Glued to the Set : The 60 Television Shows and Events That Made Us Who We Are Today

by Stark, Steven D.

• ISBN13: 9780684828176
• ISBN10: 0684828170
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-05-01
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (T)

Summary

From "I Love Lucy" to "Meet the Press", from the ways in which John F. Kennedy reinvented the press conference to how "Dragnet" changed the common view of policemen, this fascinating tour of TV programs and major media events from the last 50 years shows readers how the power of television has radically influenced America's history.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	1	(7)
PART I. THE FORTIES	8	(18)
1. What's So Funny About Milton Berle? The Unacceptable Ethnicity of The Texaco Star Theater (NBC: 1948-56)	8	(6)
2. Howdy Doody and the Debate Over Children's Programming (NBC: 1947-60)	14	(6)
3. Meet the Press: Television's Anachronism (NBC: 1947-Present)	20	(6)
PART II. THE FIFTIES	26	(66)
4. I Love Lucy: The Woman as TV Superstar (CBS: 1951-57)	26	(5)
5. Dragnet and the Policeman as Hero (NBC: 1951-59)	31	(6)
6. Bishop Sheen's Life Is Worth Living and the New American Religion of Television (DuMont and ABC: 1952-57)	37	(5)
7. Resistance to Reality: Why Edward R. Murrow's See It Now Didn't Change Television More (CBS: 1951-58)	42	(5)
8. Today, Barbara Walters, and TV's Definition of News (NBC: 1952-Present)	47	(5)
9. Disneyland and the Creation of the Seamless Entertainment Web (ABC, CBS, AND NBC: 1954-90)	52	(4)
10. The Secret of The Lawrence Welk Show (ABC: 1955-71; Syndication 1971-82)	56	(3)
11. The Ed Sullivan Show and the Era of Big Government (CBS: 1948-71)	59	(3)
12. Gunsmoke and Television's Lost Wave of Westerns (CBS: 1955-75)	62	(6)
13. American Bandstand and the Clash of Rock and TV (ABC: 1957-87)	68	(5)
14. Twenty-One, the Quiz Scandal, and the Decline of Public Trust (NBC: 1956-58)	73	(8)
15. Leave It to Beaver and the Politics of Nostalgia (CBS and ABC: 1957-63)	81	(4)
16. The Twilight Zone: Science Fiction as Realism (CBS: 1959-64)	85	(7)
PART III. THE SIXTIES	92	(58)
17. The Rise and Fall of the Televised Presidential Press Conference (All Major Networks: 1961-93)	92	(4)
18. Perry Mason and the Criminal Lawyer as Brief Television Hero (CBS: 1957-66)	96	(4)
19. The Dick Van Dyke Show and the Rise of Upscale Television (CBS: 1961-66)	100	(4)
20. Space Television (All 3 Networks: 1961-69)	104	(3)
21. The Beverly Hillbillies and the Rise of Populist Television (CBS: 1962-71)	107	(4)
22. Assassination Television (All 3 Networks: 1963)	111	(4)
23. Mister Ed: How Real Were TV's Escapist Comedies? (Syndication and CBS: 1961-66)	115	(4)
24. The Dating Game, Game Shows, and the Rise of Tabloid TV (ABC: 1965-73)	119	(4)
25. Walter Cronkite, the CBS Evening News, and the Rise of News on Television (CBS: 1963-Present)	123	(7)
26. The Monkees and TV's Subversion of the 1960s (NBC: 1966-68)	130	(2)
27. Mission: Impossible and Its Cold War Fight to Save America (CBS: 1966-73)	132	(5)
28. The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and the Fate of Controversy on TV (CBS: 1967-69)	137	(5)
29. Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In and Acceleration as a TV Style (NBC: 1968-73)	142	(8)
PART IV. THE SEVENTIES	150	(66)
30. Sesame Street: The Last Remnant of the Counterculture (PBS: 1969-Present)	150	(5)
31. TV's Biggest Show: The Super Bowl (ABC, NBC, Fox, and CBS: 1967-Present)	155	(5)
32. The Brady Bunch as Television Icon (ABC: 1969-74)	160	(2)
33. All in the Family and the Sitcom "Revolution" (CBS: 1971-83)	162	(5)
34. The Mary Tyler Moore Show and America's Newest "Families" (CBS: 1970-77)	167	(5)
35. Masterpiece Theatre and the Failure of PBS (PBS: 1971-Present)	172	(5)
36. Television's Biggest Scandal: The Local News (All Major Affiliates: 1970-Present)	177	(5)
37. The Tonight Show and Its Hold on America (NBC: 1954-Present)	182	(6)
38. 60 Minutes and the Evolution of News to Entertainment (CBS: 1968-Present)	188	(6)
39. TV's Most Self-Congratulatory Hit: Saturday Night Live (NBC: 1975-Present)	194	(5)
40. The Miniseries as History: Did Roots Change America? (ABC: 1977)	199	(4)
41. All My Children, Soaps, and the Feminization of America (ABC: 1970-Present)	203	(6)
42. The Oddly Winning Dark Sensibility of M*A*S*H (CBS: 1972-83)	209	(7)
PART V. THE EIGHTIES	216	(52)
43. The Hostage Crisis as Metaphor (All Major Networks: 1979-80, 1985)	216	(2)
44. Dallas and the Rise of Republican Mythology (CBS: 1978-91)	218	(4)
45. Debating Our Politics: The Ronald Reagan Show (All Major Networks: 1967-89)	222	(9)
46. CNN and the Changing Definition of News (1980-Present)	231	(6)
47. Hill Street Blues and TV's New Elite Style (NBC: 1981-87)	237	(5)
48. What MTV Hath Wrought (1981-Present)	242	(5)
49. Bob Newhart as the Embodiment of TV Culture (CBS: 1972-78; 1982-90; 1992-93)	247	(2)
50. Entertainment Tonight and the Expansion of the Tabloid, Celebrity Culture (Syndication: 1981-Present)	249	(5)
51. The Forgotten Promise of The Cosby Show (NBC: 1984-92)	254	(4)
52. The Star Trek Galaxy and Its Glimpse of TV's Future (NBC: 1966-69; Syndication: 1987-94; Syndication: 1993-Present; UPN: 1995-Present)	258	(3)
53. How Roseanne Made Trash TV Respectable (ABC: 1988-97)	261	(7)
PART VI. THE NINETIES	268	(33)
54. How America's Funniest Home Videos Tore Down Our Wall (ABC: 1990-Present)	268	(3)
55. Hill-Thomas and the Congressional Hearing as Miniseries (All Major Networks: 1991)	271	(5)
56. The Oprah Winfrey Show and the Talk-Show Furor (Sundication: 1986-Present)	276	(6)
57. A Tale of Two Sitcoms (Home Improvement [ABC]: 1991-Present; Seinfeld [NBC]: 1990-Present)	282	(5)
58. Home Shopping: Commercialism as Salvation (QVC: 1986-Present)	287	(4)
59. The Innovations of ER and the Fight for Health-Care Reform (NBC: 1994-Present)	291	(4)
60. How Wheel of Fortune Won the Cold War (NBC, CBS, Syndication: 1975-Present)	295	(6)
Appendix: How I Came Up With the 60 Shows	301	(4)
Bibliography	305	(26)
Index	331