Fun with Perspective

Just as a simple addendum to my piece yesterday about the 60th anniversary of Newton Minow's famous "Vast Wasteland" speech when he was FCC chairman during the Kennedy Administration -- I remember hearing a few years back what was actually on television at the time he made the speech.  So, I thought it would be interesting to check back and look at the network schedules.  For the time, it was thin compared to society of the day -- for now, it doesn't look too bad. Among the primetime shows on at the time were --

Bonanza

The Bell Telephone Hour

Walt Disney Presents

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

The Ed Sullivan Show

Rocky and His Friends

Gunsmoke

The Andy Griffith Show

Twilight Zone

Have Gun. Will Travel

The Jack Benny Show

Maverick

The Flintstones

G.E. Theater

Westinghouse Playhouse

Perry Mason

Alcoa Presents

You Bet Your Life

The Untouchables

What's My Line?

Armstrong Circle Theater.

There were, of course, many more, some indeed very light and thin, although some that were so popular that they remain well-remembered and even beloved (in fact, many still in reruns) today, including:  Leave It to Beaver, Rawhide, 77 Sunset Strip, Lassie, Secret Agent, My Three Sons, Naked Eye, Dobie Gillis, The Real McCoys, The Asphalt Jungle, The Danny Thomas Show, Dennis the Menace and Winston Churchill:  The Valiant Years.  (Okay, no, this on Winston Churchill was not even remotely light and thin, but I'm including it in this group because as I recall it more a long mini-series, and not a regular season-long one,)

Imagine a time when these latter show were considered worthy of being a wasteland.  Indeed, all of these together.  Clearly, it was a different time, and the speech wasn't only about that, but also at its core about television being licensed in the public interest, convenience and necessity.  But looking back in history always offers a fascinating perspective.