became known as reality programming.America’s
Most Wantedprofiled criminals then at large and en-
couraged the audience to identify the criminals and
help bring them to justice. Successful identifications
led to arrests that were filmed and broadcast on sub-
sequent episodes.America’s Most Wantedwas the first
FOX show to break into the Nielsen ratings’ top fifty
television shows.COPSsent video crews out on pa-
trol with real police officers, filming their encoun-
ters and pursuits. FOX also producedA Current
Affair, a syndicated news show that featured tabloid-
style journalism.
In 1989, Fox spun off the animated segmentThe
Simpsonsas a half-hour series. The show was a genu-
ine hit and became the anchor for the network’s
Sunday night schedule. After just three years, the
fourth network was on its way to building a brand
and a loyal audience of young viewers.
Impact The FOX network demonstrated that me-
dia corporations beyond the Big Three networks
could own multiple stations and maintain ownership
of content. Following FOX’s success, Time Warner
would create the WB network, and Paramount would
create UPN. Along with MTV, FOX pioneered the
reality show, which would become a significant genre
for most broadcast and cable channels. FOX also be-
came an innovator in targeting young audiences,
at a time when the advent of cable television and
narrowcasting were making such targeted program-
ming more important than it had been in previous
decades. As a result, FOX was able to attract signifi-
cant advertising dollars, despite its smaller broadcast
footprint. However, the type of programming FOX
used to reach younger audiences caused some critics
to complain that it was coarsening American culture
in the name of ratings. Nevertheless, the other net-
works were forced to rethink their relationship to
the youth audience in order to compete with FOX.
Further Reading
Auletta, Ken.Three Blind Mice: How the TV Networks
Lost Their Way. New York: Random House, 1991.
Details the factors that lead to the precipitous de-
cline of broadcast network viewership. Excellent
behind-the-scenes descriptions.
Baker, William F., and George Dessart.Down the
Tube: An Inside Account of the Failure of American
Television. New York: Basic Books, 1998. Critical
examination of media corporatization on televi-
sion.
Hack, Richard.Clash of the Titans: How the Unbridled
Ambition of Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch Has Cre-
ated Global Empires That Control What We Read and
Watch. Beverly Hills: New Millenium Press, 2003.
Thorough examination of two extraordinary men.
The book details the origins of CNN and the FOX
network.
Kimmel, Daniel M.The Fourth Network: How Fox Broke
the Rules and Reinvented Television. Chicago: Ivan R.
Dee, 2004. Presents the history of the FOX net-
work through 2000 with accounts by insiders.
Nancy MeyerSee also Advertising; Cable television; Demo-
graphics of the United States;Married...with
Children; Television.Full Metal Jacket
Identification Vietnam War film
Director Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999)
Date Released June 26, 1987
Touted by some as “the best war movie ever,” Stanley
Kubrick’sFull Metal Jacketstirred critics and war veter-
ans alike. Its violent realism, loose narrative structure, and
vision of madness in war changed film-viewing audiences
long after the 1980’s.
The United States became involved in the conflict in
Vietnam in 1955. In 1963, U.S. military advisers in
the country numbered 16,000; by 1966, more than
200,000 U.S. soldiers were stationed there. The Com-
munist Tet Offensive early in 1968, portrayed inFull
Metal Jacket(1987), signaled the end of U.S. strength
and resolve in the region. The final troops withdrew
in March, 1973. The nation continued to process its
experience of the war long after it ended. Books and
essays provided history, cultural analysis, and soci-
etal introspection of the conflict. A spate of films—
realistic, surrealistic, fictional—appeared in the late
1970’s, only five years after the end of the war.
Stanley Kubrick had already made what for many
was the definitive World War I film,Paths of Glor y
(1957), when he chose to make another film por-
traying the war in Vietnam. He decided to base his
film on a war novel, The Short-Timers(1979), by
Gustav Hasford. This work had not received much
public mention, yet it impressed the director. For
years, he worked on a screenplay with the author,The Eighties in America Full Metal Jacket 395