Television over the decades
by Cole Palmer
1970s
The 1970s saw the end of the popular family sitcoms such as the Brady Bunch, I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched. Some of the popular shows were shows like Six Million Dollar Man, Charlie's Angels and Hawaii Five-O. The 1970s saw the start of popular shows that are still around to this day such as Saturday Night Live, The Price is Right, and Family Feud and the very first Monday Night Football game was taped. It was also the decade that crime shows, science fiction shows and soap operas became popular. Some things happening in America that drew a lot of coverage were stories such as the Watergate Scandal.
1980s
Some of the most popular shows in television history first debuted in the 1980s. The decade saw the rebirth of family sitcoms with the Cosby Show, Full House, Family Ties and Family Matters. MTV was created and the music videos shown had a huge impact on not only the music industry but TV as well. Other popular shows that began in the 80s included Cheers, Roseanne, Seinfeld, The Simpsons and Baywatch.
1990s
The 1990s was the decade where cartoons became as popular as they are today. Popular cartoons such as Rugrats, Ed Edd and Eddy, Johnny Bravo, Pokemon and Spongebob Squarepants all made their debut in the mid to late 1990s. Sitcoms continued to rise in popularity with shows such as Friends, Home Improvement and Everybody Loves Raymond. Other popular shows such as Who wants to be a Millionaire, That 70's Show, and the X-Files. The O.J. Simpson trial was a big deal in America at the time so there was a lot of coverage from a lot of news channels and was a big part of television culture.
2000s
In the 2000s and beyond, reality shows started to become extremely popular in America as well as sitcoms becoming more and more popular again. Some of the popular shows in the 2000s include The Office, Two and a Half Men, American Idol, How I Met your Mother and Breaking Bad. During the 9/11 attacks, there wasn't much else to watch except for coverage of the event. Some stations even stopped broadcasting shows for a period of time out of respect for the dead.