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A man alone among the rubble of a city

TV and the Bomb

During the Cold War, nuclear weapons were a frequent plot point on television shows. Fearful depictions in the 1950's became more darkly comedic in the 1960s.

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.
Television sets.

The Last Scan

Inside the desperate fight to keep old TVs alive.
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'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.
Scene in a Shakespearean play in which a man has been killed by sword.

The Real Watergate Scandal

A myth and its legacy.
A smartphone screen shows a fork on a finished plate.

Who Was the Foodie?

What it would mean to take taste seriously again.
Michael Shannon as President James Garfield.

“Death by Lightning” Dramatizes the Assassination America Forgot

The new Netflix miniseries makes the 1881 killing of President James Garfield feel thrillingly current.
CB radio

Waves of Interference

The PC industry first landed on the FCC’s radar not for the computers themselves, but for the electrical noise they emitted. Blame the CB radio.
Photograph of Jean Muir

Before There Was Jimmy Kimmel, There Was Jean Muir

The "Red Scare" echo in the Kimmel suspension.
Watching TV in the 1960sH. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images
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The 40-Year-Old Book That Predicted Our Dystopian Politics

Neil Postman's classic "Amusing Ourselves to Death" predicted a dystopian American future.
Photo illustration by Slate. Photos by AFP via Getty Images and Raph Gatti/AFP via Getty Images.

What Really Happened Inside That Meeting Between James Baldwin and RFK

The emotional roller coaster that changed the course of the Civil Rights Movement.
Jimmy Swaggart

How Jimmy Swaggart Changed American Christianity

The disgraced televangelist built his career on an undeniable talent. His downfall contributed to a major shift in how Americans viewed religious leaders.
Youppi! mascot sitting in a baseball stadium

Master of Puppets

Bonnie Erickson got her start making puppets in Jim Henson's studio, then she became one of America's most beloved mascot designers. Here's how it happened.
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.
Rod Serling giving his opening monologue on "The Twilight Zone."

Rod Serling on Doomsday

Marking the centenary of the creator of “The Twilight Zone,” who knew that dystopia was always over the nearest ridge.
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.

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