July 24: Most Memorable TV Moments: 1990s

By Sylvia Gurinsky

Because of the nature of these selections, the format will be different for the YesterTube look at the most memorable television moments of the 1990s and 21st Century - because of television's evolution.

Television began making major transitions during the 1990s, away from the largely three-network model that had taken the medium through its first 40 years. Cutbacks of news divisions starting during the mid-1980s would crimp network news abilities to cover international stories; the collapse of communism and the crackdowns on protestors in China in 1989 were the last gasps of success for ABC, NBC and CBS in the traditional mode.

No longer could the networks be entirely counted on to cover the most serious and truly important news stories of the day, except when they transcended other news as breaking stories (Examples include the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City.).

Cable news looked promising during the early 1990s, when CNN distinguished itself in covering the first Gulf War. But in 1994, Rupert Murdoch put Fox News on the air and started the downslide towards partisan cable operations that continues today. ESPN would also rise in its coverage of sports, with memorable personalities and tongue-in-cheek programs such as "SportsCenter." But personality would begin to trump performance.

The 1990s would see a blurring of lines among sports, culture and news. Two stories would certainly get attention above all: The saga of O.J. Simpson and the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

The 1994 involvement of football Hall of Famer and sometime actor and broadcaster Simpson in the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole, and Ronald Brown would start a year-and-a-half saga that much of America and the world could not turn away from, though the two relevant subjects - domestic violence and race/celebrity and an imbalanced justice system - didn't get nearly enough attention. Meanwhile, much of network news was ruined, the daytime soap opera was mortally wounded while the trial aired and the voyeurism of the saga extended itself into the "reality" prime-time programming that has contaminated much of network television ever since.

The death of Princess Diana in 1997 was reported after midnight in the United States on a Saturday. By the time the country was awake the next morning, the impact was being felt. With her divorce from Prince Charles, she had turned into a divided figure - both tabloid subject, with her jet-set life, and a woman with influence, given her campaign against land mines and her status as the mother of a prospective future monarch. Those halves would steer the public reaction to her death and motivate the British monarchy in a way it had not been - a way that, in the long run, helped to restore the credibility it had lost during the 1990s.

Coming Friday: The 21st Century

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He was the lesser-known name in Franken and Davis. But Tom Davis, who died last week at the too-young age of 59, was just as prolific a writer. The pair was part of the early days of "Saturday Night Live," both on and off the screen. They created the Coneheads and other famous sketches and characters.

They also went on other shows, such as "Solid Gold":

Rolling Stones Spoof

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Word came late this afternoon of the death of Sherman Hemsley, star of "The Jeffersons" and "Amen." Full tribute will be paid in Friday's column.