The Golden Age of Chicago Children's Television


Book Description

From the late 1940's through the early 1970's, local TV stations created a golden age of children's television. These programs were rich in imagination, inventiveness, and devoted fans. This book tells the back stories and details of the special Chicago children's programming created during this period.




Chicago Television


Book Description

The history of television in Chicago begins with the birth of the medium and is defined by the city's pioneering stations. WBKB (now WLS-TV) was the principal innovator of the Chicago School of Television, an improvisational production style that combined small budgets, personable talent, and the creative use of scenery and props. WNBQ (now WMAQ-TV) expanded the innovative concept to a wider audience via the NBC network. WGN-TV scored with sports and kids. Strong personalities drove the success of WBBM-TV. A noncommercial educational station, WTTW, and the city's first UHF station, WCIU, added diversity and ethnic programming. The airwaves in Chicago have been home to a wealth of talented performers and iconic programs that have made the city one of the country's greatest television towns. Chicago Television, featuring photographs from the archives of the Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC) and the collections of local stations and historians, gives readers a front-row seat on a journey through the fi rst 50 years of Chicago television, 1940-1990. Founded in 1982 by broadcaster Bruce DuMont, the MBC Web site offers over 10,000 digital assets.




The Golden Age of Boston Television


Book Description

There are some two hundred TV markets in the country, but only oneÑBoston, MassachusettsÑhosted a Golden Age of local programming. In this lively insider account, Terry Ann Knopf chronicles the development of Boston television, from its origins in the 1970s through its decline in the early 1990s. During TVÕs heyday, not only was Boston the nationÕs leader in locally produced news, programming, and public affairs, but it also became a model for other local stations around the country. It was a time of award-winning local newscasts, spirited talk shows, thought-provoking specials and documentaries, ambitious public service campaigns, and even originally produced TV films featuring Hollywood stars. Knopf also shows how this programming highlighted aspects of BostonÕs own history over two turbulent decades, including the treatment of highly charged issues of race, sex, and genderÑand the stationsÕ failure to challenge the Roman Catholic Church during its infamous sexual abuse scandal. Laced with personal insights and anecdotes, The Golden Age of Boston Television offers an intimate look at how BostonÕs television stations refracted the cityÕs culture in unique ways, while at the same time setting national standards for television creativity and excellence.




Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows


Book Description

By the last 1950s, studios saw television as a convenient dumping ground for thousands of films that had been gathering dust in their vaults. Distributors grouped them by genre-- and Chicago's tradition of TV horror movie shows was born. From giant grasshoppers to Dracula epics, Okuda and Yurkiw take a comprehensive look at these programs, with career profiles of the "horror hosts," a look at the politics behind the shows, and broadcast histories, as well as guides to many of the films themselves.




That's the Way It Is


Book Description

Ever since Newton Minow taught us sophisticates to bemoan the descent of television into a vast wasteland, the dyspeptic chorus of jeremiahs who insist that television news in particular has gone from gold to dross gets noisier and noisier. Charles Ponce de Leon says here, in effect, that this is misleading, if not simply fatuous. He argues in this well-paced, lively, readable book that TV news has changed in response to broader changes in the TV industry and American culture. It is pointless to bewail its decline. "That s the Way It Is "gives us the very first history of American television news, spanning more than six decades, from Camel News Caravan to Countdown with Keith Oberman and The Daily Show. Starting in the latter 1940s, television news featured a succession of broadcasters who became household names, even presences: Eric Sevareid, Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, Peter Jennings, Brian Williams, Katie Couric, and, with cable expansion, people like Glenn Beck, Jon Stewart, and Bill O Reilly. But behind the scenes, the parallel story is just as interesting, involving executives, producers, and journalists who were responsible for the field s most important innovations. Included with mainstream network news programs is an engaging treatment of news magazines like "60 Minutes" and "20/20, " as well as morning news shows like "Today" and "Good Morning America." Ponce de Leon gives ample attention to the establishment of cable networks (CNN, and the later competitors, Fox News and MSNBC), mixing in colorful anecdotes about the likes of Roger Ailes and Roone Arledge. Frothy features and other kinds of entertainment have been part and parcel of TV news from the start; viewer preferences have always played a role in the evolution of programming, although the disintegration of a national culture since the 1970s means that most of us no longer follow the news as a civic obligation. Throughout, Ponce de Leon places his history in a broader cultural context, emphasizing tensions between the public service mission of TV news and the quest for profitability and broad appeal."




Chicago History for Kids


Book Description

From the Native Americans who lived in the Chicago area for thousands of years, to the first European explorers Marquette and Jolliet, to the 2005 Chicago White Sox World Series win, parents, teachers, and kids will love this comprehensive and exciting history of how Chicago became the third largest city in the U.S. Chicago's spectacular and impressive history comes alive through activities such as building a model of the original Ferris Wheel, taking architectural walking tours of the first skyscrapers and Chicago's oldest landmarks, and making a Chicago-style hotdog. Serving as both a guide to kids and their parents and an engaging tool for teachers, this book details the first Chicagoan Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, the Fort Dearborn Massacre, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the building of the world's first skyscraper, and the hosting of two World's Fairs. In addition to uncovering Windy City treasures such as the birth of the vibrant jazz era of Louis Armstrong and the work of Chicago poets, novelists, and songwriters, kids will also learn about Chicago's triumphant and tortured sports history.




Make Room for TV


Book Description

Between 1948 and 1955, nearly two-thirds of all American families bought a television set—and a revolution in social life and popular culture was launched. In this fascinating book, Lynn Spigel chronicles the enormous impact of television in the formative years of the new medium: how, over the course of a single decade, television became an intimate part of everyday life. What did Americans expect from it? What effects did the new daily ritual of watching television have on children? Was television welcomed as an unprecedented "window on the world," or as a "one-eyed monster" that would disrupt households and corrupt children? Drawing on an ambitious array of unconventional sources, from sitcom scripts to articles and advertisements in women's magazines, Spigel offers the fullest available account of the popular response to television in the postwar years. She chronicles the role of television as a focus for evolving debates on issues ranging from the ideal of the perfect family and changes in women's role within the household to new uses of domestic space. The arrival of television did more than turn the living room into a private theater: it offered a national stage on which to play out and resolve conflicts about the way Americans should live. Spigel chronicles this lively and contentious debate as it took place in the popular media. Of particular interest is her treatment of the way in which the phenomenon of television itself was constantly deliberated—from how programs should be watched to where the set was placed to whether Mom, Dad, or kids should control the dial. Make Room for TV combines a powerful analysis of the growth of electronic culture with a nuanced social history of family life in postwar America, offering a provocative glimpse of the way television became the mirror of so many of America's hopes and fears and dreams.




Encyclopedia of Television


Book Description

The Encyclopedia of Television, second edtion is the first major reference work to provide description, history, analysis, and information on more than 1100 subjects related to television in its international context. For a full list of entries, contributors, and more, visit the Encyclo pedia of Television, 2nd edition website.




The Only Kid on the Carnival


Book Description

During that wonderful golden age of local children's television, many talented people pooled their skills to enthrall and edify the impressionable, appreciative viewers. Yet with no disrespect intended toward any of the others, one person stood out in his ability to spin gold out of straw: Bill Jackson. Bill's legion of fans still cherish his amazing adventures with the memorable puppet characters that sprung from his fertile imagination on programs such as Cartoon Town, The BJ and Dirty Dragon Show, and Gigglesnort Hotel. These programs remain as fresh and entertaining today as they did when they were first broadcast, and belie their meager budgets and restrictive production schedules, thanks to Bill's artistic integrity and his coterie of hard-working crew members. Now, Bill steps out from behind his familiar TV persona to reveal a poignant personal journey filled with struggles, heartaches, and triumphs. The Only Kid on the Carnival chronicles the indomitable spirit of a young man who became one of television's most creative and gifted talents, and does so in a boldly engaging manner that touches the heart and the soul. As always, Bill Jackson does not disappoint his audience. Ted Okuda, "The Golden Age of Chicago Children's Television"




New Television


Book Description

Even though it’s frequently asserted that we are living in a golden age of scripted television, television as a medium is still not taken seriously as an artistic art form, nor has the stigma of television as “chewing gum for the mind” really disappeared. Philosopher Martin Shuster argues that television is the modern art form, full of promise and urgency, and in New Television, he offers a strong philosophical justification for its importance. Through careful analysis of shows including The Wire, Justified, and Weeds, among others; and European and Anglophone philosophers, such as Stanley Cavell, Hannah Arendt, Martin Heidegger, and John Rawls; Shuster reveals how various contemporary television series engage deeply with aesthetic and philosophical issues in modernism and modernity. What unifies the aesthetic and philosophical ambitions of new television is a commitment to portraying and exploring the family as the last site of political possibility in a world otherwise bereft of any other sources of traditional authority; consequently, at the heart of new television are profound political stakes.