Answer:
The era of the 50´s was a pretty peculiar one, because it became the post-war era, but also, an era during which the rise in tension between certain nations also brought the need for activities and events that ensured that life was normal and stable once again; especially after the two world wars. Given this background, the answers to the questions would be:
1. In the 1950´s, the tendency of TV programming was to show programs that depicted standardized, stable, uneventful stories of traditional American families. Very seldom, if ever, were there programs that showed the current events, or political issues. It was in the middle, to latter parts of this decade that other types of programs were shown. The most common one was known as the domestic comedy. They depicted traditional families, mostly white, middle class, that appealed to the audience at the time.
2. Today programming is very varied in what it reflects, but mostly, it depicts the changes in traditional cultural values. From programs that depicted normal, stable, traditional beliefs, and family structures, we see now homosexuality, changes in family formations, and a lot on political and current-day events. They show the huge changes in culture and the mixture of cultures as well.
3 and 4. Rock music functioned as an outlet for teenagers in the 1950´s after they had had to experience the instability not just of the war years, but also the rising tension that took place between the end of the second world war and the initiation of the cold war. These tensions, the possibility of new conflict, the constant fear of new confrontations, made young people react against that and they started to follow the ideals of freedom, seeking stability and a release from the rising political tension. Rock, gave them that outlet.