Pickles by Brian Crane for November 27, 2019

Even better was when the channel knob was broken and you had to use pliers to change the channel.

those sure were the days, Earl and Opal

Those were also the days when one of the kids got to hold the rabbit ears just so until Dad’s program was over.

You can buy a universal remote and then lookup on the Internet how to make it work. That might be a bit complicated for them.

Our TV has a button on it that causes the remote to start beeping.

Modern inconveniences.

My dad would sometimes call me or one of my brothers into the living room just to change the channel. And, no, he wasn’t sick or injured in any way at the time.

My new TV doesn’t have any buttons on it, it doesn’t even have a power button! So getting up and changing the channel isn’t possible any more! :-)

Yep in the bad old days you had to get up to change the channel and in many cases also change the antenna direction so the station would come in better. The Horror of it all ;-)

There’s an app for that, folks, but it doesn’t work on a rotary…

And TV programmers would make use of our laziness. They’d put a weak show between two popular ones, figuring people will sit through the middle one rather than get up and change the channel.

And now there is voice control. It saves wear and tear on the fingers.

or when you had UHF and VHF channels?

What a lazy society we’ve become….bleah

And there were only 3 or 4 channels from which to choose.

In the 1950s we had a device called the “tennarotor” attached to the antenna on the roof which would turn the antenna for better reception!

They must have a very old TV. Current smart TV’s have no controls at all on the television itself. That reminds me, I’d better check and make sure I have plenty of remote batteries! And maybe I should order a spare remote.

I resovled this issue. I installed a voice activated remote control. I never have to get up and change the channel again.

I was the remote. “Tentoes, turn that up a little!”

That’s wby we had kids.

We clamped on a pair of Vise grips as a dedicated channel changer

the good old days

With the new flat TVs can you even change the channels, I never looked

Ya know, I don’t think I’d know how to change the channel on our tv if I had to :)

Out stupid TV has no controls on it. When I misplace the remote, can’t even turn it off!

I think Earl is thinking he likes this channel just fine! ;o]

Early remotes operated by sound. It was possible to change channels by jiggling your keys or a pocket with a few coins. I was just a kid but able to cause a lot of frustration for a room full of adults.

Our Samoyed could change channels by chomping on his bone.

Well press his button.

PJ used to say the only reason his parents had kids was so they’d have someone to change the channel on the TV.

We were so far from Amarillo that to get the 3 stations someone put a booster atop the grain elevator in Texhoma. We all had to pay so much a month and if funds got low they would switch it off until we ponied up. I remember my dad Lloyd and his best friend Lloyd (they called each other “Jack”) with a long-handled screwdriver in the back of the set “adjusting” the picture and the hilarity from us kids as they tried.

Had an earlier version of a remote back in the day. Must have used the infra-red band. Anyway, if the remote saw lightening in the distance, random things would happen – channel change, volume off or on, and ETC. Yes, we had big windows.

My ideal remote size? One the size and weight of a brick.

You mean Earl’s not butt dialing the channels?

That part of the “good old days” I do not miss, those things have become necessary.

we have universal remotes and hubby and I each have our own plus a decoy non working one for the baby. She LOVES pushing buttons

My teacher rolled out the radio for art lessons.

Yeah and us kids were the ones that had to get up all the time to do it. Plus hold the antennae at times to make the picture clear.

Wait Earl had it under the couch the other day.

Better to buy a back remote so that when this happens or the other wears out you just put batteries in and off you go. Leave the remote control on the tv or that table between you and the tv.

I don’t watch TV any more and it’s the commercials that drove me away. My last TV (ten years old) broke and it sat there for months because I didn’t care what happened to it. My BF is actually (and this is amazing because he’s so tight most of the time that he squeaks) buying me a new TV so he can watch it when he comes over. Otherwise we GASP! have to play board games and card games. He’s tired of getting his butt kicked at Scrabble, I guess.