THE UNIVERSAL EYE: World Television in the Seventies

An explicit, informing itinerary which watches the watchers around the world (they're watching Bonanza in 82 countries) while right here in the U.S. where ""never was so much spent on so little"" the average set is kept warm for 6 hours a day. This is where Green starts off with questions of viewership demographics, advertising (best justified by the 18-50 audience -- forget the old folks at home), production costs ($200,000 an hour), etc. Canada spends two thirds of their four hours per diem on American programs; in Latin America, which has not proved out as a new frontier for the U.S., they eye the ""tele-novela""; Britain's television is the best both in quality and independence from political and commercial influence; West Germany has to be liberated from ""Mother"" and of course Russia and all the satellite countries are dominated by didactic political pressures although there is some entertainment to be had. The Middle East, Asia, Africa, are all part of the grand tour and there's a short vista of that higher-powered future via satellite, cable and cassette. Facts and figures are instructive but not intrusive and Green's book reads well although it can hardly be expected to bypass the professional reach of the ""great falsifier.