User Reviews

"After a few months, the United States senate centured him. A few months later, his health failed. He died." A very direct and blunt quote by Charles Kurault about Senator Joseph McCarthy and the red scare, one of just a few political subjects covered in this history of television in the days of the Kinescope, covering mostly shows only available on Kinescope. Rate footage of a baby Prince Charles and the coronation of his mother, Queen Elizabeth, also are covered, as are early days of network news at its crudest, and with some very funny observations.

Of course it would be nice to have more clips of the entertaining bits that remain, and outside of kiddie shows, a few musical programs, quiz shows where cheating was involved (that subject later becoming a big movie hit of its own), some sitcoms and really bad sketch shows, it's mostly politically focused. Kurault is obviously speaking a lot through his own point of view, and in most cases, he is quite amusing, definitely very passionate about his feelings. So you're only getting a part of the history of '50s television, but in spite of a one-sided take of that history, a lot of it is very well put together and certainly entertaining and informative.