In 1949, Jack Benny took advantage of new capital gains laws and moved his popular program from NBC to CBS, an immense boost to that network in ratings and prestige. At about the same time, a senior at the University of Nebraska named Johnny Carson was putting together his thesis, "How to Write Comedy for Radio," a tape-recorded presentation filled with examples of Jack Benny's work. Carson couldn’t have known it at the time, but within a few years Benny would become one of Carson’s biggest boosters – they formed a kind of mutual admiration society that would last until Benny’s death in 1974. Benny had been one of America’s dominant comedy voices during the 1930s, '40s and '50s – and by utilizing tricks he’d learned from Benny, Carson, as host of “The Tonight Show” for thirty years, would become one of America’s dominant comedy voices during the 1960s, '70s and '80s.
Life According to "Hey, Arnold!"
It's the "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" Halloween Special!
Elvis Presley -- Year One
When Louis Met Dolly
The World Accordion to Lawrence Welk
What We Watched: Cartoons and Kids' Shows
Orson Welles's Radio Days
A Short, Unhappy "Life with Lucy"
Raymond Burr's Secrets and Lies
Variations on a Theme Song (1966 Edition)
Silverman's Travels
What We Laughed At
Sid Caesar and His Demons
The Miracle of "A Charlie Brown Christmas"
Sonny and Cher's Long, Strange TV Trip
Seven and a Half Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About "The Dick Van Dyke Show"
The Marlon Brando-Wally Cox Connection
What We Saw at the Movies
A Very Short History of TV Shows with Very Short Histories
The 1960s: What We Listened To
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