By 1960, television was firmly entrenched as America's new hearth. Close to 90% of households had a TV, making the device almost ubiquitous. The ensuing decade would see the medium grow in both importance and range. 
The first televised presidential debate was on September 26, 1960, and it involved U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon, left, and Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts. The debate is largely credited with helping to make a star out of Kennedy, who won the election later that year. 
First lady Jackie Kennedy is shown in the Red Room of the White House on January 15, 1962, during the CBS News special program "A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy." The program showed off the restoration work that was spearheaded by the first lady. 
Johnny Carson, with sidekick Ed McMahon, took over NBC's "Tonight Show" on October 1, 1962. Carson became a TV titan, hosting the program for 30 years and setting the bar for every late-night host to follow. 
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gives his "I Have a Dream" speech to a crowd in Washington during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, also known as the Freedom March, on August 28, 1963. The speech is considered one of the most important in American history, and it helped rally support for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 
President Kennedy was assassinated during a motorcade in Dallas on November 22, 1963. 
Two days after Kennedy's assassination, Lee Harvey Oswald -- the man who had been charged with killing the president -- was fatally shot by Jack Ruby as Oswald was being escorted through the Dallas police basement. Oswald's shooting was shown live on national television. 
In 1963's thrilling Army-Navy game, Navy beat Army 21-15 behind Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Roger Staubach. Today, the game is best remembered for the introduction of instant replay -- though many TV watchers were unaware of the technology and slammed CBS' switchboard in confusion. Now instant replay is a regular part of sports broadcasts. 
On February 9, 1964, the Beatles made their U.S. debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show," kicking off the American strain of "Beatlemania" -- a fever that had already infected their native Britain. The show remains one of the highest-rated entertainment programs of all time. 
"The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC," the announcer intoned. The 1965 fall season opened with almost all of the "Peacock Network's" prime-time schedule produced on color film. By 1973, more than half of TV homes had a color set. 
"A Charlie Brown Christmas" could have been a bland animated special, but thanks to "Peanuts" cartoonist Charles M. Schulz and his collaborators, it was something more. The show, which first aired in 1965, didn't use a laugh track. It included a jazz music score and -- most controversially -- featured Linus reading from the Gospel of Luke. The special was both a critical and commercial hit, and it has become a holiday mainstay. 
The two-part finale of "The Fugitive," which aired in August 1967, concluded the four-year run of the series about a doctor (David Janssen) pursuing a mysterious one-armed man (Bill Raisch) he believes killed his wife. The final episode was the most-watched series episode to that time, with more than 45% of the nation tuning in. 
"The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" had a countercultural bent that regularly raised hackles -- and delighted fans. Here, The Who's Pete Townshend, right, helps host Tom Smothers destroy his acoustic guitar as singer Roger Daltrey looks on following The Who's performance of "My Generation." The Smothers' battles with their network, CBS, would eventually lead to the show's cancellation. 
CBS anchor Walter Cronkite reports from Vietnam after the Tet Offensive in 1968. Cronkite's special, "Report from Vietnam by Walter Cronkite," concluded with his observation that the war would end in a stalemate. One month later, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announced he would not seek re-election. 
The 1968 Democratic Convention, held in Chicago, was a scene of chaos both inside and outside the convention hall. At one point, CBS correspondent Dan Rather, center, was treated roughly by security, prompting anchor Cronkite to comment, "I think we've got a bunch of thugs here, Dan." Outside, protesters chanted, "The whole world is watching." 
The 1968 presidential campaign went down to the wire, and little things may have made the difference -- such as Richard Nixon, the Republican candidate, going on the popular "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" to say one of the show's catchphrases: "Sock it to me." Here, Nixon is flanked by Dan Rowan, left, and Dick Martin at an event in October 1968. 
In September 1968, the newsmagazine "60 Minutes" -- created and produced by Don Hewitt, center -- premiered with Harry Reasoner, left, and Mike Wallace, right. The tremendously influential show spawned a host of imitators and is still on the air today. 
Viewers hoping to see the wild conclusion of the AFL game between the New York Jets and Oakland Raiders got a huge shock on November 17, 1968, when the broadcast was cut off so NBC could air a movie version of "Heidi" starring Jennifer Edwards. Angry fans flooded NBC's switchboard with calls. From then on, all networks stayed with their football contests until the end before moving to regularly scheduled programming. (The Raiders scored two touchdowns in the final minute to come back and beat the Jets in what would forever be known as "The Heidi Game.") 
In the "Plato's Stepchildren" episode of "Star Trek," which aired November 22, 1968, William Shatner (as Capt. Kirk) and Nichelle Nichols (as Lt. Uhura) kissed -- the first interracial kiss in TV history. The medium grappled cautiously with race relations through the decade. 
Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. salutes the U.S. flag on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969. Aldrin and mission commander Neil Armstrong became the first humans to walk on the moon. Globally, more than half a billion people watched on television.
- In 1961, FCC Chairman Newton Minow deemed TV a "vast wasteland"
- Back then, there were three networks and a lot of dumbed-down content
- Today, TV critic Eric Deggans says things have changed for the better
- Even today's formulaic shows don't pander to audience the way '60s shows did, he says
Experience on CNN: Watch the premiere episode on CNN.com or on CNN TV at 9 p.m. ET/PT Thursday. During the show, chat live with "The Beaver" Jerry Mathers on CNN's Facebook page. And discover your '60s personality by taking the CNN Sixties quiz.
(CNN) -- The history of television is a history of insults.
The idiot box, it's been called. The boob tube. "57 Channels (and Nothin' On)." "Kill your television" says the bumper sticker.
In 1961, it was famously deemed a "vast wasteland."
After all, there were just three TV networks at the time. Most major cities didn't have public television stations (PBS was still years away). And the UHF band, where independent stations would later flourish, was barely used. The first communications satellite didn't go up until 1962.
And the content? With few exceptions, the networks carried mostly dumbed-down, formulaic cop shows, Westerns, situation comedies and musical-variety programs. News was something people got from newspapers.
'60s exhibit opens in New York 
Watch a promo of 'The Sixties' 
Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll defined the 1960s. But the decade was also a time of pivotal change — politically, socially and technologically. Click through to see 60 of the most iconic moments of the decade, and then experience "The Sixties" on CNN starting Thursday, May 29, at 9 p.m. ET. 
On February 1, 1960, four African-American college students made history just by sitting down at a whites-only lunch counter at a Woolworth's in Greensboro, North Carolina. Service never came for the "Greensboro Four," as they came to be known, and their peaceful demonstration drew national attention and sparked more "sit-ins" in Southern cities. 
Elvis Presley's musical heyday was in the 1950s, but he remained a major star in the 1960s. Here, Presley, 25, is pictured with his future wife, Priscilla, shortly before his discharge from the U.S. Army in 1960. Presley served two years in the Army. 
Wounded people in South Africa's Sharpeville township lie in the street on March 21, 1960, after police opened fire on black demonstrators marching against the country's segregation system known as apartheid. At least 180 black Africans, most of them women and children, were injured and 69 were killed in the Sharpeville massacre that signaled the start of armed resistance against apartheid. 
Theodore Maiman pours liquid nitrogen into a cooling unit around one of the first experimental lasers in his laboratory in Santa Monica, California. Maiman's ruby laser, created on May 16, 1960, is considered to be one of the top technological achievements of the 20th century. It paved the way for fiber-optic communications, CDs, DVDs and sight-restoring surgery. 
On June 23, 1960, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Enovid, the first birth-control pill for women. The first televised presidential debate was on September 26, 1960, and it involved U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon, left, and Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts. The debate is largely credited with helping to make a star out of Kennedy, who won the election later that year. 
Cuban leader Fidel Castro, lower right, sits inside a tank near Playa Giron, Cuba, during the Bay of Pigs invasion on April 17, 1961. On that day, about 1,500 CIA-backed Cuban exiles landed at Cuba's Bay of Pigs in hopes of triggering an uprising against Castro. It was a complete disaster for President John F. Kennedy's fledgling administration. 
Helen Gurley Brown, editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, published her book "Sex and the Single Girl" in 1962. The book helped spark the sexual revolution and popularize the notion that the modern woman could "have it all," including a successful career and a fulfilling sex life. 
In 1962, Massachusetts Institute of Technology students Steve Russell, Martin "Shag" Graetz and Alan Kotok created "Spacewar!" which is widely considered the first interactive video game. Dueling players fired at each other's spaceships using early versions of joysticks. This photo shows the three "Spacewar!" inventors playing the game at Boston's Computer Museum in 1983. 
The drug LSD became popular in the 1960s, leading the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to designate it an experimental drug in 1962. Harvard psychologist Timothy Leary, pictured here, became an advocate for the drug, coining the phrase, "Turn on, tune in, drop out." 
Before Daniel Craig or Pierce Brosnan, there was Sean Connery, who starred in the first James Bond film, "Dr. No," in 1962. With the most recent Bond film released in 2012 ("Skyfall"), the James Bond series is the longest running film series of all time. 
Actress Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her apartment on August 5, 1962, at the age of 36. Officials ruled her death as probable suicide from sleeping pill overdose, but to this day there remain many conspiracy theories. 
The No. 15 issue of the "Amazing Fantasy" comic book series, published August 10, 1962, marked the first appearance of Spider-Man. The issue is one of the most valuable comics of all time. 
Johnny Carson, right, took over "The Tonight Show" on October 1, 1962, with co-host Ed McMahon. They retired from the late-night talk show 30 years later. This year, Saturday Night Live alum Jimmy Fallon became the show's new host after Jay Leno, who hosted the show for 22 years. 
U.S. President John F. Kennedy delivers a nationally televised address about the Cuban missile crisis on October 22, 1962. After learning that the Soviet Union had begun shipping missiles to Cuba, Kennedy announced a strategic blockade of Cuba and warned the Soviet Union that the U.S. would seize any more deliveries. 
Crowds in Seattle gather for the first viewing of the Boeing 727 jet in December 1962. The aircraft's first flight would take place on February 9, 1963. The 727 is credited with opening the door to domestic travel for millions of everyday Americans. 
Inventor Edwin Land, president and co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation, demonstrates his company's new instant-color film in 1963. 
Betty Friedan energized the feminist movement in 1963 with her book "The Feminine Mystique." The book detailed the frustration of women who were expected to rely on their husbands and children for their happiness. 
Patsy Cline performs at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry in this undated photo. The country music star and three others were killed in a plane crash March 5, 1963, near Camden, Tennessee. 
The Beatles released their first album, "Please Please Me," in the United Kingdom on March 22, 1963. Here, the band is honored on November 18, 1963, for the massive sales of albums "Please Please Me" and "With the Beatles." 
Federal Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach, standing on the right, confronts Alabama Gov. George Wallace at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa on June 11, 1963. Wallace is standing in the doorway to prevent two African-American students from entering despite a presidential order. Wallace, who was pro-segregation, later stood aside. 
Myrlie Evers, widow of civil rights activist Medgar Evers, comforts their son Darrell while their daughter, Reena, wipes her tears during Evers' funeral on June 18, 1963. Evers was assassinated days earlier at his home in Jackson, Mississippi. 
U.S. President John F. Kennedy delivers his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" ("I am a Berliner") speech to a massive crowd in West Berlin on June 26, 1963. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gives his "I Have a Dream" speech to a crowd in Washington during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, also known as the Freedom March, on August 28, 1963. The speech is considered one of the most important in American history, and it helped rally support for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 
Walter Cronkite sits behind the news desk on the set of the "CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite" in August 1963. One month later, it became network television's first nightly half-hour news program. 
A coffin is loaded into a hearse at a funeral in Birmingham, Alabama, for victims of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. Four African-American girls were killed and at least 14 others were wounded when a bomb blast tore through church services on September 15, 1963. Three former Ku Klux Klan members were later convicted of murder for the bombing. 
The first push-button telephone was made available to AT&T customers on November 18, 1963. The phone had extension buttons at the bottom for office use. U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated during a motorcade in Dallas on November 22, 1963. 
CBS used instant replay for the first time during the airing of the Army-Navy game that took place December 7, 1963, in Philadelphia's Municipal Stadium. 
More than two years after it was constructed, the Berlin Wall opened for the first time on December 20, 1963, allowing citizens of West Berlin to visit their relatives in communist East Berlin. 
Artist Andy Warhol stands in the doorway of his studio, the Factory, in 1964, holding the acetate he used to make his famous Marilyn Monroe paintings. Warhol's work centered on famous personalities and iconic American objects, making him a leading figure in the pop art movement. On February 9, 1964, the Beatles made their U.S. debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show," kicking off the American strain of "Beatlemania" — a fever that had already infected their native Britain. 
Boxer Muhammad Ali — then known as Cassius Clay — upsets Sonny Liston in a heavyweight title fight in Miami Beach, Florida, on February 25, 1964. He was 22 years old. A short time later, Clay joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. 
The 1965 Ford Mustang was first officially revealed to the public at the 1964 World's Fair in New York. Standard equipment included carpet, bucket seats and a 170-cubic-inch, six-cylinder engine that was coupled with a three-speed floor-shift transmission. With a price that started at just under $2,400, the car captured America's affection and is still being produced today. 
South African resistance leader Nelson Mandela, left, talks to Cape Town teacher C Andrews in 1964. On June 12, 1964, Mandela was sentenced to life in prison for four counts of sabotage. He was released 27 years later, and when apartheid ended he became the country's first black president. 
After signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson shakes hands with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The legislation outlawed discrimination in public places and banned discrimination based on race, gender, religion or national origin. It also encouraged the desegregation of public schools. 
"Peace, Little Girl," a 1964 political ad for U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, was arguably the most famous — and the most negative — campaign ad in U.S. history. The ad, which played only once, showed a little girl counting daisy petals before an image of a nuclear explosion. Known as the "Daisy Girl" ad, it was credited with helping Johnson defeat U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater in the landslide 1964 election. 
On February 9, 1965, the United States deployed its first combat troops to South Vietnam, significantly escalating its role in the war. Here, the U.S. Marines' 163rd Helicopter Squadron discharges South Vietnamese troops for an assault against the Viet Cong hidden along the tree line in the background. 
Civil rights activist Malcolm X is carried from the Audubon Ballroom in New York, where he had just been shot on February 21, 1965. He died shortly after. 
State troopers swing batons to break up a civil rights voting march in Selma, Alabama, on March 7, 1965. "Bloody Sunday," as it became known, helped fuel the drive for passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson hands a pen to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during the signing of the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965. The landmark legislation helped protect minorities who had previously encountered unfair barriers to voting. 
Two youths, carrying lampshades from a looted store, run down a street in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles on August 13, 1965. The Watts Riots were sparked by tensions between the city's black residents and police. The six days of violence left 34 dead and resulted in $40 million of property damage. 
The "Batman" TV series debuted in 1966, starring Adam West as the Caped Crusader and Burt Ward as his sidekick, Robin. The show aired for only three seasons, but it was a pop culture sensation at the time and a cult classic for future generations. There was also a feature film in 1966. 
Chinese leader Mao Zedong, standing front and center, rides through a Tiananmen Square rally in Beijing in 1966. In May of that year, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution to enforce communism and get rid of old institutions and his political enemies. The political movement careened out of control and led to massive political purges, deaths and destruction before it ended in 1976. 
The Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs played the first Super Bowl on January 15, 1967, in Los Angeles. The Packers won the football game 35-10. 
Israeli soldiers stand in front of the Western Wall on June 9, 1967, in the old city of Jerusalem following its recapture from Jordanian rule in the Six-Day War. 
Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, with his family at his side, takes his seat at the court for the first time on October 2, 1967. Marshall was the first African-American to be appointed to the high court. 
A demonstrator offers a flower to military police at the Pentagon during an anti-Vietnam protest in Washington on October 21, 1967. Marches such as this one helped turn public opinion against the war. 
Dr. Christiaan Barnard is shown after performing the first human heart transplant on patient Louis Washkansky on December 3, 1967, in Cape Town, South Africa. 
South Vietnamese Gen. Nguyen Ngoc Loan, chief of the national police, executes suspected Viet Cong officer Nguyen Van Lem — also known as Bay Lop — on a Saigon street on February 1, 1968. It was early in the Tet Offensive, one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. 
Houses in My Lai, South Vietnam, burn during the My Lai massacre on March 16, 1968. American troops came to the remote hamlet and killed hundreds of unarmed civilians. The incident, one of the darkest moments of the Vietnam War, further increased opposition to U.S. involvement in the war. 
This photo was taken on April 4, 1968, moments after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed by a sniper as he stood on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. King was in Memphis to support striking sanitation workers. 
U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, the brother of former President John F. Kennedy, was shot shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, in Los Angeles. Sirhan Sirhan was convicted of assassinating Kennedy and wounding five other people inside the kitchen service pantry of the former Ambassador Hotel. 
Members of the New York delegation protest against the Vietnam War during the 1968 Democratic National Convention held in Chicago. Outside, riots erupted, with tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters clashing with Chicago police and National Guard forces. 
Residents of Prague, Czechoslovakia, throw burning torches in an attempt to stop a Soviet tank on August 21, 1968. A Soviet-led invasion by Warsaw Pact troops crushed the so-called Prague Spring reform and re-established totalitarian rule. 
The iconic Sunday night news magazine "60 Minutes" premiered September 24, 1968, with Harry Reasoner, left, and Mike Wallace, right. At the center is Don Hewitt, the show's creator and producer. Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. salutes the U.S. flag on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969. Aldrin and mission commander Neil Armstrong became the first humans to walk on the moon. Their mission was considered an American victory in the Cold War and subsequent space race, meeting President Kennedy's goal of "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely" before the end of the decade. 
Singer Roger Daltrey and guitarist Pete Townshend of The Who perform on stage at the Woodstock Music Festival in Bethel, New York. An estimated 400,000 people attended the festival, which took place in August 1969. 
Cult leader Charles Manson is taken into court to face murder charges on December 5, 1969, in Los Angeles. At Manson's command, a small group of his most ardent followers brutally murdered five people at the Los Angeles home of film director Roman Polanski on August 8-9, 1969, including Polanski's pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate. Manson was convicted for orchestrating the murders and sentenced to death. The sentence was later commuted to life in prison. 
With the help of a handful of leading universities and other labs, work began on a project to directly link a number of computers. In 1969, with money from the U.S. Defense Department, the first node of this network was installed on the campus of UCLA. The diagram shows the "network of networks" of ARPANET, as it was called. The forebear of the Internet was born. What did the '60s look like to you? Share your photos here. 60 iconic moments from the 1960s
Elvis discharged from the military
Sharpeville massacre in South Africa
FDA approves birth-control pill
'Sex and the Single Girl'
First interactive video game
'Turn on, tune in, drop out'
Carson takes over 'The Tonight Show'
Alabama governor resists desegregation
Medgar Evers assassinated
Birmingham church bombing
President Kennedy assassinated
'Beatlemania' comes to the U.S.
Ali becomes heavyweight champ
Mandela sentenced to life in prison
U.S. troops in South Vietnam
China's Cultural Revolution
Marshall on Supreme Court
First human heart transplant
Martin Luther King assassinated
Robert F. Kennedy assassinated
Democratic National Convention unrest
Photos: 60 iconic moments from the 1960s Miami resident Craig Riegelhaupt recalls taking this "nerdy family" photo when they moved to the city in 1967. "The bows in my mother's and sister's hair, and my red bow tie and horn-rimmed glasses epitomize the look of the 1960s." 
Kathi Cordsen's sister and three of her cousins are seen here posing in Cypress, California, in 1969, showing off the styles of the era. 
Cordsen -- whose mother, aunt and grandmother are seen here on vacation in 1967 -- remembers how her mother wore hot pants but she was not allowed to wear them. It wasn't until 1970 that "we were finally allowed to wear slacks to school. Up until that time the only time we (students) could wear slacks was if it was raining." Janie Lambert, left, said she could only dress as her "strict parents wanted me to" growing up in Tennessee in the 1960s. "I would hike my skirts up and safety pin them when I got to school. Once my dad picked me up and boy, was I busted." The Hughesville, Maryland, resident posed with her high school sweetheart and future husband at Christmas in 1969. "I loved the British Mod look and models like Pattie Boyd and actress Jane Asher." Lidija Gorinas loved getting these fashionable robes for her 21st birthday, along with her twin, Milda, in 1967. "Mod worked for me (I was no flower child). Those were the days, my friend." 
Lisa Papworth-Buckland, bottom left, went to visit her grandfather's grave in Los Angeles in 1969 and recalls her mother's fashion sensibilities. Later, after her parents' divorce, she "moved into a dome house in Box Canyon and we lived the pure hippie life." 
Lydia Gorinas, far right, her twin sister and her friends enjoy a Christmas Eve together in Chicago in 1967. "I loved the '60s very much," Gorinas says. "It was when 'mod' was a noun ... not an adjective as it is now." 
Marjorie Zien, second from left, was 10 years old in 1967 when this photo was taken at her Aunt Fran's annual New Year's Eve party. She wore her "really cool mirrored vest" her uncle brought back from Pakistan and a handmade A-line skirt. Her sister, far right, sported a Nehru collar dress accessorized with a medallion necklace. 
Josh Johnson's grandparents pose with their kids in Georgia in 1967. "I think the fashion of the 1960s had a different kind of character that is missing in today's style," Johnson says. "I think it was classier and much more respectable." In 1967, Patricia Anne Alfano was a cheerleader for the Philadelphia Eagles. She says the style in the '60s was much more conservative than it is today. Nikki C. Morris wore a yellow dress and white gloves for her prom in 1967, but she says '60s fashion was too colorful for her taste. "I remember thinking that most of the dresses and the girls wearing them looked like Easter eggs," Morris says. "I wasn't a fan." 
Natalie Montanaro, right, and her sister took a photo before their first Holy Communion in 1967. She says many women in the 1960s copied Jackie Kennedy's look. "Really, my favorite look was the short, cropped jackets with A-line knee-length skirts and a pillbox hat with gloves for church," she says. Milda Contoyannis and her friend show off their dance moves at a house party in 1967. She wore her favorite minidress, and her friend wore a jacket and an ascot tie. "Nothing compares to the '60s," Contoyannis says. "You had to be there when it was happening." 
Julio Camerini shared a photo from 1969 of his ninth birthday in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He says back then Brazil was influenced by the U.S. when it came to music and fashion. "Rock and Roll dominated the programming on radios, and so did mini skirts," he said. 
Miriam Cintron, right, used an iron and an ironing board to straighten her hair in 1968. "I preferred a more hippie look, but as I said, a clean hippie, not a shoeless one," she says. Keith Long took this picture of his wife in 1969 on the running board of a steam engine in England. "Sixties fashion was a changing decade -- very dated in the early part and trendy and totally different at the end," Long says. 
Rob Bernstein shared a photo of his mother in the late 1960s dressed for an evening event in Acton, Massachusetts. He says fashion back then was a lot more formal than today, but they also wore "crazy colors" too. 
Michelle Jones stands with her sister and parents outside her grandparents' home in Newton, Massachusetts, in this 1968 photograph. "I loved the outfits my mom wore. Always the latest fashion. Big eyelashes and big makeup," she said. 
Dianne Artley, in the spring of 1967, at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey. "In spite of living in a fearful time because of the Vietnam war, there was a sense of hope as everything was changing at warp speed," she said. Click the double arrow to see more photos. At 5 years old, Julie West wore a matching coat and hat in 1967. "I fancied myself a movie star or model wearing them," she says. "My mom really liked to dress nicely. Once she settled into her life in Chicago, she loved to shop and always made sure we wore the latest fashions." Niena Sevilla's father attended a New Year's Eve party in the Philippines in 1968. Her dad, 18 years old at the time, danced with one of the partygoers he met at the event. "Women of the '60's were so natural," Sevilla says. Janie Lambert, pictured in 1968, says Patti Boyd was one of her favorite models, and she loved 1960s fashion -- particularly the "mod" look. "I much prefer the '60s fashion over that of today and am happy to see the style returning once again," she says. "Loud, groovy but tasteful." Raymond Johnson, right, poses with his friend on their high school graduation day in 1968. "There are no dress codes today, so young people are free to choose what they like and feel is most comfortable," he says. "That in itself is a giant leap from the '60s." 
Dominica Lim's mom, far left, wears a tie and bell-bottom pants as she poses for a picture with her friends in South Korea in 1969. "I think the fashion of the 1960s was very classy with a touch of fun," Lim says. 
Teri Coley Adams' parents enjoy an evening in Oahu, Hawaii, in 1969. Her dad is wearing a thin striped tie and a sports jacket. Her mom has on a red linen dress with a matching satin red peacock scarf. "As I recall, the dress was pretty short, well above Mom's knees, but she had the legs for it," Adams says. 
Cynthia Carr Falardeau says this family photo from 1969 represents "a time of innocence." The late '60s through your eyes
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The late '60s through your eyes "It was a very limited choice," says Newton Minow, the former Federal Communications Commission chairman who coined the "vast wasteland" phrase in his 1961 speech to the National Association of Broadcasters and has heard it repeated regularly over the last five decades.
Times have changed, right?
Actually, yes, says TV critic Eric Deggans. Of the many flaws of '60s entertainment TV, he says, a major one was that it didn't reflect what was going on in America, whether it was the civil rights movement or the escalation of the Vietnam War.
"Back then, there was a lot of TV that was created by producers who really underestimated the audience," Deggans says.
As the decade continued, television gingerly addressed some social change but certainly nothing like what was to come -- first in the 1970s with such Norman Lear sitcoms as "All in the Family" and "Sanford and Son" and in more recent years, novelistic shows such as "Breaking Bad."
TV: The new, new golden age
In fact, Deggans says even today's widely popular sitcoms and dramas, such as "Parenthood," engage with real life in ways that were forbidden 50 years ago. That's true even with "The Walking Dead," an end-of-the-word horror show about zombies.
"What it's really about is man's inhumanity to man, and when something happens and all the chips are down, how do you respond as a human being?" he says, referring to "The Walking Dead." "When you think about what's going on in Nigeria or the Arab Spring or Syria, that's real life."
Moreover, even the more formulaic shows don't take their viewers for granted.
"I don't think any of those shows pander to their audience in the way that a show like 'Petticoat Junction' or 'Gilligan's Island' did," he says. "Those were classic comedies, but they were really, really simple. A show like 'NCIS' is absolutely about all these issues we're struggling with as a society."
Ironically, Minow's 1961 speech was somewhat taken out of context. He actually praised the medium before lowering the boom: "When television is good, nothing -- not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers -- nothing is better," he said.
His concern that TV wasn't properly serving the public is what prompted his criticism. Indeed, the speech was titled "Television in the Public Interest."
The last half-century has been mostly positive, says Minow today -- and he observes that the federal government played a positive role in that growth. Minow, now 88 and an attorney in Chicago, was instrumental in requiring television sets to include a UHF dial and promoting the use of communications satellites.
Back then, there was a lot of TV that was created by producers who really underestimated the audience.
Eric Deggans, TV critic
"I felt that the basic role of the government was to expand choice, because the government should not be in the business of deciding what's on the air," he says. "I think the expansion of choice was the government's main contribution."
He does have some concerns, however, about the increasing consolidation of the communications industry over the last 50 years.
"I think the idea of having local ownership has pretty much disappeared," he says. But he shrugs, "The horse is out of the barn."
Massive mergers planned for TV providers
Deggans notes, however, that despite the corporatization of media, there's still a much broader range than in the '60s -- or even in the '90s. After all, 50 years ago we had three networks. Now there's cable, the Internet is a major player allowing for video streaming, and technology lets anybody "broadcast themselves," to borrow YouTube's old slogan. They can choose when to watch, too.
Yes, TV is still belittled. But the argument flows both ways. After his speech, Minow was tweaked by "Gilligan's Island" producer Sherwood Schwartz, who made the FCC chairman the namesake of a certain shipwrecked boat.
Minow appreciated the gesture.
"I told him I considered it a great compliment," he says. "It exposed my name to two generations of television viewers."
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