History of Television in America


Though television started in the mid-1940s, the 1950s was the first full decade in which the number of TV stations and TV sets was large enough for wide spread use. In 1950, Arthur Godfrey and Faye Emerson were named most pleasing personalities on CBS’s Look"s TV awards show. Advertisers moved from radio to TV in record numbers. In 1951 Omnibus; an honored cultural series, started and in its five year run it took in $5.5 million in advertising revenues, with $8.5 million in costs. Also the I Love Lucy show debuted, CBS broadcasted the first color program and the Hallmark Hall of Fame series started. By 1952 the number of households with TVs grew to 20 million and NBCs Today Show went on the air. The Bob Hope Show went on the air and a House subcommittee investigated "offensive" and "immoral" TV programs. Highlights of 1954 were the starts of Captain Kangaroo, The Tonight Show and the first color commercial were televised. During 1955 the show Queen for a Day came to TV from radio, Ronald Reagan became the host of General Electric Theater, Gunsmoke and The $64,000 Question debuted. The perennial special Peter Pan started its annual run. Videotape use is introduced to replace the kinescope process in 1956. Also, in 1956 the movie The Wizard of Oz first appeared on TV. The Ed Sullivan Show is the most-watched show in 1957 and Jack Paar begins as host of the Tonight Show. By 1958 there are 525 cable TV systems with 450,000 subscribers and there are 22 network quiz shows. Herbert Stempel charges that the quiz show Twenty-One is rigged, causing a congressional investigation. The cartoon character Mister
Magoo becomes spokesman for General Electric bulbs in 1959 and the show Bonanza first goes on the air.
The show The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet went on the air in 1952. It was about the real-life Nelson family and their two boys. At first, the show was centered on the four Nelsons, with occasional poor advice from a neighbor, Thorny Thormberry. When the boys started dating, girlfriends appeared on the show and later their real-life wives appeared as well. Besides Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, the show included their sons David and Eric Nelson and David’s wife, June Blair and Eric’s wife, Kristen Harmon. The show ran from 1952 to 1966.
The show Leave It to Beaver went on the air in 1957 and was about the Cleaver family, Ward played by Hugh Beamont, his wife June played by Barbara Billingsley and their sons Wally played by Tony Dow and Theodore "Beaver" played by Jerry Mathers. Theodore was seven when the series began and his friends were Larry, Whitney and Gilbert. Wally was twelve when the series began and his friends were Eddie and Lumpy. Theodore’s teachers were Miss Canfield played by Diane Brewster and Miss Landers played by Sue Randall. The show ran from 1957 to 1963.
The show I Love Lucy went on the air in 1951, and was about Ricky Ricardo played by Desi Arnaz and his wife Lucy played by Lucille Ball. It was about Lucy’s scatterbrain antics and her desires for a career in show business. It included their neighbors and landlords, Fred Mertz played by William Crawley and Ethel Mertz played by Vivian Vance. Ricky Ricardo was an orchestra leader at the Tropicana Club in New York. The Mertz’s and Ricardo’s were inseparable and did everything together. The show ran from 1951 to 1961.