USA TODAY Continues 25th Anniversary Celebration With Weekly Top 25 Lists

USA TODAY Continues 25th Anniversary Celebration With Weekly Top 25 Lists

Today's List: Top 25 Television Moments

MCLEAN, Va., May 14 /PRNewswire/ -- USA TODAY turns 25 years young this September, and to continue the celebration, The Nation's Newspaper will look back at the Top 25 Television Moments.

In 1982, the top TV series were 60 Minutes, Dallas and M*A*S*H, cable news was in its infancy and MTV still played music videos. In the years since, seismic changes have altered the broadcast landscape. USA TODAY's television critic Robert Bianco has compiled his top 25 TV moments of the past quarter century. http://www.usatoday.com/ offers readers not only the chance to debate the list, but will post reader's choices as well.

Every Monday for 25 weeks, USA TODAY will offer an exclusive color page of Top 25 anniversary memories -- 25 lists over 25 weeks designed to spark conversation and debates.

The Top 25 conversation continues today with the Top 25 Television Moments. Here are the top 10:

1. 9/11 coverage (2001)
The wall-to-wall response to the attacks epitomizes TV's power to unify
us in times of tragedy. From those first images of the planes crashing
and the towers falling, to the memorial service at the National
Cathedral, it was the most extensive, expensive coverage since JFK's
assassination, a defining crisis for a new age.

2. Fox Network is launched (1986)
By breaking up the oligarchy of the Big Three, Fox brought a new, edgier
energy to broadcast TV and proved that creativity could flourish on
smaller networks. It paved the way for the broadcast and cable expansion
that now includes Fox News.

3. The Oprah Winfrey Show (1986)
What began as a softer, gentler response to tabloid talk shows has grown
into a TV powerhouse, hosted by the most influential woman in American
media. Authors, stars, politicians: They all bow to the mighty O.

4. The Sopranos (1999)
An unsurpassed artistic achievement, this brilliant, violent series
delved into the dark flipside of the American dream. Cable's best,
highest-rated show set artistic and financial benchmarks while forcing
broadcast to up its game in response.

5. NYPD Blue (1993)
A defiantly, contentiously "R" show in a G-rated network universe, Blue
introduced a new level of realism and maturity to TV drama and rescued it
from cultural irrelevance. Without Blue, there is no Sopranos.

6. The OJ Trial (1994)
The all-consuming coverage of the "Trial of the Century" began with a
serio-comic afternoon chase that solidified the appeal of 24-hour news.
From the Bronco to the glove, few news events have worked their way
deeper into the popular culture.

7. The Simpsons (1989)
Having launched a thousand catch phrases and products, this hilariously
subversive cartoon is on track to become the longest running scripted
program in American history.

8. The Cosby Show (1984)
This sitcom-savior launched 20 years of "Must See TV" dominance while
spreading a gentle yet powerful message about inclusion, diversity and
the universality of real family values.

9. The Real World (1992)
With this MTV hit and its weekly hot-tub hook-ups, reality got its bare
foot in the TV door. Too late to slam it now.

10. Johnny Carson's last show (1992)
Johnny Carson's exit from The Tonight Show was not just the end of an
era, it was the end of late night talk -- as in conversation rather than
promotion -- and the end of Tonight as a launch pad for new talent.

Find the full list in today's editions of USA TODAY or log on to http://www.usatoday.com/. A new Top 25 list will run every Monday through September 10th.

USA TODAY, the nation's top-selling newspaper, will be celebrating its 25th anniversary on September 15th, 2007. It is published via satellite at 36 locations in the USA and at four sites abroad. With a total average daily circulation of 2.3 million, USA TODAY is available worldwide. USA TODAY is published by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI). The USA TODAY brand also includes: http://www.usatoday.com/, an award-winning news and information Web site that is updated 24 hours per day; USA TODAY Sports Weekly, a magazine for enthusiasts of professional football and baseball; and USA TODAY LIVE, the television arm of the USA TODAY brand that brings the spirit and quality of the newspaper to television.

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Source: USA TODAY

CONTACT: Heidi Zimmerman, Director-Communications of USA TODAY,
+1-703-854-5304, hzimmerman@usatoday.com

Web site: http://www.usatoday.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: USA TODAY reporters are available for interviews. To schedule an interview -- please call Elga Maye, Communications Coordinator at +1-703-854-5292

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