TELEVISION, PART 3: THE RACE FOR TELEVISION (TV)
Summary
The third in this eight-part documentary hosted and narrated by Edwin Newman, which examines the history and development of the television medium and its role in society. Through interviews with television pioneers, inventors, and those present at the time of television's inception, as well as segments from newsreels, film, and early television broadcasts, this part provides an account of the discoveries and experiments of inventors and scientists from various nations, which culminated in the invention of television.
Topics covered include competition among the U.S., England, France, Germany, and Russia to be the first to perfect the invention of television; the conflicts and obstacles involved in the implementation of television broadcasting, such as patent disputes and the disagreement over the viability of the mechanical version of television as opposed to the electronic version; the poor quality of the early TV images; the opening of television broadcasting services around the world; the interruption of television broadcasting during World War II, and the similarity of broadcasting technology to radar; and the post-war resurrection of television in America.
Those interviewed include Dr. Vladimir Zworykin, inventor of the cathode ray tube; colleagues of John Logie Baird, the inventor of the mechanical TV system; Elma Farnsworth, wife of Philo T. Farnsworth, pioneer in electronic TV; and television pioneers and their colleagues from various nations. Included are archival clips of 1951 network logos, including the Dumont network; the earliest surviving TV image (1928); examples of early television entertainment from various nations; reconstruction of the first successful experiment with mechanical television by Baird, which created the first instantaneous moving picture ever seen (the image of a hand, 1923); Japanese pioneer Dr. Kenjiro Takayanagi's experiment in which the Japanese letter "I" was relayed electronically; pictures and short films of inventors demonstrating their work, including Baird and Farnsworth; the first motion picture record of a television image, from General Electric in Schenectady, N.Y.; a "video telephone" in Germany in the 1930s; the 1936 Olympics, televised in Germany; President Franklin D. Roosevelt's historic telecast at the opening ceremonies of the 1939 World's Fair and an experimental television set on display; "Eye Witness: The Story of Television," a 1948 television program with Zworykin demonstrating how TV works; the first edition of "Texaco Star Theater" with Milton Berle (1948); "Life Is Worth Living" with Bishop Fulton J. Sheen; television station KTLA's first broadcast (with Bob Hope); "Carson's Cellar" with Johnny Carson; Eddie Cantor; and Abbott and Costello performing their "Who's on First" routine. Includes an advertisement for the companion book "Television" by Michael Winship, and a promo for "Frontline: The Man Who Shot John Lennon."
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: February 8, 1988 Monday 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:57:44
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T88:0244
- GENRE: Arts documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: N/A
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV, 1988
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Promos - "Frontline: The Man Who Shot John Lennon"
CREDITS
- Jack Sameth … Executive Producer, Director
- Susan Kim … Producer
- Michael Winship … Producer, Writer
- Granada Television of England … Based on the Granada series "Television" by
- Norman Swallow … Executive Producer
- Leslie Wood … Producer, Director
- Bob Christianson … Original theme music by
- Edwin Newman … Narrator
- Vladimir Zworykin
- John Logie Baird
- Philo T. Farnsworth
- Kenjiro Takayanagi
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Milton Berle
- Fulton J. Sheen
- Bob Hope
- Johnny Carson
- Eddie Cantor
- Lou Costello
- Bud Abbott