TV Jibes — the early 1970s

In seven decades television has continued to evolve technically. From the time it was introduced and accepted by the public, it has been a major part of our lives. Nowadays I watch television on a widescreen Sony HDTV. I watch Mad Men, which takes place in the sixties, and realistically shows television as the crude device it was, a flickering, rolling picture, antenna adjusting nuisance. I don’t know how we stood for it.

And only three networks. Good lord. Back then we had fewer choices in programming, and most of it was crap. Now I have almost 200 channels and it is still mostly crap. That part of television has never changed.

In 1970 I bought my first color television: A Sharp 19", with mechanical tuners, rabbit ears and a need for constant adjustments.

At about the same time, TV Guide magazine, which was the best-selling weekly magazine in the country, included a 16-page supplement called TV Jibes. It was all cartoons about TV, drawn by some of the most popular cartoonists of the day. I found the booklet recently in an antiques mall, and paid a dollar. I looked for it online and saw there are some copies from Amazon sellers asking for almost $20.00. Since TV Guide distributed millions of copies it can’t really be rare, can it? Anyway, rare or not, I am offering it to you for free. Step back in time to the days of Hee Haw and Hogan’s Heroes, Hawaii Five-O (the original), and Ironside.

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