The Show That Made Food Hip
The French Chef
Back when Americans were gobbling frozen TV dinners and those quivering Jell-O desserts, Julia Childs cooking show,The French Chef(196273), snapped us out of our culinary trance, making us believe we all should consider croquembouche for dessert.
Her show practically invented the foodie movement, empowered chefs both professional and home-based, and led to a whole new industry of TV food shows, cooking competitions and rock star chefs to satisfy and expand the nations suddenly sophisticated palates.
The Show That Made Us Love Planet Earth
The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau
Jacques Cousteau first wanted to be a pilot.
But after he drove his dads car off a cliff and startedswimmingto overcome his injuries, he channeled his energy toward inventing the Aqua-Lung (the first widely embraced underwater breathing apparatus) and took us all on a trip to the bottom of the sea.
The thrills ofThe Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau(196676) andThe Cousteau Odyssey(197782) helped inspire a renaissance in nature programming on TV and ignited the environmental movement, even when most people couldnt imagine the oceans were in danger.
The Show That Put a Mirror in Front of America
All in the Family
While antiVietnam War protests, civil rights marches and assassinations filled the news, prime-time TV shows such asThe Beverly Hillbillies(196271) andGreen Acres(196571) strenuously sidestepped reality.Norman LearsAll in the Family(197179) broke tradition by tackling tough but real topics politics, race, feminism, homosexuality.
The characters were modeled partly on Lears parents (his dad often told his mom to stifle), and the arguments between Archie Bunker (Carroll OConnor) and his meathead son-in-law (Rob Reiner) were prompted by the liberal and conservative debate in George Bernard Shaws playMajor Barbara.
Lear wanted to throw the arguments out there, Reiner told the Television Academy, to get people thinking and talking about the issues of the day.
