BACKGROUND BOOKS

TELEVISION IN AMERICA

Television has replaced the popular provide a market for radios-and novel-and the movies-as Ameri- later, of course, got into TV. ca's chief medium of entertainment, In 1948, William S. Paley, princi- and scores of scholars and journalists pal owner of CBS, brightened his have attempted to explain this network's prospects by raiding rival phenomenon. The Library of Con- NBC of some of its biggest TV gress card catalog contains entries stars-Jack Benny, Red Skelton, and for more than 6,000 works on televi- Frank Sinatra. Paley, who also sion. Yet, among them, truly il- pioneered in radio news with Ed- luminating studies are few. ward R. Murrow, William Shirer, H. The best one-volume history is V. Kaltenborn, and Eric Sevareid, Tube of Plenty: The Evolution of gives an often veiled account of his American Television (Oxford, 1975, rise in As It Happened: A Memoir cloth; 1977, paper) by Erik Barnouw, (Doubleday, 1979). a former Columbia professor of dra- Paley touted CBS-TV as "the matic arts, television, and film. His largest advertising medium in the well-written account is a condensa- world." And, indeed, TV's relation- tion of his three-volume A History of ship with business is the medium's Broadcasting in the Big Story. For a complete account of (1966-70). In addition to providing that symbiosis, readers can again crisp analyses of TV's evolution and turn to Erik Barnouw. of individual programs, Barnouw In The Sponsor: Notes on a presents brief sketches of television's Modern Potentate (Oxford, 1978, tycoons, including NBC's David Sar- cloth; 1979, paper), Barnouw writes noff and CBS's William S. Paley. that the real message of TV is a In David Sarnoff: A Biography commercial one; the result is "a (Harper, 1966), Eugene Lyons de- dramaturgy reflecting the de- scribes the dramatic incident that mographics of a supermarket." thrust the young Sarnoff into na- Most of the TV-viewing public tional prominence. On the night of claims to dislike commercials, but April 14, 1912, while on duty as a there is little doubt among advertis- wireless operator in New York City, ers that they succeed in selling prod- Sarnoff received a startling message ucts. As the head of the "Creative from the S.S. Olympic: "S.S. Titanic Group" that produced AT&T1s cam- ran into iceberg. Sinking fast." To paign to promote long-distance tele- ease communications with ships phoning has remarked, "In thirty near the scene, President William seconds, everybody notices every- Howard Taft shut down all other thing. " A funny, behind-the-scenes radio stations. For three days, Sar- look at the making of those brief noff stayed glued to his earphones "spots" for the telephone company is and relayed news of the tragedy to Thirty Seconds (Farrar, 1980) by the press. An overnight celebrity, he New Yorker television critic Michael later formed the NBC network to J. Arlen.

The Wilson Quarterly/Winter 1981 100 BACKGROUND BOOKS: TELEVISION IN AMERICA

For six months in 1979, Arlen, the nonideological) influence on TV author of two excellent collections of journalism of budgets, competition essays on TV-Living-Room War for ratings, and keep-it-simple (Viking, 1969) and The View from themes. The frustrations of TV Highway 1 (Farrar, 1976, cloth; Bal- newspeople bulk larger than their lantine, 1977, paper)-followed the flaws in Marvin Barrett and Zachary commercial-makers around. The re- Sklar's The Eye of the Storm (Lip- sult is a deadpan, camera-eye view of pincott & Crowell, 1980, cloth & the people involved in an exotic pro- paper), the latest Alfred I. duPont- cess. "Basically," says an ad man, survey of 'we are targeting people who have broadcast journalism. More pointed already experienced making a long- is editor Paul Weaver's critique in distance phone call." The commer- Television as a Social Force: New cial's music composer admits that Approaches to TV Criticism (Prae- "Reach out and touch someone" was ger, 1975, cloth & paper). The pro- a "good line" but, he adds, "it was ducers of TV news programs, he genius . . . that thought to extend the writes, seek to convey an impression basic concept to 'Reach out, reach of "authority and omniscience"; the out, and touch someone.' " final product is peculiarly unreliable How television has "touched" the because it tells the viewer more than public, or affected the way people its creators know or can know. behave, is a growing target of Reference books dealing with tele- scholarly effort. An extensive round- vision abound. Most intriguing is up of 25 years of such research is critic Cobbett S. Steinberg's TV found in Television and Human Be- Facts (Facts on File, 1980).Its lists of havior (Columbia, 1978, cloth & top-rated TV shows, however, can be paper) by George Comstock et al. Not as dispiriting as the best-seller book surprisingly, there are few firm an- lists in Sunday newspapers. The swers. three highest-rated TV series for Although no hard evidence links 1978-79 were Three's Company, TV news treatment and shifts in pub- Laverne and Shirley, and Mork and lic opinion, network news "bias" has Mindy. 60 Minutes tied for sixth long excited critics' suspicions. Ed- place. The longest running prime- ward J. Epstein's News from time TV series is Disney's Wonderful Nowhere: Television and the News World. Since September 1954- (Random, 1973, cloth; Viking, 1974, under five different titles and on two paper), is a pioneering inside look at networks-the show, perhaps appro- ABC, CBS, and NBC. Epstein clearly priately for television, has offered the shows the preponderant (and public a tour of Fantasyland.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Lawrence W. Lichty and Stuart N. Brotman suggested many of the titles mentioned in this essay.

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