Television has dominated American culture for more than 65 years. Unrivalled in its power and prevalence, more than any other form of mass communication it has helped unify this very diverse country under one cultural umbrella. No other creative medium, no modern industry, no scientific discipline can claim as much influence over us as television. None so completely represents us, both good and bad, to the rest of the world and none will so wholly represent us to the future.
When Daryl Zanuck scornfully dismissed the innovative small screen, TV was barely more than a few loosely affiliated independent stations scattered across the country. By 1951, the stations had multiplied, connected into networks, and the pathways opened for nationwide broadcasting. From east to west the country was now joined together like never before. Coupled with the post WWII proliferation of children a phenomenon was born. By the early 1960’s 90% of American households had a TV and American life was changed forever.
Why is there no national institution dedicated to the exploration this most powerful and influential medium?
We spend about one sixth of our lives watching television. Where is the institution that gives time and space for the public examination of the intimate relationship we have with this most seductive and powerful medium? Where can we go for insight into television’s influence on us as individuals, as communities and as a country?
As television’s first devotees, Baby Boomers grew up right along with the technology and the programming. Now with wall-size sets and flat screens no deeper than a picture frame they, along with children and grandchildren, are still watching. At the time of its inception no one would have guessed that the children born between 1946 and 1964 would by retirement age spend, on average, a full 10 years of their lives sitting in front of the TV.
As television’s first devotees, Baby Boomers grew up right along with the technology and the programming. Now with wall-size sets and flat screens no deeper than a picture frame they, along with children and grandchildren, are still watching. At the time of its inception no one would have guessed that the children born between 1946 and 1964 would by retirement age spend, on average, a full 10 years of their lives sitting in front of the TV.
Clearly television holds a unique place in the country’s history. For over sixty-five years Americans and their televisions have been in some sense inseparable. No matter how it is interpreted, television’s influence is so tightly woven into the American experience modern life is unimaginable without it. National events, documented through the lenses of nightly news cameras, become the grist for the TV scriptwriters who translate them into evening entertainment, reflecting not only the changing American story, but changing moods, tastes and values.
Switched off, a television it is just another piece of electronic equipment. But turned on, its content captures the imagination and reflects the spirit of an entire country. Whether watching seven indomitable Americans stranded on an island, an irascible bigot at home, a police precinct at work, a young aspiring performer in New York City, or a neighborhood of slightly crazy, desperate housewives, we see ourselves, our families, ourfriends, our neighbors and our communities. Sometimes what we see is a reflection and sometimes what we see is only fuel for dreams.
Drawing top talent and producing some of the best entertainment around, what is available today on TV is a far cry from television’s early days. The easy to digest, simple yet classic storylines and two-dimensional characters offered by Perry Mason, Gilligan’s Island and Dr. Kildare have evolved into complex characters who explore contemporary issues, often controversial or sensitive, that directly challenge the viewer. Shows like Law and Order, Boston Legal, Lost and Grey’s Anatomy, House, or even the Simpsons more than ever before reflect the country’s concerns, diversity and spirit.
Scorned by intellectuals, scoffed at by critics and blamed for a variety of societal ills, television is still America’s favorite pastime. Loved or hated the place it has earned in modern American culture is unique. How it will converge with the new technology is stillevolving but one thing is certain, television will be a vital part of American life for many generations to come.
The TV Hall of Fame celebrates all aspects of television: Its creation, its programming and its technology. Following the model of notable institutions such as the Lincoln Library and Museum in Springfield, IL, the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, TN, or the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH, The TV Hall of Fame will become a world-class destination that brings education together with entertainment. The center will have broad appeal, across all demographics and interests. Whether the visitors are serious scholars or school children with their families, the varietyof experiences offered will repeatedly bring them back for more.
The TV Hall of Fame is comprised of three discrete divisions:
The American Radio and Television Script Library and Educational Center: A library and archive with classrooms, educational production studio with broadcast capabilities and a theater for lectures and screenings.
America: As Seen on TV: An interactive, social history museum that uses original television artifacts coupled with interactive technology and thoughtful storytelling to excite the visitor’s imagination to examine America’s contemporary history though the eyes of the television.
Totally Television Science Center: An interactive technology fun center that explores thedevelopment of the technologies from radio broadcasting to digitized images and the internet.
THE TARGET AUDIENCE: Every American who has ever watched television and even those who claim not to.
VALUE TO THE COMMUNITY: International recognition as a center for the study oftelevision as well as a destination venue that will attract families and individuals from across the nation and around the world.
| Total number of American households: | 115 million |
| Total number of Americans: | 317 million |
| Total number of televisions in American households: | 329 million |
| Statistics provided by U.S. Census (2000) and Nielson Corp (2008) | |
The heart of The TV Hall of Fame complex is the Television Education Center. Modeled after the New York Public Library’s Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center, the center will feature a major library with both a circulating collection and a research archive available to scholars, students and the general public.
Unique to this research center is The ARTS Library collection of original television and radio scripts. Unrivalled in its scope and depth the collection encompasses the complete history of American television and radio programming. Thousands of series are represented by more than 125,000 original scripts, many of which are annotated by the writers, producers, directors or other artisans who used them. Supplemental materials include letters, concept notes and related ephemera. No other library in the world can match the holdings of this enormous collection of radio and television’s written word and this alone will distinguish this library from any other dedicated to television research.
The Television Education Center will include a 500 seat auditorium. Screenings, lectures and related presentations will put television into a cultural context and give the audience an opportunity to meet distinguished scholars right along side the creators and performers responsible for their favorite shows. A special feature of the proposed theater is the flexible seating plan and projection technology, which will allow the space to be used creatively for intimate seminars, themed corporate events or more traditional theater screenings.
The final branch of the Educational Center is the Studio, a small sound stage, with a local cable channel and associated classrooms. In this space students of all ages can experiencethe art and science of television production. Through affordable classes, workshops and full length courses taught by industry leaders, young people and life-long learners will find The TV Hall of Fame’s Studio an exciting and inspiring place.
America As Seen on TV is a social history museum dedicated to the reciprocal relationship between American television and American culture. A fun, stimulating walk through the dynamic story of our country's past 60 years, visitors will have a chance to gauge how much our nation has developed, understand how and why some of our collective views and tastes have changed, think about how television has influenced their own lives and consider what might come next. With a fresh approach to America's history, the museum will offer exhibitions grounded in culture and experience, rather than just academic authority.
Nothing prompts a visceral response like a real artifact or actual document. America: As Seen on TV intends to be both delightful and thought-provoking. Blending educational elements with entertainment, the museum will engage the visitor and trigger their imaginations and open the way for a critical look at our common experience. Exhibitions that address how our past and present are played out on TV will leave the visitor reflecting on why certain programs are successful, why some subject matter more interesting at one time than another, what unifies us and what divides us along generational, educational or regional lines.
Providing a framework for understanding the effect TV has on us as individuals and on the country as a whole is one of the museum's primary objectives. Accompanying the exhibitions will be supplemental material offering guidelines to parents for conversations with their child about what they see on TV; helping the child understand the difference between TV’s constructed reality and real life as well as many sensitive or challenging subjects such as violence, sexuality, stereotypes and the power of advertising.
A museum is only possible with an artifact collection to support it. As a foundation collection America: As Seen on TV has the exceptional Museum of Television Treasures upon which to draw. With more television ephemera than any other, this collection has over 6000 exhibition-ready objects and will distinguish the museum as housing more of television’s material heritage than any other institution in the country.
Totally Television is an interactive technology science museum with activities geared to all ages – it is for everyone. Through lively, interactive displays, parents will explore alongside their children the science of TV from cameras to special effects to the tube itself. Visitors will get up-close experience with the science behind television from the early experimental years of the television pioneer P.T. Farnsworth to the mind spinning technology behind TIVO to what's next at the cutting edge. This is a delightful, educational activity center for the entire family.
Children and adults alike can find out answers to questions like "how does that guy get from the TV studio into the TV in my living room?" "What's the difference between one of those old fashioned TV's and the big screen digital TV we have?" "What's the difference between satellite, cable and broadcast television?" Though the displays are developed to be for long-term use, changing activities will make it a place to which the kids will want to return often.
The technology available to broadcast content has evolved at an incredible speed. The latest technology has yet to make it into mainstream usage and the full significance of the internet’s place is still unfolding. But no matter how the transmission technology changes, what is certain is the fact that television entertains and informs all of us and its programming will continue to be a vital part of America’s changing culture.
The ARTS Library of original scripts is a primary resource for scholars involved in researching any aspect of radio or television history. The scripts are the first step in the production while what finally ends up on the screen or on the radio is step two. The supplemental documents and ephemera add insight unavailable through any other source.
Small exhibitions of archival materials are possible because The ARTS Library has more than just scripts in its holdings. Included are rare and important materials such as letters, rough concept sketches and contracts that furnish an incomparable look into the back story of some of our favorite television programs.
The ARTS Library has material from thousands of series. Carefully curated and built, the collection has strived to fully represent the works of radio and television, even rare, nearly forgotten shows that otherwise would be hard to document today are available for examination.
Access to an actual script from a television or radio show allows students of screenwriting and television production to compare what was originally written to the final program, giving them a unique look into the production and the creative process.
Researchers in other disciplines will find the scripts offer a unique view of changes in fields of technology, science and social history. In many cases, what is now a reality (such as the concept of Maxwell Smart’s portable phone) was first introduced to the general public through television fantasy.
A myriad of lecture series and public programs are possible. Program series such as:
The TV Hall of Fame will be a major attraction that draws visitors from around the world and brings vital revenue to any city that sponsors it.
From its inception, The American Radio and Television Script Library has aimed to fill a seemingly unnoticed, yet vitally important gap in the preservation of radio and television history. Other archives, such as The Library of Congress and The Paley Center, house recordings of the shows as they were presented to the public. But before the sound stage could be set for any of those productions, the stories had to be written andrewritten; the ideas explored, polished, and finalized. Those recorded programs only tell a part of this important story; they offer little insight into the elusive, creative process of the artists who produced American broadcasting.
Inspired by this need, the Library set out on the mission to collect at least one script from every written episode produced for American radio and television. As lofty and challenging as that goal may be, it has put the Library in the singular position of being thepremiere repository for television and radio scripts and related materials. Thousands of shows and tens of thousands of episodes have been produced during the past eighty years.Though the library is not yet near its goal, it is well on the way. With more than 120,000 scripts representing 4000 programs, this is most likely the largest collection of such material anywhere in the world.
The collection is well balanced between contemporary programs and very rare and hard-to-find early material. KNX Radio’s The California Theater (1924) and Lights Out (1946,) NBC’s inaugural attempt at anthology television that later would become a mainstay genre of 1950’s TV, are represented alongside scripts from series as disparate as Saturday Night Live, ER, and Law and Order. These are the working scripts of the directors, writers, actors and craftsmen who created America’s radio and television programs, many of whom were pioneers in their fields. Scribbled notes for movement, voice inflection, script deletions, new text, and technical requirements are the hidden treasures found throughout this collection.
The Library proudly preserves original scripts and holographic materials from show producers and creators such as Jess Oppenheimer (I Love Lucy); Paul Henning (The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres), Leonard Stern (The Honeymooners, Get Smart, McMillan & Wife), Sherwood Schwartz (Gilligan’s Island, The Brady Bunch);Sol Saks (Bewitched), Richard Levinson (Columbo), and John Aylesworth (Hee Haw – TV’s longest-running variety show); there are papers from gifted writers such as Al Schwartz (The Bob Hope Show, NBC radio and television); Paul Savage (Gunsmoke); Snag Werris (writer for Jackie Gleason from the early Cavalcade of Stars days through the last incarnation of The Jackie Gleason Show); Paul Keyes (The Dean Martin Show, Laugh-In); Ray Singer, George Foster, George Kirgo, Arnie Kogen, Barry Blitzer, Rick Mittleman, Mark Evanier, Jack Mendelsohn, Jerry Mayer and John Rappaport (M.A.S.H.). TV pioneers like Barney McNulty (the inventor of the cue-card); radio pioneers such as Everett George Opie (the first announcer for NBC in Chicago with scripts dating to the 1920’s); Barry Shear (an early director at the DuMont network); and icons such as Johnny Carson, Captain Kangaroo, Eddie Fisher, Sammy Davis, Jr., Ed Wynn, and Eddie Cantor, among many others.
Each script has been catalogued and cared for with great respect. High standards of collection care have been maintained with guidance sought from professional archivists and conservators when needed. Detailed records are kept on acquisition history and cross-references made with relative materials. All scripts are organized and stored systematically, and are easily retrievable.
The Comisar Collection and The Museum of Television is the definitive archive of television artifacts, including original costumes, textiles, props, documents, set elements, vehicles and related ephemera. These objects are the very touchstones of our TV generation, includingthose worn or wielded by the pioneering performers that transitioned from vaudeville, to radio and finally to television. These beloved materials anchor sixty years of our social history, and they memorialize the reciprocal influence between television and American culture.
We care for over 10,000 TV treasures -- more than even the fabled Smithsonian in Washington – and we are members of the American Association of Museums. We are perhaps proudest of our level of collection care, which leads the nation in the dignified conservation and celebration of objects with a Hollywood heritage.
TCC has shared our unique expertise with an international clientele that includes A-list Hollywood actors, directors, studios & talent agents, museums, theme restaurants, casinos, as well as the country’s most stellar private connoisseurs. Collection curator James Comisar stands as the world expert in authenticating, valuating and marketing such materials, and he has served these and many other media outlets:
We have authenticated and/or appraised countless millions of dollars worth of ephemera for major auction companies, as well as having founded the Hollywood memorabilia department for eBay-Butterfields. A sampling of our past & present auction house clients include:
We proudly present a selection of individuals & entities that we have worked with in the preservation of their materials:
From acquisition to cataloguing to conservation to presentation, the costs of maintaining the library and museum are monumental. Add that to design refinement for the final destination of these TV treasures and one does not have to be the Professor from Gilligan's Island to see that the situation is precarious!
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