When William S. Paley reigned supreme at CBS, he often felt a conflict between his lust for profitability and the desire to air the kind of programming that would not tarnish the Tiffany Network's sheen. As Paley "edited" the network's schedule each year; he took time out to anguish over shows he thought were simplistic or in bad taste. The Beverly Hillbillies and All in the Family seemed particularly odious to him. What would Ozark hicks and a Queens-based bigot do to his social standing in Southampton or Lyford Cay?

His misgivings were misplaced, it turned out. The artful bigotry of Archie Bunker was a revelation for TV. And now, 33 years later; even The Beverly Hillbillies fits well within the definition of TV classic. Images on TV can arouse reactions that change with time and repetition. Today's object of contempt can, with time's passing, become a fixture in the pantheon. On the other hand, it is possible for a favorite, forever syndicated, to wear out its welcome. No one can predict, for TV is not just entertainment but an intruder inside the home.

In the beginning, dramaturgy was high-minded. Broadway-style plays were aired live every week on broadcasts sponsored by Philco, Kraft, General Electric. And great comedians thrived: Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca, Milton Berle, Jackie Gleason, Jack Benny, Phil Silvers, Lucille Ball. This period was hastily labeled "the Golden Age," and it stands as the only time when television was ever allowed to be guiltlessly high on itself. Its creators were young and intoxicated by the medium's awesome power, too innocent, perhaps, to sense the dangers and the pitfalls. By the 1970s network television was at its most powerful and glamorous. The Vietnam War had made a wreck of our living rooms. Most experts agreed that Americans were reading less. By 1990, according to some statistics, about 60 percent of adult Americans had never read a book. Had shows such as Supertrain and Fantasy Island transported us back to the darker stages of pre-literacy? Certainly it is true that for young generations The Brady Bunch holds as much—more?—power as Homer's Odyssey did for ancient Greeks.

Perhaps the most magical property of television is its ability to play time tricks. Now, as we approach the 50th anniversary of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the much-maligned 70s actually seem a glorious era: the high time of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, 60 Minutes, Saturday Night Live, M*A*S*H, All in the Family, Columbo, The Bob Newhart Show, The Carol Burnett Show, The Rockford Files, Happy Days, and more. And to think we had only the Eye, the Peacock, and the Alphabet network to choose from.

Some now call the 70s TV's true Golden Age—just before the dawn of cable, before we even knew about that tiresome-sounding 500-channel era which lies just around the comer. But in some way every era seems somewhat golden in retrospect, as the high points fuse with our memories and recalled emotions. What we watch becomes part of our common experience, part of us. Even today, as we merge with Murder One, ER, and Friends, some proclaim a kind of Platinum Age for the medium of the century

In the V.F. TV Hall of Fame that follows, one thing, above all others, becomes Trinitron clear: regardless of what you may feel about television at any moment, in any era, we are what we watch. And, moreover, what we watch is us.

DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL!

From a half-century of sitting too close, we nominate a selective list of TV's greatest acts. Herewith, the 1995 Hall of Fame ...

In the Beginning...:
Leonard Goldenson (ABC)
Rupert Murdoch (Fox) William S. Paley (CBS) David Samoff (NBC)

Forever:
Lucille Ball
Jack Benny
Milton Berle
Johnny Carson
Walter Cronkite
James Garner
Jackie Gleason
Bob Hope
Mary Tyler Moore
Edward R. Murrow
Phil Silvers
Ed Sullivan

For Now:
Pamela Anderson Lee

Duets:
Burns and Allen
Caesar and Coca
Huntley and Brinkley
Jack Klugman/Tony Randall
Joanna Lumley/Jennifer Saunders
Regis and Kathie Lee
The Smothers Brothers
Sonny and Cher

The Comedians:
Carol Burnett
Jimmy Durante
Redd Foxx
Ernie Kovacs
Roseanne
Jerry Seinfeld
Garry Shandling
Tracey Ullman
Dick Van Dyke
Robin Williams

The Families:
Addams, Brady, Bunker,
Carrington, Cartwright,
Clampett, Cleaver, Colby,
Douglas, Ewing,
Flintstone, Huxtable,
Jefferson, Jetson, Kinte,
Loud, Munster, Nelson,
Osmond, Partridge, Simpson, Walton

Moms:
Barbara Bel Geddes (Dallas)
Gertrude Berg (The Goldbergs)
Barbara Billingsley (Leave It to Beaver)
Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch)
Shirley Jones (The Partridge Family)
June Lockhart (Lassie)
Harriet Nelson (The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet)
Donna Reed (The Donna Reed Show)
Esther Rolle (Good Times)
Marion Ross (Happy Days)
Peggy Wood (Mama)
Jane Wyatt (Father Knows Best)

Dads:
Tim Allen (Home Improvement)
Hugh Beaumont (Leave It to Beaver)
Bill Bixby (The Courtship of Eddie's Father)
Tom Bosley (Happy Days)
Bill Cosby (The Cosby Show)
Buddy Ebsen (The Beverly Hillbillies)
John Forsythe (Bachelor Father)
Brian Keith (Family Affair)
Michael Landon (Little House on the Prairie)
Fred MacMurray (My Three Sons)
Ozzie Nelson (The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet)
Robert Reed (The Brady Bunch)
Danny Thomas (Make Room for Daddy)
Robert Young (Father Knows Best)

Bob Hope

Photographed July 17, 1995, by ANNIE LEIBOVITZ in his "joke vault" at his home in Toluca Lake, California.

Born Leslie Townes Hope, May 29, 1903; hosted Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater from 1963 to 1967; annual tours with the U.S.O. included Germany. Korea. Vietnam; his female TV partners have included Ann-Margret, Brooke Shields, and, as an annual tradition, the reigning Miss America. Hope was named Most Decorated Entertainer in The Guinness Book of World Records.

Thanks for the memory/ of things I can't forget / journeys on a jet/ our wondrous week In Martinique./ and Vegas and roulette./ How lucky I was.

Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke

The Dick Van Dyke Show (CBS, October 3, 1961-September 7, 1966).

Photographed as a 90s couple on July 8, 1995, by ANNIE LEIBOVITZ In Culver City, California.

"I think you actually believed that Rob and Laura did get it on." —Dick Van Dyke

'Dallas'

From left: Larry Hagman (J.R.), Victoria Principle (Pam), Charlene Tilton (Lucy), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Steve KanaIy (Ray Krebbs), Patrick Duffy (Bobby), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen).

(CBS, April 2, 1978-May 3, 1991)

Photographed June 13, 1995, by ANNIE LEIBOVITZ at Ventura Farms Thousand Oaks, California.

Remember when: J.R. sent Sue Ellen to the sanitarium; Sue Elle's sister shot J.R.; Lucy nearly married a homosexual; Ellen plowed her car into Mickey Trotter; Ray Krebbs pulled the plug on Trotter's life support; Pam decided, apparently without suspicion, that a year of her existence had been merely a dream; Sue Ellen became a designer of erotic lingerie; J.R. was imprisoned on an Arkansas work farm; Sue Ellen became a movie mogul to film an expose that would "surely destroy J.R."; James, J.R.'s illegitimate son, had Pop straitjacketed at a mental institution; Lucy found the Lord and became a Pat Robertson disciple (whoops—this happened to Charlene); J.R. had an It's a Wonderful Life experience with ghost Joel Grey, who showed how much better life would have been if he had just never been born?

The Anchors

Photographed June 22, 1995, by ANNIE LEIBOVITZ in New York City.

Tom Brokaw. NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw (September 2, 1983-present).

Dan Rather. 60 Minutes (CBS. December 7. 1975-March 8. 1981), CBS Evening News with Dan Rather (March 9. 1981-present).

Peter Jennings. World News Tonight with Peter Jennings (ABC. September 5. 1983-present).

Husbands:
Eddie Albert (Green Acres)
Desi Amaz (I Love Lucy)
Sherman Hemsley (The Jeffersons)
Bill Macy (Maude)
Bob Newhart (The Bob Newhart Show)
Carroll O'Connor (All in the Family)
Dick Sargent (Bewitched)
Dick York (Bewitched)

Wives:
Bea Arthur (Maude)
Eva Gabor (Green Acres) Linda Gray (Dallas)
Louise Lasser (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman)
Audrey Meadows (The Honeymooners)
Suzanne Pleshette (The Bob Newhart Show)
Isabel Sanford (The Jeff er sons)
Jean Stapleton (All in the Family)

Kids:
Angela Cartwright (Make Room for Daddy)
Lauren Chapin, Elinor Donahue, Billy Gray (Father Knows Best)
Tim Considine, Don Grady, Barry Livingston, Stanley Livingston (My Three Sons)
Patty Duke (The Patty Duke Show)
Shelley Fabares (The Donna Reed Show)
Michael J. Fox (Family Ties)
Melissa Gilbert (Little House on the Prairie)
Ed Grimley (Martin Short, SCTV)
Dwayne Hickman (The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis)
Ron Howard (The Andy Griffith Show)
Jerry Mathers (Leave It to Beaver)
Billy Mumy (Lost in Space)
David and Ricky Nelson (The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet)
Jay North (Dennis the Menace)
Butch Patrick (The Munsters)
Paul Petersen (The Donna Reed Show)
Gale Storm (My Little Margie)
Richard Thomas (The Waltons)

In-Laws:
Kaye Ballard (The Mothers-in-Law)
Spring Byington (December Bride)
Agnes Moorehead (Bewitched)
Rob Reiner (All in the Family)

Concerned Elders:
Frances Bavier (The Andy Griffith Show)
Walter Brennan (The Real McCoys)
Hans Conried (Make Room for Daddy)
Jackie Coogan (The Addams Family)
Ellen Corby, Will Geer (The Waltons)
William Demarest (My Three Sons)
A1 Lewis (The Munsters)
Irene Ryan (The Beverly Hillbillies)

Concerned Neighbors:
Paul Benedict (The Jeffersons)
Art Carney, Joyce Randolph (The Honeymooners)
Ned Flanders (The Simpsons)
William Frawley, Vivian Vance (I Love Lucy)
Valerie Harper, Cloris Leachman (The Mary Tyler Moore Show)
Harriet MacGibbon (The Beverly Hillbillies)
Ken Osmond (Leave It to Beaver)
Alice Pearce/Sandra Gould, George Tobias (Bewitched)
Michael Richards (Seinfeld)

Bosses:
Ed Asner (The Mary Tyler Moore Show)
Danny DeVito (Taxi)
Gale Gordon (Here's Lucy)
Nancy Marchand (Lou Grant)
Carl Reiner (The Dick Van Dyke Show)
David White (Bewitched)

Milton Berle

The Milton Berle Show (NBC, June 8, 1948-June 5, 1956).

Photographed June 27, 1995, by HERB RITTS in Culver City, California.

At the age of six he won a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest wearing a mustache cut from his mother's furs.

'Roots'

Ben Vereen (Chicken George), Leslie Uggams (Kizzy),

John Amos (adult Kunta Kinte/Toby), Cicely Tyson (Binta),

LeVar Burton (young Kunta Kinte)

(ABC, January 23-30, 1977—more than 100 million viewers)

Photographed September 5, 1995, by HERB RITIS In Culver City, California.

Author Alex Haley, once a cook in the Coast Guard, spent 10 years and traveled 500,000 miles to research Roots, interviewing his Tennessee grandmother, linguistics experts, and African U.N. delegates, perusing British slave-ship records, and finally reaching a tiny village in Gambia, where he learned from a griot (an old man trained from childhood to memorize village history) that his maternal great-great-great-great-grandfather had been taken by slave traders and sold in America more than 200 years earlier. His name was Kunta Kinte.

Teachers:
Eve Arden (Our Miss Brooks)
John Houseman (The Paper Chase)

Working Women:
Candice Bergen (Murphy Brown)
Amanda Blake (Gunsmoke)
Diahann Carroll (Julia) 
Doris Day (The Doris Day Show)
Nancy Kulp (The Beverly Hillbillies)
Rose Marie (The Dick Van Dyke Show)
Penny Marshall (Laveme & Shirley)
Loretta Swit (M*A*S*H)
Mario Thomas (That Girl)

Doctors:
Alan Alda, Wayne Rogers (M*A*S*H)
Richard Chamberlain, Raymond Massey {Dr. Kildare)
George Clooney, Anthony Edwards (ER) Vince Edwards {Ben Casey)
Kelsey Grammer (Frasier)
DeForest Kelley (Star Trek)
Marshall Thompson (Daktari)
Robert Young (Marcus Welby, M.D.)

Lawyers:
Daniel Benzali (Murder One)
Corbin Bemsen, Harry Hamlin (L.A. Law)
Raymond Burr (Perry Mason)
Johnnie Cochran (O. J.: The Trial)
E. G. Marshall (The Defenders)

Spies/Operatives:
Don Adams, Barbara Feldon (Get Smart) 
Boris Badenov, Natasha Fatale (The Bullwinkle Show)
Barbara Bain, Peter Graves, Martin Landau, Peter Lupus, Greg Morris (Mission: Impossible)
Leo G. Carroll, David McCallum, Robert Vaughn (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.)
Robert Culp (I Spy)
Lindsay Wagner (The Bionic Woman)

Adventurers:
Richard Basehart (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Lloyd Bridges (Sea Hunt)
Jacques Cousteau (The Undersea World of...)
Ben Gazzara (Run for Your Life)
David Janssen (The Fugitive)
George Maharis, Martin Milner (Route 66)

Bombshells:
Loni Anderson (WKRP in Cincinnati)
Dagmar (Broadway Open House)
Donna Douglas (The Beverly Hillbillies)
Farrah Fawcett (Charlie's Angels)
Annette Funicello (The Mickey Mouse Club)
Goldie Hawn (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In)
Tina Louise (Gilligan's Island)

Bitches:
Alison Amgrim (Little House on the Prairie)
Joan Collins (Dynasty)
Eileen Fulton (As the World Turns)
Heather Locklear (Melrose Place)
Betty White (The Mary Tyler Moore Show)
Jane Wyman (Falcon Crest)

Nincompoops:
Jason Alexander (Seinfeld)
Richard Deacon (The Dick Van Dyke Show)
Bob Denver (Gilligan's Island)
Woody Harrelson (Cheers)
Ted Knight (The Mary Tyler Moore Show)

Captains:
Ernest Borgnine (McHale's Navy)
Captain Kangaroo (Captain Kangaroo)
Alan Hale Jr. (Gilligan's Island)
Gavin MacLeod (The Love Boat)
William Shatner (Star Trek)

'The Mod Squad'

Clarence Williams III, Michael Cole, Peggy Upton

(ABC, September 24, 1968-August 23, 1973)

Photographed June 12, 1995, by DAVID LACHAPELLE on the roof of City Hall East, Los Angeles.

The pilot for this seemingly "of the moment" show was actually written In 1960 by Bud Ruskln, the ex-cop who had been assigned to a cadre of young L.A.P.D. undercover agents whose mission was "to infiltrate the druggies." The script sat on the shelf for eight years until ABC decided that It was timely.

'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'

(United Network Command for Law and Enforcement)

Robert Vaughn and David McCallum

(NBC. September 22. 1964January 15, 1968)

Photographed June 26, 1995, by NIGEL PARRY at Studio One, New York City.

"Sending assassins to kill me is in very poor taste." —Iliya Kuryakin

Divine:
David Carradine (KungFu)
William Christopher (M*A*S*H)
Sally Field (The Flying Nun)
Bishop Fulton J. Sheen (Life Is Worth Living)

Supernatural:
Barbara Eden (I Dream of Jeannie)
Elizabeth Montgomery (Bewitched)
Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek)
Ray Walston (My Favorite Martian)

Superhero:
Adam West (Batman)

The Enabled:
Hermione Baddeley (Maude)
Foster Brooks (Dean Martin's Celebrity Roasts)
Frank Fontaine (The Jackie Gleason Show)
Barney Gumble (The Simpsons)
Christopher Lloyd (Taxi)
George Wendt (Cheers)

Domestic Service:
Eddie "Rochester" Anderson (The Jack Benny Show)
Shirley Booth (Hazel)
Sebastian Cabot (Family Affair)
Ann B. Davis (The Brady Bunch)
Fran Drescher (The Nanny)
Marla Gibbs (The Jeffersons)
Gordon Jackson, Jean Marsh (Upstairs, Downstairs)
Juliet Mills (Nanny and the Professor)
Lionel Stander (Hart to Hart)

Men in Uniform:
John Banner, Bob Crane, Werner Klemperer (Hogan's Heroes)
Ernest Borgnine, Joe Flynn (McHale's Navy)
Paul Ford, Maurice Gosfield (The Phil Silvers Show)
Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.)

'All in the Family'

Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton

(CBS. January 12, 1971-September 16, 1979)

Photographed July 27, 1995, by NIGEL PARRY in Culver City, California.

EDITH: Do you like being alone with me? '

ARCHIE: Certainly I like being alone with you. What's on television?

Gunslingers:
Michael Ansara (Broken Arrow)
James Amess, Dennis Weaver (Gunsmoke) Gene Autry (The Gene Autry Show)
Gene Barry (Bat Masterson)
Ken Berry, Larry Storch, Forrest Tucker (F Troop)
Dan Blocker, Lome Greene {Bonanza)
Ward Bond (Wagon Train)
Richard Boone (Have Gun Will Travel)
William Boyd (Hopalong Cassidy)
Neville Brand (Laredo)
Peter Breck, Linda Evans, Lee Majors, Barbara Stanwyck (The Big Valley)
Peter Brown (The Lawman)
Leo Carrillo, Duncan Renaldo (The Cisco Kid)
Chuck Connors, Johnny Crawford (The Rifleman)
James Drury, Doug McClure (The Virginian)
Don Durant (Johnny Ringo)
Clint Eastwood, Sheb Wooley (Rawhide)
Ty Hardin (Bronco)
John Hart (Hawkeye)
Robert Horton (A Man Called Shenandoah)
Will Hutchins (Sugarfoot)
Jack Kelly (Maverick)
Robert Loggia (The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca)
Guy Madison (Wild Bill Hickok)
Clayton Moore, Jay Silverheels (The Lone Ranger)
Ben Murphy (Alias Smith and Jones)
Hugh O'Brian (Wyatt Earp)
Fess Parker (Daniel Boone)
Dale Robertson (Tales of Wells Fargo)
Dick Simmons (Sgt. Preston of the Yukon)
Clint Walker (Cheyenne)
Stuart Whitman (Cimarron Strip)
Guy Williams (Zorro)

Gumshoes:
Raymond Burr (Perry Mason)
Michael Cole, Peggy Lipton, Clarence Williams III (The Mod Squad)
Mike Connors (Mannix)
William Conrad (Cannon)
Broderick Crawford (Highway Patrol)
Tyne Daly, Sharon Gless (Cagney & Lacey)
Angie Dickinson (Police Woman)
Michael Douglas, Karl Malden (The Streets of San Francisco)
Fred Dryer (Hunter) 
Buddy Ebsen (Barnaby Jones)
Dennis Franz, Jimmy Smits (NYPD Blue)
Andy Griffith, Don Knotts (The Andy Griffith Show)
Rock Hudson (McMillan and Wife)
Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith (Charlie's Angels)
David Janssen (The Fugitive)
Don Johnson (Miami Vice)
Angela Lansbury (Murder, She Wrote)
Hal Linden, Abe Vigoda (Barney Miller)
Jack Lord, James MacArthur (Hawaii Five-O)
Patrick Macnee, Diana Rigg (The Avengers)
Kent McCord (Adam-12)
Roger Moore (The Saint)
Harry Morgan, Jack Webb (Dragnet)
George Peppard (Banacek)
Joe E. Ross (Car 54, Where Are You?)
Richard Roundtree (Shaft)
Telly Savalas (Kojak)
Tom Selleck (Magnum, PI.)
Cybill Shepherd, Bruce Willis (Moonlighting)
Robert Stack (The Untouchables)
Craig Stevens (Peter Gunn)
Robert Urich (Spenser: For Hire)
Dennis Weaver (McCloud)
Efrem Zimbalist Jr. (77 Sunset Strip)

Fronts:
Alistair Cooke (Masterpiece Theatre)
Walt Disney (The Wonderful World of...)
Allen Funt (Candid Camera)
Alfred Hitchcock (Alfred Hitchcock Presents)
Edward Everett Horton ("Fractured Fairy Tales," The Bullwinkle Show)
Vincent Price (Mystery!)
Ronald Reagan (General Electric Theater)
Rod Serling (The Twilight Zone)
Loretta Young (The Loretta Young Show)

Talkers:
Steve Allen
Dick Cavett
Merv Griffin
Jay Leno
David Letterman
Jack Paar
Tom Snyder
David Susskind

Yea-men:
Pat Brady (The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show)
Jerry Colonna (Bob Hope specials)
Hugh Downs (Jack Paar)
George Fenneman (You Bet Your Life)
Ed McMahon (The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson)
Louis Nye (The Steve Allen Show)
Willard Scott (Today)
Arthur Treacher (The Merv Griffin Show)

Headliners:
Dick Clark
(American Bandstand)
Perry Como (The Perry Como Show)
Tennessee Ernie Ford (The Ford Show) 
Arthur Godfrey (Arthur Godfrey and His Friends)
Dean Martin (Dean Martin's Celebrity Roasts)
Bert Parks (Miss America Pageants)
Dinah Shore (The Dinah Shore Show)
Red Skelton (The Red Skelton Show)
Andy Williams (The Andy Williams Show)
Flip Wilson (The Flip Wilson Show)

242243 View article pages

'The Simpsons'

(Fox, January 14, 1990-present)

Illustration by MATT GROENING.

Guest voices have included: Meryl Streep. Penny Marshall, Elizabeth Taylor. Ringo Starr. Dustin Hoffman, Michael Jackson. Bette Midler, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Sting.

Joan Collins

Dynasty (ABC, January 12, 1981-May 11, 1989).

Photographed September 18, 1995, by SNOWDON in London.

"You're obviously suffering from delusions of adequacy." —Alexis Carrington Colby Dexter

Buffalo Bob Smith and Big Bird

Howdy Doody (NBC, December 27, 1947-September 30, 1960).

Sesame Street (PBS, November 10, 1969-present)

Photographed August 7, 1995, by RICHARD CORMAN in New York City.

Carol Burnett

The Carol Burnett Show (CBS, September 11, 1967-August 9, 1978).

Photographed July 12, 1995, by JONATHAN BECKER in New York City.

"Time hasn't tarnished Ms. Burnett's cockeyed splendor." —Vincent Canby, reviewing the Broadway play Moon over Buffalo, October 1995.

'Mission: Impossible

Peter Lupus, Greg Morris, Barbara Bain, Peter Graves, and Martin Landau

(CBS, September 17, 1966-September 8, 1973)

Photographed June 30, 1995, by GEORGE LANGE in Santa Monica, California.

Johnny Carson

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (NBC, October 1, 1962-May 22, 1992)

Illustration by RISKO.

Larry King

Larry King Live (CNN, June 3, 1985-present).

Photographed September 19, 1995, by MICHAEL O'NEILL In New York City.

244245 View article pages

'Your Show of Shows'

Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca

(NBC, February 25, 1950-June 5, 1954)

Photographed June 29, 1995, by FIROOZ ZAHEDI at Studio 8H, NBC, New York City.

Coca's faux-ocelot coat from Your Show of Shows was later purchased by puppeteer Burr Tillstrom and made into the hand puppet Ollie.

Hanna-Barbera

Characters include: Flintstones, Jetsons, Quick Draw McGraw, Magilla Gorilla, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Scooby-Doo, Dick Dastardly, Top Cat. 

Joseph Barbera and Wiliiam Hanna photographed August 1, 1995, by RICHARD CORMAN in Los Angeles. Illustrators: Dennis Durrell, Iwao Takamoto, Donna Zeller.

'Route 66'

George Maharis and Martin Milner

(CBS, October 7, 1960-September 18, 1964)

Photographed August 3, 1995, by RICHARD CORMAN on Route 66 in a 1960 Corvette like the one they drove in the old days.

Susan Lucci

Erica  on All My Children (ABC, January 5, 1970-present).

Photographed September 18, 1995, by EIKA AOSHIMA at the Oribe Salon, New York City.

Erica has been charged with murder; posed as a nun; disowned a child born of rape; attempted a helicopter rescue; stared down a grizzly bear; and is currently battling an addiction to prescription painkillers.

'The Odd Couple'

Jack Klugman and Tony Randall

(ABC, September 24, 1970-July 4, 1975)

Photographed July 28, 1995,  by NIGEL PARRY in Dayton, Ohio.

"Oscar, Oscar, Oscar."

Regulars and Guest Hosts:
Joey Bishop,* Phyllis Diller, Joan Embery and Jim Fowler, Buddy Hackett, Burt Reynolds, Buddy Rich, Don Rickies, Joan Rivers,** Jonathan Winters (The Tonight Show)
Tim Conway, Harvey Korman (The Carol Burnett Show)
Dennis Day (The Jack Benny Show)
Calvert DeForest (Larry "Bud" Melman, Late Night with David Letterman)
Totie Fields (The Merv Griffin Show)
Teri Garr (Late Night with David Letterman)
Dody Goodman (The Jack Paar Show)
Tom Poston (The Steve Allen Show)
Gore Vidal (The David Susskind Show)
Wayne and Shuster (The Ed Sullivan Show)

Talking Heads:
Tom Brokaw
John Chancellor
Charles Collingwood
Sam Donaldson
Douglas Edwards
Fred Friendly
Dave Garroway
Bryant Gumbel
Peter Jennings
Ted Koppel
Charles Kuralt
Jim Lehrer
Robert MacNeil
Jane Pauley
Dan Rather
Harry Reasoner
Morley Safer
Diane Sawyer
Eric Sevareid
Howard K. Smith
Lesley Stahl
John Cameron
Swayze Robert
Trout Mike Wallace

Inquisitors:
Bob Costas
Phil Donahue
David Frost
Barbara Walters
Oprah Winfrey

Sportsmen:
Mel Allen
Terry Bradshaw
Harry Caray
Howard Cosell
Dick Enberg
Frank Gifford
Curt Gowdy
Keith Jackson
John Madden
Jim McKay
Don Meredith
Al Michaels
Pee Wee Reese
Chris Schenkel
Vin Scully
Jackie Stewart
Pat Summerall
Dick Vitale
Jack Whitaker

Gamesmen:

Bob Barker (The Price Is Right)
Jack Barry (Twenty-one)
Bud ColIyer (To Tell the Truth)
Bill Cullen (I've Got a Secret)
John Daly (What's My Line?)
Richard Dawson (Family Feud)
Bob Eubanks (The Newlywed Game)
Art Fleming (Jeopardy!) Monty Hall
(Let's Make a Deal) Jim Lange
(The Dating Game)
Art Linkletter (The Art Linkletter Show)
Allen Ludden (Password)
Peter Marshall
(Hollywood Squares)
Wink Martindale (Tic Tac Dough)
Groucho Marx (You Bet Your Life)
Garry Moore (To Tell the Truth)
Gene Rayburn (The Match Game)
Pat Sajak (Wheel of Fortune)

Players:
Cliff Arquette, Paul Lynde (The Hollywood Squares)
Orson Bean, Peggy Cass, Kitty Carlisle Hart (To Tell the Truth)
Bennett Cerf, Arlene Francis, Dorothy Kilgallen (What's My Line?)
Henry Morgan (I've Got a Secret)
Charles Nelson Reilly, Nipsey Russell (The Match Game)

* 177 appearances as guest host.
** 93 appearances as guest host.

'Rowan & Martins's Laugh-In'

(NBC, January 22, 1968-May 14, 1973)

Hosted by Dick Martin and the late Dan Rowan. Cast members featured here: Gary Owens, Alan Sues, Dave Madden (in windows); Ruth Buzzl, Dick Martin, Chelsea Brown (on cake); and, in the foreground, Jo Anne Worley and Henry Gibson. (Other Laugh-In veterans Include the once bikini-clad Goldie Hawn; Lily Tomlin, who introduced Ernestine the Operator to a national audience with a call to a guy In the White House who would ultimately become Laugh-In's most famous guest star; and the "Sock it to me" girl, Judy Carne.)

Photographed June 14, 1995, by DAVID LACHAPELLE in Los Angeles.

"May the good fairy sprinkle stardust on your bippy."

The Westerners

Photographed August 1, 1995, by ANNIE LEIBOVITZ at Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, California.

From left, standing: Hugh O'Brian (The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp), Clint Walker (Cheyenne), James Drury (The Virginian), Robert Horton (Wagon Train), Don Durant (Johnny Ringo), Peter Breck (The Big Valley), Lee Majors (The Big Valley), Robert Loggia (The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca), John Hart (Hawkeye), Sheb Wooley (Rawhide), Johnny Crawford (The Rifleman), Will Hutchins (Sugarfoot), David Carradine (KungFu), Ken Berry (F Troop), Larry Storch (F Troop), Michael Ansara (Broken Arrow), Clayton Moore (The Lone Ranger). From left, seated: Stuart Whitman (Cimarron Strip), Peter Brown (The Lawman), Gene Barry (Bat Masterson), Dale Robertson (Tales of Wells Fargo), Dick Simmons (Sergeant Preston of the Yukon), Fess Parker (Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett), Robert Culp (Trackdown), and Ben Murphy (Allas Smith and Jones).

"The Lone Ranger never killed a man. He always fired his six-shooter to wound or to disarm"— Clayton Moore

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The Detectives

Photographed September 9, 1995, by ANNIE LEIBOVITZ at Universal City Studios, Universal City, California.

From left: Kate Jackson (Charlie's Angels), Richard Roundtree (Shaft), Robert Stack (The Untouchables). Efrem Zimbalist Jr. ( 77 Sunset Strip, The F.B.I.), Buddy Ebsen (Barnaby Jones), Peter Falk (Columbo), Harry Morgan (Dragnet), Edward James Olmos (Miami Vice), who is kneeling, Mike Connors (Mannix), Fred Dryer (Hunter), James MacArthur (Hawaii Five-O), Hal Linden (Barney Miller), Karl Malden (The Streets of Sim Francisco), Anthony Eisley (Hawaiian Eye), Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly (Cagney & Lacey), Jimmy Smits and Dennis Franz (NYPD Blue), Angie Dickinson (Police Woman), Don Johnson (Miami Vice), Craig Stevens (Peter Gunn), Angela Lansbury (Murder, She Wrote), and Robert Wagner (Hart to Hart).

"All we want are the facts, ma'am."

Music Men:
Ray Bloch (The Ed Sullivan Show)
Les Brown (The Steve Allen Show)
Skitch Henderson, Doc Severinsen (The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson)
Guy Lombardo (Various New Year's Eve specials from 1956 to 1976)
Paul Shaffer (Late Show with David Letterman)
Sammy Spear (The Jackie Gleason Show)
Lawrence Welk (The Lawrence Welk Show)

Vocal Support:
Jim Backus (Mr. Magoo, The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo)
Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, The Bugs Bunny Show and The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show; Barney Rubble, Dino, The Flintstones; Mr. Spacely, The Jetsons; et al.)
Daws Butler (Yogi Bear, Yogi Bear)
Nancy Cartwright (Bart Simpson, The Simpsons)
June Foray, Bill Scott (Rocket J. Squirrel, Bullwinkle J. Moose, The Bullwinkle Show)
Jim Henson, Frank Oz (Kermit the Frog, Big Bird, Sesame Street)
Lorenzo Music (Carlton the Doorman, Rhoda)
Alan Reed (Fred Flintstone, The Flintstones)
Walter Winchell (Narrator, The Untouchables)

Animals and Friends of Animals:
Flipper (Flipper)
Lassie (Lassie)
Shari Lewis (The Shari Lewis Show)
J. Fred Muggs (Today)
Marlin Perkins (Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom)
Mr. Ed {Mr. Ed)
Rin Tin Tin (The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin)
Trigger (The Roy Rogers Show)
Arnold Ziffel (Green Acres)

James Garner

Bret Maverick on Maverick (ABC. September 22. 1957-July 8. 1962).

Jim Rockford. The Rockford Files (NBC. September 13. 1974-July 25. 1980).

Polaroid commercials with Mariette Hartley (1977-84).

Jim Rockford's phone number: (213) 555-2368.

Rockford's car: tan Pontiac Firebird.
California license OKG-853.

Rockford's fee for solving crimes: $200 a day plus expenses. (But he somehow never gets paid.)

Photographed July 18, 1995, by ANNIE LEIBOVITZ in a 1967 Pontiac GTO outside his home in Brentwood, California.

NBC Pages

They began their service to the entertainment industry as gofers in what Walter Winchell called "the West Point of the airwaves"—giving tours of the Today set and Studio 8H; answering Sid Caesar's fan mail; getting lunch (and God knows what else) for Mantovani, Belushi, J. Fred Muggs; tearing wire copy for Huntley and Brinkley ...

Illustration by RISKO.

Bottom row, left to right: Charlie's former angel Kate Jackson, Hollywood Square Peter Marshall, Nightline's Ted Koppel, Match Game's Gene Rayburn, Regis Philbin (before Kathie Lee). Second row: Letterman's co-executive producer Peter Lassally, Today's Dave Garroway, Disney's Michael Eisner, Superman Christopher Reeve, Good Morning America's former host David Hartman. Third row: actor-director Richard Benjamin, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. ofThe F.B.I., Roseanne executive producer Marcy Carsey, actor Gordon MacRae, actress Eva Marie Saint, Ken Howard of The White Shadow, Grant Tinker, who says he was actually NBC's first "executive trainee," and ran NBC and MTM (he was also married to M.T.M.), Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo),Today weatherman Willard Scott. On balcony: The Steve Allen Show's Bill Dana, Dick Cavett, still talking on CNBC.

Walter Cronkite

CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite (April 16, 1962-March 6, 1981).

Photographed August 24, 1995, by MICHAEL O'NEILL at Cronkite's home on Katama Bay in Edgartown, Massachusetts.

1981 recipient of Presidential Medal of Freedom.

"It is increasingly clear that the only rational way out will be to negotiate, not as victors but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy." —Cronkite, after the disastrous 1968 Tet offensive.

"If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America." —President Lyndon Johnson, after Cronkite's report on the Tet offensive.

The Moms

Photographed June 28, 1995, by DAVE LACHAPELLE in Los Angeles.

Match the moms (clockwise from top left) to the details:

A. Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch).

B. Shirley Jones (The Partridge Family).

C. Marion Ross (Happy Days).

D. June Lockhart (Lassie).

C. Barbara Billingsley (Leave It to Beaver).

F. Jane Wyatt (Father Knows Best).

G. Esther Rolle (Good Times).

1. "Careful. Nervous Mother Driving."

2. Named for a state: originally worked for an overbearing liberal whose pantsuits camouflaged her derriére.

3. Wrote an article about her family for Tomorrow's Woman magazine.

4. Wore pearls while vacuuming. 

5. Favorite drinking glass featured Rudolph Valentino.

6. Had no memorable traits.

7. Except for a few cooking disasters, had no memorable traits.

(Answer key: 1, B; 2. G; 3. A; 4. E; 5. C; 6. D; 7, F.)

Roone Arledge and Don Hewitt

Arledge: executive producer. ABC's Wide World of Sports (1961-86); president, ABC Sports (1968-86); president, ABC News (1977-present).

Hewitt: first used the term "anchor" for newsmen during 1952 political conventions, for which he directed CBS coverage; executive producer, 60 Minutes (CBS, 1968-present).

Photographed September 7, 1995, by ANNIE LEIBOVITZ at her studio, New York City.

"We walk a high wire between entertainment and journalism, and there is a danger of falling off." —Don Hewitt

Roseanne 

Roseanne (ABC, October 18, 1988-present). 

Illustration by PHIUP BURKE. 

What more can be said?

Barbara Walters

Co-anchor, Today
(NBC, April 22, 1974-June 4, 1976).

Anchor, ABC News (October 4, 1976-present).

Co-anchor, Turning Point (ABC, July 23, 1993-present).

Co-host, 20/20 (ABC, July 26, 1979-present).

The Barbara Walters Specials (ABC, December 14, 1976-present).

Photographed August 16, 1995, by ERIC BOMAN in New York City.

"When was the last time you cried?"

Jay Leno

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC, May 25, 1992-present).

Photographed July 15, 1995, by ANNIE LEIBOVITZ on his 1930 Henderson KJ 1000 motorcycle in Elyslan Park, Los Angeles.

Number of motorcycles: 40.

Number of cars: 30.

Leno's first car: 1934 Ford V-8 truck which he restored himself at age 14.

Leno's first new car: 1965 Bulck Gran Sport with a 401-cubic-inch V-8 and four-speed transmission.

Favorite vehicles include: his 1915 Hispano-Suiza, with its 18.5-liter French aircraft-type engine; his 1966 Ford Cobra 427SC replica; his 1909 Stanley "steam car"; his 1934 Rolls-Royce, with its 27-liter Merlin aircraft engine.

"And Now, a Word from...":
Ed Herlihy (Kraft Television Theatre)
Dennis James (The Original Amateur Hour)
Jack Lescoulie (Today)
Johnny Olsen (The Price Is Right)
Gary Owens (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In)
Don Pardo (Saturday Night Live)
Harry Von Zell (The George Bums and Grade Allen Show)
Bill Wendell (Late Show with David Letterman)
Don Wilson (The Jack Benny Show)

Group Efforts:
Cheers
ER
Hill Street Blues
M*A*S*H
The Monkees
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Saturday Night Live
SCTV
Taxi

Special Friends:
Fran Allison, Kukla, Ollie (Kukla, Fran & Ollie)
Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy (Hour Glass)
Big Bird (Sesame Street)
Pee-wee Herman (Pee-wee's Playhouse)
Howdy Doody, Buffalo Bob Smith (Howdy Doody)
Lamb Chop (The Shari Lewis Show)
Jerry Lewis (Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon)
Fred Rogers (Mister Rogers ' Neighborhood) Soupy Sales
(The Soupy Sales Show)
Topo Gigio (The Ed Sullivan Show)

Suits:
Fred Silverman
Dr. Frank Stanton
Brandon Tartikoff
Grant Tinker

Unsolved Mysteries:
Dr. Joyce Brothers Charo
David Hasselhoff (Baywatch)
Liberace (The Liberace Show)
Andy Rooney (60 Minutes)
Seor Wences (The Ed Sullivan Show)
Vanna White (Wheel of Fortune)

The Creators and Facilitators:
Steven Bochco (Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, Murder One)
James L. Brooks (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Tracey Ullman Show)
Allan Burns (The Mary Tyler Moore Show)
James Burrows (Cheers)
Stephen J. Cannell (The Rockford Files)
Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner (The Cosby Show, Roseanne)
Les and Glen Charles (Cheers)
Larry Gelbart (M*A*S*H)
Gary David Goldberg (Family Ties, Brooklyn Bridge)
Mark Goodson and Bill Todman (To Tell the Truth, What's My Line?)
Paul Henning (The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction)
David E. Kelley (Picket Fences, Chicago Hope)
Norman Lear (All in the Family, Sanford and Son, Maude)
Richard Levinson and William Link (Mannix; Columbo; Murder, She Wrote)
Garry Marshall (Happy Days, Laveme & Shirley)
Lorne Michaels (Saturday Night Live)
Agnes Nixon (All My Children)
Bruce Paltrow (The White Shadow, St. Elsewhere)
Tom Patchett, Jay Tarses (The Carol Burnett Show, The Bob Newhart Show)
Rod Serling (The Twilight Zone)
Aaron Spelling (Dynasty, Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place)

MTV Kids

Photographed August 1,1995, by NIGEL PARRY In New York City.

Bob Pittman (co-founder, MTV), Judy McGrath (president, MTV: Music Television), Tom Freston (chairman and C.E.O., MTV Networks).

Producers:
Fred De Cordova (The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson)
Ralph Edwards (This Is Your Life)
Robert Morton (Late Show with David Letterman)
Lee Rich (Dallas, The Waltons)

The Legend:
Paddy Chayefsky (Goodyear TV Playhouse)

Composers:
Lee Adams,
Charles Strouse (All in the Family) Harold Adamson,
Eliot Daniel (I Love Lucy)
Paul Anka (The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson)
Alan and Marilyn
Bergman (Good Times, Maude)
Richard Boone,
Sam Rolfe,
Johnny Western (Have Gun Will Travel)
Sonny Curtis (The Mary Tyler Moore Show)
Frank DeVol (My Three Sons)
Charles Fox (Co-writer of themes for Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, The Love Boat)
Jan Hammer (Miami Vice)
Paul Henning (The Beverly Hillbillies) 
Nat Hiken, John Strauss (Car 54, Where Are You?)
Henry Mancini (Charlie's Angels, NBC News election theme, Peter Gunn)
Johnny Mandel (M*A *S*H)
Vic Mizzy (The Addams Family, Green Acres)
Mike Post (Hill Street Blues, The Rockford Files)
Joe Raposo (Sesame Street, Three's Company) 
Rhythm Heritage (S.W.A.T.)
Nelson Riddle (Batman, Route 66)
Gioachino Rossini (The Lone Ranger) 
Lalo Schifrin (Mission: Impossible) 
Sherwood Schwartz (The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island)
Morton Stevens (Hawaii Five-O)
Alan Thicke (Diff'rent Strokes, The Facts of Life) 
John Williams ("Mission Theme," for NBC News)

Bill Cosby

Illustration by RISKO.

On I Spy, which aired on NBC from September 15,1965, to September 2, 1968, Cosby became the first black actor to star on an American TV series.

His mega-hit of the 80s, The Cosby Show (NBC, September 20,1984September 17,1992), single-handedly revived both NBC and the sitcom format.

Innovators:
Walter Annenberg (TV Guide)
Roone Arledge (instant replay, TV sports)
Joan Ganz Cooney (Children's Television Workshop)
Barry Diller (Fox Television Network, the Movie of the Week)
Tom Freston, Judy McGrath, Bob Pittman (MTV)
Don Hewitt (60 Minutes, convention coverage)
Brandon Stoddard (mini-series)
Swanson (TV dinners)
Ted Turner (24-hour cable news)
Sylvester "Pat" Weaver (Today, The Tonight Show)

Jim McKay

Photographed October 3, 1995, by RICHARD J. BURBRIDGE in Baltimore, Maryland.

Sports commentator, ABC's Wide World of Sports (April 29, 1961-present).

McKay stayed on the air for 16 straight hours during the Black September terrorist crisis at the 1972 Munich Olympics; he later received a telegram which read:

DEAR JIM TODAY YOU HONORED YOURSELF, YOUR NETWORK AND YOUR INDUSTRY.
WALTER CRONKITE.

The Best of British TV:
Absolutely Fabulous
The Benny Hill Show
Blackadder
Brideshead Revisited
Fawlty Towers
I, Claudius
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Pride and Prejudice
Prime Suspect
Upstairs, Downstairs
Yes Minister

Fashions by...:
Botany 500
Dicker and Dicker of Beverly Hills
Bob Mackie (The Carol Burnett Show, The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour)
Nolan Miller (Dynasty)
Versace (Miami Vice)

Addresses and Places:
"Anaheim, Azusa, and Cucamonga"
Bay City
"Beautiful downtown Burbank"
Bedrock
Black Rock
Cabot Cove
The Ed Sullivan Theater
Funk & Wagnalls' porch
Mayberry
The Ponderosa
Route 66
Sesame Street
77 Sunset Strip
The Slauson cutoff
Southfork
Studio 8H
Surfside Six
"Television City in Hollywood"
30 Rock
Walton's Mountain

TV Design:
The ABC logo (Paul Rand)
The CBS eye (William Golden)
The Indian Head Test Pattern (artist unknown)
The MTM logo (James L. Brooks and Allan Burns)
The NBC peacock (John Graham; redesigned by Ivan Chermayeff)

Memories:
"And good night,
Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are."
"Say 'Good night,' Gracie."
"Good night, John-Boy.'
Veal Prince Orloff

Steven Bochco

Photographed September 29, 1995, by ART STREIBER at the Bochco Building on the Twentieth Century Fox lot, Los Angeles.

Co-creator/executive producer, Hill Street Blues (1981-87),
LA. Law (1986-94),
Doogle Howser, M.D. (1989-93),
Cop Rock (1990),
Murder One (debuted 1995).