Thursdays at 10

For nearly 30 years, from 1981 to 2009, NBC defined quality television programming in the 10:00 p.m. time slot.  Hill Street Blues debuted in 1981 and changed the production of television drama. Story lines became story arcs, lasting several episodes.  Moving cameras...

The Larry Sanders Show

With Stephen Colbert entering the late night talk show wars, audiences have another choice to wind down their day.  Late night, a programming block invented by NBC with Broadway Open House in 1950, spurred a slew of hosts. Steve Allen debuted Tonight, later...

Ad Men

Prime time television offers a plethora of advertising agencies.  Bewitched boasts McMahon & Tate with Darrin Stephens, a good-natured, smart, creative advertising executive with a wife who’s a bit bewitching.  Some sources use McMann as the spelling of the...

Bush, Gore, and the 2000 Presidential Election

HBO’s 2008 tv-movie Recount dramatizes the events surrounding the controversial Florida votes in the 2000 presidential election.  A complex tale involving arcane election law, Recount benefits from an all-star cast portraying the proceedings that Americans...