Groundbreaking TV shows that helped society evolve

The original run of “Will & Grace” premiered in the fall of 1998 — just a few months after “The Puppy Episode” from “Ellen” (Ellen’s coming out episode) aired — and was able to find eight seasons of mainstream success. Say what you will about how well the series holds up in retrospect and even the eventual amount of stunt casting, but “Will & Grace” (particularly in its original run) will forever have a legacy of familiarizing mainstream audiences with gay culture and helping create more of an understanding than there was before. In fact, items (scripts, props, etc.) from the series were even added to an LGBTQ+ history collection in the Smithsonian back in 2014. It was also one of the first prime-time series to star (not just in small roles) gay lead characters, plural.

First of all, while it might not be a matter of society evolving, the existence of “The O.C.” spawned reality shows like “Laguna Beach” and in turn, “The Hills.” You can’t forget that. But in terms of helping society evolve, “The O.C.” deserves acknowledgment for how it flipped a switch and made “nerd culture” cool. Considering how big things like the MCU,  “Game of Thrones” and “The Walking Dead” are these days, that’s a pretty big deal. This also means “The O.C.” was technically responsible for the uncool — but very popula r— ”The Big Bang Theory,” so… yup, we’re all just living in the pop culture house that Seth Cohen built.

Before “America’s Most Wanted,” who would have imagined that television could actually be used as a tool to help find fugitives from justice? The John Walsh-hosted series not only paved the way for the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) to be reformed for the better— to include missing people —  but it also allowed Walsh to found the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

While “The Real World” greatly devolved as a series — to the point it’s been relegated to Facebook Watch instead of MTV — originally, it was lauded for its candid depiction of young adulthood and real-world issues. AIDS, religion, prejudice, politics — no topic was off the table, and the series was responsible (for better or worse) for the modern reality TV genre.

Sure, “Saturday Night Live” hasn’t been good since [insert “whenever you were in your formative years” here], but its influence on pop culture, comedic talent and even current events can’t be denied.

Before “fake news” was used as a blanket term to facilitate ignorance, it was simply used to describe “The Daily Show” (as well as things like “SNL’s” Weekend Update). Sure, the news stories were actually real, but “The Best F*****g News Team” was a bunch of comedians, and the point was satire, which allowed plenty of younger viewers to stay informed on current events, and it made “the news” fun to watch. Not only did “The Daily Show” launch the careers of a large number of actors and comedians who are still killing it today, but it also paved the way for spinoffs like Stephen Colbert's “The Colbert Report” and eventual offshoots from former cast members like “Full Frontal” with Samantha Bee and “Last Week Tonight” with John Oliver.

It’s no surprise that the shows of Norman Lear are part of this gallery, as these sitcoms brought to the forefront of mainstream television discussions of hot-button issues. Nothing was off limits in Lear’s shows, reflecting the issues prevalent in society and still being argued about in 2020.

The original “Star Trek” was groundbreaking for its diversity, with the most noted example being Nichelle Nichols’ role as Lieutenant Uhura — one of the first African-American female characters to be portrayed in a position of authority, instead of in a menial role. The character also partook in one of the first interracial kisses on scripted television in the United States.

Not only did “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” follow a single woman focused on her career — the first time such a character was truly the central figure of a sitcom — but by 1973, it also was a show with one-third of its writers to pen an episode (25 out of 75) being women. At the time, that was the largest number of female writers to have worked on a sitcom.

Kind of like the works of William Shakespeare, “The Simpsons” changed the way people spoke (as Homer Simpson has been called “the most influential wordsmith since Shakespeare”) and the way stories were told. Not bad for a cartoon, right? In fact, the series also changed the way people looked at animated series.

It’s hard to think about “Glee” without doing so in a mocking manner or a bizarre version of nostalgia, but the series honestly did influence the world. And it was not just in the case of record sales — and every teen drama deciding its cast members need to sing, even if they really don’t have the range — but in terms of its messages about the importance of the arts, acceptance of others and bullying.

While it was a parody of the daytime soap opera, “Soap” was definitely taken seriously — whether it was by protestors who hated its edgier content or network notes…that also hated its edgier content. An internal memo from ABC’s Standards & Practices department at the time was leaked prior to the series premiering, providing one of the earliest looks at behind-the-scenes life on television series and major networks. The show itself also featured Billy Crystal playing the first openly gay major character on a television series, which of course brings us back to the protestors (both of the conservative variety and gay rights activists calling out the series’ stereotypical portray of the character) and the network notes.

“The Ed Sullivan Show” helped create superstars. Maybe you’ve heard of them: The Beatles, The Jackson Five, Elvis Presley, The Supremes, The Temptations. It was a variety show, with emphasis on variety, that allowed American audiences to be exposed to different genres — and races — during its time.

Remember when a presidential hopeful could lose momentum for something as small as misspelling “potato” or picking a fight with a comedy program? There was a time that could and did happen, people. (Miss those times every single day.) Well, that was also a time when a show starring a working woman who eventually chose to be a single mother was also considered radical. Kind of like “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Murphy Brown” was progressive for its single working woman, feminist leaning approach to storytelling — and provided proof that the world still had a long way to go, as that concept was still just as shocking in 1988 as it was in 1970.

This was a series that paved the way for future sketch comedy series — like “Saturday Night Live”  — and televised satire, most notably in the case of Richard Nixon’s infamous appearance while he was running for president in 1968. He said “sock it to me” and then he became president. Yep.

Who would’ve thought that public television shows for “viewers like you” would’ve had the impact that they did? Whether the topic was friendship, reading, or even just using your imagination, all three of these shows had (and still have, in the case of “Sesame Street”) a hand in shaping the hearts and minds of young children in a way that just feels ingrained in American culture.

Without “Donahue” there would be no “Oprah,” and without “Oprah”...would society even exist as we know it? Seriously.