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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 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...)

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"The Beginning of the End" is the fourth season premiere, and seventieth episode overall, of the American Broadcasting Company's serial drama television series Lost. It was aired on ABC in the United States and CTV in Canada on January 31, 2008. Co-creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Carlton Cuse wrote the premiere in late July 2007, with most of the episode directed on location in Oahu, Hawaii in August and September by executive producer Jack Bender. With this premiere, Jeff Pinkner no longer serves as an executive producer and staff writer. The episode was watched by 16 million Americans, bringing in the best ratings for Lost in seventeen episodes. According to Metacritic, "The Beginning of the End" garnered "universal acclaim". The narrative takes place 93 days after the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, on December 23, 2004. The stranded crash survivors make contact with Naomi Dorrit's (played by Marsha Thomason) associates on a nearby freighter, but the survivors divide when they hear that those on the freighter may not be coming to rescue the survivors. Flashforwards show the post-island lives of Hurley Reyes (Jorge Garcia) and Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox). They are lying to the public about their time on the island. In flashforwards, Hurley has visions of his deceased friend Charlie Pace (Dominic Monaghan); in the present, Hurley grieves over Charlie's death on the island. Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies) makes his first appearance in "The Beginning of the End".

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Credit: Stéfan Le Dû from Nantes, France

Fuji Television Network, Inc. Kabushiki Gaisha Fuji Terebijon is a Japanese television network based in Odaiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan. It is known as Fuji TV Fuji Terebi or CX. It is the flagship TV station of Fuji News Network (FNN) and Fuji Network System or FNS. It also has a relationship with Nippon Broadcasting System, Inc.

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... that Laura Robinson invented Canada's best-selling board game before becoming a successful actress and television producer?
... that before being restored as a Broadway theater, the Ritz Theatre was used as a television studio, pornographic theater, vaudeville house, children's theater, and poster warehouse?
... that Ernst Jacobi, known for portraying Gauleiter Löbsack in Volker Schlöndorff's film The Tin Drum, played more than 200 roles as a television actor?
... that 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"?
... that before pursuing a career in music, Lauren Jenkins was the host of a wrestling television show?
... that in 1982, a news anchor for Phoenix television station KOOL-TV was held hostage on set for five hours?

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There are now more TVs in British households than there are people - which is a bit of a worry.

— Charles, Prince of Wales

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

...that Anne Montgomery, who has been a sportscaster for several local television stations as well as SportsCenter, was the first female football referee in Arizona?

...that model Albert Reed, selected to appear in September 2007 on the United States television show Dancing with the Stars, admits that he cannot dance?

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

...that the Zambian district of Chiengi has no television or telephone service?

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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), alongside Tom Cruise. 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 1LG Electronics smart TV from 2011 (from Smart TV)
Image 2The 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 3The Philco Predicta, 1958. In the collection of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis (from History of television)
Image 4A map depicting digital terrestrial television standards (from Digital television)
Image 5Public television in France uses 819 line b&w high definition, from 1959 until 1983 (TF1). (from History of television)
Image 6The first mass-produced Czechoslovak TV-set Tesla 4001A (1953–57) (from History of 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 8Philo Farnsworth in 1924 (from History of television)
Image 9Manfred von Ardenne in 1933 (from History of television)
Image 10RCA 630-TS, the first mass-produced television set, which sold in 1946–1947 (from History of television)
Image 11Family watching TV, 1958 (from History of television)
Image 12DBS satellite dishes. (from History of television)
Image 13This 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 14First television test broadcast transmitted by the NHK Broadcasting Technology Research Institute in May 1939 (from History of 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 16An early Smart TV from 2012 running the discontinued Orsay platform (from History of television)
Image 17Ferdinand Braun (from History of television)
Image 18Comparison of image quality between ISDB-T (1080i broadcast, top) and NTSC (480i transmission, bottom) (from Digital television)
Image 19Ad for the beginning of experimental television broadcasting in New York City by RCA in 1939 (from History of television)
Image 20Smart TVs on display (from Smart TV)
Image 21Color bars used in a test pattern, sometimes used when no program material is available. (from History of television)
Image 22Samsung's discontinued Orsay platform (from Smart TV)
Image 23Hovannes Adamian c. 1900s (from Color television)
Image 24LG Smart TV using the Web browser (from Smart TV)
Image 25Baird in 1925 with his televisor equipment and dummies "James" and "Stooky Bill" (right). (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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Richardson in the 1962 film, Long Day's Journey into Night

Sir Ralph Richardson (1902–1983) was an English actor who appeared on radio, film, television and stage. Described by The Guardian as "indisputably our most poetic actor", and by the director David Ayliff as "a natural actor ... [who] couldn't stop being a perfect actor", Richardson's career lasted over 50 years. He was—in the words of his biographer, Sheridan Morley—one "of the three great actor knights of the mid-twentieth century", alongside Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud.

After seeing a production of Hamlet starring Sir Frank Benson, Richardson decided to become an actor and made his stage debut, playing a gendarme in The Bishop's Candlesticks in December 1920. After touring and appearing in rep, he made his London debut in July 1926 as the stranger in Oedipus at Colonus. In 1930 he joined the Old Vic where he first met Gielgud, staying with the company until the following year. After service during the Second World War with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, he returned to acting, preferring the works of the more modern authors Luigi Pirandello, Joe Orton, Harold Pinter, George Bernard Shaw and J. B. Priestley to the classic plays of Shakespeare. A radio career ran in parallel to that on the stage, and Richardson was first broadcast in The City in 1929. (Full article...)
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The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress 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 actress 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, Suzanne Rogers was the first winner of this award, for her role as Maggie Horton on Days of Our Lives. The awards ceremony was not aired on television in 1983 and 1984, having been criticized for voting integrity. Following the introduction of a new category in 1985, Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series, one criterion for this category was altered, requiring all actresses to be aged 26 or above. (Full article...)
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The Claymore anime series is based on the manga series of the same name by Norihiro Yagi. The episodes are directed by Hiroyuki Tanaka and produced by Madhouse Studios. They adapt the first through eleventh volumes of the manga over 24 episodes. The remaining 2 episodes follow an original storyline not found in the manga written by Yagi. The series aired between April 2007 and September 2007 in Japan on Nippon Television. The series follows the adventures of Clare, a Claymore, or half-human, half-yoma hybrid, and her comrades as they fight for survival in a world filled with yoma, or shapeshifting demons.

Two pieces of theme music are used for the episodes: one opening theme and one ending theme. The opening theme is "Raison d’être" (レゾンデートル, lit. Reason for being) by Nightmare. The ending theme is J-pop singer Riyu Kosaka's single, "Danzai no Hana~Guilty Sky" (断罪の花 ~Guilty Sky~, lit. Flower of Conviction~Guilty Sky). A single for "Danzai no Hana~Guilty Sky" was released on May 30, 2007, and the single for "Raison d’être" was released on June 6, 2007. (Full article...)
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The Best Female Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award is an annual award honoring the achievements of a female athlete from the world of action sports. It was first awarded as part of the ESPY Awards in 2004 after the non-gender-specific Best Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award was presented the previous two years (with the American snowboarder Kelly Clark receiving the 2002 award). It is given to the female, irrespective of nationality or sport contested, adjudged to be the best action sports athlete in a given calendar year. Balloting for the award is 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 is conferred in July to reflect performance and achievement over the preceding twelve months.

The inaugural winner of the award was the American wakeboarder Dallas Friday. During 2003 and 2004, Friday won 12 of the available 14 professional women's titles, including national and world championships. She became the first wakeboarder to be nominated for, and hence to win, an ESPY Award. Athletes from the United States have won more times than any other nationality with ten (three times to snowboarders Jamie Anderson and Chloe Kim), followed by Australians with three, two of which went to the surfer Stephanie Gilmore. Snowboarders are most successful sportspeople, with eleven awards, followed by surfers with four. It was not awarded in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The most recent winner of the award was Chinese freestyle skier Eileen Gu in 2022. (Full article...)
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Numbers is an American television series produced by brothers Ridley and Tony Scott. It premiered on CBS on Sunday, January 23, 2005 at 10:00 pm with its pilot episode then moved to its Friday slot five days later. It remained in that slot for the rest of its run. The series is set in Los Angeles, California, and follows the stories of a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) team and a mathematics professor, focusing on relationships between FBI Special Agent in Charge Don Eppes (Rob Morrow), his brother Professor Charlie Eppes (David Krumholtz) and their father, Alan Eppes (Judd Hirsch), and on the brothers' efforts to fight crime. A typical episode begins with a crime, which is subsequently investigated by Don's team and mathematically described by Charlie. The insights provided by Charlie's mathematics are almost always crucial to solving the crime.

In total, six complete seasons consisting of 118 episodes were broadcast. The first season, a mid-season replacement for Dr. Vegas, was the shortest of the six, and spanned 13 episodes from January to May 2005. Seasons two and three aired from September to May of the 2005–2006 and 2006–2007 seasons respectively, but season four was cut short by the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. Twelve episodes were originally produced and aired from September 2007 to January 2008. Six more episodes were aired in April and May 2008 after the strike ended. Season 5 began airing on October 3, 2008 and continued through to May 2009. Season six began in late September 2009 and concluded in March 2010. (Full article...)
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The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series Directing Team 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 1st Daytime Emmy Awards ceremony, held in 1974 when the award was originally called Outstanding Individual Director for a Drama Series. Therefore, between 1974 and 1978; the award only honored individual directors. In 1979, the award was renamed Outstanding Direction for a Drama Series before using its current title years later. Since then, the award has honored the performances of the entire directing team participating in a form of a daytime drama. The awards ceremony was not aired on television 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, weighs five pounds and is composed of iron, pewter, zinc and gold. (Full article...)
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Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane also provides the voices of Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin, and Glenn Quagmire.

Family Guy is an American animated sitcom that features five main voice actors, and numerous regular cast and recurring guest stars. The principal voice cast consists of show creator Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Mila Kunis (who replaced Lacey Chabert after the first season (her last episode is "Holy Crap," now marketed as the second episode of season two)), Seth Green, and Mike Henry; Patrick Warburton and Arif Zahir were later added to the main cast (the former being promoted from recurring cast); Recurring voice actors include Adam West, Sam Elliott, John G. Brennan, Nicole Sullivan and Jennifer Tilly, and repeat guest stars include Phyllis Diller, Charles Durning, Rush Limbaugh, James Woods and Phil LaMarr.

Many cast members provide voices for multiple characters. The voice actors, in portraying the various character personalities on the show, draw inspiration from celebrities and pop culture. Family Guy characters have been played by more than one actor, after members of the show left the series or had conflicting obligations. (Full article...)
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Louie is an American television comedy created, written, directed by, and starring stand-up comedian Louis C.K. The series has aired for five seasons on the cable channel FX since June 29, 2010. The show centers on a fictionalized version of C.K.'s life as a comedian, father, and divorcé.

Since its debut, the series has earned widespread critical acclaim and has been nominated for a variety of different awards, including twenty-two Primetime Emmy Awards (three wins for the series), eight Television Critics Association Awards (three wins), two Golden Globe Awards, four Writers Guild of America Awards (three wins), three Directors Guild of America Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Producers Guild of America Awards. (Full article...)
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Roddenberry's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry (August 19, 1921 – October 24, 1991) was an American screenwriter and producer of several television series, best known for his work in creating the Star Trek franchise. He began a writing career while he was a Sergeant in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and his first work to be bought by a network was The Secret Defense of 117, although it took four years to be broadcast. During that time, he wrote four episodes of the police procedural Highway Patrol under the pseudonym "Robert Wesley", as the LAPD required employees to seek formal permission to work a second job. After leaving the force, he wrote for several series, such as Have Gun – Will Travel but wanted to become a producer.

He wrote pilots for a series of his own, but these were turned down by the studios until he began work on The Lieutenant. This ran for a single season on NBC on Saturday nights. While involved in that series, he began working on a science fiction premise that became Star Trek. He oversaw the production of the series for the first two seasons, but following budget cuts and the move to an unfavorable timeslot for the third season, he stepped back from working on Star Trek but remained credited as an executive producer. Following the cancellation of the series, he wrote and produced his first feature film, Pretty Maids All in a Row. He also produced several new science fiction pilots: Genesis II (also re-worked into a second pilot, called Planet Earth), The Questor Tapes and Spectre. Of these, Questor was approved to go to a full season, but following disagreements between Roddenberry and the studio over suggested changes, it was canceled. (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...)
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Black Lagoon is an anime television series adapted from the titular manga series by Rei Hiroe. Directed by Sunao Katabuchi and produced by Madhouse, it consists of two seasons produced for television, and one in original video animation format. The two seasons, each twelve episodes in length, are titled Black Lagoon— which was co-produced by Shogakukan—and Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage. The OVA, titled Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail, consists of only five episodes. The series takes place during the mid-1990s and follows the adventures of Rokuro "Rock" Okajima, a Japanese businessman who is abducted by, and eventually joins a group of outlaws known as the "Lagoon Company".

The first season premiered on Chiba TV from April 8 through June 24, 2006, the second from October 2 through December 18 on Sendai Television and Kyushu Asahi Broadcasting. All twenty-four episodes were then released in Japan on DVD across 12 volumes from July 26, 2006, through June 27, 2007. Blu-ray Disc releases—eight volumes in total—followed from December 23, 2009, through March 25, 2010. In North America, these seasons were first released across six DVD volumes with English and Japanese audio tracks and English subtitles from May 22, 2007, through October 28, 2008. The first three of these were distributed by Geneon Entertainment USA before Funimation took over distribution of the series in mid 2008, and released a hybrid DVD and Blu-ray Disc collection of both seasons on December 4, 2012. In Europe, MVM Entertainment released them across six DVD volumes from March 10, 2008, through January 5, 2009, and across two Blu-ray Disc collections on July 30, 2012. In Australia and New Zealand, Madman Entertainment released them across six DVD volumes from March 19 through September 17, 2008. The OVA was released in Japan simultaneously on DVD and Blu-ray Disc volumes containing one episode each between July 17, 2010, and June 22, 2011. For the North American market, Funimation announced a hybrid release of the OVA for August 6, 2013. (Full article...)
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Jacob Hoggard, the lead singer of Hedley, finished third on the second season of Canadian Idol.

Canadian Idol was a Canadian interactive reality game show series. The series premiered their first season in 2003 on CTV and was on air for six seasons. Based on the American version of the show, American Idol, it is part of the Idol series. Canadian Idol was the most-watched Canadian English-language television series of 2008. The show began with a tour across Canada, in which singers audition in front of four judges: Jake Gold, Sass Jordan, Zack Werner, and Farley Flex. The show was cancelled due to the slowing economy.

The show's age requirements allowed people to enter only if they were between 16 and 28 years of age. During every season, the final round of competition featured ten singers, except for season one when it had eleven finalists. 61 contestants have reached the finals of their respective Canadian Idol season. Out of the contestants listed, 26 of them were under the age of 20, including three winners and four runners-up. Seventeen finalists came from the province of Ontario, while British Columbia and Alberta each had nine. Alberta had the most Canadian Idol winners with three—Kalan Porter, Melissa O'Neil, and Theo Tams; Newfoundland and Labrador had the most runners-up with two—Rex Goudie and Craig Sharpe. Prince Edward Island was the only province to never have had a finalist. There has never been a Canadian Idol finalist from a Canadian territory. Toronto, Ontario was the hometown for the most Canadian Idol finalists with five, followed by Abbotsford, British Columbia with four. Rob James, Dwight d'Eon, and Drew Wright were 28 at the time their season's final round began, making them the oldest finalists to have performed; Emily Vinette, Daryl Brunt, Craig Sharpe, and Martha Joy were 16 at the time their season's final round began, making them the youngest finalists to have been in the finals. (Full article...)

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