'Sex and the City' changed the way single women were portrayed on TV

The premium network is known for groundbreaking shows like “The Sopranos,” “Sex and the City,” “The Wire,” “Game of Thrones,” Succession,” and more. Unlike traditional broadcast television, HBO shows were not bound by strict time limits, advertising, or FCC regulations, allowing for more creative freedom.

HBO’s success in the early 21st century bred plenty of imitators, who were now more willing to embrace darker, more challenging series like “Weeds,” “Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad,” and “House of Cards.”

“Prestige television,” sometimes referred to as “the golden age of TV,” is a critical term for serious, darker, auteur-driven television from the late 1990s through the 2020s. HBO shows are often cited as examples of this style, with “The Sopranos” evolving the style and developing a model for the form.

Carrie Bradshaw, Selina Meyer, Tony Soprano: The list of standout HBO characters is endless. The network is known for fantastic writing and even better acting from the likes of Michael K. Williams, Kieran Culkin, Edie Falco, and hundreds of other A-listers.

HBO’s The Sopranos followed New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano as he struggled to balance his violent criminal life with his personal and family issues. Its blend of crime drama, pitch-perfect comedy, and intergenerational family dynamics made for a complex show not easily reduced to typical genre tags.

In addition to establishing the blueprint for TV in the 21st century, HBO has also been responsible for excellent comedies ("Veep"), talk shows ("Last Week Tonight with John Oliver"), and historical dramas ("Chernobyl").

Stand-up comedy was already on television in the 1970s thanks to Johnny Carson, but comics were limited to clean sets that typically lasted five minutes. HBO, on the other hand, offered stand-ups the opportunity to air their unadulterated material like they would at a club.

The network took an early gamble on longer episodes and more complicated narratives than a standard television drama. That paid off and, in the process, created what we now consider "prestige TV."

HBO has released a long list of classic TV shows which have come to define the medium. This Rotten Tomatoes chart ranks HBO’s best series based on their aggregated critics’ scores, with classics like “The Sopranos” and “The Wire” joining newer hits like “Succession” and “Barry.” Check it out here.

Menopause has long been a topic left out of film and TV. But some shows, like "The Change," and celebrities, like Jennie Garth, are now openly talking about it. This article breaks down how Hollywood is starting to come around to the menopause conversation and how celebrities are talking about their own personal experiences, as well as advocating on Capitol Hill.

HBO CEO Casey Bloys steered the network’s programming to critical acclaim and cultural relevance with hits like “Succession” and “The White Lotus.” Bloys discusses how the network’s programming evolved as it shifted toward streaming—and how the success of shows like “House of the Dragon” informs HBO’s future.

When they appeared on TV, stand-ups were typically limited to five-minute spots on late-night talk shows, like "The Tonight Show." That changed with the fledgling HBO, which offered comics hourlong slots. The first was "An Evening with Robert Klein," a special that would define "the hour" for decades.

Although HBO is known for its high-quality programming, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t missed the mark from time to time. Shows like “The Mind of the Married Man” and “John From Cincinnati” missed the mark in numerous ways, with both critics and audiences.

Few people have done more to define HBO—and American television—than David Simon, creator and writer for “The Wire,” “Treme,” “Show Me a Hero,” and other shows. In this interview, Simon explains how he approaches a script and what he believes TV writers should aim to do beyond entertainment.

Another show already owned the title: the short-lived "Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell." The variety show only lasted one season and was widely panned, despite featuring several talented comedians—like Bill Murray, Christopher Guest, and Billy Crystal—who'd later be stars on "SNL" ... after officially changing its name.

Carroll cut her teeth in vaudeville alongside Buddy Howe, her husband, who later became her manager. Despite operating in a male-dominated field, she became a popular headliner and was a mainstay as a stand-up on "The Ed Sullivan Show," which led to her own sitcom.

The TV show follows the employees of a New York City ad agency as they navigate the debauched culture of Madison Avenue's golden age—and the political and cultural landscape of the 1960s. The hosts explain which episode to watch first if you want to get hooked.

HBO launched in 1972, with an initial focus on commercial-free movies and sports events. The network’s first-ever broadcast was an NHL game between the New York Rangers and the Vancouver Canucks, signaling its commitment to premium, live content.

Soaps grew more popular as they transitioned to television in the 1950s. At the same time, the adoption of modern appliances like the automatic dishwasher and the clothes dryer offered housewives more free time, which soaps could now occupy. By 1970, CBS, NBC, and ABC were airing 18 daytime soaps.

The landmark HBO crime drama was created and written largely by former Baltimore police reporter David Simon and his creative partner, Ed Burns, a Baltimore police officer and school teacher. Those experiences—and the writers’ relative inexperience with television—led to a show uniquely informed by reality.

Before the streaming era, television shows lived and died by their weekly ratings. That led to early cancellations for several well-regarded shows, like "Freaks and Geeks," "Party Down," and "Veronica Mars." Thanks to DVD boxsets and streaming, the shows often became cult classics long after they were taken off the air.

Before it was a standalone sitcom, "The Simpsons" began in 1987 as a series of interstitials on "The Tracey Ullman Show," a short-lived sketch comedy show. You'll notice some slight differences—off-kilter voices, oddly drawn characters—but the series' premise was there, leading Fox to spin it off into its own show in 1989.

Ever since the rise of “prestige television” in the early 2000s, critics and viewers alike have argued that TV has replaced the novel by becoming the most significant storytelling medium, citing the cultural importance of shows like “The Sopranos,” “The Wire,” and “Succession.” This essay notes that streaming has strengthened that argument, turning episodes into chapters, and explains why this has been bad for storytelling in both forms.

This is one of Netflix's biggest shows, something this podcast says is due partly to the fact that the series both scratches the itch for people who enjoy reality dating viewing and the program is conducted in a nonexploitative, sensitive way that makes viewers truly want the best for the people navigating these situations.

"Serial" debuted in 2014, sparking the contemporary fascination with true crime podcast content with a look at the murder of teenager Hae Minh Lee in 1999, and the jailing of Adnan Syed. The Peabody Award-winning season became a pop culture sensation, spawned countless imitators, and was followed by three more seasons on new topics. Listen to all four seasons here.

Johnny Carson, host of "The Tonight Show," asked NBC to move his reruns to weeknights instead of weekends. That freed up a weekend slot and the network decided to try a new live show.

Many early 20th-century radio programs for women were sponsored by brands that introduced each new episode. Because these dramas were aimed at women, many of their sponsors were for household products, like soap. The association led some to refer to the shows as "soap operas," a title that stuck.

Shows like "As the World Turns" and "Love of Life" attracted tens of millions of viewers and had many high-profile fans, including Andy Warhol, Sammy Davis Jr. and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. This Time cover story from 1976 explores the pop culture phenomenon.

Although the Theater of the Absurd was primarily a 20th-century trend, a similar kind of existentialist-minded comedy still exists in popular culture. Films like “Everything Everywhere All At Once” and television shows like “BoJack Horseman” tackle the same issues that existentialist thinkers like Sartre, Beauvoir, and Camus explored, transforming those profound questions into thought-provoking and crowd-pleasing works of comedy.

Although streamers and networks are producing fewer sitcoms than ever before, they still have a large audience. About 59.1% of Americans polled by YouGov in a 2023 survey said "Comedy" was their favorite genre to rewatch.

As “SNL” became more popular, Lorne Michaels sensed an opportunity to turn some of the show’s most popular sketches and characters into feature films. It’s a strategy that had mixed results: “Wayne’s World” and “The Blues Brothers” are modern classics, while others, like “It’s Pat” and “The Ladies Man,” performed poorly with audiences and critics alike.

Netflix's pivot towards original, prestige content would not have been possible if HBO had not blazed that trail decades earlier. Ironically, HBO later used Netflix as a business model when reinventing itself as a streaming app.

The genre was historically aimed at housewives, and its storylines often involve romantic entanglements and family dynamics that transpired over many years. Media scholar Robert J. Thompson called the soap opera “arguably the most unique contribution that broadcasting has made to the art of storytelling.”

Stand-up came into its own at burlesque shows, thanks to audiences who sought humor that reflected the hectic, urban settings where they lived. According to historian Joseph Boskin, “The tempo of the comedy, like the movement of city streets, was swift and jolting and possessed highly recognizable parameters.”

Reality shows have much in common with soaps: massive melodrama, sweeping music cues, neverending plotlines, and a seemingly endless number of episodes. Some communications scholars suggest that’s why younger viewers are no longer interested in soap operas; reality programs provide the same content with the added appeal of being “real.”

Robyn's "Dancing on My Own," was a low-key hit when it was released in 2010, but it's become an anthem in the time since then, influencing artists like Lorde and Charli xcx and inspiring an iconic scene on HBO's "Girls." This article breaks down why that is, studying the song's beats per minute, which match humans' typical walking pace, and the queer experience reflected in its lyrics.

When Netflix released the David Fincher-directed political drama series "House of Cards," it marked a watershed moment for both the company and the broader entertainment industry, dramatically shifting how audiences consumed televised entertainment.

Sophia Amoruso’s memoir, “#Girlboss,” spawned more than just a cultural movement—it also inspired an ill-fated television show that is remembered as one of Netflix’s first major failures.

Saturday Night Live has been a fixture of American comedy since 1975. Created by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol, the show was designed as an alternative to late-night reruns, blending live sketch comedy, political satire, and celebrity impressions.

The show first aired in Chicago in 1930, but was then picked up by NBC and broadcast across the country in 1931. The show followed three women who lived in the same duplex. Listen to a 1934 episode below, including the preshow's soap-centric advertising.

O'Hara was a star on the sketch show 'SCTV,' a sort of Canadian 'SNL' that eventually aired in the US. O'Hara was offered a role on 'SNL' when the future of 'SCTV' was uncertain, but when 'SCTV' was renewed, she quit 'SNL' to return to it. O'Hara was only a cast member for a week and never appeared on-air during that time, though she eventually hosted 'SNL' twice, in 1991 and 1992.

In April 2017, Netflix reached 100 million subscribers worldwide—a figure that hit 300 million by 2025. With 50 million in the US alone, it has revolutionized the way people consume entertainment. Newsweek takes a look into the company's history and how it became the dominant force in entertainment.

When the dark prison story debuted in 1997, it was HBO’s only drama and followed a principle that would come to define the network’s shows for decades: “‘I don’t care if they’re likable as long as they’re interesting,’” show creator Tom Fontana told Vice. “That was my mantra.”

Early television shows were filmed with a single camera capturing multiple takes from numerous angles, making for an arduous filming process that sucked the energy from comedies filmed in front of live studio audiences. Arnaz proposed a three-camera setup that allowed the show to be filmed like a play, which soon become an industry standard.

"Saturday Night Live" has held a unique role in the cultural zeitgeist since its founding in 1975, providing a national stage of silly mockery and filling our Sunday feeds with the latest impressions of public figures. In its 50th year, 50 cast members weigh in on who their favorite casts and individual comedians were. Read their various opinions here.