In a TV world where shows can vanish quickly, there’s some good news:
CBS has renewed nine more of its shows for next season. Also, PBS has renewed “Miss Scarlet” for a sixth season.
The CBS moves follow four previous renewals, plus three new shows. Two of the new ones are spin-offs (including “Sheriff Country,” shown here); this is not a network for chaotic change. Read more…
(This is the sixth chapter of a book-in-progress, “Television, and How It Got That Way.” For the previous chapters, scroll down under “stories.”)
As the 1951 season began, TV had a split personality.
Yes, there were promising signs from Sid Caesar, Ed Sullivan and lots of live dramas But there were also remnants of TV’s primitive start.
Look around prime time that fall and you’d find wrestling (twice) and boxing (twice). You’d find the “Georgetown University Forum” and “Johns Hopkins Science Review”; “Youth on the March” and “American Youth Forum.” You’d find “Marshall Plan in Action,” “Film Filler” and “Lessons in Safety.”
And into that shaky field – on Oct. 15, 1951 – “I Love Lucy” (shown here) debuted. It instantly fulfilled “every promise of the often harassed new medium,” a Hollywood Reporter critic wrote, adding: “It should bounce to the top of the rating heap in no time.“ Read more…
1) “The Americas” debut, 7 and 8 p.m., NBC. The filmmakers are British, but the narrator is Tom Hanks and the subject is purely New World. That starts with gorgeous hours on the Atlantic Coast and in Mexico. There are exotic visions of swarming fish, swooping eagles and glowing fireflies, plus quirky fun with raccoons (shown here) cavorting in cities and suburbs. Read more…
