By David Young · October 28, 2024
TV has evolved, decade by decade, to the point where it looks nothing like when syndication first began. Not only are they visually different, but even the ways that audiences interact with shows have been affected by highly popular, influential series like the ones below.
Whether it’s about narrative structure, social commentary, or fandom interaction, there’s an effect from each of these that has made a lasting mark on television as an art form.
Starting with one of the most influential shows in television history seems appropriate, so here’s the deal: The series created by Rod Serling popularized the anthological TV show format—and it did so with speculative fiction presenting and thinly veiling commentaries on very real issues of the modern era. From horror to sci-fi to outright spiritual fantasy, each story in the show surpasses genre and instead begins to tell a story about people, about society like several shows that began in the 1960s.
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If any show could convince TV networks that animation was not just for children, it would be The Simpsons—a nuclear family sitcom (literally) that brought mature narratives into mainstream animation. It also popularized another trend common in modern comedy TV: the Halloween special. The “Treehouse of Horror” used horror vignettes to appeal to that desire for something a little more mood-appropriate in late October.
Speaking of all things spooky, the procedural cop show became something else entirely in the hands of The X-Files. To say nothing of the palpable “Scully effect,” where seeing a woman star in a scientific role gave similar motivation to girls all over America, this show also championed the “arc vs. episodic” series structure for shows of this genre, combining “monster of the week” episodes with more big-picture items that required several episodes of follow-through from Agents Scully and Mulder.
Lucille Ball’s famous sitcom introduced the three-camera setup with a live audience and brought many other firsts to TV— including a mainstream depiction of pregnancy. This show also dedicated its attention and narrative agency to the woman in a married couple, rather than the man, making this series an unexpected and refreshing departure from other sitcoms of the era.
Ball was also the first woman to become the head of a major television studio, thanks to the success of the show she created and starred in with real-life husband and costar, Desi Arnaz.
Paving the way for other powerful examples like The Wire, there is one show that really provided true-to-life depictions of dramatic content to push boundaries and intrigue audiences with mainstream TV. ER, a jargon-heavy and never-dumbed-down medical drama created by Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton, took calculated risks with intelligent and nuanced language in a field-specific setting—creating realism on TV like never before on such a scale.
Fantasy TV made its largest foray to date when Game of Thrones premiered on HBO — but that’s not the show’s only contribution. Following the lead of author George R.R. Martin, the studio used his unfinished series A Song of Ice and Fire to fuel a dark and compelling tradition rarely seen in narrative TV until then: killing off main characters. Just like Martin does in his books, this series took no prisoners and promised no safety to anyone, until the writers took their own direction, truly departing from the spirit of the show and series in its final seasons.
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On the shoulders of giants like House of Cards, it might be easy to see why the social colossus of Stranger Things really and truly put streaming network studios on the map. It wasn’t the first series to have success in this new format, but it was the one that informed the zeitgeist. When the Stranger Things bandwagon came along, everyone realized how truly influential, popular, and compelling a streaming network’s original series could be.
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Much like Stranger Things, this sitcom mockumentary is not the first of its kind — nor even the first of its name. Starting as an American love letter to the original series titled The Office as it aired in the U.K., this series starring Michael Scott as the bumbling manager of Dunder Mifflin is the show that gave mockumentary style shows an irrevocable foothold in the modern TV lineup.
Read More: Ha Ha, Yada Yada: The Golden Age of US Sitcoms
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Fandoms existed online before Lost happened, but they weren’t a part of the active storytelling in such a grand fashion until this show made it onto the air. In addition to pioneering cinematic budgets in TV (making it possible to pursue shows like Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones at even higher calibers later), this series engaged its fandom and its online forums in a way that had never succeeded in TV storytelling before then.
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Situational comedies before Friends had the tendency to find a central character, a person whose name (cough, Seinfeld) gets stamped on as the indicated person of interest. In a multi-cam to set the tone for many later on, Friends was the iconic ensemble sitcom, lending its now-popular tradition to shows like What We Do in the Shadows or How I Met Your Mother.
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The progenitor of teen supernatural TV and of “campy TV,” Buffy did much more than introduce supernaturalism and cheesy one-liners to a bunch of young viewers. From the impactful and timely introduction of a long-term romance between two women in a show to its focus on season-long story arcs following “big bads,” shows like The L Word, Smallville, and Supernatural succeeded thanks to Buffy’s ability to pave the way in several storytelling facets.
No one could get through a talk about innovative television without bringing up Star Trek. This sci-fi series followed a dedicated cast through space, depicting a future where humanity is very united — even showing the first interracial kiss on American television to a 1960s audience.
Questions about politics, race, sex, and religion all appear on this show to make contemporary commentary and challenge audiences of the day. Star Trek’s narrative choices over the years paved the way for nearly every modern television show that aims to make audiences think.
Creating a drama show where the protagonist isn’t a good guy, The Sopranos took television by storm for more reasons than one. In addition to popularizing the TV antihero, they also gave cinematic television a good run, showing what high-quality TV could and should look like. A profound crime drama fascination cropped up in modern shows in this one’s wake, making Breaking Bad, The Wire, and Boardwalk Empire just a few of the series that owe their existence to the very first Emmy-winning cable drama following “made man” Tony Soprano.
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Looking back at these shows, it’s clear that there are others that fit the description, but we wanted to point out which ones were pivotal to the industry. Some trailblazing shows provided great examples of success—after all, there were mockumentaries before The Office—but it’s the popularity of that series that created a real avenue for more of its ilk to become a mainstay in modern television.
But still, there are true pioneers of genre or production as well; with that in mind, scroll through these scripts to see plenty of writing that has made entertainment history.
Read More: Why ‘The Sopranos’, ‘The Wire’, and ‘Mad Men’ Are The 3 Best TV Series Ever
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