Abstract

Television

One of the few great men of television's first decade is Sylvester L. Weaver, who resigned last month as Chairman of the Board of NBC. In seven years at that network, he invented bold program concepts which advanced the scope and importance of the industry by rapid strides. He believed that a good show needed time for preparation, time for presentation. He dared to break the pattern of radio and early TV by introducing irregular sixty-or ninety-minute feature programs--the "Spectaculars," now accepted as routine--which account for many of the viewing high spots of the last few years. There's plenty of politicking on TV these days, and expensive politics at that. Politicians are rarely performers, yet they are assigned to deliver the goods in a way which would alarm the most experienced professional.