Portal:Television

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

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...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected article - show another

"Homer's Phobia" is the fifteenth episode of The Simpsons' eighth season, which originally aired on the Fox network on February 16, 1997. It was the first episode written by Ron Hauge and was directed by Mike B. Anderson. John Waters (pictured) guest starred, providing the voice of the new character John. In the episode, Homer disassociates himself from new family friend John after discovering that John is gay. He worries that John will have a negative influence on his son, Bart. "Homer's Phobia" was the first episode to revolve entirely around homosexual themes, with the title being a pun on the word "homophobia". Originally, due to the controversial subject, the Fox censors found the episode unsuitable for broadcast, but this decision was reversed after a turnover in the Fox staff. It won four awards, including an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less) and a GLAAD Media Award for "Outstanding TV - Individual Episode".

Selected image - show another

The Kaknäs tower (Swedish: Kaknästornet) is a TV tower in Gärdet in Stockholm, Sweden. It has 72 pillars. The tower is a major hub of Swedish television, radio and satellite broadcasts. It was finished in 1967, designed by architect Bengt Lindroos, and the height is 155 metres (509 ft) or 170 metres (560 ft) with the antenna included. The tower is owned by the national Swedish broadcasting company Teracom. The tower's name comes from the ancient name of the area, Kaknäs.

Did you know (auto-generated) - load new batch

... that Singaporean singer Dawn Gan played herself in a television drama about aspiring singers?
... that Windows 3.1 had a special version, known as Modular Windows, that was controlled via television?
... that Alan Rosen once sold 2,400 cheesecakes in four minutes to television shoppers?
... that in the television series sequel Imortal (2010), Angel Locsin portrayed the lead role as the daughter of her lycan character in the Lobo TV series?
... that a television station spent so little on programming that a media columnist called it the "IOUs of Cincinnati"?
... that Milton Grant went from disc jockey and bandstand host to an owner of television stations?

Selected quote - show another

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 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 the participants of the Channel 4 programme Dumped were not told that they would be living on a landfill site for three weeks?

..that the time traveling premise featured in the Chrono series of video games was inspired by such television programs as The Time Tunnel?

...that Dr. Andrew Rochford, a presenter on the popular Australian television show What's Good For You, got his break after he won the popular show The Block?

Selected biography - show another

Strickland in April 2005

Katherine Dee Strickland (born December 14, 1975) is an American actress. From 2007 to 2013, she played Dr. Charlotte King on the ABC drama Private Practice.

Strickland began acting during high school. She studied acting in Philadelphia and New York City, where she obtained mostly small roles in film, television, and stage projects, among them The Sixth Sense (1999). Her participation in the 2003 Hollywood films Anything Else and Something's Gotta Give led to her receiving significant parts in the 2004 horror films Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid and The Grudge. She was then referred to as "the pride of Patterson" and the horror genre's "newest scream queen", though her performances in both films received mixed critical reviews. In 2005, she garnered positive critical reviews for the romantic comedy Fever Pitch, and she was a regular on the television show The Wedding Bells in 2007. She was subsequently added to the cast of Private Practice. (Full article...)

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

Featured lists - load new batch

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

Image 1
Twin Peaks is an American serial drama television series created by David Lynch and Mark Frost which spans 48 episodes over three seasons. The show's original run, which comprises two seasons and 30 episodes, premiered on April 8, 1990, on ABC in the United States and ended on June 10, 1991. ABC canceled the original run due to declining ratings in the second season. The show's third season, consisting of 18 episodes, was announced in October 2014 and premiered on Showtime on May 21, 2017. The pilot and season 2 premiere are each 94 minutes long, while every other episode is approximately 45 minutes. Most episodes of the third season are approximately 60 minutes.

Twin Peaks follows FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan), who is sent to the fictional town of Twin Peaks, Washington, to investigate the murder of popular and respected high school student Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). A feature-length prequel film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, was released on August 28, 1992, and depicts the events leading up to Laura's death. (Full article...)
Image 2
The first season of the musical comedy-drama television series Glee originally aired on Fox in the United States. The pilot episode was broadcast as an advanced preview of the series on May 19, 2009, with the remainder of the season airing between September 9, 2009, and June 8, 2010. The season consisted of 22 episodes; the first 13 aired on Wednesdays at 9 pm (ET) and the final 9 aired on Tuesdays at 9 pm (ET). The season was executive produced by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Dante Di Loreto; Murphy's production company helped co-produce the series alongside 20th Century Fox.

The season features the fictional high school show choir New Directions competing for the first time on the show choir circuit, while its members and faculty deal with sex, bullying, body image, homosexuality, teenage pregnancy, disabilities, adoption and other social issues. The central characters are glee club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison), cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch), Will's former wife Terri (Jessalyn Gilsig), guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays), and glee club members Rachel (Lea Michele), Finn (Cory Monteith), Artie (Kevin McHale), Kurt (Chris Colfer), Mercedes (Amber Riley), Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz), Puck (Mark Salling), and Quinn (Dianna Agron). (Full article...)
Image 3
The eighth season of the American television comedy The Office commenced airing on NBC in the United States on September 22, 2011, and concluded on May 10, 2012, consisting of 24 episodes. The series is an American adaptation of the British comedy 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 eighth season of The Office aired on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. (Eastern) in the United States as part of the "Comedy Night Done Right" television block. It stars Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, B. J. Novak, Ed Helms, and James Spader, with supporting performances from Catherine Tate, Leslie David Baker, Brian Baumgartner, Creed Bratton, Kate Flannery, Mindy Kaling, Ellie Kemper, Angela Kinsey, Paul Lieberstein, Oscar Nunez, Craig Robinson, Phyllis Smith, and Zach Woods. This was the first season without Steve Carell as Michael Scott in the lead role and the only one to not feature the character in any onscreen capacity, although he is occasionally mentioned.

The eighth season largely centers on Andy Bernard's (Ed Helms) ascension to regional manager, as well as the antics of Robert California (James Spader), the new CEO of Sabre, a fictional printer company that owns Dunder Mifflin. Halfway through the season, Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson)—along with Jim Halpert (John Krasinski), Stanley Hudson (Leslie David Baker), Ryan Howard (B. J. Novak), Erin Hannon (Ellie Kemper), and Cathy Simms (Lindsey Broad)—travel to Florida to help set up a Sabre Store, where Nellie Bertram (Catherine Tate) is introduced. Eventually, former CFO of Dunder Mifflin David Wallace (Andy Buckley) buys back the company, firing California. (Full article...)
Image 4

Dexter is an American television drama that was broadcast on the premium cable channel Showtime from October 1, 2006, to September 22, 2013. A total of 96 episodes of Dexter were broadcast over eight seasons.

The series is based on characters created by Jeff Lindsay for his "Dexter" series of novels, and follows the life of Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), a Miami Metro Police Department blood pattern analyst with a double life. While investigating murders in the homicide division, Dexter hunts and kills murderers and criminals who have escaped the justice system. Although the first season is based on the events of Darkly Dreaming Dexter, the series's subsequent seasons do not follow the novels in the series. Departing from the narrative of Lindsay's second Dexter novel Dearly Devoted Dexter, the show's writer Daniel Cerone said that the writers "didn't see the opportunity in the second book" to adapt it. (Full article...)
Image 5
Swift at the 2024 Golden Globes

The American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has appeared in various visual media. She has starred in 61 music videos, 13 of which she self-directed; released six documentaries, including four feature-length concert films; and acted in a number of fictional films, television shows, and commercial advertisements.

Swift's first music video was for her debut single "Tim McGraw", from her 2006 self-titled debut studio album. It was directed by Trey Fanjoy, who worked on award-winning music videos for Swift's singles from 2006 to 2009. The music video for "Our Song" won Video of the Year at the 2008 CMT Music Awards. Swift's second studio album, Fearless (2008), was supported by the music videos for "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me". In 2009, the former won Video of the Year at both the CMT Music Awards and the Country Music Association Awards, and the latter won Best Female Video at the MTV Video Music Awards. Swift's first self-directed music video was for her 2010 album Speak Nows lead single, "Mine", which she directed with Roman White. ('Full article...)
Image 6
The second season of the American serial drama television series Lost commenced airing in the United States and Canada on September 21, 2005, and concluded on May 24, 2006. The second season continues the stories of a group of over forty people who have been stranded on a remote island in the South Pacific, after their plane crashed forty-four days prior to the beginning of the season. The producers have stated that as the first season is about introducing the survivors, the second season is about a 1970s scientific Dharma Initiative research station which the survivors discovered on the island and refer to as "The Hatch".

The second season aired Wednesdays at 9:00 pm in the United States. In addition to the regular twenty-four episodes (with a run time around 42 minutes each), three clip-shows recapped previous events on the show. "Destination Lost" aired before the premiere, "Lost: Revelation" aired before the tenth episode and "Lost: Reckoning" aired before the twentieth episode. The season was released on DVD as a seven disc boxed set under the title of Lost: The Complete Second Season – The Extended Experience on September 5, 2006, by Buena Vista Home Entertainment. (Full article...)
Image 7
Turner as Cora Smith in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)

Lana Turner (1921–1995) was an American actress who appeared in over fifty films during her career, which spanned four decades. Discovered in 1937 at age 16, she signed a contract with Warner Bros. but soon transferred to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The studio's co-founder, Louis B. Mayer, helped further her career by casting her in several youth-oriented comedies and musicals, including Dancing Co-Ed (1939) and Ziegfeld Girl (1941), the latter of which was a commercial success and helped establish her as one of the studio's leading performers. Turner subsequently co-starred with Clark Gable in the drama Somewhere I'll Find You (1943), the first of four films she would appear in with him.

Turner's role as a femme fatale in the film noir The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) advanced her career significantly and established her as a dramatic actress. It earned her acclaim with Bosley Crowther of The New York Times deeming it "the role of her career." In addition to her film roles, Turner frequently appeared on radio programs throughout the 1940s, including Suspense and The Orson Welles Almanac. In 1952, she co-starred in the drama The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) opposite Kirk Douglas, portraying an alcoholic actress. Turner made her final film appearance with Gable in the drama Betrayed (1954). After the critical and commercial failure of Diane (1956), MGM opted not to renew Turner's contract. At the time, her films with the studio had collectively earned over $50 million (Full article...)
Image 8
Holby City is a British medical drama television series that was broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 12 January 1999 and 29 March 2022. The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the BBC medical drama Casualty, which is set in the emergency department of the fictional Holby City Hospital, based in the equally fictitious town of Holby. Young wanted to explore what happened to patients treated in Casualty once they were taken away to the hospital's surgical wards. He opined that Casualty limited itself to "accident of the week" storylines, while Holby City allowed the possibility of storylines about long-term care, rather than immediate life-and-death decisions.

Holby City has earned various awards and nominations, with the nominations in categories ranging from Best Drama to its writing and editing work to the cast's acting performance. It received nominations for eight awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTAs), winning the Best Continuing Drama in the 2008 British Academy Television Awards — an award for which it was unsuccessfully nominated in for three years prior to winning and five years after winning. Despite being the most shortlisted Holby City actress, Amanda Mealing (who portrayed Connie Beauchamp) did not win any awards for her role. Jimmy Akingbola was the most acclaimed actor from the series, winning two awards for his role as Antoine Malick. Rebecca Wojciechowski and Peter Mattessi are the only members of the show's production team to win an accolade; they have each won a Writers' Guild of Great Britain award. The serial has also been nominated for 32 awards at the National Television Awards, although it never won. (Full article...)
Image 9
Actor Phil Hartman, who died in 1998, was the most recurring male guest actor on the show, appearing 52 times.

In addition to the show's regular cast of voice actors, celebrity guest stars have been a staple of The Simpsons, an American animated television sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company, since its first season. The Simpsons focuses on the eponymous family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie. The family was initially conceived by Groening for a series of animated shorts, which originally aired as a part of The Tracey Ullman Show between 1987 and 1989. The shorts were developed into a half-hour prime time series which began in December 1989. The series' 36th season premiered on September 29, 2024, and 781 episodes of The Simpsons have aired. A feature film adaptation of the series called The Simpsons Movie, was released in 2007. (Full article...)
Image 10
The second season of Degrassi: The Next Generation, a Canadian serial teen drama television series, commenced airing in Canada on 29 September 2002 and concluded on 23 February 2003, consisting of twenty-two episodes. This season depicts the lives of a group of eighth and ninth grade school children as they deal with some of the challenges and issues teenagers face such as child abuse, hormones, date rape, body image, hate crimes, sexual identity, alcoholism, and protests. This is the first season to feature high school students from grade nine and the last season to feature middle school students.

Filming began 10 June 2002, and continued into November 2002. (Full article...)
Image 11
The second season of Veronica Mars, an American drama television series created by Rob Thomas, premiered on UPN in the United States on September 28, 2005. The series was produced by Warner Bros. Television, Silver Pictures Television and Rob Thomas Productions, and Joel Silver and Thomas served as the executive producers.

The season begins with the introduction of two new cases: when a school bus full of Neptune High students plunges off a cliff, killing almost everyone on board, Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) makes it her mission to discover why the bus crashed. Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring) is accused of killing a Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) biker gang member after a drunken fight with Eli "Weevil" Navarro (Francis Capra) and the PCHers. (Full article...)
Image 12
Chris Carter created The X-Files, which premiered on September 10, 1993.

The X-Files is an American science fiction–supernatural television series that originally aired on the Fox network for 9 seasons from September 10, 1993, to May 19, 2002. The series centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. Mulder, an FBI profiler, is a believer in the paranormal, and the skeptical Scully, a medical doctor, is assigned to make scientific analyses of Mulder's discoveries which could ultimately be used to discredit his work. Throughout the series the two develop a close friendship. During the eighth and ninth seasons of the series, Duchovny's role was reduced from lead actor to an intermittent lead role.

The show's premise originated with Chris Carter, who served as an executive producer along with R. W. Goodwin, Frank Spotnitz, Howard Gordon, Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, Kim Manners, Glen Morgan, James Wong, and many others. Filming for seasons one to five took place primarily in Vancouver, British Columbia, and for the remaining seasons in Los Angeles. (Full article...)
Image 13
BBC Young Musician is a televised national music competition broadcast biennially on BBC Television and BBC Radio 3. Originally BBC Young Musician of the Year, its name was changed in 2010.

The competition, a former member of the European Union of Music Competitions for Youth (EMCY), is open to UK-resident percussion, keyboard, string, brass and woodwind players, who are eighteen years of age or under on 1 January in the relevant year. (Full article...)
Image 14
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. Doctor Who ceased production in 1989 after 695 episodes. A one-off TV movie was produced in the United States in 1996, before the series resumed in 2005. The original series (1963–1989), generally consists of multi-episode serials; in the early seasons, and occasionally through its run, serials tend to link together, one story leading directly into the next. The 2005 revival trades the earlier serial format for a run of self-contained episodes, interspersed with occasional multi-part stories and structured into loose story arcs.

As of 25 December 2024
'"`UNIQ--nowiki-00000019-QINU`"'
,^[update]
'"`UNIQ--nowiki-0000001A-QINU`"'
884 episodes of Doctor Who have aired. This includes one television movie and multiple specials, and encompasses 312 stories over 40 seasons, starting in 1963. Additionally, four charity specials and two animated serials have also been aired. The programme's high episode count has resulted in Doctor Who holding the world record for the highest number of episodes of a science-fiction programme. (Full article...)
Image 15

The West Wing is an American political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin and produced by John Wells Productions and Warner Bros. Television. It originally aired on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006, broadcasting 156 episodes over seven seasons. A special episode was also released on October 15, 2020, on HBO Max.

The show follows the lives of White House staffers during the fictional Democratic presidential administration of Josiah Bartlet. The show originally starred Rob Lowe as Sam Seaborn, Moira Kelly as Mandy Hampton, Allison Janney as C. J. Cregg, Richard Schiff as Toby Ziegler, John Spencer as Leo McGarry, Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman, and Martin Sheen as Bartlet. Over the course of the show's run, the main cast added Dulé Hill as Charlie Young, Janel Moloney as Donna Moss, Stockard Channing as Abbey Bartlet, Joshua Malina as Will Bailey, Mary McCormack as Kate Harper, Jimmy Smits as Matt Santos, Alan Alda as Arnold Vinick, and Kristin Chenoweth as Annabeth Schott. (Full article...)

News

Wikinews television portal

Upcoming events

Upcoming television series

Featured content

Extended content

This is a list of recognized content, updated weekly by JL-Bot (talk · contribs) (typically on Saturdays). There is no need to edit the list yourself. If an article is missing from the list, make sure it is tagged (e.g. {{WikiProject Television}}) or categorized correctly and wait for the next update. See WP:RECOG for configuration options.