80 Years of Television (and Our) History
As Told in a Few Dozen Short Stories
2020
"... compelling, enjoyable stuff..."
"Former TV exec, teaches college students about the medium, brilliant researcher and writer, Jim McKairnes is a kindred spirit who loves TV even more than I do (didn't know that was possible). Tune into his weekly podcast on TV's past, present and future."
-- Wendell Foster
network TV executive, Los Angeles
For Unto Us, A Prime-Time Classic is Born
"A Charlie Brown Christmas" (1965)
Hello and Goodbye, Freddie Prinze
"Chico and the Man" (1973)
When Real Life Meets Screen Life
"24" (2001)
Fred Silverman: A Celebration of Television's Biggest Off-Screen Star (2020)
Crime Re-Imagined
"The Wire" (2002)
Rated R
"NYPD Blue" (1992)
The Real World of TV Teenagers
"James at 15" (1977)
A Long Way From Barney Fife
"Barney Miller" (1982)
A Cable Classic Signs Off ... Or Does It?
"The Sopranos" (2007)
When the Minority Joined the Top 10
"The Jeffersons" (1975)
The Streaming Age Begins
"House of Cards" (2013)
Life & Death
& The Early Days of Broadcast News
Kathy Fiscus (1949)
TV, Like the World, on the Verge
of Adolescence (1969)
When TV Got Out-FOXed (1986)
Jiggle TV Arrives (1977)
Columbine: The Headlines of Prime-Time
(1999)
What Exactly Were They Thinking?
"The Jay Leno Show" (2009)
One-and Done Blunders
"Emily's Reasons Why Not" (2006)
The Very First TV Commercial (1941)
A Final Bow In Front of the Camera for
Mary Tyler Moore (2013)
The Worst TV Shows Ever Made (1992)
Faked Alaska / Real Emotions
"Northern Exposure" (1990)
The Time When A TV Commercial
Taught the World to Sing (1971)
Janet Jackson and the Super Bowl (2004)
The (First) David Letterman Show (2015)
Pepsi and Blasphemy:
Madonna's "Like A Prayer" Commercial (1989)
A Presidential Assassination and the Arrival of Breaking News (1963)
The Heidi Bowl (1968)
"Lost" and Found (2004)
Are You Ready for Some Football? (1970)
The End of Lucy and Ricky (1960)
The Short TV Life of Richard Pryor
"The Richard Pryor Show" (1977)
"Modern Family" = Modern Sitcom (2008)
Off-Broadway Shock Comes to PBS (1973)
When the Cop Drama Grew Up
"Hill Street Blues" (1981)
How a Sitcom Covered
a Real-Life Tragedy
"WKRP in Cincinnati"(1980)
93 Million People Watch
The Battle of the Sexes (1973)
The Quiz Show Scandals (1958)
When Cancelled Series Are Frankensteined (2016)
A Changing of the New Year Guard (1972)
Can a Bathroom Joke Put a Late-Night Show in the Toilet? (1960)
That Certain November When Prime-Time Tackled That Certain Topic
"That Certain Summer" (1972)
Peace, Love and "Soul Train" (1967)
The Worst TV Series Ever? (1980)
Counter-Culture Goes Mainstream: The Arrival of "NBC's Saturday Night" (1975)
Can a Class of High-Schoolers Write a TV Episode? This One Did
"Bewitched" (1970)
When All the Pain and Heartache Proved Worthwhile for Philo Farnsworth (1969)
The Year That CBS Got Rid of "Every Show With a Tree In It" (1971)