# 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:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/61 "2010-06-20T19:59:50Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > Interesting, the very first show that came to mind while reading the OP was the very first show contributed. _All in the Family_ was groundbreaking in its format and changed TV forever. It’s also the earliest show I can think of in which the main character was largely unlikeable. And yet, at the same time, you cared about him and his family. Archie Bunker paved the way for such caustic characters such as Al Bundy, Dr. Mark Craig, and Sue Sylvester. > . Actually though it may have changed US TV It was based on this earlier British sitcom > **[Till Death Us Do Part](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Till_Death_Us_Do_Part_(British_TV_series))** > > Till Death Us Do Part is a British television sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1965 to 1975. The show was first broadcast in 1965 as a Comedy Playhouse pilot, then as seven series between 1966 and 1975. In 1981, ITV continued the sitcom for six episodes, calling it Till Death.... The BBC produced a sequel from 1985 until 1992, In Sickness and in Health. > Created by Johnny Speight, Till Death Us Do Part centred on the East End Garnett family, led by patriarch Alf Garnett (Warren Mitchell), a react... ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/62 "2010-06-20T20:07:29Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > You know, this is the only big artistic (as opposed to cultural) impact I could think of for Roots: showing what an impact a mini-series could have if given the right format. > > It’s lost now, of course. I can’t remember any miniseries being even more than two nights long, much less seven. Off the top of my head, _The Stand_ was 4 days long. I’m not sure if it was back-to-back days, though. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/63 "2010-06-20T20:08:50Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > Off the top of my head, _The Stand_ was 4 days long. I’m not sure if it was back-to-back days, though. I should have said, “In the last 5 years.” When was STAND on the air? ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/64 "2010-06-20T20:09:53Z")
> [@Rrose\_Selavy](#): > > Actually though it may have changed US TV > It was based on this earlier British sitcom > [Till Death Us Do Part - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Till_Death_Us_Do_Part_(British_TV_series)) Well, okay, then. TDUDP was groundbreaking the UK while AITF laid the foundation in America. Fair enough? ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/65 "2010-06-20T20:33:14Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I should have said, “In the last 5 years.” When was STAND on the air? 1994 ---
**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 20, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/66 "2010-06-20T20:34:54Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > I hate it when I want to post about something but I can’t remember enough details to make the post worthwhile. I didn’t watch it myself, which is one reason why I’m blanking on details, but in the 70’s, I think, PBS, I think, aired a multi-part documentary/reality show about a family that became very popular, I think. The only thing, I think, I really remember about it is that the son came out as gay. I think. Anyway, whatever it was, it had to have been one of the first ongoing reality shows. I think. > . That was “An American Family,” mentioned earlier. It was about the Loud family; Lance Loud was the son.. he went on to have somewhat of a singing career. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/67 "2010-06-20T22:14:32Z")
The Loud family, yes, thank you! Sorry I missed your earlier mention, but I didn’t know the name of it. If you’d said the Loud family it would have jogged my memory. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/68 "2010-06-21T02:04:36Z")
Can we talk about 80s television without mentioning _Miami Vice_? The stylistic influence was felt everywhere from _L.A. Law_ to _Saved by the Bell_ to MTV, and well beyond television. It also broke new ground in terms of the level of violence depicted, and felt backlash as a result, but that definitely had an impact on cop shows that came after like _NYPD Blue_ and _Homicide: Life on the Streets_. ---
**Author:** ![audit1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@audit1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audit1)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/69 "2010-06-21T03:08:42Z")
> [@Rrose\_Selavy](#): > > Who did it first? Was it pre 60s? > Johnny Carson? > > I mean of course The Desk, the Couch (for guests) , the opening Monologue . the Chat? > > Certainly a format copied often since here in the UK and elsewhere… Steve Allen did it first in the 1950’s. Everything Carson, Letterman, and Leno did was done first by Steve. ---
**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 21, 2010, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/70 "2010-06-21T05:00:57Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > Can we talk about 80s television without mentioning _Miami Vice_? \*. Watching reruns of _Miami Vice_ recently I was struck by how oblique, if that’s the right word, its plotting was. Lots of turns in the plot are merely _suggested_ by terse, ambiguous dialogue, or sometimes by confusingly emotional dialogue (i.e. high noise-to-signal ratio) or by incidents that are difficult to comprehend in their totality. The result is the show doesn’t unfold in a linear fashion with one revelation leading deductively to another. I can’t think of another cop/detective show that had this particular quality before _Vice_. _The Rockford Files_, for instance, still had the traditional deductive scheme to it. Whereas today I think a lot of shows are made in that _Vice_ style. I wonder if anyone gets what I mean here… ---
**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 21, 2010, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/71 "2010-06-21T05:36:52Z")
> [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](#): > > Watching reruns of _Miami Vice_ recently I was struck by how oblique, if that’s the right word, its plotting was. Lots of turns in the plot are merely _suggested_ by terse, ambiguous dialogue, or sometimes by confusingly emotional dialogue (i.e. high noise-to-signal ratio) or by incidents that are difficult to comprehend in their totality. The result is the show doesn’t unfold in a linear fashion with one revelation leading deductively to another. I can’t think of another cop/detective show that had this particular quality before _Vice_. _The Rockford Files_, for instance, still had the traditional deductive scheme to it. Whereas today I think a lot of shows are made in that _Vice_ style. I wonder if anyone gets what I mean here… Oh, so THAT’S why cop shows suck these days. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682/72 "2010-06-21T08:32:47Z")
I’ll reiterate _Twin Peaks_ and also mention _Monty Python’s Flying Circus_, the latter being a point of reference for all surreal/absurdist comedy shows made in its wake. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artistically-speaking-what-were-the-most-influential-television-shows-of-the-60s-70s-80s/543682.md?page=3)