I recently looked through a copy I have of TV Guide, from April 6, 2002. The cover story was titled: "TV We'll Always Remember."
(No--simply for your reference--this is not Mitchell Hadley's site, "It's About TV," where he regularly writes about--and seeks to analyze the social and historical context of--programs and articles contained within particular TV Guide issues, from the 1950s, '60s, '70s, and beyond.)
In the 2002 issue there were recollections about television--from TV stars, TV news anchors, behind-the-scenes figures (producers, directors, writers), and others.
Comments from two of television's most influential figures were included.
One was Steven Bochco--who, as many will recall, was an executive producer, co-creator, and writer for such programs as NYPD Blue, L.A. Law, and Hill Street Blues.
He said, in 2002:
"As a boy in the '50s, I was profoundly [affected] by shows like Studio One and Playhouse 90. They were using some of the best writers, people like Paddy Chayefsky. I didn't have much opportunity as a kid to go to the theater. TV was my theater--first-rate theater. It shaped my sense of what theater was. I didn't say, 'This is what I want to do when I grow up,' but it had to have played a role. Then, when I was starting, the criticism you'd get on some scene you wrote for some series was, 'It's too wordy, it's just talking heads.' But I knew from those great old shows: It's the words first."
Mr. Bochco died in 2018, at age 74.Also featured in the article were comments from Norman Lear, who (in addition to his affiliation with many other TV programs) was the creator, co-executive producer of (and writer for) All in the Family--certainly one of television's most significant shows. Mr. Lear began his television career as a writer, in 1950; he and his then-writing partner Ed Simmons worked for such programs as Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis's Colgate Comedy Hour.
Mr. Lear said, in 2002:
"People are always talking about 'the golden age.' I think the golden age is now. But to back that up in TV terms, there's a whale of a lot of really good television out there. So many of the hour dramas are so worthwhile, so much of what HBO is doing. What's missing is music and variety. I can't tell you how much I miss music and dance--everything from Lawrence Welk to Carol Burnett to Martin and Lewis to Your Show of Shows to great variety and musical television."
At 99 years old, the legendary Mr. Lear remains active as a television producer.
