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Gerald Ford's America, Part One: WIN

TVTV

1975 00:28:00 United StatesEnglishColorMono4:3Video
Tags:
Documentary, History, Media Analysis, Politics, Video History

Description

In the wake of Lord of the Universe, TVTV planned to cover the impeachment of Richard Nixon, but, unfortunately, Nixon resigned. The group made a ninety-degree turn to covering the “first hundred days” of the Gerald Ford administration, a cavalcade of photo ops and campaign appearances. In Part One of the four-part series, entitled WIN (referring to the Ford slogan, “Whip Inflation Now”), TVTV goes on a whirlwind across-country trek with Ford, stopping in Sioux City, Iowa, Salt Lake City, and Portland. The show is more about Ford’s public than Ford. A supporter in Portland paid $2,700 (a lot of money in 1975) for a football that Ford hiked between his legs on stage. One critic said that it was a portrait of “Boobus Americanus.” He wasn’t far off.

TVTV (Top Value Television) was formed in 1972 by Michael Shamberg, Megan Williams, Tom Weinberg, and Allen Rucker, and enlisted the support of media collectives including Raindance, Ant Farm, and the Videofreex to provide alternative coverage of the 1972 Presidential nominating conventions. The Democratic tape, The World's Largest TV Studio (1972), and its Republican companion piece, Four More Years (1972) were among the first video documentaries to be broadcast. The convention tapes provided candid interviews with delegates and protestors alike, while exposing the foibles of the media, showing viewers "the underbelly of broadcast TV." 

Influenced by New Journalism and the versatility and novelty of portable video equipment, TVTV created a critically acclaimed, graphically inventive, intimate style of documentary satire. TVTV's success led to a contract with the TV Lab at WNET to produce documentaries on cult religion (The Lord of the Universe, 1974), commercials (Adland, 1974), Washington politics (a four-part series, Gerald Ford's America, 1975) and sports (Super Bowl, 1976), among other topics. Frustrated by public television's lack of commitment to independent documentary production, the group lost its shared purpose, moving from cable to public to network TV, finally producing an unsuccessful comedy pilot, The TVTV Show, for NBC in 1978. TVTV disbanded in 1979.