History Creator / NBC

Must-See-TV reigned supreme on Thursday nights for well over a decade, helping the network take #1 in the ratings several years in a row. This two-hour block of primetime included, over the course of TheEighties and TheNineties, such popular shows as ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' (1984-92) and its spin-off ''Series/ADifferentWorld'' (1987-93), ''Series/FamilyTies'' (1982-89), ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' (1982-93) and its spin-off ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' (1993-2004), ''Series/GimmeABreak'' (1981-87), ''Series/NightCourt'' (1984-92), ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'' (1985-92) and its spin-off ''Series/EmptyNest'' (1988-95), ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' (1989-98), ''Series/{{Wings}}'' (1990-97), ''Series/MadAboutYou'' (1992-99), ''Series/{{Friends}}'' (1994-2004), and ''Series/WillAndGrace'' (1998-2006, 2017-present). Plus, the night's 10:00-11:00 timeslot helped such dramas as ''Series/HillStreetBlues'', (1981-87), ''Series/{{Hunter}}'' (1984-91), ''Series/TheATeam'' (1983-87), ''Series/LALaw'' (1986-94), ''Series/{{ER}}'' (1994-2009), and the first four episodes of ''Series/LawAndOrder'' (1990-2010) become smash hits. The network's daytime lineup also began to have many hit game shows with ''Wheel of Fortune'' leading the charge, including ''Series/SaleOfTheCentury'' (which had originally run from 1969 to 1973 on the network; this version was re-imported by Australian producer Reg Grundy, who had modified the format for his homeland in 1980), ''Series/{{Scrabble}}'', ''[[Series/{{Password}} Super Password]]'', ''[[Series/{{Concentration}} Classic Concentration]]'', and ''Series/WinLoseOrDraw'', amongst others.

* ''Series/{{Constantine}}'' (2014-15)

* ''Series/BatMasterson'' (1958-61)

* ''Series/TheOthers'' (2000)

* ''Series/LawAndOrder'' (1990-2010)

* '''''Series/{{Nurses|2020}}''''' (2020-present; US broadcaster, originally aired on Creator/GlobalTelevisionNetwork)

* ''Series/TwentyOne'' (1956-68; 2000)

* '''''Series/BrooklynNineNine''''' (2019-present): Season 6 onwards.

* '''''Series/HollywoodGameNight''''' (2013-present)

* '''''Series/LaBrea''''' (2021 - present)

* '''''Series/TheTitanGames''''' (2019-present)

* ''Series/{{Manifest}}'' (2018-21)

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' (1981-89)

NBC was the first to take color television seriously: Creator/{{CBS}} had dabbled in it, but their system (which was more complex and required manually switching between black-and-white and color modes) was only ever experimented with for a few years before NBC's all-electronic system took off. NBC also had a tight grip on much of the U.S. radio landscape, holding up the adoption of FM radio for years (and ruining its inventor) because of fear it would put their mostly-AM network out of business. They also created the unique programming block known as ''Radio/{{Monitor}}'' in 1955, offering a constant stream of news, features, comedy and music to NBC radio stations until 1975. Due to the FCC not allowing non-broadcast companies to own both radio and television assets (General Electric had bought NBC in 1986), NBC finally exited the radio business in the late 1980s, selling what was left of the old NBC Red to Westwood One and the radio stations to various companies (mostly to Emmis Communications).

Shortly afterward, Silverman was finally ousted and NBC began turning itself around, hiring MTM Enterprises co-founder Grant Tinker [[note]](who approved Sajak as host of ''Wheel'', and had previously convinced Mort Werner, then-NBC senior vice president of programming and talent, to pick up ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' in 1964)[[/note]] as chairman and CEO along with Brandon Tartikoff as president of NBC Entertainment, hoping to end the tide of bad shows. Together, the decisions of Tinker and Tartikoff ended up creating a golden age for NBC; despite a few false starts in 1982 and '''especially''' 1983 (when not one show that premiered that fall lasted a full season), the Must-See-TV block of [[SitCom sitcoms]] hit its stride in 1984.

Sadly, however, Tinker never properly enjoyed the trappings of the successes at NBC which he had green lit, having departed in 1986 to resume independent production. Meanwhile, even as NBC itself recovered, RCA never got better. When General Electric bought them in 1986, it was mainly for NBC. GE promptly sold the consumer and broadcast electronics divisions to French electronics maker Thomson, the transistor and microchip factories to Harris/Intersil, and [[Creator/RCARecords the music business]] to Bertelsmann Music Group.[[note]]which merged with Creator/SonyMusicEntertainment in 2004; Sony bought out BMG's stake late in 2008[[/note]] NBC gained an owned-and-operated station from GE, in Denver's KCNC-TV (now a Creator/{{CBS}} O&O due to a transaction involving Philadelphia's WCAU-TV; see DisasterDominoes for more on that mess).

* '''''Series/GoodGirls''''' (2018-present; ending 2021)

* ''Series/WatchMrWizard'' (1951-1965); later revived as ''Mr. Wizard'' in conjunction with CBC Television (1971-1972)

* ''Series/BachelorFather'' (1959–61)

* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Addams Family|1973}}'' (1973)

* ''Series/TheChampions'' (1968-69)

* ''''Series/GoodGirls''''' (2018-present; ending 2021)

* ''Series/GoodGirls'' (2018-2021)