Television-+p8

//**__Brit's POP CULTURE in the 1950's__**//
 * -Television**

After World War II Americans wanted peace. They found it in their television at night. Television technology allowed transmissions of high-quality images. It was also available and affordable for many families. Television shows in the 1950's were only in black and white. An engineer named Peter Goldmark invented a way to make the T.V. show be seen in color. The picture on the screen came in color of red, green, and blue. Besides using T.V. as a source of relaxation, it was a good way to broadcast news, weather and any urgent matters.

Several T.V. shows the were watched on a regular basis by the family in the 1950's were, //Leave It To Beaver, Ozzie and Harriet, Father Knows Best,// and //I// //Love Lucy//. A lot of adults enjoyed watching //Have Gun Will Travel// and //Gunsmoke//.

We all have heard the phrase “couch potato”. But did you know they began using it in the 1950’s. Another fact from the 50’s is that the show //The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet// was the longest running comedy show. It started on October 3, 1952 and went until September 3, 1966 and taped 435 episodes.

The three major networks were NBC, ABC, and CBS. Since watching T.V. became an everyday event. More shows became well know. There were other shows that were watched by many families. A few of them were called //Texaco Star Theater, Fireside Theater, Philco TV Playhouse, Your Show of Shows//, //Colgate Comedy Hour//, and there are many more. They started to rank shows by category. Westerns were very popular, the top three were //Gunsmoke//, //Wagon Train//, and //Have Gun Will Travel//. For the comedy shows, //The Red Skelton Show// and //The Honeymooners// were hits. They even had games shows in the 1950's like //The Price Is Right// and //The $64,000 questions//. Some of the favorite kids show that were only shown after school were //Captain Kangaroo,// //Leave It To Beaver//, and //The Mickey Mouse Club//.

In 1955, it was an exciting year for a man named Walt Disney. Disneyland was a popular T.V. show and was on top of the rating charts. The show’s segment called “Frontier land” was a huge success. In Anaheim, California Walt Disney opened “Magic Kingdom” also known as “the happiest place on Earth”. The one of a kind amusement park cost $17 million dollars to build and covered 160 acres. The Magic Kingdom had attractions and rides for all ages. It was a place for the whole family to enjoy. Because of the huge success of the Magic Kingdom, Walt began full filling his dreams of opening more parks in different parts of the country and the world. A very well known park is in Florida, as well as one in Japan and France.

Another successful T.V. program that Walt Disney created for children was //“The Mickey Mouse Club//”. The children that dance and sang on the show were called the mouseketeers. Several of the mouseketeers became very famous singers. They are well known as Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera.

I enjoy watching the show //The Price Is Right//, it is exciting to watch the people winning all those cool prizes. The show was created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman in 1956. It is the longest running show on television. It aired on NBC then switched to ABC with Bill Cullen as the host until 1965. The show was canceled for several years. In 1972 it made a come back in two versions. One version was called //The New Price Is Right//, hosted by Dennis James which was aired in the evening. The other version of the show was called //The Price Is Right//, on CBS hosted by the most famous T.V. host Bob Barker.

As of December 2006, the show aired 6,609 episodes. Bob Barker is celebrating his 35th year as the host. He recently announced that he will be retiring in 2007. No replacement has been named. Johnny Olson was well known as the announcer and side kick of Bob Barker. He passed away in 1985. The next announcer for the show was Rod Roddy from 1986 until his death in 2003. Currently Rich Fields is the announcer.

__Sources__

1.) Pendergast, Sara, Tom Pendergast. Bowling, Beatniks, & Bell-Bottoms; Pop Culture of 20th-Century America Detroit: U X L, 2002. For paragraphs 3, 4, 7, and 8

2.) Feinstein, Stephen. Decades Of The 20th Century The 1950's; From the Korean War to Elvis Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2000 For paragraphs 1 and 2

3.) Craats, Rennay. 20th Century USA History of the 1950's; Mankato, MN: Weigl, 2002 For paragraphs 5 and 6