Chapter 5: Television

What are the main points?
-the beginning of television
-the movement of popularity from news to drama/comedy
-a shift away from network ownership

What evidence does the author use to support these claims?
-in 1948 only 1 percent of American homes had a television but by the early 1960s it jumped to 90 percent of American homes. Early television shows grabbed their ideas from popular radio shows which began the decline in radio listening and purchases. by the 1940s the FCC began to assign channels in specific geographic areas which posed problems for certain areas once more stations were added. Not only did radio stations suffer from the popularity of television but also theaters, nightclubs, and taxi receipts. New channels were constantly being added and the time slots for shows went from 15 minutes to 3o minutes of more. More over, the advertising business became more competitive and more expensive fighting for the prime time spots. And as quiz shows became popular the separation of the privileged few and the general public became more apparent.
-From 1955 to 1957 the three major networks (NBC, CBS, and ABC) slowly moved their entertainment division to Los Angeles. during the late 1940s there was an immense growth in broadcast journalism starting with Meet the Press in 1947. Eventually out came the nightly news shows and the daily news shows, some examples being NBC Nightly News or CBS Evening News. To try and mimic the success of 60 Minutes, TV newsmagazines came onto the seen highlighting on about three stories per episode and fitting into a 1 hour time slot 3-days a week. From there more interest was on Sketch comedy which included singing, dancing, and acrobats or on situational comedy which was a half hour comedy series. Although comedy stayed around a new age of drama began to emerge anthology drama which brought live dramatic theater to TV and then to episodic series which were week to week story concepts.
-Starting in the late 50s and ending at the end of the 70s what the network era, a time where networks gained control over TV's content. But technology began to shift to where people could rent videos or record shows and watch them at a later time and network TV was declining. In addition, new networks were emerging who were recording their shows and then selling them in certain time slots. At first such networks weren't making any money but eventually by the early 90s Fox was a rival of the "big three".

Is this evidence convincing?
Yes

Would someone from a different world view be convinced?
Not if they have never watched television or owned one. I think this is something you understand more when you have used the device or seen the growth of television first hand.