20 Interesting Facts About Television

Here are 20 Interesting Facts About Television.

1-5 Interesting Facts About Television

1. One of the first original television programs in America was “The Television Ghost,” (1931) which featured an actor dressed as dead people telling the stories of their murders. – Source

2. Stephen Fry claims the UK record for saying ‘f**k’ on television most times in one live broadcast. – Source

3. Most people dream in color, but those that grew up watching black and white television often dream in black and white. – Source

4. British show Top Gear is the most watched television show with an estimated 350 million weekly viewers in 170 countries. – Source

5. The first scripted inter-racial kiss on US television (Star Trek) was meant to be filmed with and without the kiss. Shatner and Nichols deliberately flubbed every take of the shot without the kiss so that they could not be used. – Source

6-10 Interesting Facts About Television

6. Richard Belzer as John Munch is the only fictional character, played by a single actor, to appear on 10 different television shows including Law & Order: SVU, The X-Files, The Wire, and Arrested Development. – Source

7. After President Kennedy’s death in 1963, the television networks aired four days of commercial-free coverage of his funeral, burial, and other proceedings, costing them about $100 million in lost advertising revenue. About 93% of American homes watched some coverage – Source

8. A 1995 television documentary film called “The Dying Rooms” was made about Chinese state orphanages. The film documents rooms where babies and children (mostly disabled/female) were left to die of thirst or starvation as it was illegal to kill a child directly, but not through neglect. – Source

9. In 1987, a man hijacked a television station during an episode of Dr. Who and wore a Max Headroom mask and uttered nonsense, and he still hasn’t been caught – Source

10. The inventor of the television would not let his own children watch TV. He once said to his son “There’s nothing on it worthwhile, and we’re not going to watch it in this household, and I don’t want it in your intellectual diet.” – Philo T Farnsworth. – Source

11-15 Interesting Facts About Television

11. There is something called the “CSI effect”. Because of television crime dramas, jurors have unrealistic expectations of forensic science and investigation techniques. – Source

12. Televisions sviewers in UK have to pay $230 for a “television license” every year as a tax to support the BBC – Source

13. When the US government wanted to cut Public Television funds in 1969, the relatively unknown Mister Rogers went to Washington to speak before the senate. While the budget should have been cut, after his speech the funding instead jumped from $9 to $22 million. – Source

14. Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s fast-food restaurants, appeared in over 800 commercials for the store. That’s more advertisements than anyone else in television history. – Source

15. The iconic Wayfarer sunglasses went almost extinct in the early 1980s, until Ray-Ban signed a product placement deal incorporating them into 60 films and television shows a year. – Source

16-20 Interesting Facts About Television

16. The children’s television show Arthur is the second longest running animated series in the US, just behind The Simpsons. – Source

17. Product placement is illegal on Norwegian television. – Source

18. The television series Extreme Makeover: Home Edition has driven so many families into foreclosure that the show has to “downsize” their new homes. – Source

19. The first pianist to perform a recital on television, Earl Wild, was also the first pianist to stream a performance on the internet, 60 years later. – Source

20. During a live news broadcast in 1974, the news anchor announced “In keeping with Channel 40’s policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts, and in living color, you are going to see another first—attempted suicide.” then shot and killed herself live on television. – Source