Susskind Attacks TV's Mediocrity; Public Networks May Be Solution

A television network executive and an advertising agent attempted to defend commercial TV against producer David Susskind's charges of "mediocrity" at the Winthrop House Forum last night.

But in an afternoon speech before the Radcliffe Graduate Society, Robert Saudek '32, ex-television producer and an author of the Carnegie Commission report on educational television, "threw a poison dart and shed a tear" over commercial TV, saying that it has little hope of becoming anything but a "citadel of the non-think."

In the Winthrop House battle, Michael Dann, vice-president of programming at CBS, argued that he "can't do great programs on a regular basis" because of the time pressure involved in a weekly show.

'Shotgun Marriage'

Hank Fownes, the advertising agent, stated that advertisers need have no concern for the quality of broadcasting since for them television is a purely commercial venture. Even if they did consider quality, he added, past experience has shown that the audience always "turns back to the general-entertainment show."

Susskind's response was to brand their words "utter nonsense." "Commercial television," he said, "is a shotgun marriage between big business and show business. If a piece of art eventuates, it is a gorgeous coincidence."

'Electronic Hopscotch'

According to Saudek there is no reason to expect improvement in commercial television. He said the three major networks now provide only a game of "electronic hopscotch," with channel-hoppers discovering as little variety as they would among three rock-and-roll stations. But prospects for change seem dim, since the networks are making money, he said.

Saudek's solution is the development of public, or educational, television, which he hopes could "throw Gresham's law into reverse" with the good programs driving the bad programs off the air.

The Carnegie report, Saudek said, requests Congress to charter a non-profit "Corporation for Public Television" to be financed by a 2-5 per cent excise tax on new televisions as well as by foundation grants and public contributions.

The plan, now being considered by a Congressional committee, also calls for an interconnection of public stations and extensive use of communication satellites to provide a "TV stock exchange" permitting local programs to be viewed nationally.