Portal:Television
The Television Portal
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...)
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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is a United States government agency, created, directed, and empowered by Congressional statute (see 47 U.S.C. § 151 and 47 U.S.C. § 154), and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current president. The FCC was established by the Communications Act of 1934 as the successor to the Federal Radio Commission and is charged with regulating all non-Federal Government use of the radio spectrum (including radio and television broadcasting), and all interstate telecommunications (wire, satellite and cable) as well as all international communications that originate or terminate in the United States.
Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that Windows 3.1 had a special version, known as Modular Windows, that was controlled via television?
- ... that just four years after starting up, the president of Satellite Television & Associated Resources commented that his entire industry had "gone down the drain"?
- ... that among the special events broadcast by the Maine Television Network during its brief existence were a fashion show, a basketball tournament, and an ordination ceremony?
- ... that when her boss told her to quit her unpaid television commenting role, Katie Phang quit her paid job instead?
- ... that Chuck Eisenmann went from professionally pitching in baseball to owning and training the dogs that starred on the Canadian television series The Littlest Hobo?
- ... that an episode of the children's TV show Arthur featuring a same-sex wedding was not aired on Alabama's PBS network?
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More did you know
- ...that the book The Psychology of The Simpsons uses this TV series to analyze topics in psychology including clinical psychology, cognition and Pavlovian conditioning?
- ...that The O.C.'s music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas worked in the music department of over fifty Roger Corman B-movies before her television debut?
- ...that an advertising spot immediately following Xinwen Lianbo, a daily news programme shown by most terrestrial television stations in mainland China, can sell for an estimated US$100,000?
- ...that the color signals of Israel Broadcasting Authority television transmissions were erased until 1981, to insure equality for families who couldn't afford color-tv?
- ...that like the characters in his television series The Practice and Boston Legal, David E. Kelley worked as a lawyer in a Boston law firm?
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30 Rock is an American satirical situation comedy that premiered on NBC on October 11, 2006. Created by Tina Fey, the television series has won and been nominated for a variety of different awards during its seven season run. It received 103 Emmy Awards nominations, with 10 Emmy Award nominations for its first season alone, and a further 17 Emmy Award nominations in its second season. The show won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series for its first three seasons and was nominated every year it was eligible.
Lead actress Tina Fey has been nominated for awards 27 times for her role as Liz Lemon, the head writer of the fictional television show TGS with Tracy Jordan. Fey has also been nominated eight times for her writing skills. Lead actor Alec Baldwin has been nominated 27 times for his portrayal of NBC television executive Jack Donaghy. Through its run, 30 Rock was nominated for 189 different awards, winning 47. A webisode series called Kenneth the Web Page has been nominated for one award. In this list, "year" refers to the year the award was presented to the winner. (Full article...)
The inaugural award, made at the 1993 ESPY Awards, was presented to the American college basketball player, coach, and broadcaster Jim Valvano. In 1993, ESPN partnered with Valvano to create the V Foundation which presents the annual Jimmy V Award to "a deserving member of the sporting world who has overcome great obstacles through perseverance and determination." Suffering from cancer, Valvano gave the inaugural Arthur Ashe Courage Award acceptance speech which "brought a howling, teary-eyed Madison Square Garden to its feet". Valvano died two months after receiving the award. Although the award is usually given to individuals, it has been presented to multiple recipients on seven occasions: former athletes on United Airlines Flight 93 (2002), Pat and Kevin Tillman (2003), Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah and Jim MacLaren (2005), Roia Ahmad and Shamila Kohestani (2006), Trevor Ringland and David Cullen (2007), and Tommie Smith, John Carlos (2008), and survivors of the USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal (2018). The accolade has been presented posthumously on five occasions. (Full article...)
The inaugural winner of the award was the American wakeboarder Dallas Friday. During 2003 and 2004, Friday won 12 of the available 14 professional women's titles, including national and world championships. She became the first wakeboarder to be nominated for, and hence to win, an ESPY Award. Athletes from the United States have won more times than any other nationality with ten (three times to snowboarders Jamie Anderson and Chloe Kim), followed by Australians with three, two of which went to the surfer Stephanie Gilmore. Snowboarders are most successful sportspeople, with eleven awards, followed by surfers with four. It was not awarded in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The most recent winner of the award was Chinese freestyle skier Eileen Gu in 2022. (Full article...)
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | Rank | Rating | Viewers (millions) | ||
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First aired | Last aired | ||||||
1 | 39 | September 10, 1955 | August 25, 1956 | — | — | — | |
2 | 39 | September 8, 1956 | June 29, 1957 | 8 | 32.7 | 12.72 | |
3 | 39 | September 14, 1957 | June 7, 1958 | 1 | 43.1 | 18.06 | |
4 | 39 | September 13, 1958 | June 13, 1959 | 1 | 39.6 | 17.40 | |
5 | 39 | September 5, 1959 | June 11, 1960 | 1 | 40.3 | 18.43 | |
6 | 38 | September 3, 1960 | June 17, 1961 | 1 | 37.3 | 17.60 | |
7 | 34 | September 30, 1961 | May 26, 1962 | 3 | 28.3 | 13.74 | |
8 | 38 | September 15, 1962 | June 1, 1963 | 10 | 27.0 | 13.58 | |
9 | 36 | September 28, 1963 | June 6, 1964 | 20 | 23.5 | 12.12 | |
10 | 36 | September 26, 1964 | May 29, 1965 | 27 | 22.6 | 11.91 | |
11 | 32 | September 18, 1965 | May 7, 1966 | 30 | 21.3 | 11.47 | |
12 | 29 | September 17, 1966 | April 15, 1967 | 34 | 19.9 | 11.33 | |
13 | 25 | September 11, 1967 | March 4, 1968 | 4 | 25.5 | 14.45 | |
14 | 26 | September 23, 1968 | March 24, 1969 | 6 | 24.9 | 14.50 | |
15 | 26 | September 22, 1969 | March 23, 1970 | 2 | 25.9 | 15.15 | |
16 | 24 | September 14, 1970 | March 8, 1971 | 5 | 25.5 | 15.32 | |
17 | 24 | September 13, 1971 | March 13, 1972 | 4 | 26.0 | 16.14 | |
18 | 24 | September 11, 1972 | March 5, 1973 | 8 | 23.6 | 15.29 | |
19 | 24 | September 10, 1973 | April 1, 1974 | 15 | 22.1 | 14.63 | |
20 | 24 | September 9, 1974 | March 31, 1975 | 26 | 20.7 | 14.04 | |
Television films | September 26, 1987 | February 10, 1994 | — | — | — |
It was first awarded at the 1st Daytime Emmy Awards ceremony, held in 1974 when the award was originally called Outstanding Individual Director for a Drama Series. Therefore, between 1974 and 1978; the award only honored individual directors. In 1979, the award was renamed Outstanding Direction for a Drama Series before using its current title years later. Since then, the award has honored the performances of the entire directing team participating in a form of a daytime drama. The awards ceremony was not aired on television in 1983 and 1984, having been criticized for lack of integrity. The Emmy was named after an "Immy," an affectionate term used to refer to the image orthicon camera tube. The statuette was designed by Louis McManus, who modeled the award after his wife, Dorothy. The Emmy statuette is fifteen inches tall from base to tip, weighs five pounds and is composed of iron, pewter, zinc and gold. (Full article...)
Sigourney Weaver is an American actress who began her career in the early 1970s by appearing in plays. Throughout her career, she has acted in nearly 40 stage productions. She made her film debut with a minor role in Woody Allen's comedy-drama Annie Hall (1977), but her breakthrough came when she portrayed Ellen Ripley in Ridley Scott's science fiction film Alien (1979). She reprised the role in Aliens (1986), this time helmed by director James Cameron. Her performance netted her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She returned to the role in two more sequels: Alien 3 (1992) and Alien Resurrection (1997), neither of which were as well received. Although originally written as a male role, Ripley is now regarded as one of the most significant female protagonists in cinema history, and consequently, Weaver is considered to be a pioneer of action heroines in science fiction films.
Although best known for her role in the Alien franchise, Weaver has fostered a prolific filmography, appearing in more than 60 films. In 1981, she starred alongside William Hurt in the neo-noir Eyewitness. Her next role was opposite Mel Gibson in the Peter Weir–directed The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). She played Dana Barrett in Ghostbusters (1984), later returning to the franchise in Ghostbusters II (1989), Ghostbusters (2016), and Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021). In 1986, Weaver starred opposite Michael Caine in the erotic thriller Half Moon Street. Her next role was primatologist Dian Fossey in Gorillas in the Mist (1988), for which she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. That same year, she also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture for her performance alongside Harrison Ford in Working Girl. Weaver was the first actor to have two acting wins at the Golden Globes in the same year. She also received an Academy Award nomination for both films. (Full article...)
Sir Ralph Richardson (1902–1983) was an English actor who appeared on radio, film, television and stage. Described by The Guardian as "indisputably our most poetic actor", and by the director David Ayliff as "a natural actor ... [who] couldn't stop being a perfect actor", Richardson's career lasted over 50 years. He was—in the words of his biographer, Sheridan Morley—one "of the three great actor knights of the mid-twentieth century", alongside Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud.
After seeing a production of Hamlet starring Sir Frank Benson, Richardson decided to become an actor and made his stage debut, playing a gendarme in The Bishop's Candlesticks in December 1920. After touring and appearing in rep, he made his London debut in July 1926 as the stranger in Oedipus at Colonus. In 1930 he joined the Old Vic where he first met Gielgud, staying with the company until the following year. After service during the Second World War with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, he returned to acting, preferring the works of the more modern authors Luigi Pirandello, Joe Orton, Harold Pinter, George Bernard Shaw and J. B. Priestley to the classic plays of Shakespeare. A radio career ran in parallel to that on the stage, and Richardson was first broadcast in The City in 1929. (Full article...)
Numbers is an American television series produced by brothers Ridley and Tony Scott. It premiered on CBS on Sunday, January 23, 2005 at 10:00 pm with its pilot episode then moved to its Friday slot five days later. It remained in that slot for the rest of its run. The series is set in Los Angeles, California, and follows the stories of a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) team and a mathematics professor, focusing on relationships between FBI Special Agent in Charge Don Eppes (Rob Morrow), his brother Professor Charlie Eppes (David Krumholtz) and their father, Alan Eppes (Judd Hirsch), and on the brothers' efforts to fight crime. A typical episode begins with a crime, which is subsequently investigated by Don's team and mathematically described by Charlie. The insights provided by Charlie's mathematics are almost always crucial to solving the crime.
In total, six complete seasons consisting of 118 episodes were broadcast. The first season, a mid-season replacement for Dr. Vegas, was the shortest of the six, and spanned 13 episodes from January to May 2005. Seasons two and three aired from September to May of the 2005–2006 and 2006–2007 seasons respectively, but season four was cut short by the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. Twelve episodes were originally produced and aired from September 2007 to January 2008. Six more episodes were aired in April and May 2008 after the strike ended. Season 5 began airing on October 3, 2008 and continued through to May 2009. Season six began in late September 2009 and concluded in March 2010. (Full article...)
The original "Treehouse of Horror" episode aired on October 25, 1990, and was inspired by EC Comics Horror tales. From "Treehouse of Horror" (1990) to "X" (1999), every episode has aired in the week preceding or on October 31; "II" and "X" are both the only episodes to air on Halloween. Between "XI" (2000) to "XIX" (2008) and "XXI" (2010), due to Fox's contract with Major League Baseball's World Series, episodes had originally aired in November. "XX" (2009) and each Treehouse of Horror episode since "XXII" (2011) has aired in October, with the exception of season thirty two's "XXXI" (2020), which was originally scheduled for October 18, but was postponed to November 1 due to the 2020 NLCS reaching game 7. This was the first time since "XXI" that a Treehouse of Horror episode aired in November. The same thing happened with season thirty-five's "XXXIV" (2023), which aired on November 5. (Full article...)
Millennium is an American crime-thriller television series which was broadcast between 1996 and 1999. Created by Chris Carter, the series aired on Fox for three seasons with a total of sixty-seven episodes. Millennium starred Lance Henriksen, Megan Gallagher, Klea Scott, and Brittany Tiplady. Henriksen portrayed Frank Black, an offender profiler who worked for the Millennium Group, a private investigative organisation. Black retired from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to move his wife (Gallagher) and daughter (Tiplady) to Seattle, where he began to consult on criminal cases for the Group. After his wife's death, he returned to the FBI to work with new partner Emma Hollis (Scott) to discredit the Group.
Millennium's genesis stemmed from "Irresistible", a second-season episode of The X-Files penned by Carter. Influence was also drawn from the works of Nostradamus, and the increasing popular interest in eschatology ahead of the coming millennium. The series began airing in the Friday timeslot formerly occupied by The X-Files. "Pilot", the debut episode, was heavily promoted by Fox, and brought in over a quarter of the total audience during its broadcast. (Full article...)
News
- December 28: US professional wrestler Jon Huber dies aged 41
- September 2: Tributes paid to recently deceased US actor Chadwick Boseman
- May 24: Japanese professional wrestler and Netflix star Hana Kimura dies aged 22
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History of television: Early television stations • Geographical usage of television • Golden Age of Television • List of experimental television stations • List of years in television • Mechanical television • Social aspects of television • Television systems before 1940 • Timeline of the introduction of television in countries • Timeline of the introduction of color television in countries
Inventors and pioneers: John Logie Baird • Alan Blumlein • Walter Bruch • Alan Archibald Campbell-Swinton • Allen B. DuMont • Philo Taylor Farnsworth • Charles Francis Jenkins • Boris Grabovsky • Paul Gottlieb Nipkow • Constantin Perskyi • Boris Rosing • David Sarnoff • Kálmán Tihanyi • Vladimir Zworykin
Technology: Comparison of display technology • Digital television • Liquid crystal display television • Large-screen television technology • Technology of television
Terms: Broadcast television systems • Composite monitor • HDTV • Liquid crystal display television • PAL • Picture-in-picture • Pay-per-view • Plasma display • NICAM • NTSC • SECAM
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You are invited to participate in WikiProject Television, a WikiProject dedicated to developing and improving articles about Television. |
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