Obsolete TV Listings Resurrected by L.A. Times
Complete, weekly TV listings guides — the kind on paper! — used to be a regular component of newspapers’ weekend editions. But then cable boxes started to carry the exact same information, without the dead trees or printing costs, and papers like the New York and L.A. Times discontinued them, while magazines like TV Guide started floundering. Now, the L.A. Times, which stopped printing its “TV Times” back in April 2007, will start it up again, because … well, just because! (Or, as an L.A. Times VP puts it, because: “Our [elderly] readers tell us they want a weekly TV book that covers around-the-clock programming.”) Now Los Angeles–area residents can get exactly the same information they have on their televisions by purchasing the L.A. Times at a newsstand, or paying an extra $2.99 per month to have it delivered to their homes. Then they can read it and see it on their TV screens at exactly the same time. [Wrap via Awl]
![Kit Eaton of Gizmodo on RCA’s The Two Thousand:
“Back in 1969 RCA made an attempt at a high-end TV that was a vision of the sets of the year 2000. The Two Thousand was even made in a limited run of 2,000 and cost $2,000. That’s around $12,000 in today’s money, but for that price you got a 23-inch Hi-Lite tube that had ‘such a vivid, detailed picture’ you could ‘even watch it in a brightly-lit room.’ There were even ‘computer-like memory circuits’ that stored your fave channels, and preserved settings for volume and picture control. That must’ve seemed like the future indeed in an era of dial-twiddle-tuning to find the right VHF channel. The full advert page makes fascinating reading.
“‘No motors, no noise and no moving parts to wear out,’ just computer-designed ‘electronic memories‘… fabulous, especially since I remember hunkering down before our old TV to swirl the dial. My Dad used to get me to change the channels, as a kind of intelligent remote control. Nowadays my cat brushes past the touch-controls on my flat-screen LCD TV and does that job for me.”
[Paleofuture via Boing Boing Gadgets]
RCA’s 1969 Two Thousand TV Was Computerized Vision of Future, for $2,000 - Gizmodo](http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kuapa8YtbG1qzktyvo1_400.jpg)
Kit Eaton of Gizmodo on RCA’s The Two Thousand:
“Back in 1969 RCA made an attempt at a high-end TV that was a vision of the sets of the year 2000. The Two Thousand was even made in a limited run of 2,000 and cost $2,000. That’s around $12,000 in today’s money, but for that price you got a 23-inch Hi-Lite tube that had ‘such a vivid, detailed picture’ you could ‘even watch it in a brightly-lit room.’ There were even ‘computer-like memory circuits’ that stored your fave channels, and preserved settings for volume and picture control. That must’ve seemed like the future indeed in an era of dial-twiddle-tuning to find the right VHF channel. The full advert page makes fascinating reading.
“‘No motors, no noise and no moving parts to wear out,’ just computer-designed ‘electronic memories‘… fabulous, especially since I remember hunkering down before our old TV to swirl the dial. My Dad used to get me to change the channels, as a kind of intelligent remote control. Nowadays my cat brushes past the touch-controls on my flat-screen LCD TV and does that job for me.”
[Paleofuture via Boing Boing Gadgets]
RCA’s 1969 Two Thousand TV Was Computerized Vision of Future, for $2,000 - Gizmodo
I enjoyed this collection of commercials from 1985 (another beaut sent to me by the esteemed Mr. Szwergold). I was five in 1985, so this is pretty much the first era of commercials that I remember. Watching them here…well, let’s just say Madeleine : Proust :: Vintage Sizzler commercials : Me.
Sizzler and Red Lobster had such allure to me as a kid, but I never saw any in Manhattan. Broiled shimp? Yes please! The restaurants I went to with my parents were never advertised in commercials. When we’d go down to Florida to visit my grandpa, I remember thinking “Maybe this time, we’ll get to go to a Sizzler!”
So, I liked the Sizzler commercial. I also liked OJ Simpson winking over a piece of fried chicken. And the guy in the paper bag hat. And the oak water beds. And every other part.
(via KLXT77)
Some months ago over at Brokelyn, I wrote about my experience divorcing cable and my subsequent love affair with Roku. I’m actually not a big TV watcher, but I really do think Roku is pretty much the greatest. It meets all my television needs (except I can’t figure out how to get The Daily Show on it—but no one is perfect). So, it was with pleasure that I read this recent Wired article on Roku’s history and cable’s downfall. Cable, you are obsolete!
Let’s pause here to look at the beautiful little Roku.
Cute right?
I have three fond memories of clunky old cable boxes. One was the time I was a teenager and the cable guy said he’d only give me the remote if I beat him at the Chinese checkers my mom always had out on the living room table. I lost. But he gave me the remote anyway. The second is when we got had a cable tuner that had a dial that made little clicking sounds. (I just Googled “cable dial eighties” but couldn’t find a picture. It did, however, bring up this 1989 LA Times article about how network TV was becoming obsolete. Innnnteresting). I asked my mom if I could use Sharpie to mark where on the dial I could find Diff’rent Strokes. She said “No.” True story. The third memory was a couple of years ago when, post breakup, I asked an ex to bring what had formerly been OUR cable box (ours except guess who paid for it) and he left it in the backseat of his car for three months. I got a bill for something like $300. “I didn’t realize there was a time frame for returning it,” he said. Oy. You know what, none of these are actually very fond memories. Maybe this is why I hate cable.
So, why am I writing this post. I didn’t mean to sit here and rhapsodize about my Roku. (Did I mention I take it with me when I travel? Love it!). Oh, right, I was writing because I just saw/read Shelly Palmer’s post/video on The Huffington Post about how Netflix is partnering with yet more gaming consoles so that even MORE people will be able to watch things instantly. No commercials. Yay! Which is why it’s sort of ironic that Shelly Palmer’s video is kind of like a commercial for Shelly Palmer’s book. But hey, I don’t have a problem with that. Last time I saw a commercial for a book on actual old cable was for this little tome called Dianetics…
Word to the wise: if you buy my book and snap a picture of it with an obsolete object and email it to me, I’ll send you a limited edition obsolete key chain. Will Shelly Palmer send you a key chain? Will L. Ron Hubbard send you a key chain? And if you write a nice review on Amazon, I’ll blog about how wonderful you are. But only if you really are wonderful.
Beautiful photo by Lee Friedlander. Funny how, through the years, both television screens and Hollywood leading ladies have gotten more flat and angular. Bye-bye, rounded curves.
MEET THE AUTHOR
Anna Grossman is writing this bio in the third person. She is a New York-based freelance writer specializing in lifestyle and entertainment features. She is 5'7" and has been described as "nice." Su esposo, Jesus, enseñandola Espanol. Email her if you feel like it: GrossmanAJ@Gmail.com
MEET THE ILLUSTRATOR
James Gulliver Hancock is an internationally acclaimed artist who crosses as many mediums as he does borders. James is constantly on the move, having been involved in artist projects and residencies in Indonesia, Austria, France, the U.K. and America. He is currently located in Los Angeles and works on projects in Europe, America and Australia. His work is as varied as his travels, encompassing editorial illustration for magazines, commissions for music group artwork and animations, work with disabled children on logo designs, creating gigantic set illustrations for performances and TV.
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