The Golden Age of Television/08728

FOREWORD Television was an overnight success that was decades in the making. Both scientists and poets had dreamed of a personal medium for communicating images and sound for years before the many technical components were put into place. Massive obstacles to the problems of definition, compatibility and resolution meant that no one person or nation can be credited with the invention of television. Even when the medium became viable, there were problems of manufacturing, affordability and program creation to be resolved. The fickle muse of technology, as well as Depression and war, impeded the progress of television's popularity until 1948. The period between 1948 and 1960 may be justly described as the Golden Age of television. It was in the post-World War II era that programming exploded to fill the airwaves with exciting shows and the medium's first major stars. By 1960 the original shows, formats and stars had evolved to a point that marks off a new era, and television was experiencing the changes and crises of its second age. The Golden Age in America was dominated by four networks: ABC, CBS, DuMont and NBC. British television, as overviewed by David Lazell, had both the BBC and independent programming. Nostalgia and reputations can play funny tricks: not all of vintage television was excellent, and some of what is remembered fondly would be better forgotten. What seems like a milestone can sometimes be a millstone. But overall, it was an era of excitement and innovation, and much of early television was both brilliant and unique -pieces of our past that deserve to be recalled. Both the good and the bad are recorded here, the idealism and the moments that fell short of the ideal. In one short period - the dozen or so years that comprise the Golden Age - America adopted a new obsession that evolved into an irreducible part of our culture and the world's. Television reveals unerringly something about ourselves. What we watch, what we enjoy, what we tune out, even what fails to outrage us, all reflect the society of which we are constituents. In the new age of information technology, many children see more of television than of their fathers, and can recite advertising jingles before their national anthems. Public opinion is formed by news broadcasts, and issues of national and global importance are affected by their presentation on television. The genesis of all this was during the Golden Age. My students in television history at New York's School of Visual Arts (most of them born after the Golden Age ended) are constantly - and pleasantly- surprised by the wealth and quality of Golden Age television. Whether one remembers or discovers, there is much in the recent past of this magical entertainment medium to appreciate and, it is hoped, to learn from. Stay tuned.

• RICHARD MARSCHALL