Tube of Plenty: The Evolution of American Television

by Erik Barnouw

Based on the classic History of Broadcasting in the United States , Tube of Plenty represents the fruit of several decades' labor. When Erik Barnouw--premier chronicler of American broadcasting and a participant in the industry for fifty years--first undertook the project of recording its history, many viewed it as a light-weight literary task concerned mainly with "entertainment" trivia. Indeed, trivia such as that found in quiz programs do appear in the book, but Barnouw views them as part of a complex social tapestry that increasingly defines our era.
To understand our century, we must fully comprehend the evolution of television and its newest extraordinary offshoots. With this fact in mind, Barnouw's new edition of Tube of Plenty explores the development and impact of the latest dramatic phases of the communications revolution.
Since the first publication of this invaluable history of television and how it has shaped, and been shaped by, American culture and society, many significant changes have occurred. Assessing the importance of these developments in a new chapter, Barnouw specifically covers the decline of the three major networks, the expansion of cable and satellite television and film channels such as HBO (Home Box Office), the success of channels catering to special audiences such as ESPN (Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) and MTV (Music Television), and the arrival of VCRs in America's living rooms. He also includes an appendix entitled "questions for a new millennium," which will challenge readers not only to examine the shape of television today, but also to envision its future.

Genres: History, Tv, Nonfiction, Pop Culture, American, Business

624 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

Reviews

[Sarah Jayne Stachura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this was a standard undergrad comm class text years ago. It's based on the much larger History of Broadcasting in the United States. The late Barnouw knew his stuff and the text is clear, concise and engaging, unlike some other texts of its ilk, like the Columbia History of American Television, etc. I picked this up and finished it after putting it down a few years ago.

[William Crosby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although dated, this is excellent as an historical text on the development of radio and television in the U.S.

[Jansen Al · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I think it had the perfect mix of technical details and conversational language. There were some aspects I struggled to understand within the history of broadcasting and how that shit actually works but that’s not on the author or the information, it’s just a field I do not understand regardless of how well it’s explained.

After finishing this book I really wish there was another edition that discussed this topic post 1990. The Soviet Union was on its last legs but it still existed when this book was published and I think it would be interesting to see how the post Cold War period would be approached. Another aspect of an additional edition that I would love to see is the internet!! Another concept that I will never understand how it works. But I think exploring the impact of widespread use of personal computers, the internet, and things like search engines would be incredible.

I think my favorite part of this book was its exploration of television and broadcasting in general on the American political landscape. As someone with fairly strong knowledge of American politics, this shined a new light on how the concepts I studied actually came to be. Knowing that JFK beat Nixon isn’t the same as knowing it was in large part because of television and the introduction of televised debates. I really appreciated learning these nuanced aspects of the story we’ve all come to know. It’s increasingly important in today’s world to think beyond what is shown to you and this book shows how that has always been true, but today it is so much easier to reach beyond the provided cover story.

Some of the questions I asked myself while reading were big “what ifs”. What would have happened if Ed Murrow and Fred Friendly hadn’t been brave and fought back against McCarthy? How would America look today if certain broadcasts had never been approved? From things that seem simple like I Love Lucy or the Beverly Hillbillies to things that are easily identified as significant like documentaries exploring the standard of life in the USSR to the lives of Vietnam soldiers. This book showed clearly that what we choose to produce and watch has an impact on the society that we create.

I think understanding the impact of networks like NBC is as important today as it was 50 years ago. But it’s a different ball game entirely. 50 years ago, NBC seemed to stand out as the network willing to take a chance on individuals like Murrow and Friendly and the type of perspective they represented. Taking chances with advertisers and giving a voice to those who were often overlooked or rejected by other networks. Today, understanding how changes in the 1980s (thanks Reagan, you ruin literally everything) transformed the network enables us to understand why they no longer push barriers like they used to. The interconnected web of communications/broadcasting and the political environment is not something to be overlooked and can reveal the inner workings of the information willingly given to the public compared to the information pulled out of lies and cover stories.

Overall, this book demonstrates the importance of paying attention to what you are being told and by whom. Underestimating the greed for power and money that exists in the hearts of many has never been a wise move and ignoring their strings within the media is similarly irresponsible. I am not immune to propaganda and neither is anyone else. We must pay attention and ask questions in order to get closer to the truth and create a society that reflects what the people actually want.

Also wish there was more discussion of Sesame Street and the muppets.

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is obvious that Erik Barnouw knows his subject matter. The extensive research that would be needed to put this together is phenomenal. The first part of the book goes into the history of the technology used for radio and then into television and then moves through the years to the end of the 80's. Although I can understand the need to show how television was used especially by the government around issues like Vietnam and Watergate and the election process, but it feels like it gets bogged down in this aspect a bit too much and less on the actual television content. I would have liked to have seen more about the TV shows themselves over the years. Of course, shows are mentioned but tend to be in list form, mentioned briefly and then the text moves on.
A book like this has a lot of ground to cover and if a history of American Televison and how it developed and was used for news and political advantage then this book does it job well. If you are looking for more information on TV content, and the shows outside of this then look elsewhere.

[Joe Stevens · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first 100 or so pages are a five star read about the development of the technologies driving radio and tv, but then the book devolves into a poorly written account of the US during the era surrounding the Vietnam War. 'Still in Saigon' might be a better title for the lion's share of this book as the author clearly has an axe to grind. Ironically few would disagree with him that Vietnam was a disaster, so his massive diatribe quickly becomes simply a very dull read.
All this is sad because the author's three volume set on the subject of radio and television is very good but very hard to find. I was hoping that this would simply be a condensed version of a fine work, but instead it is a political work buried by pontification that has little to do with television especially the thousands of TV shows devoted to entertainment which are barely mentioned.

[Micah Grossman · Rating 4 out of 5]

More relevant than I wish it were to today's questions on the role of media and its impact on the public consciousness.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read Erik Barnouw's book as part of a course at The Evergreen State College, titled "The Televised Mind," the first of two fairly intensive Communications courses I took there (the second, year-long, course was "Recording and Structuring Light and Sound"). I'm not 100% certain I read the whole thing at that time, but I kept it around and read it a few years later and found it very interesting and informative. Barnouw's underlying question is whether television really should be seen only as a form of entertainment, empty of content, or whether it has other unrecognized potentials, both unrealized and realized (but not seen). Nevertheless, even if this question is not of interest to the reader, the book will be useful because of its considerable detail in documenting the history of the 20th Century's most pervasive communications medium.

Barnouw (my professors pronounced it like "barn owl," if you're wondering) goes back quite a way in his history, beginning with Alexander Graham Bell in 1876, and the ways in which his development of the telephone stimulated interest in transmitted media. The section on radio is fair, although there are of course better histories of that medium available (Tesla's name, for instance, does not appear in the index), and his main focus in on experiments that would add transmission of picture to that of sound. His later chapters include Nielson ratings for various periods, with some interesting historical analysis ("the fun of war, clandestine or otherwise, seemed to be the chief message of 1965-66 prime time leaders") and focus on major shifts. More attention is given to the development of TV news, and its impact on the American political system. He also has a special interest in the development of public and public-access television. Toward the end of this edition, he (somewhat ineffectively) attempts to analyze new trends, such as the rise of Cable and the VCR revolution, but the book's real strength is in covering the period from 1949-1975. As this may be seen as television's "golden age," this is appropriate, and the book remains useful, although this writer is not well-informed enough to say that nothing better has since come along.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This used to be a standard text in media studies classes - I am not sure who the champ is now, but it is safe to say that this used to be the most popular history of American television out there. This is a condensed version of a longer history that Barnouw wrote. It seems that this endeavor probably seems a lot less vital than it once did, back when television was America's number one pastime and source of information about the world. It may still be that, but the advent of the internet has clouded the picture and cast doubt on what were widely accepted verities.

I liked the first part of the book the most. It really is great to read a clear summary of the history of radio and television technology, how the first stations and networks came to be, and who were some of the big names in this great leap forward - David Sarnoff, Marconi, Edwin Armstrong, and others. It is also interesting to read a little about the first attempts at video technologies, such as the Nipkow disc. There is not a lot about the personalities involved, so in that sense the writing can be a bit colorless.

Around the 1950s, Barnouw changes his approach. He shifts his attention more to the political side of things. There is a discussion of the Senator McCarthy affair, and the roles of Edward R. Murrow and his producer, Fred Friendly, and the infamous quiz show cheating scandal that involved Prof. Mark Van Doren. Barnouw follows the trends of what shows are popular - the vogues for Westerns, quiz shows, and spy thrillers for example - and lists what the top 10 shows are at various points. He delves into the role that television coverage of the Vietnam War played. The book becomes, in my opinion, not enough about television and radio, and too much about American political history. That topic has been covered extensively and better, in other books. It would have been interesting to read more about what happened in the executive suites of the broadcasting giants, and how the technology and the business side of things developed over the years.

[Simone · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this for my media history class. It gets one star for the following reason, I don't think it's really a history of television. It's a history of some technology related to television and broadcasting, and then it's mainly a recounting of American history with some television bits thrown in. I don't think Barnouw likes television or feels affectionate towards any of it, except maybe some of the live anthology dramas of the 1950s. He's only interested in news, PBS, and "things that are serious." "I Love Lucy" a landmark show by many accounts, is mentioned briefly and then quickly dispatched with. He mentions a lot of the highlights from the period, which are worth discussing (and seeing): Nixon's Checkers speech, the moon landing, the zippo ligther story, but very little from fictional television, especially sitcoms not tied to big "important themes." I encourage you to read a television history, if you want to do such a thing, it not that's fine too, but read one by people who like television, like Watching TV: Six Decades of American Television, which presents the television shows and most of the same history you get from Barnaouw.

[TroutfihsingnAmerica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Worthwhile with a lot of buts. This book is a great read for recommendations of old television shows, and various tidbits of television information.

The first one hundred pages or so were really good. It was an interesting history of technology that allowed for radio and how that progressed into television. After that the rest of the book is mostly a missed opportunity.

Near the end there is a really interesting description of neilson ratings, which is something I only learned from this book. In between is hundreds of pages of what I consider to be irrelevant political opinion. It occurred to me that perhaps the history of television is political. However a lot of technical points were raised, then brushed over so that Barnouw could race to tell us about Kennedy, Nixon, Reagon.

[G · Rating 3 out of 5]

a dense encyclopedic review of the history of television from its birth to the end of the 1980s. its strength lay with the connections made between television history and larger historical events around the world and how each were influenced by the other. difficult to read through as a narrative because of its dense, continuous narrative. useful as a resource for television history.

[Joy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for a class years ago.

[Bode Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thorough, mostly-balanced history for most of its length that ends up somewhere in the neighborhood of embittered condemnation. An engrossing, extremely informative read.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

one of the most interesting books i've ever read.

[Jean Marie Angelo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A text for a media class I took years ago.