<P> This Golden Age of US Television has been marked by the production of a large number of internationally acclaimed television programs in the United States . The period began in the late 1990s or early 2000s . It resulted from advances in technologies of media distribution, as well as a large increase in the number of hours of available television, which prompted a major wave of content creation . </P> <P> Its name refers to the original Golden Age of Television which occurred in the 1950s . It has also been referred to as the "New", "Second" or "Third Golden Age of Television" ("third" being used when a period in the early 1980s is considered a second Golden Age). </P> <P> French scholar Alexis Pichard has argued that TV series enjoyed a Second Golden Age in the early 1990s which was a combination of three elements: first, an improvement in both visual aesthetics and storytelling; second, an overall homogeneity between cable series and networks series; and third, a tremendous popular success . Alexis Pichard contends that this Second Golden Age was the result of a revolution initiated by the traditional networks in the 1980s and carried on by the cable channels (especially HBO) in the 1990s . </P>

When did the golden age of tv start