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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...)

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The Wire is an American television drama set and produced in Baltimore, Maryland. Created by writer/producer and former police reporter David Simon (pictured), the series is broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States. The Wire premiered on June 2, 2002, with 50 episodes airing over the course of its first four seasons. HBO has ordered a fifth season, which Simon has said will be the show's last. The plot of the first season centers on the ongoing struggles between police units and drug-dealing gangs on the west side of the city, and is told from both points of view. Subsequent seasons have focused on other facets of the city. The large cast consists mainly of character actors who are little known for their other roles. The Wire has received critical acclaim for its realistic portrayal of urban life and uncommonly deep exploration of sociological themes, and has been called the best show on television by TIME, Entertainment Weekly, The Guardian, the Chicago Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Philadelphia Daily News. Despite the positive reviews, the show has failed to draw a large audience.

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Credit: Wladyslaw

The CN Tower, Toronto, Canada, used for television transmission, among other uses

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... that as general director of the Grand Theatre in Łódź, bass singer Kazimierz Kowalski led a worldwide television broadcast of Moniuszko's The Haunted Manor?
... that Monika Salzer, a systematic psychotherapist and Protestant pastor, was a columnist for the Kronen Zeitung and appeared on television in Dancing Stars?
... that an NFL scheduling decision forced ESPN to change the kickoff times and television networks of the 2022 Las Vegas Bowl and the 2022 New Mexico Bowl?
... that reporter Bobbie Wygant got her first television show after filling in while its host was sick with the flu?
... that television production companies working in Bhadun, Bangladesh, can hire a local woman as an extra for ৳500 (US$5.30) per day?
... that in the 1970s, Coors Brewing Company owned Television News Inc., which provided newsfilm to North American TV stations?

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Thanks to television, for the first time the young are seeing history made before it is censored by their elders.

— Margaret Mead

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...that copies of the 1982 biopic Will: G. Gordon Liddy, about a Watergate co-conspirator, are stored in the Nixon Presidential Materials collection at the U.S. National Archives?

...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 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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Newman at the Canadian media delegation to China in 1974

Sydney Cecil Newman OC (April 1, 1917 – October 30, 1997) was a Canadian film and television producer, who played a pioneering role in British television drama from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. After his return to Canada in 1970, Newman was appointed acting director of the Broadcast Programs Branch for the Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC) and then head of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). He also occupied senior positions at the Canadian Film Development Corporation and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and acted as an advisor to the Secretary of State.

During his time in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s, he worked first with ABC Weekend TV, before moving across to the BBC in 1962, holding the role of Head of Drama with both organisations. During this phase of his career, he created the spy-fi series The Avengers and co-created the science-fiction series Doctor Who, as well as overseeing the production of groundbreaking social realist drama series such as Armchair Theatre and The Wednesday Play. (Full article...)

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James T. Aubrey Kroger Babb Rudolph Cartier Eric Bana Kylie Minogue Peter Jennings KaDee Strickland Austin Nichols Aaron Sorkin Jake Gyllenhaal Dan Rather Brad Pitt 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 1Manfred von Ardenne in 1933 (from History of television)
Image 2Family watching TV, 1958 (from History of television)
Image 3First television test broadcast transmitted by the NHK Broadcasting Technology Research Institute in May 1939 (from History of television)
Image 4Color bars used in a test pattern, sometimes used when no program material is available. (from History of television)
Image 5Smart TVs on display (from Smart TV)
Image 6A 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 7LG Smart TV using the Web browser (from Smart TV)
Image 8An early Smart TV from 2012 running the discontinued Orsay platform (from History of television)
Image 9Philo Farnsworth in 1924 (from History of television)
Image 10DBS satellite dishes. (from History of television)
Image 11RCA 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 12Public television in France uses 819 line b&w high definition, from 1959 until 1983 (TF1). (from History of television)
Image 13A map depicting digital terrestrial television standards (from Digital television)
Image 14The 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 15LG Electronics smart TV from 2011 (from Smart TV)
Image 16Hovannes Adamian c. 1900s (from Color television)
Image 17RCA 630-TS, the first mass-produced television set, which sold in 1946–1947 (from History of television)
Image 18Samsung's discontinued Orsay platform (from Smart TV)
Image 19The Philco Predicta, 1958. In the collection of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis (from History of television)
Image 20Ferdinand Braun (from History of television)
Image 21Ad for the beginning of experimental television broadcasting in New York City by RCA in 1939 (from History of television)
Image 22Baird in 1925 with his televisor equipment and dummies "James" and "Stooky Bill" (right). (from History of television)
Image 23Comparison of image quality between ISDB-T (1080i broadcast, top) and NTSC (480i transmission, bottom) (from Digital television)
Image 24This 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 25The 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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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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Hanks receiving the Kennedy Center Honors medallion in December 2014

Tom Hanks is an American actor and filmmaker who has had an extensive career in film, television and stage. Hanks made his professional acting debut on stage, playing Grumio in a 1977 Great Lakes Theater production of The Taming of the Shrew. He made his film debut with a minor role in the 1980 horror film, He Knows You're Alone. In the same year, Hanks appeared in the television series Bosom Buddies, a role that led to guest appearances on several shows, including Happy Days with Ron Howard. Howard cast him in his first leading role in the Ron Howard-directed fantasy romantic comedy, Splash. His breakthrough role was in Penny Marshall's age-changing comedy, Big, for which he garnered his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

In 1993, Hanks starred with Meg Ryan in the Nora Ephron-directed romantic comedy, Sleepless in Seattle. Later that year, he starred in the drama Philadelphia as a gay lawyer with AIDS fighting discrimination in his law firm. For his performance, Hanks earned his first Academy Award for Best Actor. He followed with the 1994 romantic comedy-drama, Forrest Gump, winning a consecutive second Academy Award for Best Actor (the first actor since Spencer Tracy in 1938 to achieve this feat). In 1995, he played astronaut Jim Lovell in the Howard-directed historical drama Apollo 13, and voiced Sheriff Woody in the animated film Toy Story (a role that he would reprise in three sequels). (Full article...)
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Trinity Blood is an anime series of twenty-four episodes produced by Gonzo based on a series of light novels of the same name by Sunao Yoshida. Directed by Tomohiro Hirata, it features character designs by Atsuko Nakajima and music by Takahito Eguchi. In a post-apocalyptic future, the series' main character, Abel Nightroad, a vampire feeding on the blood of other vampires, protects humanity in service of the Vatican. The series premiered on the Japanese satellite network Wowow from April 28 through October 6, 2005 and was first released on DVD from August 26, 2005 through July 28, 2006.

After producing an English dub for the series, Funimation Entertainment promoted it in the United States by combining the first four episodes into a ninety-minute film named Trinity Blood: Genesis and showing it in select theaters starting May 5, 2006. The series then premiered in English-language on the Canadian digital station Razer from July 6 through December 14, 2006. On DVD, Funimation's English adaptation was first made available in North America from September 26, 2006 through April 24, 2007, in Australia and New Zealand from December 6, 2006 to July 18, 2007, and in Europe from July 2, 2007 through May 26, 2008. (Full article...)
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The 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in American prime time television programming from June 1, 2019, until May 31, 2020, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ceremony was originally to be held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead hosted from the Staples Center, while winners gave speeches remotely from their homes or other locations. It aired live on September 20, 2020, following the 72nd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards on September 14–17 and 19. During the ceremony, Emmy Awards were handed out in 23 categories. The ceremony was produced by Done and Dusted, directed by Hamish Hamilton, and broadcast in the United States by ABC. Jimmy Kimmel served as host for the third time.

At the main ceremony, Schitt's Creek won all seven comedy categories including Outstanding Comedy Series, becoming the first comedy series to complete a sweep of those categories. Succession and Watchmen each won four awards, including Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Limited Series, respectively. Other winning programs include Euphoria, I Know This Much Is True, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, The Morning Show, Mrs. America, Ozark, RuPaul's Drag Race, and Unorthodox. Including Creative Arts Emmys, Watchmen led all programs with 11 wins and 26 nominations, while HBO took home 30 awards to lead all networks. (Full article...)
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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...)
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Breaking Bad is an American television crime drama series created by Vince Gilligan that premiered on AMC on January 20, 2008. Set in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the show follows the life of Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a high school chemistry teacher struggling with stage-three lung cancer who decides to produce and distribute crystal meth with his former student Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) to secure his family's financial future. Concurrently, his wife Skyler (Anna Gunn) grows suspicious and his brother-in-law and DEA agent Hank Schrader (Dean Norris) begins to investigate. After five seasons and a total of 62 episodes, the series concluded on September 29, 2013.

Upon its release, Breaking Bad became one of the highest-rated shows on network television and received universal acclaim, with particular praise for its acting, characters, writing, direction, and cinematography; it entered the Guinness World Records in 2014 as the most critically acclaimed show of all time. Its impact on television resulted in the creation of the spin-off series Better Call Saul, centered on the character of Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk), and a sequel released in 2019 as El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, both of which also received positive reviews. (Full article...)
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The 40th Daytime Emmy Awards, presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), "recognizes outstanding achievement in all fields of daytime television production and are presented to individuals and programs broadcast from 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. during the 2012 calendar year". The ceremony took place on June 16, 2013, at The Beverly Hilton, in Beverly Hills, California beginning at 5:00 p.m. PST / 8:00 p.m. EST. The ceremony was televised in the United States by HLN and executive produced by Gabriel Gornell.

The evening was hosted by Sam Champion, A. J. Hammer and Robin Meade for the first time and the pre-show ceremony was hosted by Hammer and Christi Paul. The drama pre-nominees were announced on February 27, 2013, and the nominations were announced during an episode of Good Morning America on May 1, 2013. (Full article...)
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Millennium is a crime-thriller television series which was broadcast from 1996 to 1999. Created by Chris Carter, the series aired on Fox for three seasons with a total of sixty-seven episodes. It starred Lance Henriksen, Megan Gallagher, Klea Scott and Brittany Tiplady. Henriksen played Frank Black, an offender profiler for the Millennium Group (a private investigative organisation). Black retires from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and moves his wife Catherine (Gallagher) and daughter Jordan (Tiplady) to Seattle, where he begins consulting on criminal cases for the group. After the group's attempt to cause an apocalyptic viral outbreak kills his wife, Black returns to the FBI to work with new partner Emma Hollis (Scott) to discredit the group.

Black was one of the first elements conceived for the series, the remainder of which were fleshed out by Carter around his character. Black has been described by a producer as Millennium's constant, as the series' tone and direction changed around him with each successive season. Except for Frank Black, the series' characters have been criticized as one-dimensional, "generic" and little more than "symbol[s]". Television critic Robert Shearman said that the series featured "half a dozen actors who could be termed regulars [...] but without exception they remain functional ciphers". (Full article...)
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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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American Horror Story is a horror television series created and produced by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. The series is broadcast on the cable television channel FX in the United States. Described as an anthology series, each season is conceived as a self-contained miniseries, following a disparate set of characters and settings, and a storyline with its own "beginning, middle, and end".

Since its debut, American Horror Story has earned mostly positive reviews from critics, and has been nominated for a variety of different awards, including nineteen Critics' Choice Television Awards (four wins), ninety-four Emmy Awards (sixteen wins), nine Golden Globe Awards (two wins), six People's Choice Awards (one win), eleven Satellite Awards (three wins), and twenty-six Saturn Awards. (Full article...)

Season	Episodes	Originally aired		Rank	Average viewers (in millions)
Season	Episodes	First aired	Last aired	Rank	Average viewers (in millions)
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...)

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