ABC and the Destruction of American Television, 1953-1961

ABC and the Destruction of American Television,

1953-1961 d?mesLewisBaughman

versityof Wisconsin-Madison

THE INTRODUCTION of televisionin the late 1940sand 1950s involvedmorethana strugglefor audiencesT. hrough the fifties,the three nationalnetworksoffered sharplycontrastingmodelsof programming. And TV arguablywasmore diversebecauseof thisrivalry.Almostfrom the beginningof regularlyscheduledtelecastisn 1947, nationalnetworks determinedthe programmingof TV, especiallyin the eveningsw, henmost consumersusedtheir receiversO. ne of the chains,NationalBroadcasting Company,includedmanagerswho believedTV could be a new form of massamusement,suitablefor experimentation.Columbia Broadcasting Systemrelied on radio in lookingfor programmingideasand transferred successfurladio showsto TV. A third chain, the AmericanBroadcasting Company,by succeedingin the late 1950s with a different philosophyof programminge, ventuallyimposedthefilmindustry'sstandardsontonightly

entertainment. As audiences turned to ABC, the other networks followed.

Televisiontook on a standardizedm, ovielandqualityfor the next twentyfive years [33, 99, 100].

Ironically,the federal overseerof television,the FederalCommunicationsCommission(FCC),had anticipateda differentoutcome.The FCC historicallychampioned"diverse" programming;that is, licenseesand networksshouldoffer differenttypesof programssoconsumerhsada true choiceamongthe limited numberof radio and TV frequenciesavailable [91, 93].? In 1941, the FCC had forced NBC to divestitself of its second radio chain, the Blue Network [9, 120]. This weak systembecameABC. Twelveyearslater,the Commissiopnermittedthefinanciallyailingnetwork to be acquiredby United ParamountTheatres(UPT). The agencyhad determined that ABC's continued operation would enhance American television.With little attention to the economicsof broadcasting,the Commissionconcludedthat Americanswould be better servedby three

56

ratherthantwonetworks[18; 19; 29; 30; 73; 121,pp. 264, 319, 333]. Yet by creatingABC out of the Blueand thenkeepingthat systemalive by agreeingto the UPT merger,the Commissiounltimatelylessenedthe diversityof networktelevisionT. he FCCpromotednewrivalriesthatcame to havea deleteriousimpacton themostpopularculturalform in postwar

America.

The Commission'Fsebruary1953 approvalof the UPT-ABC merger had little immediateeffecton networkcompetitionT. V networkingthen for all practicalpurposeswasa duopolyw, ith the NationalBroadcasting Companyand the ColumbiaBroadcastinSgystemd, ominantA. BC anda fourthchain,the Du Mont network,werewaybehind.At the timeof the merger,ABC wasin a veryweakpositionW. ith thirteenaffiliatestations (lessthan 10 percentof either CBS'sor NBC's chain),ABC programs couldonlybeseenin one-thirdof the nation,comparedto virtualnational coveragefor CBSand NBC. The networkhad two mildly popularseries (OzzieandHarrietandBeulah) andwasexperiencingdifficultypersuading advertisertso sponsoarnythineglseoffered.The networkproducedtwelve and one-halfhoursof programminga week. "We weren'ta network," recalledone executivein 1961 [60, 68].2 Indeed, ABC wassofar behind that twoyearsafter the mergerNBC wasableto blackmaiWl estinghouse into switchingownershipof TV stationsby exchangingits desirable Philadelphia-owneodutletfor onein Clevelando, wnedby NBC. Westinghouseotherwisewouldhavelostits NBC affiliation,and its Philadelphia stationwould have had to becomeand ABC affiliatedstation[35; 83; 122, pp. 427, 432; 133].

Within six years,however,ABC wasnot only challengingNBC and Columbiafor the ratingsleadershipb, ut leadingthe oldernetworksin programmingtrends,whicharguablylessenedthe diversityof television.

ABC led in shifts to filmed series, increases in the number of western and

detectivedramasA. sCBSand NBC followed,theyin theprocesscanceled many live and dramaticprogramsidentifiedwith the massmedium's "GoldenAge." ABC, in fact, provedsufficientlysuccessfuthl at by late 1959,bothCBSandNBChadformerABCexecutivesservingaspresidents of their TV networks.In 1961, Martin Mayer, a journalistwho had followedTV from the beginningo, bserved,

ABC hasbecome,in a surprisinglyshorttime, the industryleaderin mattersof programming,sellingand dealingwith affiliatedstationsI.n eacharea,the rivalnetworksm, ostof the advertisingagenciesa,ndthe staffof the FCC believe,rightlyor wrongly,thatthe ABC influencehas tendedto destroywhatintegritythe networkbusineshsad [68, p. 59].

A fewTV criticsnotedthistransformationwith horror.JohnCrosby oftheHerald-Tribunwe,hoin 1952hadbemoanedthe"dominandt uopoly"

57

of CBSandNBC, wassixyearslatertermingABCa "pernicious"influence on the medium [72, 113].

Differencesin managemenetxperienceat the threenetworkspartly explain ABC's role in fifties television.At the beginningof network telecastingC, BS wasrun by figurestestedin radio broadcastingT.hey dreaded,perhapsto excesst,hepossibilitoyf governmenitntervention[13, 54]. Programmersat NBC includedold radio handsanda formeradvertisingexecutive,SylvesterL. Weaver.Chief programmerbetween 1949

and 1956, Weaver was determined to make TV distinctive, not the imitator

of radioor film. And in 1953, Weaverdevelopedthe 60-to-120minute "spectaculara,"specialivemusicaol r dramaticproductionairedmonthly

[31, 69, 136]. At ABC, in contrast,the mergerwith UPT wassoonfollowedby a

slowstruggleto bring Hollywood'sstandardsand productto television.

ABC President Robert Kintrier and UPT-ABC Chairman Leonard Gold-

ensond, espitepromisesto the FCC that the newABC teamwouldadhere to broadcastraditions,"weresoonin Californiaseekingfilm companies to produceseriesfor theirnetwork.Mostmotionpicturemakershadbeen boycottingTV. But Kintrier,a gruff, chain-smokinfgormerjournalist,was an especiallyforceful presencein the movie colony.Indeed, he was reputedlya matchfor thenotoriouslryough-hewnHarry Cohnof Columbia Pictures4. Goldensona, graduateof the Universityof Pennsylvaniaand Harvardlawschoola, lsousedhispre-mergercontactsasthe UPT executive to negotiate[97].5Late in 1954, ABC brokethe Hollywoodquarantine of TV. Wait DisneyStudiosagreedto produceprogramsfor ABC after the networkagreedto help financeDisney'splannedamusemenpt ark, Disneyland[1, 22, 95]. A year later,Warner Brothers,one of the largest filmmakersc, rossedthe lineandsigneda dealwithABC.Others,including MoG-MandFox,soonfollowed[2, p. 15; 75; 101]6.

Boththe Warnersand DisneyprogramsprovedextraordinarilysuccessfulI.ndeed,the first hour-longDisneyshowwassuchan immediate hit with childrenthat evenstationsunaffiliatedwith ABC soughto pick it up. At ABC'sNew York headquarterss,ecretariews ore MickeyMouse ears.Congressmenreportedof constituentsangry over certainstations airingtheprogrampastyoungstersb'edtime.Three differentDisneyhours about the life of Davy Crocketttouchedoff a coonskincap crazeso widespreadthat SenatorEstesKefauverabandonedthat headgearashis politicaltrademark.The coonskincap,hisdaughteraverred,hadbecome too muchidentifiedwith little boys[32, 41, 53, 74, 78, 123].

For ABC, Warnerst,oo, enjoyedsuccesisn televisionby producing Westernseries.Effortsto adapt into seriesold feature films,King'sRow andCasablancfaa,iled,whileonesinvolvingthefrontier,includingCheyenne, Sugarfooat,nd Maverickd, rew largeaudiencesto the third network.Soon,

58

all three networkswere offering more westerns.And in January 1959, onefifth of all eveningserieswerewesterns[4, 7, 102, 109, 115 128]7.

The westwardmovemen-t- initiatedbyABC -- wasquicklyfollowed by an emphasisat Americanon the detectiveseries.Massproducedby Warnerse, achhada regularcastof unknowny, oungeractorswhoa decade earlier wouldhavebeenfeaturedin a B movie.Serieslike 77 SunseSt trip andSurfsid6eweredistinguisheodnlybytheirlocaleA. privateinvestigation

firm of two or more handsome men aided the beautiful and the damned,

weekin, weekout. Andjust asCheyennheadprovedpopularin Bayonne, programslike HawaiianEyewon the heartsof viewersfrom Portlandto Portland. With such popularity came still more young detectives.As Warnersincreaseditsoutputof detectiveseriesintothe 1959-1960 season, a San Franciscocritic wrote, "The Warner Brothersare turning out so many private eyesthis seasonthey ought to be forcedto take out an optometrist'slicense."[64, 94, 137]

The detectiveand westernprogramshavebeencommonlyclassified by communicatiornesearcherass"action/adventure"seriesG. unplayn, ot wordsor humoroussituationso, rdinarilyresolvedan episode's"crisis." Leadswereset,weekin, weekout. And criticshadsomedifficultypraising anyof them.77 SunseSttrip,wroteone,proved"principallythat Warner Brotherscanstill makea B movie" [45; 65; 68, pp. 61, 62; 130, 131].8 But thenGoldensonof ABC, wroteMartin Mayerin 1961, "believesthat the B-pictureis the correct televisionshowas it wasthe correctshowin the neighborhoodmoviehouse"[68, pp. 59, 61, 62; 105, p. 6].

The action/adventureserieshada speciaal ppealto anaudienceABC coveted.WellbehindCBSand NBC at the outset,ABC soldprogramsto advertiserosn thebasisof thequalityratherthanthesheerquantityof the network'saudiencesM. ost ABC westernsand detectiveseriesregularly featuredyoungadult maleswho in turn were found to attractyoung families.Kintner'ssuccessoOr,liverTreyz, presidenot f ABC TV between 1956 and 1962, skillfullyusedsuchdemographicdatain sellingprograms toadvertisersT.he 18-to-49-year-olcdlusterofviewersm, anywithfamilies, frequentlypreferredABCprogramsT. hey werealsomorelikelyto spend moneyon a widerangeof consumeirtems.ABC,Treyz argued,appealed to the "get set" [21; 23; 88; 97, p. 391; 105, p. 6].0

Then, too, most of ABC's action/adventureprogramssucceeded becauseof the network's"counter-programmingp"hilosophyC. ounterprogrammingcalledfor the networkscheduletro locatevulnerableprogramson hisrival'sscheduleasnd thenoffer in contrasat verydifferent typeof showT. his practiceowedsomethingto the moviehousemanagers of the 1940slookingfor a differenttypeof film (westernt)heweeka rival ran anothertype(musical)M. ayerobserved",If Clausewitszawwarasthe continuationof politicsby other means,Goldensonhas seennetwork

59

televisionas the continuationof the movietheatrebusinesbsy other means"[21;23;88;97,p. 391;105,p. 6].9In thecaseofABC TV, Treyz determinedthatif NBCandColumbiairedlivevarietyprogramsa,sthey eachdid at 8 p.m.(ET) on Sundaysin thefall 1957seasont,hena filmed Western(Maverickm) ightwinaudiencetso American.Similarlyt,he next season,a CBS anthology,Lux Playhousem, ight be vulnerableto the detectivesworkingat 77 SunseSt trip;in the fall 1959 seasonA, BC set Adventureins ParadiseagainstAlcoa/GoodyePalrayhous(eNBC). ABC also scheduledpotentiallypopularsixty-minuteseriesone half-houraheadof the competitionhs'our-longprograms[23, p. 28; 68, p. 59, 62; 88, p.

561.

Counter-programmingproved profitable for American. By the 1958-1959seasonA,BCcouldboasftor thefirsttimeofbeingcompetitive in thoselargerurbanmarketswhereit hadaffiliatescompetingdirectly

with CBS and NBC stations. Advertisers like Procter & Gamble, which

hadheretoforeshunnedthe third network,nowansweredTreyz'scalls. "Respectfor ABC hasincreased,o" neunderwritercommented". ABC has programmedmuch 'junk' and a substantiapl art of its scheduleis 'still junk' butneverthelesAsBCisa serioucsontendearndnoonecandispute that" [23, p. 28; 25; 34; 40; 55; 92; 103; 110; 129].

TreyzandGoldensodnefendedcounter-programmibnygcontending it actuallyincreasedthe diversityof programmingavailableto viewersI.f ABCoffereda westerntovarietyprogramsonNBCandCBS,theconsumer

had a choice. Moreover, ABC executives insisted that the total network

TV schedulen,otjust American'sb,e considereidn calculatingdiversity. "We do not believethat ABC- or anynetwork- canbe all thingsto all people,"Treyz told a Cincinnatai udiencein April 1961, "It is not a networkbut all thenetworkcsollectivelwy hichshouldbe in balance"[80; 128]?

This contentionwasnot then in keepingwith FCC practice.By offeringlittle otherthanstandardizeedntertainmenptrogrammingA, BC left to Columbiaand NBC the burdenof lesspopularinformationaalnd culturalprogramminge,venthoughthe FCC neverdefineddiversityby typesof entertainmepnrot gramminaglone.The fall 1958Tuesdayevening schedulef,or example,consistedof three westernsand a detectiveshow [97, p. 308]. A criticfor the ChristiaSnciencMeonitopr oringoverthe 1961-1962 schedulefound, "Take awaythe action-adventurfeilms,animatedcartoonasndsituationcomediesa,ndall theAmericanBroadcasting Company'sother [evening]programscouldbe telecastbetween7 and 11 o'clockon a singleevening"[37]. ABC concurred.In its 1962 annual report, ABC describedthe addition of two World War II series,Combat! andMcHale'Ns avy,oneanactiondrama,theothera comedya,sexamples of thenetwork'seffortsto bringdiversityto programmin(g[6];compare

6O

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download