THE PIONEERS OF TELEVISION

The only thing more fun than watching your favorite TV shows is watching a show about your favorite TV shows.

The only thing more fun than watching your favorite TV shows is watching a show about your favorite TV shows.  PBS covers a wide spectrum of television history with their four-part series, Pioneers of Television.  In typical PBS form, the series offers an in-depth look at its subject matter while remaining accessible and engaging.

Each hour-long episode (narrated by Kelsey Grammer) combines clips from classic shows and interviews with their casts and crews for a meaningful look back at groundbreaking television.  The Science Fiction genre was defined early on by the talents of Gene Roddenberry, Irwin Allen, and Rod Serling with the enormously popular shows Star Trek, Lost In Space, and (to some extent) The Twilight Zone.  Though the shows were set in exotic environs (i.e. alternate universes, the future, or galaxies far, far away), they provided an ideal platform to address current issues in an entertaining format.  Sci-fi icons Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner share their memories of working in this innovative genre.   

Next we delve into the history of television Westerns, looking back at Fess Parker’s portrayal of Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett, James Garner’s role as Maverick, and the popularity of shows like The Wild Wild West, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, and even Little House on the Prairie. Linda Evans reflects on her role on The Big Valley, a show which gave Barbara Stanwyck and other actresses the opportunity to portray strong female characters.

The episode on Crime Dramas (my personal favorite) traces the genre back to shows like Dragnet, The Untouchables, Mannix, and Mission Impossible.  Robert Culp and Bill Cosby broke ground in their portrayal of race relations on I-Spy, and Angie Dickinson showed that ladies can be as sexy as they are tough in Policewoman.   Peter Falk brought the quirky Columbo to life, and James Garner brought us a lovable anti-hero in The Rockford Files.  Interviews with the late Robert Culp and Stephen J. Cannell bring extra poignance to this installment, as does a chat with James Garner who recently suffered a stroke.

Finally we examine the phenomenon of local kids’ TV, a genre which flourished in various cities across the country from the 1950s and into the 1980s.  While some shows never made it beyond the local market, others launched the careers of such influential personalities as Fred Rogers and Jim Henson.  Bozo the Clown was played by a host of actors across the country, including Willard Scott in Washington D.C.  Though the medium of local children’s television has all but died, it did pave the way for modern institutions like Sesame Street.  Ultimately, that’s the beauty of the Pioneers of Television series: in looking back at television history, we’re able to see where today’s programming originated.