The leading edge of the Baby Boom Generation (b. between 1946 and 1964) turns 50 in the new year. The boomers were the first generation to grow up with television and television profited by offering the boomers an ever-changing picture of themselves: the child in an idealized all-American family like Donna Reed's, disaffected youths fighting for the greater good like the Mod Squad, young single working women trying to make it on their own, like Mary Richards, or sensitive males who were against the Vietnam War, personified by Hawkeye Pierce, in MASH. Recent attempts by the TV industry to program for a more youthful audience have not reaped the same rewards so Boomers may soon see themselves back at center stage on the small screen. NPR's Brooke Gladstone reports.
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