FOX Turns 25

[Michael_ Gee]

If they had just recited a list of all canceled Fox shows which ran for less than a season (much less in many cases), it might've taken up the entire two hours.

 

[Care Bear]

The Swan. Television at its finest.

Always thought Andy Richter Controls the Universe could have been hella funny.

 

[BNWriter]

My dad was the first GM of the Fox station in OKC. The station had previously been a 24-hour religious affiliate. People tuned in one night to watch whatever sermon they were waiting for and got Al Bundy instead.

Dad got death threats. People thought Married with Children was being filmed in the studios in OKC. One lunatic showed up with a sawed-off shotgun. Wild times.

On a fun side note (and BYH is insanely jealous of this story), when my dad ran the Fox affiliate in Richmond, several members of the cast of 90210 came into town for promotional appearances. I met all of them and went to Pizza Hut with Gabrielle Carteris. She was so freaking nice, and I was the coolest person in my middle school for 24 hours. And then I sucked again.

Care Bear: Death threats over Al Bundy? From Christians...? Had they never heard of "Thou shalt not..." Oh, wait. Never mind.

That's a great 90210 story, BTW.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

The Swan. Television at its finest.

Always thought Andy Richter Controls the Universe could have been hella funny.

Very funny show...

 

[LongTimeListener]

"Class of '96" was a good one-season show, but maybe just because I was leaving college at the time and getting nostalgic.

Also liked Parker Lewis -- very odd TV at a time when nothing else was odd.

Did they do anything about when they snagged the NFL and how that put Fox on the map?

 

[Mizzougrad96]

"Class of '96" was a good one-season show, but maybe just because I was leaving college at the time and getting nostalgic.

Also liked Parker Lewis -- very odd TV at a time when nothing else was odd.

Did they do anything about when they snagged the NFL and how that put Fox on the map?

They actually did quite a bit on Fox Sports and had a pretty cool segment on all of the great sporting events that happened on Fox. It was very well done.

 

[TheHacker]

I remember watching the first night Fox was on the air ... I think it was Married With Children and the Tracey Ulman Show, and they aired the first episodes of both two or three times, if I recall correctly. Sort of a precursor to the way cable TV repeats everything.

I've always found it odd that Fox is so conservative, but yet it airs so much non-family-friendly stuff and trashy reality programming, none of which I've ever watched. For a while early on they had a news magazine show called The Reporters, but even that was a lot of trashy, tabloid stuff. Hard to believe a network that has aired so much garbage is still alive.

 

[Care Bear]

I've always found it odd that Fox is so conservative, but yet it airs so much non-family-friendly stuff and trashy reality programming, none of which I've ever watched. For a while early on they had a news magazine show called The Reporters, but even that was a lot of trashy, tabloid stuff. Hard to believe a network that has aired so much garbage is still alive.

Really? Every network has aired a ton of garbage. And Fox has aired some pretty quality stuff, too. Just like ABC, NBC and CBS. I have no idea what you call the CW these days. Half a network? C? or W?

 

[Beaker]

The Legend of Brsicoe County Jr. remains a personal favorite.

Bruce Campbell can do no wrong.

Loved that show.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I've always found it odd that Fox is so conservative, but yet it airs so much non-family-friendly stuff and trashy reality programming, none of which I've ever watched. For a while early on they had a news magazine show called The Reporters, but even that was a lot of trashy, tabloid stuff. Hard to believe a network that has aired so much garbage is still alive.

Really? Every network has aired a ton of garbage. And Fox has aired some pretty quality stuff, too. Just like ABC, NBC and CBS. I have no idea what you call the CW these days. Half a network? C? or W?

Yeah, I don't think any of the networks are in a position today to claim that their network is on higher ground than any of the others... All have more than their share of ****.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

It's Garry Shandling's Show and Get a Life were two hilarious shows that were way ahead of their time.

 

[printit]

Taped this but did not watch it yet. How old school did they go? Fox season one was made up of shows like The Adventures of Beans Baxter, Werewolf, Mr. President, Second Chance, etc. Any love for any of those last night?

 

[Bob Cook]

What they did do for "Cops"? That's the acknowledged father of the modern-age of reality TV. It's interesting story, because it was developed not because Fox had some inkling reality TV would be huge, but because they were trying to find something that didn't require writers and could kill time during a writers' strike.

 

[Bubbler]

Loved Joe Millionaire for the hilarity of it all. It sort of mocked all those dating shows people went ape**** over otherwise.

Was Parker Lewis on there?

Joe Millionaire was awesome. Hummer in the woods.

 

[king cranium maximus IV]

Any mention of Woops!?

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Taped this but did not watch it yet. How old school did they go? Fox season one was made up of shows like The Adventures of Beans Baxter, Werewolf, Mr. President, Second Chance, etc. Any love for any of those last night?

It was only two hours long. They tended to make fun of the bigger train wrecks (Chevy Chase Show) and some of the more awful reality stuff (Temptation Island, Joe Millionaire, Good Pets Gone Bad etc...) and Cops is definitely mentioned...

The shows talked about the most were the obvious ones: Simpsons, Family Guy, Married with Children, That 70's Show, Tracy Ullman, X-Files, House, In Living Color, 90210, Ally McBeal, Melrose Place...

Living Single got a lot more attention than I would have expected, but granted, that was on when I was in college and didn't watch much TV, so maybe it was a more popular show than I remember.

I don't think Martin was mentioned, and I remember that being a pretty big hit.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Obviously, Idol got more than its share of time... X-Factor got quite a bit as well...

 

[Football_Bat]

I remember watching the first night Fox was on the air ... I think it was Married With Children and the Tracey Ulman Show, and they aired the first episodes of both two or three times, if I recall correctly. Sort of a precursor to the way cable TV repeats everything.

I've always found it odd that Fox is so conservative, but yet it airs so much non-family-friendly stuff and trashy reality programming, none of which I've ever watched. For a while early on they had a news magazine show called The Reporters, but even that was a lot of trashy, tabloid stuff. Hard to believe a network that has aired so much garbage is still alive.

Look at Murdoch's newspapers here and especially in Britain. Modeled the same way. Tells you everything you need to know. Rupert's got both ends of the spectrum covered in the same package.

 

[Armchair_QB]

HIS FATHER IS THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY!!!!

 

[steveu]

I've always found it odd that Fox is so conservative, but yet it airs so much non-family-friendly stuff and trashy reality programming, none of which I've ever watched. For a while early on they had a news magazine show called The Reporters, but even that was a lot of trashy, tabloid stuff. Hard to believe a network that has aired so much garbage is still alive.

Really? Every network has aired a ton of garbage. And Fox has aired some pretty quality stuff, too. Just like ABC, NBC and CBS. I have no idea what you call the CW these days. Half a network? C? or W?

Respectfully disagree, Care. Fox has aired a ton more trash than the Big Three and CW ever have, especially in its early years. The network seems to have grown up, though.

The network still has an image issue. There are times I look at a show and go "Wow... great premise... great cast... how the hell did it end up on Fox?" lol

Still, for a network that gave us 24, can't be all bad.