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The Television Portal

Flat-screen televisions for sale at a consumer electronics store in 2008

Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, entertainment, news, and sports.

Television became available in crude experimental forms in the late 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. In the near future, LEDs are expected to be gradually replaced by OLEDs. Also, major manufacturers have announced that they will increasingly produce smart TVs in the mid-2010s. Smart TVs with integrated Internet and Web 2.0 functions became the dominant form of television by the late 2010s. (Full article...)

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Marquee from the film's premiere in Springfield, Vermont.

The Simpsons Movie is a 2007 American animated comedy film based on the animated television series The Simpsons. The film was directed by David Silverman, produced by James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, Al Jean, Mike Scully, and Richard Sakai, and written by Scully, Jean, Brooks, Groening, George Meyer, David Mirkin, Mike Reiss, John Swartzwelder, Jon Vitti, Ian Maxtone-Graham, and Matt Selman. It stars the regular television cast of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Tress MacNeille and Pamela Hayden and features Albert Brooks in a prominent guest role, as well as Tom Hanks and Green Day in smaller ones. After previous attempts to create a film version of The Simpsons had failed because of script length and lack of staff, production began in 2001. The script was re-written one hundred times continuing after animation had begun. This meant that "two films' worth" of finished material was cut, including cameos from Isla Fisher, Minnie Driver, Erin Brockovich, and Kelsey Grammer. The film premiered in Springfield, Vermont, which won the right to hold it through a Fox competition. The film was a box office success, and received positive reception from film critics, though some felt the film was too short.

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Credit: National Broadcasting Company/public domain

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 WNJU, a Spanish-language television station serving New York City, was the first in the United States to air a hard-liquor advertisement?
... that the Japanese pop group Yaen, originally formed to perform a parody song on a television variety series, went on to produce three top-ten albums?
... that a group-stage match at the 2001 Malta Grand Prix snooker tournament was disrupted when electrical cables attached to the television lighting rig snapped and swung across the table?
... that the 1960 television play Sacco-Vanzetti Story was called "one of the most controversial ever seen on television"?
... that Anna May Wong had the starring role in Daughter of the Dragon, but was paid half as much as the non-Asian actor who played her father?
... that 2 Cheap Cars withdrew a television advertisement in New Zealand because children were copying the main character's catchphrase, "Ah so", which they sometimes pronounced "asshole"?

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You go to your TV to turn your brain off. You go to the computer when you want to turn your brain on.

— Steve Jobs

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...that The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer, a book that analyzes the The Simpsons using philosophical concepts, is the main textbook in philosophy courses offered at some universities?

...that one of the television advertisements from the Good things come to those who wait Guinness advertising campaign was voted the "Best ad of all time" by the British public?

...that Augie Hiebert not only built Alaska's first television station, KTVA, but also founded the state's first FM radio station, KNIK-FM?

...that Tomorrow's Pioneers, a television program for children produced by Hamas, features a mascot similar to Mickey Mouse?

...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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Pitt in 2019

William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. As a public figure, Pitt has been cited as one of the most powerful and influential people in the American entertainment industry.

Pitt first gained recognition as a cowboy hitchhiker in the Ridley Scott road film Thelma & Louise (1991). His first leading roles in big-budget productions came with the drama films A River Runs Through It (1992) and Legends of the Fall (1994). He also starred in the horror film Interview with the Vampire (1994). He gave critically acclaimed performances in David Fincher's crime thriller Seven (1995) and the science fiction film 12 Monkeys (1995). The latter earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and his first Academy Award nomination. (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 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 1Ferdinand Braun (from History of television)
Image 2Baird in 1925 with his televisor equipment and dummies "James" and "Stooky Bill" (right). (from History of television)
Image 3Philo Farnsworth in 1924 (from History of television)
Image 4Samsung’s discontinued Orsay platform (from Smart TV)
Image 5Manfred von Ardenne in 1933 (from History of television)
Image 6Comparison of image quality between ISDB-T (1080i broadcast, top) and NTSC (480i transmission, bottom) (from Digital television)
Image 7A 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)
Image 8The 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 9An early Smart TV from 2012 running the discontinued Orsay platform (from History of television)
Image 10Family watching TV, 1958 (from History of television)
Image 11RCA 630-TS, the first mass-produced television set, which sold in 1946–1947 (from History of television)
Image 12LG Smart TV using the Web browser (from Smart TV)
Image 13Ad for the beginning of experimental television broadcasting in New York City by RCA in 1939 (from History of television)
Image 14Hovannes Adamian c. 1900s (from Color television)
Image 15RCA 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 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 18The Philco Predicta, 1958. In the collection of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis (from History of television)
Image 19This 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 20Smart TVs on display (from Smart TV)
Image 21DBS satellite dishes. (from History of television)
Image 22The first mass-produced Czechoslovak TV-set Tesla 4001A (1953–57) (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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Naruto is an anime television series based on the manga series of the same name by Masashi Kishimoto. The series centers on the adventures of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village, searching for recognitions and wishing to become the ninja by the rest of the village to be the leader and the strongest of all. The series was directed by Hayato Date, and produced by Pierrot and TV Tokyo. The episodes are based on the first twenty-seven volumes in Part I of the manga, while some episodes feature original, self-contained storylines.

The 220 episodes that constitute the series were aired between October 3, 2002, and February 8, 2007, on TV Tokyo in Japan. The English version of the series was released in North America by Viz Media, and began airing on September 10, 2005, on Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block in the United States. On September 20, 2008, Cartoon Network ended its Toonami block, but the channel continued sporadically airing episodes of Naruto in the time slots originally occupied by Toonami's programming until January 31, 2009 when episode 209, the last episode to air in the US was shown, due to the closure of Toonami Jetstream. (Full article...)
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Mad Men is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner, produced by Lionsgate Television and broadcast on the cable network AMC. It premiered on July 19, 2007, and ended on May 17, 2015, after seven seasons and ninety-two episodes. Set in New York City amid the social changes of the 1960s, the show follows the people working at an advertising agency on Madison Avenue. It stars Jon Hamm as Don Draper, an advertising executive at the fictional Sterling Cooper agency (later Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce) who, despite his professional successes, struggles to handle secrets from his past and to maintain his personal and family life. Other members of the show's original ensemble cast include Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson, Vincent Kartheiser as Pete Campbell, January Jones as Betty Draper, Christina Hendricks as Joan Holloway, and John Slattery as Roger Sterling; the cast saw numerous changes during its run.

Mad Men has been widely praised as one of the greatest television series of its era and of all time, and during its run, it earned numerous accolades for its acting, writing, directing, and technical achievements. Among these recognitions, it won sixteen Primetime Emmy Awards from 116 nominations. The series won the award for Outstanding Drama Series four times from eight nominations, tying the record for most wins in the category. Its win in 2008 for its first season made it the first basic cable series to win the award. Hamm was also nominated eight times for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, ultimately winning the award once in 2015. However, despite these successes, the show often came up notably empty-handed; its seventeen nominations without a win in 2012 set an Emmys record for largest shutout in a year, and Hamm's win in 2015 was the show's only acting win from thirty-seven nominations. (Full article...)
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The Best Fighter ESPY Award was an annual award honoring the achievements of an individual from the world of combat sports. The Best Fighter ESPY Award trophy was presented to the professional or amateur boxer or mixed martial artist adjudged to be the best in a given calendar year at the annual ESPY Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. It was first awarded as part of the ESPY Awards in 2007, subsuming the Best Boxer ESPY Award until 2019, when the Best MMA Fighter ESPY Award was established, and the ESPY Awards began awarding boxers and mixed martial arts fighters separately. Balloting for the award was undertaken by fans over the Internet from between three and five choices selected by the ESPN Select Nominating Committee, which is composed of a panel of experts. It was conferred in July to reflect performance and achievement over the preceding twelve months.

The inaugural winner of the Best Fighter ESPY Award was American welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr., who defeated the incumbent category title holder Oscar De La Hoya two months prior. He is one of two people to have been presented with the award more than once, winning the accolade a total of six times; Mayweather was also nominated in 2015. Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao has the second most awards won with victories in 2009 and 2011. It has been presented to one woman in its history, American bantamweight mixed martial arts fighter Ronda Rousey in 2015. Between 2007 and 2018, boxers were most successful at the ESPY Awards with nine victories and twenty-four nominations, followed by mixed martial arts with three wins and nineteen nominations. (Full article...)
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Community is an American comedy television series created by Dan Harmon. The show ran for six seasons and 110 episodes, with its first five seasons airing on NBC from September 17, 2009 to April 17, 2014 and the final season airing on Yahoo! Screen from March 17, 2015 to June 2, 2015. Set at Greendale Community College, the series stars an ensemble cast playing members of a diverse study group. The main cast includes Joel McHale as Jeff Winger, Gillian Jacobs as Britta Perry, Danny Pudi as Abed Nadir, Yvette Nicole Brown as Shirley Bennett, Alison Brie as Annie Edison, Donald Glover as Troy Barnes, Ken Jeong as Ben Chang, Chevy Chase as Pierce Hawthorne, and Jim Rash as Dean Craig Pelton. A comedy about friendships and relationships, the show uses frequent pop culture references and meta-humor, as well as high-concept episodes including documentary spoofs, action movie homages and storylines inspired by movies.

Despite being critically acclaimed and gaining a cult following, the show faced production issues and repeatedly came close to cancellation. The third season was subject to a mid-season replacement, its second half airing months later than originally planned. Harmon was fired as showrunner for the fourth season, though he was rehired by the fifth season. The end of the fourth season and middle of the fifth season saw the departures of Chase and Glover, respectively. The show was cancelled by NBC and moved to Yahoo! Screen for its sixth and final season, which also saw the departure of Brown. Community was effectively cancelled when Yahoo! Screen shut down in 2016. (Full article...)
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The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding 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 was first awarded at the 24th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony, held in 1972, when the award was originally called Outstanding Achievement in a Daytime Drama for two years.

The first daytime-themed Emmy Awards were presented in 1974, when this award was renamed Outstanding Drama Series and given in honor of a daytime drama. The awards ceremony was not televised in 1983 and 1984, having been criticized for lack of integrity.
The Emmy was named after an "Immy", an affectionate term used to refer to the image orthicon camera tube. The statuette was designed by Louis McManus, who modeled the award after his wife, Dorothy. The Emmy statuette is fifteen inches tall from base to tip. The statuette weighs 5 pounds and is composed of iron, pewter, zinc and gold. (Full article...)
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The episodes of the Tokyo Mew Mew anime series are based on the manga series of the same name written by Reiko Yoshida and illustrated by Mia Ikumi. Directed by Noriyuki Abe and produced by Studio Pierrot, the episodes focus on five girls infused with the DNA of rare animals that gives them special powers and allows them to transform into "Mew Mews". Led by Ichigo Momomiya, the girls protect the earth from aliens who wish to "reclaim" it.

Broadcast on both TV Aichi and TV Tokyo, the series premiered on April 6, 2002 and aired weekly until its conclusion on March 29, 2003. 4Kids Entertainment licensed the first 26 episodes of the series for the English-dubbed release in North America in 2004. Their release, initially titled Hollywood Mew Mew, would be heavily edited and localized to the point that viewers would not recognize its Japanese origins. The series was later referred to as The Mew Mews and Tokyo Mew Mew in subsequent 4Kids press releases. (Full article...)
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Terry-Thomas in Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?, 1968

The English actor and comedian Terry-Thomas (1911–1990) performed in many mediums of light entertainment, including film, radio and theatre. His professional career spanned 50 years from 1933 until his retirement in 1983. During this time he became synonymous with playing the "silly-ass Englishman", a characterisation that he had portrayed from his time on the variety circuit.

Terry-Thomas made his film debut as an extra in the 1933 film, The Private Life of Henry VIII, which starred Charles Laughton in the title role; Terry-Thomas continued to undertake a series of small and uncredited film roles while his reputation grew on radio and television. He played his first role on radio in the 1938 BBC tea dance programme Friends to Tea, before spending the Second World War with the Royal Corps of Signals and ENSA, the Entertainments National Service Association. (Full article...)

Season	Episodes	Originally aired
Season	Episodes	First aired	Last aired
1	13	January 4, 1999 (1999-01-04)	June 11, 1999 (1999-06-11)
2	13	November 26, 1999 (1999-11-26)	December 22, 2000 (2000-12-22)
3	13	April 6, 2001 (2001-04-06)	July 12, 2002 (2002-07-12)
4	13	September 27, 2002 (2002-09-27)	November 5, 2004 (2004-11-05)
5	12	November 4, 2005 (2005-11-04)	April 28, 2007 (2007-04-28)
6	1	June 29, 2008 (2008-06-29)
Holiday Specials	3	December 3, 2004 (2004-12-03)	October 28, 2005 (2005-10-28)
CN Invaded		May 11, 2007 (2007-05-11)
Television film		November 8, 2009 (2009-11-08)

(Full article...)

$Image 9 Dancing with the Stars is an American reality television show in which celebrity contestants and professional dance partners compete to be the best dancers, as determined by the show's judges and public voting. The series first broadcast in 2005, and thirty-one complete seasons have aired. During each season, competitors are progressively eliminated on the basis of public voting and scores received from the judges until only a few contestants remain. These finalists participate in a finale, from which a winner is determined. Celebrities appearing on Dancing with the Stars include "actors, singers, comedians, musicians, entrepreneurs, athletes, reality stars, journalists, TV presenters, internet personalities, newsmakers, and where-are-they-now personalities". As of season 31, 367 celebrities have competed. Eleven of those withdrew from the competition: Sara Evans of season three left the show to "give her family full attention" after filing for divorce; Misty May-Treanor of season seven was forced to pull out after an ankle injury; Tom DeLay of season nine reportedly withdrew "due to stress fractures in both of his feet"; Dorothy Hamill of season sixteen withdrew due to a previous injury that was unrelated to the competition; Billy Dee Williams of season eighteen quit due to a back injury; Kim Zolciak-Biermann of season twenty-one was forced to withdraw after suffering a mini-stroke, which although cleared her to dance, prevented her from flying to California from Atlanta; Tamar Braxton, also of season twenty-one, withdrew due to pulmonary embolisms in her lungs; Christie Brinkley of season twenty-eight withdrew on the day of the season premiere due to an injury to her arm that required surgery; she was replaced by her daughter Sailor; Ray Lewis, also of season twenty-eight, withdrew due to a toe injury sustained during rehearsals; Jeannie Mai of season twenty-nine withdrew due to being hospitalized for epiglottitis; and Selma Blair of season thirty-one withdrew when it became too risky to continue dancing due to her multiple sclerosis. (Full article...)$

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Dancing with the Stars is an American reality television show in which celebrity contestants and professional dance partners compete to be the best dancers, as determined by the show's judges and public voting. The series first broadcast in 2005, and thirty-one complete seasons have aired. During each season, competitors are progressively eliminated on the basis of public voting and scores received from the judges until only a few contestants remain. These finalists participate in a finale, from which a winner is determined. Celebrities appearing on Dancing with the Stars include "actors, singers, comedians, musicians, entrepreneurs, athletes, reality stars, journalists, TV presenters, internet personalities, newsmakers, and where-are-they-now personalities".

As of season 31, 367 celebrities have competed. Eleven of those withdrew from the competition: Sara Evans of season three left the show to "give her family full attention" after filing for divorce; Misty May-Treanor of season seven was forced to pull out after an ankle injury; Tom DeLay of season nine reportedly withdrew "due to stress fractures in both of his feet"; Dorothy Hamill of season sixteen withdrew due to a previous injury that was unrelated to the competition; Billy Dee Williams of season eighteen quit due to a back injury; Kim Zolciak-Biermann of season twenty-one was forced to withdraw after suffering a mini-stroke, which although cleared her to dance, prevented her from flying to California from Atlanta; Tamar Braxton, also of season twenty-one, withdrew due to pulmonary embolisms in her lungs; Christie Brinkley of season twenty-eight withdrew on the day of the season premiere due to an injury to her arm that required surgery; she was replaced by her daughter Sailor; Ray Lewis, also of season twenty-eight, withdrew due to a toe injury sustained during rehearsals; Jeannie Mai of season twenty-nine withdrew due to being hospitalized for epiglottitis; and Selma Blair of season thirty-one withdrew when it became too risky to continue dancing due to her multiple sclerosis. (Full article...)
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Game of Thrones is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. The series is based on George R. R. Martin's series of fantasy novels, A Song of Ice and Fire. The series takes place on the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos, and chronicles the power struggles among noble families as they fight for control of the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms. The series starts when House Stark, led by Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark (Sean Bean), is drawn into schemes surrounding King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy).

The series premiered on April 17, 2011, on HBO. David Benioff and D. B. Weiss both serve as executive producers, along with Carolyn Strauss, Frank Doelger, Bernadette Caulfield, and George R. R. Martin. Filming for the series took place in a number of locations, including Croatia, Northern Ireland, Iceland, and Spain. Episodes were broadcast on Sunday at 9:00 pm Eastern Time, and the episodes are between 50 and 82 minutes in length. All eight seasons are available on DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray. (Full article...)
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The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series was an award presented annually by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). It was given annually from 1985 to 2019 to honor a young actress below the age of 25, who had delivered an outstanding performance in a role while working within the daytime drama industry.

At the 12th Daytime Emmy Awards held in 1985, Tracey E. Bregman was the first winner of this award, for her role of Lauren Fenmore on The Young and the Restless. The awards ceremony had not been aired on television for the prior two years, having been criticized for voting integrity. The award was originally called Outstanding Ingenue in a Drama Series, the criteria of the new category were deemed confusing, performers of differing ages were nominated, and critics argued some were of supporting or lead actress standards. Adding to the confusion, the first winner, Bregman, and the Outstanding Supporting Actress winner that year, Beth Maitland, played characters near to the same age. The category was re-named Outstanding Juvenile Female in a Drama Series in 1989, and began using its current title in 1991. The criteria were later altered, requiring that the actress be aged 25 or below. (Full article...)

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