Listen to it. They know when it hits the bottom, itll be 1990. Goodbye to the 80s in ten, nine, eight, eight, eight, eight oh, will this horrible year never end . When the 90s began, we started to see a lot of experimentation. And the simpsons i think in some senses was inspired by not necessarily hatred of television, but a distrust of a lot of the ways in which television was talking to us. Tv respects me. It laughs with me. Not at me. Youre stupid. Doh i think the sitcoms of the 80s were such a warm, safe, humor. I love you guys. 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 the 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. They have dealt with popular culture. Theyve dealt with all kinds of issues of racism, of sexism. Dont ask me, im just a girl. Right on, 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. Them immigrants. They want all the benefits to living in springfield, but they aint even bothered to learn themselves the language. Yeah, those are exactly my sentimonies. I think one of the governing things thats happening with the simpsons is a distrust of anyone who tells us we should trust them and doesnt earn that trust. Oh, and ill take that statue of justice too. Sold. When they make fun of how fox works you are watching fox. We are watching fox. They are 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 knowing it. Excellent i wish i could create something that culturally indelible. Its unlike anything else tv has ever run. 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 i have ever seen. Diane, im at the twin peaks county morgue. With the body of the victim. Whats her name . Laura palmer. It was incredible. 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. Ive got good news. The gum you like is going to come back in style. What on earth is essentially an art film doing in prime time television. American Network Television has long been considered the home of the blands, the cautious and the predictable. So it was with some trepidation that it the abc Network Launched a new series that was none of those things. Twin peaks is already described by one critic as the series that will change tv. Its directed by david lynch. David lynch was a filmmaker known for his taste in the eccentric and memorable. The idea that he would do Network Television in the 90s was crazy. Do you watch much of it . I like the idea of television, but im too busy too see very much of it. What do you think of that which you do see . Well, some of it i really enjoy. Are you being diplomatic . Sort of. [ screaming ] the beautiful thing about television is 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 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. It aint going to be long when you aint going to have to leave your living room. No more schools, no more bodgas, no more tabernacles. No more cineplexes, all right . Youre going to snuggle up to your fiberoptics and bliss out. You also had experimentation that set the stage for a lot of what came later. Its kind of hard to pin down what exactly the xfiles is. I mean, on the surface, its a show about investigating paranormal activities. Unidentified flying objects. I think that fits the description pretty well. Tell me im crazy. Mulder, youre crazy. That dynamic, that dramatic tension of believer versus skeptic is one of the engines of the show. You were always seeing it from a specific point of view. Theyre equals . Yeah, absolutely. They are equals, and in a way they have kind of switched gender stereotypes because the character i play, mulder, is the intuitive one. And scully is the rationalist, the doctor. A lot of folks who enjoyed the xfiles who otherwise didnt 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 or big business or 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 just hardcore computer users. So you could have Message Boards and usenet newsgroups. And everybody wanted to talk about the black oil and the bees and mulders sister and what the cigarette smoking man was up to. I would go to alt. Tv. Xfiles and people were so nuts for this show. Its just pure science fiction. Thats probably what i like most about it. It changed the way people watched television. You could sense the successful creators trying to see how they could do things different than five or ten years ago. Sometimes that led to really challenging Network Television that was cool and fun to watch. And sometimes it seemed to fall off the edge a little bit. Lets be careful out there at the time, Steven Bochco was a very successful producer of hour dramas and wanted to try something brand new. Were the police. We have a warrant for your arrest. 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. They began to sing. Life in the hood aint no pizza pie, everybody die when the bullets fly. Life in the hood aint no pizza pie, people die when the bullets fly and i said wait a minute. I thought this is it. This is great. This is going to be as innovative as anything i have ever done. He is guilty, he is guilty, judge, you can see it in his eyes he did the crime and now hes got to pay it just, it circled the drain. I will give credit to anybody who goes outside the box and swings really hard for the fences. I worked real hard and i got my education im creatively proud of it still. Im very glad we tried it. I dont think id want to do it again. Generation x, the whos dog is this . Its my special friend, antonio. His luxurious fur calms my nerves when im worried about moving into our new apartment. Why dont we just ask geico for help with renters insurance . I didnt know geico helps with renters insurance. Yeah, and we could save a bunch too. Antonio fetch computer antonio . Ill get it. Get to know geico and see how much you could save on renters insurance. Your favorite starbucks flavors come to life. Smooth bold creamy inspired by the starbucks caramel macchiato you love. Mornings just got better. This changes everything new starbucks creamer, now at home. Everything are we supposed to dance . Boy bands without dancing are just ok. Get a better than just ok unlimited plan with spotify premium included on americas best network. Only from at t more for your thing. Thats our thing. For barcelona . We did promise wed go. [dog] take that trip [dog] take it take it take it take it [sfx mastercard checkout sonic plays] [dogs] they get the miles. We get a petsitter. [dog] whoa [sfx mastercard checkout sonic plays] [dog] music to my ears use the card that gets you miles closer to your promise. We should do this every year. [dog] they should do this every year. And start something priceless. [ song johnny cash, th sthese are my people these are the ones who will reach for the stars these are my people by the light of the earth, you can tell they are ours a new step to take and a new day will break yes, these are my people generation x, the 20somethings, boomerangers, baby busters. Whatever the 46 million young souls are called, are turning out to be a hard sell. In the 90s, what we realized is advertisers would pay premiums for College Educated young adults, 18 to 49. 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 8 or something. Yes, at least. We really didnt think they had too much confidence in the show. We didnt think it would work, but we thought 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 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 2 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. Shut up, you old hag they were narcissistic. They would screw each other over 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 those 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 . Making your way in the world today go ahead. Come on, i know. Its cute. 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. But 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. paul Wireless Network claims are so confusing. Americas most reliable network. The nations largest and most reliable network. The best network is even better . Best, fastest, best. Enough. Sprints doing things differently. Theyre offering a new 100 total satisfaction guarantee. I mean i think Sprints Network and savings are great, but dont just take my word for it. Try it out and decide for yourself. Switch to sprint and get both an unlimited plan and one of the newest phones included for just 35 a month. For people with hearing loss, visit sprintrelay. Com. These days were horn honking i hear you, sister. Thats why im partnering with cigna to remind you to go in for your annual checkup. And be open with your doctor about anything you feel. Physically, and emotionally. Body and mind. Okay, guys, the bus is down, but weve got a spot. Follow coach kevin. Lets go, guys sorry again that were fully booked. This is the best we could do on such short notice. This is amazing. Thank you so much. announcer treating others like wed like to be treated has always been our guiding principle. 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 wthe 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. 2livecrew came on and sang me so 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 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 . Dunbar in 1892 wrote a poem that 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 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. You had been instructed not to say as much or be as 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 hall 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 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 second. But the thing is, 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. We have an interaction with the 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 the most talked about tv shows. It is, as they say, on another network. Fox. In living color ladies and gentlemen, keenan ivory wayans. In living color was the first show created by, written by, directed by, starring an africanamerican, all of those things in one. This is more of celebration of culture and an exchange. Us opening the doors to allowing america to come inside. Yo, yo, yo, all you bad bargain hunters out there, welcome to the homeboys shopping network. A lot of what they did on in living color was trying to take the stereotypes or the misperceptions about what black men are and turn them upside down. Not only will you get all the cable stations out there, but youll be able to talk directly to the astronauts. It brought this smart, very controversial comedy that black folks never seen before that centered around their life experiences. Who are you . I am the minister louis farrakhan. Africanamericans composed 25 of foxs market. I always get trapped in the corner with somebody named bob. Hey, listen, martin, i just saw boys in the hood, all right . I didnt know, martin, i didnt know. They knew that they needed to capture this audience to grow. I guess you think you smart and cool. But if you think you are getting a job here, youre a damn fool. So they basically gave the black creators freedom to do whatever you want. Just get the audience. The wb and upn took that concept from fox. Your shoulders are harder than cheap breast implants. Going after this underserved audience of urban minority viewers and ran with it. Im a new millennium woman who will not be defined by traditional roles. Okay . A lot of the networks built themselves up partially on africanamerican viewers. The africana