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 still CRT, and 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 pilot episode of the television series Smallville premiered on The WB on October 16, 2001. It was written by series creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, and directed by David Nutter. The episode introduces the characters of Clark Kent, an orphaned alien with superhuman abilities, and his friends and family who live in the fictional town of Smallville, Kansas. It follows Clark as he first learns of his alien origins, and attempts to stop a vengeful student from killing Smallville High School students. Using visual elements and dialogue, the episode introduces many themes that were designed to run either the course of the season or the entire series, such as the triangular relationships of the main characters. Filming for the pilot officially began four days after the last actor was cast for the series. When the series premiere aired, it broke several of The WB's viewership records. It was generally well received by critics, and was nominated for several awards, winning two.

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Credit: Alan Light

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.

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... that singer Tati Penna was considered one of the first feminists on Chilean television?
... that Mike Gorman spent 43 consecutive years as the television play-by-play commentator for the Boston Celtics?
... that the unlicensed Willy's Chocolate Experience in Scotland led to a crossover event between the American television series Abbott Elementary and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia?
... that the exclusive secret society Hamilton House from the television show Gossip Girl was based on St. Anthony Hall, a social and literary fraternity?
... that Milton Grant went from disc jockey and bandstand host to an owner of television stations?
... that when the French web series Blow Up briefly aired on television in 2014, its allotted airtime was too short to fit some of its episodes?

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Art may imitate life, but life imitates TV.

— Ani DiFranco

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...that the book South Park and Philosophy: You Know, I Learned Something Today analyzes the animated television comedy series South Park using philosophical concepts?

...that the fight scene between Peter Griffin and a giant chicken on Family Guy episode Blind Ambition was originally created for the episode Cleveland Loretta Quagmire?

...that an advertising spot immediately following Xinwen Lianbo, a daily news programme shown by most terrestrial television stations in mainland China, can sell for an estimated US$100,000?

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

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Minogue in 2025

Kylie Ann Minogue (/mɪˈnoʊɡ/ mih-NOHG; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. Frequently referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has achieved recognition in both the music industry and the fashion world as a major style icon. Her accolades include two Grammy Awards, four Brit Awards and eighteen ARIA Music Awards. Minogue is the highest-selling Australian female artist of all time, with sales surpassing 80 million records worldwide. In 2024, Time listed her in its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Born and raised in Melbourne, Minogue first achieved recognition starring as Charlene Robinson in the Australian soap opera Neighbours (1986–1988). She began her music career in the late 1980s, releasing four dance-pop studio albums under PWL. By the early 1990s, Minogue had amassed several hit singles in Australia and the UK, including "The Loco-Motion", "I Should Be So Lucky", "Especially for You", "Hand on Your Heart", and "Better the Devil You Know". Taking more creative control over her music, she signed with Deconstruction Records in 1993 and released the albums Kylie Minogue (1994) and Impossible Princess (1997). (Full article...)

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General images

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

Image 1Color bars used in a test pattern, sometimes used when no program material is available (from History of television)
Image 2Comparison of image quality between ISDB-T (1080i broadcast, top) and NTSC (480i transmission, bottom) (from Digital television)
Image 3Samsung's discontinued Orsay platform (from Smart TV)
Image 4Tihanyi' Radioskop patent (1926) was recognized as Document of Universal Significance by the UNESCO (from History of television)
Image 5Philo Farnsworth in 1924 (from History of television)
Image 6Manfred von Ardenne in 1933 (from History of television)
Image 7The earliest photograph of a television picture, showing the face of Oliver Hutchinson in June 1926. The television picture was projected using Baird's television camera. (from History of television)
Image 8First television test broadcast transmitted by the NHK Broadcasting Technology Research Institute in May 1939 (from History of television)
Image 9RCA 630-TS, the first mass-produced television set, which sold in 1946–1947 (from History of television)
Image 10Ad for the beginning of experimental television broadcasting in New York City by RCA in 1939 (from History of television)
Image 11DBS satellite dishes (from History of television)
Image 12LG Electronics smart TV from 2011 (from Smart TV)
Image 13John Logie Baird in 1925 with his televisor equipment and dummies "James" and "Stooky Bill" (right) (from History of television)
Image 14This 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 15An early Smart TV from 2012 running the discontinued Orsay platform (from History of television)
Image 16LG smart TV using the Web browser (from Smart TV)
Image 17RCA 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 18The first mass-produced Czechoslovak TV-set Tesla 4001A (1953–57) (from History of television)
Image 19An RCA Victor Color TV ad featuring milliner Lilly Daché in 1959. (from Color television)
Image 20Family watching TV, 1958 (from History of television)
Image 21A map depicting digital terrestrial television standards (from Digital television)
Image 22The 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 23The Philco Predicta, 1958. In the collection of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis (from History of television)
Image 24Samsung Smart TVs on display (from Smart TV)
Image 25Hovannes Adamian c. 1900s (from Color television)
Image 26Ferdinand Braun (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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The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom that debuted on December 17, 1989, on the Fox network. The show is the longest-running prime time scripted television series in the United States. It has won many different awards, including 36
Emmy awards, 34 Annie Awards, nine Environmental Media Awards, twelve Writers Guild of America Awards, six Genesis Awards, eight People's Choice Awards, three British Comedy Awards, among other awards. Episodes of the show have won 12 Emmys in the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour) category. However, The Simpsons has never been nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series, although the show was submitted in the category in 1993 and 1994. James L. Brooks, an executive producer on the show, won twelve Emmys for The Simpsons as well as ten for other shows and holds the record for most Primetime Emmys won by a single person, with 22, The Simpsons was the first animated series to be given a Peabody Award, won a second Peabody in 2020, and in 2000 the Simpson family was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. As of 2022, The Simpsons have received a total of 100 Emmy nominations.

The Simpsons Movie, released in 2007, was nominated for several major awards, including a Golden Globe Award, while The Longest Daycare, a short film released in 2012, became the franchise's first production to be nominated for an Academy Award. (Full article...)
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The sixth season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, an American reality television series, was broadcast on Bravo. It aired from November 3, 2013, until May 18, 2014. It was primarily filmed in Atlanta, Georgia, with additional footage in Alabama; Savannah, Georgia; Athens, Georgia; and Mexico. Its executive producers were Lauren Eskelin, Lorraine Haughton, Glenda Hersh, Carlos King, and Steven Weinstock.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta focuses on the lives of Cynthia Bailey, Kandi Burruss, NeNe Leakes, Kenya Moore, Phaedra Parks and Porsha Williams. During the season, the women (particularly Parks and Williams) frequently clash with Moore, while Burruss becomes engaged to her boyfriend Todd Tucker, and Williams deals with her ongoing divorce from Kordell Stewart. It comprised 26 episodes, all of which aired on Sunday evenings at 8:00 pm. (Full article...)
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The eighth season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons aired on Fox between October 27, 1996, and May 18, 1997. It began with "Treehouse of Horror VII". The showrunners for the eighth production season were Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein, while the season was produced by Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox Television. The broadcast season contained two episodes with 3F-series production codes, indicating that were hold-over episodes from the seventh production season, and two episodes with 3G-series production codes, which have never been explicitly confirmed to be part of any specific production season (but are speculated to be relabeled 3F-series episodes)

The DVD box set was released in Region 1 on August 15, 2006, Region 2 on October 2, 2006, and Region 4 on September 27, 2006. The set was released in two different forms: a Maggie-shaped head to match the Homer and Marge shaped heads of the previous two sets and also a standard rectangular shaped box. Like the seventh season box set, both versions are available for sale separately. (Full article...)
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The first season of the international fantasy series Highlander: The Series, part of the Highlander franchise, consisted of 22 episodes produced between 1992 and 1993, and began airing on October 3, 1992 in broadcast syndication. Highlander: The Series follows the adventures of Duncan MacLeod, a 400-year-old Immortal who can only die if he is beheaded; conflict inevitably finds him because he is part of the Gathering, an ongoing battle in which all Immortals have to fight and behead each other until only one is left. The season was released on DVD as a nine-disc boxed set on November 12, 2002 by Anchor Bay Entertainment. As of October 2025, It is also available on the streaming services Prime Video and Peacock. (Full article...)
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Regular Show is an American animated sitcom created by J. G. Quintel for Cartoon Network that aired from September 6, 2010, to January 16, 2017. The series revolves around the daily lives of two 23-year-old friends, Mordecai (a blue jay), and Rigby (a raccoon). They work as groundskeepers at a park, and spend their days trying to slack off and entertain themselves by any means. This is much to the chagrin of their boss Benson (a gumball machine) and their coworker Skips (a yeti), but to the delight of park owner Mr. Maellard's son Pops (a man with a lollipop-shaped head). Their other coworkers, Muscle Man (an overweight green man) and Hi-Five Ghost (a ghost with a hand extending from the top of his head) serve as their rivals.

Quintel initially worked as a writer and staff director for the Cartoon Network series Camp Lazlo and The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack before he was offered to produce a short for the network's showcase project The Cartoonstitute. Quintel developed the Regular Show pilot for the project, utilizing characters from his California Institute of the Arts student films The Naïve Man from Lolliland (2005) and 2 in the AM PM (2006). While The Cartoonstitute was ultimately scrapped, Cartoon Network executives approved the production of Regular Show, starting with its first season. Its first two seasons were rating successes, with Nielsen Media Research ranking the series at number one in its time period amongst its primary demographic. As of May 2013, the program averages approximately 2 to 2.5 million viewers each week. (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 other TXN affiliates, 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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BBC Young Musician is a televised national music competition broadcast biennially on BBC Television and BBC Radio 3. Originally BBC Young Musician of the Year, its name was changed in 2010.

The competition, a former member of the European Union of Music Competitions for Youth (EMCY), is open to UK-resident percussion, keyboard, string, brass and woodwind players, who are eighteen years of age or under on 1 January in the relevant year. (Full article...)
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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. As of October 2025, It is also available on the streaming services Prime Video and Peacock. (Full article...)
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The second season of American drama thriller series Quantico premiered in the United States on American Broadcasting Company (ABC) on September 25, 2016, and concluded on May 15, 2017. The season was produced by ABC Studios, with series creator Joshua Safran, Mark Gordon, Robert Sertner, Nicholas Pepper and Jorge Zamacona serving as executive producers.

Season two consists of twenty-two episodes; it follows Alex Parrish (Priyanka Chopra), who has been working undercover for the FBI as a CIA recruit to uncover a rogue faction called the AIC. The narrative is told through dual timelines until the thirteenth episode; it switches between the present—where Parrish must confront a terrorist-instigated hostage crisis at the G-20 summit in New York City—and the past, where she is training at the CIA's mysterious training facility "The Farm" with other trainees, revealing links between the two incidents. The narrative switches to a single timeline from the fourteenth episode. (Full article...)
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The second season of The O.C. commenced airing in the United States on November 4, 2004, concluded on May 19, 2005, and consisted of 24 episodes. It aired Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. ET in the United States on Fox. In addition to the regular 24 episodes, two special episodes aired before the season premiere. "The O.C.: Obsess Completely" documented the show's influence on popular culture in its first year. The following week, "Welcome to The O.C.: A Day in the Life," provided a behind-the-scenes look at the show.

The season was released on DVD as a seven-disc boxed set under the title The O.C.: The Complete Second Season on August 23, 2005, by Warner Home Video. On September 7, 2008, the season became available to purchase for registered users of the US iTunes Store. In the United Kingdom the season premiered January 11, 2005 on Channel 4. In Canada the season aired on CTV Television Network and in Australia it was broadcast by Network Ten. (Full article...)
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Smallville is an American superhero television series developed by Miles Millar and Alfred Gough for The WB and The CW. The series follows the life of Clark Kent (Tom Welling), beginning when he is a teenager in the town of Smallville, Kansas, and continuing through high school, college, and his start at the Daily Planet before he adopts the "Superman" persona.

As the series progresses, Clark Kent copes with his emerging superpowers (x-ray vision, super hearing, etc.), exploration of his extraterrestrial origins and discovering his true destiny. The series also deals with the people in Clark Kent's life: his human parents, Jonathan Kent (John Schneider) and Martha Kent (Annette O'Toole); his friends Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack) and Pete Ross (Sam Jones III); his love interest for seven seasons Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk); Chloe's cousin and Clark's love interest since season eight, Lois Lane (Erica Durance); and his friendship with Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) and how this gradually decays into their mutual enmity of legend. (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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Roberts at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival

Julia Roberts is an American actress and producer. This is her filmography. (Full article...)
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Friends is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman for NBC. Starring Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, Courteney Cox as Monica Geller, Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, and David Schwimmer as Ross Geller, it premiered on September 22, 1994, as part of NBC's Must See TV lineup. Its finale aired on May 6, 2004, after ten seasons and 236 episodes. The show follows the characters' personal and professional lives in New York City; according to Crane and Kauffman's original pitch, the show "is about friendship because when you're single and in the city, your friends are your family". Friends became a massive success both during and after its run, and it has frequently been named one of the greatest television shows of all time.

The series has been recognized with numerous accolades, including six Primetime Emmy Awards from sixty-two nominations. At the 54th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2002, Friends won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series for its eighth season, which coincided with the year the show was the most-watched program in the United States; it received five additional nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series during its run. The main cast members all submitted themselves for supporting acting nominations at the Emmys until 2002, when they submitted themselves for lead acting. Kudrow won the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series at the 50th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1998, while Aniston won for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2002; LeBlanc, Perry, and Schwimmer also received Emmy nominations for their performances. Michael Lembeck won an Emmy for directing "The One After the Superbowl", and Bruce Willis and Christina Applegate won Emmys for their guest performances. (Full article...)
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Numbers is an American television series created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton. 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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