may be small. But i am. But i am. Somebody. Somebody. Sesame street was as big as it got in terms of celebrity. Everybody wanted to hang with the muppets. Arent you johnny trash . Cash. Cash, cash. Educational Childrens Television really matured in the 70s. Im leaving. I love you. I love you, too. Oh, thanks. Now for something completely different. When i was 13 the show from england came on pbs, which before that was only the realm of my parents. Eww what do you mean, ew . I dont like spam. Suddenly theyre doing the most outlandish, racy, non sequitur type of humor. And killing me, the 13yearold. Its extraordinary what you cant do on american television. I think you can do it on pbs. Thats why i hope you all watch it. Dont attack me with it come on oh you get the generation of comedy nerds who dont even know that theyre comedy nerds. This is no more. It has ceased to be. Monty python turned out to break so many rules. I mean, it changes everything. Just like with the beatles, you can say, oh, they came after the beatles. Look at saturday night live, you look at sctv. Oh, after. After monty python. Beginning october 11th, saturday night will open up a whole new live venture from new york city. We just happen to have the producer of the program and members of his company. What should we look for on the program . Anxiety. Loren michaels, this canadian comedy producer, was given free rein. Hi. Im loren michaels. He hires improv comics. Rehearsal and warmup, lets do 28 face slaps. Come on. Slap. Come on. Pick a hand. George carlin was the first host. Wanted to be permanent host. Nice to see you. Welcome and thanks for joining us live. There were a lot of names bandied about in terms of permanent hosts. Thats one of those tv rules you mustnt break, until you do. Then you realize, why dont you have a different host every week . Ou but it was the cast that finally won peoples hearts. Come on, who is this . Andygram. You cut your own steaks. We give you the sauce. Im barbara wawa. Thank you, thank you very much. Youre beautiful. Youre beautiful. Thank you. You were drawn to the tv set, because you knew something insane might happen. Live, live. Live from new york partly because it was live. Partly because you knew television was now in the hands of the television generation. And these were kids in quotes who just might do anything. Yes, having sex with women, the president within these very walls. That never happened when dick nixon was in the white house. It was counter television. Thats partly what made it attractive. No problem. Every one of their episodes became worthy of talmudic study, if thats the word. When i hosted, loren called me into his office and said, you realize the kids are the stars. The host wasnt nearly as impactful. Thats not quite it. Uh because the thing was all the rage. They called themselves the not ready for primetime players. Not because they felt they werent good enough, but because they felt they were too good. Good evening, im chevy chase. And youre not. Chevy chase became an instant star. Our top story tonight. Our top story tonight [ indiscernible ] chevy chase was on the show for one year. Are you sorry you left saturday night live . Im deeply, deeply sorry. Chevy decided he was too big for the show. So he left. In some ways, chevy leaving after the first year was a blessing. Because it showed that saturday night live was going to do much more than survive. There are some things that just arent explainable hello, im bill murray. You can call me billy. But around here everybody calls me the new guy. When chevy chase leaves. Bill murray comes in. Come on, pop cut, cut cut makeup, can we get in here, please. Sorry, fellows. That just opened up other doors. And saturday night live was just kind of taking on. Two wild and crazy guys you will never have to cut again. Roseann, roseannadanna. Cheeseburger, cheeseburger. Where do we come from . France. It was the show for us. It was the show about us. You wanted to be a part of it. It was inextricably linked with the times. Good afternoon. Good night. Have a pleasant tomorrow. Technology. Say, have you seen all the Amazing Technology in geicos mobile app . Mobile app . Look. Electronic id cards, emergency roadside service, i can even submit a claim. Wow. Yep, geicos mobile app works like a charm. Geico. Expect great savings and a whole lot more. Brewmaster. Risktaker. I sold everything i had to own a brewery. You might have heard its name. Stella artois be legacy across new york state, from long island to buffalo, from rochester to the hudson valley, from albany to utica, Creative Business incentives, infrastructure investment, university partnerships, and the lowest taxes in decades are creating a stronger economy and the right environment in new york state for business to thrive. Let us help grow your companys tomorrow today at business. Ny. Gov of a trip to athens, greece. You accidentally booked a flight to athens, georgia. With travelocity, theres no fee to cancel or rebook most flights within 24 hours. Travelocity® wander wisely™ allows me to actually operate my guibusiness from everest. 4 i help clients achieve their dreams. Being able to go between having a laptop and having a tablet is really important to me. I couldnt do that with my mac. I love that we as humans can go to the top of the world. Its the durability. The reliability. Its incredible. Words you dont often hear. Words we at panera live by. Because clean food is food as it should be. With no artificial flavors, preservatives, sweeteners, and no colors from artificial sources. We think clean food tastes better, feels better, does better. 100 of our food will be clean by years end. Every bite will be food as it should be. Monday, monday, monday, its the greatest day of the week throughout high school there was one show religious broadcasting that you had to watch. If you didnt see it you wouldnt have anything to talk about for all of tuesday and most of wednesday and a big part of thursday. Why . Because monday night is nfl football night. Thats why. Monday night football got its start on september 21st, 1970, with the Cleveland Browns hosting the new york jets. Welcome to abcs monday night Primetime National Football League Television Series. And this game is under way on abc. Frank was there to do playbyplay. Don was there to do replays. And provide some humor to the telecast. And howard was there to be the straw that stirred the drink. Come on lets go lets go the pairing of Howard Cosell with don meredith is a classic sitcom odd couple kind of pairing. You couldnt help but be swept up by what those guys were saying. The booth itself was almost like a variety show. We have our expert with us here this evening. I called it a traveling freak show and it really was a traveling freak and the head freak was howard no question about that. The tension between the two of them made for the kind of the thing that you wanted to see every week. Professional football is rapidly growing into a very big business. You understand football. Our football, not what they call football in europe. I like to watch it. I dont understand too much about it. Would you look to learn more about it . We were on a mission that took us very close to saying, screw the football fan because hes going to come anyway. What we needed to do is appeal to women. We needed to appeal to the casual football fan. Thats why we started telling stories that humanized the players. Joe namath one of the greatest of alltime. Unfortunately his legs do not go with that arm. The things that people associate with. Recognize this fellow . Whats been your view of this american professional football season . It is an amazing event, sight. It makes rock concerts look like tea parties. Id like to have your job, be a sportscaster. That show became week after week one of the most highly rated shows in america. Turn out the lights the partys over it showed football was an Entertainment Experience on par with any primetime show you could imagine. Maybe it was better because you didnt know how it was going to end. 60 minutes decided to peer into the electronic future to take a look at what may be in store for Television Viewers in the decade of the 70s. It is television by cable, a Communications Revolution that could radically alter our way of life. Cable for quarter of a century, theres nothing distinctive about it. Just a way for you to get what everybody else can already get. And thats the way it is up until welcome to Home Box Office subscription television. Hbo debuts november 8, 1972, and it is not an overnight success. Presenting the pennsylvania polka festival. The oftrepeated saying was getting people to pay for tv will be like getting them to pay for air. Saturday mornings they would play band music and youd see slides of nothing. Nobody knew what you could do. Nobody knew what you couldnt do. But you were desperately trying not to be commercial television. How much time we got . Ladies and gentlemen, robert klein the beauty of it was you didnt have to pack everything quickly. You could warm up and get to know and take the stage so to speak. The talk shows are okay. You know, i do the tonight show. I come in, i have to be funny in a hurry. Gets a little tiring. Six minutes and boom, boom, boom, boom it wasnt as contrived. It was a fullthroated performance. This is not regular television. This is subscription. You can say anything. [ bleep ]. Because youre not using public airwaves the fcc cant regulate your content. I understand you had two orgasms yesterday. Can you tell us about them . Hbo gave cable something to sell. You were getting movies uncut in your home. All the naughty bits intact. And then september 1975. We debuted coast to coast with the thrilla in manila, one of the alltime classic heavyweight fights. Frazier ali. And thats when hbo explodes. Its all over and mohammad ali at the end of the 14th round, its a tko before that, youre count ing growth in tens of thousand of subscribers. After that, youre counting in millions. Thats really day one for both businesses. Hbo and the cable industry. If youre a fan, what youll see in the next minutes to follow may convince you youve gone to sports heaven. In the mid70s in the sports world, there were just these three giants. Cbs, nbc, abc. And then in connecticut, somebody got ahold of a transponder. The picture youre watching right now has been taken by a camera sent through sophisticated equipment to this earth transmitting system this guy, bill rasmussen, who had been fired from his job trying to figure out a way to deliver local cable sports. Then when they found out about the satellite they said, so can we cover the whole state . And the guy looked and he said, no, you dont understand. For another 25 cents or whatever you can send this all over the country. They went, oh, gee. Why would anyone want to do that . They didnt quite know what they had. And he wound up revolutionizing television sports. Welcome everyone to espn sportscenter. From this very desk in the coming weeks and months well be filling you in on the pulse of the sporting activity, around the country and around the world as well. They didnt have the money to go out and buy baseball games or nfl games. What they did do was take all the leftovers out there. Im joe boyle and ill be handling the play by play for tonights game between the badgers and the blue demons. It gave birth to arguably the greatest media Success Story of alltime. At its best, Cable Television could provide a refreshing relief from the trend toward bigness, toward centralization. At its worst cable tv could invade our privacy, tranquilize our children, remove us electronically from the flesh and blood world. And wed have to pay for the privilege. The question is, indeed, will the miracle be managed . This car is traveling over 200 miles per hour. To win, every millisecond matters. Both on the track and thousands of miles away. With the help of at t, Red Bull Racing can share critical information about every inch of the car from virtually anywhere. Brakes are getting warm. Confirmed, daniel you need to cool your brakes. Understood, brake bias back 2 clicks. Giving them the agility to have speed precision. Because no one knows like at t. The best thing pbs did for adults in the 70s was the miniseries. The idea of novels for television. Good evening. Im Alastair Cook here with the ninth episode of i, claudius. We ought to put up a sign, discretion is advised. I was not allowed to watch it because it had nudity in it. I very much wanted to. Rather than try to come up with a show that would run for years and years, it was this idea that, here is a limited story, were going to tell it in x number of episodes, and lets just do this one selfcontained thing. We all did things during the reign of my mad brother that we might not otherwise have done. It looks cheap. It was the script and the performances that mattered. In other words, it could be good for you, but it was fun at the same time. The miniseries was such a huge success for public television. Abc was the network that hit gold with rich man, poor man. How do you even tell a story that isnt controlled by the clock . Characters can grow and change and differ. I want to talk to you. About what . About making an honest man out of me. Its a subject i rarely discuss in the nude. What we saw in the 70s was bigevent television, if it was done right and if it was compelling, the audience kept coming back and back. Here you have topics that start to get serious and important and groundbreaking for television. Theres no life left here. And i dont want harm to come to you because of me. I wont i wont listen to this. The majority reaction to the Holocaust Program has been positive, it has not been without debate. With holocaust the heat was you shouldnt even touch this subject, its disrespectful. But finally the thinking was, no, to not talk about it would be disrespectful. To not perpetuate the memory for another generation. So if youre too young to know, heres a depiction. Not since the war have emotions been so high in germany. The holocaust telecast caused heated discussion. Its most tangible political effect was shown when the German Legislature debated the search for nazi war criminals. Holocaust made it easier for lawmakers to vote to continue the hunt for nazis. Holocaust brought it home. It made it real, even though it was a hollywood creation. Sunday night, roots begins in eight parts on abc. If it sounds like im plugging it, i am. Basically, television will never be the same again. There was really no bigger Television Event than roots. It was based on a 1976 book by alex haley about his family in africa and coming to america as slaves and what happens to them as the centuries go on. I will go to my grave believing that roots is americas story. Its not just black americas story. We might have come over in the bottom of the ship, but we all came over on ships. My name means stay put. But it dont mean stay a slave. As a 19yearold kid, it was my first job. Were not children. Were very close to being men. Whats your name . Kunta. Kunta kintae. The character that i got to portray in roots was a dream role. It was really genius to cast all of americas Favorite Television dads in the roles of the white slave owners and the villains. Ill be by to fetch ya in the morning, captain. Sleep well. It is difficult to explain in todays culture how unprecedented roots was. No one had ever seen the story of slavery before told from the point of view of the africans. It may be the first time that television allowed an embracing of black pride. Them is free. Is free, honey. One of the reasons that roots was so incredibly popular is not because abc had so much faith in it, but because abc didnt. Earlier miniseries were broadcast in weekly installments. And the abc executives determined that if roots were to fail, they could just be done with it in seven or eight nights. It was high risk, high reward. If it didnt work, you were out a lot of tv time and not many people watching. The Television Premiere on eight consecutive nights attracted the largest audience in the history of the media. Theres something about it that seems to touch all human beings. It transcends age and race. Entertainment was meeting humanity. I think thats the primary value is to lead humanity forward. If theres a legacy of television in the 70s, its that you matter. While theres a lot going on in the world, television was a reminder of how much Little Things mean to us. The smallest of situations. No matter what the subject matter was, it wanted to include you. Youre in the family. Dont make fun of the outsider. Include them. Its legacy is, look how long its lasted. Those shows were about people who were kind and nice. They were not meanspirited shows. There was a certain elegance to that. I kind of miss it. Oh, it was so delicious. Five different flavors. And archie was sitting at another table with jefferson pratt, remember him . Anyway, archie was trying to get my attention. So first he put two straws up his nose. Like a walrus. Its a time of enormous turmoil. We intend to cover all the news all the time. We wont be signing off until the isnt that special. Any tool for human expression will bring out both the best and the worst in us and television has done that. Doe dont pay me enough to deal with animals like this. People are no longer embarrassed to admit they watch television. We have seen the news, and it is us