The Peacock Becomes a Phoenix

In the 1980s, NBC’s peacock rose like a phoenix after startling programming disasters, including Pink Lady and Jeff, Supertrain, and the departure of the original Not Ready for Prime Time cast of Saturday Night Live.  Under programming guru Brandon Tartikoff and...

The World of Howard Beale

In 1976, Americans were mad as hell.  And they didn’t want to take it anymore. The fury, of course, was depicted in an iconic scene from the movie Network.  Before FOX constituted a legitimate fourth television network in the 1980s, the triad of CBS, ABC, and...

Clooney’s Career

ER debuted in 1994 on NBC, trouncing every thing in its path.  Like Mickey Mantle on a baseball diamond, Michael Jordan on a basketball court, or Wayne Gretzky on the ice, ER dominated the competition.  And a familiar, if not famous, actor found his breakout role....

Welcome to the St. Gregory

Aaron Spelling, the television producer who injected fantasy into ABC’s prime time lineup in the 1970s and the 1980s, created Hotel, based on the 1965 novel of the same name by Arthur Hailey.  Where Hailey’s novel took place in New Orleans,...

King for a Night

Robert DeNiro, a mafia movie icon thanks to roles in Casino, Goodfellas, and The Godfather, Part II, played against type in the early 1980s dark comedy film King of Comedy.  He turns 180 degrees in his portrayal of Rupert Pupkin, a nebbishy, aspiring, and ineffective...