The 70's is my favorite decade for Tv shows. The difference I've noticed is how "real" they were compared to 50's and 60's shows. Shows from the 50's and 60's were good but they seem to be more idealistic. The 70's marks the period when Tv shows became more realistic. Look at 70's shows like Good Times,All In The Family,Mary Tyler Moore,One Day At A Time for examples and see if any 50's or 60's shows can compare to their realism.
Space 1999 seemed boring. It came about 10 years after Star Trek, yet they couldn't seem to manage to do special effects as good as Star Trek even with much better technology at their disposal.
you're right.although i don't know if the shows were better really.in some ways yes.there was a trend toward realism.although there was shows of great variety continuing to be made.did you notice this in movies also.one genre was the westerns.i liked alot of the westerns in the 70's.a certain grittiness to them.although i like movies that have a glorified look to them also.room for both kinds.
The 1970s were definitely a great decade for American television.But the 1950s and 60s were equally as great.The list of great shows from this period is endless.As far as realism goes shows like the 1960s version of "Dragnet' were real and entertaining and there were a few more.But yes the 70s added more realism on top of great entertainment.The 1950s-70s were the Golden Age of television,3 networks putting out the best tv shows the world has ever seen.In the 1980s tv slowly started to decline.NOW it is such rubbish,I don't even watch the junk they make now.----A sidenote:they used to regulate the amount of commercials allowed to be shown,so they actually had about 1/3 of the 'amount' of adverts they do now.