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The Television Portal

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 still CRT, 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.^{[better source needed]} (Full article...)

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"No Such Thing as Vampires" is the pilot episode of the American paranormal romance television drama Moonlight, which premiered on CBS on September 28, 2007. It was written by series creators/executive producers Trevor Munson and Ron Koslow, and directed by executive producer Rod Holcomb. The pilot introduces Mick St. John (Alex O'Loughlin), a private investigator who has been a vampire for over 50 years; Beth Turner (Sophia Myles), St. John's love interest; Josef Kostan (Jason Dohring), St. John's mentor and friend; and Coraline Duvall (Shannyn Sossamon), St. John's ex-wife and sire.

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The Emmy Award is an American television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the TV equivalent of the Oscars. The best-known of the awards are the Primetime Emmys, and the Daytime Emmy Awards, with both having categories classified as Creative Arts Emmys.

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... that Angelito de Canal 13, the mascot of the Chilean television network Canal 13, was inspired by its creator's son?
... that Amrita Shah found that the introduction of television to India led to more women aspiring to become independent?
... that due to her leftist beliefs, journalist Ana Amado was told not to come to work by her public television employer while her husband was on the death list of the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance?
... that a cable TV channel in the UK was still broadcasting primarily in black and white as late as 1979?
... that Ernst Jacobi, known for portraying Gauleiter Löbsack in Volker Schlöndorff's film The Tin Drum, played more than 200 roles as a television actor?
... that television production companies working in Bhadun, Bangladesh, can hire a local woman as an extra for ৳500 (US$5.30) per day?

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...that noitulovE, a cinema and television advertising campaign for Guinness draught stout, won more awards than any other commercial worldwide in 2006?

...that popular 1950s game show Down You Go is one of the only U.S. television series to air on all four networks of television's Golden Age: ABC, NBC, CBS and DuMont?

...that actress, writer and producer Michelle Paradise created the television series Exes and Ohs without an agent?

...that the final episode of the 1986 television series Outlaws recycled footage from The Oregon Trail, because actors Rod Taylor and Charles Napier appeared in both programs?

...that Russian television implied that Filipp Kirkorov won the Eurovision Song Contest 1995 with "Kolibelnaya Dlya Vulkana" when he in fact only came 17th?

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James Thomas Aubrey Jr. (December 14, 1918 – September 3, 1994) was an American television and film executive. As president of the CBS television network from 1959 to 1965, with his "smell for the blue-collar," he produced some of television's most enduring series on the air, including Gilligan's Island and The Beverly Hillbillies.

Under Aubrey's leadership, CBS dominated American television, leading the other networks NBC and ABC, by nine points and seeing its profits rise from $25 million in 1959 to $49 million in 1964. The New York Times Magazine in 1964 called Aubrey "a master of programming whose divinations led to successes that are breathtaking". Aubrey had replaced CBS Television president Louis G. Cowan, who was dismissed after the quiz-show scandals. Aubrey's tough decision-making earned him the nickname "Smiling Cobra" during his tenure. (Full article...)

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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 George Formby Dan Castellaneta Perry Como Red Skelton Rose Catherine Pinkney

General images

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

Image 1Baird in 1925 with his televisor equipment and dummies "James" and "Stooky Bill" (right) (from History of television)
Image 2The first mass-produced Czechoslovak TV-set Tesla 4001A (1953–57) (from History of television)
Image 3RCA 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)
Image 4Samsung's discontinued Orsay platform (from Smart TV)
Image 5Manfred von Ardenne in 1933 (from History of television)
Image 6The 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)
Image 7This 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)
Image 8An RCA Victor Color TV ad featuring milliner Lilly Daché in 1959. (from Color television)
Image 9Hovannes Adamian c. 1900s (from Color television)
Image 10DBS satellite dishes (from History of television)
Image 11An early Smart TV from 2012 running the discontinued Orsay platform (from History of television)
Image 12The Philco Predicta, 1958. In the collection of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis (from History of television)
Image 13Comparison of image quality between ISDB-T (1080i broadcast, top) and NTSC (480i transmission, bottom) (from Digital television)
Image 14RCA 630-TS, the first mass-produced television set, which sold in 1946–1947 (from History of television)
Image 15The earliest photograph of a television picture, showing the face of Oliver Hutchinson in June 1926. The television picture was projected using Baird's television camera. (from History of television)
Image 16Color bars used in a test pattern, sometimes used when no program material is available (from History of television)
Image 17A map depicting digital terrestrial television standards (from Digital television)
Image 18Family watching TV, 1958 (from History of television)
Image 19First television test broadcast transmitted by the NHK Broadcasting Technology Research Institute in May 1939 (from History of television)
Image 20LG smart TV using the Web browser (from Smart TV)
Image 21Ad for the beginning of experimental television broadcasting in New York City by RCA in 1939 (from History of television)
Image 22Smart TVs on display (from Smart TV)
Image 23Tihanyi' Radioskop patent (1926) was recognized as Document of Universal Significance by the UNESCO (from History of television)
Image 24LG Electronics smart TV from 2011 (from Smart TV)
Image 25Ferdinand Braun (from History of television)
Image 26Philo Farnsworth in 1924 (from History of television)

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

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The third season of 30 Rock, an American television comedy series, consists of 22 episodes and began airing on October 30, 2008, 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.

In this season, Liz focuses heavily on her personal life, trying to adopt a child and find a new romantic partner. Meanwhile, Jack Donaghy pursues a new relationship, Jenna Maroney undertakes a new Janis Joplin-based film project, and Tracy Jordan enjoys the success of his video game developed at the end of the previous season. (Full article...)
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The fourth season of the American serial drama television series Lost commenced airing on the ABC network in the United States, and on CTV in Canada on January 31, 2008, and concluded on May 29, 2008. The season continues the stories of a group of over 40 people who have been stranded on a remote island in the South Pacific, after their airplane crashed there more than 90 days prior to the beginning of the season. According to Lost's executive producers/writers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, there are two main themes in the fourth season: "the castaways' relationship to the freighter folk" and "who gets off the island and the fact that they need to get back".

The fourth season was contemporaneously acclaimed for its flash-forwards, pace and new characters. (Full article...)
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The fifth season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons aired on Fox from September 30, 1993 to May 19, 1994. The showrunner for the fifth production season was David Mirkin who executive produced 20 episodes, with the season being produced by Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox Television. Al Jean and Mike Reiss executive produced the remaining two, which were both hold overs that were produced for the previous season. The season contains some of the series' most acclaimed and popular episodes, including "Cape Feare", "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy", "Homer Goes to College", "Deep Space Homer", and "Rosebud". It also includes the 100th episode, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song". The season was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards and won an Annie Award for Best Animated Television Program as well as an Environmental Media Award and a Genesis Award. The DVD box set was released in Region 1 on December 21, 2004, Region 2 on March 21, 2005, and Region 4 on March 23, 2005. (Full article...)
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The Bellflower Bunnies (French: La Famille Passiflore) is a children's animated series based on the Beechwood Bunny Tales books by Geneviève Huriet, Amélie Sarn and Loïc Jouannigot. It debuted on TF1, a French television network, on 24 December 2001. Many French and Canadian companies have participated in the show's production over the years; TF1 has always been involved. The series is written by Valérie Baranski, and produced by Patricia Robert. Moran Caouissin directed the first season, and Eric Berthier did the last two.

The show centres on the adventures and exploits of the Bellflower family, a clan of seven rabbits who live in Beechwood Grove. The two adults in the family, Papa Bramble and Aunt Zinnia, take care of their five children: Periwinkle, Poppy, Mistletoe, Dandelion and Violette. (Full article...)
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Hathaway in 2018

Anne Hathaway is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the short-lived television drama series Get Real (1999–2000) before starring in her breakthrough role of Mia Thermopolis in the successful Disney comedy The Princess Diaries (2001). It established her as a teen idol and she later reprised the role in its sequel, Royal Engagement. The following year, Hathaway made her New York stage debut in the Encores! production of Carnival!. This was followed by a string of family films such as Nicholas Nickleby (2002) and Ella Enchanted (2004), which were box office flops. In 2005, she transitioned to more mature roles with the acclaimed romantic drama Brokeback Mountain. In 2006, Hathaway starred opposite Meryl Streep in the highly successful comedy-drama The Devil Wears Prada and portrayed Jane Austen in the biographical drama Becoming Jane the following year.

Hathaway earned critical acclaim and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for playing a recovering alcoholic in the drama Rachel Getting Married (2008). She played Viola in The Public Theater's 2009 production of Twelfth Night, which garnered her a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play. In 2010, she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for providing her voice for an episode on The Simpsons. The same year, she played the White Queen in Tim Burton's $1 billion grossing fantasy adventure Alice in Wonderland. For her role as a free-spirited artist in Love & Other Drugs (2010), she earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. During this period, Hathaway also starred in a number of other box-office hits such as Get Smart (2008), Bride Wars (2009) and Valentine's Day (2010). She then went on to voice a Spix's macaw named Jewel in the animated comedy adventure film Rio (2011) and its sequel Rio 2 (2014). (Full article...)
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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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Blue Peter is a British children's television programme created by John Hunter Blair. The first programme was broadcast on 16 October 1958. It is the longest-running children's television programme in the world, and also one of the longest-running television programmes in the world.

Blue Peter currently airs weekly on Fridays in the United Kingdom on CBBC, a digital television channel. The show is produced in a magazine format, often transmitting live, and features a combination of studio presentation, interviews and outside broadcasting items. There have been forty-three official presenters of Blue Peter. (Full article...)
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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...)
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The tenth season of the Bleach anime series, released on DVD as the Arrancar vs. Shinigami arc (破面・VS.死神篇, Arankaru VS. Shinigami Hen), is directed by Noriyuki Abe, and produced by TV Tokyo, Dentsu and Studio Pierrot. The season adapts Tite Kubo's Bleach manga series from the rest of the 32nd volume to the 35th volume (chapters 286–315), with the exception of episodes 204 and 205 (filler). The episodes' plot continues to follow Ichigo Kurosaki's and his friends' battle against the Espada, the strongest of former Soul Reaper Captain Sōsuke Aizen's army, to rescue Orihime Inoue.

The season aired from October 2008 to February 2009 on TV Tokyo. The English adaptation of the anime is licensed by Viz Media, and aired on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim from February to May 2011. Aniplex released the season in a series of DVD compilations, with each of the four volumes containing four episodes. The first DVD volume was released on May 27, 2009, and the fourth one on August 26 of the same year. (Full article...)
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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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Keith Floyd (1943–2009) was an English broadcaster, restaurateur and food writer. He was brought up in Somerset, England, where his mother taught him to cook. He was educated at Wellington, a local public school, although he left at the age of sixteen. He joined the Bristol Evening Post as a cub reporter—where he worked alongside the future playwright Tom Stoppard. He was commissioned into the Royal Tank Regiment in 1963 as a second lieutenant, but his career there only lasted until 1966; he left military service and moved to London and then France, where he worked in several restaurants in various roles.

In 1971 he set up his first restaurant in Bristol—Floyd's Bistro—which proved popular enough for him to open three further outlets in the city. His burgeoning empire soon collapsed and he sailed around the Mediterranean for two years, from where he exported wine to the UK. He also opened a restaurant in the south of France, but this was also unsuccessful and it closed in 1979, when Floyd returned to the UK. He opened another Bristol-based restaurant and wrote a book—Floyd's Food—which was locally published in 1981; this led to a short recipe slot on the local Radio West station. In 1983 one of his customers—David Pritchard, a television producer—suggested to Floyd that he front a television series, which resulted in Floyd on Fish, broadcast on BBC Two in late 1985. Several series followed on the BBC before the Floyd-Pritchard partnership broke up in 1993; a corresponding book appeared with each series. There were no scripts for the programmes, and Floyd ad-libbed throughout; when he ran out of words, he would sip from an ever-present glass of wine to give him time to create the next line. Pritchard's directing style and Floyd's presentation technique produced what the food writer Tom Jaine considers as "cheerful mayhem", although viewers were educated in basic techniques. He went on to say that "Floyd's performances, on or near the stove, were a refreshing departure from the prissy, controlled style then in favour at the BBC, or the alternative mode of half an hour with a French chef whose incomprehensible English made the recipes a mystery." (Full article...)
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The second season of the international fantasy series Highlander: The Series, part of the Highlander franchise, consists of 22 episodes produced between 1993 and 1994. The first episode of the season aired on September 27, 1993 in broadcast syndication and the last aired on May 23, 1994. The series continues to follow the adventures of Duncan MacLeod, a 400-year-old Immortal who can only die if he is beheaded. MacLeod is involved in the Game, an ongoing battle during which all Immortals have to behead each other until only one is left.

A number of changes affected the cast as well as the co-production agreement that financed the previous season. Ratings increased, but Highlander received criticism for being too violent. The season was released on DVD in Region 1 on July 29, 2003 by Anchor Bay Entertainment. The episodes are available on the online video on demand service Hulu, a joint venture between NBC and Fox Broadcasting Company. (Full article...)
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The Claymore anime series is based on the manga series of the same name by Norihiro Yagi. The episodes are directed by Hiroyuki Tanaka and produced by Madhouse Studios. They adapt the first through eleventh volumes of the manga over 24 episodes. The remaining 2 episodes follow an original storyline not found in the manga written by Yagi. The series aired between April 2007 and September 2007 in Japan on Nippon Television. The series follows the adventures of Clare, a Claymore, or half-human, half-yoma hybrid, and her comrades as they fight for survival in a world filled with yoma, or shapeshifting demons.

Two pieces of theme music are used for the episodes: one opening theme and one ending theme. The opening theme is "Raison d’être" (レゾンデートル, lit. Reason for being) by Nightmare. The ending theme is J-pop singer Riyu Kosaka's single, "Danzai no Hana~Guilty Sky" (断罪の花 ~Guilty Sky~, lit. Flower of Conviction~Guilty Sky). A single for "Danzai no Hana~Guilty Sky" was released on May 30, 2007, and the single for "Raison d’être" was released on June 6, 2007. (Full article...)
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Ed, Edd n Eddy is a 69-episode (130-segment) animated comedy television series created by Danny Antonucci and produced by Canada-based a.k.a. Cartoon. The series debuted on Cartoon Network in the United States on January 4, 1999, and ended on November 8, 2009, with the film Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show. The series was originally planned to air for four seasons, but Cartoon Network ordered two additional seasons, four specials, and a film as a result of its popularity, for a total of 135 segments. The series revolves around three adolescent boys collectively known as "the Eds", who live in a suburban cul-de-sac. Unofficially led by Eddy, the Eds frequently try to obtain money from other children in their cul-de-sac in order to purchase jawbreakers. The Eds' plans usually fail and leave them in various predicaments.

Feeling confined to gross and edgy work, such as his previous series The Brothers Grunt, artist Danny Antonucci decided to produce an animated children's television show similar to classic cartoons from the 1940s to the 1970s. Antonucci spent months designing the show and then pitched the series to Nickelodeon, but the network declined to give him creative control, which Antonucci refused. He then pitched the series to Cartoon Network. The network commissioned the show after agreeing to let Antonucci go in his own direction. The first two seasons were released on DVD in 2006 and 2007. Two DVD volumes were also released: Edifying Ed-Ventures on May 10, 2005, in Region 1 and in Region 2 on May 16, 2006, and Fools' Par-Ed-Ise on March 31, 2006, in Region 1. Selected episodes were featured in Cartoon Network compilation DVDs. The first five seasons, in addition to the Big Picture Show film are available for download on the iTunes Store. The Halloween special "Ed, Edd n Eddy's Boo Haw Haw" is available as part of "Cartoon Network's Super Scary Showcase" on the iTunes Store, but only to the UK. The complete first and second season DVDs can be rented from Netflix, while all the seasons can be currently streamed on Max. The third season can be downloaded from the Google Play store and Amazon.com. (Full article...)
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HolbyBlue is a British police procedural drama which was created by Tony Jordan. The show is set in the fictional city of Holby, and focuses on the daily lives of police officers working at Holby South police station. The show's ensemble cast for series one consisted of Jimmy Akingbola, Joe Jacobs, David Sterne, Cal MacAninch, James Hillier, Kacey Ainsworth, Richard Harrington, Zöe Lucker, Chloe Howman, Kieran O'Brien, Tim Pigott-Smith and Elaine Glover. Pigott-Smith departed the drama in the final episode of the first series at the conclusion of his character's storyline. Actors Oliver Milburn and James Thornton joined the drama for series two.

The creation of HolbyBlue was announced on 27 April 2006 by the BBC. It was revealed that the show would have links to British medical drama Holby City. Tony Jordan was recruited to write scripts for the show and work out "how storylines between the police station and the hospital could be intertwined." The first series began filming at the end of January 2007, commenced airing on 8 May 2007 at 8 pm, one week later than scheduled for unknown reasons, and concluded on 26 June 2007. On 21 June 2007, it was announced that HolbyBlue would air a second series in 2008, this time for an extended run of twelve episodes. Filming recommenced in late 2007 in Surrey, and the second series began airing on 20 March 2008, concluding on 5 June 2008. Two series of HolbyBlue aired in total. (Full article...)

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