FOX Turns 25

No love for the glowing puck?

But I think I'd forgotten that they were the pioneer for putting the score/time on the screen permanently. Hard to believe how relatively recent an innovation that actually is.

 

Joan Rivers ultimately bombed, but she was a pretty big get to start out. Carson never forgave them for that.

Married with Children was their first hit and the Simpsons followed shortly, but let's not forget 90210 and 21 Jump Street. The game-changer was getting the NFL and getting affiliates (mostly in NFC markets like Dallas) to switch to VHF channels.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_vs._Beast

 

1. X-Files
2. That 70s Show
3. 24
4. Simpsons
5. Arrested Development
6. Married with Children
7. Family Guy
8. House
9. 21 Jump Street
10. 90210/Melrose Place

 

Oh, man, I envy you. You've got some good times ahead. What an incredible show.

 

Two of my all-time favorite shows (Simpsons and the X-Files) were on Fox but I never got into another show on the network. As an aside, seriously people forget how damn funny some X-Files episodes were. The one with Michael McKean and Nora Dunn is one of the funniest shows I've ever seen.

 

You have to watch so closely for all the jokes. I honestly cannot think of trying to watch it live without a DVR.

Remember, there's always money in the banana stand.

 

I think I've probably watched every episode at least five times. That's a conservative estimate. It's incredibly rewatchable.

 

I can't count how many times I've seen each episode, and I still every once in a while catch a joke that I didn't catch before. The layers and brilliance (hi, Azrael!) of it never fail to impress me.

 

I like how we never had it before and were fine but now can't live without. I remember thinking how superfluous having timeouts on the screen was a few years ago and now I'd freak without knowing all the time.

 

There was a lot of mention of the "Fox Box" which as simple as it sounds was a huge move at the time...

 

Same deal with the first-down line. I remember the night it debuted; I was watching it in the office with most of the sports desk. They thought it was a taped yellow line they put out there because it was so rainy. I told them what it was and they raged about what a stupid gimmick it was. Now I think if I saw a game without a first-down line, I'd assume the team on offense was on 3rd and 60.

Also, the sports ticker. To think, there was a time we had to wait for the network's sports jingle to get scores from the other games. It's as though the sports of our youth were televised by Dumont.