A pie aimed at a face, six buckets nailed to a board, calling it a “grand prize game”, now that was children’s television. It is hard to believe that something as simple as that already satisfied a child’s need and thirst for entertainment, a simpler time and way of life.
In today’s day and age of over 500-channel cables and satellite television, HDTV, and not to mention the Internet and Netflix, it could be challenging to envision a period when home entertainment consisted mainly of a half-dozen local and network television channels, having most of its product created at the local level. In a time like this, where attentions spans are relatively short, it may be difficult to picture children who were fascinated by the low-key antics of puppet,
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It was not until the year 1964 when programs designed for kids were produced and aired. From the late 1940’s to the early 1970’s, local television stations shaped a golden age of children’s television that was somehow set apart from the stereotypical American broadcasting. Despite the show barely holding on to their budgets, the programs were definitely equipped with being creative and had a rich fanbase.
In 1972, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) changed the regulations governing the relationship between sponsors and local programming, effectively bringing the genre to a close since the programs operated under strict budgetary constraints, a golden age of children’s television unique in American broadcasting.
The title of the book is The Golden Age of Chicago Children’s Television by authors Jack Mulqueen and Ted Okuda. It tells the true tales of children’s television produced or aired in Chicago from the 1940’s to the 1970’s where the imagination that fueled the whole production teams of these shows was limitless. The classic productions such as Kukla, Fran & Ollie, Garfield Goose, Bozo’s Circus, and many more, truly mesmerized the imagination of generations. Moreover, the book digs deeper into the amazing history and trivia behind the popular shows, from the lives of the stars and hosts to what gave television executives sudden fits and much
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His most recent book credits involve coauthoring Charlie Chaplin at Keystone and Essanay: Dawn of the Tramp David Maska, contributing chapters for Guilty Pleasures of the Horror Film and Science Fiction America, and writing the foreword for Castle Films: A Hobbyist’s Guide. Other than that, he has discussed film, television, and pop culture topics on The Today Show, Chicago Tonight, Nude Hippo: Your Chicago Show, and NBC Channel 5 News. Okuda was also a research consultant for the cable access anthology series The Kings of
As this suburban sprawl of the fifties took America by storm, Spiegel discusses how television provided a necessary means of escapism for frustrated families. The first television show, broadcast in 1949, was a very simple program in which a man and woman sit watching and discussing the TV. Although by today's standards this would be seen as unsurpassingly boring to audiences, this simple show provided a stress relief and easy entertainment; it seemed as though audiences enjoyed watching programs which, similar to their own situation, seemed more rewarding.
How many people today watch family sitcoms to imitate or compare values with their own? Probably not as many as there were in the 1950s. In Stephanie Coontz's "What We Really Miss about the 1950s", she discusses why people feel more nostalgic towards growing up in the 1950s, and how she disagrees that 1950s wasn't the decade that we really should like or remember best. Apart from economic stability, family values played an important part then. Through television sitcoms, such as "Leave it to Beaver", "Father knows Best", families watched them to make sure they were living correctly. It was like guidance and somewhat reassurance. However, values of families have changed, and this is shown on sitcoms today. We watch sitcoms today for entertainment, and sometimes we can relate to them because the setting is realistic. In the modern sitcom, "Gilmore Girls" characters and plot are used to demonstrate family values such as gender roles, children roles, economic status, morals, ethics and general organization of a family that differ from the values shown in the 1950s sitcoms.
Fiske, John. Television Culture. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1987: Chs. 10, 11. Print. 5
The many evils that exist within television’s culture were not foreseen back when televisions were first put onto the market. Yet, Postman discovers this very unforgiveable that the world did not prepare itself to deal with the ways that television inherently changes our ways of communication. For example, people who lived during the year 1905, could not really predict that the invention of a car would not make it seem like only a luxurious invention, but also that the invention of the car would strongly affect the way we make decisions.
Clifford, Brian R., Barrie Gunter, and Jill L. McAleer. Television and Children: Program Evaluation, Comprehension, and Impact. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1995. Print.
“In the late 1960s, a television producer named Joan Ganz Cooney set out to start an epidemic. Her targets were three-, four-, and five-year-olds. Her agent of infection was television, and the “virus” she wanted to spread was literacy” (Gladwell 89). The Tipping Point is a book on the study of epidemics- including mental epidemics and trends. Sesame Street, still one of the most iconic shows to date, is an epidemic; the splurge of knowledge that appeared in children after it began to air is undeniable. The show started production in New York in 1968. Shows for children such as Sesame Street support children in school and throughout life by teaching them memorable lessons from helpful muppets. Nevertheless, how and
The ‘Golden Age of Television’ is what many refer to as the period between the 1950s and 60s when the television began to establish itself as a prevalent medium in the United States. In 1947, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), and the Du Mont Network were the four main television networks that ran stations with regular programming taking place. (Television, 2003) While regular television programming was a new innovation, the television itself had been commercially available for over twenty years prior to the 50s. It was conceived by many worldly innovators and went through several testing stages before it was finally completed in the late twenties. The three main innovators were Niplow - who first developed a rotating disk with small holes arranged in a spiral pattern in 1884, Zworykin - who developed the Iconoscope which could scan pictures and break them into electronic signals (a primitive form of the Cathode Ray Tube) in 1923, and lastly Fansworth - who demonstrated for the first time that it was possible to transmit an electrical image in 1927. (Rollo, 2011) However, one of the many reasons why this medium was successful in the 50s was due to the fact that it became more accessible to the public. Television sets were more affordable to middle class citizens which created further interest in the new technology. Through an historical account of the medium, the spread of television across America throughout this particular decade will be examined.
The most popular programs depicting these neighbourhoods, such as Father Knows Best, Leave it to Beaver and The Donna Reed Show, had no significant black character roles. Overall, portrayals of people of color were few and far between during the early years of television programming, particularly rare was the depiction of non-white families.”
“Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” has been a success throughout its airing of over 45 years. In its long success, few contradictions surface when discussing the positive influences of the famous children’s television show. However, many spoofs have been created about “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” and general complaints about the show and Rogers’ personality have been created also.
Television has become a big part in children’s day-to-day lives especially in the 20th century. Children in this century rely on television to keep them entertained and educated instead of entertaining and educating themselves by participating in activities, which will teach them a lot more in life then the actual television. There is no doubt that children are most easily influenced by television because of the different content that they watch as well as the amount of time consumed watching TV. The television does have an emotional and intellectual development on children but this all depends on the content that they’re watching and the way that they absorb the information that the show is trying to send out. Different programs will portray
Over time there has been a major debate over television and children. Some think that kids shouldn’t watch it, some say that it is okay in moderation, and others say it doesn’t have any effects. The real debate starts when one starts to talk about the content of the shows. Sesame Street is a show that most would say is for all ages, but is it truly educational? Can kids really learn from it?
These important questions on the topic of children’s television viewing in its early beginnings continue to be debated in society. The creation of children’s television shows in the 1940s and 1950s offered children pure entertainment and very little smart education. According to Palmer, “there were a few shows that did teach children values and morals, but the true educational television shows for children did not appear until the late 1960s(28). Not only educational shows, but public television shows, dialogue, help in increasing a child’s vocabulary and in improving he/she speaking skills. Therefore, parents should encourage their children to watch more public television today because public television helps children to read.
Television is something that is easily accessible for any child. I can agree with Postman when he stated that the transformation of childhood was when literacy disappeared, education disappeared, shame disappeared and essentially childhood disappeared. Though, he predicted all of this in the 90’s, I see it happening every day. The culture of our current generation of children has completely changed from when I was a child and the young are more tech-savvy than generations before (Postman, 1994).
Since the dawn of man, entertainment has come shortly after food, water, and shelter on our list of priorities. When the first humans were hunting and gathering in the Great Rift Valley, they passed the time by communicating stories and drawing on cave walls. Not only were these the first forms of entertainment, but were also important in passing down history and cultural values. Many other forms of entertainment can be linked to other aspects of history such as sports, politics, theatre, and art. Entertainment is often the motivation behind history’s greatest spectacles. The Roman Colosseum, one of the 7 Wonders of the World, was built to host huge events that could hold thousands of spectators. Even today’s laptops, computers, and cell phones are used for amusement. But all these inventions stem from one common purpose; entertainment.
In conclusion, Television gives to children many types of entertainment with useful education. However, the television could use unnecessary channel for children without their parents controlling. The television could be a remarkable coincidence for the children.