A History of Television in 100 Programmes

A History of Television in 100 Programmes
Phil Norman

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.

Copyright (#u92c0aa01-4888-52b0-b8df-527b428ac728)

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

Cover (#u65d255f8-b2d3-57e8-92de-25517bb91eb3)

Title Page (#u5d7dd31a-ff38-5971-aab5-82799690f1a7)

Copyright (#u92675ae1-3329-549d-a431-158f9ea382b2)

Introduction (#uf162e979-1275-5a3c-8220-cd764b96c14d)

Tele-Crime (1938–9) (#uf23dee1c-e427-5594-af30-04a78993db81)

Cookery (1946–51) (#u311a6473-9ab7-5821-955a-16a5164ed15e)

Cavalcade of Stars (1949–52) (#u5cd8bd36-c8a0-5508-a166-c9f9fd53e67d)

Crusader Rabbit (1950–1) (#u50940510-f8cb-5da9-9b33-848887c28df9)

The Burns and Allen Show (1950–8) (#u997d324b-8bff-59d4-a56e-cb3da60cde49)

The Ernie Kovacs Show (1952–61) (#u509a46f1-543d-5c72-8b2d-b7a1781495a9)

The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse: Marty (1953) (#u5502e204-3e60-5454-89da-e0e1d1d0967d)

Small Time (1955–66) (#u27090797-9166-55bd-8695-7c64cd2f23eb)

The Phil Silvers Show (1955–9) (#ud0b15eb2-80f8-582a-bb18-7d2b21d3fdcd)

A Show Called Fred (1956) (#u668ec026-b4e7-5ff5-8571-34d00c574ec0)

My Wildest Dream (1956–7) (#u7d1bb89f-e343-5901-b722-0ac0f266cba2)

Opportunity Knocks (1956–78) (#u93185141-7c11-513c-97e4-00b937c1a199)

The Singing Ringing Tree (1957) (#u76356a0b-c437-5966-9973-2a75ef36d695)

Six-Five Special (1957–8) (#u29597729-d41e-5d8d-9ae5-8de37067b903)

The Strange World of Gurney Slade (1960) (#u8418c770-d557-51c1-bd97-720c2fea540d)

Armchair Theatre: A Night Out (1960) (#udffc960c-6a2f-56eb-a5b0-bcb495a63d64)

Hancock: The Bedsitter (1961) (#ud8ec5a18-1dd2-5be5-bad7-6ab59d4eba73)

Kingsley Amis Goes Pop (1962) (#u1098d6d0-e647-5fba-8407-f44d1e4c0aff)

That Was the Week That Was (1962–3) (#ucd7b80fc-c9c0-51f7-889e-6a1df6982f0c)

The Sunday-Night Play: A Suitable Case for Treatment (1962) (#u21965983-0b5a-5736-95f6-f8c98e3e0c7e)

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962–92) (#u37058e5f-0d5b-5231-9f3a-a538ad3b7269)

World in Action (1963–98) (#u8ee362a3-3630-5be8-9d09-8fac24a51e29)

Play School (1964–88) (#u72c78f52-c1d8-5cdd-83d5-afce394adf75)

Crossroads (1964–88) (#u3c6cdf74-0772-5244-8c9b-ec6f28eac989)

Le Manège Enchanté (1964–1971) The Magic Roundabout (1965–1977) (#u6394f5f6-957b-58d8-b69a-584f61ab94d8)

World of Sport (1965–85) (#litres_trial_promo)