8 Blogs In 8 Weeks #3

TV is the thing this year.

This fun song was performed by the great Dinah Washington, originally written by Phil Medley and Bill Danford and released in 1953.

Well if you wanna have fun, come home with me

You can stay all night and play with my TV

TV is the thing this year
This year, TV is the thing this year
Radio was great, but now it's outta date

TV is the thing this year            

If you want to hear the song:

https://youtu.be/2xiRp9UntPs

Although most people think that Television wasn’t invented until around that time (1953), Television as we know it began to take shape in the 1920s. Vladimir K. Zworykin was born in Russia and became a pioneer of television technology with the development of a kinescope, which recorded images on motion picture film. In 1926, John Logie Baird gave a public demonstration of a television system in London; two years later, the first television stations launched.

However, it wasn’t until The World’s Fair in Queens, New York in 1939 that Americans got their first look at what television broadcast looked like, thanks to RCA and a speech given by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  NBC began nightly broadcasts shortly thereafter.

As a 50’s and 60’s kid, I loved television for just the pure entertainment.  Saturday morning cartoons and TV shows like Circus Boy, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Sky King, Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear, The Lone Ranger, Howdy Doody, Fury and many more kept us enthralled.

In 1952, The Today Show debuted on NBC and changed morning TV.  It was in the 50’s that “must see TV” came around.  It seemed that everybody made sure that they watched certain shows like I Love Lucy and The Ed Sullivan Show. I remember Elvis’ first appearance on Ed Sullivan…..most of our parents were All Shook Up!  And of course, SPORTS.  We got The Game of The Week in baseball and a single college football game each week and if your city had a team, you could watch an NFL game occasionally.  No ESPN and no around the clock programming as the three networks signed off at midnight with The National Anthem.

My most vivid memory of television in the 60’s surrounded the assassination of JFK, the live shooting of his assassin and the funeral.  This is when, I believe, that newspapers really began to be replaced by television…instant news!  There have been many significant news events broadcast in real time in the last 60+ years.  Certainly there are too many to list here but you can’t leave out the assassinations of MLK and RFK, MLK’s I Have A Dream speech, the first moon landing, The Challenger, many Presidential debates, the Vietnam War and even horrendous acts like the Capital Insurrection of January 6, 2021.  The advent of CNN, MSNBC, FoxNews(?), CNBC, Bloomberg, PBS and even CSPAN changed news reporting forever.

And then, in the 70’s and 80’s television exploded. UHF! SuperStations! Cable! HBO! Multiple new channels, new networks, themed stations, music networks, Sports networks and 24 hour a day television.  I would be remiss if I didn’t mention PBS and Sesame Street that has helped educate generations of kids or ESPN and their multiple Sports networks that has informed and entertained Sports enthusiasts. Nothing ever signs off the air and television runs around the clock.  If you have a hobby or particular interest, chances are you can find a program or channel to satisfy.  

Now, I am not saying this a bad thing…in fact, I LOVE TELEVISION!  I like the ability to always find a game to watch, find some no-brainer sit-com to help mentally escape and an occasional news worthy show or history show to expand the mind and learn something new.  I even like some of the soap-operish type shows like the ancient Dallas or Knott’s Landing or today’s The Good Doctor or Grey’s Anatomy.

By the way - for a little bit of trivia, the longest running continuous show still on the air is Meet The Press originally aired in 1947 and like it or not, still on the air every week. This is followed by CBS Evening News and The Today Show.  Interestingly there are several Christian Evangelical shows that are close behind.  The NFL on CBS has been on longer than any other regularly scheduled Sports Show.  The longest running scripted shows include The Simpsons, Law and Order SVU, Law and Order, Family Guy, Gunsmoke, NCIS, Lassie and Grey’s Anatomy.  The longest running daytime shows after the Today Show are Guiding Light, Jeopardy, and Days of Our Lives. (My lists only includes US shows.)

During these Covid years, we quit going to the movie theatre and because of streaming services and plenty of networks, have been content in our visual entertainment choices.  Some of the movies and limited series have been well written, acted and enjoyed.  It has been fun sharing our recommendations with our friends, family and neighbors and playing the “have you seen?” game.  Yes, television has changed….no more limited choices…..maybe even too many choices?

So, I started thinking about my favorite shows over the years.  I am not even going to list things like news shows, or sports events (The University of Georgia National Championship Game of last year that I rewatch about once a month) or situation comedies like Cheers, or All In The Family or Friends or Dick Van Dyke….those are just pure, shake it out and laugh fun….on my list.  My Top 5 List only includes those shows that have compelling writing, were well acted, with interesting cinematography and direction.  However, the  dialogue written by talented writers is most important to me.  

My TOP  5 (in no particular order) are:

The West Wing

The Americans

The Sopranos 

Ozark

Yellowstone

Now you know why I chose this subject to write about this week.  Last night we watched the first 2 new episodes of Yellowstone of the new season.  And in spite of the overuse of really foul language, I was riveted by the writing, the superb acting and the gorgeous cinematography of the Montana landscape and the way they chose to show it.  If you haven’t watched this series, take the free first month of Paramount + and watch the past episodes and then catch up to the current season on The Paramount Channel.  I think you will really enjoy it.

What you like is purely subjective….not everybody likes the same thing.  What are your Top 5??  It will be fun for all if you comment below and share your favorites with everybody.  Maybe somebody will find a new guilty pleasure.  Happy viewing!

Also, if you are so compelled, feel free to add yourself to those that follow this blog by adding yourself to the followers on the right of the blog page.  Which brings up an interesting question:  If I am a Blogger, are you a Bloggee?

And The Journey continues……