The TV has become such an accepted part of our lives that we most definately take it for granted. Bored?...grab the remote and turn TV on. TV has come such a long ways from when I first watched it. Not too many homes had a TV in the early 50's. Those that did had this little screen that made watching details almost impossible. There were only 2 stations when TV first came out in my community. There were only a limited hours in which to watch it....after 11:00 pm both channels shut down and placed a test pattern on the screen until the next day. (For any of you who are too young to remember a test pattern, check out my 2/11 entry for a picture of one.)
Colored TV was a long ways off. There were transparent sheets that came in differnt colors. If you wanted to see colored TV, all you had to do was put one of these colored sheets on the screen. The only problem was EVERYTHING was the color of the sheet! I actually saw my first colored television broadcast in 1965..."The following program is brought to you in Living Color on NBC!".....the NBC peacock. What a thrill. There was also a major problem with color TV sets. If you vacuumed in the room when the TV was on, you could de-magnitize it and would have to have a repairman come and reset the color.
The first demo broadcast of color TV to the American public was a 1 hour broadcast Monday-Saturday in 1/1950 in Washington, DC. The first experimental broadcast was Kukla, Fran, & Ollie, a children's show, in 8/1953. The first coast to coast color broadcast was the Tournment of Roses in 1/1954. The first prime time production in color was The Marriage in 1954. Very few people could afford one as they cost about $1,200.00 (would be equalivant to over $10,000 today).
TV remotes were not introduced until 6/1956 by Zenith and then very few homes had them.. Imagine having to leave your comfortable seat to go turn up the volumn, change channels, or turn your TV off!!
Nowdays if your TV breaks, it is cheaper to buy a new one. When I was a kid, you called the repairman who came out, charged you, and generally replaced your picture tube.
Your TV had rabbit ears on top to adjust the picture or if you were fortunate enough, a TV antena (which sometimes could act as a lightening rod) attached to your roof .
There were no such things as cable TV, HD, satelite dish, surround sound, flat screen ,etc. When we watched TV in my days, it was an adventure and a pure delight. What our grandparents would have to say about all this modern technology!!! My grandmother got confused trying to change channels!
So I guess I can rough it for a few days..............read a book, do computer work, get back to writing my books, call a friend, etc. I guess the concept here is that men are addicted to boobs and we women to boob tubes.
Gosh, I wonder what is happening on Desparate Housewives tonight!!
Answer to 2/16's trivia question: Who played the 1st openly gay main character on a network TV series? Billy Crystal played Jodie Dallas, on network television on ABC's "Soap," which aired from 1977 to 1981.
Today's trivia: What did actress Jayne Mansfield almost lose during the telecast of the Academy Awards in 1957?
Thought for the Day: Junk is something you've kept for years and throw away three weeks before you need it.
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