Pioneers of Television

I watched this show with great interest... having grown up in Philadelphia where we enjoyed local shows on three network affiliates and three independent UHF stations (plus PBS affiliates in Philly and South Jersey). Imagine my surprise to find Philadelphia completely ignored in this episode of the miniseries.

From New York to Los Angeles... Miami to Chicago to Green Bay... even Phoenix Arizona. But why oh why did they completely skip the home of such local television programs such as:

Gene London, Sally Starr, Lorenzo the Clown, Pixanne, Sergeant Sacto, Wee Willy Weber, Captain Noah, Chief Halftown, and the Uncle Floyd Show starring Floyd Vivino and his brother, band leader for the Conan Show.

Of course, there are many others... plus the nationally syndicated programs (such as Soupy Sales and Romper Room) and programming imported from Japan, poorly dubbed into English.

I would like to know why, of all the cities in America, this show completely dissed Philadelphia.

Very cheap. The episode devoted to TV Westerns was particularly offensive in many ways to me, since this is my favorite genre in films and TV. Focusing around 50 minutes on only five different shows disappointed me. No mention of Have Gun-Will Travel, Wagon Train, Rawhide, Cheyenne, or Death Valley Days, which aired for 18 seasons. I did enjoy seeing the interviews, so that was nice. Due to the budget and lack of money for music royalty payments, none of the great themes from any of the featured five shows were allowed to be heard. There were terrible slow-mo interludes showing Western "action" using footage that looked like actors in a local Tombstone "O. K. Corral" re-enactment. Really cheap. I have seen other episodes of this series and believe that given their low spending allowance, producers should have taken a different approach. This is way too cheap for PBS, or is it? My two favorite genres are westerns and documentaries. Bummed me two times now, I've gone away.

This comment refers specifically to the "Late Night" segment of the mini-series.

The narration contains several glaring moments of very bad writing and is overly "Burnsian" in its slow, serious delivery. The omission of David Letterman among the interviewees leaves one wondering whether he refused or someone had an ax to grind. The parade of past guests as interviewees also suffers from missing figures, particularly those who were regulars on Carson's show.

The show also fails to give the viewer much insight into the off camera personalities of its subjects. We learn (?) that Carson was a shy, private person and that if you didn't hear from him you were doing a good job and that if you did hear from him it was likely to be unvarnished opinion. At this late date can we not get deeper?

Overall, a disappointment; it should have been better.