About the Book:

If you think television has come a long way, check-out Television's Greatest Year: 1954. That was the year TV came of age: an analysis of TV in the year that saw it emerge from the realm of experiment to the dizzy heights of popularity and influence. In this pivotal year, Gore Vidal, Paddy Chayevsky and Rod Serling wrote live dramas for TV; Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason and Sid Caesar were making viewers laugh; and composer Leonard Bernstein made his first television appearance. The Tonight Show with Steve Allen and Fred Rogers' The Children's Corner also began that year.

As well as covering successes of the time such as I Love Lucy and Dragnet, author Richard D. Heldenfels examines the opportunities generated by advertising to captive audiences, the McCarthy hearings and Murrow's response, and the economic struggles of the television industry's early years.

About the Author:

R.D. "Rich" Heldenfels is the popular culture writer and television critic for the Beacon-Journal in Akron, Ohio. He is the author of Television's Greatest Year.