The TV Shows That Changed America

Just laugh-out-loud funny

The Carol Burnett Show (1967–78) It's now a streaming hit. “I dare anybody over 45 not to laugh their pants off at Tim Conway and Harvey Korman's dentist sketch,” Burnett told AARP.

Laugh-In (1967–73) The kitschy sketch-comedy show spawned such catchphrases as “Sock it to me!"

Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–74) The Pythons’ startled BBC boss complained that the anarchic clowns were “continually going over the edge of what is acceptable.” Viewers followed.

Saturday Night Live (1975–Present) The cast has tapped squarely into the zeitgeist for 45 years now, offering a live-comedy high-wire act with no net that has featured a who's who of the funniest actors in America, among them Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Eddie Murphy, Will Ferrell ...

Cheers (1982–93) Who knew that bar life in Boston — where everybody knows your name — could be so funny?

Seinfeld (1989–98) A sitcom about nothing more than human foibles and the infuriating minutiae of everyday life on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

Programs that stoked our thirst for competition

Wide World of Sports (1961–98) We all relished the thrill of victory — and the agony of defeat.

Jeopardy! (1964–75, 1978–79, 1984–Present) The longest-running quiz show beat the competition because, as the late Alex Trebek said, it “tends to reward and encourage learning."

Monday Night Football (1970–Present) At 50, it's a mainstay of prime-time sports television.

Survivor (2000–Present) About unknowns in exotic locales betraying one another for money, it hit a nerve, spurred more reality TV and spoke volumes about our competitive society.

The Bachelor (2002–Present) Really, who would watch a show where a guy rejects many sobbing women and proposes to one? Answer: Everyone.

American Idol (2002–Present) TV's number 1 show for six years in a row, this competition delivered Jennifer Hudson, Carrie Underwood — and dozens of hit singles.

Revealing a ‘reality’ very few of us were familiar with

Cops (1989–2020) After 31 years, Black Lives Matter protests ended the ultra-popular, much-copied show, which featured real police often violently busting real — often Black — people.

The Jerry Springer Show (1991–2018) Cincinnati's ex-mayor beat Oprah Winfrey as the number 1 talk show host and made TV — and the U.S. — wilder and weirder than ever.

The Real World (1992–Present) MTV's breakthrough documentary series featured seven strangers chosen for incompatibility to be roommates, so viewers could find out what happens when people stop being polite.

Keeping Up With the Kardashians (2007–21) The Barrymore acting clan may have shown more talent, but the Kardashians’ real-life antics are far more popular, spinning off star after star “like a puppy mill,” said one comic.

Shows that changed our views of women, at home and at work

I Love Lucy (1951–57) America liked Ike — but it was Lucy we loved. The day after 29 million watched Eisenhower's inauguration, 44 million watched Lucille Ball's character rush to the hospital to give birth. The show, with TV's first interethnic couple (Desi Arnaz, Ball's costar and real-life husband, was Cuban American), influenced all later sitcoms.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–77) She could turn the world on with her smile, yet she was TV's first woman defined by work, not a man. So Lucy's infantile “Waah!” gave way to Mary Richards’ verging-on-tears, authority-challenging “Mr. GRANT!"

Maude (1972–78) Maude (Bea Arthur) was the liberal answer to Archie Bunker, debating issues from abortion to mental illness to face-lifts.

Murphy Brown (1988–98, 2018) Candice Bergen's TV news anchor was a boss — irritable, smart, unreasonable, uncompromising. The show commented on political events; when Vice President Dan Quayle criticized Murphy for being a single mom, it became a real-life controversy.

Veep (2012–19) Julia Louis-Dreyfus helped make unsympathetic heroines cool on Seinfeld, though TV women reached a new peak of cynicism and meanness in her hilariously self-serving Vice President Selina Meyer.

Must-see miniseries

Roots (1977) With TV's biggest Black cast ever, execs feared it would fail, yet it was a smash. It also inspired a genealogy craze, boosted the miniseries genre and salved national wounds by honoring African American roots.

The Winds of War (1983) The saga of one family swept up by World War II was so ambitious, it took six years to get to the end of it (in its better, 1988–89 sequel, War and Remembrance).

Band of Brothers (2001) Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg's adaptation of the best-selling book about the soldiers who landed on D-Day and captured Hitler's Eagle's Nest was, at the time, the costliest miniseries ever.

Angels in America (2003) Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize–winning play dramatizing the AIDS crisis became an epic miniseries directed by Mike Nichols (The Graduate).

Who doesn't love a good mystery?

Columbo (1971–2003) Nobody could say “Just one more thing” better than the rumpled Los Angeles gumshoe played by Peter Falk.

Murder, She Wrote (1984–96) Angela Lansbury's crime writer turned amateur detective Jessica Fletcher is arguably the most beloved sleuth in TV history.

America's Most Wanted (1988–2012) The program helped nab more than 1,200 fugitives.

48 Hours (1988–Present) This crime news show continues to crack cases far and wide.

Law & Order (1990–2010) The smart pioneer of the zillion ripped-from-the-headlines, fictionalized crime investigation shows.

Dateline (1992–Present) NBC's longest-running prime-time show made news into real-life drama and hit pay dirt by focusing on true crime stories.

Big Little Lies (2017–19) A star-driven, nail-biting blockbuster, it featured rich women in Monterey, California, covering up a suspicious death.

Made for and loved by Gen X

Friends (1994–2004) The show about the families people form in their 20s, captured when young adults lived in coffee shops, not on phones. A romantic roundelay that stayed fast, funny, heartfelt and true to viewers’ lives.

South Park (1997–Present) Who's better qualified than these profane cartoon kids to comment on American issues even as they unfurl across the nation? The animation is clever; the wit, icily incisive.

The Office (2005–13) Its brilliant ensemble cast played workers trapped in a Scranton, Pennsylvania, paper company, humoring a sensitive, inadvertently unbearably offensive boss clutching a World's Best Boss mug. The breakthrough comedy for a generation.

News shows that created (or broke) the mold

Meet the Press (1947–Present) TV's longest-running show, it set the standard for weekend opinion programs; its panel format is now mimicked by nearly every news show.

CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite (1962–81) America's most trusted man never hid his emotions: He wept at JFK's death and blurted “Hot diggety dog!” at the launch of Apollo 11.

60 Minutes (1968–Present) Inspired by print magazines, its then-new format became a staple.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart (1999–2015) Voted America's most trusted newscaster since Cronkite, Stewart blended fact and lampoon and broke records for consecutive Emmys.

They enticed us to change the way we live

The French Chef (1963–73) Julia Child's unflappable charisma paved the way for an entire industry of cooking shows, from Emeril Live to The Great British Baking Show.

QVC Channel (1986–Present) The innovative shopping channel became so popular, but nobody remembers what the letters stand for (Quality, Value, Convenience).

Property Brothers (2011–Present) Thanks to those charming Canadian twins, renovation has become sexy, and their spin-offs have become an entire industry.

We all have our fave TV shows from then and now. Did we miss one of yours? Tell us what you think at Facebook.com/AARP.