TV itself
Not the programs - that's been covered by other users - but the technology of media delivery itself.

Imagine, if you can, a world with just three channels. Channels which only broadcast for a limited number of hours in the day; for the rest of the time there was a test-card, if you were lucky, or a blank screen with a high-pitched whine if not. I remember watching the "Information for TV Service Engineers" in the morning, simply because it was a cartoon. And the Open University programs, when there was nothing else to watch, which was large parts of the day.[1]

Now also remember that there were no DVDs or videos to buy or rent, no box sets with killer extras, no +1 channels, no catch-up services or channels endlessly repeating classic shows. Repeats themselves were frowned upon; it was seen as "cheating" for a station to re-show a program. You couldn't pause or rewind, you couldn't Sky+ the series... If you had to go out when your favourite program was on, that was it: you'd missed it. And then you couldn't join in with the discussion of the program next day at school / work. You had lost your place in the social paradigm; you were a pariah. I remember the family got stuck in traffic, and missed the first 10 minutes of the first episode of Blake's 7 -- it was probably 15 years before I finally saw those 10 minutes.

So, next time you settle down to watch the director's cut with cast commentary, while the other half catches up with their shows on their iPad next to you, and your PVR is recording the next series, send up a silent prayer to the TV Gods.

[1] Actually, the OU had a lasting effect on me: I saw the Computer Programmers sitting at the consoles in the background, sporting bushy beards and wearing denim flares, rather than suits - even though they were At Work! - and thought: Yep, that's the career for me...
(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 11:39, 28 replies)

Fascinating stuff, here.

( Amorous Badger NAKED BEA ARTHUR PHOTOS 4U, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 11:46, closed)

Mindless twattery, here.

( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 14:01, closed)

People didn't even HAVE televisions before they were invented.
imagine that!
( Slippery Mick ‏, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 12:29, closed)

mind blown

( 2 Can Chunder Word to your mums, I came to prod bums, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 12:44, closed)

Spot on.
Well...it made me smile reading it anyway.

The repeats or "bloody reepeeets" as my mum used to say still wind me up now...or they would, but I ditched the bloody thing about 18 months ago (it broke, and I kept meaning to get another and it just never happened).
(dchurch bah, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 13:09, closed)

3 channels and no VCR?
Alright, Granddad?
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 13:18, closed)

3 channels?
Luxury.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 13:26, closed)

Grandad? Not unless my 10-year-old has a very rich secret life...

(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 13:43, closed)

I remember when TV was all fields.

( 2 Can Chunder Word to your mums, I came to prod bums, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 13:29, closed)

We had 2 channels, that's BBC and ITV, and it all closed down well before midnight.
Black and white, on a heavy woodgrain-effect TV with two big round Bakelite dials on top for tuning and volume. If the picture looked grainy your Dad would thump the set either on top or the side, in a special spot which he swore always put it right.

The best way to enjoy football was to adjust the 'hold' so that the players' bodies rippled hilariously sideways and their legs looked ten feet long as they kicked the ball. Hours of fun.

Only one TV per household - few people owned one as they were so unreliable, so most rented one instead. When a large TV rental shop in my home town announced that it was giving away reparable broken TV sets, people queued up from all over the area and wheeled them away on bicycles, wheelbarrows and prams. Some even turned up in twos and manually carried them away together! The local paper was full of it.

All this just for two fuzzy channels!

TV could be exciting though. I watched the first appearance of the Daleks, and yes, I did hide behind the sofa. They were terrifying. I can't imagine anything so frightening these days.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 13:42, closed)

So, what did you do during the war?

( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 13:46, closed)

i 'ad me leg blown off.
It were a tax dodge.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 13:59, closed)

Umm, benefit fraud.
I'm telling George Osbourne on you.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 14:04, closed)

He had BOTH his off.
Or he will soon.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 14:38, closed)

I remember all the excitement when Channel 4 was launched.
Four channels, it was amazing. Now I don't have a TV, because I live in America, and it's shit.
( The Awful Puppy Bakery is still bored, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 13:55, closed)

Before the launch there were weeks of 'Channel 4 is coming!' adverts which very prominently featured the figure 4.
One of my kids was 4 around that time and she excitedly pointed out the 'Channel Fours' on the cards. 'Look! Look! Channel 4! And I'm four!'

The power of television.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 14:02, closed)

I remember when channel 5 started. Living in the middle of nowhere I could only see it very occasionally when the weather conditions were right and it was in black and white with lines down it.
Now that I can watch it properly I think I prefer it the way it was before.
( 2 Can Chunder Word to your mums, I came to prod bums, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 14:05, closed)

As a Westcountry lad, I've still never seen Channel 5, and from what I've heard, that's a blessing.

( The Awful Puppy Bakery is still bored, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 14:37, closed)

I pretty much ditched watching tv when I left home at 18
I have fewer channels than ever
(cs1ca, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 14:04, closed)

I'm pretty much with you on content.
200 channels of shit, 24 hours a day isn't a big improvement on 3 channels of shit, 12 hours a day.

What I do like though is recording and delay TV. If there's something interesting on, I almost always stick it on pause for 15 minutes and go do something else, then I can watch the program and flick through the Adverts.
(username failed moderation, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 14:59, closed)

very much this ^^^

(sittingduck Attention seeking, bullshitting fuck-knuckle, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 15:46, closed)

a mate was going through some old VHS tapes before getting rid of his player
we watched a few episodes of the young ones he recorded off the telly (for old times sake) this was off a properly set up TV in his parents house not some jerry rigged bollocks with one of those set top aerials

This was from the days of, analogue not digital TV, and aerials not cable/satellite ...fucking hell it was fuzzy it's a wonder we can look back fondly and remember this shit because it was barely visible
(sittingduck Attention seeking, bullshitting fuck-knuckle, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 15:46, closed)

Also true.
They have the Young Ones on netflix, which presumably is slightly better tech than a 25 year old VHS cassette, but the quality of everything pre about 1999 is dire.

(Please don't tell me it's more than 25 years ago, I'm not sure I'm ready to face that kind of news)
(username failed moderation, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 17:22, closed)

And everyone walked really quickly in the old days, too.

( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 20:55, closed)

God how shit!!!
People had to read books instead!!!!! How bollocks is THAT????!!!!!!!!
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 16:04, closed)

I know, and you can't even get them in HD!

(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Mon 2 Sep 2013, 17:28, closed)

Well if we are going for it.
First TV programme I saw was from behind my neighbour's sofa, the room was full of people because they were the first ones in the cul de sac to get a set. It was the Matthews final where Blackpool beat Bolton 4-3.
Think my dad was inspired by this because he ordered a set, a Pye Console 17" , and we got it in time to see the coronation. I remember he took me to the shop when he ordered the TV and paid 100 guineas which would have been about six weeks' wages. Magic times.
( edjogs Collared doves are shit., Mon 2 Sep 2013, 22:52, closed)

I learned an awful lot from those OU programmes.
Like how to differentiate, and why playing with fluorine is a Bad Idea.

I wonder how many people were accidentally educated by them, and how the current generation will fare without them? I suspect OK, as there are lots of fun educational videos on YouTube.
( Amish Information Systems hates misplaced, commas, Tue 3 Sep 2013, 14:26, closed)