A BetaMaXmas
December 8, 2008 12:10 AM Subscribe
80s era holiday television complete with antenna, TV guide, and remote.
Not completely accurate. In my house in the 1980's, the remote control was me.
posted by felix betachat at 12:34 AM on December 8, 2008 [6 favorites]
posted by felix betachat at 12:34 AM on December 8, 2008 [6 favorites]
All all my childhood Christmases were pre-cable, pre-remote, pre-videotape. This page makes me think more of adult Christmas visits to families with horrible TV shows blaring in the background to keep their horrible kids busy.
(This also reminds me of having to adjust the antenna and still seeing snow on even the warmest days. To be more realistic, the picture should clear up until you let go of the antenna and walk halfway back to your chair, so you try sticking some tin foil or a coat hanger to the antenna or you make a smaller sibling stand there and hold the antenna.)
posted by pracowity at 2:03 AM on December 8, 2008 [1 favorite]
(This also reminds me of having to adjust the antenna and still seeing snow on even the warmest days. To be more realistic, the picture should clear up until you let go of the antenna and walk halfway back to your chair, so you try sticking some tin foil or a coat hanger to the antenna or you make a smaller sibling stand there and hold the antenna.)
posted by pracowity at 2:03 AM on December 8, 2008 [1 favorite]
or you make a smaller sibling stand there and hold the antenna
Yeah, that would be me. Bastards.
posted by sebas at 2:48 AM on December 8, 2008
Yeah, that would be me. Bastards.
posted by sebas at 2:48 AM on December 8, 2008
By the 80's we already had cable. Page was more like early 70's...and just as tedious. No offense to submitter.
posted by spacely_sprocket at 3:47 AM on December 8, 2008
posted by spacely_sprocket at 3:47 AM on December 8, 2008
Page was more like early 70's...
But I think the content on the screen was 80s junk (Pee Wee Herman, etc.) and the date on the faux TV Guide is exactly 20 years ago. I suppose it's an inexact mix.
posted by pracowity at 4:18 AM on December 8, 2008
But I think the content on the screen was 80s junk (Pee Wee Herman, etc.) and the date on the faux TV Guide is exactly 20 years ago. I suppose it's an inexact mix.
posted by pracowity at 4:18 AM on December 8, 2008
In the seventies and early eighties we actually had a huge wired remote on a fifteen foot cable. Needless to say, someone was always tripping over the wire.
posted by octothorpe at 5:33 AM on December 8, 2008
posted by octothorpe at 5:33 AM on December 8, 2008
Holy Crap. It's Balki.
I used to watch 'Perfect Strangers' when I was... four?
posted by dunkadunc at 5:50 AM on December 8, 2008
I used to watch 'Perfect Strangers' when I was... four?
posted by dunkadunc at 5:50 AM on December 8, 2008
My first VCR was a Sony Betamax machine that weighed a ton. I bought it used off a co-worker for $700 bucks in 1981 (a new machine was double that). It had a remote, with a 12 foot cable. The remote's functionality? A single pause button.
There was one video rental shop in town, who charged a steep annual membership fee, on top of the tape rentals.
posted by davebush at 6:48 AM on December 8, 2008
There was one video rental shop in town, who charged a steep annual membership fee, on top of the tape rentals.
posted by davebush at 6:48 AM on December 8, 2008
Clever idea well executed.
posted by stbalbach at 6:55 AM on December 8, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by stbalbach at 6:55 AM on December 8, 2008 [1 favorite]
Why don't the channel controls on the TV work? I miss the KACHUNK from changing channels.
posted by ardgedee at 6:57 AM on December 8, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by ardgedee at 6:57 AM on December 8, 2008 [1 favorite]
very fun site...thanks for the link. nice to see kirk cameron being a sitcom wisecracker before growing up into a religious fundamentalist.
in the "one to grow on", is the boy asking his mom for the bike a young steve urkel?
posted by sentinel chicken at 7:46 AM on December 8, 2008
in the "one to grow on", is the boy asking his mom for the bike a young steve urkel?
posted by sentinel chicken at 7:46 AM on December 8, 2008
For our living room TV, we had a rotating antenna on top of our house and little pieces of tape stuck to the dial to indicate where the antenna should be pointing if you wanted to pull in WTIC-61 from Hartford, WTXX-20 from Waterbury, WLVI-56 from Boston or WTEN-10 from Albany.
I miss the click-clack of the motorized antenna turning, especially in the winter when the cold gave it fits and starts.
The little TV in the computer room just had a bowtie antenna which you usually had to hang from a thumbtack stuck to the wall. That was the one which cruelly mocked you and your innate electrical resistance, giving you a better picture if you were holding the antenna. And little siblings quickly learned not to rise to the "if you hold the antenna like this until GI Joe is over, I'll give you five bucks*" trick.
* where the "buck" inevitably morphed into a "punch in the arm" when the time came to collect on one's pay.
posted by Spatch at 7:48 AM on December 8, 2008 [1 favorite]
I miss the click-clack of the motorized antenna turning, especially in the winter when the cold gave it fits and starts.
The little TV in the computer room just had a bowtie antenna which you usually had to hang from a thumbtack stuck to the wall. That was the one which cruelly mocked you and your innate electrical resistance, giving you a better picture if you were holding the antenna. And little siblings quickly learned not to rise to the "if you hold the antenna like this until GI Joe is over, I'll give you five bucks*" trick.
* where the "buck" inevitably morphed into a "punch in the arm" when the time came to collect on one's pay.
posted by Spatch at 7:48 AM on December 8, 2008 [1 favorite]
If there was a cable "remote" that slid to pick the channel and had a long cord, I would have had a flashback.
posted by drezdn at 7:50 AM on December 8, 2008
posted by drezdn at 7:50 AM on December 8, 2008
If you had to change the channel with a pair of pliers because the knob mysteriously disappeared, this would be about right for my childhood.
posted by padraigin at 8:09 AM on December 8, 2008
posted by padraigin at 8:09 AM on December 8, 2008
Badass. Great job on the execution.
posted by rageagainsttherobots at 8:50 AM on December 8, 2008
posted by rageagainsttherobots at 8:50 AM on December 8, 2008
The flashing 12:00 on the VCR is the killer. And whoever had a manual changer with an actual dial? All my sets had were pliers.
posted by Gungho at 9:54 AM on December 8, 2008
posted by Gungho at 9:54 AM on December 8, 2008
I was really surprised seeing George Clooney with a mullet.
posted by Korou at 10:55 AM on December 8, 2008
posted by Korou at 10:55 AM on December 8, 2008
Bingo. ardgedee beat me to the KACHUNK.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 11:35 AM on December 8, 2008
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 11:35 AM on December 8, 2008
Not completely accurate. In my house in the 1980's, the remote control was me.
Shit, half the time the antenna was me as well. No, wait, I think you've got channel 3 if you stand up on the chair, now hold the tinfoil up, higher, great now hold that until the A-team Xmas special goes off.
posted by Pollomacho at 1:05 PM on December 8, 2008
Shit, half the time the antenna was me as well. No, wait, I think you've got channel 3 if you stand up on the chair, now hold the tinfoil up, higher, great now hold that until the A-team Xmas special goes off.
posted by Pollomacho at 1:05 PM on December 8, 2008
Why don't the channel controls on the TV work?
Have you tried pliers?
posted by Sys Rq at 2:18 PM on December 8, 2008
Have you tried pliers?
posted by Sys Rq at 2:18 PM on December 8, 2008
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posted by Korou at 12:30 AM on December 8, 2008