If you only had room for one example of late night television, for middle schoolers at the quarter mark of the 21st century, I would argue more for David Letterman than Johnny Carson. Letterman is probably the single most influential voice on the sensibility of most comedians on television, broadly defined, these days, and Letterman‘s iconic show after 9/11 may qualify as one of the top 10 moments in the history of American TV.
I just watched the Netflix documentary on Ed Sullivan, And I think if I was looking for a TV show that captured more of that mid-century 60s and 70s TV impact I might go with Sullivan over Carson. Wheel of Fortune is probably as good an example of a TV game show as you could get, although I’m old enough to resonate most strongly with the idea of that weekday morning game show then the syndicated prime time show. Of course, there are morning versions of wheel, But maybe in that category something like the price Is right is similarly iconic. If I had to pick one TV game shiw from my childhood it would probably be password, which not only gave us a comfortable introduction to celebrities, but also was the kind of game that I grew up playing at home with my family, And even when I got older, I played it with friends. But that’s probably not a meaningful reference point for today’s kids. The Cosby show raises interesting pedagogical issues: It was a number one TV show for several years and Is something of a landmark in terms of mainstream penetration of an African-American family into American popular culture. However, to really discuss that in any kind of educational setting, I think you’d have to also discuss the horrific behavior of Bill Cosby before and during the run of that show, The details of which may or may not be appropriate for seventh and eighth graders. Bacterial sugar I think it is important to include coverage of television news, which for 13-year-olds may not be a reference at all when their current experience. I grew up in a home where that evening news was on TV every single night. Cronkite's announcement of JFK’s death is Iconic and would allow you to also talk about the role of the evening news anchor, and the trust that Walter Cronkite eventually earned for most Americans and maybe even you could book end it with his influential comments about the Vietnam war around 10 years later. The topic of TV news lends itself to sampling a number of key moments, may be including again, Walter Cronkite on you Apollo 11, maybe the Watergate hearings and the coverage of the Clinton scandals , Certainly, some of the coverage of 9/11, If it were up to me announcing the election of Barack Obama, and also the coverage of the January 6 attacks. It’s interesting that you’re focusing on NYPD Blue as one of the main television dramas to focus on; I don’t Disagree out of hand I think - that’s a pretty good combination of broad popularity and critical success. I might select something like Hill Street Blues as kind of the real landmark in establishing prestige drama on broadcast television, Which could lead to a discussion of its progeny, which I think would include NYPD Blue but also HLOTS, And The Wire. If there were room, I might also suggest a second round of TV dramas maybe anchored by the Rockford Files and the X-Files, which then leads nicely into at least a discussion of the golden age prestige cable dramas of the Sopranos and (Mad Men) and Breaking Bad). I really like your inclusion of the wild world of sports, As a way of talking about sports on television and also would allow a Discussion of how that connects to the cultural ubiquity of ESPN today. Given that you’re talking about middle schoolers, it might help to have a category that relates to children’s television per se, Perhaps send it around Sesame Street, though maybe with some coverage of Sponge Bob, and maybe something like schoolhouse rock. Related to this, but probably deserving its own week would be animated programs aimed more at families and children, May be centered on the Flintstones and the Jetsons, but also, of course, at least The Simpsons. Sent from Gmail Mobile On Thu, 2 Oct 2025 at 5:59 PM Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote: > I teach a History of Pop Music elective in my middle school. I’m > contemplating a companion elective centered around television. Throwing > this concept open to this group. > > Looking at about ten hours of content (one hour a week for one quarter of > the academic school year). > > Do I go chronologically from early early years to the present day, or do I > focus on a different genre each class (drama, sitcom, talk show)? > > Most iconic shows? The ones that need to be preserved in a time capsule? A > day devoted to the worst TV shows? > > I feel like I need to include the following: > MASH > Johnny Carson > NYPD Blue > Wheel of Fortune > Monty Python > The Cosby Show > Star Trek > The Real World > Wide World of Sports > The OJ Simpson trial > Cronkite announcing the death of JFK > > People will probably also want me to include: > I Love Lucy > Milton Berle > Bob Hope > Ernie Kovacs > SNL > > Open to any and all ideas > > Kevin M. 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