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CBS And The Shows That Changed TV?

M

Mitchell

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I've been reading some wikipedia articles on the history of TV over the last 40 years, and it seems to me that of all the networks that aired shows which changed the history of TV, CBS has the most..

Although I was an infant when it started in 1970, and I cant claim to have watched many episodes, or be a "fan".. The Mary Tyler Moore Show was the first. A single woman lead character.. who had a career, and whose primary goal in life wasnt to get married.

All In The Family.. 1971.,. Yes., Archie Bunker was a bigot, but.. before this show.. who would have ever thought to bring such a character to the screen? A working class.. uneducated. predjudice man who seemed to have something bad to say about all groups.

The Jeffersons.. The first affluent African American shown on TV. Although George Jefferson wasnt educated like his later African American counterpart, Dr Heathcliff Huxtable.. Mr Jefferson was shown as doing well for himself, owning seven cleaning stores, and living in his "Deluxe Apartment In The Sky"

Dallas.. JR Ewing. Money, Backstabbing, Dishonesty, Adultery.. Until this show went on the air, who would have ever dreamed of having a character on TV who cheated on his wife? Viewers loved it.. They kept the show on the air for thirteen years.

I know other networks have had shows that changed TV, but it seems to me that CBS might have the most.. as evidenced by the ebove examples.

Thoughts on this?

Mitch
 
Certainly All in The Family, which premiered January 12 1971 on the CBS network changed TV. Its the first TV show I remember that dealt with often controversial issues.

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CBS changed TV single handed with "The Twilight Zone", which in my opinion was their best TV program of all time. Sci-fi was brought to a new level with Rod Serling as the master story teller which packed so much into a half-hour slot.

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Another was the greatest western of all time, "Gunsmoke". The show ran for 20 years. This had more drama and grittiness than those corn-ball westerns that were hold-overs from the 1940's. The radio version was even better with William Conrad as Dillon.

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Was Maude on CBS? If I am not mistaken,that show had an episode with Maude saying she was getting an abortion.
 
M*A*S*H premiered on CBS September 12 1972. Nothing like that show had been done on American TV before.

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Thanks for the replies, everyone, and yes, Maude was on CBS, Zod. It was a spinoff of All In The Family. Bea Arthur, as Maude, originally appeared on All In The Family as Edith's cousin,.

Mitch
 
You're quite right on this, Mitch, and further examples come with the contributions made by Walter Cronkite and Ed Sullivan.

Unfortunately, CBS is also responsible for the more pernicious directions TV has taken in recent time, with reality TV and elimination votes. I'll grudgingly admit that "Survivor" has a little bit of integrity, but "Big Brother" is just pure sleaze, pure pandering to voyeurism. And, no matter how many reality shows on other networks are even sleazier, CBS pointed the way.
 
Work., I agree with you on Walter Cronkite and Ed Sullivan.

Regrettably, I'm best off not commenting on reality TV, because I dont watch it, so if I did comment, it would make me sound ignorant. I'll just say that I'll take your word for it, my friend.

Mitch
 
I think it has more to do with the company producing a show(or, producers), and not the company - televising the program.
 
Let's not forget..........................................

"I Love Lucy" which started on October 1951 on CBS.
 
While CBS was a fine network and brought us all many great shows, another network, specifically in the 70s was just as good, ABC. Lets not forget shows like: Monday Night Football, The Six Million Dollar Man, Happy Days, Charlie's Angels, The Love Boat, Welcome Back Kotter, Barney Miller. Just to name a few. I do remember NBC was the worst network for a long time, and CBS and ABC used to trounce them in the ratings. Ahhh good times.
 
smokin does mention some very good shows. Of the shows he mentioned.. the ones that I think influenced change for TV the most.. are probably Charlie's Angels, and Monday Night Football. An all female detective agency was certainly a unique idea, and.. until ABC started Monday Night Football, Football was a game for Sunday afternoons only.

Mitch
 
Mitchell and the others make some great points about CBS. Two things that stand out in my mind.

1.) Get Smart ran on NBC for four years, but the fifth season was broadcast by CBS. It was still a great show. The only changes I remember was that 99 had long hair, and the theme music was jazzed up somewhat. It was less orchestral and more contemporary.

2.) In one of William Shatner's books, he recounts how Gene Roddenberry pitched Star Trek first to CBS. His big idea was to introduce the concept of "like worlds." If the crew only visited worlds with a similar atmosphere as Earth, it would eliminate the production headaches of bulky space suits. According to Shatner, CBS listened carefully to Roddenberry's ideas, thanked him for his time, politely declined his offer, and within a year or two came out with Lost In Space, using Roddenberry's "like worlds" concept. Roddenberry took his ideas to NBC who decided to go with Star Trek.
 
DontAskJusTckle said:
Mitchell and the others make some great points about CBS. Two things that stand out in my mind.

1.) Get Smart ran on NBC for four years, but the fifth season was broadcast by CBS. It was still a great show. The only changes I remember was that 99 had long hair, and the theme music was jazzed up somewhat. It was less orchestral and more contemporary.

2.) In one of William Shatner's books, he recounts how Gene Roddenberry pitched Star Trek first to CBS. His big idea was to introduce the concept of "like worlds." If the crew only visited worlds with a similar atmosphere as Earth, it would eliminate the production headaches of bulky space suits. According to Shatner, CBS listened carefully to Roddenberry's ideas, thanked him for his time, politely declined his offer, and within a year or two came out with Lost In Space, using Roddenberry's "like worlds" concept. Roddenberry took his ideas to NBC who decided to go with Star Trek.
Click to expand...

Star Trek would have been a footnote in any TV history book, if it weren't for syndication in the 1970's, because that's where it gained a bigger audience.
 
SamuelKhan said:
Star Trek would have been a footnote in any TV history book, if it weren't for syndication in the 1970's, because that's where it gained a bigger audience.
Click to expand...
Very true, but that was because the Nelson rating system of mid-60s overlooked a large demographic of young professionals in their 20s who were thought not to watch much TV but rather cruise the discotheques. Star Trek had a big following with these 60s "yuppies," but that never became apparent until the rating system was modified in the 70s, long after the show was cancelled. That's why it only aired for three seasons.

I've often wondered if and how Star Trek would have been different had it aired on CBS instead of NBC. But I have to confess that as a kid in the 60s, I loved Lost In Space, despite it's jumping the shark early in the game.
 
CBS has had many ground breaking programs but so have the other networks. Saturday Night Live, the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, I Spy, The Simpsons, The Ernie Kovacs Show, the miniseries Roots, Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, Nightline, Wide World of Sports and the list goes on. Every network has had its impact.
 
Bugman said:
M*A*S*H premiered on CBS September 12 1972. Nothing like that show had been done on American TV before. ...
Click to expand...

The movie on which the TV show was based was a class-A number one mindblower as well! (The TV show's content, radical as it may have been at the time, was seriously toned down compared to the movie's!).

And yes, I was gonna mention 60 Minutes too!
 
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