It Was A Precedent-Setting Year For Tv

Here's a depressing thought: 2001 may be the first year in recent memory that failed to produce any break-out television shows. That's right--not a single show that debuted this year seems poised to become a top 10 hit.

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There were a few modest additions: CBS's "The Guardian," the WB's "Smallville," Fox's "Bernie Mac." But none of them has created the big-ratings buzz that "C.S.I." or "The West Wing" or "Malcolm in the Middle" generated in their debut years. In fact, looking back over the biggest TV moments of 2001, it's amazing how many of them revolve around the destruction of something big, rather than the creation of it. Take the collapse of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and "Temptation Island." Then there's the creeping irrelevance of "Ally McBeal," "Frasier" and "The X Files." And of course the biggest moment captured on TV last year the destruction of the World Trade Center. So at the risk of adding more gloomy tidings to what has already been a dark and stormy 12 months, here's a look at the top 10 TV moments of 2001, such as they were:

1. The destruction of the World Trade Center. Hollywood couldn't have created a more horrifying image: a jumbo jet flying straight into the tallest building in New York. But that was just the beginning. Almost before we could comprehend what we were seeing, both Trade Center buildings collapsed like pancakes, sending thousands of terrified New Yorkers streaming through the streets. Not since the Challenger exploded in 1986 or Jack Ruby gunned down Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963 has television witnessed such horrifying sights and beamed them--live--to living rooms around the world. Some images from September 11 are so disturbing that the networks have rightly decreed that they will not broadcast them again. Not that we can ever forget what we saw on that day. September 11 was more than just the most memorable TV moment of the year. It may be the most indelible TV broadcast of all time.

2. The post-September 11 reaction. If television coverage of September 11 was unprecedented, the reaction to that horrifying day was almost as notable. It took varied forms: the all-star charity concert carried live by more than dozen networks, Dan Rather crying with David Letterman, President Bush's inspiring address to Congress, Tom Brokaw declaring "in Cipro we trust" after anthrax hit his office at NBC. Rarely has television captured the country's pain so vividly--and helped us heal.

3. The death of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." It seems like only yesterday that Regis Philbin was proclaiming that he had "saved" ABC. Now ABC says it might not even bring Regis's game show back for a third season. That's an extraordinary jackknife for a program that reportedly helped its network generate $1 billion just two years ago. It's not altogether surprising, given that brain-dead ABC--which hasn't launched a real hit since "Dharma and Greg"--milked the program for every penny by airing it four times a week. This is a shameful way to run a network, and a rotten thing to do to a good show.

4. "Six Feet Under." Could you imagine the nervous-nelly networks ever going for a drama about a dysfunctional family of undertakers? Of course not, which is why the best new show of 2001 turned up on HBO. From Ruth's affair with a flower-arranging Russian to Claire's toe-sucking in the back of a hearse to David's fitful attempts to come out of the closet, "Six Feet Under" is never predictable and always a delight. Watch your back, Tony. "Six Feet" may become the next "Sopranos."