The Seventies
I've been watching CNN's very good series about the 1970s, which is a difficult decade to relive in many ways. But one aspect of it in particular has stood out to me throughout all the segments: how much more focused and serious network news coverage was at the time.
At the end of the episode about the winding down of the Vietnam War, John Chancellor and, especially, David Brinkley put everything into perspective, in a way I'm afraid is no longer possible on commercial television.