History GenreTurningPoint / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/TheTonightShow'' ([[LongRunners 1954-present]]) defined what the late-night TalkShow would be for generations to come, a VarietyShow-esque mix of an OpeningMonologue, humorous commentary on current events, celebrity interviews, SketchComedy, "man on the street" interviews, AudienceParticipation, and musical performances with the host as the central figure of the program. Notably, while Creator/{{NBC}} would briefly try to experiment with this formula, turning ''The Tonight Show'' into basically a nighttime version of ''Series/{{Today}}'' after the original host Steve Allen left in 1957, they would quickly go back to the format that Allen laid down, which ''The Tonight Show'' retains to this day despite many hosts and competing shows over the years.

* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' (1989-98) changed the way {{sitcom}} characters and stories are portrayed so completely that the original series seems [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny derivative]] in the new context it created. It helped pave the way for American sitcom protagonists who were [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist far less moral and sympathetic]] than before; while there had been people like [[Series/AllInTheFamily Archie Bunker]], [[Series/MarriedWithChildren Al Bundy]], and [[Series/{{Roseanne}} Roseanne Conner]] in the past, the cast of ''Seinfeld'' was unique in that they were ''all'' abrasive, selfish jerks with nobody to balance out their worst tendencies, with the show's humor coming from watching them go through life and handle it badly without learning a damn thing (hence the show's famous credo of "no hugging and no learning"). Along the way, it also increased the standards of sophistication for sitcom humor, having been created by a stand-up comic who eschewed the cornball humor and [[AnAesop Aesops]] of many contemporary sitcoms in favor of biting wit and satire. Shows like ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'', ''Series/CurbYourEnthusiasm'' (created by ''Seinfeld'' veteran Creator/LarryDavid), and ''Series/ShamelessUS'' probably would not exist without the influence of ''Seinfeld''.

* Speaking of ''Series/TheMortonDowneyJrShow'' (1987-89), it popularized a very different sort of TV TalkShow: one in which the host was openly combative towards his guests, using his program as a bully pulpit to pontificate on political and cultural issues. While Downey's career as a talk show host only lasted two years before going down in disgrace, he was also a clear case of ShortLivedBigImpact, as the style of his show has been pointed to as an inspiration for the "trash TV" boom of TheNineties in the short term, and the rise of RealityTV and the Creator/FoxNewsChannel in the long term. Even Al Sharpton, a pundit who sits on [[AngryBlackMan the opposite end of the political spectrum]] from the conservative Downey, cited him as an inspiration for his confrontational style; perhaps not coincidentally, Sharpton was a frequent guest on Downey's show. Andrew O'Hehir, [[https://www.salon.com/2013/06/04/morton_downey_jr_the_man_who_broke_talk_tv/ writing]] for ''Salon'', said that "[i]f he wasn't quite the first host to understand a political talk show as primarily a form of theater or a revival meeting, rather than a conversation or debate, he pushed that realization to its illogical extreme."

* ''Series/ILoveLucy'' (1951-57) has so many turning points attached to it that one can honestly wonder if television as a whole would look the same today without it. It was a KillerApp for television in the days when a TV set still cost almost as much as a small car. The show's cinematographer Karl Freund [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQvjD2-p98U perfected and codified]] the three-camera {{sitcom}} setup that is still in use by many popular shows to this day, even with the rise of the single-camera sitcom in the 2000s. It invented the live StudioAudience, and their laughter was used by Creator/{{CBS}} to create {{laugh track}}s for their other sitcoms. And when Creator/LucilleBall got pregnant in the second season, leaving her unable to fulfill the 39-episode order, executive producer (and Ball's husband and co-star) Desi Arnaz decided to rebroadcast older episodes instead -- inventing the {{rerun}} and, later, UsefulNotes/{{syndication}} once it became clear that these episodes were a potential cash cow. Emily Todd [=VanDerWerff=] of ''The Website/AVClub'' [[https://tv.avclub.com/why-does-i-love-lucy-endure-after-all-these-years-1798230734 described the show]], together with ''Series/TheHoneymooners'', as "one of the two foundational texts of American TV comedy."

* With the daytime SoapOpera needing to evolve to keep up with the prime time challenge from ''Dallas'', the hiring of Gloria Monty as the showrunner for ''Series/GeneralHospital'' in 1978 ended up giving daytime its sought-after boost. Given three months to save the show from cancellation, Monty decided the way to go was to appeal to younger viewers. She turned the show's focus to its younger characters, especially NaiveEverygirl Laura, switched the show's tone to high {{Melodrama}}, and sped up its pacing, putting in twice as many scenes per episode as the then-standard for soaps, as well as abandoning the "live-to-tape"[[labelnote:explanation]]i.e. the show had been staged like it was a live broadcast, but was pre-recorded for later playback[[/labelnote]] production format that was largely standard for soaps of the era, which allowed it to start doing things like filming on location. It paid off dramatically, as it suddenly became a major sensation, with 30 million viewers tuning in for the wedding of [[SuperCouple Luke and Laura]] in 1981. With other soaps benefitting from the renewed attention to the genre, youth appeal, fast pacing, increased production values, over-the-top storylines and an emphasis on the SuperCouple became the daytime norm.

* With the daytime SoapOpera needing to evolve to keep up with the prime time challenge from ''Dallas'', the hiring of Gloria Monty as the showrunner for ''Series/GeneralHospital'' in 1978 ended up giving daytime its sought-after boost. Given three months to save the show from cancellation, Monty decided the way to go was to appeal to younger viewers. She turned the show's focus to its younger characters, especially NaiveEverygirl Laura, switched the show's tone to high {{Melodrama}}, and sped up its pacing, putting in twice as many scenes per episode as the then-standard for soaps, as well as abandoning the "live-to-tape"[[labelnote:explanation]]i.e. the show had been staged like it was a live broadcast, but was pre-recorded for later playback[[/labelnote]] production format of the show, which allowed it to start doing things like filming on location. It paid off dramatically, as it suddenly became a major sensation, with 30 million viewers tuning in for the wedding of [[SuperCouple Luke and Laura]] in 1981. With other soaps benefitting from the renewed attention to the genre, youth appeal, fast pacing, over-the-top storylines and an emphasis on the SuperCouple became the daytime norm.

* With the daytime SoapOpera needing to evolve to keep up with the prime time challenge from ''Dallas'', the hiring of Gloria Monty as the showrunner for ''Series/GeneralHospital'' in 1978 ended up giving daytime its sought-after boost. Given three months to save the show from cancellation, Monty decided the way to go was to appeal to younger viewers. She turned the show's focus to its younger characters, especially NaiveEverygirl Laura, switched the show's tone to high {{Melodrama}}, and sped up its pacing, putting in twice as many scenes per episode as the then-standard for soaps. It paid off dramatically, as it suddenly became a major sensation, with 30 million viewers tuning in for the wedding of [[SuperCouple Luke and Laura]] in 1981. With other soaps benefitting from the renewed attention to the genre, youth appeal, fast pacing, over-the-top storylines and an emphasis on the SuperCouple became the daytime norm.

** If any one HBO series can be pointed to as the most impactful, then most people would suggest the gangster drama ''Series/TheSopranos'' as the harbinger of the era of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Age_of_Television_(2000s%E2%80%93present) "Peak TV".]] It took the innovations of the aforementioned ''The X-Files'' and brought them from science fiction to a comparatively grounded crime story, focusing on character drama, GreyAndGrayMorality, a deep and complex MythArc, risky storytelling that wasn't afraid to "go there", production values on the level of a Hollywood movie, and a contemporary, easily-recognizable setting in the form of [[{{Joisey}} suburban New Jersey]]. Many critics have hailed it as the greatest TV show of all time, or at least in the upper echelon, the show that proved that television could be TrueArt on the level of film; Maureen Ryan, [[https://www.popmatters.com/the-sopranos-is-the-most-influential-television-drama-ever-2496186702.html writing]] for ''[=PopMatters=]'', said that "[n]o one-hour drama series has had a bigger impact on how stories are told on the small screen, or more influence on what kind of fare we've been offered by an ever-growing array of television networks." Its impact can be felt on crime shows in particular (especially those with a VillainProtagonist) but also throughout the landscape of modern serialized television.

* When ''Series/BeverlyHills90210'' (1990-2000) premiered on Creator/{{Fox}}, it revolutionized the American TeenDrama. Before, teen-oriented TV series in the US had been either [[AnAesop issue-oriented]] Series/{{Afterschool Special}}s, {{sitcom}}s with mostly teenage casts like ''Series/WelcomeBackKotter'' and ''Series/SavedByTheBell'', or transmissions of Creator/{{CBC}}'s ''Series/DegrassiHigh'' that made it over the border or onto Creator/{{PBS}} stations. ''90210'', however, brought the genre [[HotterAndSexier sex appeal]], [[SoapOpera soapy drama]], and CharacterDevelopment that made it a sensation among young people and [[YouCanPanicNow a cause for concern]] among [[MoralGuardians their parents]], while handling teen issues with a mix of realism and sympathy for the teenage characters that was unheard of for such shows at the time (at least in the US[[note]]Canadians watching the aforementioned ''Degrassi High'' and its predecessor, ''Series/DegrassiJuniorHigh'', likely wouldn't have been so shocked by ''90210''[='=]s tone. In fact, a popular rumor among ''Degrassi'' fans claims that Creator/AaronSpelling tried to get an [[ForeignRemake American remake]] of ''Degrassi'' off the ground, and created ''90210'' as a SpiritualAdaptation after being rebuffed by that show's producers.[[/note]]), bringing the revolution started by Creator/JohnHughes' teen movies in TheEighties to television. The sea change that ''90210'' started was such that virtually every teen drama of the '90s and 2000s bears some of its influence, even if only in reaction to it.

** It also, for better or worse, brought the [[SummerBlockbuster blockbuster]] to television, with [[https://www.polygon.com/tv/2019/5/21/18634070/new-game-of-thrones-show-witcher-lord-of-the-rings-tv-star-wars-series this article]] by Maureen Ryan for ''Polygon'' comparing it and ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' together with ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' and ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'' in the world of film. Its [[SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome cinematic production values]] were not only unmatched by anything else on TV, they stood eye-to-eye with any of Hollywood's biggest summer action movies, and so after it took off into Creator/{{HBO}}'s juggernaut, numerous cable and streaming networks poured millions into similar epic series built around [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters massive casts]], fantastic fantasy or sci-fi premises, big and twisting plots, and [[ShootTheMoney lavish spectacle]].

* With the daytime SoapOpera needing to evolve to keep up with the prime time challenge from ''Dallas'', the hiring of Gloria Monty as the showrunner for ''Series/GeneralHospital'' in 1978 ended up giving daytime its sought-after boost. Given three months to save the show from cancellation, Monty decided the way to go was to appeal to younger viewers. She turned the show's focus to its younger characters, especially NaiveEverygirl Laura, switched the show's tone to high {{Melodrama}}, and sped up its pacing, putting in twice as many scenes per episode as the then-standard for soaps. It paid off dramatically, as it suddenly became a major sensation, with 30 million viewers tuning in for the wedding of Luke and Laura in 1981. With other soaps benefitting from the renewed attention to the genre, youth appeal, fast pacing and over-the-top storylines became the daytime norm.

** Even ''its {{cancellation}}'' left a mark on television. When the major networks realized, through the study of {{demographics}}, just what a potential golden goose Creator/{{NBC}} had killed when it canceled ''Star Trek'', it became a major factor in UsefulNotes/TheRuralPurge in the early '70s as the major networks strove, arguably to the point of going overboard, not to repeat that mistake.

** The first was ''Series/TheRealWorld'' (1992-2013). It didn't invent the RealityShow; programs like ''Series/CandidCamera'' and ''Series/{{Cops}}'' predated it, and ''The Real World'' itself was inspired by the 1973 PBS documentary series ''An American Family''. However, it was this show that laid the foundation for what would become arguably the most common RealityTV formula: a group of strangers selected to live together and generate the show's drama and storylines organically, often having been screened and picked out by the producers in the hopes that their personalities would clash. ''The Real World''[='=]s DocuSoap format became the template for innumerable shows that followed, most notably ''Series/{{Survivor}}'' and ''Series/BigBrother'', the shows that turned reality TV into a sensation beyond just ''The Real World''[='=]s Creator/{{MTV}} youth audience (namely by adding a competitive component and thus combining it with the GameShow). Going beyond television, Pedro Zamora on the show's third season in 1994, ''The Real World: San Francisco'', is often credited with breaking down taboos around AIDS and homosexuality with his sympathetic portrayal.

* ''Series/TheDailyShow'' during [[Series/TheDailyShowWithJonStewart the tenure]] of Creator/JonStewart (1999-2015) took the NewsParody and turned it into a major genre of late-night television comedy, mainly by fusing it with a genuine political TalkShow. While there had been shows like ''Series/ThatWasTheWeekThatWas'', ''[[Creator/BillMaher Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher]]'', and the Weekend Update sketches on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' before it, Stewart brought earnestness and righteous indignation to the genre and used his show as a platform for more than just "above it all" snarking at dumb politicians and pundits, staking out specific positions on policies and issues and inviting public figures on for interviews while giving the material a humorous bent. Beyond just the various spinoffs created by ''Daily Show'' alumni (most notably ''Series/LastWeekTonightWithJohnOliver'' and ''Series/FullFrontalWithSamanthaBee''), the success and impact of Stewart's ''Daily Show'' meant that other late-night talk shows had to up their game with their political humor if they wanted to compete.

* Speaking of ''Series/TheMortonDowneyJrShow'' (1987-89), it popularized a very different sort of TV TalkShow: one in which the host was openly combative towards his guests, using his program as a bully pulpit to pontificate on political and cultural issues. While Downey's career as a talk show host only lasted two years before going down in disgrace, he was also a clear case of ShortLivedBigImpact, as the style of his show has been pointed to as an inspiration for both RealityTV and the Creator/FoxNewsChannel. Even Al Sharpton, a pundit who sits on [[AngryBlackMan the opposite end of the political spectrum]] from the conservative Downey, cited him as an inspiration for his confrontational style; perhaps not coincidentally, Sharpton was a frequent guest on Downey's show. Andrew O'Hehir, [[https://www.salon.com/2013/06/04/morton_downey_jr_the_man_who_broke_talk_tv/ writing]] for ''Salon'', said that "[i]f he wasn't quite the first host to understand a political talk show as primarily a form of theater or a revival meeting, rather than a conversation or debate, he pushed that realization to its illogical extreme."

* While cable TV was pushing boundaries, Music/JanetJackson's WardrobeMalfunction at the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl XXXVIII halftime show in 2004 caused over-the-air network television to swing in the other direction. During TheNineties, there was a push to [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar get edgier content onto broadcast TV]], with shows like ''Series/TheXFiles'' and ''Series/NYPDBlue'' leading the charge with their [[BloodierAndGorier graphic violence]], [[HotterAndSexier sex scenes]], and foul language. That ended after a superstar pop singer accidentally bared one of her breasts in front of 150 million viewers after putting on a highly suggestive performance. For MoralGuardians like the Parents Television Council, this was TheLastStraw that gave the ammunition they needed to wage war against what they saw as the corrupting influence of modern television. As the FCC cracked down on sex, violence, and swearing, the American broadcast television landscape grew increasingly sanitized while shows with more graphic content migrated to cable and later streaming.

* While cable TV was pushing boundaries, Music/JanetJackson's WardrobeMalfunction at the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl XXXVIII halftime show in 2004 caused over-the-air network television to swing in the other direction. During TheNineties, there was a push to [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar get edgier content onto broadcast TV]], with shows like ''Series/TheXFiles'' and ''Series/NYPDBlue'' leading the charge with their [[BloodierAndGorier graphic violence]], [[HotterAndSexier sex scenes]], and foul language. That ended after a superstar pop singer accidentally bared one of her breasts in front of 150 million viewers after putting on a highly suggestive performance, giving MoralGuardians like the Parents Television Council the ammunition they needed to wage war against what they saw as the corrupting influence of modern television. As the FCC cracked down on sex, violence, and swearing, the American broadcast television landscape grew increasingly sanitized while shows with more graphic content migrated to cable and later streaming.

* Before 1999's ''Series/WalkingWithDinosaurs'' debuted, most documentaries on prehistoric life were usually talking head-centric works featuring dig sites and lab work, with mostly still images of drawings being the main way of depicting the subjects, with the rest using either traditional animation, stop-motion, animatronics or puppets, and after the 80’s basal CG, but rarely for more then a few minutes. Walking With however, went in the style of a pure nature documentary that used then-cutting edge CG and puppets to immerse one in a mesozoic environment with no cuts to any human talking heads whatsoever. It also showed dinosaurs acting for most of it like animals and not as [[PrehistoricMonster Prehistoric Monsters]] that did nothing but fight and attack. It was a monumental success, kicking of not only sequel series, a special, and a spinoff, but also caused my palaeo-documentaries to step things up. Today, most documentaries and Dinosaur Media and paleo-medis as a whole borrows many of its storytelling conventions from it.

* Before 1999's Series/Walking with Dinosaurs debuted, most documentaries on prehistoric life were usually talking head-centric works featuring dig sites and lab work, with mostly still images of drawings being the main way of depicting the subjects, with the rest using either traditional animation, stop-motion, animatronics or puppets, and after the 80’s basal CG, but rarely for more then a few minutes. Walking With however, went in the style of a pure nature documentary that used then-cutting edge CG and puppets to immerse one in a mesozoic environment with no cuts to any human talking heads whatsoever. It also showed dinosaurs acting for most of it like animals and not as [[PrehistoricMonster Prehistoric Monsters]] that did nothing but fight and attack. It was a monumental success, kicking of not only sequel series, a special, and a spinoff, but also caused my palaeo-documentaries to step things up. Today, most documentaries and Dinosaur Media and paleo-medis as a whole borrows many of its storytelling conventions from it.

** ''The Talking Dead'', meanwhile, helped popularize the post-episode TalkShow where the cast and crew discuss the events of the show and give viewers a behind-the-scenes look.

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' (2010-present) and ''Series/AmericanHorrorStory'' (2011-present) were hardly the first horror TV series; in fact, other examples of the genre are listed further up this page. They did, however, shift the focus of the genre away from anthologies, procedurals, and MonsterOfTheWeek shows and towards a much greater focus on long-running {{Story Arc}}s, proving that a show could have every episode devoted to telling a single continuous story and still be scary. When analyzing the boom in the horror genre on television in the 2010s, most critics will point to these two shows as the ones that blazed the trail.

** When the impact of these two shows was taken together, they, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools for better or worse]], helped drive UsefulNotes/TheRuralPurge at CBS and other networks in TheSeventies, as their success seemed to vindicate CBS' strategy of focusing more on younger, urban/suburban demographics. It's not a coincidence that, almost immediately after ''MTM'' and ''All in the Family'' became hits, all three major networks began hunting for more shows like them, often enlisting Moore and Lear's production companies to do so, and shows like ''Series/GreenAcres'', ''Series/TheBeverlyHillbillies'', and ''Series/FamilyAffair'' began getting chopped down.

** It also, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools for better or worse]], brought the [[SummerBlockbuster blockbuster]] to television, with [[https://www.polygon.com/tv/2019/5/21/18634070/new-game-of-thrones-show-witcher-lord-of-the-rings-tv-star-wars-series this article]] by Maureen Ryan for ''Polygon'' comparing it and ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' together with ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' and ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'' in the world of film. Its [[SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome cinematic production values]] were not only unmatched by anything else on TV, they stood eye-to-eye with any of Hollywood's biggest summer action movies, and so after it took off into Creator/{{HBO}}'s juggernaut, numerous cable and streaming networks poured millions into similar epic series built around [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters massive casts]], fantastic fantasy or sci-fi premises, big and twisting plots, and [[ShootTheMoney lavish spectacle]].

%% * ''Series/GameOfThrones'' (2011-2019).
%% ** Together with its source material, ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', it has been credited with a boost in mainstream acceptance of {{fantasy}}, particularly DarkFantasy. Their widespread acclaim and massive {{fandom}}, built on their mature and complex storylines and characters that are clearly made for adults (throwing out the [[FantasyGhetto unfair notion that fantasy is only for kids or family-friendly]]), have put them into the public eye, made the books bestsellers, and made the show one of the most critically and commercially successful television dramas of the past decade. It is often listed as being on the level of shows such as ''Breaking Bad'' and ''Mad Men'', and inspired [[FollowTheLeader a noticeable number of medieval fictions for television]].
%% ** It also, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools for better or worse]], brought the [[SummerBlockbuster blockbuster]] to television, with [[https://www.polygon.com/tv/2019/5/21/18634070/new-game-of-thrones-show-witcher-lord-of-the-rings-tv-star-wars-series this article]] by Maureen Ryan for ''Polygon'' comparing it and ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' together with ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' and ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'' in the world of film. Its [[SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome cinematic production values]] were not only unmatched by anything else on TV, they stood eye-to-eye with any of Hollywood's biggest summer action movies, and so after it took off into Creator/{{HBO}}'s juggernaut, numerous cable and streaming networks poured millions into similar epic series built around [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters massive casts]], fantastic fantasy or sci-fi premises, big and twisting plots, and [[ShootTheMoney lavish spectacle]].

* ''Series/BreakingBad'' (2008-2013), in addition to leading the aforementioned trend towards DarkerAndEdgier direction on American television in the 2000s and '10s, also left its mark in terms of CharacterDevelopment (such as the longest, most complex FaceHeelTurn in modern TV) and impact on crime dramas set in modern times. It eschewed the classic [[TheMafia Mafia]] tropes and ViceCity setting that had dominated the genre since the early days of Hollywood, instead taking place in [[NewOldWest rural New Mexico]] and focusing on a crude, gritty, macabre storyline where [[TheCartel Mexican cartels]], {{corrupt corporat|eExecutive}}ions, and [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels white supremacist biker gangs]] are in charge of the drug market. Its influence led to a wave of crime shows and movies set in [[FlyoverCountry the small-town American heartland]] rather than the big city, such as ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy'', ''Series/QueenOfTheSouth'', and ''Series/{{Ozark}}''.

* The ''Film/HighSchoolMusical'' trilogy (2006 and '07 on the Creator/DisneyChannel, the third film going to theaters in 2008) heralded a revival of live-action children's programming after the field had been dominated in the late '90s and early '00s by animated series, as well as the Disney Channel's shift to a greater focus on {{Teen Idol}}s. Beyond just television, it's also been credited with getting a new generation of kids and teenagers interested in [[TheMusical musical theater]], chipping away at the stigma that had developed around it by then and making it something that it was okay to unironically love, leading to the success of ''Series/{{Glee}}'', the ''Film/PitchPerfect'' films, ''WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog'', ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'', and the broadcast networks' live TV musicals in the late '00s and the '10s. Aja Romano, writing for ''Vox'' at the time of the films' [[Series/HighSchoolMusicalTheMusicalTheSeries 2019 TV series adaptation]], goes into more detail in [[https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/11/13/20958457/high-school-musical-movies-legacy-dcom-bet-on-it this article.]]

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'' (2011-2019).
** Together with its source material, ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', it has been credited with a boost in mainstream acceptance of {{fantasy}}, particularly DarkFantasy. Their widespread acclaim and massive {{fandom}}, built on their mature and complex storylines and characters that are clearly made for adults (throwing out the [[FantasyGhetto unfair notion that fantasy is only for kids or family-friendly]]), have put them into the public eye, made the books bestsellers, and made the show one of the most critically and commercially successful television dramas of the past decade. It is often listed as being on the level of shows such as ''Breaking Bad'' and ''Mad Men'', and inspired [[FollowTheLeader a noticeable number of medieval fictions for television]].
** It also, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools for better or worse]], brought the [[SummerBlockbuster blockbuster]] to television, with [[https://www.polygon.com/tv/2019/5/21/18634070/new-game-of-thrones-show-witcher-lord-of-the-rings-tv-star-wars-series this article]] by Maureen Ryan for ''Polygon'' comparing it and ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' together with ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' and ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'' in the world of film. Its [[SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome cinematic production values]] were not only unmatched by anything else on TV, they stood eye-to-eye with any of Hollywood's biggest summer action movies, and so after it took off into Creator/{{HBO}}'s juggernaut, numerous cable and streaming networks poured millions into similar epic series built around [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters massive casts]], fantastic fantasy or sci-fi premises, big and twisting plots, and [[ShootTheMoney lavish spectacle]].