Extra Credit--Counts as TWO Blog Posts:
View one of the following films: Quiz Show (1994) OR Good Night, and Good Luck (2005). Both are available at Askwith Media Center or on reserve at the Donald Hall Collection.
Keeping in mind that both of these films offer fictionalized renderings of historical circumstances, write a minimum of 400 words explaining how either the quiz show scandals (as depicted by Quiz Show) or Edward R. Murrow’s exposé of McCarthyism (as portrayed in Good Night, and Good Luck) had political results during the 1950s and shifted ideas about the medium of television and its specific genres (quiz shows or news programs).
In the 1950s, the producer of NBC’s hit television show, Twenty One, was the host of the century’s biggest media scandal. The producer, Dan Enright, was notified about decreased ratings after Herb Stempel, a contestant, continuously wins the quiz show week after week. Enright offers Stempel $70,000 if he purposely answers incorrectly and loses. Enright finds Charles Van Doran, a fine-looking, intelligent Colombia teacher from a high-class family. The producers of Twenty One present Van Doran with an offer. They promise him weeks of money and fame if he agrees to be notified of the questions and answers before he goes on air. Stempel loses and Van Doran becomes the next Twenty One prodigy. Herb’s money gets tied up and he goes to Enright to put him back on television. Enright cannot promise him anything so Herb takes a big step and takes his case to the courts. Lawyer, Dick Goodwin, hears about the court case and begins an investigation in hopes of taking down television. Van Doran is approached by Goodwin and begins getting nervous. He asks the television producers to only give him the questions and he will do the research himself to find the answers to Twenty One. Goodwin continues lingering around Van Doran to see if the face of Twenty One will confess to cheating. Van Doran makes a statement regarding the power of television. He claims that the quiz show is influencing kids to see knowledge as power. Success and fortune can be gained through acquired knowledge. The case investigation continues and Goodwin finds that a former contestant mailed himself the questions two days before he went live on the air. The pieces of the puzzle begin to come together when Herb admits he, too, was given the questions and answers beforehand. Van Doran surprisingly answers a question wrong on the show hoping he will get some peace and quiet. Enright takes the president of NBC to the judge only to find that they testify that they know nothing about any scandal going on with one of their shows. The ones who end up feeling the wrath of the case are Van Doran and Dan Enright. Charles voices that once he got into the mix he felt he could not disillusion the whole country by confessing his original lie. The power of television entrapped Van Doran.
ReplyDeleteThe case ends with social destruction upon Van Doran who never taught again. The president of NBC and NBC as a whole are never affected. Television is too big of a power. The public cannot help but be entertained; they do not want to bite the hand that feeds them. Quiz shows soon dwindled down in numbers and their popularity decreased. Still, the networks remained on top while the individuals in the scandals became yesterday’s news.