From One Golden Age to Another

            In the wake of World War II, the hegemony that Hollywood established over the American entertainment industry over the course of the first half of the 20^th century was compromised by the proliferation of a relatively new technology: the television. First introduced in the late 1920s, the television became a staple in the post-war American household; in the same way that film technology originally replicated the experience that was once unique to stages, the average American family could now emulate the experience of going to the movies in its own living room. This blog will focus on how the television represented an evolution in hedonic value – an evolution that continues to this day.

            As detailed in New York University’s comprehensive History of Television, the first T.V. was successfully developed by 21-year-old inventor Philo Taylor Farnsworth in San Francisco on September 7, 1927; the technology, though, was still crude and far from the perfected product we would expect today. Over the next couple of decades, prominent American investors poured money into scientific endeavors to further develop television technology, and by 1947, commercial television broadcasting in the United States began.

Philo Taylor Farnsworth, pictured here in 1935 with a primitive television. [Phil Farnsworth in 1935 with a television set he invented.]. (1935). SF History Center.

            The commencement of commercial broadcasting in the United States ushered in an era of television commonly referred to as the “Golden Age”, a period which lasted up through roughly 1960. Television’s Golden Age was characterized by the rise of the first critically acclaimed comedy and drama series, representing a deviation in the radio-esque, news-driven programming of television past. In a sense, television programmers in the Golden Age realized the hedonic-value potential of the medium and capitalized. Uncoincidentally, this era also precipitated the still-ongoing decline in movie theatre popularity: again, per Babin and Harris’s Value Equation on page 28 of CB, it makes sense that Americans would choose to conserve time and money by choosing to indulge in entertainment in the comfort of their own homes rather than going to the movies. (Babin & Harris, 2016)

        The turn of the 21^st century represented another evolutionary step in television, similar in magnitude to the transition to the Golden Age. Specifically, the hedonic-value potential of television has increased exponentially with the advent of both premium programming and recording devices. In the 1980s and ‘90s, networks like HBO, Showtime, and Starz were created as alternatives to network programming and introduced exclusive, commercial-free, and less regulated television to the Americans willing to subscribe for a fee. This renaissance in programming catalyzed a new Golden Age of television (which we are still in the midst of today) marked by massive, sometimes movie-like budgets for TV series and vastly improved visual aesthetics and storytelling. The salient programming in this second Golden Age is also made more readily available to consumers via technology. Cable companies began to offer both recording and On Demand services to subscribers in the 2000s to enhance consumers’ viewing experience; in relation to the Value Equation, television viewers now receive more hedonic value by not having to necessarily plan around a certain time to watch a program in the way they would have to in the past or they would if they were to go the movies.

James Gandolfini played Tony Soprano in HBO's The Sopranos from 1999 - 2007. The Sopranos is one of the most critically acclaimed shows of all time and is often regarded as a catalyst of the second Golden Age. Tony Soprano [Photograph]. (n.d.). HBO.

            The evolution of television over the years has nothing short of riveting and we, as consumers today, are lucky enough to be a part of the most recent renaissance that is responsible for cultural phenomenons like HBO’s Game of Thrones, AMC’s Breaking Bad, etc. The third and final blog in this series will focus on the future of this newfound Golden Age and how it is being shaped by online, subscription-based services like Netflix and Hulu, two titans who are also affecting the film industry. I hope you found this blog interesting and useful!

Citations:

Babin, B. J., & Harris, E. G. (2016). CB (Vol. 7), 28 – 29.
Stephens, M. (n.d.). History of Television. Retrieved from nyu.edu website: https://www.nyu.edu/classes/stephens/History%20of%20Television%20page.htm