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The three decades that span the period between 1945-1975 are commonly identified as the golden age of French television. This narrative emerged as early as the mid-1970s. At that time, professionals felt like they were witnessing a historic shifting tide, the end of an era. This paper examines the context of the emergence of this narrative and questions its actual dissemination in the public sphere. Next to a militant version of the “golden age” narrative that is committed to defending public service television, the paper distinguishes another, more consensual, version. But the latter seems to have faded into a nostalgic celebration of television’s idealized past.