The Evolution of the TV

Lord have mercy television watching sure has changed since I was a kid.

My kids don’t believe me but I remember when television was in black and white only. We had the little rabbit ears with aluminum foil on the metal to help with the reception. And we only got three channels and two of them didn’t work very well.

Many people reading this remember when there was no TV at all. My grandmother never watched a TV until after she moved to Georgia from Florida after she got too old to live by herself. She actually preferred listening to the radio.

I think NBC was the first network who brought shows to us in color. THE FOLLOWING PROGRAM IS BROUGHT TO YOU IN LIVING COLOR. The color wasn’t too sharp but it was exciting when we saw the NBC Peacock at the beginning of a show.

It was nice when we got the antenna on the pole outside. We would have to go outside to turn the antenna to face the direction of the TV station. It was rough on a cold night to have to go out and turn the antenna. It was much easier just to keep watching the channel you were on.

I forgot what you call the thing that sat on top of your TV that would actually turn the antenna without going outside. That was very cool technology.

Then came the remote control. We could now actually change the channel without getting our lazy rear end out of the chair.

The couch potato was born.

Then came Cable TV. We actually started paying monthly rates for TV channels now. And the big dishes in the yard came about the same time. Hundreds of channels on those things. And people didn’t mind paying for the entertainment.

My dad took a picture one time of a satellite dish in a yard of a house that only had a 12” black and white TV hooked to it inside. The dish was worth more than the house.

People were beginning to get serious about watching TV.

And the televisions themselves kept improving. Big screen TV’s, projection TV’s, Bedroom TV’s, Kitchen TV’s and even Bathroom TV’s. We even have televisions in our cars now.

The evolution of the television has continued.

And it has continued at our house.

We just bought a high definition plasma TV. It was installed yesterday and I saw it for the first time when I got home tonight. That sucker is hanging on the wall too.

I think I’m going to hang out in my den this weekend and enjoy the latest technology in television.

And I won’t even have to go outside to turn the antenna.