The Great American Dream Machine

Broadcast on public television from 1971 to 1973, The Great American Dream Machine was television's original satirical variety series. Unlike anything seen on public television before, the often controversial show made its mark across two highly successful seasons as a spirited magazine combining disparate elements such as animation, drama, musical performances, documentary, and political commentary in an "experimental" format; commentators dubbed it the intellectual Laugh In. The Great American Dream Machine mirrored what average Americans were thinking and feeling in the early '70s amid the Vietnam war, a fading Hippie movement, and a population wrestling with issues like environmental protection and food safety. While it only lasted two seasons, in part due to attacks from the conservative right, the show's DNA can be seen in every satirical TV series that followed - from Saturday Night Live and SCTV to The Daily Show.