# 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:** 8
**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 22, 2019, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/141 "2019-08-22T23:36:48Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I don’t know, it has always been acknowledged that is was pretty much “The Honeymooners as cavemen”. No, I know; but that’s _insane_. I get that the core of it is classic sitcom fare; but to start a sentence with that, and then finish it by saying “as cartoon characters who hang out with dinosaurs”, that’s not what primetime television _was_. ---
**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 23, 2019, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/142 "2019-08-23T00:19:58Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > The A-Team. Based on the concept “Robin Hoods. Soldiers of fortune. Mr T drives getaway van.” ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/143 "2019-08-23T01:00:37Z")
There are lots but I’ll cast my vote for Miami Vice. Individual stories and longer through story arcs. Introducing loud music to the middle of the show. First tv show that played like a movie. Oh, and fashion was a character. ---
**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 23, 2019, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/144 "2019-08-23T01:08:59Z")
Worth noting and good article on it: [The Queen’s Messenger](https://allthatsinteresting.com/first-television-drama) broadcast in 1928. > [@](#): > > The silent drama was based on a one-act play written by Irish playwright J. Hartley Manners. The drama starred Izetta Jewell, an actress who had by then retired and was involved in politics and advocating for women’s rights. In The Queen’s Messenger, she played a mysterious woman seeking to obtain secret documents being carried by a British diplomat. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/145 "2019-08-23T01:50:39Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > _All in the Family_ – Moved away from the genteel middle class sitcom _All in the Family_ would have been my choice – daring and groundbreaking for its time, and the Archie Bunker stereotype is still very true today. > [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > From a business standpoint, I might offer Star Trek: The Next Generation. > > ST:TNG was a big-budget show that elected to forgo network processes and go into first run syndication to maintain control over its production standards. That’s a bold move. Another groundbreaking series from a business standpoint – maybe a bigger one – was _I Love Lucy_. For practical purposes the series was before the days of videotape – the first commercial videotape recorder was invented just around the time that the series premiered, and the only means of recording TV shows or time-shifting them in different parts of the country was the low-quality kinescope. It was usual back in those days to broadcast shows live, and most of them originated in New York for the biggest east coast markets. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz refused to move from Hollywood to New York and as a compromise offered to have the episodes filmed on high quality 35mm film at their own expense, provided that they retained future rights. CBS executives happily gave them those rights, because, hey, who would ever want to see the same sitcom episode more than once? Lucy and Desi thus invented syndication, which became a billion-dollar industry, and the syndication of the show was a major contribution to their subsequent wealth. Lucille Ball was the exact opposite of the ditzy redhead she played on the show, and was very business-savvy. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/146 "2019-08-23T01:59:06Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > _All in the Family_ – Moved away from the genteel middle class sitcom > > _Hill Street Blues_ – introduced story arcs to non-soap-opera TV. They were usually about four episodes, but the idea of a continuing story was a big change. That’s the first two I was going to mention, so I’ll have to dig a little deeper. _I Love Lucy_ - The show just about invented modern filmed television. Three cameras filming simultaneously, a live studio audience, etc. Plus the very idea of an all-American girl being married to a Cuban with fractured English (never mind that they were married in real life) AND getting pregnant and having a kid who grew up in more or less real time, were daring in their time. _Gunsmoke_ and _Bonanza_. Adult-oriented, 60-minute westerns with big production budgets. _The Dick Van Dyke Show_ was the first, for lack of a better word, sophisticated situation comedy. _The Huntley-Brinkley Report_. The _CBS Evening News_ had more resources and Walter Cronkite, but H-B seemed less stuffy while being equally serious, and changed the tone of television news forever. _Monday Night Football_. Even though the Super Bowl and _Wide World of Sports_ came before it, MNF was the first sports programming that was really **entertainment** , not just announcers describing what the cameras were showing. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/147 "2019-08-23T02:07:08Z")
- Sesame Street, Ren & Stimpy\*, or _Ellen_. I figure at least one of the above is good for rounding out the Top 10. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/148 "2019-08-23T02:12:07Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > _I Love Lucy_ - The show just about invented modern filmed television. Three cameras filming simultaneously, a live studio audience, etc. Plus the very idea of an all-American girl being married to a Cuban with fractured English (never mind that they were married in real life) AND getting pregnant and having a kid who grew up in more or less real time, were daring in their time. Just as a side note, since I mentioned the groundbreaking syndication innovation of _I Love Lucy_ too (it was entirely Lucy and Desi’s idea – I suspect mostly Lucy’s – and CBS was happy to give them syndication rights because they saw no value in reruns), I was surprised to find that the kid who played “little Ricky” [was not their own](https://www.metv.com/stories/heres-what-happened-to-the-twins-who-played-little-ricky-on-i-love-lucy). I thought it was cute that their own child was on the show with them, but it wasn’t. In early episodes it was a pair of twins who were uncredited, and later it was child actor Keith Thibodeaux. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/149 "2019-08-23T02:20:14Z")
To a lesser extent, Jackie Gleason’s _The Honeymooners_ also innovated syndication, perhaps even more ingeniously through the use of the [Dumont Electronicam system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronicam), which recorded on film while producing a live TV feed at the same time. But _The Honeymooners_ only produced 39 episodes this way, while _I Love Lucy_ spanned six seasons and 180 episodes and became a staple of morning-television syndication. It’s amazing how much [the first Ampex videotape recorde](https://www.historyofrecording.com/ampexvrx1000aniv.html)r, finally introduced in 1956, completely changed the television industry. ---
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/150 "2019-08-23T02:27:55Z")
All in the Family ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/151 "2019-08-23T02:32:23Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Just as a side note, since I mentioned the groundbreaking syndication innovation of _I Love Lucy_ too (it was entirely Lucy and Desi’s idea – I suspect mostly Lucy’s – and CBS was happy to give them syndication rights because they saw no value in reruns) Don’t underestimate Desi - he was a hell of a businessman as well as a powerful producer. While Lucy was mostly focused on ILL, Desi was busy building Desilu Studios into a powerhouse. [Lucy herself credited Desi’s business skills and drive.](https://web.archive.org/web/20160701022248/http://www.shemadeit.org/meet/biography.aspx?m=15) ---
**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 23, 2019, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/152 "2019-08-23T02:43:44Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Don’t underestimate Desi - he was a hell of a businessman as well as a powerful producer. While Lucy was mostly focused on ILL, Desi was busy building Desilu Studios into a powerhouse. [Lucy herself credited Desi’s business skills and drive.](https://web.archive.org/web/20160701022248/http://www.shemadeit.org/meet/biography.aspx?m=15) When he was a guest host on \*\*\*SNL \*\*\*in the '80s, he got a little testy at constantly being reminded he had to do \*this \*and \*that \*because it was “live TV”: “Who do you think you’re talking to? I’m the one who \*invented \*all these things!” ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/153 "2019-08-23T03:19:37Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I found a CD ages ago that had highlights of the American version of _That Was the Week That Was_, edited together to sound like two distinct episodes. That gave me an interest in the show, so one time when I was in New York City I went to the Museum of Television and Radio and watched a couple episodes from their collection. I’ve seen a bit of the British version on youtube. Both were very political, and neither pulled its punches. TWTWTW definitely was. Laugh-In wasn’t all that political. Definitely some. You can listen to the Tom Lehrer record to get some idea of TWTWTW being political. (American version.) ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/154 "2019-08-23T03:36:39Z")
No love for Ally McBeal? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/155 "2019-08-23T12:04:46Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > More for one that merely got mentioned: just imagine pitching a primetime sitcom about a working-class guy — hates his job about as much as he loves bowling after hours, bickers a little with his wife and hangs out a lot with his pal, enjoys golf and cigarettes — only (a) it’s a cartoon; and (b) they’re stone-age cavemen. No, there’s still baseball games and movie stars; I’m just saying there are saber-tooth tigers as well as Vegas casinos. Like, the guy maybe winds up pulling jury duty; but, y’know, there’s also a mammoth, or something. > > Really. _Really._ During the Eisenhower administration, pitch **The Flintstones**. While the relationship between _The Honeymooners_ and _The Flintstones_ is really obvious (they wanted Mel Blanc to do an Art Carney-like voice for Barney Rubble, but he refused to go that\* far), I don’t think that most people are aware that the whole extended Cavemen-Living-Like-Modern-People-But-With Diinosaurs-as-Gadgets I a blatant ripoff of the _Stone Age_ theatrical cartoon series that Fleischer Studios did in 1940-41. > **[Fleischer’s “Stone Age” Cartoons |](https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/fleischers-stone-age-cartoons/)** > **[Stone Age Cartoons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Age_Cartoons)** > > Stone Age Cartoons is a 1940 American series of twelve animated short films from Fleischer Studios. The films are set in the Stone Age era, much like the 1960s series The Flintstones. When they did not get the anticipated reception, Fleischer turned their attention to the Gabby cartoon series. > This article related to a short animated film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgWUoy1WSCU ---
**Author:** ![Rob54](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rob54/32/4665_2.png) [@Rob54](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rob54)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2020, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/156 "2020-09-30T13:09:34Z")
To be honest, I never liked TV shows, I watched X-Files as a child, and thanks to the coronavirus I decided to review it all and realized that at that time my imagination was much more receptive. Now, of course, all these plates and reptilians can rather take part in comedy series, but for me the most revolutionary and at the same time useless series has always been and is so this is “Santa Barbara” Just think, 9 years of filming, 2137 episodes, a bloated plot throughout almost the entire series, where the viewer empathized, grew, and also got tired, lost the thread and asked himself every time the question - why am I watching this? ---
**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:** [September 30, 2020, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/157 "2020-09-30T15:06:09Z")
IIRC, Audrey “Alice Kramden” Meadows held out on signing her contract until she was guaranteed residuals for syndicated reruns of _ **The Honeymooners** _. The powers-that-were gave them to her, thinking they would never amount to anything. They helped make her a wealthy woman. Whenever I think of the fourth wall being broken, I think of Cleo, the basset hound in Jackie Cooper’s series _ **The People’s Choice** _. I remember watching it when I was three or four and thinking it was hilarious! [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/9tKgbiog5q4/hqdefault.jpg "The Peoples Choice with Jackie Cooper (1 of 3)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tKgbiog5q4) I’ve been watching _ **The Beverly Hillbillies** _ and _ **Green Acres** _ lately on morning TV. The latter especially borders on the surreal at times. ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2020, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/158 "2020-10-02T08:54:09Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > _Hill Street Blues_ also pioneered the use of over-lapping dialog. I was going to mention _Moonlighting_ on this point. But I’ll take your word for it that _Hill Street Blues_ used it. (HSB did hit the airwaves several years earlier.) ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2020, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/159 "2020-10-03T01:08:23Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I wonder if **The Price Is Right** deserves mention. There had been game shows with commercials and even product placement before, of course; but, here, that pretty much _was_ the show, right? > > It wasn’t really a trivia contest; they’d just see a TV or a barbecue grill, described lovingly by a pitchman, and be asked what it’d sell for, and — no, you’ve all overbid: you can buy it for _less_ than you’d think! And now see leggy blondes standing next to a SHINY NEW CAR! Hear the audience cheer! Do you want this car? I’ll _give_ you this car, if you’ll tell me what it’s worth to people! Oh? Congratulations! At the end of the hour, you can bid on a tourist-town hotel stay; but, first: a commercial break! > > The whole _thing_ was a commercial break! The title was a sales pitch! I’m embarrassed to admit that I never grasped this. You’re absolutely right. Then again, I watched this show when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2020, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839/160 "2020-10-03T12:17:52Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > **Monty Python’s Flying Circus**. “And now for something completely different.” Arguably the Q series predated that with Spike Milligan. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_hNZAMoBTwA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hNZAMoBTwA) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-revolutionary-tv-series/838839.md?page=9)