The Golden Age of Television – An Overview
Television used to be the lesser medium when compared to movies on the silver screen, but over the past couple of decades, it’s stepped up its game so much so that it’s recently experienced what some people call a golden age.
If you Google “Golden Age of Television,” you’ll be presented with a Wikipedia page stating it started in the 2000s and that it’s still ongoing to this day. But we’re not so sure. Is this Golden Age of Television just a tale of the past, or are we still in it?
In this post, we’re going to talk about that and what the future of Television looks like. If you want to watch any of the shows being talked about in this article, Optimum en español allows you to stream 4K with no data caps.
We have a lot to cover, so let’s dive into it.
The First Golden Age
The first golden age of Television took place during the 1950s, specifically from 1947 to 1960. In the early 1950s, TV programs were largely based on the theatre culture and traditions that were so common in New York. This was also where TV shows were directly broadcast from live.
What instigated this golden age was a transition that television took part in, where all of a sudden, we were now getting pre-filmed scripted broadcasts that were more closely following the traditions of Hollywood.
We started seeing sitcoms, Westerns, soap operas, and quiz shows, among many newer and refreshing genres. A big reason for this change was that the TV industry was moving to LA, where it started to take more influence from Hollywood, albeit for a different audience.
Some of the big studios in Hollywood got a bit scared that television might cut into their profits because more and more people were okay staying at home than going to theaters. I Love Lucy, Studio One, The Lone Ranger, Twilight Zone, The Howdy Duty Show, and Dragnet were just some of the shows born during this Golden Age.
There was a ton of variety on television during this time, and a huge focus was placed on good writing and, oftentimes, humor. Fun fact: this entire boom in television was one of the things that influenced the birth of the Blockbuster because Hollywood needed something to punch back with and bring more people to the theaters again.
Prestige TV
We can’t talk about it without first talking about The Sopranos. The Sopranos was created by David Chase and first aired in 1999 on HBO. Most people agree that this show kicked off the Golden Age of Television.
There were multiple reasons why it was so popular and impactful in the TV industry. Besides having great characters, writing, acting, and a mob theme loved by so many, it also ushered in the era of creator-driven content and Prestige TV.
We now had a TV equivalent of the film auteur in the form of a showrunner. Many TV shows in the future would be associated with the showrunner, similar to how movies were often associated with the director, at least the good ones. For avid viewers of these shows, the showrunners are as big or even bigger than some of the cast members.
During this time, shows were getting larger budgets and were using those budgets to go bigger and bolder. And one of the ways that they went bigger was by implementing better effects and stunts that would blow the minds of the viewers. They were also adopting more film-like cinematography along with higher quality and more suspenseful writing.
Film Stars Migrating to Small Screens
TV was also becoming so lucrative that many actors from the big screen were now starting to dip their toe into the TV industry. It wasn’t just coming; there were full-blown serious roles like Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in True Detective, or Kevin Spacey in House of Cards. This trend continues to this day. As a result of the Golden Age, more recently, we’ve seen Jim Carrey appearing in Kidding, Julia Roberts in Homecoming, and Nicole Kidman in Big Little Lies.
In the past, TV was often seen as a stepping stone to becoming a more serious actor or just a place where actors would settle in after a lackluster film career. But now, with less and less variety on the big screen and the fall of mid-budget films, TV has become a place actors could go and be recognized for their work.
Summing Up
This was all great for us, the viewers because we were getting more content on TV than ever before. That content was becoming easily available as well because of the rise of streaming and video-on-demand.
All of this made people realize that watching TV shows could be just as exhilarating and captivating at home as watching movies at the theater, especially with all the new TV technology coming out during this time. Some of the most epic and shocking TV moments came from this period.
TV was no longer seen as an offshoot in the film industry but was now getting more serious and lucrative. HBO was at the heart of it with all of its great shows. Their slogan even reflected this: “It’s not TV, it’s HBO.”