Word: network
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Dates: during 1970-1970
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...actor could be found with the proper mix of informality and authority to fill the role of Gordon, a black schoolteacher. The staff wanted someone like Matt Robinson, one of the show's producers, so Matt auditioned and won the part. He toned down his network accent, came on strong as the father figure many kids miss. So strong, in fact, that it emphasized the sweetness of Loretta Long, who plays his wife. She has been compared to a candy cordial, chocolate outside, syrup within. The rest of the cast is white: Bob McGrath, a singer with irrepressibly high spirits...
...were affected by alterations. For the first time in their history, one is being canned for selling out. Kermit the Frog is being canned for commercialism. When Sesame Street was just a glint in Joan Cooney's eye, Kermit taped a special in Canada. When it was given a network airing, the frog was compromised. Or so Henson decided. Like Jim Thorpe, Kermit played for money, and now must relinquish his amateur standing. He is being phased out of the show. He will be replaced by such Muppets as Lecturer Herbert Birdsfoot and Sherlock Hemlock, a bumbling sleuth...
...Sesame Street really wrought profound changes in commercial TVor merely defensive cosmetics? Says a Workshop executive, who was formerly a network programmer: "The networks appointed the veeps to keep the mothers' groups quiet. None of the men has anything to do with buying kids' TV shows. Listen, the networks are delighted with Sesame Street. They figure if it's around, they won't really have to do anything." Sociologist Wilbur Schramm, whose specialty is communications, agrees: "The media dare small changes, but not fundamental ones; their whole impact is to retain the status...
...Programs come from three sources," Poorvu explained, "including network, syndication, and local. We plan to greatly increase the importance of the third source. At the same time, we hope to attract some of the most exciting people in the industry...
...would continue the affiliation of Channel 5 with the CBS network, but place more accent upon community programming. In doing so it would compete with WGBH, acknowledged to be one of the finest educational stations in the country. "We feel," Poorvu explained, "that a commercial station has more resources than educational television to do interesting stuff...