Listen to it. They know when it hits the bottom, it will be 1990, goodbye to the 80s. Will this horrible year never end . When the 90s begin, were starting to see a lot of experimentation. Five, four, three, two, one the simpsons in some sense was inspired by not necessarily hatred of television but distrust. Tv respects me. It laughs with me, not at me. Youre stupid. Doh i think the Sitcoms Of The 80s were such a sort of warm safe humor. You see, the kids they listen to the rap music, which gives them the brain damage. And i think there was a real yearning for another type of humor. We were able to spoof fatherhood. What a bad father. Which at the time and i stress at the time was bill cosby as a shining example. Did you ever know that youre my hero the stuff they got away with because its a cartoon, the father strangling the child. Why, you little we are going to keep on trying to strengthen the American Family to make American Families a lot more like the waltons and a lot less like the simpsons. Huh . We go to a completely bizarre period of time in 1992 when a sitting president is raging against a sitcom. They have dealt with politics and Popular Culture and all kinds of issues of racism, of sexism. Dont ask me. Im just a girl. Say it sister. Its not funny, bart. Millions of girls will grow up thinking this is the right way to act they have found a way to talk about everything thats going on in our lives through the filter of the simpsons. Dang immigrants. They want all the benefits of living in springfield, but they aint even bothered to learn themselves the language. Yeah. Those are exactly my sentiments. Sold when they make fun of how fox works you are watching fox. We are watching fox. Theyre telling you dont trust us either. Eat my shorts. All right. Ill eat eat your shorts . The simpsons is like shakespeare in the sense that we quote the simpsons all the time, very often without even knowing it. Excellent i wish i could create something that culturally indelible. Twin peaks showed up out of nowhere at the beginning of the decade. The Pilot Episode of that was one of the strangest and most exciting things ive ever seen. Whats her name . Laura palmer. It was incredible. I mean, just how slowly in the beginning the news spread around this little town that this young beautiful girl had died and that haunting music was so dark and so beautiful. What on earth is essentially a Art Film Doing in prime Time Television . American Network Television has long been considered the home of the bland, the cautious and the predictable. So it was with some troepidatio that the abc Network Recently launched a new series that was none of those things. Twin peaks has been described by one critic as the series that will change tv. Its directed by david lynch. David lynch was known for his taste in eccentric and memorabl. The idea that that he would do television in the 90s was crazy. I like television, but im too busy to see very much of it. What do you think of what you do see on television . Some of it i really enjoy. Are you being diplomatic . Sort of. [ laughter ] the beautiful thing about television you have the chance to do a continuing story, and thats the main reason for doing it. I think that twin peaks with the initial attention that it got allowed all the other networks to say lets do something different. What was interesting about Northern Exposure it was an odd sort of universe that this guy was dropped into. The days coming and it aint gonna be long that you wont have to leave your living room. No more schools, no more bodegas, no more cinemas. Experimentation set the stage for a lot of what came later. Its kind of hard to pin down what exactly the x files is. On the surface, its a show about investigating pair nra no activities. Unidentified flying objects. I think that fits the description pretty well. Tell me im crazy. Mulder, youre crazy. That tension of believer versus skeptic is one of the engines of the show and youre always seeing it from a specific point of view. Theyre equals, yeah, absolutely. Theyre equals and in a way theyve kind of switched gender stereotypes. The character i play, mulder, is the intuitive one. Scully is the rationalist, the doctor. A lot of folks who enjoyed the x files who didnt otherwise watch tv might have been drawn to the show by its, for lack of a better way to put it, its Stick It To The Man ethos. Dont trust the government, dont trust big business. Dont trust anybody but yourself and your friends and family, i guess. Its a message thats somewhat dark and cynical, but was kind of a breath of fresh air in the early 90s. The 90s was a time of conspiracies and the internet was starting to spread beyond hard core computer users, so you could have Message Boards and usenet groups. Everyone wanted to talk about the black oil and the bees and mulders sister and what the Cigarette Smoking Man was up to. People were so nuts for this show. Its just pure science fiction. Thats probably what i like about it. The x files changed way people watched television. You could sense these successful creators try to see how they could do things different than they had done five or ten years ago. Sometimes that led to really challenging Network Television that was cool and fun to watch and sometimes it just seemed to fall off the edge a little bit. At the time Steven Bochko was a very successful producer of our dramas and wanted to try something brand new. This is the police, we have a warrant for your arrest and so his idea was to combine a gritty cop show with a broadway musical. I saw one in which a bunch of gang bangers were in jail and they began to sing life in the hood aint no pizza pie, everybody die when the bullets fly. I said, wait a minute. I thought, well, this is it. This is going to be great. This is going to be as innovative as anything ive ever done. Hes guilty judge, hes guilty, you could see it in his eyes he did the crime and now hes got to pay i mean, it circled the drain. I will give credit to anybody who goes Outside The Box and swings really hard for the fences. I work real hard and i got my education im creatively proud of it still. You know, im very glad we tried it. I dont think id want to do it again. 14 pro thats in stock now. Plus apple watch se, ipad and beats fit pro. All on us. Dont miss out. Verizon. A dental tool is round for a reason. So is an oralb. Round cleans better by surrounding each tooth. So clean, youll feel like you just left the dentist. Oralb. Brush like a pro. Theres something going around the gordon home. Good thing gertrude found delsym. Now whats going around is 12hour cough relief. And the giggles. The family that takes delsym together, feels better together. [female narrator] they line up by the thousands. Each one with a story that breaks your heart. Like ravette. Every step, brought her pain. Their only hope mercy ships. The largest floating civilian hospital in the world. Bringing free surgeries to people who have no other hope. 19 a month will help provide urgently needed surgery for so many still suffering. So dont wait, call the number on your screen. Or donate at mercyships. Org. Do you struggle with occasional nerve aches in your hands or feet . Try Nervivenerve Relief from the worlds 1 selling nerve care company. Nervive contains Alpha Lipoic Acid to relieve occasional nerve aches, weakness and discomfort. Try Nervivenerve Relief. All across the country, people are working hard to build a better future. So were hard at work helping them achieve financial freedom. Were proud to serve people everywhere, in investing for the retirement they envision. From the plains to the coasts, we help americans invest for their future. And help communities thrive. Generation x, the 20somethings, boomerangers, baby busters, whatever these 46 million young souls are called, are turning out to be kind of a hard sell. In the 90s, what we realized is advertisers would pay premiums for collegeeducated young adults 18 to 49. And we started reinventing nbc and trying to speak to that audience. Where is someone . Im starving. This is him right here. Is there a table ready . The Chinese Restaurant was one of the very, very early episodes of seinfeld. And truly Nothing Happened in the episode. They were waiting for a table. I feel like just walking over there and taking some food off of somebodys plate. We said to larry david, hey, like, nothing happens. And larry was offended. He was, like, wildly offended. Nbc believed in the show so they said, were committing to four episodes. Yes, yeah, right. Four episodes. Normally its 13 or eight or something. Yes, at least. So we didnt really think that they had too much confidence in the show. We didnt think it would work, but we felt they had to go through their process, and they would learn. And ultimately, they knew better than we did. My mother caught me. Caught you . Doing what . You know. I was alone. The Turning Point for seinfeld from like nice show that all of the cool people kind of know about but thats it, to massive hit, was an episode called the contest where they tried to abstain from selfpleasure for as long as possible. 6 30, time for your bath. George, im hungry. Hang on, ma. Hang on. Once you do 30 minutes on masturbation, you can pretty much get away with anything. I guess youll be going back to that hospital. My mother, jerry. But are you still master of your domain . I am king of the county. The week after that aired, people were talking about that in the workplace the entire week. They still are talking about it. 52 seconds and two of the greatest words in sitcom history. Im out. One of the shorthand descriptions of seinfeld is no hugs, no lessons. Lets push it a little further than its ever been pushed before. I think the big breakthrough of seinfeld was that the characters were not nice people. Someone help shut up, you old bag they were narcissistic. No save it they would screw each other at the drop of a hat. Hes just a dentist. And youre an antidentite. And yet be best friends the next week. You dont have to love them. We just have to laugh at them. Im really sorry. I was in the pool. I was in the pool the idea of a character with darker tendencies, that was so taboo in television comedy. Are you about done . Im just getting warmed up. Were in the confines of network tv with commercials, with still a lot of things that are very highly structured and yet were able to find ways of pushing in the boundaries. No soup for you. It took us to a new level of comedy. And it kind of defined, like, yeah, nbc, thursday night, this show, expect the unexpected. Can you sing the theme song from cheers . Cheers, yeah, how does it start . Making your way in the world today i cant. I know, i know, but its cute. Just sing it. Takes everything you got taking a break from all your worries sure can help a lot wouldnt you like to get away sometimes you want to go where Everybody Knows your name we decided to end cheers in the 11th year. Over 93 Million People watched the finale of cheers. Its a sad experience for everybody. This was our baby for 11 years and were not going to be around these people every day. You people are as dear to me as my own family. We had been serving fake suds forever. It was time for everybody to sip. In fact, i was sipping along with them. Time goes by so fast. People move in and out of your life. You must never miss an opportunity to tell these people how much they mean to you. We had been through so much together. You spend that much time with the same set of people, it does become your family. I feel pretty lucky to have the friends i do. I think the legacy of cheers is our need to belong. And i think thats what we as americans are longing for. Thank you, guys. The final scene of cheers was really, what was sams real first love. You can never be unfaithful to your one true love. Im the luckiest Son Of A Bitch on earth. His real first love was the bar. Sorry, were closed. T. Oh man. Always look for the Grown In Idaho seal. This cough. [sfx coughs] thisll help. Vicks vaporub . Vicks vaporubs. Medicated vapors go straight to the source of your cough. So you can relieve your cough to breathe easier. Vicks vaporub. Fastacting cough relief. Im a vegas hotel. I know what youre thinking. Its cool, i dont want anything long term either. Just a few nights of fun. Im looking for someone who will let loose, dress up a little, see a show, order the steak, and the lobster. Some people say im excessive, but who cares. I just want to enjoy some late nights. And some very late checkouts. Think you can keep up . What will you do . What will you change . Will you make Something Better . Will you create something entirely new . Our Dell Technologies advisors provide you with the tools and expertise you need to do incredible things. Because we believe theres an innovator in all of us. Its official, america. Xfinity mobile is the Fastest Mobile Service. And gives you unmatched savings with the best price for two lines of unlimited. Only 30 a line per month. The Fastest Mobile Service and major savings . Cant argue with the facts. No wonder Xfinity Mobile is one of the Fastest Growing mobile services, now with over 5 million customers and counting. Save hundreds a year over tmobile, at t and verizon. Talk to our switch squad at your local xfinity store today. Okay, lets play show business. As a young kid in cleveland, i always knew i would one day end up doing a talk show. Its arsenio hall in less than two years, arsenio hall has fired his talk show for the mtv generation into a contender for the crown of late night television. Yes, yes how come i didnt hear all of that woofing going on when i would watch you . Too many white people. Johnny was the big dog. But i knew everybody on the planet wasnt watching him. And it dawned on me that i could go many weeks and not see a motown group on The Tonight Show. Arsenio hall has been dubbed the prince of late night. There was a whole world of talent that had never and would never have been on any late night show. Sitting at home watching Arsenio Hall 2livecrew came on and sang meso horny. It was like the sex pistols. Id never seen anything like it. It was an explosion in the audience. He appealed to a Black And White young audience and it was a much broader appeal than the powers that be had estimated. Rap. Rap is real big among our teens. Thats poetry. Of course it is. Having maya angelou on, i mean, where would you have seen her otherwise . In 1892 he wrote a poem called a negro love song. It says, seen my lady home last night, jump back, honey, jump back. Held her hand and squeezed it tight, jump back, honey, jump back. He didnt just have black people on his show. But if you were hip, you wanted to be on arsenio. This was something that i heard a political analyst talk about recently. He said you kind of were i use the word chilling out. He said you were pulling back a little bit. Youd been instructed not to say as much or be outspoken. No . Ive heard that, but i never know who says it. I think its Wishful Thinking on the part of some people. Guess who suggested to bill to do The Arsenio Hill Show if you want to get a younger demo . Hilldawg. He attracted a lot of people who werent fans before that night. The 90s was a glorious moment for black television. Because you saw these representations that youd never seen before. The premise of the fresh prince was this kid who comes from philadelphia. In West Philadelphia born and raised on the playground is where i spent most of my days his mom says, im going to send you to live with your uncle. He shows up at this mansion in bel air, baseball cap on backward. Like he doesnt even know how to act in this environment. The black producers and directors and writers were always playing with this kind of subverting expectations of what is blackness. The incredible work of the fresh prince at its most triumphant was when it was showing the ways that being black is always going to be a problem no matter what. Vehicle registration, please. Just a sec. But the thing, officer, this isnt my car. Theres the episode i remember where they get pulled over in a car. What . He is going to tell us to get out of the car. You watch too much tv. Get out of the car. They have an interaction with a Police Officer that is horrible and racist in a lot of ways. And carlton has this epiphany about how money wont save him. No map is going to save you. And neither is your glee club or your fancy bel air address or who your daddy is. Because when youre driving in a nice car in a strange neighborhood, none of that matters. They only see one thing. The writers of the Fresh Prince Of Bel Air had a really hard task to approach these topics with nuance, and were doing it at a clip that was way ahead of their time. Now dont touch that dial. Were about to flip it for you to one of this years most talked about tv shows. It is, as they say, on another network. Fox. You can do what you want to do In Living Color ladies and gentlemen, keenan ivory wayans. In living color was the first show that was created by, written by, directed by, starring an African American. All of those things in one. This is more celebration of culture and an exchange. You know, us sort of opening the doors to allowing america to come on inside. Yo, yo, yo, all you bad Bargain Hunters out there, welcome to the home