In this TV Time Machine interview, host Jim Benson and Professor Robert J. Thompson explore the moments, people and events that made up some of Television’s Greatest Turning Points. 
Professor Thompson is the founding director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University, where he is also a Trustee Professor of Television and Popular Culture at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
In this interview, Professor Thompson covers the shows, characters, and happenings that changed TV forever, including America’s love of Lucy, Ralph Kramden’s bluster, and Archie Bunker’s bigotry. Host Jim Benson and the good professor also take a crash course in the social and political impact of television, including the medium’s coverage of such landmark events as JFK’s assassination, Apollo 11’s landing on the moon, and the Watergate scandal.
Listen to the interview below
Professor Thompson Audio Segment One-
In this segment, host Jim Benson and Syracuse University Professor Robert J. Thompson discuss the influence I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners had on all future situation comedies. The Professor also talks about the courage and integrity of journalist and newscaster Edward R. Murrow, who nearly single-handedly brought down the powerful anti-communist Senator Joseph McCarthy.
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