Once they were called "The Big Three" until Fox came along, then "The Big Four." They commanded hundreds of millions of viewers, shaped the culture, drove the marketplace of ideas, or at least drove the marketplace of commercials.
Household names, we knew them only by their letters, but that was enough. "Dynasty" was on ABC, "Dallas" on CBS and "Seinfeld" on NBC. They each had their "appointment shows" and "event series" and "very special episodes." Even through decades of inexorable decline brought on by cable, DVRs, and the internet, the Big Four remained. They were diminished, sure, but still formidable.
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