The new ratings system opened the airwaves for
shows likeNYPD Blue, which broke many former ta-
boos with partial nudity and previously forbidden
profanity. A slightly edited version of the realistic
Holocaust filmSchindler’s List(1993) was broadcast
with a TV-MA rating. However, it is important to real-
ize that while the ratings system both acknowledged
and helped to further change in television, restric-
tions remained in place.
Impact The TV Parental Guidelines system gave
parents ratings they could use to decide which televi-
sion shows their children should view; moreover, it
acknowledged that television was meant for differ-
ent audiences of varying ages, tastes, and degrees of
maturity and sophistication.
Further Reading
Kaplan, Peter. “Parents Using Ratings to Watch Suit-
able TV, Research Group Says.”The Washington
Times, May 28, 1998, p. B9.
“TV Ratings Accepted by Parents, If Not Quite Un-
derstood, Study Says.”Warren’s Cable Regulation
Monitor, June 1, 1998.
Charles Lewis Avinger, Jr.
See also Censorship; NC-17 rating;NYPD Blue;
Schindler’s List; Television;Twin Peaks;X-Files, The.
TWA Flight 800 crash
The Event A flight en route from New York to
Paris crashes shortly after takeoff, killing all 230
people on board
Date July 17, 1996
Place Off the coast of Long Island, New York
Following several terrorist attacks on American targets at
home and abroad, the crash of Trans World Airlines
(TWA) Flight 800 was initially thought to be the result of
terrorism as well. The National Transportation Safety
Board and the Federal Bureau of Investigation launched a
massive joint investigation to determine the cause of the
crash. Despite the agencies’ final ruling that the crash was
the result of a mechanical malfunction, many Americans
continued to believe that the crash was either the result of a
missile strike or a bomb onboard the aircraft.
TWA Flight 800 took off from New York’s John F.
Kennedy International Airport at approximately
8:19p.m.eastern standard time. Shortly after take-
off, at roughly 13,000 feet above the ground, the
plane exploded and broke apart over the Atlantic
Ocean. The plane’s wreckage covered an area ap-
proximately twelve square miles off the coast of
Long Island. The explosion was so spectacular that it
was seen by hundreds of witnesses on the ground
and several other airline pilots flying in the vicinity.
Following the crash, both the cockpit voice recorder
and the flight data recorder were recovered in the
rescue effort. Each abruptly stopped recording at
the time of the explosion at approximately 8:31p.m.,
only twelve minutes after takeoff.Controversy Only hours after the crash, many
speculated that the crash had been the result of
criminal activity. One popular theory at the time was
that the plane was brought down by a missile, possi-
bly even a U.S. Navy missile accidentally fired during
a training exercise. This theory stemmed from theThe Nineties in America TWA Flight 800 crash 873
A piece of debris from TWA Flight 800 floats in the Atlantic Ocean
near Long Island, New York, one day after the airplane exploded.
(AP/Wide World Photos)