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When Did TV Watching Peak?

It’s probably later than you think, and long after the internet became widespread.

A Timeline of Working-Class Sitcoms

Over the years, there have been surprisingly few of them.
Donald Trump shaking hands with Mike Huckabee.

Church of The Donald

Never mind Fox. Trump’s most reliable media mouthpiece is now Christian TV.
A man demonstrating television to another.

This Futuristic Color TV Set Concept From 1922 Was Way Ahead of Its Time

Back in the earliest days of imagining what TV looked like, the appliance was a magic technology.

When the Revolution Was Televised

MLK was a master television producer, but the networks had a narrow view of what the black struggle for equality could look like.

Boston’s Most Radical TV Show Blew the Minds of a Stoned Generation in 1967

When a Tufts instructor launched the trippy TV show on WGBH, it was unlike anything viewers had ever seen.

The Last Scan

Inside the desperate fight to keep old TVs alive.
partner

'Gavel-to-Gavel': The Watergate Scandal and Public Television

Experience the Watergate impeachment hearings and television broadcasts as so many did in 1973.

The TV That Created Donald Trump

Rewatching “The Apprentice,” the show that made his Presidency possible.

The Core Concepts of American Public Broadcasting Turn 50

An analysis of the Carnegie Commission's 1967 report shows that public broadcasting has always been a politically fraught issue.
Puppeteer Burr Tillstrom poses with puppets and a small Christmas tree on the set of his television program.

Together With the Kuklapolitans

In the middle of the past century, a gentle crew of puppets united the TV watchers of America.
Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos photoshopped into a picture of Gilded Age millionaires.

Enjoying the Sweet Stink of The Gilded Age in the Age of Billionaires

On sanitized depictions of the 19th century, comfort shows, and income inequality.
Representative Greg Casar, in front of a poster that says "Fire Elon, Save Elmo"

The Trump Administration’s Showdown with PBS and NPR

While Democrats waving a Big Bird doll around on the House floor saved public broadcast funding in the past, this strategy does not seem likely to work in 2025.
Actress moves away from a microphone held a red hand.

How the Red Scare Shaped American Television

The fear of communism silenced actors, writers and producers, altering the entertainment industry for decades.
Spock and Kirk in a scene from Star Trek.

Star Trek’s Cold War

While America was fighting on the ground, the Federation was fighting in space.
A painting of a large camera on a film set, surrounded by green screens.

Casual Viewing

Why Netflix looks like that.
Johnny Carson hosting the Tonight Show.

The Amazing, Disappearing Johnny Carson

Carson pioneered a new style of late-night hosting—relaxed, improvisatory, risk-averse, and inscrutable.
Phil Donahue.

Phil Donahue’s Cold War Legacy

The late telejournalist was a pioneer of informal diplomacy between American and Soviet citizens.
Ronald Reagan

What If Ronald Reagan’s Presidency Never Really Ended?

Anti-Trump Republicans revere Ronald Reagan as Trump’s opposite—yet in critical ways Reagan may have been his forerunner.
Collage of popular culture references from 2008 onward.

That Feeling You Recognize? Obamacore.

The 2008 election sparked an outburst of brightness and positivity across pop culture. Now hindsight — and cringe — is setting in.
Illustration of man throwing football to sports broadcaster.

Before and After the Contest: Wraparound Sportscasting Through the Ages

National Football League pre- and postgame shows have become a testing ground for novel technology in the waning days of linear television.
Cover of "Cue The Sun!" featuring videographers filming people lounging in backyard.

Time to Face Reality

Charting the history of a TV phenomenon.
A photograph of Bonnie Erickson posing with the Phillie Phanatic mascot.

Miss Piggy Has a Mother

Everyone’s heard of Jim Henson. It’s time to give Bonnie Erickson — creator of beloved Muppets and mascots including the Phillie Phanatic — her due.
Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert giving two thumbs up.

When the Movies Mattered

Siskel and Ebert and the heyday of popular movie criticism.
Man laughing.

The Most Hated Sound on Television

For half a century, viewers scorned the laugh track while adoring shows that used it. Now it has all but disappeared.
Black women gathered in discussion for an episode of "Black Journal."

“The Black Woman”

Black women activism within documentary films in the 1960s United States.
Larry David.

The End of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” Marks the End of an Era

Larry David is the last of his kind—and in several ways.
Still from the 2023 indie film "Late Night with the Devil"

The Role of Talk Shows in Sensationalizing the Satanic Panic of the 1980s

"Late Night with the Devil," a “found footage” horror film, perfectly captures the mood and style that surrounded media depictions of the occult in the 1970s.
The Hollywood sign replaced with the words "The End."

The Life and Death of Hollywood

Film and television writers face an existential threat.
Peanuts' Franklin as a flat two-dimensional character.

It’s Flagrant Tokenism, Charlie Brown!

Peanuts’ Franklin has been a controversial character for decades. A new special attempts reparations.

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