What are the most influential shows in history?

[L.Kizzle]

60 Minutes
Cosby Show
Rowan and Martin's Laugh In
SNL
Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood
Sesame Street
Tonight Show Staring Johnny Carson
Ed Sullivan Show
Amos and Andy
All In The Family
Good Times
The Flinstones/The Jetsons
Showtime at the Apollo
The Simpsons
ER
Little House on the Prairie
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Yo! MTV Raps
An Evening at the Improv
Def Comedy Jam
Don Kirshner's Rock Concert
The Richard Pryor Show
The Arsenio Hall Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
Jerry Springer
Cops
The Real Word
In Living Color

[miller-time]

Damn, forgot about Oz. Oz definitely paved the way for the Sopranos, but gets forgotten because the Sopranos is one of the greatest dramas in TV history.

Yeah the next closest show before Oz would have to be Law and Order which I think is a good show but it didn't really change much in TV overall. The weird thing is a lot of the people in Oz ended up in Law and Order later on.

I think along side The Sopranos would be Lost. Lost was definitely the beginning of the big budget drama shows.

[ROCSteady]

Prolly ALF

[mr.big35]

simpsons
sopranos
x files
twilight zone

[SpecialQue]

Yeah the next closest show before Oz would have to be Law and Order which I think is a good show but it didn't really change much in TV overall. The weird thing is a lot of the people in Oz ended up in Law and Order later on.

What about NYPD Blue and Homicide, Life on the Street? I seem to remember hearing about those being game changers in terms of being grittier, more realistic cop shows on network TV.

I think along side The Sopranos would be Lost. Lost was definitely the beginning of the big budget drama shows.

Miami Vice had a huge budget back in the day. In a way, Cops was a reaction to that because if you're a low-budget network like Fox (at the time), how the hell do you compete?

[L.Kizzle]

What about NYPD Blue and Homicide, Life on the Street? I seem to remember hearing about those being game changers in terms of being grittier, more realistic cop shows on network TV.



Miami Vice had a huge budget back in the day. In a way, Cops was a reaction to that because if you're a low-budget network like Fox (at the time), how the hell do you compete?

21 Jumpstreet was Fox's reaction to Miami Vice, I would say,

[JohnFreeman]

Howard Stern show, at it's peak he had 20 million listeners

[Budadiiii]

The Twilight Zone is the most influential show of all time.

Jersey Shore is a close second.

HM: Duck Dynasty, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Flavor Of Love, I Love New York.

[Rodmantheman]

The Twilight Zone is the most influential show of all time.

Jersey Shore is a close second.

HM: Duck Dynasty, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Flavor Of Love, I Love New York.

Lebron took back the MVP tonight bitch

[DonDadda59]

Probably would be easier to break it down by genre/category.

Comedy: The Honeymooners- so many shows both live action and cartoon (Simpsons, Flintstones, Family Guy, etc) took the success of this show and replicated its formula. The fat, oafish every man working some dead end job being played opposite his attractive, nagging wife.

All in the Family, I love Lucy, SNL as well. Seinfeld & the Simpsons get honorable mention.

Drama: For Cable it's the Sopranos. For general TV, maybe Hill Street Blues.

Mystery/Sci Fi: Twighlight Zone

Late Night: Johnny Carson

Talk Show: Oprah

News: 60 minutes

Education: Sesame Street

[miller-time]

Miami Vice had a huge budget back in the day. In a way, Cops was a reaction to that because if you're a low-budget network like Fox (at the time), how the hell do you compete?

But did it kick off a trend? Lost seems like it did the opposite and came out of a time when television was going hard with reality shows. And since then there have been several very big budget series and dozens of pretty big ones too. From what I can gather Lost and Miami Vice have similar costs per episode when adjusted for inflation. But while Miami Vice and the 80s ended and gave way to the 90s and the beginnings of reality TV, Lost shot back at reality TV and gave the way to more big budget dramas.

Although it is difficult to be black and white about any of this, trends are so varied and television itself is so broad you can really pin anything down to one show.

[Kungfro]

Monty Python is up there for sure.