The playwright, actor on shows such as Dawson’s Creek and Scrubs and former professor at NU for over 30 years shares his views on important television milestones. (Downs didn’t choose shows that premiered since 1999, are still running or are ubiquitously available on cable.) 1. Kennedy/Nixon debateWhere television changed political campaigns and politics. Starkly before you, the two men define the images of American liberalism and conservatism as they exist even to this day.2. Your Show of ShowsCombine this with The Ed Sullivan Show and you can imagine American vaudeville theatre from the turn of the 20th century, in which mostly peasant Eastern-European Jewish immigrants created the uniquely American comedy forms that are still the basis of situation comedy today. 3. Buffy the Vampire SlayerA lesson in how to create great popular art in episodic television by informing the most extreme (and extremely entertaining) storytelling premises with solid fundamental convictions about being human. Every NU student should watch… GunsmokeExperience the storytelling form of the American Western infused with true, unhurried character creation.