Golden Age of Television

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The Golden Age of Television is a reference to the period from approximately 1949 to 1960 when American prime time television drama was predominated by original and classic productions from such writers as Paddy Chayefsky, Reginald Rose and Rod Serling. The age really defines the time in which television and radio were both in their golden ages. Most of these programs were produced as installments of live dramatic anthologies such as The Philco Television Playhouse, Kraft Television Theatre and Playhouse 90, though in the mid-to-late fifties the genre spread to include filmed series such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone.

Many of the best early programs of this era were not original programming, but evolved from successful radio shows that with the transition to television brought with them already polished concepts, casts and writing staffs. This is a major reason why quality was so consistently high during this period. Even an original show like I Love Lucy drew heavily from radio as many of those scripts were rewrites from Lucille Ball's late '40s radio show My Favorite Husband. Shows like Our Miss Brooks, The Burns and Allen Show and Jack Benny ran concurrently on both radio and TV until television reception reached beyond the major metropolitan areas in the mid fifties. By 1960, about 80% of American households had a television set. At that point sitcoms and dramas dropped out of radio and became wholly the domain of television.

British television had a head start on American TV thanks to the 1920's efforts of John Logie Baird, Scottish inventor of a mechanical television format that the BBC used to broadcast regular programming from 1929-1936. Still, the golden age of British TV enjoyed its peak around the same time as in the United States ranging from approximately 1949 to 1955. Writers such as Nigel Kneale and producers like Rudolph Cartier produced classic programming such as The Quatermass Experiment and Mystery Story (of which sadly no recording exists). Other notable programs include serials by the producer Francis Durbridge and classic children's programs such as Muffin the Mule and Andy Pandy.

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