My dad used to call it the "idiot box". It wasn't until my early 20s that I came to realize what he meant. :)
The original “vast wasteland” quote, 1961:
“I invite each of you to sit down in front of your own television set when your station goes on the air and stay there, for a day, without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper, without a profit and loss sheet or a rating book to distract you. Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland.”
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Newton N. Minnow to the convention of the National Association of Broadcasters on May 9, 1961.
Without any basis, the NYAG has pledged to take my father down from the moment she ran for office. This is the highest level of prosecutorial misconduct - purposely dropped on the eve of the Republican Convention for political points. Sad that this is her focus as New York burns pic.twitter.com/5tgtS3vH3F— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) August 24, 2020
“Television is chewing gum for the eyes...”
Henri Peyre Professor of French at Yale University. 1944
and later by John Mason Brown, theatre critic, 1955