Chapter 3 Television:

Television is born: Then

    
             It’s hard to believe looking back how far technology has come, especially when it comes to media entertainment. Television has come a long way considering the short amount of time it has been since its invention. Television today has many differences compared to television in the past. Although the sizes and functions of television have changed, such as pay per view, DVR and internet access, the main reason is still the same- to entertain and inform. Today we have many more channels and sleeker designs, but the invention of the television united us as a nation and as a species in general.

                Television experiments started back in the 1880's, but it wasn’t until 1927 when a 21-year-old man named Philo Farnsworth invented the first electronic television picture, and technology started to move forward (Matz,1995).  This invention caused battle against big corporations, and a man by the name of David Sarnoff found a way to market his invention to the public. David Sarnoff was part of the RCA and he is known as The Father of Television (Matz,1995). By the time the 1930’s came around, there was music, wrestling and dancing on television, though the picture itself was fuzzy because it was still in its experimental stage. Comedic writer Hal Kanter stated, “I thought they were pulling my leg when they said that one day pictures are going to be flying through the air- you’ll be able to see radio.” (Matz,1995). Television played a huge role in the development of other technology and became more popular in the late 1930’s. By the end of the 1930’s, RCA displayed their new NBC TV Studios in New York and network television was introduced. In 1939, the very first televised sports game was aired. This baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds paved the way for television entertainment (Matz,1995). In the 1940’s television was popular, and some of televisions biggest shows aired, such as Candid Camera and Howdy Doody. But due to Americas involvement in World War 2, television was put on hold and shortages forced stations to shut down. But television had a major comeback in 1947, and radio shows tried to transition to the new mass media. Shows such as The Jack Benny Program and The Shadow were popular during this time (Matz,1995).

                It was very interesting to read about the start of News Broadcasting. In 1949 in Los Angeles, a woman named Kathy Fiscus fell in a well and television anchors stayed for 27 hours to provide continuous local coverage. This live story proved that live news informed people as well as uniting them (Matz,1995). By the time the 1950’s came around, over 7 million people had television sets. People with careers in radio provided television news expansion and CBS news started airing stories from political to worldwide events with trusted newsmen (Matz,1995). In the mid 50’s a quiz show called the $64,000 question made its way to the top of the television show ratings. These quiz shows became very popular but when a man named Charles Van Doren defeated Herbert Stempel, the quiz shows big secret was revealed. People found out that they give the answers to the questions to the contestants before the show and caused big controversy for game and quiz shows in the 1950’s (Matz,1995).

                Television used up more material than radio and motion pictures ever did and it was up to workers like writers, performers and producers to come up with new material (Matz,1995). It was all about people with different backgrounds having a vision for television entertainment and coming together to make television a success.
Their goal was comedy and after The Big Freeze, film studios relaxed restrictions and headed west. In 1953, television comedy show I love Lucy made history with 44 million fans tuning in for Little Ricky’s birth (Matz,1995). The mid-fifties and early sixties switched television entertainment to filmed drama, which led to soap operas, hospital series and mystery shows. Live television was still popular, with programs like The Great Debate between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. The assassination of John Kennedy was a tragic time for our nation. Networks suspended regular programming for four days to cover this event, which proved that the power of television is a strong thing (Matz,1995).

                The 1960’s were full of amazing live televised moments, such as Apollo 11 moon landing and the 1969 sports broadcasting shot in color. Technology also took a step forward as the VCR was invented in 1965 (Matz,1995). Many classic television shows were started in the 1960’s and racial barriers were broken in television entertainment. Shows such as Batman, The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Dream of Jeanie and The Twilight Zone were all popular shows to watch at this time (Matz,1995).

                In America, the television turned to government and politics in the 1970’s through the 1980’s, as this is called the Decade of Government Intervention. It started off with government deciding to ban smoking from television and radio. President Nixon took cameras with him to China, and America got a look at life under Maoism. It wasn’t long after the Watergate scandal that President Nixon resigned after a hearing for impeachment (Matz,1995). In 1976, the first woman co-anchor Barbara Walters joined ABC News, making television history. The start if the 1980’s brought more scandal, as Ted Turner founded CNN- Cable News Network. Turner said, “I knew that our biggest challenge would be, other than to make a good news product, is to get the cable systems to carry it. And I thought if we used the name cable in there- Cable News Network- how could a cable system not be carrying the Cable News Network?” (Matz,1995).                       After providing live coverage of the NASA Challenger Space Shuttle launch, CNN earned the industries respect. More good things awaited television and technology, as the first Macintosh commercial was played in 1984 for the Super bowl. This commercial had record-breaking cost for airtime of this televised sports game (Matz,1995). The 1980’s ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall, as the nation watched live with Tom Brokaw reporting. Yet, the 1970s-1980’s provided as much entertainment as it did politics. Popular shows such as All in the Family, Happy Days, MASH, Charlies Angels, The Love Boat, The Walton’s, Dynasty, Cheers, The Golden Girls and Married with Children (Matz,1995).

Television of the 90’s and now: Now

                Television has certainly come a long way since its invention. The 1990’s was a great de
cade for television, especially comedy. I was born in 1992 and I vaguely remember some television shows, such as Roseanne, Ren and Stimpy and X-Files. This was the decade of classic cartoons for the younger generation and technology for cartoon programs just soared from the 1990’s until today. The increase in popularity of animation on television created the channel Cartoon Network (Brawer,2009). Cartoons are still just as popular today, but it was shows like Cow and Chicken, Ren and Stimpy and Hey Arnold that started the cartoon craze. Cartoons are meant for comedy and amusement, but they also had an emotional side that connected with all viewers, not just young children. These shows taught us lessons aimed in teaching kids to manage their standing in society (Brawer,2009). Hey Arnold was a huge cartoon show and I watched this show every morning before school. The composer of this show Jim Lang quotes “We always wanted Hey Arnold to be something that parents would enjoy sitting down and watching with their kids.” (Brawer,2009) This is very true because I grew up with this show and my mom would watch it with me every day before I got on the bus for school. The end of the 1990’s changed the cartoon business, as educational standards became stricter. Shows like Family Guy and South Park are the types of cartoons and sense of humor this generation. These cartoons have more sarcasm and you can definitely tell what is appropriate for kids and what isn’t when it comes to cartoons in this generation. Cartoons always had that hint of subtle adult content but as a kid you didn’t really get it. My mother always blocked these shows when I was younger and as an adult I can see why. South Park is one of my favorite shows but it is definitely not appropriate for children and todays cartoons are so different from 1990s animation. 

              90’s cartoons will always be in style, as there is talk of bringing back 90’s Nick cartoons, such as Invader Zim, Rugrats, and Rockos Modern Life. This just proves how amazing technology and animation was just a few decades ago and animation is definitely here to stay. Just recently in television history, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was put into effect and converting digital television in broadcasting happened only years ago in 2009 (Medoff, Kaye 52). Television switched from HDTV with 525 lines of resolution to SDTV which has 1080 lines and has wider aspect ratio. Although the switch from analog to digital did not have immediate rewards financially, it now had enough room to send out multiple programs at once (Medoff, Kaye 53). Today’s television is still in its infancy stage, but the remarkable strides television has made it truly spectacular. We can now get videos online as well as social media features via broadcasting and we use this to connect to people not only here in the United States but all over the world with the touch of a button. Technology has come so far and now news stations even offer email, twitter and Facebook to get a bigger fan base and connects us all socially (Medoff, Kaye 53). Now internet and television are combined, creating the ultimate entertainment. Now we have so many options to watch shows like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. 

               Netflix history is very interesting and has come so far in the little amount of time it has been since its invention in 1997. It was co-founded by software executives Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph for online movie rentals. Ten years later Netflix introduced streaming to their site. Now customers can watch a movie online via streaming on their personal computers. Two years later in 2009 Netflix subscribers were able to stream video on their PS3 devices and their own television set, with internet access. We now have the ability to watch streaming on Apple Devices, The Wii and other electronic devices. In 2013 Netflix won its first Prime Time Emmy Engineering Award. Just last year Netflix won 7 creative Emmy Awards for House of Cards and Orange is the New Black. Netflix is an incredible source for online video streaming with tons of variety, and now has over 50 million members globally (Netflix,2014). It doesn’t matter what background you come from or what type of genre of music or movies you like; the world of television has something out there for everyone. From drama to comedy to action adventure, there’s a program for you to enjoy. I am personally a big fan of television and I watch a variety of shows. As a younger kid I remember watching Malcolm in the Middle with my family every night. Television programs are something all families can enjoy together, and I loved having family time with my parents and sister after dinner every night. I also enjoyed shows on Shotime, such as Dexter, Nurse Jackie and Shameless. Television shows today are so much more advanced than shows in the past. More special effects and better technology in general make television such a mass media. 

                 Entertainment is such a big part of the 21^st Century. FCC rules may still be evolving, but they have definitely loosened the rules and restrictions, and because of that shows on television have evolved as well. Now internet streaming companies like Hulu and Netflix are coming out with their own original material. Netflix has shows such as House of Cards, Orange is the New Black and also Arrested Development. This proves that technology and television specifically have so much more in store for the future. As we move forward in this technological world, our use of electronic devices changes as well. There will always be something better just around the corner when it comes to technology. Now phones are sleek and slim and we can watch 3D movies right in the comfort of our own home. Television will only grow and advance more in the future.

Televisions Transforming Future- Later

                We are now part of the digital era and everything is electronic. The computer industry has started to sell equipment for computing and entertainment, such as Microsoft and Dell (Medoff, Kaye 53). Many extra stations for televisions have commercial free shows for people who are willing to pay more, and now television viewing has slowed way down. People will wait to watch a television show until it comes out on DVD just to avoid commercials, and to watch it at their convenience. This is why DVR and TiVo functions for television are so popular because you can record your shows and watch them whenever you want, and be able to fast-forward through commercials.  Personal technology in the future may allow people to purchase equipment to make their own television shows (Medoff, Kaye 54). YouTube has already paved the way for people being able to put their own content via video streaming online. The television appliances are also getting upgraded as major manufacturers are putting internet access into other devices. You can get Roku, Apple TV plus Amazon Fire in what is being called the Smart TV. Streaming devices are the future, such as Netflix because of the low price as well as no ads or commercials. Netflix can afford to do this because they do not have to pay for a cable provider (Medoff, Kaye 55). Cable will be a thing of the past, it’s just a matter of time. As more and more people switch from cable or satellite to streaming sites and features like Netflix and Amazon Prime, cable will certainly be part of our past. Streaming is the future of television and mass media entertainment. I have just basic cable at my house and get probably 5 channels, which I watch just for news and weather. When it comes to my entertainment, I use Netflix as well as Amazon Prime. Having these two stream sites is much cheaper than what I was paying for DIRECTV about 3 years ago. 

                 When I think of the future of television I personally think of the movie Gamer. It’s a movie with Gerard Butler, Michael C Hall, and Ludacris. The movie Gamer is about a man on death row with a chance to regain his freedom back by being a surrogate in a popular video game in the future. His movement is controlled by a teenager named Simon and if Kable wins 30 games he gets his life back. In one scene of the movie the teenager is in his room and its surrounded by all these screens and you can tell life in the future will be run by electronics. You can play games without a remote because it uses touch and words to function everything. Electronics will no longer be a part of our world, it will control everything we do.

This is what I believe the future will be. Right now we are in a phase where we want everything smaller and with more power and storage, but I think this is just a fad. In the future I believe technology will do a total 360 and get back to basics with big equipment and machinery. It will converge into 1 big room of ultimate entertainment. The movie Gamer is a great example of this because it is set in the future and it made me think of how far technology and entertainment has come since its start and where these are headed for the future. 

                I am sure in the next decade there will be some amazing technological advances in store for us and I am very excited to be part of an ever-growing part of our life. I’m proud to be part of the technology generation and getting to see it grow and transform into something better. Who knows the things we can accomplish as a nation in the years to come? I am ready for what lies ahead for television and technology in general because I know it’s going to be one crazy amazing ride. In ten years we will be looking back at this time at all we have accomplished and getting a chance to look even further into the ever-transforming tech savvy world we live in.