I liked the wearable gizmo that was described in MAKE magazine, that was built into a hoodie sweatsuit. Push the hidden button and it would send the “turn off” IR code for every TV set known to man...nice way to decrease the noise level in a bar ;-)
my son went through JR HIGH and HIGHSCHOOL with a wrist watch he could use to change channels.
“TV Be Gone” I think that was called.