词条 | Golden Age of Television |
释义 |
The first Golden Age of Television is the era of live television production in the United States, roughly from the late 1940s through the late 1950s. According to The Television Industry: A Historical Dictionary, "the Golden Age opened with Kraft Television Theatre on May 7, 1947, and ended with the last live show in the Playhouse 90 series in 1957;" [1] the Golden Age is universally recognized to have ended by 1960, as the television audience and programming had shifted to less critically acclaimed fare, almost all of it taped or filmed. Evolutions of drama on televisionPrior to approximately 1948, there had been some attempts at television programming using the mechanical television process. One of the first series made specifically for television to have a sustained run was CBS's 1931–33 murder-mystery series The Television Ghost, which ran for all 19 months that its flagship television station, then W2XAB, was on the air. The limits of mechanical television inherently meant that these productions were extremely primitive; The Television Ghost, for example, consisted entirely of a 15-minute monologue of a single actor, with the only visual shot being the actor's head. By the time electronic television was standardized in the late 1930s, some more varied experimental programs, including live sportscasts and some game shows (such as the CBS Television Quiz and Truth or Consequences), were appearing; most television service was suspended beginning in 1942 because of World War II. The decade-long period of developing television techniques allowed broadcasting companies to be prepared when the war ended and the ensuing post-war prosperity allowed for increased consumer adoption of television sets. The early days of television were a time when many hour-long anthology drama series received critical acclaim.[2][3] Examples include Kraft Television Theatre (debuted May 7, 1947), The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre (debuted September 27, 1948), Television Playhouse (debuted December 4, 1947), The Philco Television Playhouse (debuted October 3, 1948), Westinghouse Studio One (debuted November 7, 1948), and Your Show Time (debuted January 21, 1949). As a new medium, television introduced many innovative programming concepts, and prime time television drama showcased both original and classic productions, including the first telecasts of Walt Disney's programs, as well as the first telecasts of Mary Martin in Peter Pan, MGM's classic The Wizard of Oz and Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella.[4] The first screen adaptation of a James Bond story was a teleplay that aired in 1954. Critics and viewers looked forward to new teleplays by Paddy Chayefsky, Horton Foote, Tad Mosel, Reginald Rose, Rod Serling, William Templeton, Gore Vidal and others.[5][6] A few of these teleplays, including Rose's Twelve Angry Men and Chayefsky's Marty, would be adapted for film and other media and go on to great acclaim.[2][3][7] Most of these programs were produced as installments of live dramatic anthologies, such as The Philco Television Playhouse, Kraft Television Theatre and Playhouse 90. Live, abridged versions of plays like Cyrano de Bergerac, with members of the cast of the 1946 Broadway revival recreating their roles, were regularly shown during this period.[8][9] Playhouse 90 was one of the last shows of its kind; by the late 1950s, production of most American television was moving to Hollywood, which itself carried a contrasting culture and sensibility to shows based in New York City, where most Golden Age programs originated.[10] Limitations of early televisionEarly television broadcasts were limited to live or filmed productions (the first practical videotape system, Ampex's Quadruplex, only became available in 1957).[11] Broadcasting news, sports and other live events was something of a technical challenge in the early days of television and live drama with multiple cameras was extremely challenging. A live, 90-minute drama might require a dozen sets and at least that many cameras. Major set and other changes had to occur during commercials, and there were no "second takes." The cast and crew operated with the awareness of as many as 10 million people watching and any mistake went out live. After the adoption of videotape in 1957, many live dramas were shot "live to tape," still retaining a "live" television look and feel but able to both preserve the program for later broadcast and allowing the possibility of retakes (still rare since videotape editing required a razor blade and was not done unless absolutely necessary).[12] Cultural milestonesHigh culture dominated commercial network television programming in the 1950s with the first television appearances of Leonard Bernstein and Arturo Toscanini, the first telecasts from Carnegie Hall took place during this era, the first live American telecasts of plays by Shakespeare, the first telecasts of Tchaikovsky's ballets The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker and the first opera specially composed for television, Amahl and the Night Visitors. The Bell Telephone Hour, an NBC radio program, began its TV run featuring both classical and Broadway performers. All of these were broadcast on NBC, CBS and ABC, something that would be unheard of today. Commercial networks now concentrate on more popular items. The networks then had their own art critics, notably Aline Saarinen and Brian O'Doherty, something that was mostly discontinued (with the exception of film critics) by the start of the digital television era.[13][14]This high culture approach to television could be interpreted as a product of its time as networks were concerned with "cultural uplift" and viewed it as a way to cultural legitimacy on the new medium.[15] RadioMany programs of this era evolved from successful radio shows that brought polished concepts, casts and writing staffs to TV. Radio stars, in turn, had polished their craft on the vaudeville stages, many of them in the Borscht Belt within driving distance of New York City. This is one reason that quality was so consistently high during this period.[16] Even an original show like I Love Lucy drew heavily from radio, since many of those scripts were rewrites from Lucille Ball's late-1940s radio show My Favorite Husband. Shows like Gunsmoke and The Jack Benny Program ran concurrently on both radio and TV until television reception reached beyond the major metropolitan areas in the mid-1950s.[12] while others, such as Father Knows Best [17] and Fibber McGee and Molly, attempted to "flash-cut" from radio to television, to varying degrees of success.[18] I Love Lucy, in particular, took extensive steps toward matching the quality of the radio writing with a cinematic look worthy of feature films; to this effect, they established a multi-camera setup (a revolutionary process that would become an industry standard in the decades to come) to allow for a live studio audience, hired cinematographer Karl Freund to oversee filming,and recorded the series on movie-quality 35 mm film (the relatively high cost prevented the show from being filmed in color as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz had originally hoped).[19][20] By the early 1960s, about 90% of American households had a television set, and the roles of television and radio (which was largely saved from obsolescence by the invention of the far more portable transistor radio in the 1950s and the concurrent rise of higher-fidelity FM radio) had changed, so that radio was primarily a medium for music, and scripted programming became wholly the domain of television. End of the American golden ageBy the late 1950s, as television began reaching larger portions of rural America, their viewing habits began to be reflected in overall television ratings. Rural sitcoms[21] and Westerns boomed, perplexing even the writers of the shows[22] and being treated as an opportunity for callous exploitation by the network executives, who nonetheless hated the programs,[23] as did most critics. Americans' fondness for the rural sitcom and Western formats would last well into the 1960s.[24] The nation as a whole was also tiring of high-culture programming as the Baby Boomers were beginning to come of age; over the next several years, high-culture programs would be relegated to public television, where older audiences with more money were tolerated. By the 1980s, enough highbrow enthusiasts had died off that even public television began resorting to more popular fare to maintain donations. A general decline in quality had been noticed as early as 1958, as the Peabody Award committee, in issuing an award to The Steve Allen Show that year, lamented that television was "conspicuously lacking (...) genuine humor and frank experiments."[25] As filmed series such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone began to dominate during the mid-1950s and early 1960s, the period of live TV dramas was viewed as the Golden Age. Although producer David Susskind, in a 1960s roundtable discussion with leading 1950s TV dramatists, defined TV's Golden Age as 1938 to 1954, the quiz show scandals of 1958, the final show of Playhouse 90 (debuted October 4, 1956) on May 18, 1960, and the departure of leading director John Frankenheimer brought the era to an end.[26] Indeed, the 1960–61 television season was noted by Time magazine as being the worst season in television up to that point,[27] a sentiment echoed by Newton Minow, the head of the Federal Communications Commission, who lambasted the television networks for creating a "vast wasteland" of inferior programming in his speech "Television and the Public Interest."[28] Dennis James, a Golden Age host who was still active into the early 1970s hosting game shows that were not always critically acclaimed, noted that as television gained critical mass, it had picked up viewers uninterested in high culture and the networks were adjusting to maximize their viewership. Defending his upcoming series The New Price Is Right in 1972, he remarked:[29]{{cquote| The critics will always look down their noses, but you can't have The Bell Telephone Hour on and still stay in competition. They can sit around and talk about the great wasteland and everything else. If you want to read books, read books.}}In November 1960 former NBC head Sylvester "Pat" Weaver commented on the end of the Golden Age of Television in The Denver Post, saying: "Television has gone from about a dozen forms to just two – news shows and the Hollywood stories. The blame lies in the management of NBC, CBS and ABC. Management doesn't give the people what they deserve. I don't see any hope in the system as it is."[30] WorldwideCanadaCanada's Golden Age of Television timeline is very similar to the US's (in fact, most Canadians were within the broadcast range of at least one American television station by the 1950s), but there is an overall five-year delay because of the country's sparser population. CBC Television, the country's official national broadcaster, launched in 1952, and CTV Television Network, the oldest commercial network in the country, followed in 1962. Although there were a handful of efforts to produce domestic content for the Canadian networks,[31] most Golden Age shows were imported from the United States until the Can-Con requirements took effect around 1970. NigeriaNigeria has the earliest television industry on the African continent and one of the earliest in the world. The Western Nigeria Television Service (WNTV), Nigeria's and Africa's first television station, began operation in the then Western Region in October 1959. The other two regions of the country soon followed suit; with the establishment of the Eastern Nigeria Television Service (ENTV) in Enugu, in 1960, and the Radio Television Kaduna (RKTV) in Kaduna, in March 1962. Also in 1962, The Federal Government established a fourth station, the Nigerian Television Service, in the then capital, Lagos.[32] The numbers grew rapidly and in the mid-1980s, that every Nigerian state had its own broadcasting station.[33]Laws were made by regulating bodies to limit foreign contents on television, with the National Commission recommending a minimum of 60 percent local programming content for all broadcasting stations. This led television producers to begin the broadcast of local popular theatre productions.[33] Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart was adapted as a television series on National Television in 1987 and became very successful.[34] At this time, Another very successful television adaptation was the adaptation of D.O. Fagunwa's 1949 novel Igbo Olodumare. The television series, which is of the same title witnessed a tremendous success, especially in South western states, where it was reported that the show constantly left streets deserted during its broadcast on Sunday evenings.[35] Other television successes witnessed in the 1980s include series such as Adio Family, The Village Headmaster, Cock's Crow at Dawn, The Masquerade, Mirror in the Sun, Checkmate, Sura The Tailor, Second Chance and Awada Kerikeri.[34] Hausa comedy soap operas such as Karkuzu and Karambana were also quite popular in this period.[36] South Africa
United Kingdom
Soviet Union/RussiaThe "Golden Age" of the Soviet media culture is usually associated with Khrushchev Thaw, which spanned from the mid-1950s until the end of 1960s.[40][41] The live nature of television and relatively young age of the people involved in its development afforded certain level of exuberance, edginess, debate and criticism. Like in the United States, this period is notable for great many television plays broadcast on Soviet TV. For example, in 1951-1954 the Central Television Studio broadcast three to six plays a week.[42] As time went on, the quantity and quality of the theatrical television productions diminished. The reasons were technical, social and economic. Staging a new production in a television studio every other day was expensive. The shortage of mobile cameras often precluded broadcasting live performance from a theater. Theaters became increasingly reluctant to offer their shows to TV, claiming that television draws the public away from theaters. Some theatrical directors prohibited actors to participate in TV shows. Theaters started demanding payment for broadcasting of their plays, and by the end of 1960s the frequency of theatrical shows fell to one show a week.[43] Because the State Committee for Cinematography would only release older movies for TV broadcast, television studios started producing their own made-for-TV movies. The Thaw ended with the crackdown of the Prague spring. The Soviet government deemed Czechoslovak mass media, which hosted political disputes and broadcast news about protesting students and young workers, to be complicit in undermining Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Sergey Lapin, installed as the chairman of the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting in 1970, increased political oversight over television and banned shows that were critical of the system. Most programs except for the evening news were recorded beforehand and censored. This effectively ended the first "Golden Age" of the Soviet TV. The second "Golden Age" of television in Russia is associated with perestroika and glasnost of the late 1980s and with creation of private television companies in the 1990s. This period is notable for edgy talk shows and comedic productions that targeted youth, like Outlook, Till 16 and older, 12th Floor, Before and After Midnight, Oba-na. Political and economic news, live broadcasts from state Duma, critique of the government became standard fare of 1990s. In 2000s the Russian government increased its control over independent TV companies, and applied political and economic pressure to discourage them from criticizing the government and its policies. In 2001 Gazprom took ownership of the private TV company NTV, which aired several gritty programs. The satirical show Puppets, which mocked major politicians and celebrities, was terminated in 2002 after pressure from the Kremlin. In January 2002 another independent TV company TV-6 was terminated. In 2014, TV Rain was heavily criticized for asking viewers whether Leningrad should have been surrendered to the invading Nazi army in order to save hundreds of thousands of lives. After that, the largest Russian TV providers stopped carrying the channel. Ultimately, left without money from broadcasters and advertisers, TV Rain was forced to move its studio to a private apartment. Contemporary independent TV broadcasters stick mostly to unoffensive soap operas and talk shows, leaving the political programming to government-owned channels. See also{{Portal|Television|1940s|1960s}}
References1. ^Anthony Slide, ed., The Television Industry: A Historical Dictionary, Greenwood Press, 1991, p. 121. 2. ^1 {{cite news | first = Susan | last = King | title = 'The Golden Age of Television' | date = 2009-11-28 | url = http://articles.latimes.com/2009/nov/28/entertainment/la-et-classic-tv28-2009nov28 | work = Los Angeles Times | accessdate = 2011-10-30}} 3. ^1 {{cite web | url = http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=goldenage | title = 'Golden Age' of Television Drama | accessdate = 2011-10-30 | date = 2005-10-24 | publisher = The Museum of Broadcast Communications}} 4. ^{{cite web|url=http://shop.harveysheldonhistorybooks.com/product/the-history-of-the-golden-age-of-television/|title=The History of The Golden Age Of Television|date=24 February 2018|publisher=}} 5. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.criterion.com/films/3560-the-golden-age-of-television|title=The Golden Age of Television|website=The Criterion Collection}} 6. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.jfredmacdonald.com/onutv/goldenagedrama.htm|title=Golden Age of Television Drama|first=Desta|last=Elliott|website=www.jfredmacdonald.com}} 7. ^{{cite web | url = http://www.rodserling.com/PPBintro.htm | title = About Writing for Television | accessdate = 2011-10-30 | last = Serling | first = Rod | date = 1955-01-13 | publisher = ROD SERLING FOUNDATION}} 8. ^{{cite web | url = http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=1462 | title = Cyrano de Bergerac | accessdate = 2011-10-30 | publisher = The Broadway League, Inc.}} 9. ^{{cite web | url = https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0674275/ | title = Cyrano de Bergerac (#1.15) | accessdate = 2011-10-30 | publisher = IMDB.com, Inc.}} 10. ^Dowler, Kevin. Museum of Broadcast Communications: Playhouse 90 11. ^{{cite web|url=http://www3.northern.edu/wild/th100/tv.htm|title=Television in the US: History and Production|website=www3.northern.edu}} 12. ^1 {{cite web|url=http://www.cybercollege.com/frtv/frtv025.htm|title=Mass Media Course: The Golden Age of TV|first=ron|last=whittaker|website=www.cybercollege.com}} 13. ^{{cite web|url=https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/saarinen-aline-bernstein|title=Aline Saarinen – Jewish Women's Archive|website=jwa.org}} 14. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.liunet.edu/About/News/Univ-Ctr-PR/Pre-2008/June/UC_PR_004|title=UC_PR_004 – Long Island University|website=www.liunet.edu}} 15. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.museum.tv/eotv/musicontele.htm|title=The Museum of Broadcast Communications – Encyclopedia of Television – Music on Television|website=www.museum.tv}} 16. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/collections/early-television|title=Early Television – UCLA Film & Television Archive|website=www.cinema.ucla.edu}} 17. ^{{cite web|url=http://fatherknowsbest.us/History/|title=History – Father Knows Best|website=fatherknowsbest.us}} 18. ^[https://myvideoclassics.com/product/fibber-mcgee-molly/ Fibber McGee & Molly-My Video Classics] 19. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Television-Magazine/Television-1952-Jul.pdf |title=Filming 'Lucy' |publisher=Freund, Karl, Television Magazine, Volume IX, Number 7, July 1952 |accessdate=2014-08-06}} 20. ^Sanders, Coyne Steven; Gilbert, Tom (1993). Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz (William Morrow & Company, Inc.) pp. 72-81 21. ^{{cite web| url= http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=andygriffith | title= The Andy Griffith Show – U.S. Situation Comedy | first= Jerry|last= Haggins| publisher= Museum of Broadcast Communications | accessdate=May 7, 2012}} 22. ^{{Cite magazine |date=1959-03-30 |title=The Six-Gun Galahad |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,892441,00.html |magazine=TIME |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080214134022/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,892441,00.html |archive-date=2008-02-14}} 23. ^Oulahan, Richard; and William Lambert. "The Tyrant's Fall That Rocked the TV World: Until He Was Suddenly Brought Low, Jim Aubrey Ruled the Air". Life Magazine. September 10, 1965. 90+. 24. ^{{cite news|title=Fourth TV Network Looming on Horizon|author=William E. Sarmento|newspaper=Lowell Sun|page=20|date=July 24, 1966}} 25. ^Winners Archive Search {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080726170249/http://www.peabody.uga.edu/winners/search.php |date=2008-07-26 }} from the Peabody Awards website 26. ^{{cite web|url=http://wcftr.commarts.wisc.edu/exhibits/golden-age-television/playhouse-90-and-end-golden-age|title=Playhouse 90 and the End of the Golden Age – wcftr.commarts.wisc.edu|website=wcftr.commarts.wisc.edu}} 27. ^{{cite news| url=http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,872198,00.html | title= Television: The Season | date=March 31, 1961| accessdate=2009-10-11 | quote=As the bloodstained 1960–61 season crawled toward its grave last week, it had proved one thing to everybody's satisfaction: it was the worst in the 13-year history of U.S. network television. | work=Time}} 28. ^{{cite book| last = Castleman| first = Harry| authorlink = |author2= Walter J. Podrazik| title = Watching TV: Four Decades of American Television| publisher = McGraw-Hill| year = 1982| location = New York| pages = 139–146| url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-07-010269-4}} 29. ^http://www.radicalsoftware.org/volume2nr2/pdf/VOLUME2NR2_art03.pdf 30. ^[https://books.google.com/books?id=sWjhCESKy4AC&pg=PA252&lpg=PA252 Fifties Television: The Industry and Its Critics], William Boddy, University of Illinois Press, 1992, {{ISBN|978-0-252-06299-5}}, p. 252 31. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl28DmMnCjA|title=The Golden Age of Canadian Television !|first=|last=triunearts|date=6 September 2011|publisher=|via=YouTube}} 32. ^{{cite web | url=https://www.academia.edu/4731908/The_Blossoming_of_the_Nigerian_Video_Film_Industry | title=The Blossoming of the Nigerian Video Film Industry | publisher=Academia | accessdate=7 April 2015 | author=Obiaya, Ikechukwu}} 33. ^1 {{cite journal| url=http://www.transcampus.org/JORINDV10Jun2012/Jorind%20Vol10%20No2%20Jun%20Chapter32.pdf |last1=Nnabuko|first1=J.O. |last2=Anatsui |first2=Tina C.|title= NOLLYWOOD MOVIES AND NIGERIAN YOUTHS-AN EVALUATION |journal= JORIND |date=June 2012|volume=10 |issue=2|accessdate=18 February 2015|issn=1596-8308 }} 34. ^1 {{cite web | url=http://web.ccsu.edu/afstudy/upd11-2.html | title=Editorial: Nigerian Film Industry | publisher=Africa Update Vol. XI, Issue 2 | work=Central Connecticut State University | date=Spring 2004| accessdate=16 July 2014 | author=Emeagwali, Gloria }} 35. ^{{cite web | url=http://www.thenationonlineng.net/archive2/tblnews_Detail.php?id=39783 | title=The Nation Archive – D. O. Fagunwa:The bard resonates from the tomb | publisher=The Nation | work=The Nation Newspapers | date=12 December 2007 | accessdate=21 October 2014 | deadurl=yes | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208113149/http://www.thenationonlineng.net/archive2/tblnews_Detail.php?id=39783 | archivedate=8 December 2015 | df= }} 36. ^{{cite book | title=Introduction to Mass Communication in Nigeria | publisher=Spectrum Books Limited | author=Sambe, J. A. | year=2008 | location=Ibadan, Nigeria}} 37. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z28k3SmZ5U|title=First official TV Broadcast in South Africa in 1976 – Eerste SAUK TV-Uitsending in 1976|first=|last=glbuys|date=6 September 2009|publisher=|via=YouTube}} 38. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.retrowow.co.uk/television/television.html|title=Television in the 50s|website=www.retrowow.co.uk}} 39. ^The History of the BBC: 1970s (BBC) {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080105054342/http://www.bbc.co.uk/heritage/story/history_text.shtml |date=January 5, 2008 }} 40. ^{{cite web|url=http://en.vestnik.udsu.ru/files/originsl_articles/vuu_06_12_05.pdf|title=The dusk of the Third Rome: the crisis of the identity of 20th-century Russia (in Russian)|publisher=Udmurt University|first1=Igor|last1=Kondakov|first2=Lilia|last2=Brusilovskaya|year=2006|accessdate=September 4, 2018}} 41. ^{{cite web|url=http://vestnik.yspu.org/releases/2016_3/57.pdf|title=Cultural memory of the nation in modern Russia mass consciousness (in Russian)|first=T.|last=Zlotnikova|year=2016|accessdate=September 5, 2018}} 42. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.tvmuseum.ru/catalog.asp?ob_no=6285&page=2|title=About the literary-dramatic studio of Central Television (in Russian)|first=Victor|last1=Kozlovsky|accessdate=September 4, 2018|page=2}} 43. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.tvmuseum.ru/catalog.asp?ob_no=6285&page=3|title=About the literary-dramatic studio of Central Television (in Russian)|first=Victor|last1=Kozlovsky|accessdate=September 4, 2018|page=3}} Further reading
External links
5 : 1940s in American television|1950s in American television|1960s in American television|Golden ages (metaphor)|History of television in the United States |
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