![["Television"]](ractelevis.gif){kind=small}
Rey's Television Page
During the late 1940's and early 1950's small groups of people use to gather on the sidewalk and stand outside the display window of a department store to watch television. One store was not more than 3 blocks from my house. A small speaker was usually attached outside, so the sound from the show would also be available. These gatherings are the earliest memories of my TV time. The Harris family was the first on my block to get a TV and since their daughter was my age, they would invite me over to watch. I remember how small the screen was and I think at some time it even had a special magnifying screen that could be attached to make the picture seem even bigger.
When the first TV set arrived at my house, for some reason it wound up in my room! I would go to sleep often leaving other members of my family watching drama shows. In the early days of dramatic programming, shows were often divided into Act 1, Act 2, Act 3, etc, paralleling theatre or stage play structure. My older brother told me that many times I would wake up during the evening asking, "What act is this?"
Programming was rather sparse and stations often signed off leaving a test pattern running over night. The test patterns became famous and I can still visualize the Indian head that was in the centre of the pattern. Partly the purpose of the pattern was to allow you to adjust your set to improve contrast, sharpness, brightness, etc, all things which are so automatic today.
It might come as a surprise to people today, but when TV first started, movie theatres and motion picture companies were dead set against it. They thought it would be the end of the movie world. This resistance is somewhat like how cable and TV networks battle it out or how they resist the transmission of TV via the Internet.
However, I remember a very unusual event. When the Coronet (movie) theatre was built on Geary Street just a couple of blocks from my house, the owners decided to create an additional room off the lobby of the theatre that contained, of all things, a giant projector screen TV viewing area. You could buy a ticket for the movie and then also watch TV. I don't know if this ever happened any place else, but I recall how cool it was to be able to spend time watching TV and a movie. This type of creative response had a powerful effect on me. I often think of it when I am trying to find ways today to manage seemingly incompatible concepts, ideas, or relationships. The phrase people might use today is "thinking out of the box." Little do they know all the ways this represents what the owners of the Coronet Theatre did in 1955.
The person I remember the most from early TV was not a clown or a kid's performer, although Uncle Miltie was a favorite, but a commercial spokesperson, Betty Furness. She used to advertise for Westinghouse, an appliance manufacturer. Later when my one of my brothers went to work for Westinghouse as an engineer, I kept pestering him to meet Betty. We had nicknamed her "Betty-the-mess" and it always produced a laugh. Much later, when I could understand life dilemmas, I was distressed to learn that Betty was an alcoholic and had died from the disease.
If I were king there would be a few changes I would require in TV regulation. Here are my top four:
- Concerning advertising I would insist that fast food companies could only depict actual examples of foods from their outlets. The Big Mac, for example, would actually look like the puny, unappetizing series of chemicals and wilted lettuce it contains. Don't get me wrong; I like the Big Mac; it's just that TV consumers should be able to view the real thing.
- Get rid of the those station or network logos that appear all over the screen during programming. When combined with end of show advertising that squeezes the credits into a tiny box, not only are the creative artists shortchanged, but my 21 inch screen now is only worth 8 inches.
- In Canada, the Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC) requires that when a US show is simultaneously broadcast on a Canadian channel, Canadian commercials must be substituted for any US commercials. Get rid of this rule! During the SuperBowl, for example, we don't get to see the commercials that are both super expensive and usually very creative. Instead we have to watch dreadfully dull ads repeated over and over to fill the time.
- Get rid of announcers and newscasters and sports reporters who still think TV is like radio and that viewers cannot see the pictures and graphics. Their overtalking and constant chattering is annoying. And knock off those weather reports. Just show the graphic and get on with it. Did you know that when you look up the word meterologist in the dictionary it says, "another term for liar."?
I like drama and some comedy shows and I have yet to find any variety show that was as good as the Ed Sullivan Show or the Texaco Hour with Milton Berle. When I was growing up I used to watch live TV dramas like Studio One or Playhouse 90. When these shows are re-broadcast, I am amazed at how many of today's well-respected and well-known actors first appeared on these early dramas. The kids shows that became classics such as Howdy Doody or the Mickey Mouse Club never appealed to me, but when Soupy Sales first appeared I was glued to the set. Soupy appeared on the surface to be a kid's show, but the use of double entendre, satire, as well as outrageous humour, and except for the great pie-in-the-face sequences, were usually beyond most childhood interest.
In college my friends and I used to abandon our studies every time that Peyton Place came on. We even had a huge chart in the TV room that listed all the characters. Of course, some of my TV watching friends actually knew some of the actors who appeared on Peyton Place and this made the series even more interesting.
While walking down the main outdoor staircase on the UCLA campus in 1963, I heard over the loudspeaker that John Kennedy had been shot. I immediately rushed to my residence and with many other distraught and devastated friends watched the continuous coverage on TV. JFK was the first President I had been old enough to vote for and I considered him a mentor and champion. Just writing this paragraph brings tears and immerses me in a totally different world. The emotions I saw depicted around me and on TV solidified my involvement in what would eventually become key events in my own growth and understanding of life.
I don't like shows with laugh tracks, explosions, lots of shooting, or things blowing-up, nor do I like science-fiction/fantasy shows that depict violence between the species. That's probably why I prefer Outer Limits to most of the Star Trek versions, except for those where the species are trying to outwit each other. And one of my favorite lines is still: "Wanna see something really scarey?" (from Outer Limits: The Movie).
My favorites in 2000 are WestWing, Touched by an Angel, NYPD Blue, Oprah, Hollywood Squares, Beggars and Choosers, Sex in the City, Tales of the City, Gilmore Girls, Once and Again, That's Life, The Fugitive, Friends, early Seinfeld, most British crime shows, and Hallmark Hall of Fame shows (mostly for the commercials). I also like reruns of Cheers and Barney Miller. The Pretender (go Ms. Parker) was one of my favorites, but has been cancelled.
For the 2001/2002 season I think the best on TV includes The Chris Izaak Show, Smallville, That's Life (Debi Mazar is fabulous), Gilmore Girls, Felicity, Boston Public, Once and Again, Crossing Jordan, the first five-minutes of Law and Order, and The Educaton of Max Bickford.
For the 2002/2003 season I think the best on TV includes American Dreams, Mr. Sterling (cancelled), 24, Boomtown (cancelled), The Chris Izaak Show, Without a Trace, Smallville, The Shield, John Doe (cancelled), Everwood, Gilmore Girls, Boston Public, Crossing Jordan, West Wing, the first five-minutes of Law and Order, and Dr. Phil.
For the 2003/2004 season it seems that most of the shows I like are only on for a few episodes and then they disappear (like Boomtown, Karen Sisco, Wonderfalls, The D.A., Line of Fire). Some shows are continuing that are still great: American Dreams, The Chris Izaak Show, Without a Trace, Smallville, The Shield, Everwood, Gilmore Girls, Crossing Jordan, West Wing, Law and Order, the Sopranos, Six Feet Under, D'Vinci's Inquest, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. New shows that seem to have some staying power and are worthwhile include: The O.C., Alienated, Cold Case, and Joan of Arcadia.
For the 2004/2005 season resulted in some great new shows: Rescue Me, Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell is probably the best new actress on TV), Jack and Bobby (now cancelled), Clubhouse (now cancelled), Medium, Jonny Zero (now cancelled), Huff, Desparate Housewives, The Mountain (now cancelled), Summerland (now cancelled), This is Wonderland, and Life as We Know It (now cancelled). Notice a theme here?
A number of my favorites returned including: Everwood, DaVinci's Inquest, American Dreams (now cancelled), Joan of Arcadia (now cancelled), Without a Trace, Smallville, Gilmore Girls, Cold Squad, Las Vegas, The OC, Law and Order, Crossing Jordan, West Wing, Six Feet Under (concluded), and the Chris Izaak Show (concluded). The Sopranos skiipped a year.
For the 2005/2006 season I'm delighted to say that some of the shows I liked last year have actually made it on the schedule for this year.
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