A Valentine to Television…As It Was
by Christopher
Gildemeister
It was only a box.
A metal, wood and glass cube,
Inside, circuits
and wires and a cathode ray tube,
A camera, some
know-how, and mixed watt and ohm;
These subdued the
seen image and harnessed the light,
With electrical
surge sent it soaring in flight,
Through the ether
and sky, ‘cross the earth it would roam
To the box that
still then was brand-new to each home.
From such primitive
tech our TV sets began.
Farnsworth and
Zworykin and many a man
Sweated, labored
and toiled to achieve that dream fair.
But as they
endeavored to send pictures through space,
As all these men
tinkered, did their minds embrace
The way that their
work would our children ensnare
And how their great
dream could become a nightmare?
Today it’s
ubiquitous; that much is well-known
Over many past
years, our TV sets have shown
To us various
programs, but rarely the Truth.
TV always speaks
with a number of voices;
Americans value
their wide range of choices;
But it must be
acknowledged, in the days of its youth
TV knew its place
and was far less uncouth.
The first TV
programs going onto the air
Served as stage
play and radio and vaudeville’s heir,
Joy of the
audience, if scorn of reviewers.
Sixty years now
have passed since the first TV pearl
Burst onto the
screen: Texaco’s star, Milton Berle.
His jokes were
quite simple, but they served as the lures
That converted the
TV-less into buyers and viewers.
From those earliest
days TV now is estranged.
The experience then
to today has been changed.
The programs we
watched then were, every one, clean.
All kinds of
performers gained nation’l renown
As Ed Sullivan’s
guests on The Toast of the Town,
And Americans now
can’t imagine their screen
Showing Tuesday
night sermons by Archbishop Sheen.
Techniques then
were basic. Yet during that time
The classics of
comedy were still in their prime.
Kovacs, Caesar and
Coca, and Lucille Ball
And Gleason and
Carney; they all were still new
But as they
performed, oh how little they knew
How far TV comedy
was going to fall.
Once it sparked
laughter; now it can only appall.
Live drama was king
when TV’d just begun:
“Twelve Angry Men,”
on Miner’s Studio One,
Playhouse 90
and Omnibus offered by name
“The Miracle
Worker,” “Caine Mutiny,” “ Marty”
These didn’t need
curse words to make drama arty.
Such programs back
then cleanly earned their acclaim.
Sadly, but one
remains: Hallmark’s Hall of Fame.
The Lone Ranger and
Hopalong, many boys’ friend,
From them, shows of
the Old West became the new trend.
Soon TV was glutted
with Westerns galore.
Maverick,
Rawhide, The Rebel, Cheyenne,
Bat Masterson,
Wagon Train and The Rifleman,
Gunsmoke and
Bonanza and so many more
Drama and action –
all without any gore!
From Joe Friday on
Dragnet to Dr. Kildare
To all the
shows on then, TV was the place where
Family-friendly
programming was being conceived.
The crime dramas
then were not drowning in blood
The comedies spared
us a sex-language flood.
Though these shows
were not graphic, few viewers were grieved;
Programs for the
whole family were what was achieved.
Today many complain
that these programs weren’t true.
But their goal was
to elevate, not make one blue.
Life need not be
oppressive, these programs agreed.
You could Leave
it to Beaver without any fear
Father always knew
best, and all mothers were dear
Ozzie and Harriet,
Lori, Dave and Ricky’d
Be the family one
wished for – as was Donna Reed.
An uncle who’s
Martian! A wife who’s Bewitched!
When Jeannie’s eyes
blinked or Samantha’s nose twitched
It was pure
entertainment. We didn’t ask why
Wilbur’s stallion
could talk. We accepted the change.
The world TV showed
us was fun-filled and strange –
Both Munsters
and Addams with a Frankenstein guy,
A car for a mother
and a nun who could fly!
Though it is a
given such shows were unreal
They gave us a
brighter and happier feel.
They weren’t
“real,” true. No deep, dark dramas, these!
Unlike the shows we
see, these didn’t cause fear
For programming
then was designed to bring cheer
Never driven by
gore or redolent of sleaze
Not dark and
depressing, they sought rather to please.
As the Me Decade
came, TV started to shift
Though drama
improved, civility started to drift.
Sex talk and
profanity were used – and they stayed.
From All in the
Family through Maude and through Cheers
What’s acceptable
changed, and over the years
Little we guessed
at what price would be paid
As mores and
manners on TV decayed.
From Flavor of
Love to Real World and South Park
So much that is on
now thinks crudeness a lark.
Fox’s Family Guy
and American Dad
Recall the
long-past words of Newton Minow
If “vast wasteland”
then, what must TV be now?
Some call this
change “progress.” But it makes a fan sad
That a once-family
pastime has gotten so bad.
FX is another.
Because of Nip/Tuck
Who knows how many
souls are mired in muck?
FX claims of this
foulness that It’s Always Sunny.
Betrayal and
bloodshed dominate on The Shield
And to darkness and
Damages all FX programs yield.
The effect of such
programming’s easy to see.
From this Riches
of Dirt won’t someone Rescue Me?
Entertainment
denies its consumers a voice;
Get cable, you buy
it; you haven’t a choice.
Broadcast
prime-(crime)-time gives us little choice, too;
There ought to be
something for us. But they scoff,
“Don’t like what we
show? Then just turn your set off.”
They show incest
and rapists, and killers -- a slew.
With our children
watching, what’s a parent to do?
It makes one cry
out ENOUGH! This onslaught must end!
As a guest in our
homes, why must TV offend
And sicken and hurt
us with programming dire?
That’s why the PTC
was formed. This our quest:
To challenge the
harmful, and encourage what’s best.
There’s simply no
reason for sinking in mire
When at its most
excellent TV can inspire.
Though one fondly
looks back, one can’t dwell in the past.
Our time’s always
changing, and such change comes so fast.
And though oft the
wholesome’s discarded in haste
By our letters and
emails we can hope and can pray
That TV’s
executives and writers some day
Will choose to work
with us, turn aside from such waste
Show something for
families…and return to good taste.
