ncle Miltie would doanything for a laugh.He jumped onstage inoutlandish costumes—sometimes in drag.

He would have pies and powder puffs and buckets ofwater thrown into his face.He would fall over face down—hard—or backward, like a pieceof wood. He would tell jokesthat ranged from the obviousto the ridiculous, and when a joke died, he would mug,cajole, milk, or beg the audience until they laughed.As an entertainer, he wanted to please, so much so that he

gave his all.You had to lovehim. He insisted on it.

Berle had been one of theguest hosts of the Texaco StarTheater when it began in thespring of 1948, and he tookover as permanent host begin-ning with the fall premiere.He was an immediate hit—literally the reason many familiesdecided to buy a television set. He became known as “Mr.Television” because hedominated the small screen inhis era, but the moniker stuckbecause he was an innovator—one of the first comedians toreally understand how to usethe medium.

Early television audienceshad never seen anything likeTexaco Star Theater before, evenif they had seen Berle onBroadway or the vaudevillestage. From the moment theTexaco Service Men launchedinto the opening jingle (“Oh,we’re the men from Texaco”)to the end of the show (whenhe sang his theme song,“NearYou”), Uncle Miltie workedtirelessly to entertain, bringing

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Berle was a physical comicwho cut his teeth on pratfallsand stunts in vaudeville. Heappeared as a child actor inThe Perils of Pauline in 1914and worked his way up themarquees on the RKO andLoews circuits. By 1943,he was the first star of theZiegfeld Follies to have his name above the title.Despite his ability to deliver a joke with the best of them,he wasn’t a big hit on radio,simply because audiencescouldn’t see him. But by thetime television arrived, Berlewas fully prepared to makethis visual medium his own.

a frantic and infectious energyto the screen. He was perfectfor the earliest days of television:his highly visual, over-the-top,relentlessly loud style was justwhat people wanted to see andlaugh at on the small screens ofthe era, with a living room fullof guests. Variety magazine cameup with the term “vaudeo”—vaudeville meets video—todescribe Berle’s style.

No one appreciated MiltonBerle’s comic genius morethan NBC programming chiefPat Weaver. In his memoir,The Best Seat in the House,Weaver recalls:“For all Berle’swild costumes and crazy stuff,his main focus was on thecomedy lines. No one, noteven Henny Youngman orMorey Amsterdam, could topMilton with one-liners.”Weaver also knew he wouldbe unable to carry out hisinnovative programming plansfor the network without therevenue Berle was bringing in.

One week in 1949, Berleappeared simultaneously onthe covers of Time andNewsweek. (For Newsweek,he dressed up as CarmenMiranda.) To keep the competition from luring

Berle away from NBC,Weaver signed him to a thirty-year contract in 1951at $200,000 a year, whetherhe worked or not.

Polling data indicated there wereTuesday nights whenvirtually every TVset in the countrywas tuned to UncleMiltie—a ratings phenomenon never to berepeated. Partly due to hisimmense popularity,TV setownership exploded:TheNBC Research Departmentestimated there to be only175,000 sets at the start of1948, with the number passingone million before the end ofthe year. David Sarnoff calledMilton Berle and HowdyDoody his best salesmen forthose early RCA televisionreceivers—and there is littledoubt that they were.

Not only did Milton Berlesell TV sets, he sold televisionitself as a medium.After 1948,there could be no doubt in theminds of sponsors, networks,and Wall Street magnates thatthis new medium was going to be big. How big remainedto be seen.

“Do married men live longer than single men, or does it just seem longer?” — MILTON BERLE

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n 1990, KatherineCouric—who would soon be known by one and all as “Katie”—wasoffered the job of national

correspondent on the Todayshow. It was a turbulent time forthe program, and Couric, whohad the Pentagon beat at thetime, asked her then-boss atNBC’s Washington bureau—Tim Russert—about the wisdom of making the move.Russert replied that he thoughtthe producers would soon beasking her to take on a differentjob: that of co-host.“Couricsaid,‘Wow,’ ” remembersRussert.“And then she got upfrom her chair, went to thedoorway, turned around andsaid,‘I could do that job.’ ”

Couric was right—and so

was Russert. In 1991, shereplaced Deborah Norville inthe co-anchor seat next toBryant Gumbel. Since then, theToday “first family”—Couric,Matt Lauer, weather reporter AlRoker, and news anchor Ann

Curry—has taken thenow-half-century-oldToday to heightsbarely imaginable by David Sarnoff,Pat Weaver, or evenBarbara Walters.More than sixmillion Americansstart their daywith the program,

which currently has the longestwinning streak (more than 300consecutive weeks, dating backto 1995) in the history ofmorning television.

The show’s success reflectsthe talents of executive producerJeff Zucker, who had an unpar-alleled knack for anticipating the“water-cooler” topic of the day.(Zucker now serves as presidentof NBC Entertainment, withformer NBC Nightly Newsexecutive producer JonathanWald filling his slot at Today.)

Also playing a big role isStudio 1A, the show’s “Windowon the World.” Since 1994, this

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widely imitated, but nevermatched, phenomenon hasattracted hundreds of thousandsof fans a year to the corner of 49th and Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan.

After getting used to thenew job (“I didn’t even knowhow to turn the page to matchmy copy to what was happeningon the teleprompter”), Courictriumphed early on during aBarbara Bush–led live tour of the White House in 1992.

When President Bush wanderedby for what he thought wouldbe a brief, pleasant hello,Couric initiated an impromptuinterview.“There were a lot of things to talk to him about,and I was able to get him intomy web, if you will.AfterwardsI thought, wow, that was goodtelevision, and I didn’t completelyblow it! I didn’t become so flustered that I wasn’t able to asklegitimate news questions andget some important answers.”

Matt Lauer—who began asToday’s news anchor in 1994and replaced Bryant Gumbel in1997—had a similar journalisticcoup. In his January 27, 1998,interview with Hillary Clinton,the First Lady made the highlypublicized claim that her husband was the victim of a“vast right-wing conspiracy.”By then, it was obvious Lauerhad mastered the Today hostrequirements: knowing when to push, knowing when to lay

back, presenting (often making)the morning’s news in a calm,friendly yet precise manner.

Lauer understands Today stillhas a role quite similar to whatPat Weaver imagined for it inthe early fifties.“We keep in theback of our minds that peopleare not sitting around glued tothe television for three hours amorning,” he says.“The idea isfor Today to be a companion inyour room, so you can do thethings you need to do, and thenturn to us when somethingcatches your attention.”

Couric adds,“Today givespeople a good understandingevery day they wake up that the world is still around, that lifeis still going on, and that thereare important things happeningwe need to understand.Theshow is much greater than thesum of its parts because of itslongevity, because it has such agreat tradition behind it.”

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(Opposite, top) Katie Couric and Matt Lauer toast Jennifer Larou and Jeffrey Scott, the winners of the “Today Throws a Wedding” contest on September 5, 2001.(Top) Couric interviews Ross Perot at his political apogee in a two-hour special interview in June 1992. (Bottom, left to right) Couric and Lauer in Studio 1A; Lauer inSydney, Australia, during Today’s coverage of the XXVII Olympiad in September 2000; Couric with Michael Shoels and Craig Scott, two days after the shootings atColumbine High School (Couric: “Many people have this energy to get their story out in terribly tragic times. My job is to make those people feel as comfortable as they possibly can.”); Lauer interviews George W. Bush in the Oval Office, April 26, 2001.

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n 1999, any sensible pollster would have recommended against producing an ensembleshow about politics and

the White House.At the time,public cynicism toward government abounded.Yet whenJohn Wells, ER’s executive producer, asked Aaron Sorkin,“What have you got?” over

lunch, Sorkin decided on thespot to make a pitch:“Whatabout the White House?” Sowith Thomas Schlamme, whoat the time was co-executive-producing ABC’s Sports Nightwith Sorkin, they took theiridea to the networks.

Apparently NBC West CoastPresident Scott Sassa wasn’t apollster either.Although few

others thought a political showwould work, Sassa encouragedthe trio to make a pilot.Aftertwo years, The West Wing standsas a critical and ratings success,having garnered a record-breaking nine Emmys in its firstseason and eight more in itssecond, including OutstandingDrama Series both times.

The West Wing gives viewers

a behind-the-scenes glimpseinto the Oval Office as seenthrough the eyes of its eclecticgroup of frenzied staffers andthe devoted First Family. Farfrom being the jaundiced,cynical group of common publicperception, the White Housestaff is passionate, dedicated,and out to do the best they can under trying circumstances.

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The producers think of The West Wing as, in effect, afamily drama. Like a family,the staff spends many hourstogether, while President Josiah“Jed” Bartlet (Martin Sheen)rules as the undisputed patriarchand moral compass.“After all,”says Sorkin,“the show takesplace in a house.”

Sorkin,Wells, and Schlammegive credit to Steven Bochco(Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law)for opening network doors toshows like St. Elsewhere, ER, andThe West Wing, which focus on

many small dilemmas of life at a time, rather than just onelarge one.

“The premise of The WestWing starts with the belief thatpeople want to be challenged,”says Schlamme.“We wantviewers to understand the moralcomplexities of life these people face. But more importantly, we want them tosee that people can actually holdtwo emotions at one time; thatissues don’t have to be black orwhite, right or wrong. It’s usually more complicated.”

The West Wing’s probingexploration of humanity waswell-exemplified by the “InExcelsis Deo” episode duringthe series’ first season. AsChristmas Eve approaches,President Bartlet sneaks out ofthe White House for some last-minute Christmas shopping,while his communicationsdirector Toby Ziegler (RichardSchiff) learns more about a forgotten Korean War hero whodied alone on the district’s coldstreets—wearing a coat thatToby once donated to charity.As the nation’s capital is drapedin its own mantle of snow, andpeople scurry about whileoccupied with holiday matters,Toby quietly arranges for atouching and proper militarysend-off for the castoff veteran.

The West Wing’s success hasreaffirmed the connectionbetween television and viewers.In the summer of 2001, a surveyrevealed that America’s view of politicians had dramaticallychanged over the previousyears. It cited The West Wing asthe primary reason for the shift.

(Opposite) The ensemble cast;(left to right) Presidential AideCharlie Young (Dulé Hill);Deputy CommunicationsDirector Sam Seaborn (Emmynominee Rob Lowe); PressSecretary C. J. Cregg (Emmywinner Allison Janney); PresidentJosiah Bartlet (Emmy nomineeMartin Sheen); CommunicationsDirector Toby Ziegler (Emmywinner Richard Schiff); First LadyAbby Bartlet (Emmy nomineeStockard Channing); Chief ofStaff Leo McGarry (Emmy nominee John Spencer); DeputyChief assistant Donna Moss(Janel Moloney); Deputy ChiefJosh Lyman (Emmy winnerBradley Whitford).

(Left) In the final moments ofthe second season, PresidentBartlet stands in church after thefuneral service for his belovedassistant and angrily challengesGod. (Below, left to right) Lymanand McGarry at the WhiteHouse; Ziegler at a rally for thePresident; Seaborn and Cregg atone of their many meetings.

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