Listen to it. Oh, they know when it hits the bottom, it will be 1990, goodbye to the 80s. 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. 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. 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. Im at the twin peaks county morgue. With the body of the victim. Whats her name . 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 a 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 television in the 90s was crazy. Do you watch much of it . I like the idea of television, but im too busy to see very much of it. What do you think of that which you do see . 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. The day is coming. It aint going to be long when you aint going to have to leave your living room. No more schools, no more tabernacles. No more cineplexes, all right . Youre going to snuggle up to your fiberoptics and bliss out. You can check the successful creators trying to figure out how they can do things different than five or ten years ago. Sometimes it led to challenging Network Television cool and fun to watch and sometimes it seemed to fall off the edge a little bit. Lets be careful at the time he was a very successful producer of our 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 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 circled the drain. Im creatively proud of it still. Im very glad we tried it. I dont think id want to do it again. And. Whatever this was. Because we make our meat with the good of the deli and no artificial preservatives. Make every sandwich count with oscar mayer deli fresh. smoke alarm this is what medicare from Blue Cross Blue Shield does for hals heart. And with easy access to quality healthcare, imagine what we can do for you. This is the benefit of blue. Full of flavor. Color. Full of. Woo full of good. So you can be too. Try our new warm grain bowls today. Order now on grubhub. Try our new warm grain bowls today. My moderate to severe i Ulcerative Colitis. 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With humira, control is possible. I was on the fence about changing from a manual to an electric toothbrush. But my hygienist said going electric could lead to way cleaner teeth. She said, get the one inspired by dentists, with a round brush head. Go pro with oralb. Oralbs gentle rounded brush head removes more plaque along the gum line. For cleaner teeth and healthier gums. And unlike sonicare, oralb is the First Electric toothbrush brand accepted by the ada for its effectiveness and safety. What an amazing clean ill only use an oralb oralb. Brush like a pro. The following movie is rated r. In 199091 there was not a lot of original programming for cable but they were airing movies so we needed to compete. I felt that if we didnt we were going to kind of get swept out. And so i came up with the notion of doing a cop show that was r rated. When abcs broadcast standards read our script, they went berserk. I was sitting with a pad and a pencil drawing pictures of breasts to try to show them what we would show and what we wouldnt show. Grownups sitting in a room doodling. Then we started on the language. We heard it with the brains of a flea and the balls of a moth. The program premiered with an advertising boycott. Channel 7, shame on you but it was such an immediate hit, that boycott lasted, oh, four weeks. They could use the nudity and the curse words to go deeper into the actual emotional burden of being a cop. Im an asshole. And it had this character, andy sipowicz. He is a raging alcoholic, racist, sexist, violent. He created the tv antihero. I know the great africanamerican George Washington carver discovered the peanut. But can you provide names and addresses of these friends . You know, youre a racist scumbag. Despite his flaws, despite his prejudices, i think people identified with his pain. I wish there was a way to say this that wouldnt hurt you. Theres a famous episode where they are investigating the rape and murder of a young boy. And they find a homeless child molester who murdered the kid and sipowicz to get the confession has to be very sensitive and very good cop. I know this has to be tearing you up inside. But youre going to feel a lot better if you just tell the truth. You can sort of see on dennis franzs face this is killing him to not destroy this guy right now. Finally, he gets the confession he gets the signed statement. He walks out of the room, he goes into another Interrogation Room and he breaks the door in two with his fist. And im choking up talking about it right now, because thats how great a moment of tv that it is. 20 years from now, the best tv dramas, what do they look like . I dont know. Will they be bolder than what we see today . Oh, assuredly, assuredly they will be. The 90s gave us several shows that didnt explode in the ratings, but were influential to other people making television. Homicide is one of them. Shell me with questions all night im living in a danger zone homicide life on the street was really innovative in terms of its style. It used music in ways that advanced the narrative and also used feature film directors that brought a look and style to the show that really stood out on television. Tears coming out of your eyes. Aint no tears coming from my eyes. Those eyes are brimming with tears. They had so many africanamerican characters in the cast that on several occasions they were the only people on camera interacting with one another. And that sounds like, so . But as late as the 90s, that wasnt done on television. When a cop shoots somebody, he stands by. He picks up the radio mic and calls it in. He stands by the body. If not, cops are no better than anybody else. In the 90s, television was getting more complicated, stories were starting to become more episodic and characters were starting to develop and change. None of that happened on law order. This was a show that completely delivered on its formula every time. You get a crime, you got the investigation into the crime. You better be packing more than a dirty mouth. You got an arrest. Whats the charge . Hey, im asking you a question. Whats the charge . Theres no charge. This ones on us. Then you had a trial. Hes badgering, your honor. Sit down and shut up. Overruled. You will address the court from now on, mr. Mccoy. So every time you watched you got what you came for. Tell me, doctor. All those women you ran through your examination rooms, do you remember their faces or did you not even bother to look up . You had in law order the kind of characters people take to heart. Ill let you take me to lunch. Onetime offer. And if youre an actor and you say well, gee, maybe its not really such a bad medium after all. Miranda, the supreme courts mimic decision. The whole thing was illegally obtained. They were both represented by counsel. You just get hooked in. Its life and death and stuff. We know what you did. Counsel. You hear me . Do you hear me . Look at me law order was like crack. Youd have to sit and watch me for 50 minutes just like, not moving, barely breathing. Theres times i have almost passed out watching law order. I need your help. E. R. Had originally been written as a movie for Steven Spielberg to direct. We had this twohour piece which was michaels reflection of experiences as a medical student. You need a large in case theyre bleeding. Do you know how to start an i. V. . Actually, no. E. R. Is a hospital show, but its really an action movie. Three walking wounded. Yellow urgent, red critical, black a gurney. Got it. A gurney comes in, people are shouting instructions, climbing on the body and doing cpr and racing off to the surgical suite. Get that gurney out of there someone wanders in. Theyre tossing around medical jargon. They dont stop to explain what it is. Prep for a peritoneal lavage. I think i know what that is now, but only because i watched a lot of e. R. Over the years. I can try but i dont think his heart can take it. We can bypass it. That would be the fastest way. What do you think . Youre the attending. There was so much information coming at you that i think it made the experience feel as if you had to watch it in the same way that youd watch a film. You had to stay involved in it the whole time. Come on, ben. Hold on, buddy. Hold on. There was a lot of research that said people didnt want to watch anybody have anything other than a happy outcome. Its not flat line, its defib. Another line of epi. We argued that wasnt really showing what the world was for physicians. I had unbelievable amount of respect for the people who did this because i understood how human they were. At visionworks, our sales are good on over 500 frames. Why are you so weird . For a limited time, get two complete pairs for 49. Really. Visionworks. See the difference. 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Takes everything you got taking a break from all your worries sure can help a lot 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. These people arent going to be around. Weve been serving fake suds forever. It was time for everybody to sip. I was sipping along with them. Time goes by. So fast. People move in and out of your life. We 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. 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 episode of cheers was what was sams real first love . You can never be unfaithful to your one true love. Im the luckiest on earth. His real first love was the bar. Sorry. Were closed. How big a loss is this for nbc, anyway . Katy, im still here and waiting for the cast members to come back so id say it is a pretty big loss. Out of the sad, sad sorrow and being scared i would very quickly lose my job because what are we going to do . Tv is changing dramatically with 150 channels that might be available in the near future. There are more choices than ever before and it is a tough job. You have to try and get a sense of what is the audience going to really make an attachment to . In the 90s cable was coming on strong so we had to examine who are we going to be . Well, we wanted to be smart, sophisticated comedy. Six months ago i was living in boston. My wife had left me, which was very painful, then she came back to me, which was excruciating. You know, i thought frazier was dead with cheers. But we thought we got a built in audience and Great Potential for the character in another place. Frazier was kind of like one act plays. Mother and i moved here when i was a small boy after the tragic death of my father. I kept the pain of that loss buried deep within me like a cave. Okay. Thats it. We always assumed the audience was smarter than most other people did and we played to that. Just unschooled like liza doolittle. Shell be ready for a ball in no time. Leave it to you to put the pig back in pigmylian. Thank you. Kelsey grammer played pomposity like nobody youve ever seen and got huge laughs. What is taking so long . I am analyzing my options. Unlike your approach i like to plan a strategy like a general leading his troops into battle. Checkmate, schwarzkopf. I think frazier probably stands as the single most successful spinoff at least in the history of sitcoms. And the emmy goes to Frazier Frazier frazier at the height of must see tv, thursday nights on nbc, 75 million americans watched thursday night. That was at the time onethird of the country. Ooh. What is this stuff . The sweater is angora. Well its wonderful. The machine that was nbc in the 90s for comedy was untouchable. Youre not from around here, are you . It generated so much viewership and money and awards. You do not need this. Thats the top of our wedding cake. If its not a scrapbook its a freezer. No. We certainly associate nbc of the 90s with extremely successful sitcoms but they werent the only network that found their way to having some success. Tgif was on abc on friday and it was their block of family o