Portal:Television - Wikipedia

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Flat-screen television receivers on display for sale at a consumer electronics store in 2008

Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, entertainment, news, and sports. The medium is capable of more than "radio broadcasting," which refers to an audio signal sent to radio receivers.

Television became available in crude experimental forms in the 1920s, but only after several years of further development was the new technology marketed to consumers. After World War II, an improved form of black-and-white television broadcasting became popular in the United Kingdom and the United States, and television sets became commonplace in homes, businesses, and institutions. During the 1950s, television was the primary medium for influencing public opinion. In the mid-1960s, color broadcasting was introduced in the U.S. and most other developed countries.

In 2013, 79% of the world's households owned a television set. The replacement of earlier cathode-ray tube (CRT) screen displays with compact, energy-efficient, flat-panel alternative technologies such as LCDs (both fluorescent-backlit and LED), OLED displays, and plasma displays was a hardware revolution that began with computer monitors in the late 1990s. Most television sets sold in the 2000s were flat-panel, mainly LEDs. Major manufacturers announced the discontinuation of CRT, Digital Light Processing (DLP), plasma, and even fluorescent-backlit LCDs by the mid-2010s. LEDs are being gradually replaced by OLEDs. Also, major manufacturers have started increasingly producing smart TVs in the mid-2010s. Smart TVs with integrated Internet and Web 2.0 functions became the dominant form of television by the late 2010s. (Full article...)

"Interactions" is the second episode of the animated television series The Spectacular Spider-Man, which is based on the comic book character Spider-Man, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. The episode sees Spider-Man confronting the supervillain Electro, whose body was corrupted with electricity after a freak lab accident. "Interactions" was written by Kevin Hopps, who researched all the available comic books he had that featured Electro, and directed by Troy Adomitis. Electro's appearance in the episode draws on his traditional comic book style, though designer Victor Cook emphasized the color green and removed the character's customary star-shaped mask. His voice actor, Crispin Freeman, sought to reflect the character's declining sanity in his vocal style. "Interactions" first aired March 8, 2008, on the Kids WB! block for The CW network, following the first episode. Its 1.4/4 Nielsen rating was higher than that of the pilot, "Survival of the Fittest". The episode received mixed reviews, with IGN commenting that "[w]hile not as strong as the pilot, the episode had some notable moments."

... that New Mexico television station KIVA-TV received angry phone calls and a bomb threat after switching away from a tied football game?
... that Svalbard Minute by Minute, a 221-hour-long television broadcast, is credited with increasing tourism in Svalbard by 25 percent?
... that CBS News and Stations president Wendy McMahon helped bring local evening news back to the network's Detroit station after 20 years?
... that the 2017 acquisition of Katz Broadcasting by the E. W. Scripps Company was seen as a validation of the business of diginets?
... that a federal marshal seized a car and a truck because there was no other way to satisfy a debt owed by Arkansas television station KRZB-TV?
... that Colorado public television station KTSC operates from two studios named for the same benefactor?

In the age of television, image becomes more important than substance.

More did you know

...that Richard Hanley's book South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating analyzes issues of applied ethics as presented in South Park?

...that the television adaptation of the BBC Radio 2 sitcom Teenage Kicks, originally for BBC Two, has been taken over by ITV?

...that Augie Hiebert not only built Alaska's first television station, KTVA, but also founded the state's first FM radio station, KNIK-FM?

...that the WWF in 1986 introduced a stable of masked wrestlers to keep the injured wrestler Andre the Giant on television, but off the ring?

...that Great American Country television host Nan Kelley (then Nan Sumrall) became Miss Mississippi in 1985 after her fellow Mississippian Susan Akin was crowned Miss America?

George Formby OBE (born George Hoy Booth; 26 May 1904 – 6 March 1961) was an English actor, singer-songwriter and comedian who became known to a worldwide audience through his films of the 1930s and 1940s. On stage, screen and record he sang light, comic songs, usually playing the ukulele or banjolele, and became the UK's highest-paid entertainer.

Born in Wigan, Lancashire, he was the son of George Formby Sr, from whom he later took his stage name. After an early career as a stable boy and jockey, Formby took to the music hall stage after the early death of his father in 1921. His early performances were taken exclusively from his father's act, including the same songs, jokes and characters. In 1923 he made two career-changing decisions – he purchased a ukulele, and married Beryl Ingham, a fellow performer who became his manager and transformed his act. She insisted that he appear on stage formally dressed, and introduced the ukulele to his performance. He started his recording career in 1926 and, from 1934, he increasingly worked in film to develop into a major star by the late 1930s and 1940s, and became the UK's most popular entertainer during those decades. The media historian Brian McFarlane writes that on film, Formby portrayed gormless Lancastrian innocents who would win through against some form of villainy, gaining the affection of an attractive middle-class girl in the process. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies
James T. Aubrey Kroger Babb Rudolph Cartier Sydney Newman Eric Bana Kylie Minogue Peter Jennings KaDee Strickland Austin Nichols Aaron Sorkin Jake Gyllenhaal Dan Rather Brad Pitt Walter Cronkite Tom Brokaw John Le Mesurier Dan Castellaneta Perry Como Red Skelton Rose Catherine Pinkney

General images

The following are images from various television-related articles on Wikipedia.

Samsung's discontinued Orsay platform (from Smart TV)
The first mass-produced Czechoslovak TV-set Tesla 4001A (1953–57) (from History of television)
RCA CT-100 at the SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention playing Superman. The RCA CT-100 was the first mass-produced color TV set. (from Color television)
Family watching TV, 1958 (from History of television)
First television test broadcast transmitted by the NHK Broadcasting Technology Research Institute in May 1939 (from History of television)
Philo Farnsworth in 1924 (from History of television)
This live image of actress Paddy Naismith was used to demonstrate Telechrome, John Logie Baird's first all-electronic color television system, which used two projection CRTs. The two-color image would be similar to the basic Telechrome system. (from Color television)
The Nipkow disk. This schematic shows the circular paths traced by the holes, which may also be square for greater precision. The area of the disk outlined in black shows the region scanned. (from History of television)
Ad for the beginning of experimental television broadcasting in New York City by RCA in 1939 (from History of television)
LG Smart TV using the Web browser (from Smart TV)
DBS satellite dishes (from History of television)
LG Electronics smart TV from 2011 (from Smart TV)
An early Smart TV from 2012 running the discontinued Orsay platform (from History of television)
Color bars used in a test pattern, sometimes used when no program material is available (from History of television)
Baird in 1925 with his televisor equipment and dummies "James" and "Stooky Bill" (right) (from History of television)
An RCA Victor Color TV ad featuring milliner Lilly Daché in 1959. (from Color television)
Comparison of image quality between ISDB-T (1080i broadcast, top) and NTSC (480i transmission, bottom) (from Digital television)
RCA 630-TS, the first mass-produced television set, which sold in 1946–1947 (from History of television)
Smart TVs on display (from Smart TV)

Featured lists have been determined by the Wikipedia community to be the best lists on English Wikipedia.

Sacred Games is an Indian television thriller series based on Vikram Chandra's 2006 novel of the same name. Created by Vikramaditya Motwane, the first season was directed by Motwane and Anurag Kashyap, who produced it under their banner Phantom Films. The story follows a troubled police officer, Sartaj Singh (played by Saif Ali Khan), who receives a phone call from gangster Ganesh Gaitonde (played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui); Gaitonde tells him to save the city within 25 days. The series chronicles the events that follow while tracing Gaitonde's past.
Other cast members include Radhika Apte, Girish Kulkarni, Neeraj Kabi, Geetanjali Thapa, Jeetendra Joshi, Rajshri Deshpande, Karan Wahi, Aamir Bashir, Jatin Sarna, Elnaaz Norouzi Kubra Sait, Surveen Chawla, Pankaj Tripathi, Kalki Koechlin, and Ranvir Shorey. The series was conceived after Erik Barmack, the vice-president of Netflix, contacted Motwane in 2014 to create Indian content for the platform. They opted to adapt Chandra's English novel in the Hindi language, to which Motwane agreed. Varun Grover, Smita Singh, and Vasant Nath wrote the episodes of the first season; Grover, Dhruv Narang, Nihit Bhave, and Pooja Tolani wrote the second season. (Full article...)
QI (Quite Interesting) is a BBC comedy panel game television show that began in 2003. It was created by John Lloyd, and was hosted by Stephen Fry until the end of Series 13 [M] after which Sandi Toksvig took over, and features permanent panellist Alan Davies. Each series covers topics that begin with a different letter of the alphabet; for example, the first series covered topics whose word began with "A". Thus it is referred to as "Series A" instead of "Series One".
QI was given a full series after BBC executives responded well to a nonbroadcast pilot and the first episode, "Adam" premiered on BBC Two on 11 September 2003. From the second to the fifth series, episodes aired each week on BBC Two; the second and subsequent episodes were shown first on BBC Four in the time-slot after the previous episode's BBC Two broadcast. When the sixth series of QI began in 2008, the show moved to BBC One and the broadcasting of episodes on BBC Four was replaced in favour of an extended repeat broadcast on BBC Two the following day, titled QI XL. From the ninth series, QI returned to BBC Two on Friday at 10 pm with the XL edition on Saturdays. Lloyd acted as the producer for the first five series. Piers Fletcher became producer starting from Series F. New episodes for "Series U" began airing on 18 December 2023.
As of 3 May 2024, 308 episodes of QI have aired. This count does not include the unbroadcast pilot, three special episodes, 30 compilation episodes (from "Series G" onwards), and one episode containing outtakes from "Series E". (Full article...)
BoJack Horseman is an American adult animated tragicomedy created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg. Presented as a sitcom set primarily in Los Angeles, the series tells the story of the eponymous anthropomorphic horse (voiced by Will Arnett), who is a washed-up star of a 1990s sitcom who plans his return to celebrity relevance with an autobiography to be written by human ghostwriter Diane Nguyen (Alison Brie). He also has to contend with his cat agent Princess Carolyn (Amy Sedaris), human roommate Todd Chavez (Aaron Paul), and former dog rival Mr. Peanutbutter (Paul F. Tompkins), as well as his struggles with depression and addiction. The series premiered on Netflix on August 22, 2014, and concluded on January 31, 2020, after six seasons and 77 episodes.
Despite mixed reviews upon its debut, critics were significantly more positive towards the second half of the first season, and the subsequent seasons received widespread critical acclaim. GQ hailed the show as one of the best of the decade, and IndieWire ranked BoJack Horseman as the greatest animated TV show of all time. The show has been lauded for its realistic take on depression, trauma, addiction, self-destructive behavior, racism, sexism, sexuality, and the human condition. (Full article...)
Myself ; Yourself is a Japanese animated television series, directed by Tetsuaki Matsuda, animated by the Japanese animation studio Dogakobo and produced by the Myself ; Yourself Production Committee, which is composed of Happinet Pictures, Marvelous Entertainment, The 5pb and Pony Canyon Enterprises. The series is based on the visual novel Myself ; Yourself by Yeti, adapting the source material over thirteen episodes. The episodes' plots follows Sana Hidaka and his return to the town of Sakuranomori after leaving the town and his friends five years earlier.
The series was broadcast from October 3 to December 26, 2007, on TV Kanagawa, and later on Chiba TV, TV Aichi, TV Saitama, TV Osaka and AT-X. The AT-X broadcast was notably late, starting on November 22, 2007. (Full article...)
The eighth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons originally aired on the Fox network between October 27, 1996, and May 18, 1997, beginning with "Treehouse of Horror VII". The showrunners for the eighth production season were Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein, while the season was produced by Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox Television. The broadcast season contained two episodes with 3F-series production codes, indicating that were hold-over episodes from the seventh production season, and two episodes with 3G-series production codes, which have never been explicitly confirmed to be part of any specific production season (but are speculated to be relabeled 3F-series episodes)
The DVD box set was released in Region 1 on August 15, 2006, Region 2 on October 2, 2006, and Region 4 on September 27, 2006. The set was released in two different forms: a Maggie-shaped head to match the Homer and Marge shaped heads of the previous two sets and also a standard rectangular shaped box. Like the seventh season box set, both versions are available for sale separately. (Full article...)
The Devil May Cry anime series is directed by Shin Itagaki and produced by Madhouse. The English adaptation of the anime has been licensed by Funimation Entertainment. They are based on the Devil May Cry video game series produced by Capcom. The background of the storyline is primarily based on the first and third installments of the series, Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening respectively. The series follows the daily life of demon hunter Dante as he adopts a young girl named Patty Lowell and faces off against a demon seeking to attain godhood.
The anime was originally announced at the Tokyo Game Show on September 22, 2006, with plans to release twelve episodes of the series. Unlike most anime, the episode titles were released in English instead of the customary Japanese. The first episode aired on June 14, 2007, with the twelfth shown on September 6, 2007. The episodes aired on WOWOW. On June 30, 2007, at Anime Expo 07, it was announced that ADV Films had licensed the show. However, in 2008, it became one of more than 30 titles that were transferred to Funimation. The series made its North American television debut on the Funimation Channel in September 2010 and it began airing on Chiller's Anime Wednesdays block on July 15, 2015. (Full article...)
The third season of Degrassi: The Next Generation, a Canadian serial teen drama television series, commenced airing in Canada on 17 September 2003 and concluded on 5 April 2004, consisting of twenty-two episodes. This season depicts the lives of a group of high school freshmen and sophomores as they deal with some of the challenges and issues teenagers face such as dysfunctional families, sex, homosexuality, homophobia, theft, self-harm, domestic violence, abortion, emancipation and relationships.
Every episode is named after a song from the 1980s. Filming began on 26 May 2003, and ended in November 2003. (Full article...)
Awake is an American police procedural fantasy drama television series that originally aired on NBC for one season from March 1 to May 24, 2012. The pilot episode had an early release on Hulu on February 16, 2012, two weeks before the series' premiere on television. Kyle Killen, the series' creator, was primarily responsible for the program's concept. Killen and David Slade served as executive producers of the pilot episode, and Killen continued producing the series along with Jeffrey Reiner and Howard Gordon.
The show's central character is Michael Britten (Jason Isaacs), a detective who works for the Los Angeles Police Department. In the first episode, Michael, his wife Hannah (Laura Allen), and their son Rex (Dylan Minnette) get into a serious car accident. After the accident, he finds himself switching between two "realities" whenever he goes to bed—one in which Hannah was killed in the accident and one in which Rex died instead—and is unable to determine which reality is true. He uses details from each reality to solve cases in the other. (Full article...)
Matt Groening, shown here in 2010, created The Simpsons, which premiered on December 17, 1989.
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a satirical depiction of a dysfunctional middle-class American lifestyle starring the eponymous family: Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. Set in the town of Springfield, the show lampoons both American culture and the human condition. The family was conceived by Groening shortly before a pitch for a series of animated shorts with producer James L. Brooks. Groening named each character (other than Bart) after members of his own family. The shorts became part of the Fox series The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. After a three-season run, the sketch was developed into a half-hour prime-time hit show.
From the series debut on December 17, 1989, to May 17, 2009, The Simpsons had broadcast its first 441 episodes, to the end of the twentieth season. The show holds several American television longevity records. It is the longest-running prime-time animated series and longest-running sitcom in the United States. On April 28, 1994, The Simpsons reached its 100th episode in the fifth season. With its twentieth season (2008–09), the series tied Gunsmoke in seasons as the longest-running American prime-time scripted television series, and surpassed Gunsmoke in this record with the twenty-first season premiere on September 27, 2009. (Full article...)
The Philo T. Farnsworth Award being accepted by Goddard Space Flight Center engineer Richard Nafzger, actress June Lockhart, and Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin on behalf of NASA in 2009.
The Philo T. Farnsworth Award (also called the Philo T. Farnsworth Corporate Achievement Award) is a non-competitive award presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) as part of the Primetime Engineering Emmy Awards to "an agency, company or institution whose contributions over time have significantly impacted television technology and engineering". Named for Philo Farnsworth, the inventor of the first fully working all-electronic television system and receiver, the winner is selected by a jury of television engineers from ATAS's Engineering Emmy Awards Committee, who consider "all engineering developments which have proven their efficacy during the awards year and determines which, if any, merit recognition with an Engineering Emmy statuette". The accolade was first awarded in 2003 as a result of about a year of lobbying to ATAS by Farnsworth's wife Pam Farnsworth and Hawaii-based Skinner Entertainment management and production firm owner Georja Skinner.
At an annual award ceremony held in various locations, the ATAS presents the winner with a copper, gold, nickel and silver statuette of a winged woman holding an atom that was designed by engineer Louis McManus. It was first presented at the 55th Primetime Engineering Emmy Awards ceremony in September 2003. Motion picture equipment company Panavision was selected as the inaugural recipient for its work in developing "specialty camera items, cranes and dollies, Video assists, 35mm optics, cameras, lighting, trucks and grips". Since then, another 16 agencies, companies and institutions have received the award and none have won more than once. No award was given between 2005 and 2007 and in 2020. It has been presented to two separate recipients for different reasons in a calendar year once, in 2010, to the Desilu production company and the Digidesign audio technology firm. As of the 75th Primetime Engineering Emmy Awards, the National Association of Broadcasters is the most recent winner in this category for its work on the 100th anniversary "as 'the voice of America’s broadcasters', working to advance their interests through public policy advocacy, educational initiatives and support for content and technology innovation." (Full article...)
Season three of Seinfeld, an American television series created by Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, began airing on September 18, 1991, on NBC, a U.S. broadcast television network. It comprises 23 episodes and concluded its initial airing on May 6, 1992. "The Tape", "The Pen", and "The Letter" are some of the season's episodes that were inspired by the writers' own experiences. Co-creator Larry David admits that season three was a big turning point for the series in terms of how the show was made; it's where the writers started doing nonlinear story lines with episodes containing multiple stories. George was becoming a bigger liar, Elaine was becoming more quirky, and Kramer was becoming surer of himself throughout his crazy antics. This season received eight Emmy nominations and one Directors Guild of America Award.
The DVD boxset for season three was released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in Region 1 on November 23, 2004, twelve years after it had completed broadcast on television. It was also released in Region 2 on November 1, 2004, and on October 18, 2004, in Region 4. As well as every episode from the season (minus "The Stranded" which was produced for the second season), the DVD release features bonus material including deleted scenes, exclusive stand-up material, and commentaries. (Full article...)
Swift at the premiere of Hannah Montana: The Movie in 2009
The American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has appeared in 61 music videos, 13 of which she self-directed. She has released five documentaries, acted in a number of films and television shows, and directed a concert documentary and short film.
Swift's first music video was for her debut single "Tim McGraw", from her 2006 self-titled debut studio album. It was directed by Trey Fanjoy, who worked on award-winning music videos for Swift's singles from 2006 to 2009. The music video for "Our Song" won Video of the Year at the 2008 CMT Music Awards. Swift's second studio album, Fearless (2008), was supported by the music videos for "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me". In 2009, the former won Video of the Year at both the CMT Music Awards and the Country Music Association Awards, and the latter won Best Female Video at the MTV Video Music Awards. Swift's first self-directed music video was for her 2010 album Speak Nows lead single, "Mine", which she directed with Roman White. ('Full article...)
The episodes of the British documentary Meerkat Manor first premiered on Animal Planet International in the United Kingdom on 12 September 2005. The programme was originally created by Caroline Hawkins, executive producer and series editor at Oxford Scientific Films, and commissioned for Animal Planet International by executive producer and commissioning editor Mark Wild.
The first 13-episode series concluded on 24 October 2005. With the success of the programme in the UK, Animal Planet began broadcasting Meerkat Manor on its national channels in Australia, Canada, and the United States. The programme premiered in the United States on 9 June 2006, with the first series airing through 25 August 2006. The second series aired simultaneously in both the US and the UK, starting 29 September 2006. The third series premiered in the US on 10 August 2007, followed in the UK on 10 September 2007, and in Canada on 3 October 2007. Because each channel had different broadcasting schedules, the UK sequence of new episodes ended well before those in the US and Canada. The fourth series premiered in the United States on 6 June 2008 with the subtitle of The Next Generation. It was originally slated to begin airing in the United Kingdom in February 2009, but the premiere was later moved to April 2009. In 2021, a fifth series with the subtitle Rise of the Dynasty was commissioned by BBC America from Oxford Scientific Films. The 13-part series was shown in the United Kingdom by Channel 5 in December 2021, every weekday in the 6.30pm slot, with the last episode going out on Wednesday 15 December 2021. (Full article...)

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