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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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The Quatermass Experiment is a British science-fiction serial, broadcast by BBC Television in the summer of 1953, and re-staged by BBC Four in 2005. Set in the near future against the background of a British space programme, it tells the story of the first manned flight into space, overseen by Professor Bernard Quatermass of the British Experimental Rocket Group. When the spaceship that carried the first successful crew returns to Earth, two of the three astronauts are missing, and the third is behaving strangely. It becomes clear that an alien presence entered the ship during its flight, and Quatermass and his associates must prevent the alien from destroying the world. Originally comprising six half-hour episodes, it was the first science-fiction production to be written especially for an adult television audience. Previous written-for-television efforts such as Stranger from Space (1951–52) were aimed at children, whereas adult entries into the genre were adapted from literary sources, such as R.U.R. (1938 and again in 1948) and The Time Machine (1949). The serial was the first of four Quatermass productions to be screened on British television between 1953 and 1979. As well as spawning various remakes and sequels, The Quatermass Experiment inspired much of the television science fiction that followed it, particularly in the United Kingdom, where it influenced successful series such as Doctor Who and Sapphire and Steel.

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W2XBS, Schenectady, New York. In 1928, Felix the Cat was one of the first images ever broadcast by television when RCA chose a papier-mâché Felix doll for an experimental broadcast on W2XBS. The doll was chosen for its tonal contrast and its ability to withstand the intense lights needed in early television and was placed on a rotating phonograph turntable and televised for about two hours each day. The doll remained on the turntable for nearly a decade as RCA fine-tuned the picture's definition, and converted to electronic television.

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... that CBS News and Stations president Wendy McMahon helped bring local evening news back to the network's Detroit station after 20 years?
... that Uncle Waffles learned how to DJ during the COVID-19 lockdowns, and then retired from being an Eswatini TV presenter once her music career took off?
... that Fred Rogers created and hosted a television documentary series titled Old Friends ... New Friends due to his concern that older generations were getting more isolated from younger generations?
... that the sentencing phase of the Jemma Mitchell case was the second to be filmed in England and Wales since a change in the law permitted television cameras into court?
... that Indian historian R. Champakalakshmi was a script consultant for Bharat Ek Khoj, a television series based on Jawaharlal Nehru's The Discovery of India?
... that Japanese actor Kouhei Higuchi prepared for his role on the television drama adaptation of My Personal Weatherman by learning from a weather forecaster?

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...that David Letterman parodied Werner Erhard in the 1978 Mork & Mindy episode Mork Goes Erk?

...that the air-date of "The Beginning of the End", the fourth season premiere of the television series Lost, means that the season may be interrupted by the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike even if a settlement is reached?

...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 color signals of Israel Broadcasting Authority television transmissions were erased until 1981, to insure equality for families who couldn't afford color-tv?

...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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George Formby, OBE (born George Hoy Booth; 26 May 1904 – 6 March 1961), was an English actor, singer-songwriter and comedian who became known to a worldwide audience through his films of the 1930s and 1940s. On stage, screen and record he sang light, comic songs, usually playing the ukulele or banjolele, and became the UK's highest-paid entertainer.

Born in Wigan, Lancashire, he was the son of George Formby Sr, from whom he later took his stage name. After an early career as a stable boy and jockey, Formby took to the music hall stage after the early death of his father in 1921. His early performances were taken exclusively from his father's act, including the same songs, jokes and characters. In 1923 he made two career-changing decisions – he purchased a ukulele, and married Beryl Ingham, a fellow performer who became his manager and transformed his act. She insisted that he appear on stage formally dressed, and introduced the ukulele to his performance. He started his recording career in 1926 and, from 1934, he increasingly worked in film to develop into a major star by the late 1930s and 1940s, and became the UK's most popular entertainer during those decades. The film historian Brian McFarlane writes that on film, Formby portrayed gormless Lancastrian innocents who would win through against some form of villainy, gaining the affection of an attractive middle-class girl in the process. (Full article...)

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James T. Aubrey 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 Dan Castellaneta Perry Como Red Skelton Rose Catherine Pinkney

General images

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

Image 1The Philco Predicta, 1958. In the collection of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis (from History of television)
Image 2Hovannes Adamian c. 1900s (from Color television)
Image 3An early Smart TV from 2012 running the discontinued Orsay platform (from History of television)
Image 4LG Electronics smart TV from 2011 (from Smart TV)
Image 5Color bars used in a test pattern, sometimes used when no program material is available (from History of television)
Image 6Tihanyi' Radioskop patent (1926) was recognized as Document of Universal Significance by the UNESCO (from History of television)
Image 7Manfred von Ardenne in 1933 (from History of television)
Image 8RCA 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 9The 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 10A map depicting digital terrestrial television standards (from Digital television)
Image 11Ad for the beginning of experimental television broadcasting in New York City by RCA in 1939 (from History of television)
Image 12DBS satellite dishes (from History of television)
Image 13The first mass-produced Czechoslovak TV-set Tesla 4001A (1953–57) (from History of television)
Image 14Samsung's discontinued Orsay platform (from Smart TV)
Image 15First television test broadcast transmitted by the NHK Broadcasting Technology Research Institute in May 1939 (from History of television)
Image 16RCA 630-TS, the first mass-produced television set, which sold in 1946–1947 (from History of television)
Image 17This 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 18Smart TVs on display (from Smart TV)
Image 19LG smart TV using the Web browser (from Smart TV)
Image 20Family watching TV, 1958 (from History of television)
Image 21Baird in 1925 with his televisor equipment and dummies "James" and "Stooky Bill" (right) (from History of television)
Image 22The 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 23Philo Farnsworth in 1924 (from History of television)
Image 24Ferdinand Braun (from History of television)
Image 25An RCA Victor Color TV ad featuring milliner Lilly Daché in 1959. (from Color television)
Image 26Comparison of image quality between ISDB-T (1080i broadcast, top) and NTSC (480i transmission, bottom) (from Digital 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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Cooper at the Spain premiere of Silver Linings Playbook in 2013

Bradley Cooper is an American actor and filmmaker. He began his career by appearing in an episode of the sitcom Sex and the City (1999) and as the host of the tourism show Globe Trekker the following year. He made his screen debut in Wet Hot American Summer (2001) as a gay counselor—a role he later reprised in the web television series Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (2015). In the action television series Alias (2001–2006), Cooper achieved some success for the supporting role of Will Tippin, although he only played a major role in the series for the first few seasons.

Cooper's supporting part in the commercially successful comedy Wedding Crashers (2005) improved his career prospects, but also led to him being typecast as the best friend to the main character in such comedies as Failure to Launch (2006), The Rocker (2008), and He's Just Not That Into You (2009). During this period, Cooper also continued starring in television shows, such as the 2005 sitcom Kitchen Confidential, and played a dual role in a 2006 onstage production of Three Days of Rain. However, the former was cancelled after four episodes due to low ratings. His breakthrough came with the role of a reckless teacher in Todd Phillips' comedy The Hangover (2009), which became one of the highest grossing R-rated films of all time. Cooper continued to take on parts in several box office hits, including The A-Team (2010), Limitless, and The Hangover Part II (both in 2011). (Full article...)
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Casualty is a British medical drama television series that premiered in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 6 September 1986. It is the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world, and the most enduring medical drama broadcast on primetime television in the world. Casualty is set in the fictional Holby City Hospital and focuses on the staff and patients of the hospital's emergency department (ED). The drama was created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, while Geraint Morris produced the first three series. The drama has aired for 38 series and a 39th series currently airs. Over 1,000 episodes have aired in total. Holby City, a spin-off of Casualty, was commissioned in 1998 and began airing on 12 January 1999. The two shows are closely related with several crossover events occurring between them. Some crossovers broadcast between December 2004 and December 2005 are styled as episodes of Casualty@Holby City. A British police procedural drama and spin-off to Casualty, HolbyBlue was announced on 27 April 2006. It began on 8 May 2007 and was cancelled in August 2008 after 2 series and 20 episodes were broadcast.

Casualty has produced 19 special episodes, including the first webisode commissioned for a BBC continuing drama. Belinda Campbell, who executively produced the drama between 2007 and 2011, thought that webisodes would be a "new [way] to add value for our loyal fans", something which the team constantly look to do. Casualty filmed a sketch for charity telethon Children in Need in 2009, featuring charity mascot Pudsey Bear. In 2010, cast members on the show filmed a tribute to BBC soap opera EastEnders and Blue Peter presenter Joel Defries presented a segment of the show from the Casualty set. To celebrate Casualty's thirtieth anniversary, original cast members Derek Thompson and Cathy Shipton filmed a special episode, "Back to Ours", showing moments from their careers on the show. (Full article...)
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D.Gray-man is an anime series adapted from the manga of the same title by Katsura Hoshino. Produced by TMS Entertainment and directed by Osamu Nabeshima, the series follows the adventures of Allen Walker, an exorcist that wields the power of "Innocence" in order to fight against the Millennium Earl, an ancient sorcerer seeking to destroy the world with monsters called akuma.

The episodes began airing on October 3, 2006, in Japan on TV Tokyo. The first season of the anime, known as the "1st stage", aired for 51 episodes, finishing its run on September 25, 2007. The second season, known as the "2nd stage", began airing on October 2, 2007, and finished its run on September 30, 2008, lasting 52 episodes. In 2008, Funimation acquired the series for an English-language release in North America and reformatted the series into four separate seasons. In June 2016, Funimation acquired the rights to the second half of the anime. A sequel titled D.Gray-man Hallow premiered in Japan in July 2016. (Full article...)
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The eighth season of animated television series Family Guy first aired on the Fox network in twenty-one episodes from September 27, 2009, to May 23, 2010, before being released as two DVD box sets and in syndication. It ran on Sunday nights between May and July 2010 on BBC Three in the UK. The series follows the dysfunctional Griffin family—father Peter, mother Lois, daughter Meg, son Chris, baby Stewie and dog Brian, all of whom reside in their hometown of Quahog.

Starting with this season, the show is animated using Toon Boom Harmony. (Full article...)
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The fourth and final season of The O.C., an American teen drama television series, aired in the United States from November 2, 2006, to February 22, 2007, and consisted of 16 episodes. The O.C.'s final season aired Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. ET in the United States on Fox, a terrestrial television network. Fox tested a new timeslot by airing the second episode on Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. ET against ABC's Lost and CBS's Criminal Minds. With Lost about to enter a three-month hiatus, Fox hoped that changing the timeslot for The O.C. would attract back viewers it had lost since the end of the previous season; however, the move was unsuccessful and the show returned to its Thursday timeslot.

The season was released on DVD as a five-disc boxed set under the title The O.C.: The Complete Fourth Season on May 22, 2007, by Warner Home Video. The season was also made available in the American versions of Zune and iTunes Store. Before the season premiered on television, it was available through on demand streaming. In the US, streaming was available from October 26, 2006, at 3:01 a.m. ET onwards, through Fox Interactive Media's MySpace and MyFoxLocal stations. (Full article...)
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Supernatural is an American supernatural drama television series, created by Eric Kripke, that follows brothers Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) as they travel throughout the United States hunting supernatural creatures. The series borrows heavily from folklore and urban legends, and explores mythology and Christian theology, and their main adversaries throughout the series are demons.

The series premiered on September 13, 2005, on The WB. The first season was broadcast on The WB, and following The WB's merger with UPN in September 2006, Supernatural continued to be aired on the new network, The CW. All fifteen seasons are available on DVD in Regions 1, 2, and 4 and are also available on Blu-ray. (Full article...)
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The fourth season of Family Guy aired on Fox from May 1, 2005, to May 21, 2006, and consists of thirty episodes, making it the longest season to date. The first half of the season is included within the volume 3 DVD box set, which released on November 29, 2005, and the second half within the volume 4 DVD box set, which released on November 14, 2006. Volume 4 is split into seasons 4 and 5 in regions outside the United States, leading to confusion over season numbers between U.S., Australian, and UK consumers. The last three episodes of season 4 are the basis for the movie known as Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, and are edited for content; Fox does not include these episodes in the official episode count.

Family Guy had been canceled in 2002 due to low ratings, but was revived by Fox after reruns on Adult Swim became the network's most-watched program, and more than three million DVDs of the show were sold. "North by North Quahog" was the first episode to air following the series' revival. (Full article...)
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Oh My Goddess!, the manga by Kōsuke Fujishima, has been adapted into five anime versions between 1993 and 2007, including an original video animation (OVA), The Adventures of Mini-Goddess, Ah! My Goddess, and its sequels, Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy and Ah! My Goddess: Fighting Wings.

In 1993, Anime International Company produced a five-episode OVA series based on the manga series. Its success inspired a spinoff TV series entitled The Adventures of Mini-Goddess. Produced by Oriental Light and Magic and initially aired on WOWOW in 1998 and 1999, the plot revolved around the adventures of three miniaturized goddesses and their rat companion Gan-chan, all of whom live in a temple home. In 2005, Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) began broadcasting Ah! My Goddess, a new series directed by Hiroaki Gōda and animated by Anime International Company. It ran for 24 episodes between January 7 and July 8, 2005. A sequel also animated by Anime International Company and directed by Gōda, Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy, aired on TBS between April 6 and September 14, 2006. A two-episode special entitled Ah! My Goddess: Fighting Wings, animated by Anime International Company and directed by Gōda, was broadcast on TBS on December 9, 2007. (Full article...)
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Lady Gaga at A Star is Born (2018) premiere in London

American singer Lady Gaga has released three video albums and has been featured in over thirty music videos. From her debut album The Fame (2008), she released music videos for the singles "Just Dance", "Poker Face", "Eh, Eh", "LoveGame", and "Paparazzi". In the latter, Gaga portrays a doomed starlet taking revenge on her lover. She also shot a video for the album's promotional single "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich". Gaga reissued her first album as The Fame Monster (2009), preceded by a music video for the lead single "Bad Romance", which won a Grammy Award for Best Music Video and seven MTV Video Music Awards, including Video of the Year in 2010. The following year, Jonas Åkerlund directed the music video for "Telephone"—a continuation of "Paparazzi"—which was shot as a short film. It received an MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year nomination, and was named the Best Music Video of the Decade by Billboard in January 2015. For her 2010 video "Alejandro", Gaga received positive reviews from critics, though she was criticized by the Catholic League that alleged blasphemy.

Gaga's second studio album Born This Way (2011) released the music video for the eponymous lead single, in which she gives birth to a new race. The music video won the Best Female Video and Best Video with a Social Message awards at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards. In the following video, "Judas", she portrays Mary Magdalene, and Norman Reedus plays the title role. The video for "The Edge of Glory" consists mostly of interchanging shots of Gaga dancing and singing on the street and was considered the simplest of her career. In the same year, she released "You and I", which focuses on her trying to get her boyfriend back in Nebraska. She also introduces her male alter ego Jo Calderone in the video. Gaga directed her 14-minute video for the final single "Marry the Night", which narrates her story to find success in the music industry, but she ultimately suffers setback. (Full article...)
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Book Two: Earth is the second season of Avatar: The Last Airbender, an American animated television series created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko for Nickelodeon. The series starred Zach Tyler Eisen, Mae Whitman, Jack DeSena, Jessie Flower, Dante Basco, Dee Bradley Baker, Mako Iwamatsu (in his final voice performance as Iroh before his death), and Grey DeLisle as the main character voices.

In the second season, Aang and his friends Katara and Sokka are on a quest to find an Earthbending teacher which finishes when they recruit Toph Beifong. After finding important information concerning the war with the Fire Nation, Appa ends up kidnapped. Their journey leads to Ba Sing Se, the capital of the Earth Kingdom, where they uncover a great internal government conspiracy. Meanwhile, due to their actions at the North Pole in Book One, Zuko and Iroh are declared traitors by the Fire Nation and desert their country, becoming fugitives in the Earth Kingdom. Pursuing both Zuko and Aang is Princess Azula, Zuko's younger prodigy sister. (Full article...)
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The thirteenth and final season of the Australian police drama Blue Heelers premiered on the Seven Network on 1 April 2006 and aired on Saturday nights at 8:30 pm. The 11-episode season concluded 4 June 2006, due to its cancellation by the Seven Network as a result of its sharp decline in ratings. When, in late 2005, the time came to renew Blue Heelers, Seven commissioned eleven further episodes to be produced, but its future after this was still undecided.

In January 2006, Seven officially announced that they had cancelled Blue Heelers, but would air a final shortened season of only 11 episodes in mid-2006, the 11 episodes which had been filmed in late 2005, before Blue Heelers had been cancelled. (Full article...)
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American Horror Story is a horror television series created and produced by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. The series is broadcast on the cable television channel FX in the United States. Described as an anthology series, each season is conceived as a self-contained miniseries, following a disparate set of characters and settings, and a storyline with its own "beginning, middle, and end".

Since its debut, American Horror Story has earned mostly positive reviews from critics, and has been nominated for a variety of different awards, including nineteen Critics' Choice Television Awards (four wins), ninety-four Emmy Awards (sixteen wins), nine Golden Globe Awards (two wins), six People's Choice Awards (one win), eleven Satellite Awards (three wins), and twenty-six Saturn Awards. (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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QI (Quite Interesting) is a BBC comedy panel game television show that began in 2003. It was created by John Lloyd, and was hosted by Stephen Fry until the end of Series 13 [M] (13 years) after which Sandi Toksvig took over, and features permanent panellist Alan Davies. Each series covers topics that begin with a different letter of the alphabet; for example, the first series covered topics whose word began with "A". Thus it is referred to as "Series A" instead of "Series One".

QI was given a full series after BBC executives responded well to a nonbroadcast pilot and the first episode, "Adam" premiered on BBC Two on 11 September 2003. From the second to the fifth series, episodes aired each week on BBC Two; the second and subsequent episodes were shown first on BBC Four in the time-slot after the previous episode's BBC Two broadcast. When the sixth series of QI began in 2008, the show moved to BBC One and the broadcasting of episodes on BBC Four was replaced in favour of a 45-minute extended repeat broadcast on BBC Two the following day, titled QI XL. From the ninth series, QI returned to BBC Two on Friday at 10 pm with the XL edition on Saturdays. Lloyd acted as the producer for the first five series. Piers Fletcher became producer starting from Series F. New episodes for "Series U" began airing on 18 December 2023.
For Series V of QI, the QI XL version aired before the standard QI on Tuesdays on BBC Two (starting from 22 October 2024). For the first half of the series, the standard edition aired on the following Sunday for the first 3 episodes, changing to the following Monday for the remaining 5. (Full article...)
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The first season of How I Met Your Mother, an American sitcom created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, premiered on CBS in the United States on September 19, 2005, and concluded on May 15, 2006. The season was directed by Pamela Fryman and produced by Bays & Thomas Productions and 20th Century Fox Television. It consists of 22 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length.

The season introduces Ted Mosby (voiced by former Full House actor Bob Saget) in the year 2030 as he sits his daughter and son down to tell them the story of how he met their mother. The story begins in 2005 with Ted (Josh Radnor) as a single, 27-year-old architect living in Manhattan with his two best friends from college: Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel), a law student, and Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan), a kindergarten teacher, who have been dating for almost nine years when Marshall proposes. Their engagement causes Ted to think about marriage and finding his soul mate, much to the disgust of his self-appointed best friend Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris). Ted begins his search for his perfect mate and meets an ambitious young reporter, Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders), whom he quickly falls in love with. (Full article...)

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