# Artistically speaking, what were the most influential television shows of the 60s, 70s, & 80s? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 18, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682 "2010-06-18T16:11:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/21 "2010-06-18T21:22:40Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > No Trek, where does Ronald Moore get his start? But is that “artistically speaking”, or just a resume builder? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/22 "2010-06-18T21:24:17Z")
_Hill Street Blues_ was artistically important because of the over-lapping dialogue and gargantuan cast. Neither had been done before on network TV. Plus the “adult” characters, complex plots, and letting people die. Heck, Hill and Renko were supposed to die in the pilot! They survived because the producers liked the actors. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/23 "2010-06-18T21:29:34Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > But is that “artistically speaking”, or just a resume builder? The guy spent the first 12 years of his career working on Star Trek shows. Maybe he was marking time all that time. Actually, his [wikipedia page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_D._Moore) has some interesting reading on the subject, particularly his critique of Voyager (after quitting the show), which sure does seem to play into some of the decisions about the Galactica reboot: > [@](#): > > The premise has a lot of possibilities… this ship was going to have problems. It wasn’t going to have unlimited sources of energy. It wasn’t going to have all the doodads of the Enterprise. It was going to be rougher, fending for themselves more, having to trade to get supplies that they want. That didn’t happen. It doesn’t happen at all, and it’s a lie to the audience. I think the audience intuitively knows when something is true and something is not true. Voyager is not true. If it were true, the ship would not look spic-and-span every week, after all these battles it goes through. How many times has the bridge been destroyed? How many shuttlecrafts have vanished, and another one just comes out of the oven? That kind of bullshitting the audience I think takes its toll. At some point the audience stops taking it seriously, because they know that this is not really the way this would happen. These people wouldn’t act like this. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/24 "2010-06-18T21:32:57Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > But is that “artistically speaking”, or just a resume builder? Well, artistically speaking _Star Trek_ (as well as _The Twilight Zone_) had scripts written by serious sci-fi authors that explored serious sci-fi themes, albeit often not as deeply as one might wish. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/25 "2010-06-18T21:33:06Z")
_The Prisioner_ was hugely influential, artistically, right up to the present (see for example _Lost_). It has had remarkably long-lived influence for a TV show filmed in the 60s. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/26 "2010-06-18T22:43:06Z")
_I Love Lucy_. Desi Arnez was a genius that changed television. He added multiple cameras, & shot from all angles. Difference was night & day. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/27 "2010-06-18T23:14:11Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > _I Love Lucy_. . . _I Love Lucy_ ran (in various forms) from 1951 through 1960, so I think it falls outside the scope of the question. _Saturday Night Live_ was influential - it expanded the scope of sketch comedy and parodized many aspects of television programming (including news broadcasts, daytime talk shows and commercials). SNL helped make Jon Stewart’s and Stephen Colbert’s shows possible. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/28 "2010-06-18T23:14:48Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > _The Simpsons_, the first cartoon series for adults. > > _Rocky and Bullwinkle_. the first cartoon series that may well have been written for adults, and possibly they first Cold Way parody? I consider _The Flintstones_ to be the first cartoon series for adults. They advertised cigarettes for cryin’ out loud. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/29 "2010-06-18T23:30:44Z")
> [@jk1245](#): > > Hate to say it, but MTV’s _The Real World_ set the stage for all the reality shows that followed. One would also have to give credit to “An American Family,” the 1973 mini-series that put cameras on a real family & thus anticipated all the “reality” to come. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/30 "2010-06-18T23:44:59Z")
The Carol Burnett Show The Muppets ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/31 "2010-06-19T00:36:39Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > _I Love Lucy_. > > Desi Arnez was a genius that changed television. > > He added multiple cameras, & shot from all angles. > > Difference was night & day. A decade too early for the OP, but it did set the stage for every sitcom since. Before I Love Lucy all sitcoms were made in NYC, and broadcast live. A low-quality kinetoscope (essentially a film camera in front of a TV set) was made to be sent out to the West Coast. Desi Arnaz realized that if they prerecorded the show on 35mm film for later broadcast they could stay in Los Angeles and have even repeat episodes at a much later date. After the first couple of filmings they realized that they didn’t have to rush through set/costume changes like with a stage play and could devout several hours to filming a half-hour show. Which meant that they could do more and bigger set changes and even experiment with location shooting. He invented the rerun. Nobody thought that old TV episodes could be valuable and he & Ball were given full rights to them (Lucy once said that if reruns didn’t pan out at least they’d have the best home movies ever). He also came up with the idea of selling American TV shows into syndication abroad. I Love Lucy also had multi-episode story arcs (Lucy’s pregnancy, going to Hollywood, Europe, Florida, moving to the country, etc). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/32 "2010-06-19T00:39:17Z")
Carol Burnett was hardly different from other variety shows of the time, like Red Skelton, for example. Skelton did exactly the same sort of skits Burnett did, with the exception of movie parodies. Not a show, but the most influential single person on televised sports (notably football) in the 1960s was Preston Ridlehuber. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/33 "2010-06-19T02:17:46Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > No I don’t. I have to die; everything else is optional. > > Convince me that Trek influenced Battlestar Galactica, for instance. I guess you don’t like Star Trek. If you don’t understand that the success of Star Trek was instrumental in all the other science fiction dramas that followed, I don’t know what to tell you. You don’t have to like the show to see it’s influence. The original Battlestar was utter crap in my opinion. I’ve never seen the newer version, but it was certainly by the original. I don’t know how old you are, but compared to the rest of television at the time, Star Trek was ground breaking. It had higher production standards than any earlier shows in the genre, it addressed social issues, raised the level of science from pure bullshit to simply implausable, mixed humor with drama, and spawned additional spin off shows. It also was a major influence on the best science fiction television show of all time, Futurama. So bite my shiny metal ass. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/34 "2010-06-19T02:23:43Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > The Carol Burnett Show > The Muppets What was the first variety show? Did those descend pretty directly from vaudeville? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/35 "2010-06-19T02:25:52Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > I consider _The Flintstones_ to be the first cartoon series for adults. They advertised cigarettes for cryin’ out loud. Rocky and Bullwinkle predated the Flintstones. It was originally released in 1959, so it may not qualify for the OP. And R&B was also influenced by earlier cartoons that included jokes not understood by juvenile audiences. Cigarette advertising was ubiquitous in early television, so Fred lighting up was barely noticeable. But I believe it was the first 1/2 hour long animated series, done in sitcom style. In that sense it was an influence. It may have influenced producers not to fund animated sitcoms for many years until the success of the Simpsons. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/36 "2010-06-19T02:30:12Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > And R&B was also influenced by earlier cartoons that included jokes not understood by juvenile audiences. Like [Crusader Rabbit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusader_Rabbit)! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/37 "2010-06-19T02:33:37Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > What was the first variety show? Did those descend pretty directly from vaudeville? Probably Texaco Star Theatre that began to feature Milton Berle as a permanent host shortly after in started. The Toast of the Town, later renamed The Ed Sullivan Show started around the same time, as did Arthur Godfrey’s show. There were probably earlier shows that didn’t take off. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/38 "2010-06-19T02:34:58Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Like [Crusader Rabbit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusader_Rabbit)! Once they were marooned on Nothing Atoll. ---
**Author:** ![hanna\_the\_curious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/34f0e0/32.png) [@hanna\_the\_curious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hanna_the_curious)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/39 "2010-06-19T03:43:48Z")
**The French Chef** for wide ranging influence. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/40 "2010-06-19T04:05:05Z")
No one has mentioned _Roots_? [del]or _60 Minutes_? [/del] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682.md?page=3)