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 still CRT, and it was only in early 2010s that flat-screen TVs decisively overtook CRT. 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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In 1969, the children's television show Sesame Street premiered on the National Educational Television network (later succeeded by PBS) in the United States. Unlike earlier children's programming, the show's producers used research and over 1,000 studies and experiments to create the show and test its impact on its young viewers' learning. By the end of the program's first season, Children's Television Workshop (CTW), the organization founded to oversee Sesame Street production, had developed what came to be called "the CTW model": a system of planning, production, and evaluation that combined the expertise of researchers and early childhood educators with that of the program's writers, producers, and directors.

CTW conducted research in two ways: in-house formative research that informed and improved production, and independent summative evaluations conducted by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) during the show's first two seasons to measure the program's educational effectiveness. CTW researchers invented tools to measure young viewers' attention to the program. Based on these findings, the researchers compiled a body of data and the producers changed the show accordingly.

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Early television model, from 1936, produced by Telefunken, Germany

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  • ...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?


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Nichols in 2012

Austin Nichols (born April 24, 1980) is an American actor and director, known for his role as Julian Baker in The CW drama series One Tree Hill. He is also known for his roles in the films The Day After Tomorrow and Wimbledon. He starred as John Monad in the HBO drama series John from Cincinnati, and portrayed Spencer Monroe in the AMC horror drama series The Walking Dead. (Full article...)

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  • The Best Female Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award is an annual award honoring the achievements of a female individual from the community of disabled sports. Established with the aid of disability advocate and former United States Paralympic soccer player Eli Wolff, the accolade's trophy, designed by sculptor Lawrence Nowlan, is presented to the disabled sportswomen adjudged to be the best at the annual ESPY Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. The Best Female Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award was first bestowed as part of the ESPY Awards in 2005 after the non-gender specific Best Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award was presented the previous three years (all won by sportsmen). Balloting for the award is undertaken by fans over the Internet from between three and five choices selected by the ESPN Select Nominating Committee, which is composed of a panel of experts. It is conferred in July to reflect performance and achievement over the preceding twelve months.

    The inaugural winner of the Best Female Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award at the 2005 ceremony was an American swimmer named Erin Popovich, who is affected by achondroplasia. She won seven gold medals at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens. She is one of three people to have won the Best Female Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award more than once, winning again at the 2009 awards. Fellow swimmer Jessica Long has the most victories of any other sportswoman, collecting the award four times at the 2007, 2012, 2013 and 2022 ESPY Awards, with one further nomination at the 2009 ESPY Awards, while cross-country skier Oksana Masters has been nominated the most times (eight) without winning. Swimmers have been successful at the awards with nine victories and 13 nominations, followed by paratriathles with three wins and nine nominations. It was not awarded in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The incumbent holder is American paralympic swimmer Jessica Long after being announced as the winner at the 2022 ESPY Awards. (Full article...)
  • The fourth season of 30 Rock, an American television comedy series, consists of 22 episodes and began airing on October 15, 2009, on the NBC network in the United States. The season was produced by Broadway Video, Little Stranger, and NBC Universal; the executive producers were series creator Tina Fey, Lorne Michaels, Marci Klein, David Miner, and Robert Carlock.

    30 Rock is centered on The Girlie Show with Tracy Jordan (TGS), a fictional sketch comedy series, and its head writer Liz Lemon, portrayed by Fey. The series follows Lemon as she juggles her job and her personal life. Early in the season Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) and Liz work to find a new cast member for TGS. The season also sees NBC being purchased by Kabletown, a fictionalized depiction of the acquisition of NBC Universal by Comcast. Additionally, Liz has an ongoing relationship with a man she thought might be her "Future Husband" later in the season. (Full article...)
  • The episodes of the anime series Gunslinger Girl are based on the Gunslinger Girl manga series written and illustrated by Yu Aida. There are a total of twenty-eight episodes split over two seasons/series. Set in modern-day Italy, the series revolves around the Social Welfare Agency, a government-funded organisation which is supposed to provide advanced medical care to those in need. This, however, is a cover for a far different agenda: the patients, adolescent girls who have survived traumatic events, are brainwashed into forgetting their past, turned into cyborgs, trained in the use of weapons and used as assassins to battle enemies of the State. Each girl is assigned to an adult whose job is to provide the girl with training and act as a mentor and authority figure. The relationship between the cyborg-girls and their "handlers" forms the basis of much of the plot and varies from the affectionate to the indifferent with varying degrees of results.

    The first series' episodes were directed by Morio Asaka, animated by Madhouse and produced by Bandai Visual, Marvelous Entertainment, MediaWorks, and Madhouse. It adapts the first two manga volumes of the series over thirteen episodes which aired in Japan from October 9, 2003 to February 19, 2004, on Bandai Channel and Fuji Television. Set in contemporary Italy, the series tells about young girls who are turned into cyborgs, trained as assassins by adult male "handlers" and their missions against terrorists and gangsters on behalf of a secretive government agency. A sequel called Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino-, directed by Hiroshi Ishiodori and animated by Artland, aired in Japan on Tokyo MX TV from January 8, 2008 to April 1, 2008. It adapts the third, fourth and fifth volumes of the manga over fifteen episodes, with thirteen episodes airing on television and the final two released directly to DVD. (Full article...)
  • The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series is an award presented annually by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) and Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). It is given to honor an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role while working within the daytime drama industry.

    At the 6th Daytime Emmy Awards held in 1979, Suzanne Rogers was the first winner of this award, for her role as Maggie Horton on Days of Our Lives. The awards ceremony was not aired on television in 1983 and 1984, having been criticized for voting integrity. Following the introduction of a new category in 1985, Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series, one criterion for this category was altered, requiring all actresses to be aged 26 or above. (Full article...)

  • Sir John Gielgud (/ˈɡiːlɡʊd/ GHEEL-guud; 1904–2000) was an English actor and theatre director. He appeared on stage, television and radio and in film in a career that spanned eight decades. Film historian Brian McFarlane, writing for the British Film Institute, wrote of Gielgud that "in terms of the performing arts, it is no exaggeration to say that he towered over the century".

    Gielgud, a member of the theatrical dynasty the Terry family, began working on stage in 1921 before attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. After completing his studies he worked in repertory theatre and in the West End before establishing himself at the Old Vic in the 1930s. He continued working on the stage until 1990 both as a director and actor. Although he made some films early in his career, he did not start working regularly in the medium until he was in his sixties; in the course of just over thirty years between 1964 and 1998 he appeared in over sixty films. He was active on television and radio, appearing in numerous plays and interviews, and was also in demand as a narrator. (Full article...)
  • The sixth season of the Canadian teen drama television series Degrassi: The Next Generation commenced airing in Canada on 28 November 2006, concluded on 14 May 2007 and contains nineteen episodes. This season depicts the lives of high school juniors, seniors and graduates as they deal with some of the challenges and issues young adults face such as imprisonment, online predators, burglary, substance abuse, stress, gambling addiction, financial difficulties, school rivalries, pregnancy scares and death. This is the first season in franchise history to feature college aged characters in prominent roles. Unlike the previous seasons, which took place over the course of an entire school year, season six only covers the fall semester (September to December) of the school year, utilizing a semi-floating timeline. It also marks the first death of a main character in the series.

    Production took place between May and December 2006. (Full article...)

  • Family Guy is an American animated television sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the dysfunctional Griffin family, which consists of father Peter (MacFarlane), mother Lois (Alex Borstein), daughter Meg (Lacey Chabert in Episodes 1–9, 12-14, 16 & 17 then Mila Kunis in Episodes 10 & 11, 15, 18 onwards), son Chris (Seth Green), baby Stewie (MacFarlane), and Brian (MacFarlane), the family dog. The show is set in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island, and lampoons American culture in the form of cutaway gags, science fiction, and tangential vignettes.

    The concept of Family Guy was conceived by MacFarlane in 1995 while studying animation at the Rhode Island School of Design. He created two shorts entitled The Life of Larry and Larry & Steve, both of which played a key role in Fox executives' decision to pick up the series in 1998. After two seasons, Fox decided to cancel the show. Despite the cancellation, a third season was produced, after which the series was officially cancelled at the end of the 2001–2002 season. Reruns on Cartoon Network's block Adult Swim drove up interest, and a letter-writing campaign, along with impressive DVD sales, encouraged Fox to bring the show back for the 2005–2006 television season. (Full article...)

  • Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry (August 19, 1921 – October 24, 1991) was an American screenwriter and producer of several television series, best known for his work in creating the Star Trek franchise. He began a writing career while he was a Sergeant in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and his first work to be bought by a network was The Secret Defense of 117, although it took four years to be broadcast. During that time, he wrote four episodes of the police procedural Highway Patrol under the pseudonym "Robert Wesley", as the LAPD required employees to seek formal permission to work a second job. After leaving the force, he wrote for several series, such as Have Gun – Will Travel but wanted to become a producer.

    He wrote pilots for a series of his own, but these were turned down by the studios until he began work on The Lieutenant. This ran for a single season on NBC on Saturday nights. While involved in that series, he began working on a science fiction premise that became Star Trek. He oversaw the production of the series for the first two seasons, but following budget cuts and the move to an unfavorable timeslot for the third season, he stepped back from working on Star Trek but remained credited as an executive producer. Following the cancellation of the series, he wrote and produced his first feature film, Pretty Maids All in a Row. He also produced several new science fiction pilots: Genesis II (also re-worked into a second pilot, called Planet Earth), The Questor Tapes and Spectre. Of these, Questor was approved to go to a full season, but following disagreements between Roddenberry and the studio over suggested changes, it was canceled. (Full article...)
  • The first season of the American television comedy The Office premiered in the United States on NBC on March 24, 2005, concluded on April 26, 2005, and consists of six episodes. The Office is an American adaptation of the British TV series, and is presented in a mockumentary format, portraying the daily lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictitious Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. The season stars Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, and B. J. Novak.

    This season introduced the main characters, and established the general plot, which revolves around Michael Scott (Carell), regional manager of the Scranton branch office, trying to convince the filmmakers of the documentary that he presides over a happy, well-running office. Meanwhile, sales rep Jim Halpert (Krasinski) finds methods to undermine his cube-mate, Dwight Schrute (Wilson); receptionist Pam Beesly (Fischer) tries to deal with Michael's insensitivities and flubs; and temporary employee Ryan Howard (Novak) is acting mostly as an observer of the insanity around him. (Full article...)

  • The O.C. is an American teen drama television series created by Josh Schwartz. It premiered on Fox, an American television network, on August 5, 2003, with the pilot episode "Premiere". The O.C. is set in Newport Beach, Orange County, California and follows the stories of residents in the wealthy, harbor-front community. The series mainly focuses around the Cohen and Cooper families, and the Cohen's adoption of Ryan Atwood, a troubled teenager from Chino, California. The show ran until February 22, 2007, with ninety-two episodes split over four seasons. The first season consisted of twenty-seven episodes, the second season was twenty-four episodes long and preceded by two specials that gave a retrospective look at season one, and previewed the upcoming second season. Season three was twenty-five episodes long, but only sixteen episodes were ordered for the final fourth season as falling ratings led to the show's cancellation.

    All four seasons are available on DVD in Regions 1, 2 and 4. Additionally, The O.C. The Complete Series was released on November 27, 2007, in Canada and the United States, which included the first season remastered in widescreen. The complete series was also released as a Region 2 DVD on November 19, 2007, but did not include the remastered version of the first season. For registered members of the US iTunes Store, all four seasons are available for purchase and download. These seasons are also available in the US as video on demand from Amazon Video. In October 2008 the first and second seasons were made available on the United Kingdom iTunes Store. In the United States, the fourth season was also made available in the Zune. (Full article...)

  • Part of The Bill's opening sequence

    The Bill is a British police procedural television series that ran from 1984 to 2010. The show, whose name is derived from "old bill"—a British slang term for police officers—was unusual among police dramas in that it focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work. The series originated in 1983 as a one-off drama titled Woodentop (another British slang term for the police, derived from the helmets worn by British police officers), written by Geoff McQueen and produced by Thames Television. ITV were sufficiently impressed with Woodentop that they commissioned a series, which started in 1984 under the title of The Bill. At the time of the series' end in August 2010, The Bill was the United Kingdom's longest-running police drama and was among the longest-running of any British television series, having run for almost 27 years.

    The Bill has earned various awards and nominations during its run, with the nominations in categories ranging from Best Drama to its camera and editing work to the cast's acting performance. It received nominations for eight awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, winning Best Video Cameraman in 1990 and Best Continuing Drama in 2009—an award for which it was unsuccessfully nominated in a further three years. In addition, The Bill enjoyed success at the Inside Soap Awards, where it won Best Drama six times, including four consecutive wins, as well as a nomination in 2010—losing to Waterloo Road. Other awards include a Writers' Guild of Great Britain award for Best Soap/Continuing Drama Series in 2008, Best Serial Drama at the Digital Spy Soap Awards of the same year and a nomination for Most Popular Overseas Drama at the 2005 Logie Awards. The Bill has also received multiple nominations at the EMMAs, National Television Awards, where it won Most Popular Drama in 1996 and 2004, and six Royal Television Society award nominations, having won awards in 2006 and 2008. (Full article...)


  • Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that aired on the Fox network in the United States. It focuses on the William McKinley High School glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues. The show was created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan, and features many cover versions of songs performed on-screen by the characters. Murphy is responsible for selecting all of the songs used, and strives to maintain a balance between show tunes and chart hits, as he wants there to be "something for everybody in every episode". Once Murphy selects a song, rights are cleared with its publishers by music supervisor P.J. Bloom, and music producer Adam Anders rearranges it for the Glee cast. Numbers are pre-recorded by the cast, while choreographer Zach Woodlee constructs the accompanying dance moves, which are then taught to the cast and filmed. Studio recordings of tracks are then made. The process begins six to eight weeks before each episode is filmed, and can end as late as the day before filming begins.

    At the beginning of the season, Murphy intended for the performances to remain reality-based, as opposed to having the characters spontaneously burst into song. As the season progressed, however, Glee began to utilize fantasy sequences, with paraplegic character Artie imagining himself dancing to "The Safety Dance", and six separate characters performing a fantasy version of "Like a Virgin". The first thirteen episodes of the season averaged five songs per episode. For the final nine episodes, the number of performances increased to eight. The list below contains all 132 musical performances of the first season, with each performance delivering an individual song or a mashup of two or more songs in a single performance. (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". (Full article...)
  • The first season of the television comedy series 30 Rock originally aired between October 11, 2006, and April 26, 2007, on NBC in the United States. The season was produced by Broadway Video, Little Stranger and NBC Universal, and the executive producers were series creator Tina Fey, Lorne Michaels, JoAnn Alfano, Marci Klein, and David Miner.

    The series focuses on TGS with Tracy Jordan, a fictional sketch comedy series, and its head writer Liz Lemon, portrayed by Fey, as she juggles her job and her personal life. The season consisted of 21 episodes; 19 episodes were approximately 22 minutes long, and the other two episodes were approximately 26 minutes long due to NBC "supersizing" those episodes. The season moved timeslots three times during its run. The first four episodes aired on Wednesdays at 8:00 pm, the next thirteen episodes aired on Thursdays at 9:30 pm, and the final four episodes aired on Thursdays at 9:00 pm. (Full article...)
  • The second season of 30 Rock, an American television comedy series, originally aired between October 4, 2007, and May 8, 2008, on NBC in the United States.

    The second season of the show received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, with some calling it the best show on television. The season was nominated for 17 Emmy Awards, a number that broke the record for the most nominations for a comedy series, meaning that 30 Rock was the most nominated comedy series for any individual Emmy year in history. (Full article...)

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Television

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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