My Dad had an Army buddy who lived on Long Island and we visited once in a while. I remember seeing Mutual of Omaha’s Animal Kingdom at his house, around 1960. My impression was that skin tones weren’t very true to life. My grandmother probably had a color set, but I don’t recall watching TV much before 1957. (I was born in 1950.) The first time I saw TV, some people down the street had a used set, about the size of small refigerator with a 5” screen and blurry B&W images. Still, it seemed like a miracle. He soon got a nice B&W set with about a 19” screen around 1957. I do remember Howdy Doody, for sure.
I remember getting a VCR in 1985 when I was in the 4th grade. I thought my folks were the last people on the planet to get one. The first movie we watched was Ghostbusters.