This is my feeble attempt to do two things: 1) provide either criticism or commentary regarding the tv days of my youth, and 2) to provide historical observations and interpretation of the history of television in the 1950's and 1960's.
According to U. S. law, there is an allowance for the use of copyrighted work for criticism or commentary. It would be impossible to explore the historical aspects and the rise and decline of television thoughout the years without using snippets from the shows themselves.
The changes television has undergone since a little over a half a century ago might be very difficult for younger viewers to fully comprehend today. Those early black and white images slowly gave way to color, and the technology is once again on the verge of change: digital tv. Throughout the 1950's and 1960's, there were only three major networks: NBC, CBS, and ABC. It wouldn't be until the late 1960's/early 1970's that PBS would come into being. Television slowly evolved from requiring an aerial antenna to the beginnings of cable tv in the 1970's, and satellite tv in the 1980's. Today, it is possible to watch tv shows over the internet. These methods of broadcasting were not even dreamed of in the early days of television.
The majority of television shows in the 1950's/60's were done live. Shows like the Jackie Gleason Show, My Friend Irma, Ed Murrow's See It Now, Ed Sullivan's Toast Of The Town, Studio One, and so many others are forever lost. There never was any attempt to preserve television's early days by the major networks. In fact, networks like NBC and CBS didn't even have the foresight to think that viewers would want to watch "reruns." They figured if the viewing audience had already seen a program, why would they want to watch it again?
Television programming was much more regional in the early days of television. Programs and times that programs were shown in the central Indiana region differed from other cities. Each region even began their "prime time" viewing at different times across the country.
In 1958, our tv set was black and white. I could choose from four different channels to watch. WISH-TV, Channel 8 was our CBS affiliate. WFBM-TV, Channel 6 was NBC, WLWI-TV, Channel 13 was ABC, and WTTV-TV, Channel 4 was an independent station. Tv sets didn't have remotes, so if you wanted to change the channel, you walked over to your set and manually turned the knob to the channel you wished to watch.
I collect TV Guides from the central Indiana region, as that's where I lived throughout the 50's and 60's, and programming elsewhere was different. Any info I provide regarding certain tv shows comes from my TV Guide collection.
The history of television is a fascinating journey to explore. If you want to get a glimpse of what it was like in the early days, either buy or rent "Good Night And Good Luck."