Television in the 2000s

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[edit] American television in the 2000s

Following the Janet Jackson incident at the 2004 Super Bowl, the FCC made their censorship rules more conservative. The tradition of afterschool and Saturday morning cartoon lineups in syndication all but disappears. They are considered redundant in light of such children's networks such as Cartoon Network and Disney Channel.2004 marked the first year that legendary entertainment icon Dick Clark was not at the helm of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve for the annual celebration in Times Square due to a stroke. Rockin' Eve has been a part of Americana since 1972, becoming a central mainstay in New Year's celebrations. Clark reappeared the next year for the show, yet his voice had incredibly worsened. In the extreme late 2000s, American Idol emcee Ryan Seacrest will take over hosting duties for the New Year's show, which Time magazine called an "ABC staple."

An overall perspective, here are the highest-rated shows on network television during the decade:

[edit] Reality TV

Reality TV shows become extremely common, in particular Survivor and American Idol which develop into a huge record-breaking hit shows, attracting millions of viewers who help make Idol and Survivor staples in modern American culture. Idol proves the test of time, averaging #1 among all TV series in the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 seasons, four years after its debut.

[edit] Gameshows

Primetime game shows suddenly saw a brief surge in popularity beginning in 1999 and carrying into late 2001, especially with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and The Weakest Link which become absolute pop culture phenomena in the extreme late 90s and early 2000s. The high-rewarding shows quickly lost their enormous popularity after the events of 9/11. In 2005, the genre again gained steam with NBC's popular Deal or No Deal, which constantly finishes among the 10 most watched shows on TV, yet not to the same extent that game shows had before.

The Game Show Network officially changed its name it to GSN- The Network for Games on March 15, 2004 in order to revamp its schedule to fit in reality programming as well as classic and original game shows. The cable channel sees such hits in the 2000s as: Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal in 2003 which pulls in an outstanding 3 million viewers and turns out being the most popular program ever broadcast on the network, major original programming successes like Lingo and Extreme Dodgeball, reruns of the popular 1970s versions of classic shows Match Game and Family Feud maintain high ratings, and the addition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? to its lineup of classic game shows produces a sufficient boost in the ratings.

As for traditional game shows, only long-running syndicated staples Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune remain on the air in the 2000s. Speaking of which, 2004 marked the first time that Jeopardy! beat Wheel of Fortune in the syndication ratings, when the Alex Trebek game show banked in at #1 for a few weeks during the remarkable 74-game run of contestant Ken Jennings who won a record-breaking $2.5 million on the show. During this time, the show received over 20 million viewers at one point, its highest ratings ever and it even beat many popular network programs that year. Meanwhile, The Price Is Right soldiers on well into its fourth decade as the sole remaining daytime network game show. In 2001, TV Guide ranked The Price is Right #1 on its list of the 50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time.

[edit] Medical, law, and investigation shows

Medical, law, and investigation shows gain immense popularity and have replaced sitcoms as the most popular shows on TV, begun mainly with Law & Order (1990-) and ER (1994-). Aside from these two shows, which continue to be popular, the most popular shows include CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (1998-), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999-), Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001-), CSI: Miami (2002-), Monk (2002-), Without a Trace (2002-), NCIS (2003-), Boston Legal (2004-), House (2004-), Bones (2005-), and Numb3rs (2005-).

[edit] Sitcoms

Live action sitcoms have begun to be overshadowed by law, investigation, celebrity, and reality shows. By the mid-2000s, Friends (1994-2004), Frasier (1993-2004), Everybody Loves Raymond (1996-2005), That '70s Show (1998-2006), Will and Grace (1998-2006), and Malcolm in the Middle (2000-2006) all left airwaves. Among the very few successful sitcoms on the air by this time included Scrubs (2001-) and The Office (2005-). Animated sitcoms, which gained popularity with The Simpsons (1989-) and really took off in the late 90's, are now even more popular. Family Guy was cancelled after its initial run (1999-2002), but phenomenal DVD sales and a massive Internet petition prompted FOX to re-instate the show in 2005, garnering high ratings and attracting large numbers of viewers in the pivotal 18-49 age demographic. (The only other show to have been brought back from cancellation due to demand was the original Star Trek.) Other popular animated shows include King of the Hill (1997-2007), Futurama (1999-2003), American Dad! (2005-), and South Park (1997-) in particular, which saw its audience on Comedy Central nearly double. Many of these shows have become controversial for their strongly adult content, due to restrictions on animated TV shows being lower than that of live shows. It is partly this issue, however, that has caused these shows to become so popular. In addition, most 2000s sitcoms are produced in a Drama-style setting, with on-location shooting rather than in a live studio setting, and most are produced without a laugh track.

[edit] Drama

Action and drama shows have also gained popularity. 24 (2001-) is among the most popular action shows on TV along with Prison Break (2005-), while Lost (2004-) has become among the most popular drama shows, along with Desperate Housewives (2004-) and Grey's Anatomy (2005-). Teen drama shows have become immensely popular, including 7th Heaven (1996-), The O.C. (2003-), and One Tree Hill (2003-). Gilmore Girls (2000-) attempts to mix teen drama with comedy, and has so far been successful. The serial drama returns in the form of 24 and Alias (2001-2006) in 2001.

[edit] Science Fiction

Supernatural and superhero TV shows continue their popularity that began in the late 90's. Smallville (2001-), a show about Superman's teenage life in the small Kansas town of Smallville, becomes popular. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003), Angel (1999-2004), and Charmed (1998-2006) all come to an end, while such new shows as Supernatural (2005-) have continued the trend of these popular shows. Television shows such as Alias and Lost also tend to have plotlines that branch in to the science fiction genre. Stargate SG-1 becomes the longest running science fiction program in North America as it enters its tenth season in 2006, surpassing the The X-Files (1993-2002). In 2004 it spawned a spinoff, Stargate Atlantis, which has proven popular among fans. A second spinoff show has recently been announced, while Stargate SG-1 will most likely come to an end after its tenth season.

The self-contained episodic format that was formerly typical for sci-fi oriented shows has disappeared in favor of the continuous plotline format. In contrast to previous decades, sci-fi TV shows have a larger female audience demographic which reflects the increasing trend of stronger, more independent female lead characters. Also, hard science, cosmic themes, and other traditional science fiction adventure plot elements are now strongly de-emphasized in favor of focusing more on emotionial content, character drama and relationships. Most notable is the reimagined Battlestar Galactica, a new TV series that began on the Sci Fi Channel in 2004. A spinoff series has already been approved. It has since become the most popular science fiction shows on TV. Another popular science fiction show was Firefly (2002), which was cancelled by FOX before showing even the entire first season. The show has gained a massive cult following and even spawned a movie, Serenity. Fans blame the show's low ratings and eventual cancellation on sloppy scheduling by FOX, mainly by showing the episodes out of order. Two other popular science fiction shows that came to an end include Farscape (1999-2003) and The X-Files (1993-2002). A new Doctor Who series began in 2005, 9 years after the failed television movie pilot, and 16 years after the cancellation of the original series. In 2005, Star Trek Enterprise became the first Star Trek series since the original series to be cancelled due to low ratings and the first to suffer low popularity even among fans. It also ends eighteen years of continuous Star Trek shows which started in 1987 with Star Trek: The Next Generation. Science fiction also crossed over into adult animated comedy with Futurama (1999-2003), which proved immensely popular.

[edit] Animation and teen television

Nickelodeon nearly abandons the live-action shows it had in the 1980s and 1990s in favor of Nicktoons. This ends towards the middle of the decade, as the network adds live-action fare such as Drake & Josh (2004-), Unfabulous (2004-), and Zoey 101 (2005-). In addition, the network begins to skew to a younger audience than in previous years, cancelling programs popular among teenagers, such as Invader Zim and As Told By Ginger, in favor of programs for younger adolescents, such as All Grown Up, Unfabulous, and Zoey 101. Disney Channel shifts from classic Disney programming to MTV esque live-action shows in late 1990s and early 2000s (see Zoog Disney), while turning towards original cartoons beginning in 2000 with The Proud Family(2001-2005), The Weekenders (2000-2004) and later Kim Possible (2002-2005). Anime becomes a focus of Cartoon Network and a staple of children's programming, along with more adult-oriented material (see Animatrix and Adult Swim).  Also, two 24-7 anime networks appear: The Anime Network, and the FUNimation Channel. The traditional Saturday morning syndicated cartoon lineup has mostly disappeared until late 2006. And weekday afterschool syndicated time slots previously reserved for cartoons and children's entertainment now largely shows talk shows and sitcom reruns.

[edit] Prank Shows

Prank-based comedy shows such as Punk'd (2002-), Da Ali G Show (2003-2004), Jackass (2001-2003), Trigger Happy TV (2002-2003), and Crank Yankers (2003-) became popular.

[edit] News

24-Hour Cable News Channels began to surpass the major broadcast networks as the main source for obtaining news on television. Fox News led the cable market with such programs as The O'Reilly Factor and On the Record with Greta Van Susteren while CNN, with CNN Headline News, and MSNBC attempted to compete with such programs as Anderson Cooper 360, Nancy Grace, Hardball with Chris Matthews, and Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Trends indicated that viewers appear to prefer to get their news from sources that reinforce their opinions rather than seek out information that challenges these opinions. The trend of cable news channels overtaking broadcast networks in news coincided with the retirements of Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather from the anchor desks at the evening news programs of NBC and CBS respectively along with the death of ABC News World News Tonight anchor Peter Jennings in 2005. Jennings has been succeeded by Charlie Gibson, Rather's spot has been filled by Katie Couric, and Brokaw's anchor desk was handed to Brian Williams (just one night after Brokaw's final newscast) who kept NBC Nightly News #1 among all the other evening news broadcasts, a position it has held since 1997. By 2006, roughly 8 million viewers were still tuning into NBC at 6:30, despite the increasing popularity of cable news, blogs, and satire. Cable News anchors and reporters gain fan followings on the Internet though most are due to physical appearance and sex appeal rather than journalistic abilities or delivery of the news. Notable examples of this trend include Rudi Bakhtiar, Laurie Dhue, Robin Meade, and Juliet Huddy spawning such terms as Newsbabe and Infobabe. Cable shows dealing with political satire and so-called "fake news" gain fame with young audiences, specifically The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (1999-) and The Colbert Report (2005-) which air in a one-hour late night block on Comedy Central. Their popularity reaches the point where millions of young viewers claim they get their news from these satirical programs. In fact, Daily Show anchor Jon Stewart had hit the cover of Newsweek by 2003, was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people of 2005, and hosted the Oscars in 2006.

[edit] Daytime Talk Shows

Daytime Talk Shows, though still a staple of programming on broadcast television tend to lose influence on society, especially so-called controversial "Trash TV" talk shows, which almost disappear from the airwaves except for The Jerry Springer Show and Maury after being a staple of programming in the 1990s. Perennial daytime talk icon Oprah Winfrey remains at the top of the ratings and most daytime talk shows are oriented towards interviews with entertainers rather than discussions of personal and controversial subjects compared to the 1980s and the 1990s.

[edit] British television in the 2000s

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