All in the Mafia Family

In 1985, ABC debuted Our Family Honor.  Ultimately short-lived, it lasted half of the 1985-86 television season.  Our Family Honor presented the classic format of two families battling each other, with star-crossed lovers from each family complicating matters;...

The Big Three

In the 1980s, America’s three television networks changed hands. ABC to Capital Cities.  NBC to General Electric.  CBS to Loews. Ken Auletta documented the decade in his 1991 book Three Blind Mice:  How the TV Networks Lost Their Way.  It is, indeed, a fantastic...

The Gentleman Giant

Leader.  Visionary.  Gentleman. Leonard Goldenson.  The founder of ABC. In the early years of television, NBC and CBS had dominance, prestige, and history. ABC had Leonard Goldenson. NBC and CBS had A-list talent. ABC had Leonard Goldenson. NBC and CBS had their...

Cartoon Tunes

Hard rock sounds of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and the Doors emerged as musical touchstones in the late 1960s.  A decade later, disco ruled, largely because of the phenomenon of the movie Saturday Night Fever and its soundtrack anchored by the Bee Gees.  In between,...

Guilt and Innocence on Hill Street

To kick off its third season, NBC’s 1980s prime time drama Hill Street Blues showcased Trial By Fury, an episode with a shocking, revolting, and riveting story line of the Hill Street precinct investigating the rape and assault of a nun that results in her...