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>> who shot jr and the last episode of "mash" are the last call for the pre-cable world of television. it's like they are the last time that that huge audience will all turn up for one event. >> alright, that's it. let's roll. hey. let's 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 it had this real handheld, in-the-moment quality that we were very enamored of.
>> thomas magnum? >> marion hammond? >> the private investigator? >> oh. you're probably wondering about the goat. um, just let me drop off my friend, and then we'll talk. >> when we entered the '80s, a lot of one-hour dramas that were light-hearted, like "magnun, p.i.," were very popular. >> after "mash" went off the air, the next season, there wasn't a single sitcom in the top 10. 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 sitcom's death were greatly exaggerated. >> time and time again, if you study television history, just when someone is counting a form out, that is exactly the form of programming that leads to the next big hit. >> so 1984, "the cosby show" comes on. now, bill cosby's not new to tv.
marvelous reception. i particularly want to thank my supporters over there in the cesarean section. >> it's healthy to be an outsider. you know, as a comedian. and canadians are always outsiders, but they're looking at the other culture which is right next door to them. >> i love you, i want to bear your children! ha ha ha! >> it was the type of comedy that had only been accessible if you could have gotten into the improv clubs in chicago and toronto. i had never seen anything like second city tv. >> james bridgeman, parkdale. >> sorry, no, never mind, i'm sorry. >> it was far more conceptual in its humor because it didn't have to be performed in front of an audience. and there was also just the idea that it was this sort of low-rent thing. it was this sort of by the seat of their pants kind of operation that gave it an authenticity. >> now that our programming day has been extended i'm going to
>> a new concept is born -- the best of tv combined with the best of radio. this is it. welcome to mtv, music television -- the world's first 24-hour, stereo, video music channel. >> music television -- what a concept. mtv was, "pow!" in your face. you were not gonna 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 it's like the radio? >> i'm 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 24-year-olds 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
guy who worked carrying trash. one plays for the los angeles lakers, the other plays for the boston celtics. it's a great story. >> off the mark. lakers had several chances, and here's larry bird chugging down the court. >> magic johnson leads the attack. look at that pass. >> oh, what a show! >> what a great play. >> 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 they've ever been before. >> i dare them to challenge me with their somewhat primitive skills. they're 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 watching it on tv. >> here comes mike spinks in! he leads with a right hand! down he goes! >> tyson was made for tv because there was drama. >> it's all over! mike tyson has won it! >> not a lot of junior high school kids can dunk, especially
nothing sacred about television. >> all right, steven is upstairs. >> hey, dave, i was just curious. is there any way i get mtv on this? >> actually, steve, that's a -- that's just a monitor and all you can get on that is our show. >> oh. that's okay. >> there was a degree of cynicism that was needed in the art form at that time, and it's a cynicism that just became common sense after a while, because it never got old. >> i've watched johnny carson. and you are no johnny carson. ♪ goo goo goo goo goo goo goo goo ♪ >> welcome the great white north. canadian corner. i'm bob mckenzie, this is my brother doug. today we got a real big show -- >> there was a second city chicago company, there was a second city toronto company. the toronto one is the one that fueled the sctv series which originally was syndicated and got to the states that way. >> hail, hail! >> hail, hail. thank you very much for that
he's had other tv shows. but "the cosby show" is very different. it stands apart from everything else he's done. >> mom, i wanted my eggs scrambled. >> coming right up. >> they talked about parenting. previous to that, on television, the kids were cool and the parents were idiots. and then cosby says the parents are in charge, and that was something new. >> instead of acting disappointed because i'm not like you, maybe you can just accept who i am and love me anyway because i'm your son. >> that's the dumbest thing i've ever heard in my life! >> you know, it helps, the casting of anything helps a lot in television. and the kids were just great. >> if you were the last person on this earth, i still wouldn't tell you. >> you don't have to tell me what you did. just tell me what they're gonna do to you. >> unlike every other show on tv, it's showing an upper middle class black family.
let's roll. hey. let's be careful out there. >> dispatch, we have a 9-11 -- 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 it 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 -- you could almost smell the stale coffee. >> we didn't want to do a standard cop show where, you know, you got a crime and you
second city toronto company. the toronto one is the one that fueled the sctv series which originally was syndicated and got to the states that way. >> hail, hail! >> hail, hail. thank you very much for that marvelous reception. i particularly want to thank my supporters over there in the cesarean section. >> it's healthy to be an outsider. you know, as a comedian. and canadians are always outsiders, but they're looking at the other culture which is right next door to them. >> i love you, i want to bear your children! ha ha ha! >> it was the type of comedy that had only been accessible if you could have gotten into the improv clubs in chicago and toronto. i had never seen anything like second city tv. >> james bridgeman, parkdale. >> sorry, no, never mind, i'm sorry. >> it was far more conceptual in its humor because it didn't have to be performed in front of an audience.
>> the characters were larger than life, they were more evil and more cunning and manipulative. and more gorgeous. i mean, really, look at the way they were dressed. look at the way they lived. everything, it was fascinating. >> alexis. >> yes? >> i didn't thank you for your present. >> it's he you should slap, dear, not i. >> we all wanted to live like everyone on “dynasty,” like the carringtons. and it all just ended up being a wonderful picture of fun and debauchery. >> greed was encouraged in the '80s. there was a sense of conspicuous consumption as being okay. and those shows kind of exploited that. >> primetime families like the carringtons who live here in luxury on the “dynasty” sound stage are not the only rich folk on tv. in the last five years, more than half of all new shows have featured the wealthy.