A Retrospective On NBC's Must See TV

Throughout the 90s, no programming block was more dominant than NBC’s Must See TV. Serving as the launchpad for television classics such as Cheers, Hill Street Blues, The Cosby Show, ER, and Friends - NBC took broadcasting to its peak at the end of the 20th century, raising the bar for television comedies and drama all the while setting the tone for the decade to come.
Skip Intro 1:31
Clips taken from NBC’s 20 Years of Must See TV, hosted by Eric McCormack. I originally wanted to focus just on the failures of Must See TV, but I figured this would be a better start.
Music Used: Sister Hazel - All For You (Acoustic)
Bobby Brown - Good Enough (Jeep Remix)
Counting Crows - Mrs. Jones (Acoustic)
Men of Vizion - Joyride
The posting of this video is designed to facilitate criticism, commentary, scholarship, and research relating to the television broadcasting industry, and for purposes of historic preservation, consistent with the provisions set forth in Section 107 of Title 17, United States Code.

[@Qdub34]

Great piece. As a teenager in the 90's I was more into TGIF, but EVERYONE watched at least one show on MSTV no matter what other shows they watched. It's funny how nostalgia works, I completely forgot all of the failed, terrible shows there were. You mostly just remember the highlights.

[@thenextrung]

I grew up in the 90s and I watched most of those “ must see TV” sitcoms on a regular basis. Frasier was my favorite. These were the kind of shows people would watch and talk about the next morning.

[@MrShortWhiteGuy]

I recall hearing that "Seinfeld" was the third show in history to be #1 in the ratings during it's final season. The first two were "I Love Lucy" and "The Andy Griffith Show". In the 1990s, each network had their best night. ABC had TGIF on Fridays. Fox had Sunday nights with "Married With Children", "In Living Color" and "The Simpsons". ABC broke through on Thursday nights when "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" beat "Jesse" in the ratings.

[@FerdinandCesarano]

1:35 - It's not true that CBS and ABC have _always_ fought for number two behind NBC. In the 1970s, ABC was king, with shows such as Happy Days; Laverne & Shirley; Welcome Back, Kotter; Love Boat; and Fantasy Island. CBS was extremely strong as well, with All in the Family, M*A*S*H, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, and The Carol Burnett Show. At that time, NBC was a distant third.

[@JHollowayNetwork]

3:11-3:14 - Actually NBC was in third since the 1975-76 season which saw none of their new shows gaining a second year (Fay, The Montefuscos, Invisible Man, Joe Forrester (it probably would've survived had they not moved it to Mondays 9-10PM in midseason), Doctors' Hospital (George Peppard left mid-way through the series), Ellery Queen (The Streets of San Francisco was slaughtering it in the ratings), Medical Story, Family Holvak (CBS reran it during the summer of 1977), McCoy etc...), WBZ-TV (then the NBC affiliate in Boston) preempted Fay, whiles WICS/WICD-TV in Springfield/Decatur, IL showed "Hollywood Squares" in place of it. The only night won by the network at the time was Fridays (thanks to it's returning shows Sanford & Son, Chico and the Man (which moved to Wednesdays mid-season that year), Rockford Files and Police Woman).

[@angelpayton8765]

9:47 David spade was on to something

[@blueblur2273]

Without a doubt cable TV peaked in the 90s. Most networks experienced their peak viewership during that decade while you had way more versatility, less restriction and more innovation than any decade before and possibly after it as well.

[@chrisspencer6120]

Phil...😢

[@historyofnetworktv]

Not only a loss to SNL and NBC, but to the comedic world as well.