Anyone Remember When There Were Only 3...

[sandyRoe]

... television channels and the highlights of the viewing week included, The Rockford Files, Petrocelli, and Cannon?

A golden age of television.

[calmck]

Yes

[newmodarmy]

I remember when we had only 2 channels!

[barry1010]

I just about remember when there was only 1

[gingejbee]

Some will remember when there was only one channel...and a potter's wheel.

Not so golden.

[sandyRoe]

I remember when television was turned off for half an hour at 6.30 so that parents could get their children to bed.

I think Saturday was the exception when a music programme, Juke box jury, filled the gap 

[THECORBYLOON]

When I was a wee one, our next-door neighbours had a colour TV and I was asked if I wanted to watch a programme called "Birth of a Rainbow " a bit later that day.

I said yes and went in thinking it would be rainbows in the sky but it was about fish and I wasn't very impressed...

Had a look on Google and it was first shown on BBC2 in 1967

[237SJ]

I remember when we could only get Welsh language stations (Harlech?) outside of the BBC.  That was a bit crap

[jourdain2]

I remember when there was only one channel.  Mum would usher usinto the sanctum that was 'the lounge' and turn on the TV so we could watch Andy Pandy on the tiny screen (you opened doors to see it).  When it was over, it was turned off, doors closed and we were told not to tell Dad that we'd been watching (it was his TV, his radiogfram etc.).  Different days.

[jourdain2]

I'm talking pre-1957 there. ^^

[jourdain2]

Mainly pre-1954.^

[Canary42]

Yes, the good old Potter's wheel !

Remember it well.

The Epilogue every night before the national Anthem and close down.

 

[jourdain2]

And the little girl and the blackboard!

[Canary42]

Yes we got used to them while manually tuning for the best picture.

[jourdain2]

Canary - Mum used to shout at Dad when he was up on the roof adjusting the aerial (aeriel?) .  Later on, that job was deputed to myself and my little sister.  We'd be inside with the window open; little sis would yell if we got a picture - I'd hang out of the window yelling to Dad on the roof.

I think I'm allowed to say --- 'THEY DON'T  KNOW THEY'RE BORN!'

[Canary42]

Our house was fairly high up, and we had an aerial in the loft which never needed changing. I was talking about using the knobs on the TV set.  I can't remember them all, but I think it included a tuner (with which you could occasionally pick up a different transmitter, occasionally a foreign one), a vertical hold, a horizontal hold, a contrast and a brightness. I no longer have a TV so don't know how they compare with current models (I watch TV on my Mac)

[Khandro]

Television !!  - you were lucky. Our dad used to give us a shell which we used to hold to our ears and we could listen to the sea, but only on Saturdays.

Try telling that to the young folks of today - they'ed never believe yer.

[sandyRoe]

Thinking back to Petrocelli, he was a New York lawyer living with his wife in a caravan in somewhere like Arizona.  It must have been like living in a heated oven.

Cannon was a stout man, a private eye.

Of the three Rockford was the best.  In that show his dad was played by the actor who started his career as Circus Boy.

[Auntypoll]

This is interesting. Why would having only 2 channels be the golden age of television.?  With my smart TV I can watch anything I want when I want, access the news I want to watch, the programming I want without having to wait a week for the next episode. THIS is the golden age 😃

[sandyRoe]

Back in the olden days it was the novelty that was the draw.

When colour TV first came out some pubs would have it switched on with only the test card being transmitted.