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▪
16 Friday, August 15, 1980
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Top Quality Programs Featured at Instructional Television Center
By ABRAHAM AAMIDOR
(World Zionist Press)
"Soap," "Quincy" and an
obvious adaptation of an
American prize money show
were the most popular night
time programs on Israel
television in 1980. But, it is
from the Instructional
Television Center near Tel
Aviv University that over
half (44 hours per week) of
Israel's total video output is
broadcast.
With more than 200 em-
ployees, a large budget from
the Ministry of Education
and two complete studios
the television center pro-
duces over 300 new pro-
grams a year. Daytime love
triangles are out and
Pythagorean are in, as well
as foreign language instruc-
tion, Judaism and Israeli
history, science and math,
and even a popular live TV
magazine for the whole fam-
ily, "This Is It."
Facilities at the televi-
sion center are satisfactory_
The cameras are vintage
black and white, but so are
most of the television sets in
private homes and all the
receivers in the schools.
Most programs are
conceived, produced and
taped in the studios,
though some spots and
segments are bought out-
side. There is an advisory
board for each educa-
tional department, too,
usually consisting of top
academics in each
an inspector from the
Ministry of Education
and at least one experi-
enced classroom teacher.
According to Estelle
Friedman, production chief
of the foreign languages de-
partment, "one of the high-
est priorities goes to pre-
school and kindergarten
age. Research has shown
that the medium of TV has
been very successful with
children of this age group.
Also, disadvantaged chil-
dren tend to watch TV more,
so they are a prime target."
One such pre-school pro-
gram is "Ma Pitom,"
("What's Up") a live action
show with its own muppet
style super star,
Kishkashta, and such
dramatized educational
content as teaching how
bread is baked or how time
is told. Taped at the center
in one day under a tight
shooting schedule, each
episode actually takes up to
two weeks to develop from
concept to recording day.
According to Linda Mis-
chel, a young South African
Linda Mischel is shown with two colleagues at the
control board during a taping of "Ma Pitom," the Is-
raeli children's show.
building have not proved
that they can stand the
pressure of a live 40 minute
broadcast. The men get
these jobs." Bias? "No. Men
have simply proved them-
selves under pressure."
Estelle Friedman is an-
other woman who has
moved into a top position
at the television center
without a formal media
background.
Says Ms. Friedman, a
former English teacher, "an
inspector was observing my
class and she recommended
me as a 'studio teacher.' In
the older days we wrote our
own scripts and taught les-
sons on the air. There were
three studio teachers for
English. I also wrote sup-
porting materials and
helped train the other
teachers. After a number of
years I was asked to become
head of a production team,
then a department ch'ef.
"But," admits Ms. Fried-
man, "we would not hire
anyone today in productio --1
unless he or she had a d,
gree in Film and Video or at
least Communication."
Jerry Hyman, a 37-year-
old immigrant from the
United States, is one of the
regular actors in in-
structional television pro-
grams though he holds an
M.A. in Guidance and
immigrant and the director
of "Ma Pitom," the genesis
of any episode is a concept
meeting between a script
writer, producer and educa-
tional adviser.
The director actually
sits in the picture control
room during the taping,
directing all "sources,"
including playback
machine, slide and 16 mm
film recordings, and such
effects as fade in and fade
out. The language of the
day is Hebrew, but all
technical and media
terms are in English.
Ms. Mischel began at the
Instructional Television
Center in 1968 in an
English language program
while she was a freshman
student at Tel Aviv Univer-
sity. "They were looking for
an Anglo-Saxon actor," she
explains, "and it gave me
my first involvement on the
floor."
After various jobs con-
nected with production, Ms.
Mischel got her first He-
brew production only in
1979. "I was nervous," she
says now. "I had to read 10
pages of Hebrew script the
first day."
She sees no discrimina-
tion against women at the
Instructional Television
Center. Indeed, about one
half of the directors and
over half of the producers
are female. Yet, she says,
"there are almost no women
in technical skills, as set de-
signers, sound men,
cameramen, or as technical
directors. All the females
who are working in techni-
cal skills are Russian im-
migrants. But," she adds,
"the women directors in this
_
—
Mission Leader
NEW YORK — Joel S.
Breslau has been appointed
chairman of the United
Jewish Appeal President's
Mission to Israel, Oct. 5-10.
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vision in the United States,
he says that "educational
television is more developed
here than in the States.
They do more real teaching
here, even if it seems that so
many committees have to
rule on each new proposal
and project."
like to see the center pro-
duce an all Hebrew lan-
guage instruction program
for audiences abroad.
"Maybe 15 minute seg-
ments — they could do it
well here," he says.
Having worked in Public
Broadcasting Service tele-
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Counseling and he works
two days a week in the Is-
raeli school system in this
capacity.
Hyman began acting in
Israel in 1963 when he
found his way from a
kibutz ulpan to a job
call at Haifa Municipal
Theater. He began in an
English speaking role but
after three months he
was switched to a He-
brew speaking role. He
returned to the United
States to complete his de-
gree programs and he
also studied at the
Neighborhood
Playhouse School of
Theater in New York. He
made Aliya to Israel
sometime after that.
He says that children rec-
ognize him on the street, but
only in the summer months
when his most popular
series is broadcast in re-run.
"By autumn they don't
know me anymore," he
laughs.
Hyman is currently writ-
ing scripts for a new sum-
mer English language pro-
gram and he says he would
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