Nine Very Important Televsion Shows From the USA

Some television programs that shaped our society.

The Twilight Zone

The Twilight Zone
This is the creation of Rod Serling, each week it challenged us to a new way of thinking. The show was ground breaking, in that it allowed us to look at things in a way not clearly presented, it twisted reality as we knew it and took us away to open our minds to other realities or possibilities. I believe that many of the paradigm shifts in the later 1960s and Early 1970s would not have happened had The Twilight Zone not aired. Along with a few other shows, this played a pivotal role in the changes in consciousness. Television shows like The Twilight Zone were able to make their way out of the counter culture and bring these changes into America’s Heartland.

The Outer Limits

The Outer Limits ran for a mere 1 and a half seasons. A show similar to The Twilight Zone with slightly different sensibilities. The show became a favorite of Saturday afternoon programing in syndication. The show I believe was also responsible for changes in people’s attitudes in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Another show that brought counter culture ideas into the living rooms of America.

Lost

In the midst of the current dumbing down of American Television, I am surprised that Lost was created, or that it has lasted as long as it has. A show that combines the esoteric with many areas of theoretical science being aired on ABC, the network that brought us Dancing With The Stars, is as miraculous as finding a polar bear on a tropical island just south of Fiji. The writers of Lost came up with a brilliant way to trick the American public into getting hooked on this show. They combined several arcane mysteries, and cutting edge ideas, with very good drama that drew the audience in. While the audience waits to find out if Sawyer, or Jack, get the girl Kate, they go through a very intense journey of enlightenment. Lost has taken its’ audience out of the darkness by keeping them in the dark. While Lost Pop-up episodes give the viewers enough hints to make a few side trips off their own “island”. Lost brings the spirit of a Walkabout into the living rooms of America and thus is helping to raise the consciousness and intelligence of all those who continue get lost in the plot.

Seinfeld

This show truly represents the chaos theory in a half hour comedy. What else could a “show about nothing” become? No other television show or work of fiction for that matter has demonstrated the principles synchronicity, absurdism, and chaos theory like Seinfeld. Frank Costanza takes back the marble rye from Susan’s parents, and thus begins the Morty Seinfeld getting impeached as president of the condo association. Some argue that Seinfeld is a nihilistic work, however, I feel it demonstrates that everything is connected and has some sort of meaning even if that meaning is an absurd one.

All in the Family

All in the Family is a television show with such brutal honesty, combined with comedy, that it could simply not be made today in the wake of the Politically Correct movement. All in the Family tackled very difficult cultural issues while playing on the typical stereotypes, thus exposing them publicly. This was all done with brilliant comic relief thrown in. The shows creative talent from the writers to the actors, never allowed the show to succumb an indictment of one cultural stereotype over another. If current televisions’ creative community would have the nerve to create such a show again, and if the public would have the heart and the courage of watch such a show, dealing with the cultural issues of the 2000s like All in the Family did with the 1970’s cultural issues then maybe we could experience a positive social change.

The Beverly Hillbillies

Perhaps the most subversive television show of all time. Some people are still unaware of just how many complex social issues this show tackled and twisted around. The idea of backwoods “crawdad eat’n” hillbillies striking it rich with oil and moving to a mansion in Beverly Hills is in itself subversive. This show weekly ran cultural and social stereotypes through a coil wound tighter than that on Granny’s Still. The show played around with the notions of what is hip, cool, and proper. Some episodes dealt with environmental issues, women’s rights, aboriginal treaty issues, beatnik and hippie culture. Viewers were not hit over the head with a stern message, as the social messages in The Beverly Hillbillies were always underlaying and subversive. The overt message of The Beverly Hillbillies was one that everyone can relate to that of home being where the heart is and the money does not buy happiness that it is something the comes from the inside.

Star Trek

All of the shows in the Star Trek franchise have had immense impact of various areas of humanity’s scientific, cultural, and social evolution. If we have seen it on Star Trek there is most likely someone trying to figure out a way to make it happen in reality. Many of todays inventions were realities on Star Trek and invented because of the show. This can be someone trying to appear Klingon or a physicist figuring out how to achieve Warp Drive. Nearly everyone living on Planet Earth has had their lives impacted in some way by this television franchise. Some may argue the Star Trek has been deified to the point where people view it as a religion. Those who would turn Star Trek into a religion miss the point and philosophy of the show completely. Star Trek is about tolerance and diversity, thus, it can never become a religion. What Star Trek can has become is a very positive ethos.

Room 222

Although Room 222 was relatively short lived, airing 1969 to 1974, its’ impact is still remembered by those who watched and loved the show. The series was a springboard for many actors including Richard Dryfuss, Mark Hamill, Kurt Russell, Bruno Kirby, Anthony Geary, Jamie Farr, Cindy Williams, and Rob Reiner. The show often dealt with complex social issues of the time as well as focusing on universal concepts about what it means to be human, how to deal and cope with both insecurities and strengths. One of the appeals of this show is that it dealt with common problems of the generation, and featured people in an honest way. It did not make villains out of either the youth, the teachers, or parents. Coming on the heals of the “Don’t trust anyone over 30″, it was a powerful statement to accept people of all generations.

60 Minutes

60 Minutes is a very important show because it brought forth issues that, in many cases, most people were not aware of. Often it told stories on a deeper level, yet easy enough for most people to understand. Awareness is one of the best ways to illicit change. 60 is a news type show presented in a way that appeals to people who would normally not watch news shows. It tells stories from around the globe, and within days people are talking about them, hopefully learning something, and possibly pushing for a change.

The Amazing Race

A very important show, yet it did not attract the over all viewership I believe it should have. The Amazing Race is one of be best reality television shows, not because it did not involve backstabbing, like so many other shows of this kind, but rather because of the positive things it did show. To win the one million dollar prize teams had to work well together. Most of all The Amazing Race showed us cultures foreign to us and the teams involved. It showed us how people reacted to adversity and to witnessing poverty. The Amazing Race was a travel log like no other. It educated in an entertaining way. The show challenged contestants to step outside their world and do things, that most of us never dream of, and I refer not just to bungee jumping, but to many cultural challenges, such as washing laundry by hand in poverty stricken India or milking a camel.