der, She Wrotestarred Angela Lansbury as an amateur
sleuth in a small New England town.
Many programs featured movie stars from the
1940’s and 1950’s in guest appearances to generate
nostalgic reactions from viewers. Feminist positions
also began to have a greater influence on television
series such asCagney and Lacey, since there were
more female producers and writers with liberal po-
litical positions during the 1980’s. Also, women tra-
ditionally watched more television than men. On
the other hand, programs such asthirtysomethingand
Moonlightingappealed to the yuppie crowd, young
and upcoming professionals who mixed profes-
sional careers with raising families. The yuppies
were part of the baby-boom generation that stressed
work, especially with women rising into the manage-
rial class. Career choices were meant to be meaning-
ful to one’s personal life.
Programming was also influenced by the Reagan
administration’s renewed Cold War rhetoric against
the Soviet Union as the “Evil Empire,” and network
executives took note. In 1983, ABC broadcast a two-
hour movie,The Day After, showing the United States
in the aftermath of a nuclear war with the Soviet
Union. In 1988, the same network broadcast a four-
teen-hour miniseries,Amerika, depicting the United
States after an extended period of Soviet occupa-
tion. Reagan’s conservatism shaped the political
landscape of television journalism as panelists with
right-wing viewpoints appeared with more fre-
quency on news reports, commentary programs,
and talk shows.
Television journalism addressing controversial
topics in documentaries dwindled, and ratings for
these programs declined, so much so that reporters
often lamented that television news was becoming
an entertainment medium. By the end of the de-
cade, the evening news broadcasts on the three ma-
jor networks went from an hour to thirty minutes in
length. With video and satellite systems, fundamen-
talist religious leaders invested in these technolo-
gies, and televangelists such as Jimmy Swaggart, Pat
Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and Jim and Tammy Faye
Bakker emerged. They used the new medium to
speak out against various issues that they found
too prevalent—abortion, homosexuality, the Equal
Rights Amendment, pornography, and sex educa-
tion in schools.
The decade certainly represented the golden age
for prime-time soap operas—Dallas,Dynasty,Falcon
Crest, andKnots Landing—that reflected Reagan-era
federalism and an emphasis on glamour. Such shows
epitomized the Reagan era with its concern over
image and the fiscal conservatism found in supply-
side economics. Materialism was expressed in lavish
home design, decor, and gourmet food culture. The
American public could not get enough of the
ultrarich Carringtons onDynastyand the Ewings, the
larger-than-life Texans onDallas, as these families
grew in their obsessive need for wealth. Featured on
location,Miami Vicewas a television show that was
focused on high style, lush cinematography, and
couture fashions that revolutionized the look of de-
tective dramas. The show’s portrayal of drugs, smug-
gling activities, and prostitution was set to music with
hypnotic synthesizer beats that appealed to the MTV
generation.
However, the baby-boom generation, despite its
materialistic tendencies, remained liberal on social
issues. Dramas often held a gritty realism in shows
such asHills Street BluesandSt. Elsewhere, in which
“good” and “bad” were not always easily defined.
One of the major themes in many of the crime dra-
mas was that good cops were halted from doing their
jobs by inept courts, bureaucratic red tape, and de-
partment policies that allowed criminals to be re-
leased because of legal technicalities. Justice was not
always enforced or easily found; the police had to
make deals with informants and bargain with the as-
sistant district attorney. Officers often had to con-
front their own personal demons with alcoholism,
sexual harassment, and racism. Another successful
series wasL.A. Law, which focused on attorneys and
their relationships in a law firm. The action took
place outside the courtroom and centered on their
personal or professional lives. The series was true to
form in depicting the blurred line between justice
and the law; for example, plea bargaining may reveal
the truth or obstruct justice. Vigilantes or freelance
enforcers included those found on such popular se-
ries asThe A-Team,Knight Rider, andThe Equalizer,
in which modern avengers went after evildoers in
covert operations. These individuals defended the
weak and innocent against violent criminals.
The situation comedy, or sitcom, began a rebirth
withThe Cosby Show,Cheers, andFamily Ties. Tele-
vision network executives began to look at demo-
graphic information that indicated that African
American households watched more television than
other groups. In 1988, it was found that black view-The Eighties in America Television 953