Murrow

People were not especially fascinated with early television when this first came out in 1986. America had become a bombastic, boastful place and "ethics" were something to be sneered at. Maybe that's why this did not create the buzz that came decades later with "Good Night and Good Luck." My, did we all take ourselves seriously back then! We were just discovering that television was not going to be a great teacher after all, but a circus on the air. This takes place mostly in offices, which is always dull, and the cast is mostly middle-aged, all white men in period suits. There is not really that much about the television industry itself -- very little that is colorful or entertaining except the then-perplexing rise of game shows. Daniel J. Travanti is an odd choice, not very interesting as Murrow, but it was his year. The rest of the cast is lackluster. The most exciting moment comes when the phones ring after an anti-Joe McCarthy broadcast. Now, *that's* television!