Women’s History Month: 15 most influential women in TV history

Mary Tyler Moore

While Mary Tyler Moore charmed as Laura Petrie in The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961), she made waves when she starred in the television show featuring her own name. The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970) was about unmarried career-woman Mary Richards — ambitious enough during the 70s — who gains the respect of her male peers and works her way up to full producer of a newsroom.

Moore portrays a woman who was a competent professional in her field and who stayed happily unmarried throughout the entire series. The show also explored delicate issues like divorce, birth control, sexism, homosexuality, discrimination, and equal pay. And when it came to the writing team and directing talent, Moore made sure that women were included – a relative rarity even today.

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah is perhaps the most powerful and influential woman in entertainment. She gained the trust and respect of viewers all over the world through her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show (1984). She currently owns her own network (OWN). She produces media especially for women (Oxygen). She highlights unknown authors through the Oprah Book Club. And she appears as a contributor on 60 Minutes.

According to Forbes, Oprah is the richest African American of the 20th century — and she uses her wealth and influence to give back to others. She campaigned for Barack Obama and used her talk show to spearhead discussions of controversial issues.  She even proposed the bill to Congress that would establish a database of convicted child abusers. And this is only the smallest overview of her amazing accomplishments.