The Collision of Past, Present, Future

In the last couple of weeks, the full-color extravaganza regularly playing inside my head (usually it’s a Warner Bros. cartoon followed by “Spartacus”) has turned into a Martin Scorsese production, rapidly cutting back and forth between two disparate sets of images.

In this case, the editing juxtaposes scenes of the past and future: the television industry as it was, and what lies ahead for the 1,000-plus kids who crammed into a recent career planning “entertainment night” at UCLA--an annual opportunity for students to pick the brains of alumni working in and around the entertainment field.

Glimpses of the past were on view at two events last week: a memorial service for Leonard Goldenson, the patriarch behind the ABC television network, who died in December; and a Museum of Television & Radio tribute to “MASH,” which signed off in the early 1980s and whose finale remains the highest-rated TV program of all time.

The Goldenson memorial, following an earlier service in New York, brought out many who had worked under the executive over the decades. They consistently spoke of the executive’s willingness to take risks as well as his regard for and familiarity with almost everyone at every level within the company--from ABC’s program-development executives to the folks who delivered the mail.

Former ABC President Frederick Pierce, who headed the network from 1974 to 1985, recalled the many controversial productions ABC broadcast during that time--from “Roots” (which in addition to its exploration of slavery featured nudity) to “Something About Amelia” (dealing with incest) to “The Day After” (about a devastating nuclear holocaust in Kansas).

“Despite the heat we would always get, Leonard Goldenson was always there, supporting us and rooting us on,” Pierce said, discussing the sort of projects that in recent times have largely bypassed the major networks and found a home on pay TV channels such as HBO and Showtime, which aren’t subject to the whims of advertisers.

The various tributes delivered were also tinged with irony about the industry then versus TV now--an implicit sense that things have changed dramatically, and in many ways not for the better.

Marcy Carsey, an ABC executive in the 1970s who went on to achieve mogul status as producer of mega-hits “The Cosby Show” and “Roseanne,” reminisced wistfully about how Goldenson taught her to respect the audience and regularly referred to broadcasting as a “public trust”--”using words,” she said, “that really haven’t been used for a long time, and I miss them terribly.”

Dick Clark, meanwhile, talked about the payola scandals of the 1950s, and how Goldenson had stood behind him when his interest in a record enterprise (he acknowledged that but said he never took money for playing songs) threatened his association with “American Bandstand.”

“In those days, it was called ‘a possible conflict of interest,’ ” Clark mused about the arm-twisting that went on in the past. “These days, the big companies call it ‘interdepartmental synergy.’ ”

Carsey also pointed to an executive team at ABC in the 1970s that included such entertainment industry heavyweights as her partner Tom Werner, USA Networks Chairman Barry Diller, Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael Eisner and former ABC News President Roone Arledge.

The network was alive, she noted--replete with “wild people with wonderful, entrepreneurial sorts of spirits.”

The night before, writers and cast members from “MASH” assembled for their own walk down memory lane in front of an appreciative audience. They spoke of the alchemy that resulted in that program’s creative brilliance--a mix of inspiration and creative risk-taking, writer Larry Gelbart suggested, difficult to achieve in what he wryly called “these Murdoch-ian times.”

While such circumstances tend to be viewed through the rose-colored glasses of recollection, one could only feel a certain sense of remorse for those young people who wish to follow in these footsteps--who have missed the days when the major networks, if not mom-and-pop stores, were still something less than relatively small cogs within vast corporate machines.

In a certain sense, these newcomers to the TV industry have never had greater opportunity or more outlets for their creativity, from cable to the Internet to technologies that seem to spring up almost weekly.

Still, they will also be denied experiences that were available to those who came into the television business as late as the early 1980s--before the world of media exploded, back when someone like Leonard Goldenson, if he wanted to put in the effort, actually could know the names of most of his employees.

Somehow, it’s hard to imagine that happening today with Time Warner-America Online and the nearly 90,000 workers that will fall under that corporate umbrella, should their merger be confirmed.

Much of this was foreseeable to Paddy Chayefsky, who in his screenplay for the movie “Network”--released in 1976--had the fictitious UBS network being acquired by a faceless conglomerate called Communications Corp. of America.

The big honchos at CCA don’t speak much about “public trust.” Rather, they are so consumed with profits that they will program just about anything, including shows featuring vigilantes and terrorists, as well as a few putting ordinary people in dangerous situations, all in pursuit of ratings and profits.

Sound like any networks you’ve heard of lately?

Among those remembering Goldenson, one put in a plea to those who have inherited ABC to carry on the tradition that the executive established.

“I hope his successors never forget . . . their roots,” former MCA President Sid Sheinberg, alluding to the blockbuster miniseries broadcast by ABC in 1977.

Though a laudable thought, the current media landscape seems to leave scant room for such sentimentality and increasingly bears only a modest resemblance to the world Goldenson and fellow titans, such as CBS’ William Paley and NBC’s David Sarnoff, presided over decades ago.

Of course, at the “MASH” event, the 11 writers and producers on hand included one African American and a lone woman. So in some respects, at least, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

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Brian Lowry’s column appears on Tuesdays. He can be reached by e-mail at brian.lowry@latimes.com.