The View from Highway 1

by Michael J. Arlen

The View from Highway 1 is television critic Michael J. Arlen's second essay collection, originally published in 1976. In twenty-one diverse and perceptive essays, he ranges over such matters as Howard Cosell's sports-announcing style and Tom Snyder's intriguingly abrasive news delivery. He discusses the odd combination of anger and comedy that animates All in the Family and the buried eroticism in certain detergent commercials. He provides a masterful analysis of the diminished role of foreign news on television, and also a fascinating study of TV's often inept interviewers and their "How do you feel...?" interviewing techniques.

With The View from Highway 1, Michael J. Arlen continued his original and valuable efforts to evolve a new criticism for the still-young medium of television. In the process he has produced an impressive commentary on the passing life and times of this communications-conscious nation.

257 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Michael J. Arlen is an Anglo-Armenian writer and former television critic of the The New Yorker. The son of the prominent Anglo-Armenian writer, Michael Arlen. He is the author of Exiles and the critically acclaimed Passage to Ararat, both of which are autobiographical narratives of Arlen's Armenian ancestry. He is also the author of Living Room War, a book on the Vietnam War's portrayal and the social culture of America in the media in the USA.

Reviews

[Tom Leland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obviously dated, but still many interesting observations on television's role in and effects on our culture. I watched tons of TV in the 70s, so some parts, such as essays on All in the Family, Rhoda, Saturday Night Live had a particular interest for me. As for the writing, exactly where my intellectual failings leave off and Arlen's (to my mind) overly cerebral analyses begin, I can't say; but he spends plenty of time deep in the weeds.