1950 in television: A Year in Review

Well, the first year of the 1950s is in the books and television is slowly gaining traction, despite some challenges. On the plus side, over six million television sets were sold in 1950, which is good, given the average cost of a television in 1950 was $499 for a 12 inch console model by Philco. Small wonder then that only 9% of US households even had a television. An additional challenge was the continued perception, especially by Hollywood and radio, that television was a “fad” trend, good for advertising and little else. It didn’t help television’s case that, with the exception of one network, almost nothing being produced on television was original: as we’ve seen, Gene Autry was really imported from the Western serials in movie theaters while Westinghouse Studio One and You Bet Your Life came over from radio. As good as the programming may have been, aside from the picture, it wasn’t any different than what was on the radio.

I mentioned a single exception and I’ll actually be doing a special comment on it in the next day or so and that’s the fourth network, the DuMont network. I won’t spoil what I want to address there here, but suffice to say, they were forced to come up with unique, original programming every day of every week with varying degrees of success. For good or ill, it was the first steps toward making television unique from radio and serials. The other contributing factor to change in television, which will get another special comment, is the rise in first-run syndication television: cheap, unique programming that was basically made to make money and plug holes in the lineup, but you couldn’t find it anywhere else but on the television. Combine the two and you have a spark and a starting point for television to grow from.

Looking ahead, 1951 would be revolutionary, especially in the realm of the situation comedy with the arrival of one of television’s most popular and influential shows. In roads would also be made in the realm of science fiction on television and, as you might guess, the Western would continue to gain in popularity. In addition, television would start to develop a “season” format, much like radio had before, running approximately from mid- or late August until May or June. Plus, the famed Nielsen ratings system arrived on television in 1950, which would begin to measure what America was watching. In light of those changes, instead of just doing an annual recap like I’ve been doing, I’ll be doing bi-annual recaps – one in the end of the television season (roughly) where I’ll cover the numbers, what survives and what doesn’t and the annual recap of the year in television and the world at large.

Next time, a special comment on the rise of first-run syndication on television.