The importance of that event for rural America went beyond the fact that rural residents knew in real time that Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson were running for President against each other.
Between and , the number of households in the U. The number of commercial TV stations rose from 69 to Between and , the percentage of households in the U. Television programming has had a huge impact on American and world culture.
Many critics have dubbed the s as the Golden Age of Television. TV sets were expensive and so the audience was generally affluent. Television programmers knew this and they knew that serious dramas on Broadway were attracting this audience segment. So, the producers began staging Broadway plays in the television studios. Miller wrote plays specifically for television. As the households with TVs multiplied and spread to other segments of society, more varied programming came in.
Situation comedies and variety shows were formats that were borrowed from radio. In , the network was broadcasting in color only if an advertiser would help pay for the added cost [ 15 ]. What led to this surge in interest?
The battle for ratings. A preliminary study released in March of by ARB and paid for by all three networks led NBC to announce that its color programming would give it a 1. The study compared 4, color homes with 4, black-and-white homes.
According to ARB, the report was rushed to the networks before a final check could be performed because the networks could not wait. NBC acknowledged that there were some errors but insisted they were not significant [ 18 ]. In any event, the thought of NBC enjoying any sort of lead in the ratings simply because its programming was in color provided the impetus the other networks needed to jump headfirst into color broadcasting.
NBC planned to broadcast the vast majority of its primetime programming — all but two shows — in color at the start of the season. Only Convoy because of black and white stock footage and I Dream of Jeannie due to the cost of expensive special effects would be aired in black and white [ 19 ]. Color was on its way! If was the watershed moment for color broadcasting, there was still the small problem of the viewing public not having color television sets.
According to NBC, there were only 2,, color households in the United States as of January 1st, though that was up from 1,, on January 1st, [ 25 ]. By July 1st, the number stood at 3,, and on October 1st it was at 4,, color sets [ 26 ], [ 27 ]. Programs that had started prior to the season, or premiered in black-and-white during it, were forced to convert to color at the start of the season, when all three networks were broadcasting their entire prime time line-ups in color, aside from news specials and films originally shot in black-and-white much of the daytime programming on ABC and CBS was still in black-and-white [ 35 ].
For programs that were in color the networks went to great lengths to insure viewers were aware of the vibrant entertainment they could be watching. NBC became the first all-color network when daytime game show Concentration switched to color on November 7th, [ 39 ]. In January of , TVB found that households with color television sets were watching between 40 and 70 more minutes of television on a daily basis than households with black-and-white sets [ 40 ].
The rush to color began in earnest prior to the start of the season and for the most part was completed by the time the season rolled around. It was left to viewers to catch up with the networks and purchase color television sets in order or be stuck watching in crummy old black-and-white. On the other hand, by refusing to allow Joey Bishop to continue filiming his sitcom in color after he moved from NBC to CBS in the fall of , that killed any chance of selling his show in syndication after it ended in a mix of black-and-white and color episodes were NOT what local stations were interested in.
I can remember as a kid seeing two other early versions of the ABC color logo with the same animation but different music themes. One may have been slightly longer. Can you find them? By , ABC apparently thought it was ok to embarrass its non-color broadcasting affiliates with the announcer mentioning that the ABC broadcast was in color.
I can remember being a toddler and having some of our neighbors come to the house and spend the evening watching our television set because it would be broadcast in color. Heck, most of the time, I just wear shorts and a t-shirt or sweat pants and a sweat shirt during the winter months. Thank God for Automatic Fine Tuning control. Just happened to be watching old school terrestrial broadcast of an obscure digital channel. Seems I was off by a decade. McHale's Navy.
Mission: Impossible. Mister Ed. The Munsters. My Favorite Martian. My Three Sons. Petticoat Junction. Star Trek. The Twilight Zone. The show would add in new characters and remove others throughout its decades-long run. While the movie is a romantic fantasy tale, the series, which stars Hope Lange, is a comedy that often plays up its paranormal aspect for laughs.
Lange won two Best Actress Emmy Awards for her work on the program. While not nearly as well-known as his variety show, the higher rating suggests that fans consider this show the better of the two offerings. Despite its realistic setting it was actually filmed at a studio in the Bronx , the show sees Toody and Muldoon encounter mostly comedic scenarios, instead of more serious crimes.
What really made the show stand apart from every other anthology series on network TV was that it was shot on location , with the entire cast and crew traveling to a new state for every episode.
You may also like: Biggest box office bombs of all time. The series is often comedic but features no laugh track, and characters often die, keeping it from falling fully into the sitcom genre. Led by Tom and Dick Smothers, the variety series features skits, monologues, and performances from major musical acts like The Who.
The series follows a young boy who accompanies his research scientist father around the world, helping him solve various mysteries and defeat adversaries. Due to high production costs , the series was canceled after a single season, though it spent years in syndication. Grandpa Munster another vampire , son Eddie a werewolf , and niece Marilyn a human rounded out the eclectic family. You may also like: best movies of all time. The show follows an officer of the Science Patrol who is given the life force and abilities of an alien and uses them to fight a host of destructive, larger-than-life monsters attacking Earth.
The series was made using Supermarionation, or electronic marionette puppets, which was popular in British television at the time. In this series, the Tracy family run International Rescue, an organization whose primary mission is to save human lives. The group uses five super-craft called the Thunderbird machines that can travel through space, sea, air, and on land to aid in their daring rescue missions. Trapped behind enemy lines, the American soldiers, under the leadership of Col. You may also like: 30 best nature documentaries of all time.
Scooby and the gang, who solve fantastical mysteries in each episode, were originally rejected by CBS , who thought the series would be too scary for kids, but after Hanna-Barbera reworked the show and moved the famous canine to the starring role, the show was picked up.
The comedy show was originally concocted as a one-time special but was so successful that NBC gave it its own regular time slot. Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin both worked as series regulars on the show at the beginning of their careers. The show included original tales mixed with stories written by well-known authors like H. Lovecraft and Algernon Blackwood.
The real Mr. Addams had very little to do with the creation of the series aside from naming the characters , but he gave it his seal of approval. The variety sketch show became a foundational part of British television, with its Christmas special bringing in 28 million viewers in its final year.
You may also like: best Westerns of all time. Eighth Air Force as they move through Europe under varying leadership. The series is based on the movie of the same name. When lead Robert Lansing was fired early in the series, TV Guide claimed to receive the most letters to their publication since John F.
Over 80 episodes of the series were made during its nine-season run, as well as a radio edition, a stage show, and two feature films. Today, the series is still recognized as one of Britain's most popular sitcoms. Regularly featuring celebrity guest stars, the series has won more Emmy Awards than any other show in television history, an incredible The hour-long episodes would feature various tales of Gothic horror, crime, and suspense.
You may also like: Most famous musician born the same year as you. Airing for five seasons, the series, one of the few filmed in front of a live audience at the time, took home 15 Emmy Awards.
Set in the fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina, it would end up running for eight seasons, bringing home two Emmy Awards and ending while still at the top of the Nielsen ratings. However, thanks to its large, devoted fan base, the franchise has been brought back to life on screens big and small a record number of times.
This is in large part thanks to the fact that alternating episodes feature different protagonists, Lt. Gil Hanley and Sgt. Chip Sanders, which allows the series to focus on a single story at a time rather than divide its attention.
Regardless of any behind-the-scenes drama, the show was a runaway success, earning 40 Emmy nominations and taking home six trophies during its 30 years on the air. The original run of the series was canceled in due to low ratings and increased competition from other networks.
The show primarily focuses on the fates of Soames and Jolyon, two wealthy cousins who choose remarkably different paths in life. Many of these stories are about fictional murders and often contain twist endings. You may also like: Lyrics to 50 famously misunderstood songs, explained. Coyote and Elmer Fudd, march across the screen. The series is perhaps best remembered for the frank, honest, and age-appropriate manner in which Fred Rogers dealt with the trickier parts of life such as anger, divorce, and war.
The show was so timeless and impactful that reruns are still regularly shown on PBS stations around the country. However, during the 11 seasons it spent on air, nearly every famous face in Hollywood , from Ronald Reagan to Robin Williams to Lucille Ball, made a guest appearance.
You may also like: Fan campaigns that saved TV shows from cancellation. Written by: Madison Troyer. Republish this story.
Don Fedderson Productions. Family Affair — The Likely Lads — NBC Enterprises. Kimba the White Lion — On the Buses — Filmways Television. Petticoat Junction — Andy Griffith Enterprises. MCA Television. My Three Sons — Screen Gems. The Jetsons —
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