What's Happening to Television, reel 2 (1966)

systems which make use of assume that if a set is on somebody is watching it this is often far from the truth in a recent study by the Oklahoma State University was later printed in the Journal of advertising research in which a camera was attached to television sets for a small sample of families it was found that 19% of the time there was no what one watching the television set at all well for an additional 21% of the time there were people in the room they were inattentive and not watching the set as for a total of 40% of the time nobody is watching might say our ratings are analogous to the ticket taker at the box office we tell how many people actually uh viewed a particular program and the decision as to whether that will be left on or taken off is up to others well there's some comparison between counting the box office and Publishing ratings the analogy is not a very close one and the box office we get 100% account of those people who actually paid money to attend a performance in the case of the ratings which are published currently through the use of electronic devices all we know is the number of sets that were turned on among a sample of people we have no idea whether or not they viewed the set viewed the programs or had any interest in them whatsoever it's not an honest box office bill gy it's uh I'm sure that there's tremendous viewing of virtually everything those Hollywood sausages are beautifully made and the average citizen can sit there and be mesmerized but the um when the when you know when the entire industry when the is is is focused on a sampling of 1,000 out of 55 million it just is not a true box office and it creates a a fantastic hysteria has nothing at all to do with the quality of the show the network really isn't interested in in whether it's just a crap game or whether it's a magnificent beautiful documentary or what if it doesn't get those numbers forget it another criticism beyond the ratings shaky scientific ground is that networks misuse the charts to take off good programs leave on poor ones numbers count so do superlatives the New York Times Two ads same day in their race to be first two networks find themselves drinking from the same cup of euphoria at the same time the network as atmosphere is charged where the ratings come out it's beautiful to see they should have they should have such a melodrama on on the screen would that get a rating boy the phone rings at variety and uh the two losing networks are coping their plea you can't believe it we got one from a from a network recently they called up and said we lost on a kind of Halloween I think ratings have a real function Mike Dan CBS just as a circulation reports for a newspaper or the book sales percent uh numbers by bookstores we are financially supported medium that uh comes from private Enterprise who underwrite most of uh of our bills uh they have every right to expect and to know how many people are uh being uh serviced uh to move their goods and services and the ratings is a very good way the thing we mustn't do is be determin determine everything we do by ratings but uh they certainly have a genuine function and I think uh are going to be here always while programmers deny that ratings significantly affect their decisions it should be noted that 30 of this season's poorest rated shows will not be seen next year though various factors may have influenced their fate all share one position in common the bottom of the rating chart ABC president Tom Moore says he's fed up with the use of average ratings but I think the the the fault comes in our averaging the ratings and saying that uh ABC is uh at this position this week NBC is at this position this week and CVS is at this position because I think such figures are meaningless I know they're meaningless but to the public and to the people who invest in uh and back Us in stock stock buying uh they seem to be out of proportion uh in interest I think that we must find some way in our industry to be more cautious in our use of ratings and I believe that there's a consciousness of this spreading through the top of our industry I hope that ratings in the future will be less of a factor industry observers and the FCC which is investigating ratings will now look to Mr Moore to implement his words with action to stop making program decision using figures he himself has called meaningless in the ratings race the writer is all too often a willing victim accepting handsome commissions to create material that deprives both the viewer and himself Rod Serling says the networks are to blame because they insist on the writer giving them path then why does he write for TV number one the money belt and number two the uh the mor amorphous area of uh uh creatively satisfying certainly it has been a windfall and a godsend to the so-called quote young writer unquote to begin with most of us would never have had a platform no prum at all we would have probably agencies done Civic Theater plays and small towns are coached football teams uh through the good offices of Television we not only made a living but we became known and we became relatively wealthy so it's difficult to predatorily bite the hand that feeds without being cognizant or at least paying some kind of lip service indeed to the fact that television has been very good to us but in terms of what it does emotionally under the gut of the man who wants to create this isn't the platform anymore to the man with a serious idea commentative on the problems of our times the legitimate conflicts between human beings I don't think really the television is the proper place for him to take his idea the Hollywood Sound stages where most television episodes are made it has been called The Dream dump the Refuge Heap for all the broken markdown Furniture of Good Intentions here where shows are as conformist and as predictable as the neat white Shacks in which they are produced work is going on toward the new television season for the fall of 1966 just below us as a tourist guide might inone a take is about to begin on Paramount Sound Stage number two here we go local lady and over there please roll please 38 2 and I'm here for the look action this pilot the hero a David susin Talent Associates production has already been sold to NBC for the four NBC will also debut the girl from Uncle Tarzan and a comedy about a rock and roll group called The Monkeys what's the matter what do you mean what's the matter I can tell by your eyes Something's Happened what's the matter nothing's the matter come on don't start with my eyes among the new shows CBS will offer are dramatic specials operation Jericho a World War II Espionage series and a situation comedy about an astronaut called it's about time all ABC's new shows will include stage 66 which they describe as a weekly hour of innovation Rat Patrol The Time Tunnel and the Green Hornet while it would be unfair to prejudge next season's new programs there is no clear evidence that television 6667 will be markedly different from today's programming everybody I'll have a new set up and give me 42 on the crew 42 on the crew on the cast 2 45 what then does all this add up to it adds up to most of Television being so deplorable that even the ad man is dismayed I would say this dick Pinkham Ted Bates agency the main problem for my money right now is that the direction the thrust of Television programming is counter to the mainstream of the thrust of American society we are after all increasingly an educated Nation we've made tremendous strides and more and more people are getting more and more educated through Secondary School through college and into postgraduate work and yet television the direction is going now with programs like Batman which is a big hit is exactly counter to this it is going more towards the people who haven't had the experience of a of an excellent education I think this is a sickness for television and it should be corrected I doubt if television really will ever change I think basically we're fighting and losing battle those of us who keep claiming that's it's an art form indeed it can be an art form indeed on not occasions it is an art form but I suppose principally basically fundamentally it's a commercial medium designed as a display case to push products and so long as it uh fits into that mold and performs that function the key approach that's going to be taken and the most basic approach is get as many people to watch as you can and program down to that level that arithmetical level and as long as you program down to that level you're not going to get properly balanced programs you're going to get only those shows which appeal to the greatest number and as in the history of art since uh for 2,000 years Beyond Sophocles beyond all of them you're going to get Mass entertainment which but which by its nature can be titillating and funny and cute and fraud and Light which will but will which will not survive it's one half hour on the air nobody's going to be talking about that 100 years from now the office of the Federal Communications Commission e William Henry chairman what troubles me is the uh is the the truth that I see in the rising tide of criticism that the commercial medium is now receiving and it's receiving it from people other than the government by and large from me or my colleague uh I think as I say this criticism is true and I think it's uh widespread and I think it's deep it's not limited only to the critic in the major cities it's noticeable in the letters that I get from people who like television and who want to look at it but who are tremendously dissatisfied with this season show what did the commissioner feel would happen if television didn't improve I I believe that if television entertainment Mass Appeal programming continued as it as it is now it would fall of its own weight uh people might the television people might wake up one morning and find they were talking to themselves some critics say one alternative could be educational television NE produces shows for over 100 Affiliates it is headquartered in New York President John White's responsibility is using grants from foundations government business and individuals for programming that hopefully is not an echo of commercial television among the critics who fought for educational television and thus regarded as a growing sometimes wayward child is the Washington post's Larry Laurent he feels any often ranges too wide in its documentaries touching on problems without offering Solutions fact is that uh the producers for NE are under specific uh instructions to do just the opposite they're they're told to dig deep into to suggest Solutions I mean our programs in foreign affairs our programs in education our programs in in in on value on packaging on Auto Safety each and every one of these has suggested solutions that we believe that the American people ought to seek uh this is in fact one of the things that we do that's different from commercial television because they don't do this and we do do it Terren ofy San Francisco Chronicle believes NE has some distance to go especially in its production techniques now National educational television um they're going to they going to have to to um do something better than classroom television at night I don't care how sophisticated one viewer might be um he doesn't want to watch a lecture well on the question of production values I I quite agree uh uh I think frankly that we've made giant strides in improving our production techniques but I'd also be the very first to maintain uh that we that we've only just started we've got to go much further If he if he is specific in his suggestion about lectures he's watching a different Network because the fact is that we got away from professors in front of gr draperies a long time ago uh if on the other hand he means that we are suggesting Alternatives and we are in a sense preaching at people uh we'll never escape this because as I indicated earlier I think this is one of our responsibilities beyond the potential alternative of NE does Larry Laurent feel we must be forever hung up in commercial television's status quo hell no the battle is only beginning and I think we going to see some changes in this business in the next 10 years that will make what we now see on television look like sort of a primeval age we're going to have more stations we're going to have diverse stations we're going have specialized stations uh this of its nature will force the business as it exist to change one of the changes becoming visible nationally is UHF ultra high frequency stations like channel 32 Chicago here wfld is building both a plant and programming which in the words of its general manager red quinland will come to mean an adult station from 6:00 to midnight not programming to teenagers uh heavy emphasis on documentaries adult program particularly uh in the 630 to 8 period when I I note that conceptually the network programs uh uh Batman is a great instance of the of the trend in that direction uh the teenage audience gives that a great inflated uh total uh share of audience we will not have most Network reruns we will have a profiles and courage we will have a Richard Boon Repertory Theater we will have certain documentaries that we can buy from netf and other sources all around the world but we'll be adult one unique feature of this Marshall field owned UHF station will be live news coverage from the city rooms of the Chicago Sun Times and Daily News automatic slave cameras remote controlled will transmit fast breing stories that will be edited and read on camera by working newsmen we're not going to be locked into a numbers a game or a a rating game if we get them we'll be happy and we'll use them if we don't we'll still make it our own way as best we can in London another solution to America's TV problems is offered by a man who has written some of the medium's most constructive criticism John Crosby formerly of the New York Herald Tribune and now writing in England tells from where he thinks the impetus for Improvement must come I think would have to come from the government uh uh I've never altered my conviction that this is a government responsibility but the government's almost afraid to step into it yet here you have BBC which is supposed to be government really isn't it's almost above the British government the British government is almost terrified W you get this tremendous experimentation uh very gutsy program sometimes I say it it doesn't work but uh they have a freedom that will even the commercials they not I I think it I would love to see a a government Network in in the United States have one government Network and two commercial networks and and I think they would both be very good for each other tevision first of all the system of Television that we have in this country I think is the best in the world because it combines the a commercial system with a non-commercial system and unquestionably in my mind this will give you the best choice one man is not so sure the best choice is that easily available Pat Weaver is a former president of NBC and head of a payv network he feels that there is a broadcast Lobby which restricts the viewers free choice uh the broadcast Lobby though is also well known to be uh tremendously powerful this is because so many congressional uh people in Congress senators and congressmen U either have or represent in their law firms uh other interests that is broadcasting interests and uh and uh and theater interests and this is most unfortunate the the present work for instance of the broadcast Lobby to block catv Community antenna systems from having their own programming is ridiculous I mean as I say the the American citizen has bought a set let's say bought a color set spent $400 or $500 pays several dollars a month for electricity he has 80 channels in the set when he finally gets around to realizing that every one of those 80 channels can be hot in other words can be giving him material if he wants it he's going to scream like nothing you ever heard and then the whole thing will change in Washington in Washington FCC chairman Henry denies such pressures are robbing the viewer he believes however there is much about our current system of Television both commercial and educational that cries out for change ideally we should make better use of the system the non-commercial side should have more money it should be more exciting it should be more interesting it should in my judgment at some times appeal to more people than it or and make an attempt to appeal to more people it's the reverse of the uh commercial side on the commercial side ideally while it should continue at to be an advertising medium in fell soap and Automobiles and toothpaste um the the uh the managers of the television commercial television system should try to make it more of a Communications system than an advertising system at some times during the day they should communicate not advertise uh it's these pressures of the marketplace that uh that make the medium what it is and it takes a courageous man with the pressures of the of the Wall Street of the board of directors of the need to make profits to disregard those pressures at various times and that's what needs to be done bill gy of variety thinks what needs to be done is for sponsors to buy commercials like magazine ads his solution is to get them the hell out of programming they shouldn't make any decisions whatsoever pertaining to programming even if they had the hippest showman on Earth if they had uh PT Barnum and I don't know who else rolled up in the one they are men with a special interest which overrides uh anything they do they should be taken out of the medium they should be allowed to buy their minute they should uh I think they should pay twice for it what they're getting the the FCC should rule that they that they should never look at a rating book they should look at the cash register if the minutes sold goods for them they decide then they can buy more of them if it didn't take them out and these minutes should be rotated so they don't even know on a particular night which show it'll be in Bob Hope [Music] [Applause] presents the Chrysler theater the Chrysler theater is all that is left of regularly scheduled drama on Prime Time television today one solution to getting back on on the air plays and actors like these shown in the days when TV nurtured the drama is now suggested by an adman responded to by a network head the viewer should see to it that they get together I think the way to get serious drama on the air is for them to say we want this and we think we have an obligation to the public to put it on the air and we know we have to have it sponsored we can't afford to run it sustaining year after year so we'll price this differently from The Beverly Hillbillies or from get smart or from the movie and this way I think they'd find that there are a lot of advertisers who presently aren't really interested in some of the stuff on the air who might be interested if the costs were reduced maybe we would get good drama on the air if we were to go out and offer it as a particular bargain but the and and we will experiment with that this coming fall uh at this point in time there has not been uh a strong Demand on the part of advertisers for dramatic programming that we've offered uh for this this coming year or for the recent past at any price what other changes might we look forward to in the broadcast establishment John Schneider CBS I'm hard pressed to say that there's something wrong with the status quo will it change yes television will change enormously in the next 7 10 years the changes that will be taking place will grow out of Technology the small miniature color camera will cause programming to look different because we'll be able to go different places with it will the stories be any better in drama I don't know how the stories are going to be any better because I don't think the writers are going to be worse or better they we are going to get the best writers we can to do their very best work and the best actors and actresses comedians dancers designers they're going to do the best they know how but I don't know what form I don't know if I don't know what form that can change news and informational programming will change early bird will bring us in touch with the world early bird in its Sisters of the future um certainly in 10 years we will have an instant communication capability worldwide but as to what we are going to say to the world when we have their attention I'm not certain yet that's the thing that worries me that we are thinking about it we have respect for it I don't have any solution to it quite yet at least nothing I'd articulate at this time it's rather frightening though to think I I well frightening probably is too strong a word but I think respect maybe will'll be able maybe to talk to everybody in the world now all we got to do is decide what we're going to say but there are things to say and things to be done now the responsibility and the shame for what's happening to television is shared by these forces first the Paradox within the industry itself the networks and the advertisers who must serve the public and their stockholders station and network profits have never been greater while programming has never been worse what is required to deal with this Paradox was suggested by chairman hen it takes a courageous man with the pressures of the of the Wall Street of the board of directors of the need to make profits to disregard those pressures at various times and that's what needs to be done as for chairman Henry he should get from Congress a Communications act with more teeth in it one that would enable the FCC to license the networks as well as the stations this would give him more power to force broadcasters to truly serve the Public's interest convenience and necessity next the level of Television criticism must be raised the few critics who care have already helped bring about some small Improvement in news and entertainment specials but many TV columns are wastelands themselves they should encourage the medium to innovate to fall on its face as it occasionally will from a loftier height the audience too is responsible for what's happening to television thousands of you disgraced yourselves recently when you complained that coverage of a man in space emergency interrupted Batman if TV's usual output is mediocre those of you who complained are getting precisely what you deserve however if you are unhappy with a state of Television do something about it turn off the set read a book embrace your wife kiss your child then write letters to the sponsors and to Tom Moore ABC Mort Werner NBC Mike Dan CBS and Jack White NE nothing gets faster action than great numbers of people writing in and tuning out it is urgently clear that educational television must provoke deeper thought and action and that commercial television must give all the public not just the mass audience what it has the right to expect and that is freedom to choose from the widest possible range of program matter from experimentation original drama news commentary from fresh comedy variety and Adventure from programs that cater to the imagination rather than the ratings none of this choice will ever appear on our TV screens unless advertisers do get out of programming unless the FCC is given a stronger hand unless the viewer does make his needs known and unless and until the broadcast leadership leads rather than follows what it believes to be majority taste [Music] at issue is a presentation of the public affairs Department of NE this is NE the national educational television network