Golden Age of Television
The first Golden Age of Television
Limitations of early television
History of television in the United States |
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Histories |
Prior to 1928, there had been some attempts at television programming using the
Early television broadcasts were limited to live or filmed productions (the first practical videotape system, Ampex's Quadruplex, only became available in 1957).[4] Broadcasting news, sports and other live events was something of a technical challenge in the early days of television and live drama with multiple cameras was extremely challenging. A live, 90-minute drama might require a dozen sets and at least that many cameras. Major set and other changes had to occur during commercials, and there were no "second takes". The performing cast and crew operated with the awareness that as many as 10 million people were viewing their telecast, and any error was seen live.
After the adoption of videotape in 1957, many live dramas were shot "live to tape", still retaining a "live" television look and feel but able to both preserve the program for later broadcast and allowing the possibility of retakes (still rare since videotape editing required a razor blade and was not done unless absolutely necessary).[5]
In Britain, from the very beginning of regular television broadcasting in 1936 until the 1980s, interior scenes for television drama and comedy shows were shot with electronic cameras, while exterior scenes were shot with film cameras. This arrangement conditioned British viewers to identify a "live" look with interior scenes and a "film" look with exterior scenes. In the U.S. and West Germany, most shows were produced completely in either film or video to avoid jarring difference in frame rate. Most other countries avoided outdoor shots for television productions as much as they could until portable video cameras became available.
By the early 1960s, about 90% of U.S. households had a television set, and the roles of television and radio had changed significantly. Radio was largely saved from obsolescence by the invention of the far more portable
Evolution of high-culture drama on television
The early days of television introduced hour-long anthology drama series, many of which received critical acclaim.
As a new medium, television introduced many innovative programming concepts, such as the diverse cultural programs of Omnibus that debuted on November 9, 1952, and won 65 awards during its run until April 16, 1961.
Most of these programs were produced as installments of live dramatic anthologies, such as The Philco Television Playhouse, Kraft Television Theatre and Playhouse 90. Live, abridged versions of plays such as Cyrano de Bergerac, with members of the cast of the 1946 Broadway revival recreating their roles, were regularly shown during this period.[14][15] Playhouse 90 was one of the last shows of its kind; by the late 1950s, production of most U.S. television was moving to Hollywood, which itself carried a contrasting culture and sensibility to shows based in New York City, where most Golden Age programs originated.[16]
This high culture approach to television could be interpreted as a product of its time as networks were concerned with "cultural uplift" and viewed it as a way to cultural legitimacy on the new medium.[17] A similar uplift occurred in the late 1990s to early 2000s, when the networks were switching to high definition format. This was the time when Discovery Channel commissioned Discovery HD Theater to broadcast HD documentaries about nature and history, while BBC released Planet Earth. This coincided with the rise of the new Golden Age of Television that arose in the twenty-first century.
American television genres
Comedy and variety shows were popular. Comedy stars with their own shows included: Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Burns and Allen, Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason, Red Skelton, Abbott and Costello, Martin and Lewis, and Groucho Marx who starred in his quiz show You Bet Your Life. Dinah Shore, Perry Como, Eddie Fisher, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Lawrence Welk as well as other stars had popular weekly musical variety shows. The Ed Sullivan Show showcased many famous acts during the decade.
Professional wrestling was one of the most popular genres of programming in the early days of television, largely based on the star power of Gorgeous George Wagner. Wagner's in-ring character became the biggest drawing card the industry had ever known. With the networks looking for cheap, effective programming to fill its time slots, pro wrestling's glorified action became a genuine hit with the viewing public, as it was the first program of any kind to draw a real profit.[18] Consequently, it was Gorgeous George who brought the sport into the nation's living rooms, as his histrionics and melodramatic behavior made him a larger-than-life figure in American pop culture.[19] His first television appearance took place on November 11, 1947 (an event that was named among the top 100 televised acts of the 20th century by Entertainment Weekly[20]) and he immediately became a national celebrity at the same level of Lucille Ball and Bob Hope (who personally donated hundreds of chic robes for George's collection) while changing the course of the industry. No longer was pro-wrestling simply about the in-ring action, but Wagner had created a new sense of theatrics and character performance that had not previously existed. Moreover, in a very real sense, it was Gorgeous George who single-handedly established television as a viable entertainment medium that could potentially reach millions of homes across the country.[21] It is said that George was probably responsible for selling as many television receivers as Milton Berle.[22]
and many others.The mid-1950s were a period of rapid growth in popularity for the quiz show format until it was beset by a series of
Current events, Newscasting and journalism were distinguished by several broadcasting programs by
The late-night talk show began in 1950 with short-lived efforts from Jerry Lester (Broadway Open House) and Faye Emerson; Tonight would prove more enduring under the successive hosting runs of Steve Allen (1954–57), Ernie Kovacs (1956–57) and Jack Paar (1957–62). Other forms of talk shows were not as popular on a national scale during the Golden Age and would not become widespread until into the network era that followed it.
In 1953 CBS anchor Walter Cronkite was the host of the historical news show You Are There, which highlighted important news events from history like the 1776 signing of the Declaration of Independence and which featured "live" interviews with the famous participants like Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams et al., all played by actors.
Blue-collar sitcoms and rural dramas
Many
End of the American golden age
By the late 1950s
James Aubrey, the president of CBS Network from 1960 to 1965, introduced to television the shows such as Mister Ed, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, and Danny Kaye, in addition to already well-established Danny Thomas, Ed Sullivan, What's My Line?, Perry Mason, I Love Lucy, Gunsmoke. Characterized by a former colleague at ABC as having "a smell for the blue-collar", Aubrey later admitted:[32]
We made an effort to continue purposeful drama on TV, but we found out that the people just don't want an anthology. They would rather tune in on Lucy.
The nation as a whole was also tiring of high-culture programming as the
A general decline in quality had been noticed as early as 1958, as the
The critics will always look down their noses, but you can't have The Bell Telephone Hour on and still stay in competition. They can sit around and talk about the great wasteland and everything else. If you want to read books, read books.
In November 1960, Weaver commented on the end of the Golden Age of Television in The Denver Post, saying: "Television has gone from about a dozen forms to just two – news shows and the Hollywood stories. The blame lies in the management of NBC, CBS and ABC. Management doesn't give the people what they deserve. I don't see any hope in the system as it is."[38]
The quality of television in the United States would begin to recover in the mid-late 1960s with more experimental shows such as The Monkees[39] and He & She,[40] even as gimmick-driven sitcoms continued to dominate for a few years after[41] until the rural purge of the early 1970s.
Worldwide
Canada
Canada's Golden Age of Television timeline is very similar to that of the U.S. (in fact, most Canadians were within the broadcast range of at least one U.S. television station by the 1950s), but there is an overall five-year delay because of the country's sparser population. CBC Television, the country's official national broadcast organization, launched in 1952, and CTV Television Network, the oldest commercial network in the country, followed in 1962. Although there were a handful of efforts to produce domestic content for the Canadian networks,[42] most Golden Age shows were imported from the United States until the Can-Con requirements took effect around 1970.
Nigeria
Nigeria has the earliest television industry on the African continent and one of the earliest in the world. The Western Nigeria Television Service (WNTV), Nigeria's and Africa's first television station, began operation in the then Western Region in October 1959. The other two regions of the country soon followed suit; with the establishment of the Eastern Nigeria Television Service (ENTV) in Enugu, in 1960, and the Radio Television Kaduna (RKTV) in Kaduna, in March 1962. Also in 1962, The Federal Government established a fourth station, the Nigerian Television Service, in the then capital, Lagos.[43] The numbers grew rapidly and in the mid-1980s, every Nigerian state had its own broadcasting station.[44]
Laws were made by regulating bodies to limit foreign contents on television, with the
South Africa
South Africa was one of the last nations in the world to have television; the apartheid government resisted television broadcasting until the mid-1970s, with experimental broadcasts only beginning in 1975 and nationwide service starting in January 1976.[48]
United Kingdom
British television, like its U.S. counterpart, began developing in the 1930s, with the BBC Television Service beginning regular broadcasts in 1936. The early British television drama borrowed a great deal from dramatic radio productions developed between the First and the Second World Wars. In the 1920s the BBC pioneered dramatic readings of books. In 1925 it broadcast A Christmas Carol. Later, John Reith, wanting to use radio waves to "part the clouds of ignorance",[49] came up with the idea of a classic serial, based on a "classical" literary text.
In 1939 the BBC adapted the romantic novel The Prisoner of Zenda for radio broadcast. Its adapter, Jack Inglis, summarised his approach as follows: "The story is simple, with clear cut characters, and falls easily into episodes. It always seems to me, that it is the first duty of an adapter to reproduce in another medium the original flavour and atmosphere of the book". Inglis compressed several characters into one and simplified the plotline. The production struck a chord with listeners and served as a prototype for dramatic productions that followed it.
BBC television broadcasts ceased in 1939, as did the production of television receivers, resuming in 1946 after World War II.[50] The golden age of British television enjoyed its peak around the same time as in the United States, ranging from approximately 1949 to 1955 – although the term has been used to describe the period until the mid-1970s.[51]
Soviet Union/Russia
The "Golden Age" of the
Like in the United States, this period is notable for many television plays broadcast on Soviet television. For example, in 1951–1954 the Central Television Studio broadcast three to six plays a week.[54] As time went on, the quantity and quality of the theatrical television productions diminished. The reasons were technical, social, and economic. Staging a new production in a television studio every other day was expensive. The shortage of mobile cameras often precluded broadcasting live performance from a theater. Theaters became increasingly reluctant to offer their shows to television, claiming that television draws the public away from theaters. Some theatrical directors prohibited actors to participate in television shows. Theaters started demanding payment for broadcasting of their plays, and by the end of 1960s the frequency of theatrical shows fell to one show a week.[55] Because the State Committee for Cinematography would hold freshly released movies from television broadcast, television studios started producing their own made-for-TV movies
The Thaw ended with the
The second "Golden Age" of television in Russia is associated with perestroika and glasnost of the late 1980s and with creation of private television companies in the 1990s. This period is notable for edgy talk shows and comedic productions that targeted youth, such as Outlook, Till 16 and older, 12th Floor, Before and After Midnight, Oba-na. Political and economic news, live broadcasts from state Duma, critique of the government became standard fare of 1990s.
In 2000s the Russian government increased its control over independent television companies, and applied political and economic pressure to discourage them from criticizing the government and its policies. In 2001 Gazprom took ownership of the private television company NTV, which aired several gritty programs. The satirical show Puppets, which mocked major politicians and celebrities, was terminated in 2002 after pressure from the Kremlin. In January 2002 another independent television company TV-6 was terminated.
In 2014,
List of selected shows
- I Love Lucy [59][60]
- Dragnet[60]
- Howdy Doody[60][61]
- Captain Kangaroo[60][61]
- Kukla, Fran and Ollie[61]
- Leave It to Beaver[62]
- The Jack Benny Show[59]
- Lassie[61]
- Playhouse 90 [63][64]
- Kraft Television Theatre [63]
- The Phil Silvers Show[59]
- The Andy Griffith Show[65][66]
- The Twilight Zone[67][68][60]
- The Honeymooners[69][60]
- The Flintstones[61]
- Crusader Rabbit[61]
- Adventures of Superman[61]
- The Huckleberry Hound Show[61]
- The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet[60]
- Father Knows Best[60]
- The Lone Ranger[61]
- The Roy Rogers Show[61]
- The Mickey Mouse Club[61]
- Bozo the Clown[61]
- Walt Disney Presents[61]
List of selected notable artists
- Abby Mann (1927–2008)[71]
- Ed Sullivan (1901–1974) [72]
- Milton Berle (1908–2002) [73][60]
- Lucille Ball (1911–1989)[74][60]
- Fred Coe (1914–1979) [75]
- Barbara Billingsley (1915–2010) [76]
- Jackie Gleason (1916–1987) [69]
- Desi Arnaz (1917–1986) [74][60]
- Art Carney (1918–2003) [69]
- Jack Paar (1918–2004) [77]
- Ernie Kovacs (1919–1962) [78]
- Betty White (1922–2021) [79]
- Arthur Penn (1922–2010)[63][80]
- Shari Lewis (1933-1998)[61]
- Jim Henson (1936-1990)[61]
- Soupy Sales (1926-2009)[61]
- Audrey Meadows (1922–1996) [69]
- June Foray (1917-2017)[61]
- Bill Scott (1920-1985)[61]
- Jay Ward (1920–1989)[81][82]
- Paul Winchell (1922-2005)[61]
- William Hanna (1910-2001) and Joseph Barbera (1911-2006)[61]
- Gore Vidal (1925–2012)[60]
- Paddy Chayefsky (1923–1981) [83][71][60]
- Sidney Lumet (1924–2011) [84]
- Rod Serling (1924–1975) [83][60]
- Don Knotts (1924–2006) [65]
- Paul Newman (1925–2008) [63]
- Andy Griffith (1926–2012) [65]
- John Frankenheimer (1930–2002)[63][64][85]
- William Shatner (1931–)[60]
- George Reeves (1914-1959)[61]
See also
- History of television
- 1940s in television
- 1950s in television
- 1960s in television
- Least objectionable program
- Golden age of American animation
- Golden Age of Hollywood
- Golden Age of Radio
- New Hollywood
- Television and the Public Interest
- High culture
- Low culture
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Further reading
- Averson, Richard (1971). Electronic Drama: Television Plays of the Sixties. Boston: Beacon Press, 1971. ISBN 0-8070-6178-6
- Bergmann, Ted; with Skutch, Ira (2002). The DuMont Television Network: What Happened? Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-4270-X
- Brooks, Tim; with Marsh, Earle (1981). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows: 1946–Present. New York: Ballantine. ISBN 0-345-29588-9
- Gianakos, Larry James (1992) Television Drama Series Programming A Comprehensive Chronicle, 1984–1986. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-2601-1
- Gitlin, Todd (1994). Inside Prime Time. London: Routledge ISBN 0-415-08500-4
- Hawes, William (2002). The American Television Drama: The Experimental Years. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 0-7864-1132-5
- Herskowitz, Mickey (1990). The Golden Age of Pro Football. Dallas: Taylor Publishing Company. ISBN 0-87833-751-2
- Hess, Gary Newton (1979). An Historical Study of the DuMont Television Network. New York: Ayer Publishers. ISBN 0-405-11758-2
- Kindem, Gorham (1994). The Live Television Generation of Hollywood Film Directors: Interviews with Seven Directors. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 0-89950-986-X
- MacDonald, J. Fred (1994). One Nation Under Television: The Rise and Decline of Network TV. Chicago: Nelson-Hall. ISBN 0-8304-1362-6
- McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present. New York: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-024916-8
- Menta, Richard (October 24, 2005). "Can iTunes Resurrect Old Time TV?". Retrieved October 30, 2011.
- Miner, Worthington; with Schaffner, Franklin (1985). Worthington Miner. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-1757-8
- Newcomb, Horace (2007). Television: The Critical View. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-530116-8
- Patton, Phil (1984). Razzle-Dazzle: The Curious Marriage of Television and Professional Football. Garden City, NY: The Dial Press. ISBN 0-385-27879-9
- Powers, Ron (1984). Supertube: The Rise of Television Sports. New York: Coward-McCann. ISBN 0-698-11253-9
- Rader, Benjamin G. (1984). In its Own Image: How Television Has Transformed Sports. New York: The Free Press. ISBN 0-02-925700-X
- Skutch, Ira (1989) I Remember Television: A Memoir. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-2271-7
- Stemple, Tom (1992). Storytellers to the Nation: A History of American Television Writing. New York: Continuum. ISBN 0-8264-0562-2
- Sturcken, Frank (1990). Live Television: The Golden Age of 1946–1958 in New York. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 0-89950-523-6
- Wicking, Christopher; with Vahimagi, Tise (1999). The American Vein: Directors and Directions in Television. New York: Dutton ISBN 0-525-05420-0
- Wilk, Max (1999). The Golden Age of Television: Notes From the Survivors. Chicago: Silver Spring Press. ISBN 0-916562-49-2