At the same time, the up-and-coming networks
were offering stylized programming, each with its
unique pushing of television boundaries around
themes, subject matter, or technique. Fox brought
viewers such shows as the innovativeAlly McBeal, the
distinctive and fresh variety-sketch showIn Living
Color, and the revolutionary animated showThe Simp-
sons. UPN offered kids and teens—as well as a more
ethnically diverse audience—a schedule rife with sit-
coms such asClueless,Moesha, andThe Parkersand an-
imated series such asAdventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.
The WB, also catering to children and teens, intro-
duced a modest lineup, one night a week to start,
with shows dropped from other networks and new
shows with diverse appeal, includingThe Wayans
Bros.,The Parent ’Hood, andSister, Sister. By the end of
the decade, the network would feature some of the
highest-rated shows, including Buffy the Vampire
Slayer, Dawson’s Creek, Beverly Hills, 90210, and
Charmed. Also appealing were series both on paid sta-
tions, such as the racySex and the Cityon Home Box
Office (HBO), and on noncommercial, public sta-
tions, such as the children’s programBarney and
Friendson the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
Progressive Programming The growing networks
and the newly established stations made some signif-
icant shifts in television trends in the 1990’s. First was
the narrowing of focus for theme-dedicated net-
works, those which were created about particular
passions, pastimes, or disciplines and for viewers
with an affinity for them. They included a long list of
stations started or continuing to gain in popularity
in the 1990’s, such as ESPN (for sports), the Food
Network (for cooking and all things related to
food), the History Channel, the Sci-Fi Channel (for
science fiction), and Lifetime (for women).
Next was the birth of the riskiest of programming
types—those that implicitly or explicitly conveyed
themes of homosexuality. Heterosexuality and its
representation had come a long way from married
sitcom characters who had to be shown sleeping in
separate beds to soap opera characters who were ac-
tually in bed. Likewise, only a few shows in previous
decades had tried and been successful with some as-
pect of homosexuality, among them the 1977 comic
dramaSoap, which featured the gay male character
Jodie Dallas, played by Billy Crystal.
Homosexuality, however, as a central theme and
subject was boldly and overtly introduced in 1997
when comic Ellen DeGeneres announced that she
was a lesbian and allowed her character on the sit-
comEllento do so as well. The series lasted for only a
year following the event, the viewer numbers of 36.2
million not high enough to slow the accelerated
plummeting of the show’s ratings. Further, the pop-
ular comedian suffered the consequences, unable to
find new work in the industry for several years fol-
lowing. Because of this groundbreaking act, televi-
sion took its cues for a progressive move toward
more blatant exposure of the homosexual orienta-
tion and lifestyle. A year later, CBS introduced audi-
ences to not only a gay male lead but a gay male sup-
porting character with, respectively, Will Truman
(played by Eric McCormack) and Jack McFarland
(Sean Hayes) inWill and Grace. The sitcom enjoyed a
hugely popular run for eight years.Reality Television A third shift in programming in
the 1990’s would contribute to the revolutionizing
of television as audiences knew it: The reality televi-
sion genre, which exploded as a form of entertain-
ment by the early twenty-first century, began in the
1990’s. Reality television programming was several
decades old by the 1990’s. From as early as 1948,
shows such as Alan Funt’sCandid Camera, pageant
programs such asMiss America, highly personalized
shows such asThis Is Your LifeandYou Asked for It, and
game shows such asMatch GameandThe Price Is Right
had kept millions of viewers watching in both day-
time and nighttime. The 1990’s, however, ushered in
a modified, enhanced, and amplified version of real-
ity television.
Reality television programming constituted ordi-
nary (real) people experiencing actual events and
exposing (or allowing the exposure of) their actual
responses, feelings, comments, and actions. The
shows were purported to be unscripted, though a
good deal of editing was clearly done—especially for
longer real-life situations such as living long term in
a planned-for setting. The impetus for participating
in reality programming was often the goal of reach-
ing the final round where a monetary prize was wait-
ing. Reality television in the 1990’s planted the seed
for several individual formats or styles. MTV’sThe
Real World, which debuted in 1992, reintroduced the
documentary-style reality program; it was followed
in the same decade by a spin-off,Road Rules. There
were science reality programs such asThe Crocodile
Hunter, which premiered in 1997, and dating pro-838 Television The Nineties in America