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When the makers of a TV show hit bull’s eye, they do more than just entertain. They make you think, they open debates, they make you introspect. As All in the Family, completes 50 years, we pick those series that we feel have had the most profound impact on us and the American society as a whole. Many of these shows brought up issues we preferred to ignore and changed our outlook towards them. Here’s looking at a few TV shows that changed America.
Sitcoms that Broke Barriers
All in the Family (1971-79):
Both Liberals and conservatives lapped up Archie Bunker’s malapropisms that cared little about political correctness.
The show was truly revolutionary, completely different from what was on offer back then.
It tackled controversial issues like menopause, women’s liberation, homosexuality, race relations, Vietnam, and infidelity with a straight face.
Will and Grace (1998-2006, 2017-20):
This portrayal of true friendship left a mark on us that would never be erased giving us prime-time TV’s first lead gay character ever.
Why we just had to Get Cable
The Sopranos (1997-2007):
What The Godfather and Goodfellas were to the silver screen, The Sopranos was to television. This was a classic mob drama no less well made than the cult films. Incidentally, 27 of its cast members were also featured in Goodfellas.
Game of Thrones (2011-19):
It was an incredibly complex fantasy series about royals in a battle that transported us from our drawing rooms to a different world altogether.
Families we adored through the Decades
The Jeffersons (1975-85): With a strong female lead and also portraying a black woman married to a white man on TV for the first time, this series was truly path-breaking. It was the first long-running hit sitcom on TV featuring African Americans.
Leave it to Beaver (1957-63): This was the first family sitcom that was a take on life from a kid’s point of view. It was inspired by the writers’ kids.
Programs that inspired us to Compete
Wide World of Sports (1961-98): We felt all the emotions that the men and women of sports did run through us. The joy of every victory we saw thrilled us and the pain of every defeat we saw agonized us.
American Idol (2002-Present): It was the number 1 show on TV for six years on the trot! That says it all. It gifted us Jennifer Hudson and Carrie Underwood with quite a few hit singles.
Shows that changed how we saw Women
I Love Lucy (1951-57): Yes, all of us adored Lucy. True, 29 million did watch Eisenhower’s inauguration, but only a day later, 44 million watched how Lucile Ball’s character rushed to the hospital and became a mother. It had a major influence on all sitcoms to follow and it featured TV’s first interethnic couple.
Maude (1972-78): This was how the Liberals answered Archie Bunker as the show debated issues like face-lifts, mental illness, and abortion.
Conclusion
They inspired us, pulled at our heartstrings, left us in splits, or changed our mindset. These popular shows did indeed have a deep impact on us and our society at large. They made us more tolerant making America more accepting. We owe much the US being a cultural melting pot to these TV shows.
