2nd Semester; Television (introduction)

Welcome to Semester 2! We will pick up our course with our next unit: Television. To start today, please post on YOUR blog the following:

Writing Task #1:

• What is your favorite television program or show? What is the program about (its premise)? Why do you like this program? Is the show still running? What have others said about the program? 
• Add a video clip or photograph of the show to your blog post.

Task #2: Television, An American Pastime

Please read, take notes on the graphic organizer (Cornell Notes), and check out the links where applicable... Turn in your notes by the end of class today for participation credit.

Television originally was meant to be a radio with visual projection capabilities. However, TV has changed American culture in many ways. Here are some details about important milestones. Tune in:

• In the late 1800s, Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, a student in Germany, developed the first ever mechanical module of television. He succeeded in sending images through wires with the help of a rotating metal disk. This technology was called the ‘electric telescope’ that had 18 lines of resolution.  
• Around 1907, two separate inventors, A.A. Campbell-Swinton from England and Russian scientist Boris Rosing, used the cathode ray tube in addition to the mechanical scanner system, to create a new television system. From the experiments of Nipkow and Rosing, two types of television systems were created: mechanical television & electronic television. Philo Farnsworth is credited as the inventor of the first electronic television.
• The first television station in America was W3XK. This station was the brainchild of Charles Francis Jenkins, who is also remembered as the father of American television. The station aired its first broadcast on 2nd July, 1928. Yes. 1928.
• WRGB television station in New York is the first American station that has the honor of being a continuously operating station from 1926, when television was invented, until now.
• The first commercially produced television sets were based on the mechanical television system. These sets were made from John Baird’s designs for television. The sets were shown to the public in September of 1928.
• The first American electronic television sets were mass produced in 1938 and were an instant hit. All the early television systems were black and white.
• The first ever remote control for television was invented in 1948. Known as the ‘Tele Zoom’, it cannot be called a remote control in the true sense of the word, as the device could only enlarge the picture on the tube and not change any channels or turn the television set on and off. The Flash-matic from Zenith, produced in 1955, was the first ever real remote control that could do all of the above and was completely wireless.
• ‘The Queen’s Messenger’ is believed to be the first television program in America. It was broadcast by WRGB station in 1928.
• 1st July, 1941 is the day when the first ever commercial broadcast took place in America. All broadcasts prior to this day were regarded as experimental by the FCC, thus making this day very important in American TV history.
• 1941 is also when the first American advertisement was aired. The commercial was for a Bulova Watch and lasted all of 10 seconds. It was aired on the NBC network. 
• The color television war was fought by CBS and RCA. CBS was the first to develop a mechanical color television system, inspired by John Baird’s color TV design. By 1950, the FCC announced the CBS color system as the national standard. RCA sued CBS as their system could not be used with the millions of black and white televisions, most of which were RCA sets, thus creating a potential monopoly. RCA were finally available to the buying public in 1954. Although available, not many people bought color sets as there were not even a handful of color programs being broadcast. Star Trek was one of the first series to use color.
  
  Here's some facts and statistics about TV viewing in America from 1939 until now.

check out this link about the history of television.

Writing Task #3: (Blog Post #2): TV Tropes
As a writer's tool, check out the following site for ideas for your own television project.

• TV Tropes (look under media tropes...focus on TV)

For writers, knowing some tropes can be helpful in analyzing and writing a script for television, the media, or film. A trope is a storytelling convention that a viewing audience can easily recognize. You're likely to be familiar with some of these tropes.

On YOUR blog, create a post in which you discuss some of these TV Tropes. What shows have you watched that use some of these tropes? What do you think of them? Does the trope make the show better or worse in your opinion? Explore.

Finally, TASK #4:
Check out some of these links. Choose a show or two and in a short explanation identify the clip you're examining, what contemporary television show seems similar to one that you watch or have watched in the past? What are those similarities? What are some differences? How are some of these shows "dated" by their own culture/time period? What do you notice about the show? How might the show have changed over the years (some of these shows have created spin-offs or sequels). Explore.

TV programs:
The Ed Sullivan Show (with guest star Elvis Presley) and from 1969 (The Jackson 5)
I Love Lucy clip
Howdy Doody episode
The Flintstones clip
Rocky & Bullwinkle
Dick Van Dyke Show (with Mary Tyler Moore) clip
Brady Bunch clip
Sesame Street
MASH clip
Scooby Doo clip
All in the Family clip
The Jeffersons clip
Fat Albert & the Cosby Kids
Bob Newhart Show clip
Happy Days
Dallas
The Muppet Show clip
Different Strokes clip
Cheers clip
Friends clip
Seinfeld show clip
The Simpsons clip
Cops clip
American Idol clip
CSI clip

Submit your answer in the COMMENT section of this post for participation credit.

If you finish all 4 tasks (see above) before the end of class, please work on your upcoming homework involving Chapter 6: Television & Cable.

HOMEWORK: For Monday, Feb. 3 please read the packet on TV & Cable and answer the questions.