Take 5: Five hit series that premiered in January
Norman Lear changed the world of sitcoms with the 1971 premiere of "All in the Family," starring Jean Stapleton as ditsy Edith Bunker and Carroll O'Connor as her bigoted husband, Archie. Credit: Tandem Productions
We’ve lost count of how many series are premiering this month and we’re not sure which (if any) of this crop will someday be looked on as TV trailblazers. But we do know that these five influential series did premiere during the year’s first month:
DRAGNET (Jan. 3, 1952 and Jan. 12, 1967) — Jack Webb’s by-the-book police procedural remains TV’s most influential cop show.
BATMAN (Jan. 12 and 13, 1966) — ABC’s campy take on the Caped Crusader (Adam West) took America by storm.
ALL IN THE FAMILY (Jan. 12, 1971) — The sitcom that changed sitcoms forever.
HAPPY DAYS (Jan. 15, 1974) — Smoothly riding the ’50s nostalgia wave then sweeping the country, the sitcom single-handedly revived the fortunes of ABC and turned Henry Winkler into a star
THE SOPRANOS (Jan. 10, 1999) — Panic-stricken mobster goes to therapy and the art of TV drama takes a quantum leap.
Andy Edelstein, Newsday's entertainment editor, supervises coverage of TV, celebrities, movies and pop music. He has written three books on popular culture, including "The Brady Bunch Book."
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