# Most Revolutionary TV series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [August 18, 2019, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839 "2019-08-18T14:52:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/41 "2019-08-18T20:57:37Z")
_Mister Ed_. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/42 "2019-08-18T20:59:04Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > _The Monkees_ was less like anything before on television than almost any other show ever. It should have led to tons of other shows breaking all the rules, but it was one of a kind. On television, yes. But it was still a direct ripoff of the Beatles’ movies. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/43 "2019-08-18T21:00:14Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > _Mister Ed_. A callback to Francis, the Talking Mule. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/44 "2019-08-18T21:00:15Z")
As one of my interests is history, I like to go for the old school trailblazers: Ernie Kovacs’s _It’s Time for Ernie_ (1951) > **[The Tube’s First Concept Humorist - Chicago Reader](https://chicagoreader.com/film/the-tubes-first-concept-humorist/)** > > Letterman, Conan owe mid-century comedian Ernie Kovacs > [@](#): > > His 1950s broadcasts became the blueprint for satirical TV comedy, with their recurring oddball characters, their parodies of other programs, their fake commercials. Without Kovacs there would have been no Saturday Night Live, no SCTV, no David Letterman or Conan O’Brien. > [@](#): > > Nowadays, parodying TV shows and commercials may seem painfully trite—Saturday Night Live hardly does anything else—but we should remember that when Kovacs did this, TV as a nationwide phenomenon was only a few years old. Years before FCC chairman Newton Minow branded television a “vast wasteland,” Kovacs was taking dead aim at cooking shows, game shows (Beat the Clock, What’s My Line), kids’ shows (The Howdy Doody Show), late-night horror movie hosts (his Uncle Gruesome was the direct ancestor of SCTV’s howling Count Floyd), and the medium’s all-around scurrilousness (with a weather forecast delivered by a purring, scantily clad babe on a divan). The idea of lampooning commercials was even more subversive because, at that point, real commercials were still routinely integrated into programming, and in fact were often performed live by the hosts—including Kovacs. His actual commercials could be as zany as his fake ones, which only blurred the line further. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/45 "2019-08-18T21:00:43Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Pushing Daisies. It was sweet, quirky, unique and doomed to only 1 1/2 seasons thanks to the 2007 writers’ strike. I still miss it. Great show. I loved it. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/46 "2019-08-18T21:08:44Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The influence of _ **Hill Street Blues** _, with its ensemble cast and multiple story arcs, extended to other genres as well. By the mid-1980s, we had _ **St Elsewhere** _ and \*\*\*LA Law \*\*\*, the latter being pitched as “a _ **Hill Street Blues** _–type show about lawyers.” The format has pretty much become a standard one for hour-long dramas. > > Back in the day (1980), _ **Miami Vice** _ created quite a stir when it debuted. Another ensemble cast with stylish undercover cops living the high life, driving fast cars, combating the lowest of the low in slow-motion shootouts, all backed with hot rock music—this show had it all! The Bruce Willis episode is my favorite one. He plays an arms dealer whose communications are bugged by the Miami cops and the feds, and while listening in, they hear Willis’s wife trying to find a hit man to kill him because he’s abusive to her. Crockett steps in as the hit man. A really well done episode. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/47 "2019-08-18T21:10:00Z")
Candid Camera? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/48 "2019-08-18T21:13:15Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Don’t know if I’d call _ **The Rockford Files** _ revolutionary, but it certainly turned a lot of PI tropes on their heads. Jim was a loner and an ex-con (though he’d been wrongfully convicted). He lived in a mobile home, was close to his father, and was constantly getting screwed over by his closest “friends.” He got beat up a lot, was seldom paid for his services, and was always in hock. It was still one of the best series of the 1970s. Rockford came a season after David Janssen in _Harry O_, who lived on the beach, owned a car that failed so often he had to go to cases on a bus, and had a bullet in his back so that he avoided fights. A great show that has seemingly vanished from memory. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/49 "2019-08-18T21:17:03Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > **At Last the 1948** had half\* of the Pythoners and was very similar in many style. It is turn was inspired by The Goons I believe. Many episodes of **At Last the 1948** are available on Amazon Prime currently. Not up to Monty Python level but some funny stuff, especially Marty Feldman. One area where Python was different, no punchlines. They may have been the first to do this regularly. > > - Graham Chapman & John Cleese as performers and Eric Idle writing. There are also episodes on Youtube. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/50 "2019-08-18T21:31:47Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Agreed. Ten year old moi loved Dobie Gillis. It was funny and intelligent. It is way up on my list of shows. I heard it disparaged as “too talky,” but I _loved_ that. I really love the _Dick Van Dyke Show_’s parody of _Twilight Zone_, but I love Dobie Gillis’s even more. Don’t forget it also had Tuesday Weld and Warren Beatty in minor roles. I think the actor who played Chatsworth Osborne Jr. died recently. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/51 "2019-08-18T21:38:27Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Rockford came a season after David Janssen in _Harry O_, who lived on the beach, owned a car that failed so often he had to go to cases on a bus, and had a bullet in his back so that he avoided fights. A great show that has seemingly vanished from memory. Man, it vanished from _my_ memory, but I loved that show at the time. Anthony Zerbe was in it, right? Weird actor. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/52 "2019-08-18T22:20:45Z")
Most Revolutionary, huh? **Julia** , from 1968-1971 was the first TV show to feature an female African-American (Diahann Carroll) in the lead role, as a respected figure (she played a nurse). While there had been black actors/actresses in TV and several had hosted variety shows (Nat King Cole for one), this was the first time a weekly show featured a black actor/actress in the title role. **Batman: The Animated Series** from 1992-1995, with several spinoffs. In general superbly written, with excellent actors (Kevin Conroy as Batman, Mark Hamill as the Joker), it brought Batman as introduced by the 1992 movie into animation. Much darker and more grown-up oriented than most cartoons, it still holds up today, IMHO. **M_A_S\*H** : 1972-1983. While ‘just a comedy’ the first few years, it showed a series could adapt to numerous changes (think about it; 4 of the major cast members (Henry Blake, Frank Burns, Trapper John and Radar) were replaced during it’s run and the series got stronger. While it never lost it’s humor, some episodes (the ones where they dream, the dead soldier walking among them, the clock ticking) are the height of TV. It’s final episode(s) is still the most-watched in series TV history (Super Bowl has edged it out overall) 35+ years later. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/53 "2019-08-18T22:51:08Z")
**Cops** got on the air because [“a television writers’ strike paralyzed the networks in the late 1980s, and forced them to find other kinds of programming”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cops_(TV_program)). Didn’t much need actors, either; or _sets,_ really; or even an emcee doing game-show host stuff; just, y’know, follow cops around until a drunken idiot does something interesting, possibly while in his underwear; and maybe a cameraman or a sound guy winds up wrestling a suspect to the ground, or leaps in to perform CPR, or whatever. There’s a reason why it hit its 1,000th episode some time ago. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/54 "2019-08-18T22:55:04Z")
> [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](#): > > **Julia** , from 1968-1971 was the first TV show to feature an female African-American (Diahann Carroll) in the lead role, as a respected figure (she played a nurse). While there had been black actors/actresses in TV and several had hosted variety shows (Nat King Cole for one), this was the first time a weekly show featured a black actor/actress in the title role. Not quite… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/zkhm5MtGfjo/maxresdefault.jpg "The Beulah Show - Second Wedding (1952) | Louise Beavers (fair quality)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkhm5MtGfjo) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/55 "2019-08-18T23:11:29Z")
And 52 episodes of [Amos and Andy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amos_%27n%27_Andy#Television). ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/56 "2019-08-18T23:17:44Z")
[quote=“terentii, post:54, topic:838839”] Not quite… [/QUOTE] Also before Julia was **I Spy** with Bill Cosby as one of the 2 stars of the show. Also with a lot of controversy for damn good reasons, the **Amos & Andy show** from 1951 to 1953 did star Black actors. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/57 "2019-08-18T23:26:24Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > And 52 episodes of [Amos and Andy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amos_%27n%27_Andy#Television). > [@What\_Exit](#): > > Also before Julia was **I Spy** with Bill Cosby as one of the 2 stars of the show. > > Also with a lot of controversy for damn good reasons, the **Amos & Andy show** from 1951 to 1953 did star Black actors. Which is why I specified ‘female’ in my post… I did not know about the Buelah Show, terentii, my thanks, but that was 1952; not all households had TV then, and Diahann Carroll was a well-known suporting actress/singer at the time her show debuted. That said, I guess I could have added, as Wikipedia does, > [@](#): > > …the first series on American television to star a black woman in a nonstereotypical role… ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/58 "2019-08-18T23:37:34Z")
Yes, Minister. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/59 "2019-08-18T23:42:41Z")
> [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](#): > > Which is why I specified ‘female’ in my post… Actually, reread your own post, I just did. You wrote, “this was the first time a weekly show featured a black actor/actress in the title role.” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/60 "2019-08-18T23:58:08Z")
_ **Max Headroom** _ (remember \*that \*show?) was way ahead of its time. So much so that it went over the heads of the viewers (pun intended) and didn’t last too long, sadly. For reasons I’ve never been able to understand, _ **Laugh-In** _ was hailed as revolutionary when it debuted. Granted, it was snappy and fast-paced, but that was because the jokes were so lame they didn’t want to give you time to think about them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839.md?page=4)