Artistically speaking, what were the most influential television shows of the 60s, 70s, & 80s?

[Rrose_Selavy]

@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

[Rebo]

@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.

[Skald_the_Rhymer]

@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?

[Brown_Eyed_Girl]

@Rrose_Selavy

Actually though it may have changed US TV
It was based on this earlier British sitcom
Till Death Us Do Part - Wikipedia

Well, okay, then. TDUDP was groundbreaking the UK while AITF laid the foundation in America. Fair enough?

[Rebo]

@Skald_the_Rhymer

I should have said, “In the last 5 years.” When was STAND on the air?

1994

[Ellis_Aponte_Jr]

@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.

[Equipoise]

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.

[tumbleddown]

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.

[audit1]

@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.

[Ellis_Aponte_Jr]

@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…

[Two_Many_Cats]

@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.

[Lobot]

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.