llustrations 1: The sitcom I Love Lucy (Lucy and Ethel at The Employer Agency) 2. The series Hopalong Cassidy westerns 3. The issuance of the fanciful Jackie Gleason with advertisements 4. The show Amos'n Andy for the issue of stereotypes raciaux5. The Kennedy-Nixon debate of 1960 . Nothing prevents you wander through the archives and found.
Introduction
private American television is the prototype of contemporary mass media. We'll see how is its technical and economic structure and what is its content.
Regarding technical and economic structure, private American television is built on the model of radio networks. His logic is the same: financing through advertising, organizational networks (whose head is in New York), audience measurement by Nielsen. The recording studios are moving in to California where is the knowledge of the shooting. The programs are a great place to series and sitcoms.
As a means of representing the world of commercial television picks of popular cinema and family as it existed in the years 1930-40, while the film is looking for new audiences (teenagers) and new forms (blockbuster horror films, art films). Television series exploiting canonical forms of popular literature and film: western, detective series and develop a format that is clean, the situation comedy (sitcom). Forms innovate but few espouse content (slowly) the changes in society.
I. Technical and economic structure
Debut. In 1947 four companies are beginning to broadcast programs. Three are networks of radios. NBC and CBS are needed in the early years, creating a duopoly. DuMont has fewer stations. ABC emerges later.
programs are then direct: competition "Skating", session of the UN live music hall artists (Milton Berle), "dramatic" live. These programs seem bad at first trial of criticism, even compared to series B movie but meet a real popular success. Quickly the working classes and middle classes are driving consumption. Demand is outstripping supply. The items are sold in gas stations or drug stores.
A media present in every home
In 1959 almost all households receive television Nir and White. the shift to color will be a way to revive the market.
avecTV% of households in the United States
1948 0.4 1950 9 1951 23
1956 1952 34 64.5 1959 95
Source: James L. Baughman The Republic of Mass Culture. Journalism, Filmmaking and Broadcasting in America Since 1941 , The Johns Hopkins University press, 1992 [2006, 298 p. , Pp. 41
The audience is mostly composed of families with children in urban areas (which is related to the fact that the first transmitters serving the densely populated cities). At the beginning there are still local stations with original programs (Country music in Texas) but the center of creation, the more interesting (Chicago) off the mid-1950s.
The technical and economic model of radio networks is required. ATT provides the cables that connect the stations. These can be operated directly by the radio company (NBC or CBS) or "franchised . Emissions are mostly sponsored by advertising. The sponsors want to control the content of programs they sponsor. Soap operas sponsored products firm Procter and Gamble detergent and must follow the rules issued by the company to its employees: no tobacco. However Alcoa never interfere on the issue of political commentary from Ed Murrow "See it Now" that the company sponsors. Sponsors such as U.S. Steel, Goodyear (tires) or Bell Telephone) allow the birth of programs that you remember twenty years later.
stations emit profits . In 1951 the FCC reported that only 5 of 108 stations are profitable but in 1954 a station affiliated with a network can provide a return on investment of 35% per year. CBS and NBC make money primarily with stations which are directly owned stations but sell their network programs.
II. Programs.
TV borrows from the tradition of the radio and know-how of the film.
come from the radio: a) the music hall (vaudeville) - jugglers, magicians, light music b. Situation comedies ("sitcoms"): The Former Life of Riley, My Friend Irma c.the "action drama" The Lone Ranger "d. Quiz (Games): "Truth or Consequences, Queen for a Day".
come as the radio stars : actors and entertainers like Milton Berle and Lucille Ball, Jack Benny (who lives for 14 years star of CBS). In the field of information Ed Murrow, famous news reporter since the war, moved to TV in 1951. As in radio, TV programs are structured into genres.
The sitcoms. After 1951 sitcoms half an hour structuring become part of each night. Some sitcoms remain long: thus " Burns and Allen . Their success is based on the fact that viewers recognize the characters rather than the quality of writing. By 1952 a newspaper wrote that Americans are more familiar with the characters of Burns and Allen they know most senators. Scripts are often poor. The actor's performance is important (Lucille Ball).
The detective series. The thriller, set in such popular literature and the radio drama was adapted for television. And "Dragnet," which depicts a policeman in Los Angeles. The story and setting are based image reality. "All We Want Are the facts ma'am."
Westerns are also translated to television. "Hopalong Cassidy " starts in 1948. The actor William Boyd (Series B) becomes the idol of the children. "The Lone Ranger ," another Western series, was originally a radio series for children. The series features a lonely vigil forest and its Indian companion Tonto. At the end of each episode the hero delivers a brief moral lesson and goes, before we could thank him, on his horse named Silver. The series lasted until 1958 before being distributed by syndicated (sold to other networks).
Sporting In 1953, the Boston Braves (football) moved to Milwaukee where beer brewers who have bought them have promised to sponsor television coverage broader. As the radio, televised sport structure time and space of the nation. The games draw a geography of the United States, the championship calendar is a calendar class. Television offers the possibility of a shared emotion.
Policy. Television plays a role in structuring political life; For example, the diffusion of hearings conducted by McCarthy as part of the investigation on Un-American Activities (communist) is helping to precipitate his fall. He plays the "bad guy" in bad faith and abusive unshaven.
Culture. Since the beginning of CBS and NBC broadcast of the "dramas" for the studios (wealth) in New York. Ex: "12 Angry Men" (1952, juror managed to convince a jury of the innocence of an accused), "Anthologies": "A Night to Remember (Titanic)," For Whom the Bells Toll "( war Spain). Viewers have the impression of being in the theater. Initially most of these dramas are broadcast live. Achievement often with few resources. Then improvements: firms do not want the audience get bored, and sales of receivers fall.
Hearing. The classic analysis of the mass media is: since all the listeners hear the program individually from home the mass media - television with them - help to deconstruct society by atomizing the audience and viewers by referring to each listener individuality. In reality things are more complex. The notion of "mass audience" must be qualified. It is found that viewers are grouped by origin and social status. The whimsical Jackie Gleason was popular among African Americans. Italians of the working class of Boston did not like the character of father easily manipulated sitcoms. They wanted a more traditional father figure.
Conformity. Sponsors verified that the authorities were not called into question the conventional morality and respected. John Crosby complained "You can only make jokes about the rain because rain does not advertise, has no political connections and falls on blacks and whites in an impartial manner .... "
racial stereotypes. The black middle class complained of racial stereotypes in the TV version of Andy Amos'n with the unexpected effect that television suppressed all programs with black actors. Africans in a show of Jack Benny in 1954 were dressed as cannibals and sang the song advertising the soup Jack Campbell preparing to eat its host Benny and Bob Hope. Lucille Ball had great difficulty obtaining the right to play with her own husband, Desi Arnaz, who was Métis of Cuban origin. The anti-female stereotypes are illustrated by the main theme of I Love Lucy. Every time it leaves the marital home to find work disaster befell her. The drama could be realistic, they almost all ended well, with a wedding. Attacks are personal. No society.
Lucille Ball (I Love Lucy) and her husband Desi Arnaz are the first to film the sitcom in Hollywood.
The reaction of Hollywood. The majors are initially scornful; United Artists then distributes the series, she also bought the film stock before 1950 de la Warner pour la TV et vendra ensuite son propre stock. Monogram et Republic Pictures vendent de vieux westerns de série B. En réaction, les studios transforment leur production (couleur, superproductions, fin du code Hayes). Lorsque la preuve est faite que le cinéma en salle peut survivre à la TV, les studios de TV se déplacent vers Hollywood. Tous les studios commencent à fabriquer des programmes pour la télévision. La sitcom la plus célèbre depuis 1951, I Love Lucy, est la première à être filmée en Californie. L’actrice ne veut pas quitter son ranch et la diffusion en direct est impossible pour cause décalage horaire. CBS et le sponsor acceptent à regret de payer le coût supplémentaire pour que le show soit filmé. Arnaz persuade un ancien opérateur de MGM de la faire. Pour garder la spontanéité de la TV, Arnaz demande que le public soit présent pendant l’enregistrement. On filme avec deux ou trois caméras en même temps. La meilleure prise est éditée en un épisode de 26 minutes 30. 25 ans plus tard beaucoup de sitcoms étaient encore faites de la même manière. Le succès ruine l’idée que le public préfère le « live ». La compagnie de Ball et Arnaz achète les studios de RKO pour faire de la production TV en 1958.
Disney . ABC, qui se lance dans la TV à ce moment, décide de se doter de possibilités production in California. Agreement with Disney that produces a weekly series for the network. Success in 1954-55 with Davy Crockett. The Walk of Davy Crockett is a success at the Box Office. Derivatives. Disney also produced "Mickey Mouse Club" on ABC.
A year after the agreement with Disney, Warner Bros. turned to the TV. Success of ' Cheyenne' on ABC. Westerns are the greatest success. In 1958-9, according to Nielsen measurement, seven of the eight major ratings success happen in the American West. " Maverick ' (1957-62) contains a certain amount of humor. In the years following the ABC-Warner Group turns to the detective series, "softened": eg. "Hawaiian Eye " (1953-63). Investigations necessarily happen in the rich and famous. "Gunsmoke ", 1959, one of the favorite programs of President Lyndon B. Johnson
The partial conversion of Hollywood television is illustrated by the fact that a summer day of 1959, 23 TV programs are in production at the same time in the studios of Warner, mostly for ABC. The production arm of NBC, "Review" buys Universal Studios in 1959. CBS bought the studio from Republic the same year. The
Critics scorned the "Hollywoodisation" of TV production, saying the 90-minute drama had more spontaneity and creativity. One of them wrote that "TV WAS Mainly Satisfied to Become a purveyor of The Worst Kind Of C.picture Hollywood junk.
Scandal games. Between 1955 and 1958 games (quiz) with wholesale prices were very popular programs. The set of CBS 'The $ 64 000 question "was more popular than" See it Now ". But the production had helped Charles Van Doren, a young "wasp" of Columbia, to the detriment of a more popular competitor. The case involves a congressional investigation and an embarrassment to the chains. Their ability to manipulate public opinion is spread. The scandal is even bigger than the game mimic a situation of fair competition which is the source of the American dream and that the protagonists of the Van Doren is a scion of the elite of the east coast and a recent immigrant New York.
Public Television in the USA. The question of television as a public service but asked the FCC can not impose quotas for public programs or to finance public television because of the indifference of its members, the policies and views. Van Doren scandal, however, encourages the chains increase their emissions "political." Chains multiply news programs at the request of the FCC (CBS Reports), but these emissions have saddled the hearing. The question of the political influence of television started to emerge in the 1960s. In 1960, presidential election, Kennedy-Nixon debate, 71 million listeners. Nixon, stiff and unshaven, goes wrong.
Production . In the early sixties relations with sponsors change. Initially, sponsors, through their advertising agency, directed to independent producers that carried them to the playoffs then sold to networks. Production costs are too high and independent producers fall under the umbrella of networks. They offer a pilot networks. Sha, the series is completed. Officials of the network, taking over the role formerly occupied by advertisers or their agencies, supervising the production of the series itself. In a way that illustrates the vertical integration of an industry, the network in exchange for investment costs production of a program, then receives a share of the "syndication" if it emerges profits and a share of redistribution rights for both the domestic market and abroad.
however new players are emerging: independent assemblers, and "packagers" who work for networks, and in the 1960s become the predominant source of these programs dto. According to the research department of the FCC in 1957 packagers produce 38% of all network programs, as against 33% produced by advertisers and 29% produced by networks directly. In 1964 the share of " packagers in the production had risen to 71% to 20% and 9% networks for advertisers.
Since the networks ran more financial risks they controlled more closely the series, being hostile to the risks. We are witnessing an evolution in the global economy programs. The 50s had preferred games, westerns and detective stories. The 60s are experiencing a succession of mini booms around genres renewed. "Drama" around doctors and teachers, comedies about the second world war and espionage. In the latter genus Mission: Impossible » (CBS) dure de 1966 à 1973. Son héros est un agent qui met ses pouvoirs extraordinaires au service du gouvernement des USA. Diffuse à l’étranger , il donne une idée exagérée des pouvoirs de la CIA. ABC place un soap opera Peyton Place ( 1964-69) puis une série sur un héros comique Batman (1966-68) le soir en prime time. Les sitcoms sont le genre le plus populaire : les deux tiers des émissions avec le plus d’audience en septembre 1964 sont des sitcoms. La plupart se passent dans la classe moyenne. Certaines ont des gimmick incroyables : un cheval ou une voiture qui parle ou une femme qui est une sorcière ou un martien comme compagnon de chambre…Beaucoup sont mal écrites. Le recrutement des bons rédacteurs s’est tari ; ils sont moins bien payés. Après 68 les sitcoms souffrent aussi de la concurrence des films relativement récents qui commencent à être diffusés en soirée. On constate l'échec des films anglais mais réussite de la collection de XXth Fox sur NBC, avec des vedettes comme Clark Gable ou Susan Hayward qui étaient très rarement apparues à TV. Le nombre des séries décroît un peu face aux films. Depuis 1964 Hollywood produit des films « faits pour la TV ».
Autocensure . Dans les séries, le sexe est très autocensuré (au moment où le cinéma se libère) En ce qui concerns the image of minorities, the networks are reluctant to schedule blacks in the same series of supporting roles until the mid-1960s. CBS program then sets with black stars and co-stars. Bill Cosby plays a U.S. secret agent in "I Spy " (1965-68). Diahann Carroll's nurse widow in " Julia" (1968-71). But in 9 years the series "The FBI " deals only once a question regarding the violation of civil rights. The TV
contrast with the civil rights movement by giving the floor in the information, the activists ignored by newspapers and local radio and showing violence. In the 1970 TV movie Roots devoted to slavery, accompanies the position of African Americans in public space.
counterculture. TV supports rather the American intervention in Vietnam. Sitcoms ridicule the cons-hippie culture ( Dragnet ). Bob Hope organizes tours to support the Army in Vietnam. On CBS, the younger actors, Tom and Dick Smothers, however, try to break the consensus between 1967 and 1969 by introducing political satire absent from TV. Network executives prohibit Joan Baez dedicated a song to her husband in prison for refusing conscription. Columbia is trying to prevent Pete Seeger to sing a ballad anti-war. The Smothers Brothers issue is removed. Emissions pro-Vietnam Bob Hope record viewing figures, 46.6% more than the emissions of the brothers Smother. But in the 1970s MASH (CBS 1972-1983) will accompany the release of the Vietnam War.
Competition. During the 1970s develops cable television, first in areas of poor reception (city). Cable channels that do not threaten slowly terrestrial channels. By the late 1970s about 90% of viewers watching the three national channels (NBC, CBS, ABC). The audience of cable channels increased from 6% in January 1982 to 20% in January 1989, the self spend 12-18%. By the three networks down to 61% of viewers in the late 1990s. Public television continues to occupy a marginal place. PBS has an average audience of 2.7 million prime-time homes on a total of 92.1, or 2.9% of households in 1989. cable channels are not in direct competition with the generalist but addressed to targeted audiences. This breaks partially with the role of national TV as cement.
Regarding technical and economic structure, private American television is built on the model of radio networks. His logic is the same: financing through advertising, organizational networks (whose head is in New York), audience measurement by Nielsen. The recording studios are moving in to California where is the knowledge of the shooting. The programs are a great place to series and sitcoms.
As a means of representing the world of commercial television picks of popular cinema and family as it existed in the years 1930-40, while the film is looking for new audiences (teenagers) and new forms (blockbuster horror films, art films). Television series exploiting canonical forms of popular literature and film: western, detective series and develop a format that is clean, the situation comedy (sitcom). Forms innovate but few espouse content (slowly) the changes in society.
I. Technical and economic structure
Debut. In 1947 four companies are beginning to broadcast programs. Three are networks of radios. NBC and CBS are needed in the early years, creating a duopoly. DuMont has fewer stations. ABC emerges later.
programs are then direct: competition "Skating", session of the UN live music hall artists (Milton Berle), "dramatic" live. These programs seem bad at first trial of criticism, even compared to series B movie but meet a real popular success. Quickly the working classes and middle classes are driving consumption. Demand is outstripping supply. The items are sold in gas stations or drug stores.
A media present in every home
In 1959 almost all households receive television Nir and White. the shift to color will be a way to revive the market.
avecTV% of households in the United States
1948 0.4 1950 9 1951 23
1956 1952 34 64.5 1959 95
Source: James L. Baughman The Republic of Mass Culture. Journalism, Filmmaking and Broadcasting in America Since 1941 , The Johns Hopkins University press, 1992 [2006, 298 p. , Pp. 41
The audience is mostly composed of families with children in urban areas (which is related to the fact that the first transmitters serving the densely populated cities). At the beginning there are still local stations with original programs (Country music in Texas) but the center of creation, the more interesting (Chicago) off the mid-1950s.
The technical and economic model of radio networks is required. ATT provides the cables that connect the stations. These can be operated directly by the radio company (NBC or CBS) or "franchised . Emissions are mostly sponsored by advertising. The sponsors want to control the content of programs they sponsor. Soap operas sponsored products firm Procter and Gamble detergent and must follow the rules issued by the company to its employees: no tobacco. However Alcoa never interfere on the issue of political commentary from Ed Murrow "See it Now" that the company sponsors. Sponsors such as U.S. Steel, Goodyear (tires) or Bell Telephone) allow the birth of programs that you remember twenty years later.
stations emit profits . In 1951 the FCC reported that only 5 of 108 stations are profitable but in 1954 a station affiliated with a network can provide a return on investment of 35% per year. CBS and NBC make money primarily with stations which are directly owned stations but sell their network programs.
II. Programs.
TV borrows from the tradition of the radio and know-how of the film.
come from the radio: a) the music hall (vaudeville) - jugglers, magicians, light music b. Situation comedies ("sitcoms"): The Former Life of Riley, My Friend Irma c.the "action drama" The Lone Ranger "d. Quiz (Games): "Truth or Consequences, Queen for a Day".
come as the radio stars : actors and entertainers like Milton Berle and Lucille Ball, Jack Benny (who lives for 14 years star of CBS). In the field of information Ed Murrow, famous news reporter since the war, moved to TV in 1951. As in radio, TV programs are structured into genres.
The sitcoms. After 1951 sitcoms half an hour structuring become part of each night. Some sitcoms remain long: thus " Burns and Allen . Their success is based on the fact that viewers recognize the characters rather than the quality of writing. By 1952 a newspaper wrote that Americans are more familiar with the characters of Burns and Allen they know most senators. Scripts are often poor. The actor's performance is important (Lucille Ball).
The detective series. The thriller, set in such popular literature and the radio drama was adapted for television. And "Dragnet," which depicts a policeman in Los Angeles. The story and setting are based image reality. "All We Want Are the facts ma'am."
Westerns are also translated to television. "Hopalong Cassidy " starts in 1948. The actor William Boyd (Series B) becomes the idol of the children. "The Lone Ranger ," another Western series, was originally a radio series for children. The series features a lonely vigil forest and its Indian companion Tonto. At the end of each episode the hero delivers a brief moral lesson and goes, before we could thank him, on his horse named Silver. The series lasted until 1958 before being distributed by syndicated (sold to other networks).
Sporting In 1953, the Boston Braves (football) moved to Milwaukee where beer brewers who have bought them have promised to sponsor television coverage broader. As the radio, televised sport structure time and space of the nation. The games draw a geography of the United States, the championship calendar is a calendar class. Television offers the possibility of a shared emotion.
Policy. Television plays a role in structuring political life; For example, the diffusion of hearings conducted by McCarthy as part of the investigation on Un-American Activities (communist) is helping to precipitate his fall. He plays the "bad guy" in bad faith and abusive unshaven.
Culture. Since the beginning of CBS and NBC broadcast of the "dramas" for the studios (wealth) in New York. Ex: "12 Angry Men" (1952, juror managed to convince a jury of the innocence of an accused), "Anthologies": "A Night to Remember (Titanic)," For Whom the Bells Toll "( war Spain). Viewers have the impression of being in the theater. Initially most of these dramas are broadcast live. Achievement often with few resources. Then improvements: firms do not want the audience get bored, and sales of receivers fall.
Hearing. The classic analysis of the mass media is: since all the listeners hear the program individually from home the mass media - television with them - help to deconstruct society by atomizing the audience and viewers by referring to each listener individuality. In reality things are more complex. The notion of "mass audience" must be qualified. It is found that viewers are grouped by origin and social status. The whimsical Jackie Gleason was popular among African Americans. Italians of the working class of Boston did not like the character of father easily manipulated sitcoms. They wanted a more traditional father figure.
Conformity. Sponsors verified that the authorities were not called into question the conventional morality and respected. John Crosby complained "You can only make jokes about the rain because rain does not advertise, has no political connections and falls on blacks and whites in an impartial manner .... "
racial stereotypes. The black middle class complained of racial stereotypes in the TV version of Andy Amos'n with the unexpected effect that television suppressed all programs with black actors. Africans in a show of Jack Benny in 1954 were dressed as cannibals and sang the song advertising the soup Jack Campbell preparing to eat its host Benny and Bob Hope. Lucille Ball had great difficulty obtaining the right to play with her own husband, Desi Arnaz, who was Métis of Cuban origin. The anti-female stereotypes are illustrated by the main theme of I Love Lucy. Every time it leaves the marital home to find work disaster befell her. The drama could be realistic, they almost all ended well, with a wedding. Attacks are personal. No society.
Lucille Ball (I Love Lucy) and her husband Desi Arnaz are the first to film the sitcom in Hollywood.
The reaction of Hollywood. The majors are initially scornful; United Artists then distributes the series, she also bought the film stock before 1950 de la Warner pour la TV et vendra ensuite son propre stock. Monogram et Republic Pictures vendent de vieux westerns de série B. En réaction, les studios transforment leur production (couleur, superproductions, fin du code Hayes). Lorsque la preuve est faite que le cinéma en salle peut survivre à la TV, les studios de TV se déplacent vers Hollywood. Tous les studios commencent à fabriquer des programmes pour la télévision. La sitcom la plus célèbre depuis 1951, I Love Lucy, est la première à être filmée en Californie. L’actrice ne veut pas quitter son ranch et la diffusion en direct est impossible pour cause décalage horaire. CBS et le sponsor acceptent à regret de payer le coût supplémentaire pour que le show soit filmé. Arnaz persuade un ancien opérateur de MGM de la faire. Pour garder la spontanéité de la TV, Arnaz demande que le public soit présent pendant l’enregistrement. On filme avec deux ou trois caméras en même temps. La meilleure prise est éditée en un épisode de 26 minutes 30. 25 ans plus tard beaucoup de sitcoms étaient encore faites de la même manière. Le succès ruine l’idée que le public préfère le « live ». La compagnie de Ball et Arnaz achète les studios de RKO pour faire de la production TV en 1958.
Disney . ABC, qui se lance dans la TV à ce moment, décide de se doter de possibilités production in California. Agreement with Disney that produces a weekly series for the network. Success in 1954-55 with Davy Crockett. The Walk of Davy Crockett is a success at the Box Office. Derivatives. Disney also produced "Mickey Mouse Club" on ABC.
A year after the agreement with Disney, Warner Bros. turned to the TV. Success of ' Cheyenne' on ABC. Westerns are the greatest success. In 1958-9, according to Nielsen measurement, seven of the eight major ratings success happen in the American West. " Maverick ' (1957-62) contains a certain amount of humor. In the years following the ABC-Warner Group turns to the detective series, "softened": eg. "Hawaiian Eye " (1953-63). Investigations necessarily happen in the rich and famous. "Gunsmoke ", 1959, one of the favorite programs of President Lyndon B. Johnson
The partial conversion of Hollywood television is illustrated by the fact that a summer day of 1959, 23 TV programs are in production at the same time in the studios of Warner, mostly for ABC. The production arm of NBC, "Review" buys Universal Studios in 1959. CBS bought the studio from Republic the same year. The
Critics scorned the "Hollywoodisation" of TV production, saying the 90-minute drama had more spontaneity and creativity. One of them wrote that "TV WAS Mainly Satisfied to Become a purveyor of The Worst Kind Of C.picture Hollywood junk.
Scandal games. Between 1955 and 1958 games (quiz) with wholesale prices were very popular programs. The set of CBS 'The $ 64 000 question "was more popular than" See it Now ". But the production had helped Charles Van Doren, a young "wasp" of Columbia, to the detriment of a more popular competitor. The case involves a congressional investigation and an embarrassment to the chains. Their ability to manipulate public opinion is spread. The scandal is even bigger than the game mimic a situation of fair competition which is the source of the American dream and that the protagonists of the Van Doren is a scion of the elite of the east coast and a recent immigrant New York.
Public Television in the USA. The question of television as a public service but asked the FCC can not impose quotas for public programs or to finance public television because of the indifference of its members, the policies and views. Van Doren scandal, however, encourages the chains increase their emissions "political." Chains multiply news programs at the request of the FCC (CBS Reports), but these emissions have saddled the hearing. The question of the political influence of television started to emerge in the 1960s. In 1960, presidential election, Kennedy-Nixon debate, 71 million listeners. Nixon, stiff and unshaven, goes wrong.
Production . In the early sixties relations with sponsors change. Initially, sponsors, through their advertising agency, directed to independent producers that carried them to the playoffs then sold to networks. Production costs are too high and independent producers fall under the umbrella of networks. They offer a pilot networks. Sha, the series is completed. Officials of the network, taking over the role formerly occupied by advertisers or their agencies, supervising the production of the series itself. In a way that illustrates the vertical integration of an industry, the network in exchange for investment costs production of a program, then receives a share of the "syndication" if it emerges profits and a share of redistribution rights for both the domestic market and abroad.
however new players are emerging: independent assemblers, and "packagers" who work for networks, and in the 1960s become the predominant source of these programs dto. According to the research department of the FCC in 1957 packagers produce 38% of all network programs, as against 33% produced by advertisers and 29% produced by networks directly. In 1964 the share of " packagers in the production had risen to 71% to 20% and 9% networks for advertisers.
Since the networks ran more financial risks they controlled more closely the series, being hostile to the risks. We are witnessing an evolution in the global economy programs. The 50s had preferred games, westerns and detective stories. The 60s are experiencing a succession of mini booms around genres renewed. "Drama" around doctors and teachers, comedies about the second world war and espionage. In the latter genus Mission: Impossible » (CBS) dure de 1966 à 1973. Son héros est un agent qui met ses pouvoirs extraordinaires au service du gouvernement des USA. Diffuse à l’étranger , il donne une idée exagérée des pouvoirs de la CIA. ABC place un soap opera Peyton Place ( 1964-69) puis une série sur un héros comique Batman (1966-68) le soir en prime time. Les sitcoms sont le genre le plus populaire : les deux tiers des émissions avec le plus d’audience en septembre 1964 sont des sitcoms. La plupart se passent dans la classe moyenne. Certaines ont des gimmick incroyables : un cheval ou une voiture qui parle ou une femme qui est une sorcière ou un martien comme compagnon de chambre…Beaucoup sont mal écrites. Le recrutement des bons rédacteurs s’est tari ; ils sont moins bien payés. Après 68 les sitcoms souffrent aussi de la concurrence des films relativement récents qui commencent à être diffusés en soirée. On constate l'échec des films anglais mais réussite de la collection de XXth Fox sur NBC, avec des vedettes comme Clark Gable ou Susan Hayward qui étaient très rarement apparues à TV. Le nombre des séries décroît un peu face aux films. Depuis 1964 Hollywood produit des films « faits pour la TV ».
Autocensure . Dans les séries, le sexe est très autocensuré (au moment où le cinéma se libère) En ce qui concerns the image of minorities, the networks are reluctant to schedule blacks in the same series of supporting roles until the mid-1960s. CBS program then sets with black stars and co-stars. Bill Cosby plays a U.S. secret agent in "I Spy " (1965-68). Diahann Carroll's nurse widow in " Julia" (1968-71). But in 9 years the series "The FBI " deals only once a question regarding the violation of civil rights. The TV
contrast with the civil rights movement by giving the floor in the information, the activists ignored by newspapers and local radio and showing violence. In the 1970 TV movie Roots devoted to slavery, accompanies the position of African Americans in public space.
counterculture. TV supports rather the American intervention in Vietnam. Sitcoms ridicule the cons-hippie culture ( Dragnet ). Bob Hope organizes tours to support the Army in Vietnam. On CBS, the younger actors, Tom and Dick Smothers, however, try to break the consensus between 1967 and 1969 by introducing political satire absent from TV. Network executives prohibit Joan Baez dedicated a song to her husband in prison for refusing conscription. Columbia is trying to prevent Pete Seeger to sing a ballad anti-war. The Smothers Brothers issue is removed. Emissions pro-Vietnam Bob Hope record viewing figures, 46.6% more than the emissions of the brothers Smother. But in the 1970s MASH (CBS 1972-1983) will accompany the release of the Vietnam War.
Competition. During the 1970s develops cable television, first in areas of poor reception (city). Cable channels that do not threaten slowly terrestrial channels. By the late 1970s about 90% of viewers watching the three national channels (NBC, CBS, ABC). The audience of cable channels increased from 6% in January 1982 to 20% in January 1989, the self spend 12-18%. By the three networks down to 61% of viewers in the late 1990s. Public television continues to occupy a marginal place. PBS has an average audience of 2.7 million prime-time homes on a total of 92.1, or 2.9% of households in 1989. cable channels are not in direct competition with the generalist but addressed to targeted audiences. This breaks partially with the role of national TV as cement.
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