What was the Golden Age of television? How did syndication affect this era?

ANSWER:
The Golden Age refers to a period in the 1940s-50s when early network television featured variety shows, drama anthologies, and quality public affairs programming seldom seen today. Top actors and writers based in New York tackled serious dramas. Shifting audiences, creeping commercialism, Hollywood production values, and quiz show scandals spelled the end of the Golden Age. Syndicators obtain the rights for programming and then license the programs to local stations. Syndication is increasingly dominated by the major broadcast networks and their affiliates.