The Wonderful World of Television

The television can trace its roots to the 1800's. Inventors from many countries contributed, and each enhanced the ideas of the prior. By the 1950's, most US homes owned a television with few channels and brief viewing hours. Saturday's were the most popular with children, lots of cartoons and westerns. Sunday transmitted Church and religious topics, and afternoon weekends fed baseball, football, sports, and variety shows. Soap operas claimed Monday through Friday's mid-morning audiences. The pioneers of live television filled in the rest. The original comedies, game shows, soap operas thrilled audiences, and each had their favorites. .

From the first live broadcast, the world grew smaller. As television technology advanced, the world news united thoughts and prayers for world peace. The "cold war" era kept Americans on edge. Russia was literally behind the "Iron Curtain". Nations, suspended in terror, watched the "Cuban Missile Crisis", and within minutes, television stations relayed pictures of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy's assignation. We were closer to war than anyone could imagine, but not with Cuba. From our front row seats, we brought the horrors of the Viet Nam War into our living rooms. To this day, from African villages to Afghanistan mountains, we are embedded.

Today's homes find a television in every room with sixty-inch and theater size screens with vantage points once enjoyed only by producers and directors and the like. Via phones, individuals can transmit the news as it happens. Many viewers have several televisions in one room.

Tomorrow's homes will feature built in televisions. Press a button or wave your hand, a screen will rise from the floor or slither down from the ceiling, or possibly with wall inset technology, follow you around the home until you reach your viewing site. Your broadcasting device with voice identification security will entertain with personal choices of sitcoms, movies, sports and news. Some versions currently exist.

If viewing choices are not acceptable, alternative programming is available for a fee. Television monitoring is used in all parts of society. Some consider constant monitoring an intrusion, while others welcome the security of additional eyes. The "Star Trek" technology that once awed us is today 's reality, and tomorrow's technology will take us beyond our wildest imagination.

Sources:

© Copyright 2007 Boettcher/Trinklein, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Images courtesy of the Library of Congress. Pioneers of Television was produced by Steven J. Boettcher and Michael J. Trinklein.

Lichty Lawrence W., and Topping Malachi C., eds. American Broadcasting: A Source Book on the History of Radio and Television (Hastings House, 1975

Glenn E. Curtis, ed. Russia: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1996.

Iron Curtain.(European History) In Encyclopædia Britannica. Britannica Online:

B. Gregory Marfleet, 'The Operational Code of John F. Kennedy During the Cuban Missile Crisis: A Comparison of Public and Private Rhetoric', Political Psychology, 21/3, p 545.

ABCNEWS.com : Lingering Suspicion Over JFK Assassination By Gary Langer ABCNEWS.com .

Battlefield Vietnam Web Site: Executive Producer: PBS ONLINE, Produced by David Neiman, Avian Mind Design: Designed and Developed by Roger Los, Roger Los Design: Contributors Joe Amodeo, Robert K. Brigham, Bruce M. Geiger, E. Kenneth Hoffman, Bill McBride, Glenn E. Prentice, Ronald E. Smith, Jim Wodecki

Asherman, Allan (1981). The Star Trek Compendium. New York: Simon & Schuster