Portal:Television

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 flat-panel, mainly LEDs. 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...)

Selected article -

Cold Feet is a British comedy drama television series produced by Granada Television for ITV. It was created by Mike Bullen, who also wrote most of the episodes, and produced by Andy Harries, Christine Langan and Spencer Campbell. The series began on 15 November 1998, following the successful one-off television film broadcast in 1997 and ran for 32 episodes before concluding on 16 March 2003. The series is set in Manchester and follows three couples, played by an ensemble cast, who have trouble with committing to each other however hard they try. The cast were not widely known before their appearances in the programme but their careers received significant boosts; most of the actors received British Comedy Award nominations and James Nesbitt won Best TV Comedy Actor three times. The series was and remains critically acclaimed, winning multiple British Comedy Awards, TRIC Awards, and the British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series. It maintained consistently high viewing figures, regularly beating other channels in head-to-head ratings battles.

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Ken Lillig at the 1994 Emmys

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.

Did you know (auto-generated) -

• ... that actor Tatsunari Kimura ate pancakes and drank coffee while talking for eight hours during the filming of the television drama Old-Fashioned Cupcake?
• ... that after being wiped by the BBC, all four episodes of the Doctor Who serial The Time Meddler were discovered in Nigeria in 1984?
• ... that Colin Mackay, the political editor at Scottish Television, was "very sad" when Colin MacKay, the political editor at Scottish Television, died?
• ... that Angelito de Canal 13, the mascot of the Chilean television network Canal 13, was inspired by its creator's son?
• ... that the 1999 video game Interplay Sports Baseball Edition 2000 used a public-address announcer while its rivals were switching to two commentators as featured on real MLB game broadcasts?
• ... that Angeline Quinto has recorded songs for at least 35 films and television soundtracks in the Philippines?

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More did you know

• ...that The Simpsons' history began when Matt Groening conceived of the dysfunctional family in the lobby of James L. Brooks's office?

• ...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 children up to the age of five can find it difficult to distinguish between television programmes and toy advertising campaigns?

• ...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 the television series ER aired an episode based on the 2003 Chicago balcony collapse?

Selected biography -

Jennings in 2002

Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings CM (July 29, 1938 – August 7, 2005) was a Canadian-American television journalist, best known for serving as the sole anchor of ABC World News Tonight from 1983 until his death from lung cancer in 2005. Despite dropping out of high school, Jennings transformed himself into one of American television's most prominent journalists.

Jennings started his career early, hosting a Canadian radio show at age 9. He began his professional career with CJOH-TV in Ottawa during its early years, anchoring the local newscasts and hosting the teen dance show Saturday Date on Saturdays. In 1965, ABC News tapped him to anchor its flagship evening news program. Critics and others in the television news business attacked his inexperience, making his job difficult. He became a foreign correspondent in 1968, reporting from the Middle East. (Full article...)

General images

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

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  Ad for the beginning of experimental television broadcasting in New York City by RCA in 1939 (from History of television)
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  RCA 630-TS, the first mass-produced television set, which sold in 1946–1947 (from History of television)
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  RCA 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)
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  The first mass-produced Czechoslovak TV-set Tesla 4001A (1953–57) (from History of television)
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  LG Smart TV using the Web browser (from Smart TV)
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  Public television in France uses 819 line b&w high definition, from 1959 until 1983 (TF1). (from History of television)
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  An early Smart TV from 2012 running the discontinued Orsay platform (from History of television)
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  Ferdinand Braun (from History of television)
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  A map depicting digital terrestrial television standards (from Digital television)
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  Manfred von Ardenne in 1933 (from History of television)
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  Baird in 1925 with his televisor equipment and dummies "James" and "Stooky Bill" (right) (from History of television)
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  Samsung's discontinued Orsay platform (from Smart TV)
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  Family watching TV, 1958 (from History of television)
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  This 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)
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  LG Electronics smart TV from 2011 (from Smart TV)
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  Color bars used in a test pattern, sometimes used when no program material is available (from History of television)
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  First television test broadcast transmitted by the NHK Broadcasting Technology Research Institute in May 1939 (from History of television)
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  Smart TVs on display (from Smart TV)
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  A color television test at the Mount Kaukau transmitter site, New Zealand in 1970.
  A test pattern with color bars is used to calibrate the signal. (from Color television)
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  The 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)
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  Philo Farnsworth in 1924 (from History of television)
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  Hovannes Adamian c. 1900s (from Color television)
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  DBS satellite dishes (from History of television)
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  The Philco Predicta, 1958. In the collection of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis (from History of television)
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  Comparison of image quality between ISDB-T (1080i broadcast, top) and NTSC (480i transmission, bottom) (from Digital television)

  Featured lists -

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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  Romanek at the 2010 Tokyo International Film Festival

  
  
  American filmmaker Mark Romanek directed his first music video in 1986, for The The's "Sweet Bird of Truth". He earned his first MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction nomination for "Free Your Mind", performed by En Vogue, in 1993. Romanek later directed "Closer" for the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, which contains imagery involving terror, sexuality, and animal cruelty. In 1995, he directed the video for "Scream", set in space and performed by Michael and Janet Jackson, as well as the New Age surrealistic "Bedtime Story", performed by Madonna. They are two of the most expensive music videos ever made, costing $7 million and $5 million, respectively. "Scream" gained 11 nominations at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards, including Romanek's second Best Direction nomination, and his first Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Short Form.
  
  In 1996, Romanek directed the Mary Poppins-inspired "Novocaine for the Soul" for the rock band Eels. The following year, he directed Fiona Apple's "Criminal", which explores themes of voyeurism and adolescence; and won his second Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Short Form for "Got 'til It's Gone", performed by Janet Jackson, Q-Tip and Joni Mitchell. For his work in "Hurt" (2003), performed by Johnny Cash, Romanek earned another MTV nomination, and won his third Grammy. In 2004, he directed the auto-biographical music video for Jay-Z's "99 Problems", for which he won his first MTV award. Their subsequent collaborations—the installation-style 10-minute short film for "Picasso Baby" (2013), and the animation video for "The Story of O.J." (2017)—were nominated for Grammy Award for Best Music Video. (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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No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	U.S. viewers (millions)
1	1	"Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire"	David Silverman	Mimi Pond	December 17, 1989 (1989-12-17)	7G08	26.7
2	2	"Bart the Genius"	David Silverman	Jon Vitti	January 14, 1990 (1990-01-14)	7G02	24.5
3	3	"Homer's Odyssey"	Wes Archer	Jay Kogen & Wallace Wolodarsky	January 21, 1990 (1990-01-21)	7G03	27.5
4	4	"There's No Disgrace Like Home"	Gregg Vanzo & Kent Butterworth	Al Jean & Mike Reiss	January 28, 1990 (1990-01-28)	7G04	20.2
5	5	"Bart the General"	David Silverman	John Swartzwelder	February 4, 1990 (1990-02-04)	7G05	27.1
6	6	"Moaning Lisa"	Wes Archer	Al Jean & Mike Reiss	February 11, 1990 (1990-02-11)	7G06	27.4
7	7	"The Call of the Simpsons"	Wes Archer	John Swartzwelder	February 18, 1990 (1990-02-18)	7G09	27.6
8	8	"The Telltale Head"	Rich Moore	Al Jean, Mike Reiss, Sam Simon & Matt Groening	February 25, 1990 (1990-02-25)	7G07	28.0
9	9	"Life on the Fast Lane"	David Silverman	John Swartzwelder	March 18, 1990 (1990-03-18)	7G11	33.5
10	10	"Homer's Night Out"	Rich Moore	Jon Vitti	March 25, 1990 (1990-03-25)	7G10	30.3
11	11	"The Crepes of Wrath"	Wes Archer & Milton Gray	George Meyer, Sam Simon, John Swartzwelder & Jon Vitti	April 15, 1990 (1990-04-15)	7G13	31.2
12	12	"Krusty Gets Busted"	Brad Bird	Jay Kogen & Wallace Wolodarsky	April 29, 1990 (1990-04-29)	7G12	30.4
13	13	"Some Enchanted Evening"	David Silverman & Kent Butterworth	Matt Groening & Sam Simon	May 13, 1990 (1990-05-13)	7G01	27.1

Season	Episodes		Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired	Network
1	8		April 8, 1990 (1990-04-08)	May 23, 1990 (1990-05-23)	ABC
2	22		September 30, 1990 (1990-09-30)	June 10, 1991 (1991-06-10)
Fire Walk with Me			August 28, 1992 (1992-08-28)		N/A
3	18		May 21, 2017 (2017-05-21)	September 3, 2017 (2017-09-03)	Showtime

(Full article...)

The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor 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 actor 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, Peter Hansen was the first winner of this award for his portrayal of Lee Baldwin on General Hospital. The awards ceremony was not televised in 1983 and 1984, having been criticized for voting integrity. Following the introduction of a new category in 1985, Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series, the criteria for this category was altered, requiring all actors to be aged 26 or above. (Full article...)

The Carry On series is a long-running British sequence of comedy films, stage shows and television programmes produced between 1958 and 1992. Distributed by Anglo-Amalgamated from 1958 to 1966, and the Rank Organisation from 1967 to 1978, the films were all made at Pinewood Studios. The series' humour relied largely on innuendo and double entendre. There were thirty-one films, four TV Christmas specials, one television series of thirteen episodes, and three West End and provincial stage plays, all made on time and to a strict budget.

Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas were the series' sole producer and director respectively. They mostly employed the same crew and a regular group of actors. The main cast predominantly featured Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Kenneth Connor, Peter Butterworth, Hattie Jacques, Terry Scott, Bernard Bresslaw, Barbara Windsor, Jack Douglas and Jim Dale. The Carry Ons comprise the largest number of films of any British series and, next to the James Bond films, are the second-longest continually-running UK film series (with a fourteen-year hiatus between 1978 and 1992). Between 1958 and 1992, there were seven writers, principally Norman Hudis (1958–62) and Talbot Rothwell (1963–74). The films were scored by three different composers: Bruce Montgomery from 1958–62; Eric Rogers (1963–75, 1977–78) and Max Harris who scored the 1976 film Carry On England. (Full article...)

Celebrity Big Brother is a spin-off of the British reality television series Big Brother, broadcast in the UK and Ireland. Originally broadcast on Channel 4 and E4, and later on Channel 5 and 5Star, and ITV1 and ITV2 respectively, it involves a group of celebrities, called housemates, living in isolation from the outside world in a custom-built "house". The actions of the participants are recorded constantly by microphones and cameras situated in each room. Regularly, the housemates nominate two other members of the group each to face eviction; those with the most nominations face a public telephone vote, and the housemate who receives the most public votes is evicted. This procedure continues until the final day, when the viewers vote for who of the remaining participants they want to win the programme. Profits from premium-rate telephone votes are donated to charities such as Comic Relief, Centrepoint and Samaritans. (Full article...)

Reynolds promoting Deadpool 2 at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con

Ryan Reynolds is a Canadian actor and producer who has appeared in films, television series, videos, and Video games. Reynolds made his acting debut on television in the teen drama Fifteen in 1991. Two years later, he made his feature film debut by playing an orphan raised in India, who is inspired by Mahatma Gandhi to go on a hunger strike in a small town in Canada in Ordinary Magic (1993). Reynolds had a recurring role on the television show The Odyssey (1993). He followed this with minor appearances on The X-Files (1996), and the television film Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996). His breakthrough role was as medical student Michael "Berg" Bergen in the sitcom Two Guys and a Girl.

He also played a slacker in National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002), and vampire hunter Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity (2004) with Wesley Snipes. Reynolds appeared in lead roles in the commercially successful romantic comedies Just Friends (2005), Definitely, Maybe (2008), and The Proposal (2009). In 2010, he played a military contractor who is captured by terrorists in the psychological thriller Buried. The following year, Reynolds starred in the title role of the superhero film Green Lantern, which received a generally negative reception from the critics and underperformed at the box office leading to a decline in his career. In 2013, he voiced a garden snail in Turbo and a caveman in The Croods. Two years later, he appeared in the drama Mississippi Grind and played lawyer E. Randol Schoenberg in Woman in Gold. (Full article...)

Text logo for the series

Penn & Teller: Bullshit! is an American documentary television series that aired for eight seasons from 2003 to 2010 on the premium cable channel Showtime. Penn & Teller: Bullshit! was hosted by professional magicians and skeptics Penn & Teller. Its format consists of debating political topics, often from a naturalist libertarian capitalist point of view (the political philosophy espoused by both Penn and Teller) or aiming to debunk pseudoscientific ideas, paranormal beliefs, popular fads and misconceptions. The hosts examine topics within the analytical structure of science.

The television program has been nominated for 21 awards, winning two. The Writers Guild of America bestowed an award upon the program in 2004 recognizing excellence in its writing quality. It received an award from the Independent Investigations Group in 2008, recognizing the show's contribution to public understanding of scientific skepticism and rational thinking. In addition, over the course of its run Penn & Teller: Bullshit! garnered a Directors Guild of America Award nomination, 13 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and five Writers Guild of America Award nominations. (Full article...)

Season	Episodes		Segments	Originally aired
				First aired	Last aired
1	20		41	May 1, 1999 (1999-05-01)	March 3, 2001 (2001-03-03)
2	20		39	October 20, 2000 (2000-10-20)	July 26, 2003 (2003-07-26)
3	20		37	October 5, 2001 (2001-10-05)	October 11, 2004 (2004-10-11)
4	20		38	May 6, 2005 (2005-05-06)	July 24, 2007 (2007-07-24)
5	20		41	February 19, 2007 (2007-02-19)	July 19, 2009 (2009-07-19)
6	26		47	March 3, 2008 (2008-03-03)	July 5, 2010 (2010-07-05)
7	26		50	July 19, 2009 (2009-07-19)	June 11, 2011 (2011-06-11)
8	26		47	March 26, 2011 (2011-03-26)	December 6, 2012 (2012-12-06)
9	26		49	July 21, 2012 (2012-07-21)	February 20, 2017 (2017-02-20)
10	11		22	October 15, 2016 (2016-10-15)	December 2, 2017 (2017-12-02)
11	26		50	June 24, 2017 (2017-06-24)	November 25, 2018 (2018-11-25)
12	31		53	November 11, 2018 (2018-11-11)	April 29, 2022 (2022-04-29)
13	28		54	October 22, 2020 (2020-10-22)	November 1, 2023 (2023-11-01)
14	26		TBA	November 2, 2023 (2023-11-02)	TBA

(Full article...)

Bernard Lee (1908–1981) was an English actor who performed in many light entertainment media, including film, television and theatre. His career spanned from 1934 to 1981, although he made his first appearance on the stage at the age of six. He is perhaps best known for playing M in the first eleven Eon-produced James Bond films.

Lee trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, before making his professional stage debut in 1924. He appeared on film for the first time in 1934 in the Leslie Howard Gordon-directed comedy The Double Event, where he played the part of Dennison. Although he was in wartime service with the Royal Sussex Regiment between 1940 and 1946, he had already been in several films, which were released between 1939 and 1943. He returned to acting after the war and was offered a role in the play Stage Door while awaiting his demob. (Full article...)

Season	Episodes		Originally aired		Rank	Average viewers (in millions)
			First aired	Last aired
1	22		September 27, 2015 (2015-09-27)	May 15, 2016 (2016-05-15)	55	8.05
2	22		September 25, 2016 (2016-09-25)	May 15, 2017 (2017-05-15)	99	4.53
3	13		April 26, 2018 (2018-04-26)	August 3, 2018 (2018-08-03)	—	—

(Full article...)

News

Wikinews television portal

• December 28: US professional wrestler Jon Huber dies aged 41
• September 2: Tributes paid to recently deceased US actor Chadwick Boseman
• May 24: Japanese professional wrestler and Netflix star Hana Kimura dies aged 22
• January 16: BBC newsreader Alagiah to undergo treatment for bowel cancer

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