Television

The Invention of Television

Many people credit John Logie Baird as the inventor of the Television, it was actually the combined effort of a number of inventors around the world. In America- Philo Farnsworth is known as the inventor of the television. In Germany, Arthur Korn is known for the same reason. 

Baird is credited as the first to produce a live, moving televised image using reflected light. Korn produced circuits which directly aided Baird in his invention. Baird went on to pioneer many succesful advances in television and on 02/10/1925 he transmitted the first televised image, Stooky Bill -one of the ventriloquist dummies used in tests. 

Farnsworth worked out the principle of the image dissector in 1921, this helped pioneer the Video Camera Tube (which converts optical images into electrical signals), a device used in all video cameras up to the 1980s.

A colour example of the Stooky Bill tests.

Broadcasting

Baird transmitted many tests between 1925 to his death in 1946. The first televised broadcasts, produced for the BBC had input from Farnsworth and his inventions. Baird eventually switched to using the electronic television which Farnsworth invented years earlier.Farnsworth himself came to London to help Baird as the image dissector he invented was lacking in light sensitivity, this slowed down the development of TV especially as Crystal Palace (where they had been working) famously burned down. The television was improved significantly until 1967 when (PAL) colour TV was in use (another of Baird's inventions though he died 21 years earlier). 

The outbreak of WWII in 1939 caused all TV transmittions to be halted after anouncing the listings for that afternoon, transmittion resumed in 1946 exactly where it cut off in the middle of a cartoon. 

Television went through many formats since the 60s in exterior design but also technically, digital TV is now used in the UK and TV can be watched in Standard, HD or 3D all in full colour, with settings to adjust the picture.

What's on TV?

BBC & ITV

BBC was founded by John Reith in 1922. The first experimental television broadcasts began in 1932, TV really gained popularity after the war with the introduction of ITV (which mainly broadcasted for older viewers, with shows about dancing and later, the company's greatest achievment, the introduction of soap opera -Corrination St. which still runs to this day). BBC were churning out great movies and TV shows to compete; Z cars -a show about the police force, was a similar show. The Quatermass Experiment was a movie style serial produced by BBC and broadcast as a series of episodes, it was so successful that three sequels were produced and Hammer Horror bought the rights to produce a cinema movie release. 

The longest running science fiction drama was produced by the BBC in 1963, Doctor Who- the show was so successful that it ran for 26 years with 7 actors in the lead role, rights to the show were fought over by big movie industries in the 1990s with Fox network winning over Disney, a movie was produced with stars- Paul McGann and Eric Roberts, the movie contunued with lead actor, Sylvester McCoy returning from the original broadcast to hand over the role. BBC bought back the rights to the show in the early 2000s and revived it in 2005, Doctor Who has since been BBC's most successful show worldwide.  

The 60s, 70s and 80s are considered by many to be the golden age of British comedy, with acts like Eric & Ernie or Monty Python (who would both be stars of the silver screen). BBC combated ITV's Coronation street in the 1980s with Eastenders, a show about life on Albert square in the east end of London, another BBC success. BBC are the most trusted network for news, it has been broadcasting the news since it's early days in radio and has gained a mostly good reputation.

4 & 5

The 1980s saw the introduction of channel 4, which was aimed at the 16-30 year old audience primarily. Where the channel was most popular though, is in Countdown- a show still running today, where contestants have 30 seconds to play an elaborate version of Scrabble. Channel 4 became majorly popular in the 90s-00s with low cost standup comedy shows and TV programmes recorded on handheld cameras. Big Brother was launched in 2000 with MTV's Davina McCall, based on the book: '1984' by George Orwell, contestants stay in a house under constant surveillance and have to avoid being evicted. The 3 most popular comedy shows on 4 were all produced by Graham Linehan, Father Ted, Black Books and the IT Crowd were all major successes and were al based in a studio setting with a laughing track, proving that fresh comedy could still be produced using an old setup; channel 4 invariably allowed for experimental comedy, which would almost always prove successful, Vic and Bob used their surrealism on 4 and now have a BBC series. 

Channel 5 launched in the 90s and broadcast soap opera; Family Affairs to rival BBC, ITV and 4. Channel 5 had a major rebrand to '5' and currently mainly broadcasts American TV shows and movies. The network bought Big Brother from 4 in 2010 after a decline in viewership which increased channel 5's audience and brought popularity to already existing shows like the Gadget Show, which has grown beyond it's previous studio based setting to live venues and even other countries.

The IT Crowd, one of Linehan's comedies

Expanded TV

Beyond the five analog channels, BBC launched BBC+ (later becoming BBC3) - aimed at 16-30 year olds, it served as a channel to broadcast experimental television shows (which would later serve on BBC1 or 2) and repeats. BBC 4 also showed repeats, but for an older audience, the channel focused mainly on the arts. Other companies began to rival BBC, ITV launched ITV2, 3 and 4 - serving a similar purpose to BBC3 and 4, Channel 4 now have; Film 4, E4, 47, More 4 etc. These channels allowed audiences to watch whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. 

Digital TV also allowed for other networks to grow; the UKTV network often shows repeats and low budget content while Sky is larger than BBC in terms of productivity, the network often churns out hours of original content on it's many channels, while also broadcasting repeats of American shows less than 24h after they have been shown in America. This more instant pace of keeping up with foreign broadcasts was to treat everyone happy, with the increased use of social networking sites, spoilers and plot details were being leaked onto the internet months before their UK broadcast before; so shows are now televised often within the same day, 23/11/13 will see the simulcast of the Doctor Who 50th anniversary, so as not to allow British audiences to leak it to America or the same vise versa. 

The internet in recent years has seen 'watch again' systems which allow users to see their favourite programmes on demand, video rental services moved onto the internet, letting people order media on the computer and have it delivered to their home. This system was replaced with the download, rental download is still in use by Apple and YouTube. People can now watch repeats on subscription rental services like Netflix or LoveFilm Instant; Netflix now commissions and funds it's own shows and is fitted as a service on many TVs and computer systems.

America

In the UK alone repeats of american television gets a large viewership, Channel 5 is known for showing crime dramas, Channel 4 broadcast American comedies and BBC 3 is popular for it's repeats of Family Guy. BBC often collaborate with American producers to cut down costs and to broaden scale as well as audience. In return, British television shows are often broadcast in America- Doctor Who and Downton Abbey are both more popular in the states than in their home country. 

In the sci-fi craze of the 60s, America produced Star Trek, a show about travellers in earth's future who boldly go where no man has gone before, the show has a larger cult following than Britain's Doctor Who but was less successful as a TV show as series were invariably axed or cancelled. The show once split into two series, the original series which went into motion picture and the 'Next Generation' series run by show runner, Gene Roddenberry (though the two series merged later on). In the early 00s, Star Trek ceased as a TV show, it is now most popular in the movie prequels directed by J. J. Abrams. 

From the late 70s onwards, were the relatively cheaply made American sitcoms, usually in a studio setting and recorded in front of a live audience, these were very popular in the 80s. 

The 90s saw Friends, another studio based show but with slightly more flexibility in terms of location and camera movement, which made the show more believable and was a success up to it's final episode, since it's first broadcast, the entire series of Friends is shown on repeat (in the UK, channel 4 only recently stopped to make room for more up to date American comedies). The typical 80s sitcom setup is most popular in children's TV in recent years, yet still effective; each different sitcom would follow a basic recycled storyline with recycled jokes and still people watch.