Television in the United States

Table of Contents

Introduction
Overview
The Golden Age: 1948–59
- Getting started
- Early genres
  - Variety shows
  - Anthology series
  - Developing genres
  - Sitcoms
- The freeze
- News and politics
  - The political commercial
  - Nixon’s “Checkers” speech
  - The red scare
  - Responding to McCarthy
- The late Golden Age
The year of transition: 1959
The 1960s
- The Kennedy-Nixon debates
- Minow’s “vast wasteland”
  - Rural humour
  - Escapism
- A potpourri of genres
- Technology and educational TV
  - Satellites
  - Educational TV
The late 1960s and early ’70s: the relevance movement
- The new cultural landscape
  - All in the Family
  - The Mary Tyler Moore Show
  - M*A*S*H
  - The development of sports programming
- Media versus the federal government
  - The Prime Time Access Rule and “fin-syn”
  - TV violence and self-regulation
The late 1970s: the new escapism
- “Jiggle TV”
- The era of the miniseries
The 1980s: television redefined
- The growth of cable TV
  - CNN
  - MTV
- Quality dramas
- Nighttime soaps
- The late shows
- Tabloid TV
- Reorganization and deregulation
The 1990s: the loss of shared experience
- Demographic divergence
  - Urban humour
  - The newsmagazines
  - Teen dramas and adult cartoons
  - New boundaries: the growth of cable
- Conglomerates and codes
The 21st century
- Breaking news
- Cable news as entertainment
- The return of the game show
- Reality TV
- Prime time in the new century
- The “new technologies”

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images & Videos

Watch a 1954 episode of “The Buick-Berle Show” featuring Milton Berle and a guest appearance by Mickey Rooney

George Burns and Gracie Allen

Jay Silverheels and Clayton Moore in The Lone Ranger

Watch an episode of the television game show “You Bet Your Life” hosted by Groucho Marx

The Honeymooners

Watch “The Honeymooners,” a 1951 sketch from Cavalcade of Stars

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz

A pioneer in broadcast journalism

Television in the United States: Related Content

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Photos and Videos

George Burns and Gracie Allen

Jay Silverheels and Clayton Moore in The Lone Ranger

The Honeymooners

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz

A pioneer in broadcast journalism

scene from the television series Leave It to Beaver

Robert Stack in the role of Eliot Ness

Watch a 1954 episode of “The Buick-Berle Show” featuring Milton Berle and a guest appearance by Mickey Rooney

Watch an episode of the television game show “You Bet Your Life” hosted by Groucho Marx

Watch “The Honeymooners,” a 1951 sketch from Cavalcade of Stars

See the episode “A Wife for Andy” from The Andy Griffith Show, 1963

Watch the first episode of the television comedy “The Beverly Hillbillies”

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Topics

United States television Emmy Award Nielsen ratings

USA 2006 - 78th Annual Academy Awards. Closeup of giant Oscar statue at the entrance of the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, film movie hollywood

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Viola Davis accepts the award for outstanding lead actress in a drama series for "How to Get Away With Murder"at the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 20, 2015, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

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1970s style television set with static on the screen, on a small table with a doily underneath. (retro style)

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