From WNYC in New York, this is NPR's On the Media.

Bob Garfield is away, on vacation.

I'm Brooke Gladstone.

And this week we were struck by what seems to be unprecedented unanimity in Hollywood

over what America wants.

For years, we've heard about our aching need for more family-friendly programming,

and now we've got it in spades.

The in-laws, Life with Bonnie, What I Like About You, shows about going back to high school in remakes of old sitcoms like Family Affair,

seems like most networks are just trying to create a safe place where families can nest together.

James Panoazek writes about television for Time Magazine, and he joins us now.

Welcome to the show.

Oh, thanks a lot.

So what do you think about all this nostalgia fair?

I think that the networks have a sense, or at least had last fall, when these shows were conceived, that Americans long to

sort of vicariously return to simpler times, if one can actually call the Cold War when we feared

imminent death by nuclear annihilation a simpler time. Last fall, for instance, we saw the reunion

special for the Carol Burnett show,

surprisingly draw 30 million viewers, and a lot of people attributed that and the success of

similar reunion specials last season to the notion that people wanted to return to the past.

I think that's part of the reason that a show like American Dreams made the schedule.

Five, four, three, two,

wait, don't get it off.

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