A History of Television in 100 Programmes
An entertaining and illuminating celebration of televisual history by cultural historian Phil NormanFor decades, television occupied a unique position in the national imagination. By today’s standards the ‘box’ was tiny, but it dominated the living room in a way its technically superior descendants never quite manage. Has the television lost its power in the internet age? Cultural historian Phil Norman goes in search of such questions as he tells the history of TV through 100 ground-breaking programmes.He celebrates the joy of the TV schedule which, in the days of just a few channels, threw up dizzy juxtapositions on a daily basis: an earnest play might be followed by a variety spectacular; a horror anthology that drove children behind furniture followed a sketch show that chewed the carpet. This riotous mix, now slowly disappearing as themed channels and on-demand services take over, gave television a sense of community that no other media could compete with.The wonderful variety of programmes in the book includes overlooked gems and justly wiped follies, overcooked spectaculars and underfunded experiments – just as much a part of TV history as the national treasures and stone-cold classics. A History of Television in 100 Programmes revels in the days when television was at the most exciting, creative stage of any medium: a cottage industry with the world at its feet.
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William Collins
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First published in Great Britain by The Friday Project in 2015
This ebook edition published by William Collins in 2016
Copyright © Phil Norman 2015
Cover photograph © Getty Images/Steven Taylor
Design © Kate Gaughran
Phil Norman asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 978-0-00-811332-2
Ebook Edition © September 2015 ISBN: 978-0-00-759140-4
Version: 2016-10-07
Table of Contents
The Burns and Allen Show (1950–8)
The Ernie Kovacs Show (1952–61)
The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse: Marty (1953)
The Phil Silvers Show (1955–9)
The Singing Ringing Tree (1957)
The Strange World of Gurney Slade (1960)
Armchair Theatre: A Night Out (1960)
That Was the Week That Was (1962–3)
The Sunday-Night Play: A Suitable Case for Treatment (1962)
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962–92)
Le Manège Enchanté (1964–1971) The Magic Roundabout (1965–1977)
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967–9)
If There Weren’t Any Blacks, You’d Have to Invent Them (1968, 1973)
The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–7)
The Largest Theatre in the World: The Rainbirds (1971)
The Special London Bridge Special (1972)
Inigo Pipkin/Pipkins (1973–81)
Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (1973–4)
The Norman Gunston Show (1975–9)
Play for Today: Double Dare (1976)
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976–9)
Battle of the Network Stars (1976–88)Star Games (1978–80)
Trans America Ultra Quiz (1977–92)Ultra Quiz (1983–5)
Roots: The Saga of an American Family (1977)
The BBC Television Shakespeare (1978–85)
Boys from the Blackstuff (1982)
M*A*S*H: ‘Goodbye, Farewell and Amen’ (1983)
Ever Decreasing Circles (1984–9)
Heimat: Eine Deutsche Chronik (1984)
The Max Headroom Show (1985–7)
A Very Peculiar Practice (1986–8)
The Comic Strip Presents … Private Enterprise (1986)
Our Friends in the North (1996)
There is no holding down the modern inventor. He rides the waves of the ether with the conquering skill of a master in a celestial rodeo. Give him a valve and there is no holding him. It is almost certain that within a few years we shall have all our entertainment available within our own four walls. Press but the button and a stereoscopic talking film will happen over the mantelpiece.
‘Seen and Heard’, Manchester Guardian, 1 April 1930
IT HAD AN AURA about it, a presence. By today’s standards it was tiny, but it dominated the room in a way its technically superior descendants never quite manage. It catered directly for two of the senses, but in operation it affected them all. The flicker and the glare of the bulbous, grey-green screen. The hum and whine of the tube heating up. The crackle of static when it turned off, the tang of burnt dust in the air when it was repaired. For decades the television set was the most advanced piece of technology to be found in any house. How it worked was a mystery, but it was literally part of the furniture.
