# Why was early television so terrible for so long? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 22, 2019, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-early-television-so-terrible-for-so-long/830047 "2019-02-22T22:40:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-early-television-so-terrible-for-so-long/830047/21 "2019-02-23T02:50:52Z")
Early television was magical at the time. The retrospective view is the terrible part. (I was there) ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-early-television-so-terrible-for-so-long/830047/22 "2019-02-23T12:25:25Z")
This is a bit older then the golden age, but perhaps the golden age of color TV which somewhat reset things. Upon visiting a Star Trek set (TOS), I learned that part of the costuming and colors used were due to the color TV’s coming out (why the uniforms were very bright colors). They wanted to show off the colors in order to help sell the series and also as a way to push the new technology. However the colors were also chosen to show up with enough contrast on the established b/w TV base (so the audience could tell the difference between the red/yellow/blue shirts). ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-early-television-so-terrible-for-so-long/830047/23 "2019-02-23T12:58:48Z")
Video recording was only around from the mid 1950s, and it was highly expensive and cumbersome, and editing ability was limited. It was a lot easier and cheaper to screen a live comedy show, or live music, or interviews, or news. Live drama was far more difficult. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-early-television-so-terrible-for-so-long/830047/24 "2019-02-23T15:24:37Z")
Some of my favorite early television shows were the ones that came from the vaudeville circuit. Those performers knew how to play to an audience and the broad humor translated well. Classic example: The Burns and Allen Show. George Burns has impeccable timing… winking at the audience and explaining what his ditzy wife\* really meant, or trading barbs with his neighbors. Although it falls prey to the “Explain The Scene” syndrome of radio: “Oh, look over there, it’s Harry Von Zell, here to weasel me into buying that motor scooter Gracie wants. Harry also happens to be our announcer… until this moment. Harry, you’re fired.” \*“Look, it’s been a great show, but I’m afraid we do have to get going. Say good night, Gracie.” “Good night, Gracie!” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-early-television-so-terrible-for-so-long/830047/25 "2019-02-23T16:17:08Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Some of my favorite early television shows were the ones that came from the vaudeville circuit. Those performers knew how to play to an audience and the broad humor translated well. > > Classic example: The Burns and Allen Show. George Burns has impeccable timing… winking at the audience and explaining what his ditzy wife\* really meant, or trading barbs with his neighbors. Although it falls prey to the “Explain The Scene” syndrome of radio: “Oh, look over there, it’s Harry Von Zell, here to weasel me into buying that motor scooter Gracie wants. Harry also happens to be our announcer… until this moment. Harry, you’re fired.” George, yes. Gracie, no. She absolutely hated television because she had tremendous difficulty memorizing the scripts. She stayed on for several years but eventually retired and the show went on without her. > [@](#): > > \*“Look, it’s been a great show, but I’m afraid we do have to get going. Say good night, Gracie.” “Good night, Gracie!” Urban legend. She never said that. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-early-television-so-terrible-for-so-long/830047/26 "2019-02-23T16:28:56Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Urban legend. She never said that. So it’s like “Play it again, Sam” or “Beam me up, Scotty” or “Elementary, my dear Watson”? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-early-television-so-terrible-for-so-long/830047/27 "2019-02-23T19:06:59Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > So it’s like “Play it again, Sam” or “Beam me up, Scotty” or “Elementary, my dear Watson”? Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-early-television-so-terrible-for-so-long/830047/28 "2019-02-23T19:26:53Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Urban legend. She never said that. Excuse me, I’ll be over here, rewriting all the memories of my childhood… (How about “Cram it, Bozo!” or “In the butt, Bob”? Never mind, I can search the forum… I bet there’s been multiple threads on each of these and more. Say, if anyone remembers the alternate ending to Big, maybe _you_ heard “Goodnight, Gracie.”) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-early-television-so-terrible-for-so-long/830047/29 "2019-02-23T19:38:40Z")
> [@digs](#): > > How about “Cram it, Bozo!” or “In the butt, Bob”? The latter really did happen, more or less, though it was “in the ass, Bob,” and was apparently “bleeped” when it originally aired. Clip with Bob Eubanks explaining: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/iqrf5uGkm8k/maxresdefault.jpg "Bob Eubanks on how "The Newlywed Game"' blooper "in the butt Bob" didn't happen- EMMYTVLEGENDS") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqrf5uGkm8k) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-early-television-so-terrible-for-so-long/830047/30 "2019-02-23T20:02:24Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Excuse me, I’ll be over here, rewriting all the memories of my childhood… I started a new [“Forgotten Media” thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=21504144), just so I don’t hijack this one. Basically, TV (etc.) that was important to you, but no one else cares (or even remembers)… ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-early-television-so-terrible-for-so-long/830047/31 "2019-02-23T23:27:30Z")
In the earliest days, most shows were performed “live.” For the 3 1/2 networks (ABC lagged far behind NBC, CBS and Dumont) it was uncharted territory. Nobody knew what they were doing, really, and anything could be tried. People fortunate enough to have a TV would watch just about anything out of sheer novelty. One major innovation in the early 1950s took TV to a higher plane. Desi Arnaz wanted “I Love Lucy” to have a long shelf life, and to ensure that, he wanted it to be filmed, not “live.” Along with Karl Freund (award-winning cinematographer), they developed the three-camera technique for filming a sitcom in front of a studio audience, a method that’s still in use today. Once TV began presenting shows on film, professionaly shot and edited, the quality rose greatly. And as someone mentioned earlier, ABC struck deals with Disney and Warner Bros for filmed shows of all types, vaulting ABC out of the basement and into the top ranks. Whether you think those shows are any good or not is subjective. Most were forgettable, as is a lot of what’s on TV now. The Jack Benny and Burns and Allen shows still crack me up. “I Married Joan,” not so much. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-early-television-so-terrible-for-so-long/830047/32 "2019-02-24T00:37:31Z")
> [@digs](#): > > (How about “Cram it, Bozo!” or “In the butt, Bob”? Never mind, I can search the forum… I bet there’s been multiple threads on each of these and more. Say, if anyone remembers the alternate ending to Big, maybe _you_ heard “Goodnight, Gracie.”) I doubt the “Cram it, Bozo!” incident happened mainly for the fact there are many different embellished versions of the story. For example, in the one I heard, the kid said, “Ram it, Clown!” and the now-pissed local Bozo lept at him yelling, “Why you little [long string of expletives and threats far worse than what the kid said]!” The screen then went blank for about 15 seconds before returning with the kid \*and the clown \*both gone and a flustered cameraman announcing, “And now, as a special treat, here’s more Popeye!” ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-early-television-so-terrible-for-so-long/830047/33 "2019-02-24T04:22:43Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > George, yes. Gracie, no. She absolutely hated television because she had tremendous difficulty memorizing the scripts. She stayed on for several years but eventually retired and the show went on without her. This makes it sound like the show went on for a significant time after she retired. “Several years” was actually eight years (1950-1958) together with George, and she appeared in all 292 episodes during that stretch (per IMDB). George continued alone for only a single year after Gracie’s retirement (1959-1960). Even if she hated it, Gracie was a vital element of the show and it didn’t work without her. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-early-television-so-terrible-for-so-long/830047/34 "2019-02-24T06:12:09Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > This is a bit older then the golden age, but perhaps the golden age of color TV which somewhat reset things. > > Upon visiting a Star Trek set (TOS), I learned that part of the costuming and colors used were due to the color TV’s coming out (why the uniforms were very bright colors). They wanted to show off the colors in order to help sell the series and also as a way to push the new technology. However the colors were also chosen to show up with enough contrast on the established b/w TV base (so the audience could tell the difference between the red/yellow/blue shirts). Wasn’t exactly a new technology then. I went down the street to the The Mikado in color (with Groucho Marx in the titular role) 8 years before TOS started. NBC - owned by RCA who manufactured color TVs - was trying to push it, and the bright palette in TOS was due to the primitive technology of the time. The DS9 Tribble episode is like going over the rainbow between the Kansas of the station to the Oz of TOS. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-early-television-so-terrible-for-so-long/830047/35 "2019-02-24T09:16:00Z")
If you want a point of comparison, YouTube has a film of what the BBC offered when it re-opened its TV service in 1946 - just look for “Television Is Here Again”. A fair bit is standard variety theatre comics, song and dance and so on (including a very young Petula Clark), and drama was basically filmed theatre too. Worthy information programmes (but no real political coverage until much later), and quite strong on lives sports action too. It took a while for risks to be taken with drama (I think the first big talking point was people given the heebie-jeebies by a scifi/aliens drama called Quatermass in 1955, but that would probably look far too amateurish and stagey now). ---
**Author:** ![Cindycat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/54ee81/32.png) [@Cindycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cindycat)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-early-television-so-terrible-for-so-long/830047/36 "2019-02-24T11:43:04Z")
Early TV was live and very low budget. Often it was sponsored by a product like Kraft cheese or Schlitz beer. There are some less stilted tv specials from back then. I’d suggest A Long Time Til Dawn. It stars James Dean and was written by Rod Serling. It’s amazing and it’s on YouTube! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-early-television-so-terrible-for-so-long/830047/37 "2019-02-24T13:33:25Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > (I think the first big talking point was people given the heebie-jeebies by a scifi/aliens drama called Quatermass in 1955, but that would probably look far too amateurish and stagey now). I have this on DVD – the first two episodes of six, which are all that survives from the original 1953 BBC airing. It was broadcast mostly live. Some it was done fairly cleverly for the time and budget, considering the special effects required to have a rocket crash into Katie Johnson’s house, and an astronaut turning into some kind of absorbing alien monster. But the kinescopes are very poor quality, and there’s a bug on the screen through half of the second episode. I’ve found it on [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipZwi8tZk8Y). ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-early-television-so-terrible-for-so-long/830047/38 "2019-02-24T14:30:45Z")
How was the quality of early color TVs? My piano teacher had a huge console Color TV, the first I’d ever seen… but behind her back we called it “the Magenta-and-Green TV”. I remember thinking “I could tell what’s going on better in B&W”, and can still picture the very limited palette. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-early-television-so-terrible-for-so-long/830047/39 "2019-02-24T16:33:35Z")
> [@digs](#): > > How was the quality of early color TVs? > > My piano teacher had a huge console Color TV, the first I’d ever seen… but behind her back we called it “the Magenta-and-Green TV”. I remember thinking “I could tell what’s going on better in B&W”, and can still picture the very limited palette. I wonder if she just had it badly adjusted. I remember playing around with the ‘tint’ and ‘color’ knobs on my grandparents’ color TV, and you could get some really ugly effects. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-early-television-so-terrible-for-so-long/830047/40 "2019-02-24T18:06:03Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > This is a bit older then the golden age, but perhaps the golden age of color TV which somewhat reset things. > > Upon visiting a Star Trek set (TOS), I learned that part of the costuming and colors used were due to the color TV’s coming out (why the uniforms were very bright colors). They wanted to show off the colors in order to help sell the series and also as a way to push the new technology. However the colors were also chosen to show up with enough contrast on the established b/w TV base (so the audience could tell the difference between the red/yellow/blue shirts). Yes, but the poor guys in the red shirts ALWAYS DIED!!! Except for Scotty. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-early-television-so-terrible-for-so-long/830047.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-early-television-so-terrible-for-so-long/830047.md?page=3)