Written by : Samuel Erickson

This week in class we continued the discussion and viewing of television. We kicked Monday off by watching Pioneers of Television: Funny Ladies & American Scary. The Pioneers of Television video established the growth of women in the television industry from the early 1950s to the mid 1970s. This short documentary introduced me to the fabulous careers of Betty White, Lucille Ball, Joan Rivers, Carol Burnett, and Mary Tyler Moore. Most of these women faced severe scrutiny and hardships on their journeys to fame. Lucille Ball was one of the first women that gained stardom at a time where women were “not allowed” to be funny and beautiful. Women were expected to dress and act in a manner in which was funny and laughable without being attractive. However, Lucille would have none of it. She was portrayed as a hilarious, beautiful, relatable, and likeable actress in whatever skit or scene she was involved with. She paved the way and set a standard for female actresses to follow. These women were at the forefront of comedy and pushed the boundaries previously surrounding female comedians. The other short documentary we partially watched during class was American Scary. American Scary highlighted “horror hosts” venturing into the darkness with audiences while broadcasting horror films on TV. Popular hosts know as Vampira, Dr. Creep, Elvira and Sir Graves Ghastly comforted viewers and made the lower budget films more entertaining. They applied themselves fully, discussing material from the film and visually looking scary. Horror hosts aren’t as mainstream as they once were, but Svengoolie has created a career out of it. For about 40 years he has made audiences laugh and fear Saturday nights. His unique approach of old horror films and humor continues to be a success to this very day.

The 80s was also and important time in television. NBC, ABC, and CBS dominated the industry and controlled most of the shows broadcasted. Popular shows such as Cheers, A-Team, Knight Rider, Hill Street Blues, Magnum P.I. and The Golden Girls captured audiences with this new style of drama. The TV show Hill Street Blues revealed the realistic hardships and lifestyles of police officers. It did away with the typical “cop and robber” scene and tackled more sensitive topics. The show became a huge success with 21 nominations and 8 Emmy’s. Actors such as Tom Selleck and David Hasselhoff lauched their careers and became stars from Selleck’s role in Magnum P.I. and Hasselhoff’s in Knight Rider. The last piece of film we watched in class was an episode of er called “Exodus”. Er follows the events that transpire in an emergency room at any given moment. Throughout the episode mayhem breaks out in the hospital. A deadly toxin is brought in on one of the patients and the hospital needs to be evacuated. The doctors and nurses are able to save everyone but an elderly lady with severe complications. The show can be best described as “organized ciaos”, that keeps its viewers on the edge of their seats. There is hardly a dull moment in er and I would imagine each episode is as entertaining and exhilarating as the last.