TV in the 1950s: The So-called "Golden Days" of Television

"I Love Lucy" was arguably the first major smash-hit television program, but many others were soon to follow the show’s success and popularity throughout the 1950s. Whether you remember them from re-runs or from when they were first aired, there is a certain mystique of genuine Americana surrounding classic ‘50s television hits that still lives on to this very day; and not only in the world of re-runs, but now also on the Internet. Indeed, the attention still given to many of these programs is no small testament to their contemporary appeal.

Therefore, it is no surprise that some fanatics of ‘50s television have created a cyberspace playground for all those who still cannot get enough of shows from "The Lone Ranger" to "Rocky and Bullwinkle". All sorts of cool pictures, film clips and biographical information can be attained from the Internet about the lives and adventures of the characters America came to know from the earliest days of black and white television.

It is, after all, somehow fitting that one of the first major visual media forms should be honored through the latest medium of popular culture, the Internet. While much of the contemporary charm of 1950s television lies in the popular conception of it somehow representing a more simple and straightforward time (a debatable proposition, to be sure!), it is easy to forget that the comparatively crude technology of black and white television was, in the 1950s, every bit as cutting-edge and exciting as the Internet is for us today. Alas, what better place for these two powerful mass media tools to meet!