television
Last Weak Tonight
The decision to shut down Stephen Colbert’s long-running late-night show underlines a hard-to-miss point: It might be time to work around the studios for our comedic commentary.
This Is Definitely A Test
The history of color bars, the most common television test pattern out there, and what they actually do. (Also, Netflix has some weird test programming.)
Party In The Rear
Considering the legacy of rear-projection TVs, the most efficient route to a big-screen TV in the pre-LCD era.
Dead On A Friday
The Friday night death slot, and why Fridays carry such a hard-to-shake reputation as a place where good broadcast television goes to die.
Paramount Concerns
In an immediate austerity measure after a failed merger, Paramount kills a ton of online content—an ironic move for a brand that has long exploited nostalgia.
Retro Zeitgeist
Jon Stewart’s fascinating late-career return to The Daily Show is further evidence that linear television is no longer what it once was.
California Nearly Killed HBO
The surprisingly true story of how the state that has arguably benefited the most from the pay-TV industry … once voted to ban it. Blame an effective slogan.
Tune-In
Laugh-In creator George Schlatter finally gives his long-lost show Turn-On the official release it deserves. He loves that the internet noticed his white whale.
Next-Gen Roadblock
A patent holder successfully gets one of the biggest advocates of next-gen television to retreat, and other companies could be next.
Network Lobotomy
After nearly two decades as the primary broadcast channel for teens, The CW, under new ownership, wants to be something else. It may be a hint at what’s next for linear television.
Turn-On’s Turning Point
The infamous cancelled-during-the-first-episode show, a lost-media legend, is on YouTube, which makes it the perfect time to analyze its legacy.
Films on Wheels
Pondering the under-the-radar legacy of the TV cart on wheels, a simple object as known for its substitute-teacher value as its risk as a tip-over hazard.
UHF 2.0
In a world of overwhelming media conglomerates, do regular folks have a shot at building TV for themselves anymore? In one rural Georgia mountain town, the answer is yes.
The Coronation Will Be Televised
How the British public overturned a live television ban on the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II—a monarch who showed a surprising embrace of technology during her long reign.
From Cable to Local
It’s not common for cable networks to pivot to traditional antenna-driven broadcast networks, but it’s been known to happen—especially if said network can be directly monetized.
All Over the TV Dial
Like reading about odd broadcasting and television standards? Perfect—this post is for you. We’re starting in Jamaica.
Cathode Ray Context
A few ways cathode ray tubes were used that you might not have been aware of by simply watching the boob tube.
Painting With Light
How a little box and stylus revolutionized television graphics. You may not know but the Quantel Paintbox is, but you’ve seen its impact.
Repetition, In Four Parts
Pondering the issue of repetition in four different ways, in an effort to not repeat myself. Ever feel like you’re repeating yourself? Read this.
This Old Scandal
Why Bob Vila, perhaps the most famous handyman in history, may have set the stage for a digital era in which stars aren’t afraid to cash in on their names.
Package Deal
Why did the television industry put so much energy into combining TV sets with VCRs, anyway? It seems like they were everywhere for a while.
Hesitancy On Display
Why the active-matrix LCD panel, despite largely being invented and developed by American companies, was never really manufactured in the United States.
Too Terrible For Television
For decades, TV networks have spent millions of dollars on unsold pilots that will never become series. Here's how they've tried to recoup their investment.
37’s Signals
Explaining why analog television sets never had a channel 37, despite TVs generally able to tune it. Turns out some scientists simply needed that channel more.
Distorting The Electron Gun
Discussing the process of degaussing a CRT screen, which is a surprisingly awesome way to spend a Saturday afternoon with a magnet.
Fourth Failures
The many people who tried and failed to launch a fourth television network in the United States. Regulations and high costs made it harder than it looked.
Looking For Reasons To Laugh
Why “canned laughter,” a controversial element of most television comedy, feels so unnerving in its absence—and why it’s so fascinating in the first place.
Double Vision
The history of picture-in-picture technology, an idea that seems a lot less impressive now than it did in the 1980s, and an era of forgotten set-top devices.
Channel None
For nearly 30 years, many schools aired a daily news show in exchange for free AV equipment. Channel One was a hit—but the ads drove seemingly everyone crazy.
Our Annoying National Upgrade
The benefits of digital television conversion were clear, but convincing everyone to upgrade their sets? For the U.S. government, that was the hard part.
The Lazarus Libraries
What happens when “lost” films and television shows become found once again—and what that does to the work’s cultural legacy.
Network Effects
For more than a decade, it's been a common sight in U.S. airports to see newsstand-style shops named for cable news networks. Why, of all things, this idea?
TV’s Hidden Math
How the calculus of ’80s television programming lives on into the present day—and why the Disney Channel always seems to cancel shows after 65 episodes.
Solved
The surprising place that Unsolved Mysteries holds in modern culture—as a show that’s still being updated, years after being taken off the air.
WebTV’s Greatest Celebrity User
Turns out R. Stevie Moore, a Tedium favorite, was a very active user of WebTV, an under-loved icon of the early internet. It’s apparent in his video work.
An Institute You Can’t Disparage
How an activist named Terry Rakolta tried—and failed—to convince Middle America to stop watching “Married … With Children.” She might have saved Fox.
A Distinguished Panel
The panel show, an icon of early television, was a purely American invention, yet somehow it's become deeply associated with modern British TV. Here's why.
Dots Vs. Pixels
Two tales of resolution, only one of which involves screens. Do you know your dots per inch from your pixels per inch? Let's break down the difference.
Buy, Don’t Rent
How the rent-to-own retail model, exemplified by Rent-a-Center, evolved from a mainstream model in the U.K. to one widely seen as predatory in the U.S.
Sega, In Channel Form
How the Sega Channel, a game-download service in the 1990s, helped redefine what was possible with cable lines before they became fast internet workhorses.
Universal Themes
The universal remote control, love it or hate it, made our lives just a little bit simpler starting in the ‘80s. It's not as good as it could be. That's OK.
The Invisible Puzzle
Wireless spectrum is scarce, and while mobile providers have made a sport of grabbing as much as they can, the fact is, allocating it has always been hard.
The Four-Minute Villain
How the classic Batman TV show created a major debate around how much TV advertising was too much—and why the debate’s lessons eventually faded away.
We’ll Send Him Cheesy Movies
The much-hyped revival of Mystery Science Theater 3000 is a rare thing: A chance for a creator to take a second stab at his best idea.
The Internet Will Be Televised
Two decades ago, WebTV launched a bold idea into the mainstream … and caught the fringes. What can we learn about the internet from this noble failure?
Waaaaay Left of the Dial
Listening to 87.7 FM? That's not a radio station, but an old analog TV station—channel 6, to be exact. It's a total fluke, but Chicago's all over it.
Let’s Destroy the White House … Again
The film Independence Day is known for an epic scene in which the White House is turned into small chunks of America. How did they do that?
Between the Bars
A fateful decision by the movie industry six decades ago created a long-term compatibility problem between film and television. The solution? Letterboxing.