Evening star., 1952-01-24
On the Air
The Viewers
Have heir
Complaints
By Harry Macarthur

Ito pass them along to the proper
authorities. The proper authorities
may choose to ignore them. but
they can't charge that this de-
lpartment shirked its duty to fee.
1.-THE public pulse.
First, there is the matter oi
that new morning programmine
on INBC- -TV, some of which seem
to have irked the viewers as much
as they irked this reviewer. A
couple of the former have con-
structive criticisms to offer, how
ever. which NBC Cor any other
lnetWork) might well listen to.
"'It's in the Bag writes Mrs
w. p. S. of Manassas, Va. "is
really an insult to the mentality
and sensibilities. =. If they want
to do it right why don't they let
the women win the food in behalf
lof some skinny kids somewhere in
the world who really need it? Or
why don't they recruit their con-
testants somewhere from the
slunas of New York? The program
would at least be in good cause.
"For my money, morning pro-
grams could all be cartoons. They
entrance the children and let
mama do her work. Right now If
some one would explain the intri-
cacies of filling out the various
income tax forms I'd let the
housework wait and watch TV
Since mama spends rs per cent OF
the income in the United States,
she also has the fun of telling the
Government how she spent it.
I'm afraid from what I've seen
of daytime Tv programs that the
producers obviously don't think
mama can write" =.
And Furthermore-''Why can't
we have some good morning pro-
grams for houSewives?" asks Mrs.
r. v. of Alexandria after exam
lining this same lineup of shows.
1T prefer a cooking program or
an educational program of some
sort.
II say cooking program because
most of them are in the after
noon, when many of us are pre-
pairing our dinner and can't
watch. In the morning, we may
have second cup of coffee watch
ing a good food program"
X X x X
Lost Art Still UnfOund-Some
remarks here a few weeks back
about the impact Charles Laugh
ton made on television by stand
ing in front of a camera reading
Dickens have prompted a report
by Miss K. E. B. of Cortland place
NV. about what happened to her
when she proposed something of
the same sort.
Last July" she writes, II at
tempted to launch a TV program
of oral, interpretive reading to
emanate from the Nation S Capital
based on Charles Laughton's
attempts to revive this art. When
I tried to sell Ralph Burgin
(WNBW) the idea he refused
to listen to the proposed tele-
cast-said similar suggestions had
been made-and this type of pro-
gram was unsuitable for TV.
Others argued that you could not
have a static. one-man or one
woman show without added inter-
est, such as slides. etc. And some
insisted no one would Spon-
sor a program of this nature be-
cause only q small group listens
to the so-called cultural pro-
ductions."
Well. if 1t is OF any interest to
those in charge, this cultural
featuring nothing but
reading by Mr.. Laughton won
nothing but praise. Widespread
and excited praise, at that.
4 #ES
By Telephone, Too-"How," a
televiewer demanded BY phone the
other afternoon, ''do you feel
about WNBW canceling The
Ray and Bob Show'?"
"Unexcited describes the feel
ing best" he was told. Why"
II don't always agree with you,
eitLer," he replied, "and I think
it's an outrage to replace Bob and
Ray with a disc Jockey running
musical films. And ] know lots
of people who feel the same way.
Maybe they weren't funny every
night-few people can be-but at
least they were better than a lot
of this stuff that gets showed at
us on television!" =.
Consider a firm complaint reg
istered, WNBW.
Another complaint lodged by
those who use the telephone to
lodge it is a continuing one. which
prompts several calls a week. Why,
the viewers are always wanting
to know, must Robert Montgom-
cry Presents" (WNBW-Monday,
$3.50 p.m.) and Studio One''
(WTOP-Tv-Monday, 10 p.m.) be
in direct competition during half
of the hour each is on? The con-
Isensus is that Studio One" was
there first and that NBC-TV
didn't do right by the viewers in
scheduling the Montgomery show
where it could only split the aud
Iience for TV drama.
This is one of the oldest COM
Iplaints against broadcasters. A
man once put a radio station ir
a solid position by Opposition
lprogranaming" by scheduling
only programs of a type the OPP
position was not broadcasting al
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