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1936 Perspective on Television

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the talkies dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes "The New Yorker is running an article from their archives from 1936. In it, E.B.White (author of Charlotte's Web) discusses a demonstration he attended of the current state of television, which didn't impress him at all."

10 of 223 comments (clear)

  1. Times don't change by jchawk · · Score: 5, Funny

    Times don't change, 63 years later and still nothing is worth watching on tv.

    1. Re:Times don't change by Chasing+Amy · · Score: 4, Funny

      > Times don't change, 63 years later and still nothing is worth watching on tv.

      Yes, but progress has given us 300 channels of nothing, instead of just one. :-)

      --

      Chasing Amy
      (We all chase Amy...)
      "The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws"-Tacitus
    2. Re:Times don't change by BillTheKatt · · Score: 3, Funny

      10 stories on the Slashdot homepage and still nothing interesting to read

  2. Elements of Style by bman08 · · Score: 5, Funny

    E.B. White was also a co author of Elements of Style. A book so many of us in these forums should spend more time with.

  3. 30's lingo is bang up. by satanami69 · · Score: 5, Funny

    From the article:
    "First there had to be a moving picture. Then there had to be the business of iconoscoping it, or whatever the hell it's called. Then it had to be sent by direct wire to the Empire State Building, and back by megacycle to R.C.A., where it appeared in a television set which IN TURN had to be itself iconoscoped, or scooped, and the image sent to the Empire State, and then back again by megacycle to R.C.A., where it hit us squarely between the eyes."

    "iconoscoping", "direct wire", "megacycle", when the hell are we gonna get stuff that sounds this cool.

    --
    I really hate Dan Patrick.
    1. Re:30's lingo is bang up. by red5 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Lets see.

      To post a comment on slashdot.
      First you have to telotype it in.
      Then press on the virtualcontrol labled "submit". From there you comutational appliance sends an HTTP post request all the way to Holand or where ever the hell they host slashdot.
      Finaly it hase to be parsed and committed to the online database.

      Yah your right still not as cool. :)

      --
      I know I'm going to hell, I'm just trying to get good seats.
  4. Re:The web didn't impress me by ChiPHeaD23 · · Score: 4, Funny

    BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT.

    You knew it was coming.

  5. Well... by Loki_1929 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Thank God they shit-canned that idea.

    --
    -- "Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
  6. Re:Real life is more interesting by Rhinobird · · Score: 5, Funny

    How the hell can you promote DUMBER shows? It's like trying to make something colder than absolute zero. We hit rock bottom with Springer. Everything else is trying to cash in on that kind of idiocy. Survivor, Who want's to admit they're a gold-digger, fear factor, ANY dating show, Regis. X-files is GONE, there were rumors of killing of Dateline or somesuch, 'news' shows are blately promoting products (when did a new cola flavor become news?) You want TV DUMBER? Explain to me how it is possible...

    --
    If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
  7. Re:A staggering lack of imagination by PacoTaco · · Score: 2, Funny
    As slashdotters probably realise - it's difficult to unseat an existing technology that's wildly popular... (even if it is obsolete)

    You're talking about the X Window System, right? :)