Monday Night Football, ‘Columbo’ & More Ways the ’70s Changed TV Forever

It’s something you see proven time and time again: Art follows culture. As soon as something big occurs in the world, you can expect to see movies and TV piggybacking on it and bringing these new messages to the people.

Television in the 1970s offers a perfect example. As the “Me Decade” developed in the wake of the 1960s, new freedoms in thought and action transformed TV in ways no one could have anticipated. One look at the fall schedules during those years and you can see how change took place — not only through All in the Family and other Norman Lear series, but in myriad ways that seem commonplace today.