Week of August 28: Television and the Kennedys

The rise of the Kennedys as America's foremost political family coincided with the rise of television as an important tool in elections. While Harry Truman was the first president to appear on television nationwide and Dwight Eisenhower was the first to have televised press conferences, John F. Kennedy was the first president to use television effectively, starting with his debates with Vice President Richard Nixon during the 1960 election.

Senator Edward Kennedy, who died this week at age 77, also used television effectively, making countless appearances on news programs during his political career. His most effective moments were memorable speeches, including his eulogy to slain brother Robert Kennedy in 1968, his 1980 speech at the Democratic National Convention and his dramatic speech for Barack Obama at last summer's Democratic National Convention.

No political figures, including Abraham Lincoln, whose bicentennial is being celebrated this year, have gotten more television time than the Kennedys. Programs have ranged from the highest quality to tabloid trash. This blog will pay attention to high-quality network broadcasts through the years. Here are a few that are available on DVD or other media:

*Thank You Mr. President: Produced in 1992 and shown through the years on PBS stations, this documentary, hosted by E.G. Marshall, featured highlights from many of President John F. Kennedy's press conferences during his presidential years. Look out for Sarah McClendon, who queried many presidents through Bill Clinton. Amazon.com has the documentary on VHS; it has not yet been released on DVD. Not to be confused with a recent documentary of the same name about reporter Helen Thomas.

*JFK, RFK, Ted Kennedy speeches: Check Amazon.com for assorted DVDs featuring some of the speeches. Sadly, full telecasts of President Kennedy's 1961 Inaugural speech, Robert Kennedy's speech during the 1964 Democratic National Convention and Ted Kennedy's convention speeches are difficult to find.
The Web site American Rhetoric (www.americanrhetoric.com) does have full text, audio and sometimes video of those and other Kennedy speeches.

*Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Tour - Hulu.com has the full broadcast of this 1962 tour of the White House, which the First Lady conducted with Charles Collingwood of CBS (a tour famously lampooned in the comedy album "The First Family," released the same year).

*The American Experience: The Kennedys - This multi-part documentary, part of PBS' "The American Experience" series, is the gold standard when it comes to chronicling the Kennedys. Produced in 1992, it takes a close look at the family, from patriarch Joseph Kennedy to the fates of his four sons. Here's hoping that PBS will update the documentary's look at The Last Brother - Ted Kennedy; the story ends with his 1980 convention speech. The series is available on DVD.

*The Missiles of October - By far the best dramatization of anything concerning the Kennedys for television. This 1974 ABC film about the Cuban Missile Crisis starred William Devane as President Kennedy and Martin Sheen as Attorney General Robert Kennedy. While somewhat overdramatic and not as good as the theatrical film "Thirteen Days," it does cover both U.S. and Soviet circles during the crisis.

Sheen, incidentally, would play JFK in an NBC miniseries, "Kennedy," in 1983 - a warmup for his successful turn as fictional President Jed Bartlett in that network's "The West Wing."

Both "The Missiles of October" and "Kennedy" are available on DVD.

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Rabbit Ears will return after Labor Day.

Week of August 21: More Than "60 Minutes"

Another broadcast giant - Don Hewitt - died this week. While he was best known as the founding, long-time executive producer of CBS' "60 Minutes," he was about much more than that program.

Television news and Hewitt basically began together; he came to CBS in 1948 and either came up with or worked pioneering ideas, including the "supers" that identified people onscreen (Although, ironically enough, "60 Minutes" has never used them.). Whether it was political conventions, nightly newscasts or presidential debates, Hewitt was there at the beginning.

"60 Minutes" was also a beginning, for the newsmagazine program. Dismissed as flashy at the beginning, it has turned into the gold standard for television journalism. And if Hewitt was good, the long list of long-time correspondents for the program - Mike Wallace, Harry Reasoner, Morley Safer, Dan Rather, Ed Bradley, Diane Sawyer, Steve Kroft, Lesley Stahl - made him look even better with their reporting skills, as did the even longer list of producers working with the correspondents.

USA Today has a timeline of Hewitt's career:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2009-08-19-hewitt-highlights_N.htm

His legacy remains in the little details on newscasts - and every Sunday night at 7 on CBS.

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Rabbit Ears will take a week off. See you the week of September 4. Until then, Happy Viewing!

Week of August 14: The Answer Is: Quiz Shows

The return of the prime-time "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire" for a few days brings to mind some of the finest quiz shows - or at least some of the most entertaining:

*Tic Tac Dough: The 1980s version of this show, in which contestants answered questions and put tic-tac-toe symbols on the board if they were right, was successful in several syndication, with Wink Martindale as host. United States Navy Officer Thom McKee set records for winnings during the show.

*Hollywood Squares: Another version of Tic-Tac-Toe. Not strictly a quiz show, although host Peter Marshall asked questions of celebrity panelists, and contestants were asked to agree or disagree with the panelists' statements. That could prove tricky with contestants like Paul Lynde (who became a legend in the center square), George Gobel, Phyllis Diller and others. A more recent version featured Whoopi Goldberg as the center square, but it's the 1960s-80s version with Marshall, Lynde and others that's fondly remembered.

*Jeopardy: The Answer Is: The best of them all. The original version was hosted by Art Fleming. This year, Alex Trebek celebrates his silver anniversary as host of the program started by Merv Griffin.

See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!

Week of August 7: TV and Julia

The release of the new movie "Julie & Julia" has drawn new attention to Julia Child and her legacy. Child's book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" made her famous. Television made her a star.

PBS wasn't even called PBS yet when Child made her debut on "The French Chef" in 1963. She spent almost 40 years in a variety of cooking shows for public television - starting after she cooked one of the book's recipes on a book show on WGBH in Boston. In 1966, she won PBS' first Emmy Award for "The French Chef."

Child died in 2004, but PBS (and its new digital channel, Create) still show Child at work - and play - in the kitchen:

http://www.pbs.org/juliachild/

Look for "Julia Child Memories: Bon Apetit" on PBS this month.

And Bon Apetit!

Oh......and see you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!