Keep Posted

Keep Posted
Also known asThe Big Issue
Presented byMartha Rountree (moderator)
Lawrence Spivak (panelist)
Ray Wood (panelist)
Country of originUnited States
Production
Running time30 Minutes
Original release
NetworkDuMont
ReleaseOctober 9, 1951 (1951-10-09) –
January 18, 1954 (1954-01-18)

Keep Posted (later known as The Big Issue is an American public affairs TV series on the DuMont Television Network which was sponsored by The Saturday Evening Post for its first two seasons.[1]

Broadcast history

Keep Posted is a 30-minute program that aired on DuMont on Tuesdays at 8:30 pm EST[2] from October 9, 1951, to January 18, 1954. The title was changed to The Big Issue after the Post stopped sponsoring the program in May 1953.[1]

Martha Rountree was the moderator, and Lawrence Spivak[2] and Ray Wood were among the panelists. Both Rountree and Spivak were involved in the creation of Meet the Press on NBC.

Episodes included one in which United States Senators Robert A. Taft and Richard B. Russell debated foreign policy on April 22, 1952.[3] Adoption of a proposed Constitutional amendment to guarantee equal rights for women was discussed by U. S. Representatives Katharine St. George and Emanuel Celler on the January 20, 1953, episode.[4]

Episode status

Only two episodes are known to exist, "Peace in the Middle East" (first broadcast November 2, 1952), held by the Paley Center for Media, along with another 1952 episode "Should Truman Be Renominated?" as part of the Peabody Award collection.[5]

Critical response

Jack Gould wrote in a review in The New York Times that Keep Posted suffered because Rountree and Spivak tried to make the show noticeably different from Meet the Press. As a result, Gould said, the show was "a good deal less effective than it should be".[6] In particular he cited the questioning of guests by citizens rather than by journalists, He added that most of the questioners were either politicians or advocates for civic movements. Their questions, he said, "ramble all over the lot and often are prefaced with virtual speeches by the panel."[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present (4th ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. p. 448. ISBN 0-14-02-4916-8.
  2. ^ a b Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (1999). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present (7th ed.). New York: The Ballentine Publishing Group. pp. 535–536. ISBN 0-345-42923-0.
  3. ^ "Taft, Russell debate U. S. Foreign Policy". The New York Times. April 23, 1952. p. 16. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  4. ^ "Congressional Debate on TV". The New York Times. January 20, 1953. p. 26. Retrieved December 10, 2024.
  5. ^ "The Ultimate CGI". dbs.galib.uga.edu.
  6. ^ a b Gould, Jack (November 12, 1951). "Radio and Television: 'Keep Posted,' an Interviews-With-Celebrities Show on Channel 5, Joins Tuesday Night Line-up". The New York Times. p. 40. Retrieved December 10, 2024.

Bibliography