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The Television Portal

Flat-screen television receivers on display for sale at a consumer electronics store in 2008

Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set, rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, entertainment, news, and sports. The medium is capable of more than "radio broadcasting", which refers to an audio signal sent to radio receivers.

Television became available in crude experimental forms in the 1920s, but only after several years of further development was the new technology marketed to consumers. After World War II, an improved form of black-and-white television broadcasting became popular in the United Kingdom and the United States, and television sets became commonplace in homes, businesses, and institutions. During the 1950s, television was the primary medium for influencing public opinion. In the mid-1960s, color broadcasting was introduced in the U.S. and most other developed countries.

In 2013, 79% of the world's households owned a television set. The replacement of earlier cathode-ray tube (CRT) screen displays with compact, energy-efficient, flat-panel alternative technologies such as LCDs (both fluorescent-backlit and LED), OLED displays, and plasma displays was a hardware revolution that began with computer monitors in the late 1990s. Most television sets sold in the 2000s were flat-panel, mainly LEDs. Major manufacturers announced the discontinuation of CRT, Digital Light Processing (DLP), plasma, and even fluorescent-backlit LCDs by the mid-2010s. LEDs are being gradually replaced by OLEDs. Also, major manufacturers have started increasingly producing smart TVs in the mid-2010s. Smart TVs with integrated Internet and Web 2.0 functions became the dominant form of television by the late 2010s. (Full article...)

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"Abyssinia, Henry" is the 72nd episode of the M*A*S*H television series and the final episode of the series' third season. It was written by Everett Greenbaum and Jim Fritzell, and it first aired on March 18, 1975. The episode is notable for its shocking ending, in which the unit's amiable commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake (played by McLean Stevenson) receives an honorable discharge and leaves for home but, in the final scene, is reported killed by enemy fire. This ending prompted more than 1,000 letters to series producers Gene Reynolds and Larry Gelbart, and drew fire from both CBS and 20th Century Fox.

The title of the episode refers to the 1920s–1930s slang use of "Abyssinia" for "goodbye". ("Abyssinia", pronounced "ab-ee-SIN-ee-ah" can be understood as "I'll be seeing you".)

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Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The Apollo TV camera refers to several television cameras used in the Apollo program's space missions, and on the later Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz Test Project missions, in the late 1960s and 1970s. These cameras varied in design, with image quality improving significantly with each successive model. Two companies made these various camera systems: RCA and Westinghouse. Originally, these slow-scan television (SSTV) cameras, running at 10 frames-per-second (fps), produced only black-and-white pictures and first flew on the Apollo 7 mission in October 1968. A color camera — using a field-sequential color system — flew on the Apollo 10 mission in May 1969, and every mission after that. The Color Camera ran at the North American standard 30 fps. The cameras all used image pickup tubes that were initially fragile, as one was irreparably damaged during the live broadcast of the Apollo 12 mission's first moonwalk. Starting with the Apollo 15 mission, a more robust, damage-resistant camera was used on the lunar surface. All of these cameras required signal processing back on Earth to make the frame rate and color encoding compatible with analog broadcast television standards.

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... that actor Jonathan Roumie, who plays the character of Jesus Christ in American television series The Chosen, is also an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion in the Catholic Church?
... that Lifetime Medical Television, "the network for physicians only", charged the highest advertising rates on cable?
... that Windows 3.1 had a special version, known as Modular Windows, that was controlled via television?
... that Colorado public television station KTSC operates from two studios named for the same benefactor?
... that an NFL scheduling decision forced ESPN to change the kickoff times and television networks of the 2022 Las Vegas Bowl and the 2022 New Mexico Bowl?
... that DTK Computer was one of the first companies to have its computers sold via satellite television?

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Television is for appearing on, not looking at.

— Noel Coward

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...that David Letterman parodied Werner Erhard in the 1978 Mork & Mindy episode Mork Goes Erk?

...that The O.C.'s music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas worked in the music department of over fifty Roger Corman B-movies before her television debut?

...that actress, writer and producer Michelle Paradise created the television series Exes and Ohs without an agent?

...that the WWF in 1986 introduced a stable of masked wrestlers to keep the injured wrestler Andre the Giant on television, but off the ring?

...that Great American Country television host Nan Kelley (then Nan Sumrall) became Miss Mississippi in 1985 after her fellow Mississippian Susan Akin was crowned Miss America?

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Rudolph Cartier (born Rudolph Kacser, renamed himself in Germany to Rudolph Katscher; 17 April 1904 – 7 June 1994) was an Austrian television director, filmmaker, screenwriter and producer who worked predominantly in British television, exclusively for the BBC. He is best known for his 1950s collaborations with screenwriter Nigel Kneale, most notably the Quatermass serials and their 1954 adaptation of George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.

After studying architecture and then drama, Cartier began his career as a screenwriter and then film director in Berlin, working for UFA Studios. After a brief spell in the United States he moved to the United Kingdom in 1935. Initially failing to gain a foothold in the British film industry, he began working for BBC Television in the late 1930s (among other productions he was involved in the making of Rehearsal for a Drama, BBC 1939). The outbreak of war, however, meant that his contract was terminated; his television play The Dead Eye was stopped in the production stage. After the war, he occasionally worked for British films before he was again hired by the BBC in 1952. He soon became one of the public service broadcaster's leading directors and went on to produce and direct over 120 productions in the next 24 years, ending his television career with the play Loyalties in 1976. (Full article...)

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James T. Aubrey Kroger Babb Sydney Newman Eric Bana Kylie Minogue Peter Jennings KaDee Strickland Austin Nichols Aaron Sorkin Jake Gyllenhaal Dan Rather Brad Pitt Walter Cronkite Tom Brokaw John Le Mesurier George Formby Dan Castellaneta Perry Como Red Skelton Rose Catherine Pinkney

General images

The following are images from various television-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Family watching TV, 1958 (from History of television)
Image 2This live image of actress Paddy Naismith was used to demonstrate Telechrome, John Logie Baird's first all-electronic color television system, which used two projection CRTs. The two-color image would be similar to the basic Telechrome system. (from Color television)
Image 3An early Smart TV from 2012 running the discontinued Orsay platform (from History of television)
Image 4The Nipkow disk. This schematic shows the circular paths traced by the holes, which may also be square for greater precision. The area of the disk outlined in black shows the region scanned. (from History of television)
Image 5Color bars used in a test pattern, sometimes used when no program material is available (from History of television)
Image 6Ad for the beginning of experimental television broadcasting in New York City by RCA in 1939 (from History of television)
Image 7Comparison of image quality between ISDB-T (1080i broadcast, top) and NTSC (480i transmission, bottom) (from Digital television)
Image 8Hovannes Adamian c. 1900s (from Color television)
Image 9Samsung's discontinued Orsay platform (from Smart TV)
Image 10Smart TVs on display (from Smart TV)
Image 11A map depicting digital terrestrial television standards (from Digital television)
Image 12Ferdinand Braun (from History of television)
Image 13A color television test at the Mount Kaukau transmitter site, New Zealand in 1970.
A test pattern with color bars is used to calibrate the signal. (from Color television)
Image 14DBS satellite dishes (from History of television)
Image 15First television test broadcast transmitted by the NHK Broadcasting Technology Research Institute in May 1939 (from History of television)
Image 16LG Smart TV using the Web browser (from Smart TV)
Image 17RCA 630-TS, the first mass-produced television set, which sold in 1946–1947 (from History of television)
Image 18LG Electronics smart TV from 2011 (from Smart TV)
Image 19RCA CT-100 at the SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention playing Superman. The RCA CT-100 was the first mass-produced color TV set. (from Color television)
Image 20The first mass-produced Czechoslovak TV-set Tesla 4001A (1953–57) (from History of television)
Image 21Manfred von Ardenne in 1933 (from History of television)
Image 22Baird in 1925 with his televisor equipment and dummies "James" and "Stooky Bill" (right) (from History of television)
Image 23Philo Farnsworth in 1924 (from History of television)
Image 24Public television in France uses 819 line b&w high definition, from 1959 until 1983 (TF1). (from History of television)
Image 25The Philco Predicta, 1958. In the collection of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis (from History of television)

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Featured lists have been determined by the Wikipedia community to be the best lists on English Wikipedia.

Image 1
Laurence Olivier in a promotional still for Rebecca (1940).

Laurence Olivier (1907–1989) was an English actor who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century. He also worked in films throughout his career, playing more than fifty cinema roles. From 1935 he performed in radio broadcasts and, from 1956, had considerable success in television roles.

After attending drama school, Olivier began his professional career with small touring companies before being taken on in 1925 by Sybil Thorndike and her husband, Lewis Casson, as a bit-part player, understudy and assistant stage manager for their London company. In 1926 he joined the Birmingham Repertory Company, where he was given the chance to play a wide range of key roles. In 1930 he had his first important West End success in Noël Coward's Private Lives, and in 1935 he played in a celebrated production of Romeo and Juliet alongside Gielgud and Peggy Ashcroft, and by the end of the decade he was an established star. In the 1940s, together with Richardson and John Burrell, Olivier was the co-director of the Old Vic, building it into a highly respected company. There his most celebrated roles included Shakespeare's Richard III and Sophocles's Oedipus. In the 1950s Olivier was an independent actor-manager, but his stage career was in the doldrums until he joined the avant garde English Stage Company in 1957 to play the title role in The Entertainer. From 1963 to 1973 he was the founding director of Britain's National Theatre, running a resident company that fostered many future stars. His own parts there included the title role in Othello (1964) and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (1970). (Full article...)
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The Mandalorian is an American space Western television series created by Jon Favreau for the streaming service Disney+. It is the first live-action series in the Star Wars franchise, beginning five years after the events of Return of the Jedi (1983). Pedro Pascal stars as the title character, a lone bounty hunter who goes on the run after being hired to retrieve "The Child". The first season premiered on Disney+ on its United States launch day, November 12, 2019, and the second season premiered on October 30, 2020.

The series received numerous awards and nominations for its acting, directing, writing, visual effects, and production values. Among these recognitions, it has been nominated for six Primetime Emmy Awards and forty-two Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards (winning fourteen Creative Arts Emmys). The series' first two seasons were nominated for Outstanding Drama Series. At the 2021 ceremony, it tied for most nominations with twenty-four, and it tied for most awards at the Creative Arts ceremony in 2020 with seven wins. Giancarlo Esposito, Timothy Olyphant, Taika Waititi, and Carl Weathers have received Emmy nominations for their performances. Episodes "Chapter 1: The Mandalorian", "Chapter 2: The Child", and "Chapter 16: The Rescue" each won two Emmy awards for their technical achievements. (Full article...)
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Arrested Development is an American television sitcom that aired for three seasons on the Fox network from November 2, 2003, to February 10, 2006, and began streaming a fourth season on Netflix on May 26, 2013. The show centers on the Bluth family, a formerly wealthy, habitually dysfunctional family, and is presented in a continuous format, incorporating hand-held camera work, narration, archival photos, and historical footage.

Since its debut, the series has earned widespread critical acclaim and has been nominated for a variety of different awards. Arrested Development has received nominations for twenty-five Primetime Emmy Awards (six wins for the series, including Outstanding Comedy Series in 2004), eight TCA Awards (three wins), four Golden Globe Awards (one win), three Writers Guild of America Awards (one win), five Screen Actors Guild Awards, three Producers Guild of America Awards, among other awards. (Full article...)

Season	Episodes	Originally aired
Season	Episodes	First aired	Last aired
1	13	January 4, 1999 (1999-01-04)	June 11, 1999 (1999-06-11)
2	13	November 26, 1999 (1999-11-26)	December 22, 2000 (2000-12-22)
3	13	April 6, 2001 (2001-04-06)	July 12, 2002 (2002-07-12)
4	13	September 27, 2002 (2002-09-27)	November 5, 2004 (2004-11-05)
5	12	November 4, 2005 (2005-11-04)	April 28, 2007 (2007-04-28)
6	1	June 29, 2008 (2008-06-29)
Holiday Specials	3	December 3, 2004 (2004-12-03)	October 28, 2005 (2005-10-28)
CN Invaded		May 11, 2007 (2007-05-11)
Television film		November 8, 2009 (2009-11-08)

(Full article...)

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The Best Male Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award is an annual award honoring the achievements of a male individual from the world of disabled sports. Established with the aid of disability advocate and former United States Paralympic soccer player Eli Wolff, the accolade's trophy, designed by sculptor Lawrence Nowlan, is presented to the disabled sportsman adjudged to be the best at the annual ESPY Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. The Best Male Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award was first bestowed as part of the ESPY Awards in 2005 after the non-gender specific Best Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award was presented the previous three years (all won by sportsmen). Balloting for the award is undertaken by fans over the Internet from between three and five choices selected by the ESPN Select Nominating Committee, which is composed of a panel of experts. It is conferred in July to reflect performance and achievement over the preceding twelve months.

The inaugural winner of the Best Male Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award in 2005 was Paralympic track and field competitor Marlon Shirley, who won two medals at the 2004 Summer Paralympics and was the first para-athlete to go below eleven seconds in the men's 100-meter category with a time of 10.97 seconds. In 2015, South African wheelchair racer Krige Schabort was selected as the recipient of the award. , he is the only athlete born outside of the United States to have won the accolade, though three additional foreign sportsmen have earned nominations. Track and field athletes have won more awards than any other sport with four with three triathlon winners and two winners each coming in sledge hockey, mixed martial arts, and wrestling. It was not awarded in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The most recent winner of the award was American para-swimmer Brad Snyder in 2022. (Full article...)
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The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series is an award presented annually by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) and Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). It is given to honor an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role while working within the daytime drama industry.

At the 6th Daytime Emmy Awards held in 1979, Peter Hansen was the first winner of this award for his portrayal of Lee Baldwin on General Hospital. The awards ceremony was not televised in 1983 and 1984, having been criticized for voting integrity. Following the introduction of a new category in 1985, Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series, the criteria for this category was altered, requiring all actors to be aged 26 or above. (Full article...)
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Hanks receiving the Kennedy Center Honors medallion in December 2014

Tom Hanks is an American actor and filmmaker who has had an extensive career in film, television and stage. Hanks made his professional acting debut on stage, playing Grumio in a 1977 Great Lakes Theater production of The Taming of the Shrew. He made his film debut with a minor role in the 1980 horror film, He Knows You're Alone. In the same year, Hanks appeared in the television series Bosom Buddies, a role that led to guest appearances on several shows, including Happy Days with Ron Howard. Howard cast him in his first leading role in the Ron Howard-directed fantasy romantic comedy, Splash. His breakthrough role was in Penny Marshall's age-changing comedy, Big, for which he garnered his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

In 1993, Hanks starred with Meg Ryan in the Nora Ephron-directed romantic comedy, Sleepless in Seattle. Later that year, he starred in the drama Philadelphia as a gay lawyer with AIDS fighting discrimination in his law firm. For his performance, Hanks earned his first Academy Award for Best Actor. He followed with the 1994 romantic comedy-drama, Forrest Gump, winning a consecutive second Academy Award for Best Actor (the first actor since Spencer Tracy in 1938 to achieve this feat). In 1995, he played astronaut Jim Lovell in the Howard-directed historical drama Apollo 13, and voiced Sheriff Woody in the animated film Toy Story (a role that he would reprise in three sequels). (Full article...)
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(Full article...)
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Millennium is an American crime-thriller television series which was broadcast between 1996 and 1999. Created by Chris Carter, the series aired on Fox for three seasons with a total of sixty-seven episodes. Millennium starred Lance Henriksen, Megan Gallagher, Klea Scott, and Brittany Tiplady. Henriksen portrayed Frank Black, an offender profiler who worked for the Millennium Group, a private investigative organisation. Black retired from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to move his wife (Gallagher) and daughter (Tiplady) to Seattle, where he began to consult on criminal cases for the Group. After his wife's death, he returned to the FBI to work with new partner Emma Hollis (Scott) to discredit the Group.

Millennium's genesis stemmed from "Irresistible", a second-season episode of The X-Files penned by Carter. Influence was also drawn from the works of Nostradamus, and the increasing popular interest in eschatology ahead of the coming millennium. The series began airing in the Friday timeslot formerly occupied by The X-Files. "Pilot", the debut episode, was heavily promoted by Fox, and brought in over a quarter of the total audience during its broadcast. (Full article...)
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Swift at the premiere of Hannah Montana: The Movie in 2009

The American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has appeared in 61 music videos, 13 of which she self-directed. She has released five documentaries, acted in a number of films and television shows, and directed a concert documentary and short film.

Swift's first music video was for her debut single "Tim McGraw", from her 2006 self-titled debut studio album. It was directed by Trey Fanjoy, who worked on award-winning music videos for Swift's singles from 2006 to 2009. The music video for "Our Song" won Video of the Year at the 2008 CMT Music Awards. Swift's second studio album, Fearless (2008), was supported by the music videos for "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me". In 2009, the former won Video of the Year at both the CMT Music Awards and the Country Music Association Awards, and the latter won Best Female Video at the MTV Video Music Awards. Swift's first self-directed music video was for her 2010 album Speak Nows lead single, "Mine", which she directed with Roman White. ('Full article...)
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Hattie Jacques (/dʒeɪks/; born Josephine Edwina Jaques; 1922–1980) was an English actress who appeared in many genres of light entertainment including radio, film, television and stage. Jacques's career spanned from 1939 until her death in 1980. She is best remembered for her appearances in fourteen Carry On films and for her professional partnership with Eric Sykes.

In 1939 Jacques became involved in amateur dramatics, appearing as Doris Gow in Noël Coward's short play Fumed Oak. Five years later, after wartime service as a nurse and a welder, she made her professional theatrical debut at the Players' Theatre in the revue Late Joys, a performance that she repeated on television in 1946. From there she became a regular stage performer, appearing in variety shows and Victorian-style pantomimes. (Full article...)

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Featured content

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	U.S. viewers (millions)
129	1	"Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)"	Wes Archer	Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein	September 17, 1995 (1995-09-17)	2F20	22.6
130	2	"Radioactive Man"	Susie Dietter	John Swartzwelder	September 24, 1995 (1995-09-24)	2F17	15.7
131	3	"Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily"	Susie Dietter	Jon Vitti	October 1, 1995 (1995-10-01)	3F01	14.5
132	4	"Bart Sells His Soul"	Wes Archer	Greg Daniels	October 8, 1995 (1995-10-08)	3F02	14.8
133	5	"Lisa the Vegetarian"	Mark Kirkland	David X. Cohen	October 15, 1995 (1995-10-15)	3F03	14.6
134	6	"Treehouse of Horror VI"	Bob Anderson	John Swartzwelder	October 29, 1995 (1995-10-29)	3F04	19.7
				Steve Tompkins
				David X. Cohen
135	7	"King-Size Homer"	Jim Reardon	Dan Greaney	November 5, 1995 (1995-11-05)	3F05	17.0
136	8	"Mother Simpson"	David Silverman	Richard Appel	November 19, 1995 (1995-11-19)	3F06	15.3
137	9	"Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming"	Dominic Polcino	Spike Feresten	November 26, 1995 (1995-11-26)	3F08	14.2
138	10	"The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular"	David Silverman	Jon Vitti	December 3, 1995 (1995-12-03)	3F31	16.4
139	11	"Marge Be Not Proud"	Steven Dean Moore	Mike Scully	December 17, 1995 (1995-12-17)	3F07	16.7
140	12	"Team Homer"	Mark Kirkland	Mike Scully	January 7, 1996 (1996-01-07)	3F10	16.7
141	13	"Two Bad Neighbors"	Wes Archer	Ken Keeler	January 14, 1996 (1996-01-14)	3F09	16.5
142	14	"Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield"	Susie Dietter	Jennifer Crittenden	February 4, 1996 (1996-02-04)	3F11	14.4
143	15	"Bart the Fink"	Jim Reardon	Story by : Bob Kushell Teleplay by : John Swartzwelder	February 11, 1996 (1996-02-11)	3F12	15.0
144	16	"Lisa the Iconoclast"	Mike B. Anderson	Jonathan Collier	February 18, 1996 (1996-02-18)	3F13	13.4
145	17	"Homer the Smithers"	Steven Dean Moore	John Swartzwelder	February 25, 1996 (1996-02-25)	3F14	14.1
146	18	"The Day the Violence Died"	Wes Archer	John Swartzwelder	March 17, 1996 (1996-03-17)	3F16	14.4
147	19	"A Fish Called Selma"	Mark Kirkland	Jack Barth	March 24, 1996 (1996-03-24)	3F15	12.9
148	20	"Bart on the Road"	Swinton O. Scott III	Richard Appel	March 31, 1996 (1996-03-31)	3F17	11.8
149	21	"22 Short Films About Springfield"	Jim Reardon	Richard Appel, David X. Cohen, Jonathan Collier, Jennifer Crittenden, Greg Daniels, Brent Forrester, Rachel Pulido, Steve Tompkins, Bill Oakley, Josh Weinstein & Matt Groening	April 14, 1996 (1996-04-14)	3F18	10.5
150	22	"Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in 'The Curse of the Flying Hellfish'"	Jeffrey Lynch	Jonathan Collier	April 28, 1996 (1996-04-28)	3F19	13.0
151	23	"Much Apu About Nothing"	Susie Dietter	David X. Cohen	May 5, 1996 (1996-05-05)	3F20	11.3
152	24	"Homerpalooza"	Wes Archer	Brent Forrester	May 19, 1996 (1996-05-19)	3F21	12.9
153	25	"Summer of 4 Ft. 2"	Mark Kirkland	Dan Greaney	May 19, 1996 (1996-05-19)	3F22	14.7

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This is a list of recognized content, updated weekly by JL-Bot (talk · contribs) (typically on Saturdays). There is no need to edit the list yourself. If an article is missing from the list, make sure it is tagged (e.g. {{WikiProject Television}}) or categorized correctly and wait for the next update. See WP:RECOG for configuration options.