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The History of Television Programs

American TV programming began in 1931 when CBS began experimenting with televised broadcasts. NBC began broadcasting from the Empire State Building in New York City in 1932. By 1936, RCA had followed suit, by also broadcasting from the Empire State Building. Televisions could be purchased two years later in 1938.

The first TV programs were done live. This was because there was not known means of recording what was on the TV cameras. Studios were located in network headquarters in New York. The first TV shows were taken from radio or broadcast simultaneously. Comedy variety and sports programs were aired from 1948'-'49. In 1953, NBC launched network produced live programs, called "Today, Tonight, and Tomorrow", which failed. In the next two years, American networks turned to Hollywood as a new network source. The first routinely televised show was "I Love Lucy", which began in 1951. "The $64,000 Question", along with other money quiz programs, was popular in the mid-1950's.

The 1960's saw some more stable and permanent programming. CBS remained the most popular station. ABC was the smallest and youngest network of the three, after NBC. NBC's thinking was that viewers would watch anything as long as they weren't offended. Critics regarded TV as a way for viewers to escape from their normal lives. They also said that though in last place, ABC provided some of the more interesting shows like "The Flying Nun" for the younger viewers and "ABC's Wide World of Sports" for the sports fans. In 1969 CBS president Robert Wood cancelled 13 shows that appealed to older and rural audiences in favor of urban and higher paying audiences. A night soap opera began in 1965 called "Peyton's Place". "60 Minutes" was created on CBS, which still airs today. Football, basketball, and baseball were all scheduled into primetime. ABC had coverage of the Olympics in Mexico in 1968. TV broadcast news gained its biggest audience in this decade because of the space launches, assassinations, Vietnam, student uprisings, civil rights revolts, and the Kennedy-Nixon uprisings.

"Peyton's Place" began as a daytime soap in 1972, though it died in 1974. The replacements to those CBS cancelled shows were highly popular and innovative programs. "M*A*S*H", "All in the Family", and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" were all brought about in the 1970's. ABC created "Monday Night Football". About 100 TV movies were produced mostly in Hollywood in the early '70's. The idea of cable began to grow in the late '70's. In 1975, the Home Box Office (otherwise known as HBO) announced plans for a satellite interconnected cable-programming network. The big attraction was no longer a better reception, but better channels unattainable on regular TV. Popular channels included ESPN (several branches of this channel followed), CNN, and MTV.

The 1980's saw the emergence of the FOX broadcast network, the first huge competition for ABC, NBC, and CBS. FOX started slowly, only introducing programs on Sundays and gradually extending it throughout the week. The late 1980's had shows on FOX such as "Northern Exposure". NBC had a wildly popular Thursday night lineup from 1984-'87 with "Cosby", "Family Ties", "Cheers", "Night Court", and "Hill Street Blues". "Murphy Brown" was also a popular show created in 1988.

By the 1990's, more than 98% of American homes had at least one TV. 98% of those people have a color TV. FOX programming is available seven days a week. THE UPN network debuted in 1995, starting with "Star Trek: Voyager". Similar to FOX, UPN began with only two nights of programming a week. By 1999, it was up to five nights despite its low ratings due to the competition. Time Warner backed the WB, which launched in 1995 with mostly comedies. "Unhappily Ever After" was one of the shows on the WB in it's beginning. Two huge hour long shows ended on up on the same channel, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Dawson's Creek", both attracting teenage viewers. Though popular, the three major networks still contained good shows. "Friends", "Seinfeld", and "Ally McBeal" were among them. The 90's also saw primetime dramas become more common and popular. "Melrose Place" and "Beverly Hills 90210" (both produced by Aaron Spelling, who also produced "Dynasty").

There are over 1,500 TV stations today in 2001. ABC, CBS, and NBC are still the "big three", but FOX has come quite a way. Watching TV has become America's favorite pastime. Broadcast news has become much more graphic and high-tech, the planes crashing into the World Trade Center in NYC on live TV is a prime example. There is some controversy on whether or not TV gives us too much knowledge, that TV programs are too graphic. There are now ratings on TV shows so that parents can restrict what their children watch. The more risky the programming these days, the more popular.

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