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=Television During the 1950's-by Maggie=


 * Television, though it was invented in 1926, didn’t really become popular until the 1950’s; with shows such as I Love Lucy, Howdy Doody Time, Lassie, The Twilight Zone, and Superman. TV progressed in many ways during this ten-year period of American history.**


 * Television was a huge source of entertainment for both kids and adults. TV sets became the focus of family living rooms all over America in the 1950’s. Life revolved around them. In 1956, some scientists did a study on how much television the average child (aged 10-16) watched. The results? The average child watched 6 hours of television each day. That is equivalent to the amount of time they spent in school everyday. On November 2, 1948, NBC postponed the broadcasting of the Dewey-Truman presidential race so that Milton Berle could say good-night to his Texaco Star Theater audience. Surveys were taken to see what people did now that television was more popular, they stated that Americans were staying up later and** **neglecting customary meals in the dining room for TV dinners and watching the tube. And even though TV controlled life, only about 9% of Americans owned them.**
 * In 1951, the first ever coast-to-coast broadcasting presented President Truman launching the Japanese Peace Treaty located in San Francisco. In 1953, television began to screen programs in color. And in 1954, the Army-McCarthy hearings were showed on air. Because of the Korean crisis and the American rearmament program the use of strategic metals were cut down. This affected television production because nearly all strategic metals (indium, germanium, and selenium) are used in TV’s. In addition, the high cost of programming caused a clear loss of $25,261,000 in 1950 for the telecasting industry. Also, political advertising on television started with President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950’s while he ran for presidency.**


 * The years between 1953 and 1955 are considered the Golden Age of Television. Programming started to go out of the box. Sylvester Weaver, president of NBC, created the programs Today and The Tonight Show after magazine formats. ABC formed youth- oriented shows such as Disneyland and The Mickey Mouse Club. NBC and CBS borrowed from another standard altogether: theater. They offered remarkable programs such as The U.S. Steel Hour and Playhouse 90. Quiz shows such as The $64,000 Question and Twenty-One were also on air.**


 * One of the most popular shows of the 1950’s was I Love Lucy. The show was created in 1951 by Lucille Ball and her real-life husband, Desi Arnaz, who played a married couple, Ricky and Lucy Ricardo, who went through comic mishaps together with their friends and neighbors Fred and Ethel Mertz, portrayed by William Frawly and Vivian Vance.**


 * [[image:I_Love_Lucy2.jpg width="203" height="267" align="left"]]Originally, Lucille starred on the CBS radio program “My Favorite Husband”, when CBS asked Lucy to switch from radio to television, she and Desi bought the RKO film studio properties and created their own production company,** Desilu.


 * Within four months of filming, I Love Lucy was rated number one on the charts in New York. Marshall Fields even began closing early on Monday nights because they didn’t want to contend with the I Love Lucy crowd. By 1952 rolled around, over 10 million households around America were watching the program on a regular basis. It quickly rose to the top all over the United States. On January 19, 1953, the episode when Lucy gave birth to baby Ricky was watched by a likely 44 million people. The series ended in 1956, but the CBS network continued to air re-runs until 1961.**


 * Television changed America in many ways. Not only was it an effective way to entertain the population, it also benefited political campaigns. Existence revolved around this new source of amusement for Americans, if something looked cool in a commercial, the kids just HAD to get it. The TV progressed so much during the 1950’s and added a lot to pop culture.[[image:I_Love_Lucy3.jpg align="right"]]**

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