Pioneers Of Television
Documentary
PBS/Paramount Home Video
Available Jan. 29, 2008

It’s hard to believe that network television has been broadcasting for over 60 years, but it’s true.

Some of us remember when the majority of TV sets were black-and-white, when you had four or five channels max to choose from, and when you were the family member designated to get up and change the channel and mess with the antenna.

In our DirecTV, digital cable, and DVD world, we sometimes forget about the broadcast innovators that had to do TV live and blazed the trail that led us, for better or worse, to our television landscape today.

PBS recently broadcast the four-part series Pioneers Of Television and now, the entire series is available on DVD from Paramount Home Video.

This is a treasure trove of material for anyone who is interested in the medium, or anyone that just likes to reminisce about how TV was back in the good old days. And you know, they were pretty good back in the day.

There are four segments on this single disc DVD: Sitcoms, Late Night, Variety, and Game Shows.

There are plenty of interviews with the giants of the era. Andy Griffith, who normally does not sit down for interviews, is featured prominently. Mary Tyler Moore, Dick Van Dyke, Regis Philbin (Joey Bishop’s sidekick on Bishop’s ABC late-night show, in case you were wondering!), Dick Cavett, Tony Orlando, Tommy Smothers, Jonathan Winters, Arsenio Hall, Tim Conway, Pat Boone, Bob Barker, Bob Eubanks, Betty White, and Monty Hall are also interviewed in this series. This series also contains the last interview with Merv Griffin before his passing.

Each segment is full of great clips as well. You see rare kinescopes of early shows and long-lost video of shows that you know and love. You see Johnny Carson hosting a game show in his youth and clips that have been lost for over 50 years. And you can’t help but crack up when Conway and Winters are on a roll.

Did you know that Sigourney Weaver’s father, Pat, created The Tonight Show? Or that Dick Van Dyke was considered to be a host for the original Price Is Right back in the ’50s?

There are great tributes to those who have passed. Carson, Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, Lucille Ball, Steve Allen, Red Skelton, Ed Sullivan, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, and Flip Wilson are showcased, as well as game show pioneers Alan Ludden and Bill Cullen.

The series does not skip over the lowlights — the game show scandals of the ’50s are explored in that series as well. So it’s not all sunshine and roses but rather a truthful telling of the history of television.

The only extras included on the DVD are extended interviews, but those are revealing and compelling as well.

Pioneers of Television is a must-have for those who love their old TV or those who want to know more about the history of the medium.