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AMERICAN TELEVISION IN THE 2000S Following the Janet Jackson incident at the 2004 Super Bowl , the FCC made their censorship rules more conservative. The tradition of afterschool and Saturday Morning Cartoon lineups in syndication all but disappears. They are considered redundant in light of such children's networks such as Cartoon Network and Disney Channel. 2004 marked the first year that legendary entertainment icon Dick Clark was not at the helm of '' Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve '' for the annual celebration in Times Square due to a stroke. ''Rockin' Eve'' has been a part of Americana since 1972 , becoming a central mainstay in New Year's celebrations. Clark reappeared the next year for the show, yet his voice had incredibly worsened. In the extreme late 2000s, ''American Idol'' emcee Ryan Seacrest will take over hosting duties for the New Year's show, which Time magazine called an "ABC staple." An overall perspective, here are the highest-rated shows on network television during the decade:
Reality TV Reality TV shows become extremely common, in particular '' Survivor '' and '' American Idol '' which develop into a huge record-breaking hit shows, attracting millions of viewers who help make ''Idol'' and ''Survivor'' staples in modern American culture. ''Idol'' proves the test of time, averaging #1 among all TV series in the 2004 - 2005 and 2005 - 2006 seasons, four years after its debut. Gameshows Primetime Game Show s suddenly saw a brief surge in popularity beginning in 1999 and carrying into late 2001 , especially with '' Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? '' and '' The Weakest Link '' which become absolute pop culture phenomena in the extreme late 90s and early 2000s. The high-rewarding shows quickly lost their enormous popularity after the events of 9/11. In 2005, the genre again gained steam with NBC 's popular '' Deal Or No Deal '', which constantly finishes among the 10 most watched shows on TV, yet not to the same extent that game shows had before. The Scandal'' in 2003 which pulls in an outstanding 3 million viewers and turns out being the most popular program ever broadcast on the network, major original programming successes like '' Lingo '' and '' Extreme Dodgeball '', reruns of the popular 1970s versions of classic shows '' Match Game '' and '' Family Feud '' maintain high ratings, and the addition of ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' to its lineup of classic game shows produces a sufficient boost in the ratings. As for traditional game shows, only long-running syndicated staples '' Jeopardy! '' and '' Wheel Of Fortune '' remain on the air in the 2000s. Speaking of which, 2004 marked the first time that ''Jeopardy!'' beat ''Wheel of Fortune'' in the syndication ratings, when the Alex Trebek game show banked in at #1 for a few weeks during the remarkable 74-game run of contestant Ken Jennings who won a record-breaking $2.5 million on the show. During this time, the show received over 20 million viewers at one point, its highest ratings ever and it even beat many popular network programs that year. Meanwhile, '' The Price Is Right '' soldiers on well into its fourth decade as the sole remaining daytime network game show. In 2001 , TV Guide ranked ''The Price is Right'' #1 on its list of the 50 Greatest Game Shows Of All Time . Medical, law, and investigation shows Medical, law, and investigation shows gain immense popularity and have replaced '' ( 2002 -), '' Monk '' ( 2002 -), '' Without A Trace '' ( 2002 -), '' NCIS '' ( 2003 -), '' Boston Legal '' ( 2004 -), '' House '' ( 2004 -), '' Bones '' ( 2005 -), and '' Numb3rs '' ( 2005 -). Sitcoms Live action Sitcom s have begun to be overshadowed by law, investigation, celebrity, and reality shows. By the mid-2000s, '' Friends '' ( 1994 - 2004 ), '' Frasier '' ( 1993 - 2004 ), '' Everybody Loves Raymond '' ( 1996 - 2005 ), '' That '70s Show '' ( 1998 - 2006 ), '' Will And Grace '' ( 1998 - 2006 ), and '' Malcolm In The Middle '' ( 2000 - 2006 ) all left airwaves. Among the very few successful sitcoms on the air by this time included '' Scrubs '' ( 2001 -) and '' The Office '' ( 2005 -). Animated sitcoms, which gained popularity with '' The Simpsons '' ( 1989 -) and really took off in the late 90's, are now even more popular. '' Family Guy '' was cancelled after its initial run ( 1999 - 2002 ), but phenomenal DVD sales and a massive Internet petition prompted FOX to re-instate the show in 2005 , garnering high ratings and attracting large numbers of viewers in the pivotal 18-49 age demographic. (The only other show to have been brought back from cancellation due to demand was the original Star Trek.) Other popular animated shows include '' King Of The Hill '' ( 1997 - 2007 ), '' Futurama '' ( 1999 - 2003 ), '' American Dad! '' ( 2005 -), and '' South Park '' ( 1997 -) in particular, which saw its audience on Comedy Central nearly double. Many of these shows have become controversial for their strongly adult content, due to restrictions on animated TV shows being lower than that of live shows. It is partly this issue, however, that has caused these shows to become so popular. In addition, most 2000s sitcoms are produced in a Drama-style setting, with on-location shooting rather than in a live studio setting, and most are produced without a Laugh Track . Drama Action and drama shows have also gained popularity. '' 24 '' ( 2001 -) is among the most popular action shows on TV along with '' Prison Break '' ( 2005 -), while '' Lost '' ( 2004 -) has become among the most popular drama shows, along with '' Desperate Housewives '' ( 2004 -) and '' Grey's Anatomy '' ( 2005 -). Teen drama shows have become immensely popular, including '' 7th Heaven '' ( 1996 - 2007 ), '' The O.C. '' ( 2003 -), and '' One Tree Hill '' ( 2003 -). '' Gilmore Girls '' ( 2000 -) attempts to mix teen drama with comedy, and has so far been successful. The serial drama returns in the form of '' 24 '' and '' Alias '' ( 2001 - 2006 ) in 2001. Science Fiction '' The X-Files '' ( 1993 - 2002 ) ended its remarkable run late in the decade and became the longest-running science fiction show in U.S. history (although it remained far behind the original '' Doctor Who '' in the United Kingdom for the longest-running sci-fi series ever). However, '' Stargate SG-1 '' ( 1997 - 2007 ) began to gain a massive cult following that allowed it to surpass ''The X-Files'' as the longest-running science fiction series in U.S. history in 2006, with the beginning of its tenth season. Although an eleventh season was originally planned, the Sci Fi Channel unexpectedly cancelled it, leaving its run at ten seasons. However, the Stargate franchise will survive the end of its flagship show, thanks to the spinoff '' Stargate Atlantis '' ( 2004 - ), which has proven popular among fans. A third spinoff, '' Stargate Universe '', is in the planning stages and is targeted to begin in 2008 . The '' in 1987. Perhaps the most symbolic shift in science fiction away from hard science, cosmic themes, and a self-contained episodic format, and towards a focus more on character development and interaction, emotional content, and a continuous plotline format, comes in the form of the re-imagined '' Battlestar Galactica '' ( 2004 - 2008 ). ''Battlestar Galactica'' has been praised for its intense drama and character development. One of the earlier examples of this shift is '' Firefly '', which aired just one season in 2002 on Fox but gained a massive cult following. Fans of the show heavily criticized Fox for killing the show before it even aired by showing the episodes out of order and expressing a general lack of interest in keeping the show on the air. Shows dealing with supernatural and superhero elements continued their popularity that began in the late 90s. '' Smallville '' ( 2001 -), a show about Superman 's teenage life in the small Kansas town of Smallville , premiered. '' Buffy The Vampire Slayer '' ( 1997 - 2003 ), '' Angel '' ( 1999 - 2004 ), and '' Charmed '' ( 1998 - 2006 ) all gained massive cult followings before coming to an end. '' Supernatural '' ( 2005 -) has continued the trend of these popular shows. A new '' Doctor Who '' series premiered in 2005 in the United Kingdom , 16 years after the original series ended and 9 years after the TV movie. Animation and teen television Nickelodeon nearly abandons the live-action shows it had in the 1980s and 1990s in favor of Nicktoons . This ends towards the middle of the decade, as the network adds live-action fare such as '' Drake & Josh '' (2004-), '' Unfabulous '' (2004-), and '' Zoey 101 '' (2005-). In addition, the network begins to skew to a younger audience than in previous years, cancelling programs popular among teenagers, such as '' Invader Zim '' and '' As Told By Ginger '', in favor of programs for younger adolescents, such as '' All Grown Up '', ''Unfabulous'', and ''Zoey 101''. Disney Channel shifts from classic Disney programming to MTV esque live-action shows in late 1990s and early 2000s (see '' Zoog Disney ''), while turning towards original cartoons beginning in 2000 with '' The Proud Family ''(2001-2005), '' The Weekenders '' (2000-2004) and later '' Kim Possible '' (2002-2005). , and the FUNimation Channel . The traditional Saturday morning syndicated cartoon lineup has mostly disappeared until late 2006 . And weekday afterschool syndicated time slots previously reserved for cartoons and children's entertainment now largely shows talk shows and sitcom reruns. Prank Shows Prank-based comedy shows such as '' Punk'd '' ( 2002 -), '' Da Ali G Show '' ( 2003 - 2004 ), '' Jackass '' ( 2001 - 2003 ), '' Trigger Happy TV '' ( 2002 - 2003 ), and '' Crank Yankers '' ( 2003 -) became popular. News 24-Hour Cable News Channels began to surpass the major broadcast networks as the main source for obtaining news on television. , Laurie Dhue , Robin Meade , and Juliet Huddy spawning such terms as Newsbabe and Infobabe. Cable shows dealing with political satire and so-called "fake news" gain fame with young audiences, specifically '' The Daily Show With Jon Stewart '' ( 1999 -) and '' The Colbert Report '' ( 2005 -) which air in a one-hour late night block on Comedy Central. Their popularity reaches the point where millions of young viewers claim they get their news from these satirical programs. In fact, ''Daily Show'' anchor Jon Stewart had hit the cover of Newsweek by 2003 , was named one of Time Magazine 's 100 most influential people of 2005 , and hosted the Oscars in 2006 . Daytime Talk Shows Daytime Talk Show s, though still a staple of programming on broadcast television tend to lose influence on society, especially so-called controversial "Trash TV" talk shows, which almost disappear from the airwaves except for '' The Jerry Springer Show '' and '' Maury '' after being a staple of programming in the 1990s . Perennial daytime talk icon Oprah Winfrey remains at the top of the ratings and most daytime talk shows are oriented towards interviews with entertainers rather than discussions of personal and controversial subjects compared to the 1980s and the 1990s. BRITISH TELEVISION IN THE 2000S
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