Entertainment Network television recycling old tricks By David Bianculli New York Daily News Quiz shows are back.
Variety shows, dormant for decades, are around the corner.
Back then, network television was trying to distinguish itself from radio, present enough buzzworthy shows to sell enough TV sets to keep the market share growing, and exploit every successful trend. Today, network TV is trying to distinguish itself from cable television and the Internet, present enough buzzworthy shows to keep its market share from shrinking, and exploit every successful trend. In the earliest days of television, live broadcasts were a necessity, not a luxury. Not only do Schell and Rains bring intensity to their roles as attorneys on opposite sides of the famous war-crimes trial, but the CBS production surely gave many viewers their first televised look at actual wartime atrocity footage. Decades later, live TV in prime time is rare enough to be a gimmick.