FTV 375FTV Notes.very helpful notes. CLEAR AND PRECISE

Film and Television Notes The Dawn of the Golden Age of TV: Early Television ● Goldbergs=Proto Sitcom ● Texaco Star Theater=Variety Show ● Industry Structure ○ Industry structure modeled after radio: ■ Privately ow ...

Film and Television Notes The Dawn of the Golden Age of TV: Early Television ● Goldbergs=Proto Sitcom ● Texaco Star Theater=Variety Show ● Industry Structure ○ Industry structure modeled after radio: ■ Privately owned networks(no gov), commercially operated, domestic reception ■ Model TV on the structure of the radio ■ Movies are the preeminent ○ Networks ■ NBC (National Broadcasting Company) -David Sarnoff 1. Created to sell RCA Televisions and radios 2. Founding fathers of broadcast television ■ CBS (Columbia Broadcasting Service) -William S. Paley 1. Founding fathers of broadcast television ■ ABC (American Broadcasting Company) ■ Dumont 1. Did not come from a radio network originally ○ Government Regulations ■ Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 1. Used to be FRC (Federal Radio Commission) 2. Regulates indecency ■ Airwaves a public good: regulate content and industry ■ TV is the only medium that is regulated by the government ■ Avoid anything that can allow the people to turn the channel ● The Growth of Television ○ Rapidly becomes the dominant mass medium in the U.S. ■ 1948: 20 commercial television stations: first fully scheduled TV season ■ 1950: 98 ■ 1954: 233 ■ 1960: 440 ○ 90% market penetration by 1960 ○ An average of 5 million T.V. sets sold per year ○ Families decreased film going by 20-30% (Hollywood is struggling) ● TV Programming ○ Initially all live programming: required a national network ■ Differentiation form film: a feeling of novel immediacy ■ Low brow entertainment:” Cheap, visual, and easy to produce”■ Single sponsorship ○ Popular early TV format: Anthology Dramas (“Teleplays”) ■ Produced by critically acclaimed Broadway talent ■ They are characters who show up once and changes each time ■ High culture/prestige: addressed societal anxieties in dramatic scenarios ■ All urban audience ○ Marty- Telecast live on May 24th, 1953 ■ Philco Televisions playhouse (1948-1955) on NBC ■ Best Oscar Winner ● Working Class/ Ethnics Comedies ○ The Goldbergs (CBS, 1949-1951/NBC, 1952-1954/Dumont, 1954) ■ Single Sponsorship: General Foods (Sanka) ■ Written and produced by Gertrude Berg ■ Jewish working-class family living in New York ■ Focus on urban, multigeneration extended families ■ CBS cancels the Goldbergs because the father in The Goldberg was a communist. ○ Ethnic centered shows phased out by 1958 due to: ■ “Least Objectionable Programming 1. A policy that the networks adopted that nothing is offensive in the channel 2. A new focus on the middle-class, suburban family to please advertisers ○ Texaco Star Theater (NBC; 1948-1956) ■ Originated as a radio program on NBC in 1940 ■ Drew approximately 75% of the viewing audience on TV 1. Nothing else can compare to this ■ Low brow broad comedy ■ Milton Berle (“Uncle Miltie” & “Mr. Television) 1. The mediums’ first superstar ■ Vaudeville: A popular form of live stage entertainment 1. Provides the main templates for the TV’s variety show format 2. Commonly featured ethnic and racial comedy The Golden Age of Television: The Sitcom ● The Golden Age: Industry Practices ○ Two primary industrial changes: ■ Dictate what is going to be aired by the network ■ 1950’s TV is the predominant medium■ 1) Television expands across the U.S. ● TV’S appear must broaden beyond urban viewers and sensibilities ● “Least Objectionable Programming” (LOP); homogenizes content(Content does not alienate people) ■ 2) Move to filmed programming ● Prompted by the rise of episodic narrative programs (Popular) ● Transition from live filming in NY to filmed productions in LA ● Off-network syndication market ○ TV Programming ○ Schedule: primetime (7-10pm/8-11pm) ○ Format: News, sports, game shows ■ Narrative series: episodic vs. serialized ● Episodic: plot repetition and character continuity, maintain the status quo ● TV as habit medium; audiences build relationships with characters ● A lot of serialized shows today ● Episodic is easier to digest and it won’t make a difference if you miss a show ○ Genre: Composed of recurring narrative and aesthetic codes (conventions) ■ The classification/construction of meaning; addresses cultural context ■ Addresses family and gender roles ○ Styles: Verisimilitude: the appearance of being like the real world ■ They try to not do scenic shots and do more up-close shots ○ Local Television Stations ■ Owned and Operated Stations (O&Os) ● Owned and operated by the networks. Complete control=more money) ■ Network affiliated stations (“affiliates”) ● Independently owned, but contract with a network to show their content ■ Independent stations ● Independent from networks and only showed localized programming and news and bought programs to air on their stations. ○ Commercially-based medium; consumerist focus ■ Shift to “Magazine style” advertising in the mid- 1950s■ Audiences “sold” to advertisers (“eyeballs”) ■ Measured by Nielsen Ratings; establishes ad rates ● Ratings; Each point represents 1% of total American households with TVs ● Share: The percentage of all TVs switched in and tuned to a specific program ● Game of Thrones(5.8) is a big rating for HBO ● Post WWII Culture and Social Context ○ Post-war economic boom ■ Conversion from a wartime economy to a consumer-driven economy ● Want movies, can’t buy cars, 25% unemployment, 50% underemployment ■ Pent up consumer demand from the Depression and war rationing ■ G.I. Bill subsidizes education and homeownership ● More education and homeownership(suburbs) ■ Population dispersion into the suburbs; automobile sales increase ● Create interstates ■ The middle class grow significantly ○ Commodity Culture ■ An economy is driven by the manufacture/consumption of consumer good