Portal:Television

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

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...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected article - show another

"These Are the Voyages..." is the series finale of the UPN American science fiction television show Star Trek: Enterprise. The 22nd episode of the fourth season and the 98th of the series overall, it first aired on May 13, 2005, in the United States. The story takes place concurrently with the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Pegasus", set in the year 2370, in which Commander William Riker grapples with making a difficult admission to his commanding officer about a cover-up. Riker visits the holodeck and turns to the events of the 22nd century for guidance, where the crew of Star Trek: Enterprise travels home to Earth for the signing of the Articles of Federation and formation of the United Federation of Planets. After a strong premiere, Enterprise had grappled with declining ratings throughout its run. By the fourth season, fewer than three million viewers tuned in each week despite what some fans and critics considered an increase in episode quality. The episode features guest stars Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, and Jeffrey Combs, as well as a vocal cameo from Brent Spiner. With no new Star Trek episodes in the fall of 2005, the 2005–2006 season was the first year without a first-run Star Trek in 18 years. Reaction to "These Are the Voyages..." was negative. Critics and cast alike believed The Next Generation frame robbed the characters and their fans closure, and that the death of Trip Tucker felt forced and unnecessary.

More selected articles

Read more

Selected image - show another

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.

More selected pictures

Read more

Did you know (auto-generated) - load new batch

... that Toshiki Seto was cast in the television adaptation of Senpai, This Can't Be Love! because, according to the creator, he could express emotion through his stare?
... that New Mexico television station KIVA-TV received angry phone calls and a bomb threat after switching away from a tied football game?
... that Angeline Quinto became the first Filipino singer to release a soundtrack album for a television series that featured a single artist?
... that Ruslana Pysanka, who hosted a Ukrainian television program with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, died as a refugee in Germany?
... that the replacement of arts listings television show 01-for London was described as "like having to swap a bright yellow curvy Japanese sports car for a dumpy little khaki-coloured old Ford Fiesta"?
... that Monika Salzer, a systematic psychotherapist and Protestant pastor, was a columnist for the Kronen Zeitung and appeared on television in Dancing Stars?

Selected quote - show another

Seeing a murder on television ... can help work off one's antagonisms. And if you haven't any antagonisms, the commercials will give you some.

— Alfred Hitchcock

More selected quotes

More at Wikiquote

More did you know

...that the book The Psychology of The Simpsons uses this TV series to analyze topics in psychology including clinical psychology, cognition and Pavlovian conditioning?

...that the television adaptation of the BBC Radio 2 sitcom Teenage Kicks, originally for BBC Two, has been taken over by ITV?

...that actress, writer and producer Michelle Paradise created the television series Exes and Ohs without an agent?

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

...that British television programmes including Cluedo and The Forsythe Saga were partly filmed at Arley Hall in Cheshire?

More did you know facts

Selected biography - show another

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. One of the most influential and powerful celebrities, Pitt appeared on Forbes' annual Celebrity 100 list from 2006 to 2008, and the Time 100 list in 2007.

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...)

List of selected biographies
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 1Public television in France uses 819 line b&w high definition, from 1959 until 1983 (TF1). (from History of television)
Image 2Ferdinand Braun (from History of television)
Image 3The 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 4Ad for the beginning of experimental television broadcasting in New York City by RCA in 1939 (from History of television)
Image 5Color bars used in a test pattern, sometimes used when no program material is available. (from History of television)
Image 6Manfred von Ardenne in 1933 (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 8Hovannes Adamian c. 1900s (from Color television)
Image 9RCA 630-TS, the first mass-produced television set, which sold in 1946–1947 (from History of television)
Image 10A map depicting digital terrestrial television standards (from Digital television)
Image 11LG Electronics smart TV from 2011 (from Smart TV)
Image 12First television test broadcast transmitted by the NHK Broadcasting Technology Research Institute in May 1939 (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 14DBS satellite dishes. (from History of television)
Image 15The Philco Predicta, 1958. In the collection of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis (from History of television)
Image 16Comparison of image quality between ISDB-T (1080i broadcast, top) and NTSC (480i transmission, bottom) (from Digital television)
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 18Baird in 1925 with his televisor equipment and dummies "James" and "Stooky Bill" (right). (from History of television)
Image 19Philo Farnsworth in 1924 (from History of television)
Image 20Samsung's discontinued Orsay platform (from Smart TV)
Image 21LG Smart TV using the Web browser (from Smart TV)
Image 22An early Smart TV from 2012 running the discontinued Orsay platform (from History of television)
Image 23The first mass-produced Czechoslovak TV-set Tesla 4001A (1953–57) (from History of television)
Image 24Smart TVs on display (from Smart TV)
Image 25Family watching TV, 1958 (from History of television)

Featured lists - load new batch

Featured lists have been determined by the Wikipedia community to be the best lists on English Wikipedia.

Image 1
Hattie Jacques (/dʒeɪks/; born Josephine Edwina Jaques; 1922–1980) was an English actress who appeared in many genres of light entertainment including radio, film, television and stage. Jacques's career spanned from 1939 until her death in 1980. She is best remembered for her appearances in fourteen Carry On films and for her professional partnership with Eric Sykes.

In 1939 Jacques became involved in amateur dramatics, appearing as Doris Gow in Noël Coward's short play Fumed Oak. Five years later, after wartime service as a nurse and a welder, she made her professional theatrical debut at the Players' Theatre in the revue Late Joys, a performance that she repeated on television in 1946. From there she became a regular stage performer, appearing in variety shows and Victorian-style pantomimes. (Full article...)
Image 2
Treehouse of Horror, also known as The Simpsons Halloween Specials, is a series of Halloween-themed episodes of the animated sitcom The Simpsons, each consisting of three separate, self-contained segments. These segments usually involve the family in some horror, science fiction, or supernatural setting and always take place outside the normal continuity of the show. Therefore, they are considered non-canon.

The original "Treehouse of Horror" episode aired on October 25, 1990, and was inspired by EC Comics Horror tales. From "Treehouse of Horror" (1990) to "X" (1999), every episode has aired in the week preceding or on October 31; "II" and "X" are both the only episodes to air on Halloween. Between "XI" (2000) to "XIX" (2008) and "XXI" (2010), due to Fox's contract with Major League Baseball's World Series, episodes had originally aired in November. "XX" (2009) and each Treehouse of Horror episode since "XXII" (2011) has aired in October, with the exception of season thirty two's "XXXI" (2020), which was originally scheduled for October 18, but was postponed to November 1 due to the 2020 NLCS reaching game 7. This was the first time since "XXI" that a Treehouse of Horror episode aired in November. The same thing happened with season thirty-five's "XXXIV" (2023), which aired on November 5. (Full article...)
Image 3
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...)
Image 4

Stranger Things is an American streaming television series created for Netflix by the Duffer Brothers, which features an ensemble cast. It is set in the fictional rural town of Hawkins, Indiana, in the 1980s. The Hawkins National Laboratory ostensibly performs scientific research for the United States Department of Energy, but secretly conducts experiments on the paranormal and supernatural, frequently employing human subjects. Inadvertently, the laboratory created a portal to an alternate dimension called "the Upside Down". The influence of the Upside Down starts to affect the unknowing residents of Hawkins in calamitous ways. All episodes of the first season were released on Netflix on July 15, 2016, and the second season was released in its entirety on October 27, 2017. A third season was released on July 4, 2019, with the fourth season being released in two volumes on May 27 and July 1, 2022, respectively.

The series has received critical acclaim and numerous accolades for its writing, acting, directing, production values, visual effects, and soundtrack. Stranger Things has been nominated for many awards, including 57 Primetime Emmy Awards (12 wins), four Golden Globe Awards, four Grammy Awards, four Critics' Choice Television Awards (one win), 13 Saturn Awards (four wins), two Producers Guild of America Awards (one win), three Writers Guild of America Awards, and two Peabody Awards (one win). It was also selected by the American Film Institute as one of its top 10 television programs of the year for the series' first two seasons. (Full article...)
Image 5
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...)
Image 6
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...)
Image 7
Naruto: Shippuden is an anime television series mainly adapted from Part II of Masashi Kishimoto's original Naruto manga series, with exactly 500 episodes. It is set two and a half years after the original series in the Naruto universe, following the teenage ninja Naruto Uzumaki and his allies. The series is directed by Hayato Date, and produced by Pierrot and TV Tokyo. It began broadcasting on February 15, 2007, on TV Tokyo, and concluded on March 23, 2017.

On January 2, 2009, Viz Media and Crunchyroll provided eight English subtitled Naruto: Shippuden episodes on the official Naruto website. Later the following 2 weeks, Viz began providing subtitled versions of the latest Naruto: Shippuden episodes a week after they first aired in Japan, with a new episode being added to the Naruto website each subsequent Thursday. On July 24, 2009, Viz Media announced that the series would be released on the iTunes Store. The first DVD release of the series in North America was released on September 29, 2009. The English dub of Naruto: Shippuden made its US premiere on Disney XD on October 28, 2009. (Full article...)
Image 8
The Devil May Cry anime series is directed by Shin Itagaki and produced by Madhouse. The English adaptation of the anime has been licensed by Funimation Entertainment. They are based on the Devil May Cry video game series produced by Capcom. The background of the storyline is primarily based on the first and third installments of the series, Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening respectively. The series follows the daily life of demon hunter Dante as he adopts a young girl named Patty Lowell and faces off against a demon seeking to attain godhood.

The anime was originally announced at the Tokyo Game Show on September 22, 2006, with plans to release twelve episodes of the series. Unlike most anime, the episode titles were released in English instead of the customary Japanese. The first episode aired on June 14, 2007, with the twelfth shown on September 6, 2007. The episodes aired on WOWOW. On June 30, 2007, at Anime Expo 07, it was announced that ADV Films had licensed the show. However, in 2008, it became one of more than 30 titles that were transferred to Funimation. The series made its North American television debut on the Funimation Channel in September 2010 and it began airing on Chiller's Anime Wednesdays block on July 15, 2015. (Full article...)
Image 9
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...)
Image 10
Jonathan Ross (left) was named by Radio Times as the most powerful person in radio in June 2005. Ricky Gervais (right) was named the most powerful person in TV comedy in January 2003.

Radio Times's Most Powerful People was a series of listings created by the British weekly magazine Radio Times from January 2003 to June 2005. The lists charted who the magazine believed were the most powerful people from three different areas of British media: TV comedy, TV drama and radio. The listing for TV comedy was published three times, every January from 2003 to 2005; the drama and radio lists were produced just once each, in July 2004 and June 2005 respectively.

The first 'Most Powerful People' listing was published by Radio Times in January 2003, and recognised the most influential people in TV comedy in the United Kingdom. It was topped by the British comedian Ricky Gervais, as a result of the success of the award-winning second series of his TV show The Office. The second poll, published a year later in January 2004, was won by the Irish comedian Graham Norton, following his signing of two new contracts during 2003, each worth a reported £5 million. Six months later, in July 2004, Radio Times published their 'Most Powerful People in TV Drama' list. Following a series of votes from industry experts, the magazine named the actress Julie Walters as their choice for the most powerful person in drama. (Full article...)
Image 11
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...)
Image 12
The anime series Buso Renkin is based on the manga series of the same name written by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The series is directed by Takao Kato and produced by Xebec. The episodes follow Kazuki Muto who becomes an Alchemic warrior in the battle against Alchemic monsters known as Homunculi.

The production of the Buso Renkin anime was announced by the release of a minute-long internet trailer. Buso Renkin aired between October 5, 2006, and March 29, 2007, on TV Tokyo. The episodes were later released in nine DVD compilations between January 25, 2007, and September 21, 2007 by Geneon Universal Entertainment. A DVD box set containing the whole series was released on November 26, 2009. (Full article...)

More featured lists

News

Wikinews television portal

Upcoming events

Upcoming television series

Featured content

Extended content

This is a list of recognized content, updated weekly by JL-Bot (talk · contribs) (typically on Saturdays). There is no need to edit the list yourself. If an article is missing from the list, make sure it is tagged (e.g. {{WikiProject Television}}) or categorized correctly and wait for the next update. See WP:RECOG for configuration options.