Early Television: The Dawn of a New Era

Where to even begin with television? Without sounding like a wikipedia page, the concept of television has been around since the 1800s. However, any version with even a minute resemblance to television now, only came to be in the 1920s. Television broadcasts became commonplace post World War II. For the sake of this editorial, we shall be discussing television from 1950 onward. 

After being on radio since 1932, Jack Benny went on to do television for 15 years, with a five year overlap between the TV and radio shows.
Well!

Television was a completely new media. Interesting to the consumer, but rather daunting for show business. They were now being asked to combine the production scale, time and effort required for film-making, with the regularity and recurring cast members of radio. For some, this was not an issue. Jack Benny, for instance, made his journey into television as early as 1950. Quiz shows also came out of the woodwork at alarming speeds. 

Bud Collyer's Beat the Clock (1950-58):
A favorite early TV show of mine.

Dragnet (1951-59) Was well known for this.
Same episodes, same actors, same scripts.
Genius.

Similar to its auditory counterpart, television appealed to what the public wanted. The public enjoyed westerns, so every major network had an adventure on their lineup. The public wanted playhouse style shows like Lux theater, or Ford, and so it was. Entire shows were converted from radio to television, with such minimal changes that one could listen to an episode on their way home from work, and without missing a beat, catch the same script by the same people on their television set. 

With the advent of television came a sobering concept for many a performer: The death of radio. Although radio still exists to this day, and probably will for a long time, people no longer tune in to radio for the same purpose and for the same length of time anymore. Television could definitely be blamed for this, and it was foreshadowed since back then.

 To combat this, many performers made a switch. Steve Allen, Jack Benny, Lucille Ball, them and their producers jumped on the bandwagon before it was too late. Many did so begrudgingly. There's a lot of quotes from famous comedians of back there chastising television (One of my favorite being Fred Allen's quote, "Television is a medium because anything well done is rare,")

Fred Allen did eventually get into TV,
attempting his own show and being on over 50 episodes
of What's My Line before his death in 1956.

Needless to say, much has changed since television's fledgling years. Through blacklists (Soon to be covered), scandals, cancellations, TV prevailed. More than 70 years later, all we can do is look back there and appreciate. Appreciate those who took a leap of faith which paid off for years to come. Those who walked so the shows we have now could run. Television from back there was not so coveted then as it was now,  it's actually one of the largest sources of lost media. There's a lot to find, but like all things meant to be free, there are those who essay to hoard it, and keep it locked up. However, television, if nothing else, is expansive. There's bound to be something back there for you.

 Who knows? Maybe you'll discover the writers' inspiration for your favorite show, or a show your parents would tune into religiously, or one that you just might from now on. Many shows aren't considered up to par for modern viewing because of problems with taping or the finicky kinescope process of the early 1950s, so that rules out cable, but where there's a will, there's a way.

I hope to see you back there.

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