Network TV

Friday, December 16th, 2011

Network television as we know it came into being 60 years ago, when AT&T threw the switch on the first transcontinental coaxial cable:

Oct. 15, 1951: “I Love Lucy,” the first Hollywood-based sitcom to be shot on film with three cameras in front of a live studio audience. Lucille Ball’s zany antics soon made it the most popular show on the air. At a time when there were only 15 million TV sets in America, 11 million families watched “I Love Lucy” every Monday night.

Nov. 18, 1951: “See It Now,” the first TV newsmagazine, whose first episode opened with a shot of two control-room monitors. One showed a live picture of the Statue of Liberty, the other a live picture of the Golden Gate Bridge. Edward R. Murrow, the host, was visibly impressed: “For the first time, man has been able to sit at home and look at two oceans at the same time.” It may sound quaint now, but 60 years ago that image took people’s breaths away.

Dec. 16, 1951: “Dragnet,” the first filmed crime drama to make extensive use of location shooting. When Jack Webb opened each episode by saying “This is the city,” he meant Los Angeles, not a cramped TV studio somewhere in midtown Manhattan — and that’s what you saw on the small screen.

Sound familiar? It should — just as it did in 1951. Not only did “See It Now,” “I Love Lucy” and “Dragnet” originate on radio, but they’re still being imitated. Mr. Murrow’s show was the grandfather of “60 Minutes,” whose creator, Don Hewitt, can actually be seen on camera calling the shots in the first episode of “See It Now,” which he directed. The three-camera system used to film “I Love Lucy” became and remained ubiquitous. And every police procedural TV series on the air today owes an incalculable debt to the no-nonsense just-the-facts-ma’am storytelling of “Dragnet,” which inspired Dick Wolf to create the “Law & Order” franchise.

This isn’t to say that network TV hasn’t undergone drastic changes in the course of the past 60 years. Take a look at the TV listings for a typical week in 1951 and you’ll be surprised by much of what you see there. Sixty years ago, most TV programs were still broadcast live from New York, and prime time was dominated by variety shows, game shows and hour-long “anthology drama” series. While many were banal, some were impressively sophisticated. NBC’s “Your Show of Shows,” which starred Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca, was written by Mel Brooks, Neil Simon and Carl Reiner and featured sharply observed comic skits that remain fresh to this day. Up-and-coming young writers like Paddy Chayefsky, Horton Foote and Rod Serling regularly sold scripts to “Kraft Television Theater,” “Philco Television Playhouse” and “Studio One.” Those were the days of “The Frank Sinatra Show,” Groucho Marx’s witty “You Bet Your Life” and TV’s classiest guessing game, “What’s My Line?” (The panelists included Bennett Cerf, the president of Random House, and everyone on the show wore evening dress.)

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