THE HISTORY OF TELEVISION PART III

Television has been more essential now than ever before, as we continue to watch our favourite programs, keep up to date on the news and champion on our sport's teams. Few remember it's initial and humble beginnings 95 years ago on January 26, 1926. Here is a short history of Television, as we look at the Five Ages of TV.

THE GOLDEN AGE OF TELEVISION

1954-1969 – Sixteen Years

In the Bronze Age, the foundations for television programming were built. By the Silver Age, the first new genres for audiences took shape in the variety show, sitcom, and game show arenas. The Western motif took hold in the Golden Age of Television, and zany and silly comedy concepts brought a new freshness to the classic sitcom formula. 

Walt Disney partnered with A.B.C., producing two hits for the kids: The Mickey Mouse Club (1955-1959), which let children participate in the show itself and not just in the peanut gallery. The Walt Disney anthology series (1954-Present), which had three names during the Golden Age (Disneyland; Walt Disney Presents, Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color), provides family-centric serials for families as a whole and movies. His initial programming entries in the Disneyland show promoted his theme park, which A.B.C. financed as part of their initial agreement.

With Walt Disney being the third film producer to join with Television, more Hollywood production companies saw the viability and started to embrace Television. A.B.C. was offered three new television adaptations of classic Warner Brother films to be developed. The most successful of them, Cheyenne (1955-1963), led the way for the western craze to develop on Television, with other entries joining the ranks in the 1950s.

Before developed for mainly children audiences, now the Western shows add excitement to adult television viewers, including Wagon Train (1957-1965), Zorro (1957-1959), Have Gun Will Travel (1957-1963), The Rifleman (1958-1963), and The Real McCoys (1958-1963). Maverick (1957-1962) was one of the first westerns with a comedic overtone, deciding to have Maverick play poker rather than fighting set it apart from the more serious Westerns of the day. Whereas Rawhide (1959-1965) told the most realistic tale of Western life, showing the rarely seen unheroic act from its leads, their people get tired and hungry. Most Westerns had staying power as well; the two shows that lasted two decades on T.V. were Bonanza (1959-1973) and Gunsmoke (1955-1975). The latter holds the record for the longest running western of all time and the longest-running drama series. It set the standard for the small screen western, showing the effects of gun violence, with the lead hero potentially dying and being treated by his colleague. 

The 1950s saw artisans make their humble debuts: Elvis Presley appears for the first time on March 5, 1955, on a local Louisiana program, Louisiana Hayride (1948-1960), Andy Griffith on March 15, 1955, with The United States Steel Hour (1945-1963) and Jim Henson makes his start with Sam and Friends (1955-1961), a puppet show also on May 9.

In the sitcom world, the family situations continue to stay prominent with the inclusions of Father Knows Best (1954-1962), Lassie (1954-1973), Leave it to Beaver (1957-1973), The Donna Reed Show (1958-1966) and Dennis the Menace (1958-1963). Akin to I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners (1955), starring Jackie Gleason, aired its only season.

Family Affair (1966-1971), My Three Sons (1969-1972), and The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968) show us a single father figure raising children for the first time, though they had domestic chore help. The Andy Griffith Show had the first true example of a sitcom that handled the work/life balance airing difficulties in both arenas. With virtually no crime in Mayberry, Griffith dealt with the home duties exceptionally well, offering caring advice and tough love to Opie as the situation called for it. Griffith’s show was one of the first programs to spawn several spin-off shows with its characters Gomer Pyle and Barney Fife.

The first major network to enter the television medium, DuMont had only eight series in production to keep the company afloat, seeding defeat against A.B.C., N.B.C., and C.B.S. They gave the local affiliates scheduling opportunities in primetime; this, along with N.B.C. and C.B.S. stealing their talent, the lack of content and television stations to go around left DuMont in a precarious position, leading to its shutdown months later. DuMont’s final broadcast aired on August 6, 1956.

For the next thirty-one years, A.B.C., N.B.C., and C.B.S. would dominate the airways until Fox entered the fray in 1987. PBS joined the airways as the first public broadcasting system in 1967. With DuMont leaving the air in 1956, C.B.S. inherited the sports broadcasting right. To air the sports programming, they had to remove the intellectual shows to earlier points in the day or discontinue them altogether, making room for only entertainment-driven programming. The result being, more Hollywood-centric production was being generated, significantly more than the previous season.

The quiz and game shows have been a part of the television medium since the experimental Age of the 1930s, but it wasn’t until the $64,000 Question (1955-1958) that the actual game show craze began on June 7, 1955. Other programs quickly followed, such as The Price is Right (1956-1965; 1972-Present), Twenty-One (1956-1958; 2000), and Concentration (1958-1978; 1987-1991). The producers of some of these quiz programs wanted to have entertaining and suspenseful content, so they provided their contestants with the answers. During the scandal that followed because of the cheating, those same producers would not implicate their network or sponsor, burning the bridge for a comeback down the road. Though other casualties of the public Government’s probe into the quiz show scandal occurred, On September 1, 1958, the $64,000 Question is canceled. The top-rated primetime game show, Twenty-One, was canceled next on December 31, 1958, after a former contested announced the show was rigged.

Saturday morning programming begins, with Mighty Mouse premiering on December 10, 1955. eventually, more cartoon shows will join in like The Huckleberry Hound Show (1958-1961), The Bugs Bunny Show (1960-2000), The Yogi Bear Show (1961-1962). Rocky and His Friends/The Bullwinkle Show (1959-1964), airing adult comedic animation with twisted morality tales and classic puns followed in 1959, and was the first primetime cartoon show on T.V. Captain Kangaroo (1955-1984) was the first to bring kids into a world of imagination within his Treasure House. It was one of the longest-running children’s programs of its day.  The long-time favorite children’s program Howdy Doody ends September 25 of 1955, with the assumed mute character of Clarabell the Clown utters the show’s final message, “Goodbye Kids.”  Whereas the puppet classic Kukla, Fran, and Ollie ended on August 31, 1957. The world’s longest-running children’s program makes its start called Blue Peter (1958-Present).

Soap Operas moved to 30-minute length shows, with the debuts of As the World Turns (1956-2010) and The Edge of Night (1956-1984 on April 2. On December 9, 1960, the debut of British Soap Opera, Coronation Street (1960-Present), was meant to be a thirteen-week program but became England’s longest-running Soap. However, the only two American soaps that began in this era that are still in production are: General Hospital (1961-Present) and Days of our Lives (1965-Present)

The fascination of actual court cases started to show some success in Divorce Court (1957-Present). The legal drama takes its first step into the television world with the drama Perry Mason (1957-1974), the attorney who never loses a case, followed by The Defenders (1961-1965), with a father and son defense attorney handling more complex issues. As the first television detective Martin Kane, Private Eye (1949-1954), hangs up his hat after five years, Jack Webb’s Dragnet ended its eight-year run on August 23, 1959. The lead to police shows like Ironside (1967-1975), starring police consultant in a wheelchair, and a historical look at the 1930s with The Untouchables (1959-1963).

Elvis continues to rise now on the national stage, first with Stage Show (1954-1956) in January. And then with Milton Berle in April, culminating with his “Hound Dog” performance on The Milton Berle Show on June 5, 1956, and making his final appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on January 6, 1957. October 17, 1958, shows the debut of Fred Astaire on the T.V. screen with his own special An Evening with Fred Astaire. (1958)

News programs continued to flourish in the morning with the public affairs show Face the Nation (1954-Present). In the evenings, anchors became household names, like Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, who developed The Huntley-Brinkley Report (1956-1970) on October 29, 1956. Walter Cronkite succeeds Douglas Edwards on The C.B.S. Evening News on April 16, 1962, becoming a fixture of nearly twenty years, with the moniker of “The Most Trusted Man in America.” 60 Minutes (1968-Present) offered special pioneered investigative reporting techniques, including reediting interviews and hidden cameras. Edward G Murrow’s See It Now (1951-1958) documentary news magazine aired for the final time on July 7, 1958. By 1958, the three news programs on A.B.C., N.B.C., and C.B.S. started the model of competing in the same time slot, which continues to this day.

On February 17, 1958, the Pope designated St Claire of Assisi the patron saint of Television. It is said that homeowners who put her icon on their T.V. will have better reception. The Radio Christmas message that started in 1932 shifts to a televised statement with Queen Elizabeth II on December 25, 1955, and continues every year. Maybe because of all the shows and options at the start of the 1960s, nearly 90 percent of homes have a television, with over one hundred million T.V. sets in use worldwide.

One of the biggest debuts during the Golden Age is Tonight! (1954-1957) on September 27, 1954, which was initially hosted by Steve Allen. Steve Allen started his own comedy/variety show, The Steve Allen Show (1956-1961). Tonight, tried a different format, with a morning talk show feel, before Jack Paar (1957-1962) took over in 1957, and eventually, Johnny Carson, made it his own with The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962-1992), ultimately becoming the King of Late-Night Television. He utilized the talk show format originated by Paar and several of the various elements developed by Allen, like Carnac the Magnificent. Carson will always be remembered for his timing, especially when a guest demonstrating ax-throwing hit a board with a painted figure in the groin area. Johnny listened for the audience to die down in laughter to add his adlib, suggesting that he didn’t even know the guest was Jewish. Carson received no competition during his reign until the late 1960s with The Joey Bishop Show (1967-1969), The Dick Cavett Show (1969-1972), and The Merv Griffin Show (1967-1972). None of them ever unseated the King. 

Sitcom royalty took its final bows on April 4, 1957, as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez ended I Love Lucy, making way for new zany concepts in the sitcom world to be seen. The longest-running live-action sitcom, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, ended on April 23, 1966. After 11 years, Make Room for Daddy/The Danny Thomas Show ended on April 27, 1964.

The dramatic anthology Climax! (1954-1958) debuts, which would give Television audiences their first view of James Bond, played by American Barry Neilson. Alfred Hitchcock’s own suspenseful anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-1986) begins with horrifying delight. In 1959, The Twilight Zone (1959-1965) offering thrilling tales by Rod Serling, which actually present adult stories with twists and lessons attached.

This is also the start of audiences pulling away from the variety and anthology shows. June 5, 1954, saw the end of Sid Caesar’s comedic genius, Your Show of Shows, and on April 28, 1959, Arthur Godfrey and His Friends (1949-1959) completed a ten-year run. The iconic Kraft Television Theatre ends its run-on on October 1, 1958, followed on January 6, 1967, with Milton Berle taking his final bow on Texaco Star Theatre, which lasted 19 years. And after 15 years, The Jack Benny Program closed its doors on May 22, 1965.

Television has impacted the American black community in the late 1950s, first with Nat King Cole unable to get a sponsor for his tv series, The Nat King Cole Show (1956-1957), white artists Mel Torme, Tony Bennett, and others become some of his first guests. The first interracial kiss happened on T.V. in 1959, on February 1, during a live performance of the play Hot Summer Night (1959); eventually, the more popular primetime interracial kiss occurred on Star Trek (November 22, 1968). On September 15, 1965, Bill Cosby became the first African American in drama, winning three consecutive Emmys for the role in I Spy (1965-1968). In 1966, Amos & Andy (1951-1953) was pulled from syndication sue to complaints from civil rights organizations. On April 2, 1968, N.B.C. broadcasted a Petula Clark special appearing with Harry Belafonte. An innocent, affectionate gesture between the two during a song, the white singer touching the black singer’s arm, prompts concern from the show’s sponsor. On September 17, 1968, Julia (1968-1971) premiered; this was the first show starring an African American in a non-stereotypical role. 

On September 12, 1965, N.B.C. took over the telecast of the American Football League. The first Super Bowl (1967-Present) is simulcast on C.B.S. and N.B.C. on January 15, 1967, with a lackluster halftime show. One sporting area that saw its golden period on the networks in the 1940s and 1950s, a weekly boxing primetime series, was discontinued on September 11, 1964

News in the 1960s takes some exciting turns from the first man in space, Alan Shepard on May 5, 1961, to be televised, to the head of F.C.C. telling broadcasters that their programming is a vast wasteland, suggesting they work on serving the public better in a speech on May 9, 1961. The remote control is authorized by the F.C.C. in 1963, as color television is used for the first time in 1964.

Due to the speech by the F.C.C. chairman, new and exciting programs made their debut. The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966) was one of the first intelligent sitcoms that dealt with home and business life equally without resorting the zany subject matters like aliens, flying nuns, bumkins, or witches. These zany antics were all the rage. They were included in shows such as Mister Ed (1961-1965), McHale’s Navy (1962-1966), The Beverly Hillbillies (1962-1971), Petticoat Junction (1966-1970), Green Acres (1965-1971); My Favourite Martian (1963-1966), Gilligan’s Island (1964-1967), Bewitched (1964-1972), I Dream of Jeannie (1965-1970), Batman (1966-1968), and The Flying Nun (1967-1970). The blended comedy, The Brady Bunch (1969-1974), showed us how to behave, The Addams Family (1964-1966) and The Munsters (1964-1966 added kooky, zany, and macabre aspects to family life.

The Monkees (1966-1968) that debuted on September 12, 1966, was a thrilling entry in this period. After seeing the success of The Beatles, television producers wanted to create their own band, and the show that followed the lives of the four members eventually won an Emmy for comedy. Movie nights started to appear in 1961 with N.B.C. and A.B.C. airing films they purchased from film studios like 20th Century Fox. These movie nights receiving listing on Nielsen’s top 30 rating lists.