The Eighties

Raised on Television, Pt. 1 - Long dominated by the three broadcast networks, television expands as cable TV (CNN and MTV) and a fourth network (Fox) join the line-up. It was a decade of prime time soaps (Dallas, Dynasty, Knots Landing) and outstanding adult dramas (Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, LA Law). Family sitcoms proved so popular (The Cosby Show, Family Ties) that they spawned a popular parody (Married with Children). The doctors and nurses of M.A.S.H. said goodbye but David Letterman, Pee Wee Herman and Oprah Winfrey said hello. Cheers introduced a bar full of off-beat characters including a pair of star-crossed lovers who became America's dysfunctional sweethearts. The explosion of new networks and channels changed what we watched while the VCR and the remote control changed how we watched it.

New technology and the rise of MTV dominate the music world as CDs and groundbreaking new videos from artists like Madonna are released.

The impact of the Digital Revolution of the 1980s is almost incalculable. The way we live today is largely defined by the innovations and inventions developed throughout that decade. The personal computer, the Internet and video games all became part of daily life. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs took their place among the greatest innovators in American history. The exploration of space continued to evolve with the launching of the Space Shuttle, but not without a heart breaking cost.

Rarely has one person dominated and defined an era the way Ronald Reagan did the 1980s. This episode examines the personalities and events of Reagan's two terms in the White House: both landmark legislative achievements and political setbacks, the assassination attempt early in his first term and his heroic return. We'll trace how turmoil in the Middle East and President Reagan's determination to aid a group of rebel fighters in Central America almost cost him the presidency in the Iran/Contra scandal. Ronald Reagan was a transformational president who enjoyed extraordinary popularity with the American people. This hour attempts to show why.

The rise of a mysterious and deadly illness develops into a pandemic, affecting primarily the gay community and killing millions of people to date called acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

After the economic hardship of the 1970's perhaps a period of excess was inevitable. Mammon was king as wealth and materialism assumed a dominant place in American culture and politics. It's a decade of junk bonds, S&L bailouts and pervasive Wall Street corruption. Tom Wolfe wrote about the "Masters of the Universe," and Michael Milken, Ivan Boesky and Charles Keating went from the business page to the front page as their criminal activities were exposed. And in a classic case of art imitating life, a line from a motion picture seemed to set the tone for the entire decade.