Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Television in the 1950s

The influence of television changed American culture in the 1950's. The best selling magazine in America was TV Guide (see link). Television allowed various regions in America (ex. North, South, West, East, etc.) to share a common cultural experience thanks to mass media.

Television also influenced how America got its news and influenced politics as never before. Pres.  Harry Truman was the first president to appear on television. Today, Trump is a media mogul. You can't avoid him and his exploits...as much as we might wish we could.

Edward R. Murrow became the "face of America" on CBS's See It Now (the first coast-to-coast live show on TV) and Person to Person. Later, other television news programs greatly influenced how Americans got their daily news. The contemporary film Good Night and Good Luck focuses on Murrow's television career during the McCarthy era.

However, television quickly provided a series of stories that reinforced American identity. Sitcoms, Westerns, Variety Shows, and Children's Programming became popular genres for writers.

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