Television+in+the+1950s+-+p5

Lindsey

**__Television In the 1950's__**
If you look up the word television on Wikipedia you might get something like this. “Television is a telecommunication system for broadcasting and receiving moving pictures and sound over a distance. The term has come to refer to all the aspects of television from the television set to the programming and transmission. The word is derived from mixed Latin and Greek roots." Though I'm sure if I asked someone nowadays what television is you would get a great array of different answers from people. Most Americans would have an opinion because about everyone in the U.S.A owns a television. 43% own 3 or more television sets. If you asked someone from 1950 you may not get an answer because back then fewer than 20% of all Americans were lucky enough to have a television system. But by the end of the decade (1959) over 90% of all American owned a TV set.

In 1939 the first television was introduced in the U.S. In the beginning the television was not that popular only 20% of the entire population owned a set in 1950, because it was quite expensive. But in sheer numbers the growth of television was astronomical for example, in 1939-t.v produced, 1946- 7,000, 1948-172,000, 1950-5 million sets were sold. So even tough 5 million sets were sold to the general public that was only 1/5 of the total U.S population. **[|oak.cats.ohiou.edu/ ~postr/MRT/PhilT50.htm]**

Though it was a luxury to even own a television. It wasn’t the same television that we all know and love dearly. Nowadays we have colour and high definition television. Back then it was point blank black and white. Nowadays were used to lots of varieties and choices for entertainment. Especially with TVs, we can choose from over hundreds of channels and different networks. Back then you had only 3 major networks, Nation Broadcasting Company (NBC), Columbian Broadcasting System (CBS), American Broadcasting Company (ABC). There also was a broadcasting system named Du Mont. At the end of the decade Americans on average were watching on average six hours a day, compared to the average eight hours watched by Americans today.

Many of the television shows that were watched daily were primarily versions of popular radio shows. Shows like The Lone Ranger, Texaco, Star Theatre and some western dramas were extremely popular like Gun smoke. Sitcoms (situation comedy) also made the great migration from radio to television. When the televisions were just starting to get popular Movie attendances dropped and book sales dropped drastically, and radios importance diminished greatly. **[|www.sevensouth.com/ recordshop/radio.html]**

The importance of this topic is that without television we would not be as culturally advanced as we are today. If we hadn’t made the great leap from radio to television we wouldn’t be in the know about currant day events. This is because with newspapers, they are slow and the stories need to be written and the blocks would have to be hand made. But with transmitting video wavelengths we could connect with people all over the world and we could transmit information very fast. There is also a bad side to the television. With the invention of the television sure we could communicate much faster. But there is the possibility of global disastour, and if all of the American people could see and hear the tragedy’s going around the world. It would be a most humbling and a wake up call to tell them that they are lucky enough to live in the U.S but some would be traumatized and scared of the world around them. So the television would be a huge eye opener for everyone in the world.

Over the years the television has had a lot of physical changes. The shows that are aired have changed too. Hit TV shows include such shows as ‘Desperate Housewives” which has a lot of racy material that shouldn’t be aloud to played on the television. It is a show that has adult material and it is played during the primetime slot. Back then in the 1950s ‘I Love Lucy” was a very popular TV show. Even though the advertisers ttought taht the public wouldn't be accepting of a mixed marriage. The plot consisted of the newlyweds getting into crazy adventures and always with no violence. Most of the people that love Lucy, love it because of its innocence and the non-violence of the show. the innocence of television is gone. If you even turn on the TV you will be bombarded by a massive assualt of commercials using sex appeal. http://static.flickr.com/1/126568745_11473a0487.jpg

When TV was first begun it had a lot of sitcoms on air. The sit-coms were always family friendly and didn’t have mature content. Nowadays we have all these “reality game shows’’ that have nothing to do with real life. Shows like the “surreal life” are supposedly based on real life, but they are just over the top soap opera like, demoralizing shows. And a vast majority of the children now are not learning from their parents, but from the television they are getting a twisted view of the world and it’s inhabitants. Real life may have some of those elements but not to that extent. The children will learn that it is okay to use violence to solve all of there problems. Unless they have the moral compass to know the difference between real life and false life. They will not learn unless their parents have the will to parent, and stop the television epidemic.

__List of Popular Television Shows__
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet Alvin and the Chipmunks American Bandstand Candid Camera Captain Kangaroo Davy Crockett Dobie Gillis Dragnet (most popular police oriented TV show of the 50's) Ed Sulivan Show Gunsmoke The Honeymoooners I Love Lucy ☺ The Lawrence Welk Show Leave it to Beaver Mickey Mouse Club The Tonight Show Many game shows were quicky gaining in popularity.☺ As you may see, a few of the classics shows can be watched all around the world.

__**Citations**__
"Soap Operas Move to Television, 1950." DISCovering U.S. History. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resource Center - Gold. Thomson Gale. Cook Memorial Public Library. 5 Feb. 2007 <[|http://find.galegroup.com/srcx/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T001&prodId=SRC-1&docId=EJ2104240301&source=gale&srcprod=SRCG&userGroupName=ccscm&version=1.0>.]

Media in the 1950s: Overview, 1950-1959." DISCovering U.S. History. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resource Center - Gold. Thomson Gale. Cook Memorial Public Library. 5 Feb. 2007 <[|http://find.galegroup.com/srcx/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T001&prodId=SRC-1&docId=EJ2104240284&source=gale&srcprod=SRCG&userGroupName=ccscm&version=1.0>.]

"Television Enters Its Golden Age, 1950." DISCovering World History. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resource Center - Gold. Thomson Gale. Cook Memorial Public Library. 5 Feb. 2007 <[|http://find.galegroup.com/srcx/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T001&prodId=SRC-1&docId=EJ2105240127&source=gale&srcprod=SRCG&userGroupName=ccscm&version=1.0>.]

"Color Television Broadcasting Begins, 1960." DISCovering U.S. History. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resource Center - Gold. Thomson Gale. Cook Memorial Public Library. 5 Feb. 2007 <[|http://find.galegroup.com/srcx/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T001&prodId=SRC-1&docId=EJ2104240369&source=gale&srcprod=SRCG&userGroupName=ccscm&version=1.0>.]

"Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell bottoms" Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast, editors © 2002 by U.X.L.U.X.L Gale group,inc Farmington Hills, Mi