On this date in 1961, a dude named Newton Minnow, who was chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, gave a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters in which he said that television was a "vast wasteland." It caused quite a stir and, although I was only 14 at the time, I am sure I did not agree with him.
After all, there were sitcoms starring Dick Van Dyke, Danny Thomas, Andy Griffith, and Donna Reed, plus The Real McCoys, My Three Sons, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Flintstones, Leave It To Beaver, and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Garry Moore, Ed Sullivan, Red Skelton, Steve Allen, Jack Benny and Dinah Shore had variety programs, not to mention a musical hour with Lawrence Welk. The cowboys were there with Bonanza, Cheyenne, Have Gun Will Travel, and Gunsmoke, and there were lawyers, cops and intrigue on The Defenders, Checkmate, The Detectives, The Untouchables, and The Naked City. There were doctors too, like Ben Casey and Dr. Kildare, and as if that were not enough, we also had To Tell The Truth, I've Got a Secret, and What's My Line?
And that was what appeared on three television networks. Nowadays, thanks to cable and dish and satellite, we have scores of channels showing programs that give us an inside look at tattoo parlors, automobile repossessionists, bounty hunters, pawn shops, people with more children than is morally responsible, midgets, and women with nothing to recommend them except that they are married and live in New Jersey.
I wonder what words Mr. Minnow could find today to describe this vastness of waste.
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