The Golden Age of Television/08728

FOREWORD Television was an overnight success that was decades in the making. Both scientists and poets had dreamed of a personal medium for communicating images and sound for years before the many technical components were put into place. Massive obstacles to the problems of definition, compatibility and resolution meant that no one person or nation can be credited with the invention of television. Even when the medium became viable, there were problems of manufacturing, affordability and program creation to be resolved. The fickle muse of technology, as well as Depression and war, impeded the progress of television's popularity until 1948. The period between 1948 and 1960 may be justly described as the Golden Age of television. It was in the post-World War II era that programming exploded to fill the airwaves with exciting shows and the medium's first major stars. By 1960 the original shows, formats and stars had evolved to a point that marks off a new era, and television was experiencing the changes and crises of its second age. The Golden Age in America was dominated by four networks: ABC, CBS, DuMont and NBC. British television, as overviewed by David Lazell, had both the BBC a