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Curated category

English-language American television shows

  • The SimpsonsThe Simpsons premiered on the 17th of December 1989, and within months it had done something no animated show had managed since the 1970s: it cracked…
  • Mad MenMad Men premiered on AMC on the 19th of July, 2007, and from its very first scene posed a question that would haunt seven seasons: who, exactly, is Don…
  • Stranger ThingsStranger Things premiered on Netflix on the 15th of July 2016, and within its first 35 days, it had averaged around 14.07 million adult viewers in the United…
  • True BloodTrue Blood, the HBO fantasy horror series that premiered on the 7th of September 2008, opens with a world-shaking secret already out. Vampires exist.
  • Perfect Hair ForeverPerfect Hair Forever arrived on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block on the 7th of November 2004 without any announcement that it was coming at all.
  • Sesame StreetSesame Street premiered on the 10th of November 1969, and within a decade, nine million American children under the age of six were watching it every single…
  • The Big Bang TheoryThe Big Bang Theory debuted on CBS on the 24th of September 2007, the same night a different kind of television experiment began.
  • Twin PeaksTwin Peaks premiered on ABC on the 8th of April 1990, and within hours the television landscape had shifted in a way critics were struggling to describe.
  • FrasierFrasier Crane, a pompous Seattle radio psychiatrist with a taste for Coco Chanel sofas and Eames Lounge Chairs, became one of American television's most…
  • Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live premiered on NBC on the 11th of October 1975, hosted by comedian George Carlin, and it has not stopped since.
  • Breaking BadBreaking Bad is an American crime drama television series that asked a question most storytellers never dare to pose: what if we watched a good man choose…
  • Castlevania (TV series)Castlevania, the American adult animated series that debuted on Netflix on the 7th of July 2017, began not as a television show but as a film pitch that sat…
  • The Walking Dead (TV series)The Walking Dead premiered on the 31st of October 2010, on AMC, and within two years it had become something the American television industry had never seen…
  • Jeopardy!Jeopardy! debuted on NBC on the 30th of March 1964, and it was born on an airplane. Merv Griffin was mulling over game show ideas during a flight back to New…
  • Street Fighter (TV series)Street Fighter, the animated television series that aired from 1995 to 1997, arrived at a peculiar moment in pop culture.
  • Game of ThronesGame of Thrones premiered on HBO on the 17th of April 2011, and when it ended on the 19th of May 2019, it had run for 73 episodes across eight seasons.
  • American BandstandAmerican Bandstand ran for 37 years, from a local Philadelphia broadcast in 1952 to a final show on the USA Network in October 1989.
  • South ParkSouth Park debuted on Comedy Central on the 13th of August 1997, and within three months, the ratings for a single cable show had tripled.
  • Rick and MortyRick and Morty began its life not in a writers' room but as a crude animated short too offensive to describe in polite company.
  • Avatar: The Last AirbenderAvatar: The Last Airbender premiered on Nickelodeon on the 21st of February 2005, and what greeted viewers that evening was unlike anything American…
  • Monday Night FootballMonday Night Football kicked off its first broadcast on the 21st of September 1970, on ABC, and within a few years it had become one of the highest-rated…
  • Top of the PopsTop of the Pops began its life on the 1st of January 1964, broadcast from a converted church in Rusholme, Manchester, at 6:35 in the evening.
  • USA TodayUSA Today hit newsstands on the 14th of September 1982, priced at 25 cents a copy, in the Baltimore and Washington D.C. metropolitan areas.
  • The Ed Sullivan ShowThe Ed Sullivan Show debuted on CBS on the 20th of June, 1948, with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis performing alongside Broadway composers Richard Rodgers and…
  • Star Wars: EwoksStar Wars: Ewoks arrived on ABC on the 7th of September, 1985, bringing the forest moon of Endor into American living rooms every Saturday morning.