people born in the 50s and earlier What was your reaction the first time you a tv?

I was born 1946. The first TV program I remember was the Republican convention which nominated Eisenhower which was in black and white. I probably remember it only because it meant that whatever programs I used to watch as a child weren't on while the convention was taking place. In those days we had only 3 channels and we didn't have the ability to record/tape programs and all 3 channels followed the convention - all day long. It was incredibly boring to me and I didn't watch it.

Also the console was huge and the TV screen was very small.

I remember visiting with my grandparents and an aunt and uncle and watching Lawrence Welk, Perry Como and Ed Sullivan and Saturday morning cartoons. But I don't recall watching much TV otherwise because we were either outside playing when the weather was nice or inside doing homework during the school year.

I remember all of the TV shows mentioned by Pukka.

I don't recall seeing tv until dad brought one home. It was in this kind of big cabinet and the screen was maybe 12"--black and white. We were told to "stand back" while dad plugged it in and fiddled with the dials and with the back of the tv trying to get a picture. It was new so we kids were fascinated and excited (because dad was excited about his new toy). I can't remember what the first picture on the tube was though. We kids were not allowed to touch it but we'd stand around in front of it just looking at dad's new toy. I think there were only a limited amount of shows on and the broadcast system turned off at a certain time, went into the test pattern and that high pitched shriek thing. The tv only went on when dad was home, and it was dad's shows we watched so it wasn't exactly fun for us kids, not for a while anyway. When we got a few years older we got more kid shows and I think my older brother was allowed to touch the tv by then--but we were all still forbidden to touch the back of the tv (where the vertical and horizontal metal rods were (no knobs, just these bare metal rods), had to monkey around with the antennae too to clear the snow off enough to see anything. It wasn't until the 60s that we got another tv in the house (kitchen) and my baby sister pretty much decided what we'd watch by then when dad wasn't home to make decisions. She's get up and watch Saturday morning cartoons. Guess I didn't really get hooked on anything, liked to watch Shindig, Hullabaloo, something a-go go after school but I had so many after school activities and chores I really didn't have time for tv, didn't enjoy sitting around in a crowded little room with the rest of the family watching tv together, preferred to be in my bedroom listening to rock'n'roll.

My first impression about TV was, Look a at the people walking around in a snow storm! Poor reception in small towns on the Texas Panhandle had lots of snow in the tube.

But like 'Just The Facts, Carnac says, we were mesmerized with having the ability to bring motion pictures into our homes without a projector. We sat and watched the test pattern more than anything else due to difficulty at the TV stations. I can still remember the test pattern sound. Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Its much the same as some other replies. I was born in 1944 in England and was about 8 when my elder Brother bought us a 12 inch b/a Baird TV in a cabinet. We too had a lot of neighbours in,but perhaps we were not the only TV in the street ?

At that age would I have been terribly interested or able to understand the ceremony,but I can remember seeing the small picture. Amazing in comparison to our huge colour screens today.

I don't think anyone here was born in the pre-50s era, maybe pre-1950s. Any-who my dad was born in late 1946. He remembers the first time he saw 'I love Lucy' as a kid. He remembers watching 'the Brady bunch' in his college dorm as a young adult. He remembers watching all the Rocky series during the 70s & the 80s. He constantly tells me how much television has changed in the just the past 10 years. The flat screens that came out in the early 00s are much different than today's.

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I was born in 1945 - and we had a TV as far back as memory goes. It was small screen, round, about 8 inches. Then can remember right after when my father came home with a 13 inch. And just before Christmas 1952, I was with him as he bought a 24" - they delivered the next day. Living in Chicago - there were several channels & they always broadcast the Cubs or Sox home games. Remember 'Elmer the Elephant'? Dave Garroway? Inner Sanctom? Racket Squad? And yeah - Howdy Doody Time!

The first TV I saw was in 1948. Dad bought a 12" TV at Sears. We sat in front of the thing a few evenings, but then Mom said it was a total waste of time. So Dad returned it to Sears and we never got another one. That was 67 years ago, and I still don't have one. I would rather do things than sit in a chair and watch other people do things.

Malcolm - My earliest memory of television is almost exactly the same as yours.

I was around five at the time and we were invited to watch the Coronation on perhaps the only TV in the street, owned by an elderly couple across the road from us. The screen was about 10 or 12 inches, mounted in a huge cabinet that stood on the floor, not on legs, and the room was filled with neighbours. Later, I was taken to the cinema to see the colour film that was made of it.

I was born in 1945. The first tv I remember was a 21" console and my dad and I watched the Friday Night Fights. I can't remember much of a reaction, one way or the other. We lived in the country and were one of the first people to get one. I was impressed with the size of it - like this big wooden box

My first time of watching a TV in my childhood home was when my Dad,

rented one for the 1953 Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

The screen was approximately 12 inches in width and we had to peer at

it across the room, the closer we sat to it, it appeared fuzzy.

We were not very impressed even though it was live.

After all, we regularly attended the cinema for Children's Matinee viewings

every Saturday where everything was much larger.

A few days later we attended the viewing of the Coronation at the local

cinema and saw it large size. That was impressive !