Television

Television
An American Prayer

TV IS GOOD
TV IS BAD

The American Cinema Foundation ... rewards television and feature-film projects that address fundamental social values in a positive manner, that support and strengthen the concepts of the common good and the common culture, and promote democratic pluralism and inclusion.

"...Advertisers and networks don't want the viewers to think. They want them to just be good consumers and spend money on their products.

Diary of a Tuber Let me state from the beginning, I cannot be objective about "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." I've watched the show from its very first episode and it has been at the pinnacle of my favorites list from that day to this. Objectivity flew out the window a long time ago.

Kill your television TV is "an addictive device which keeps the lower classes subdued; a perpetuator of violence and materialism; and a silent destroyer of intellectualism."

Real Television

I'll say one more thing. TV is like fun. And one time, and when you want to go outside, like All That and stuff, and you're riding your bike and stuff and you miss all that. So you're just want to watch Are You Afraid of the Dark? on Saturdays, and if you do, you get nightmares.

White Dot.Org "If you're like most people in Britain, you're spending four hours every day staring at a piece of furniture. Television eats up half the time you are not working or sleeping - ten years for the average person. All those things you want to be: a lover, a parent, a scholar, a wild teenager or a pillar of the community - when are you going to do all that? TV takes away your real life."

The best TV show on today: Ultra TV

Worst shows on TV today: See the Prime Time Vomitorium

An ABC Commercial:

"They call television a medium, because nothing on it is ever well done."

Radio star Fred Allen

How did it get here and where is it going?

Media History Project
1928 -- Television sets are in three homes in the US

1939 -- Regular TV broadcasts begin

1951 -- 1.5 million households in US have TV

1953 -- 82% of network programming is live

1960s -- 92% of all US households had a TV set, watching an average of 5 to 6 hours of TV a day

1963 -- CBS and NBC start 30 minute, color newscasts

1964 -- 44% of all sets tuned to Beverly Hillbillies

1970s -- Networks captured more than 90% of the market. All in the Family ushered in a new realism.

1980s -- Cable TV grew quickly; 50% had cable by 1989

1993 -- 98% of American homes have at least one television; 64% have more than one. Nearly 70% have cable; network share dropped below 60% of the viewing audience

The Battle over the Morning

In the last five years the number of American homes with television sets in use from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. has grown 11 percent. The "Today Show" alone has 34 percent more viewers than it had five years ago.

Digital TV: A Cringely Crash Course

This is a companion site to the PBS program hosted by Robert X. Cringely charting where television came from and where it's headed. A good intro to digital television.

Wired News Timeline of Digital TV

Snapshots of History

Video Moments from ABC and "The Century"
Classic TV Shows

Top 100 shows

The Museum of Questionable Nostalgia

A few other television links:

Media Info with uptodate info about the television industry
List of sites with general information about television from Yahoo

Back to the Journalism 101 homepage

Television An American Prayer
TV IS GOOD	TV IS BAD
The American Cinema Foundation ... rewards television and feature-film projects that address fundamental social values in a positive manner, that support and strengthen the concepts of the common good and the common culture, and promote democratic pluralism and inclusion.	"...Advertisers and networks don't want the viewers to think. They want them to just be good consumers and spend money on their products.
Diary of a Tuber Let me state from the beginning, I cannot be objective about "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." I've watched the show from its very first episode and it has been at the pinnacle of my favorites list from that day to this. Objectivity flew out the window a long time ago.	Kill your television TV is "an addictive device which keeps the lower classes subdued; a perpetuator of violence and materialism; and a silent destroyer of intellectualism."
Real Television I'll say one more thing. TV is like fun. And one time, and when you want to go outside, like All That and stuff, and you're riding your bike and stuff and you miss all that. So you're just want to watch Are You Afraid of the Dark? on Saturdays, and if you do, you get nightmares.	White Dot.Org "If you're like most people in Britain, you're spending four hours every day staring at a piece of furniture. Television eats up half the time you are not working or sleeping - ten years for the average person. All those things you want to be: a lover, a parent, a scholar, a wild teenager or a pillar of the community - when are you going to do all that? TV takes away your real life."
The best TV show on today: Ultra TV	Worst shows on TV today: See the Prime Time Vomitorium