When I was not yet 6 years old, a man named Newton N. Minow stood before the Federal Communications Commission and referred to television as a “vast wasteland.”
To make matters worse, Mr. Minow was at the time the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. That’s like the NFL Commissioner calling the entire American Football League a total bunch of losers.
In his 1961 speech to the FCC, Minow also said “When television is good, nothing – not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers – nothing is better. But when television is bad, nothing is worse.”
In 1961, mind you, we were watching some fairly good TV. “Bonanza” was in its second year, you could watch acts from all over the world on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” and for comedy relief, there were veterans Jack Benny and Red Skelton in weekly variety shows.
Today though, I’m thoroughly convinced Mr. Minow wouldn’t call TV a vast wasteland. He’d simply say nothing, resign from the FCC, and move to a mountaintop in Tibet.
Call me a cranky old coot, but most of today’s TV programming belongs in a dumpster. Technology has blessed us with hundreds upon hundreds of channels, and what have we done with them? Stripped them clean of creativity and imagination, opting instead for “reality.”
After all, creativity and imagination require effort. Reality…just sort of happens.
All right, I don’t really mean what I’ve just written. I just watched “Jersey Shore” on MTV, and I’m feeling a little low.
In truth, many TV crime dramas are better than they’ve ever been. Documentaries are marvelously written and produced. And even TV comedies, when they aren’t trying to lure every character into the bedroom for a cheap laugh, are nicely done. You have to look for it sometimes, but there’s still some great TV out there.
What’s missing is the sense of heart TV shows once had.
I hate to become the umpteenth TV analyst to lift up “The Andy Griffith Show” as a shining example of heart, but it is. What made the show work then and keeps it working even today is its sense of family.
TV isn’t sure what family is today. It tends to stumble around in the dark trying to redefine family, and fails for the most part.
We liked these people in Mayberry. We could identify with them. If you notice, the writers were careful not to have the characters spit out jokes and one-liners. They created a family of funny characters and let us watch them live their everyday lives. That was nothing short of brilliant, and is why the show lasts.
Sherwood Schwartz felt the same way about “Gilligan’s Island.” The creator of one of TV’s most enduring comedies once said “If all the characters on the island did nothing but slapstick comedy for a half hour, the show would’ve been a total flop. These castaways became a family, and that’s why people loved it so much.”
I’d like to think that TV will one day find its way back to that sense of family. It’s been missing for far too long. Surely some talented writers and producers miss it too, and will eventually take a chance on bringing it back to us. But I fear it’s gone forever.
Andy Griffith lamented that fact when he was here in Salisbury in 1978. During a press conference at the Salisbury Holiday Inn, I asked him if he thought “The Andy Griffith Show” could ever make a comeback.
“No,” he said. “TV has changed too much. Our little show would seem old fashioned and out of step today.” Remember, he said that in 1978, when the show had been off the air for only ten years.
I found his comments interesting. I also liked that he called it “our little show.” That show was like family to him; like a child he had raised.
Andy understood family. I hope someone else does someday.
Kent Bernhardt lives in Salisbury.