TV Time   The Shows We Love What’s your favorite TV show ever? The sweet sitcom you watched with your parents? The cult classic only you and your buddies knew about? The juicy drama you and your girlfriends never missed?  Variety ShowsPuppets. Comedians. Elephants. Rock stars. You could find them all in one place—the variety show, a staple of the early days of television. Sid Caesar became a household name in the 1950s with Your Show of Shows and Caesar’s Hour. Every Saturday night, families gathered around the TV to sample Caesar’s buffet of guests, and to see comedy skits penned by young whippersnappers Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, and Woody Allen. See Sid Caesar perform on The Ed Sullivan Show WesternsBefore the days of reality shows and CSI spinoffs, the Old West dominated television. In fact, when Bonanza premiered in 1959, 26 westerns aired on primetime TV. Marshal Matt Dillon rounded up the riffraff for 20 seasons on Gunsmoke. Meanwhile, over at the Ponderosa Ranch, Bonanza’s Ben, Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe lassoed viewers for 14 seasons, making their show the biggest hit series of the 1960s. See Bonanza in The Saturday Evening Post Cult ClassicsWho could resist Captain Kirk, Spock, and McCoy tangling with alien bad guys and hooking up with otherworldly babes? Apparently, a lot of people. Star Trek was canceled in 1969 after only three seasons. But in true cult fashion, it picked up steam in reruns, spawning five more series, a movie franchise, and legions of Trekkies. Other cult hits would follow, with some (X-Files, Lost) crossing over to mainstream success. Watch a clip from Star Trek’s pilot Serious LaughsSixties sitcoms were heavy on fluff. Then came the Substance ‘70s. Beginning in 1971 with All in the Family, we tuned in not to see bewitching housewives and Beverly Hillbillies, but instead to tackle bigotry, war (M*A*S*H), and social issues (Maude). Of course, with Archie, Edith, Gloria, and “Meathead” in the house, there were plenty of laughs, too. As Edith would croon every Saturday night, “Those were the daaaaaaays!”  Guilty PleasuresYou may not have admitted it, but in the summer of 1980, you had to wonder: Who shot J.R? Dallas, the splashy nighttime soap, featuring oilman J.R. Ewing, his boozy wife Sue Ellen, good brother Bobby, and fetching sister–in–law Pam, gripped viewers with its season–ending cliffhanger. Other salacious soaps (Dynasty, Falcon Crest, Knot’s Landing) would bubble to the surface in Dallas’ wake, delivering the same guilt–inducing glee.  Family ShowsDan Quayle may have coined the term “family values” in 1992—but throughout the 1980s, wholesome families populated primetime. The Cosby Show, an update of sweet sitcom fare like Father Knows Best and The Brady Bunch, shot to No. 1 in the ratings for five consecutive years. The Huxtable family’s antics coincided with the Keatons’ sparring on Family Ties and later inspired the anti–Cosby series, Married... With Children. See Bill Cosby, “TV’s Favorite Father” in The Saturday Evening Post Crime TimeFrom the days of Dragnet to today’s city-hopping CSI shows, crime pays on network television. Law & Order debuted in 1990 and merged two tried–and–true TV formats—the police procedural and the courtroom drama. Using stories ripped from the headlines, the show ran for 20 seasons alongside other 10 p.m. dramas like L.A. Law and NYPD Blue, putting away more bad guys than Columbo and Perry Mason combined.  Television, M.D.We dread medical crises in real life, but when it comes to television, bring ’em on! From Dr. Kildare and Marcus Welby to today’s teams on Grey’s Anatomy and House, we love our TV doctors saving the day. Of course it helps when they look like Dr. Doug Ross, played by George Clooney on E.R. Even after Clooney ditched his scrubs to pursue a movie career, we stayed glued to E.R.’s life–or–death scenarios for another 10 seasons.  Must See TVIn the 1980s and 1990s, VCRs allowed us to tape our favorite shows (if you could figure out how to make the clock stop blinking 12:00). But that didn’t stop us from hunkering down on Thursday nights for NBC’s lineup of comedies—including Friends, Seinfeld, Cheers, and Will & Grace.           | |||||||
