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The Television Portal

Flat-screen television receivers on display for sale at a consumer electronics store in 2008

Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, entertainment, news, and sports. The medium is capable of more than "radio broadcasting," which refers to an audio signal sent to radio receivers.

Television became available in crude experimental forms in the 1920s, but only after several years of further development was the new technology marketed to consumers. After World War II, an improved form of black-and-white television broadcasting became popular in the United Kingdom and the United States, and television sets became commonplace in homes, businesses, and institutions. During the 1950s, television was the primary medium for influencing public opinion. In the mid-1960s, color broadcasting was introduced in the U.S. and most other developed countries.

In 2013, 79% of the world's households owned a television set. The replacement of earlier cathode-ray tube (CRT) screen displays with compact, energy-efficient, flat-panel alternative technologies such as LCDs (both fluorescent-backlit and LED), OLED displays, and plasma displays was a hardware revolution that began with computer monitors in the late 1990s. Most television sets sold in the 2000s were flat-panel, mainly LEDs. Major manufacturers announced the discontinuation of CRT, Digital Light Processing (DLP), plasma, and even fluorescent-backlit LCDs by the mid-2010s. LEDs are being gradually replaced by OLEDs. Also, major manufacturers have started increasingly producing smart TVs in the mid-2010s. Smart TVs with integrated Internet and Web 2.0 functions became the dominant form of television by the late 2010s. (Full article...)

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Meerkat Manor is a British television programme produced by Oxford Scientific Films for Animal Planet International. Blending more traditional animal documentary style footage with dramatic narration, the series tells the story of the Whiskers, one of over a dozen families of meerkats in the Kalahari Desert being studied as part of the Kalahari Meerkat Project, a long-term field study into the ecological causes and evolutionary consequences of the cooperative nature of meerkats. The original programme is narrated by Bill Nighy, with the narration redubbed by Mike Goldman for the Australian airings and Sean Astin for the American broadcasts. Although the show faced criticism from viewers for not intervening when a meerkat was injured and faced death, as a whole Meerkat Manor has enjoyed considerable success and is now Animal Planet's top series, both on the cable channel and through its video-on-demand service. The show's experimental format broke new ground in animal documentary filming techniques and allowed viewers a long term, intimate look into the lives of its meerkat stars, breaking the traditional wall between viewer and subject found with most documentaries.

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Credit: Caroline Culler

A newscast typically consists of the coverage of various news events and other information, either produced locally in a radio or television station newsroom, or by a broadcast network. It may also include such additional material as sports coverage, weather forecasts, traffic reports, commentary and other material that the broadcaster feels is relevant to their audience.

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... that Amrita Shah found that the introduction of television to India led to more women aspiring to become independent?
... that Ice King, the antagonist of television series Adventure Time, was at first received negatively by critics but later praised for representing mental health issues such as Alzheimer's disease?
... that the exclusive secret society Hamilton House from the television show Gossip Girl was based on St. Anthony Hall, a social and literary fraternity?
... that in the television series sequel Imortal (2010), Angel Locsin portrayed the lead role as the daughter of her lycan character in the Lobo TV series?
... that Ukrainian actress Oksana Shvets, who was killed in the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, starred in the 2013 joint Ukrainian–Russian television family saga House with Lilies alongside Russian actors?
... that Windows 3.1 had a special version, known as Modular Windows, that was controlled via television?

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Television is business, and business is America.

— Bill Cosby

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...that copies of the 1982 biopic Will: G. Gordon Liddy, about a Watergate co-conspirator, are stored in the Nixon Presidential Materials collection at the U.S. National Archives?

...that Anne Montgomery, who has been a sportscaster for several local television stations as well as SportsCenter, was the first female football referee in Arizona?

...that Augie Hiebert not only built Alaska's first television station, KTVA, but also founded the state's first FM radio station, KNIK-FM?

...that Tomorrow's Pioneers, a television program for children produced by Hamas, features a mascot similar to Mickey Mouse?

...that Judy Morris, co-writer of the Academy Award winning Happy Feet has also acted in many of the most popular North American and Australian television programs since the age of 10?

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Rather in 2017

Daniel Irvin Rather Jr. (/ˈræðər/; born October 31, 1931) is an American journalist, commentator, and former national evening news anchor. He began his career in Texas, becoming a national name after his reporting saved thousands of lives during Hurricane Carla in September 1961. In his first national broadcast, he helped initiate the successful evacuation of 350,000 people. He reported on some of the most significant events of the modern age, such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Gulf War, 9/11, the Iraq War, and the war on terror.

Rather also famously reported from Dallas in November 1963 at the time that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Based on such reporting, he was promoted at CBS News, where he served as White House correspondent beginning in 1964. He served as foreign correspondent in London and Vietnam over the next two years before returning to the White House correspondent position. He covered the presidency of Richard Nixon, including Nixon's trip to China, the Watergate scandal, and the president's resignation. (Full article...)

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James T. Aubrey Kroger Babb Rudolph Cartier Sydney Newman Eric Bana Kylie Minogue Peter Jennings KaDee Strickland Austin Nichols Aaron Sorkin Jake Gyllenhaal Brad Pitt Walter Cronkite Tom Brokaw John Le Mesurier George Formby Dan Castellaneta Perry Como Red Skelton Rose Catherine Pinkney

General images

The following are images from various television-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Baird in 1925 with his televisor equipment and dummies "James" and "Stooky Bill" (right) (from History of television)
Image 2Manfred von Ardenne in 1933 (from History of television)
Image 3LG Smart TV using the Web browser (from Smart TV)
Image 4Philo Farnsworth in 1924 (from History of television)
Image 5Family watching TV, 1958 (from History of television)
Image 6An early Smart TV from 2012 running the discontinued Orsay platform (from History of television)
Image 7This live image of actress Paddy Naismith was used to demonstrate Telechrome, John Logie Baird's first all-electronic color television system, which used two projection CRTs. The two-color image would be similar to the basic Telechrome system. (from Color television)
Image 8Comparison of image quality between ISDB-T (1080i broadcast, top) and NTSC (480i transmission, bottom) (from Digital television)
Image 9RCA CT-100 at the SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention playing Superman. The RCA CT-100 was the first mass-produced color TV set. (from Color television)
Image 10The first mass-produced Czechoslovak TV-set Tesla 4001A (1953–57) (from History of television)
Image 11The Philco Predicta, 1958. In the collection of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis (from History of television)
Image 12LG Electronics smart TV from 2011 (from Smart TV)
Image 13Color bars used in a test pattern, sometimes used when no program material is available (from History of television)
Image 14RCA 630-TS, the first mass-produced television set, which sold in 1946–1947 (from History of television)
Image 15Smart TVs on display (from Smart TV)
Image 16An RCA Victor Color TV ad featuring milliner Lilly Daché in 1959. (from Color television)
Image 17Samsung's discontinued Orsay platform (from Smart TV)
Image 18Hovannes Adamian c. 1900s (from Color television)
Image 19The Nipkow disk. This schematic shows the circular paths traced by the holes, which may also be square for greater precision. The area of the disk outlined in black shows the region scanned. (from History of television)
Image 20Ferdinand Braun (from History of television)
Image 21Ad for the beginning of experimental television broadcasting in New York City by RCA in 1939 (from History of television)
Image 22DBS satellite dishes (from History of television)
Image 23First television test broadcast transmitted by the NHK Broadcasting Technology Research Institute in May 1939 (from History of television)
Image 24A map depicting digital terrestrial television standards (from Digital television)

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Featured lists have been determined by the Wikipedia community to be the best lists on English Wikipedia.

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The fourth and final season of The O.C., an American teen drama television series, aired in the United States from November 2, 2006, to February 22, 2007, and consisted of 16 episodes. The O.C's final season aired Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. ET in the United States on Fox, a terrestrial television network. Fox tested a new timeslot by airing the second episode on Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. ET against ABC's Lost and CBS's Criminal Minds. With Lost about to enter a three-month hiatus, Fox hoped that changing the timeslot for The O.C. would attract back viewers it had lost since the end of the previous season; however, the move was unsuccessful and the show returned to its Thursday timeslot.

The season was released on DVD as a five-disc boxed set under the title The O.C.: The Complete Fourth Season on May 22, 2007, by Warner Home Video. The season was also made available in the American versions of Zune and iTunes Store. Before the season premiered on television, it was available through on demand streaming. In the US, streaming was available from October 26, 2006, at 3:01 a.m. ET onwards, through Fox Interactive Media's MySpace and MyFoxLocal stations. (Full article...)
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The third season of the American serial drama television series Lost commenced airing in the United States and Canada on October 4, 2006, and concluded on May 23, 2007. The third season continues the stories of a group of over 40 people who have been stranded on a remote island in the South Pacific, after their airplane crashed 68 days prior to the beginning of the season. In the Lost universe, the season takes place from November 28 to December 21, 2004. The producers have stated that as the first season is about introducing the survivors and the second season is about the hatch, the third season is about the Others, a group of mysterious island inhabitants.

In response to fan complaints about scheduling in the previous seasons, ABC decided to air the episodes without reruns, albeit in two separate blocks. In the United States, the first block consisted of six episodes aired on Wednesdays at 9:00 pm and after a twelve-week break, the season continued with the remaining 16 episodes at 10:00 pm. In addition, three clip-shows recapped previous events on the show. "Lost: A Tale of Survival" aired a week before the season premiere, "Lost Survivor Guide" aired before the seventh episode and "Lost: The Answers" aired before the season finale. Buena Vista Home Entertainment released the season under the title Lost: The Complete Third Season – The Unexplored Experience on December 11, 2007, in Region 1 on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. (Full article...)
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The first season of Veronica Mars, an American drama television series created by Rob Thomas, premiered on UPN in the United States on September 22, 2004. The series was produced by Warner Bros. Television, Silver Pictures Television and Rob Thomas Productions, and Joel Silver and Thomas served as the executive producers.

The season revolves around Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell), a high school student and private investigator in the fictional Southern California seaside town of Neptune. When Veronica's best friend, Lilly Kane (Amanda Seyfried), is murdered, her life falls apart. Her father, County Sheriff Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni), accuses Lilly's father of being involved in the murder. This provokes Neptune's wrath and Keith's ousting as sheriff in a recall election. Veronica's mother, Lianne (Corinne Bohrer), develops a drinking problem and leaves town. Veronica's "09er" friends—wealthy students from the fictional 90909 ZIP code—force her to choose between them and her father; she chooses her father. Keith opens a private investigation agency, Mars Investigations, where Veronica works part-time. (Full article...)
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Rental Magica (レンタルマギカ, Rentaru Magika) is a Japanese animated television series . Its episodes are directed by Itsuro Kawasaki and produced by the Japanese animation studio ZEXCS and Victor Entertainment. ZEXCS produced the animation and Victor Entertainment was responsible for developing the music. They are based on the light novel series Rental Magica by Makoto Sando and illustrated by pako, and adapt the source material over twenty-four episodes. The plot of the episodes follows Itsuki Iba, the newly appointed president of Astral, a company that dispatches magicians to perform jobs involving supernatural phenomena, and his interactions with his employees and Astral's competitors.

The episodes aired from October 7, 2007, to March 23, 2008, on Chiba TV and TV Saitama, with the episodes later broadcast on KBS Kyoto, Sun TV, Tokyo MX TV, TV Aichi, TV Hokkaido, TV Kanagawa, and TVQ Kyushu Broadcasting Co. The order that the episodes air in is nonlinear; for instance, the first episode broadcast is the sixth episode chronologically. The exceptions are episodes four, eight, and episodes sixteen through twenty, which are in the same broadcast and chronological order. (Full article...)
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Andre Braugher's portrayal of Raymond Holt earned him four nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (2014—2016, 2020)

Brooklyn Nine-Nine is an American police procedural comedy television series created by Dan Goor and Michael Schur. The series revolves around Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg), a detective for the New York City Police Department (NYPD) in Brooklyn's fictional 99th Precinct, who often comes into conflict with his new commanding officer, the serious and stern Captain Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher). The rest of the cast features Stephanie Beatriz as Rosa Diaz, Terry Crews as Terry Jeffords, Melissa Fumero as Amy Santiago, Joe Lo Truglio as Charles Boyle, Chelsea Peretti as Gina Linetti, Dirk Blocker as Michael Hitchcock, and Joel McKinnon Miller as Norm Scully.

Throughout its run, the series has been acclaimed by critics for the performances of its cast, especially Samberg and Braugher, who have both been nominated for fourteen awards each. While Samberg has won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy, Braugher has been nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and has won two Critics' Choice Television Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. In addition, Beatriz has received six award nominations, winning an Imagen Award for Best Supporting Actress – Television and two Gracie Awards for Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role – Comedy or Musical. Furthermore, stunt performer Norman Howell has been nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Comedy Series or Variety Program six times, winning twice. (Full article...)
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The episodes of the Bleach anime television series are based on Tite Kubo's original manga series of the same name. It is directed by Noriyuki Abe, produced by TV Tokyo, Dentsu and Pierrot, and was broadcast in Japan from October 5, 2004, to March 27, 2012. The series follows the adventures of high school student Ichigo Kurosaki who can see spirits and becomes a Soul Reaper, after assuming the duties of Soul Reaper Rukia Kuchiki.

Viz Media obtained the foreign television, home video and merchandising rights to the Bleach anime from TV Tokyo Corporation and Shueisha on March 15, 2006. Subsequently, Viz Media contracted Studiopolis to create the English adaptation of the anime, and has licensed its individual Bleach merchandising rights to several different companies. The English adaptation of the Bleach anime premiered on Canada's YTV in their Bionix programming block on September 9, 2006. Cartoon Network in the U.S. began airing Bleach the following evening on September 10 as part of Adult Swim. (Full article...)
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The Wire is an American crime drama television series created by David Simon and broadcast by the cable network HBO. It premiered on June 2, 2002, and ended on March 9, 2008, comprising sixty episodes over five seasons. Set in Baltimore, Maryland, The Wire follows different institutions within the city, such as the illegal drug trade, the education system, and the media, and their relationships to law enforcement. The series features a diverse ensemble cast of both veteran and novice actors; the large number of black actors was considered groundbreaking for the time.

The Wire has been widely hailed as one of the greatest television series of all time. Despite the critical acclaim, however, the show received relatively few awards during its run. It was nominated for only two Primetime Emmy Awards – both for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series – and did not win any. Many have called its lack of recognition, especially in the Outstanding Drama Series category, one of the biggest Emmys snubs ever. Some have argued the lack of recognition was due to the show's dense plots and a disconnect between the setting and Los Angeles–based voters. (Full article...)
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Bluey is an Australian animated television series for preschoolers that premiered on ABC Kids on 1 October 2018. The series was created by Joe Brumm with Queensland production group Ludo Studio. The show follows Bluey, an anthropomorphic six-year-old Blue Heeler puppy who is characterised by her abundance of energy, imagination and curiosity about the world. The young dog lives with her father, Bandit; mother, Chilli; and younger sister, Bingo, who regularly joins Bluey on adventures as the pair embark on imaginative play together. Other characters featured are each depicted as a different dog breed, some inspired by dogs from Brumm's childhood. Overarching themes include the influence of a supportive family, Australian culture, and the importance of play throughout childhood. The program was created and produced in Queensland; its capital city, Brisbane, inspires the show's setting. The series was co-commissioned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the British Broadcasting Corporation. BBC Studios hold global distribution and merchandising rights. The international broadcasting rights to the series were acquired by The Walt Disney Company in 2019.

Since its debut on 1 October 2018, Bluey has broadcast 154 episodes across three series. Two Christmas-themed episodes have aired, as part of both the first ("Verandah Santa") and second series ("Christmas Swim"), and an Easter-themed episode ("Easter") aired as part of the second series. The third series contained a Father's Day-themed episode ("Perfect"), as well as a special 28-minute episode titled "The Sign". A collection of one-to-three minute shorts under the category of "Minisodes" began airing on 16 June 2024. (Full article...)
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Richardson in the 1962 film, Long Day's Journey into Night

Sir Ralph Richardson (1902–1983) was an English actor who appeared on radio, film, television and stage. Described by The Guardian as "indisputably our most poetic actor", and by the director David Ayliff as "a natural actor ... [who] couldn't stop being a perfect actor", Richardson's career lasted over 50 years. He was—in the words of his biographer, Sheridan Morley—one "of the three great actor knights of the mid-twentieth century", alongside Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud.

After seeing a production of Hamlet starring Sir Frank Benson, Richardson decided to become an actor and made his stage debut, playing a gendarme in The Bishop's Candlesticks in December 1920. After touring and appearing in rep, he made his London debut in July 1926 as the stranger in Oedipus at Colonus. In 1930 he joined the Old Vic where he first met Gielgud, staying with the company until the following year. After service during the Second World War with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, he returned to acting, preferring the works of the more modern authors Luigi Pirandello, Joe Orton, Harold Pinter, George Bernard Shaw and J. B. Priestley to the classic plays of Shakespeare. A radio career ran in parallel to that on the stage, and Richardson was first broadcast in The City in 1929. (Full article...)
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Call the Midwife is a British period drama television series based on the best-selling memoirs of former nurse Jennifer Worth, who died shortly before the first episode was broadcast. It is set in the 1950s and 1960s and for the first three series centred primarily on Jenny Lee (Jessica Raine), based on the real Worth. In the first episode, set in 1957, she begins a new job as a midwife at a nursing convent in the deprived Poplar district of east London. The programme's ensemble cast has also included Jenny Agutter, Pam Ferris, Judy Parfitt, Laura Main, Miranda Hart, Helen George, Bryony Hannah, Charlotte Ritchie, Linda Bassett and Emerald Fennell. Vanessa Redgrave delivers framing voiceovers in the role of "mature Jenny", and continues to do so even after the younger version of the character was written out of the series.

The idea of adapting Worth's books for television was initially dismissed by the BBC, but revived after Danny Cohen took over the post of Controller of BBC One. A full series was commissioned in 2011 and writer Heidi Thomas adapted Worth's books for the screen. The first episode was broadcast on 15 January 2012 and the initial series of six episodes drew positive reviews and large viewing figures, said by the BBC to be the highest audiences achieved by a new drama series on BBC One since the corporation's current method of measuring audiences began in 2001. Following the second episode, the BBC announced that a second series, expanded from six to eight episodes, had been commissioned. In September 2012 the programme won the Best New Drama award and Hart was named Best Actress at the TV Choice Awards. (Full article...)
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Hitohira (ひとひら, lit. Petal) is a Japanese animated television series. The episodes are directed by Akira Nishimori and produced by the Japanese animation studio XEBEC M2 and Genco. They are based on the Hitohira manga by Izumi Kirihara, and adapt the source material over twelve episodes. The episodes aired from March 28, 2007, to June 13, 2007, on AT-X, Chiba TV, Sun TV, TV Aichi, TV Kanagawa and TV Saitama.

Two pieces of theme music are used for the episodes: one opening theme and one ending theme. The opening theme is "Yume, Hitohira" (夢ゆめ、ひとひら, lit. Dream, Petal) by Yūko Asami, and the ending theme is "Smile" (スマイル, Sumairu) by Mai Mizuhashi. (Full article...)
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Eve is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on United Paramount Network (UPN) from September 15, 2003, to May 11, 2006. A total of 66 episodes of Eve were broadcast over three seasons. Created by Meg DeLoatch, the series follows Miami fashion designer Shelly Williams (Eve) through her relationship with physical therapist Jeremiah Thurgood "J.T." Hunter (Jason George).

DeLoatch described the sitcom as "focus[ing] on one relationship and follow[ing] all of the ups and downs in it" and its purpose as "showing the male and female points of view". Shelly and J.T. often turn to their two close friends for advice about the opposite gender, love, and relationships. Shelly frequently looks for advice from former model Rita Lefleur (Ali Landry) and married friend Janie Egins (Natalie Desselle-Reid), while J.T. finds support in his best friend Donovan Brink (Sean Maguire) and IRS worker Nick Dalaney (Brian Hooks). Even though Shelly and J.T.'s relationship is the recurrent storyline, the series does explore the relationships of its supporting cast; Donovan and Rita date each other, and the extremely picky Nick attempts to find the perfect partner. (Full article...)
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The fourth season of Family Guy aired on Fox from May 1, 2005, to May 21, 2006, and consists of thirty episodes, making it the longest season to date. The first half of the season is included within the volume 3 DVD box set, which released on November 29, 2005, and the second half within the volume 4 DVD box set, which released on November 14, 2006. Volume 4 is split into seasons 4 and 5 in regions outside the United States, leading to confusion over season numbers between U.S., Australian, and UK consumers. The last three episodes of season 4 are the basis for the movie known as Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, and are edited for content; Fox does not include these episodes in the official episode count.

Family Guy had been canceled in 2002 due to low ratings, but was revived by Fox after reruns on Adult Swim became the network's most-watched program, and more than three million DVDs of the show were sold. "North by North Quahog" was the first episode to air following the series' revival. (Full article...)
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Charlie Brooker is the series creator, and has received seven awards for his work on Black Mirror.

Black Mirror is a British science fiction anthology series created by Charlie Brooker. From 2011 to 2013, the first two series aired on British network Channel 4, as did the special "White Christmas" (2014); the following four series were released on the American streaming platform Netflix from 2016 to 2023. There are twenty-seven episodes in the show's first six series, and an additional interactive film Bandersnatch (2019). Inspired by The Twilight Zone, each episode of Black Mirror is standalone and explores the common theme of technology and its side-effects.

Black Mirror has received positive reception from critics and has been nominated for ninety-nine awards, winning twenty-nine of them. The most acclaimed episodes are "USS Callister", which won four Emmy Awards, and "San Junipero", which won two. Additionally, the interactive film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch won two Emmy Awards. As actors rarely appear in more than one episode, the only people to receive multiple awards for their work on the show are writer Charlie Brooker, who has won seven, and executive producer Annabel Jones, who has won four. The series has been nominated for seventeen British Academy Film Awards, winning two, and fifteen Emmy Awards, winning nine. (Full article...)
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The fifth season of Family Guy first aired on the Fox network in eighteen episodes from September 10, 2006, to May 20, 2007, before being released as two DVD box sets and in syndication. It premiered with the episode "Stewie Loves Lois" and finished with "Meet the Quagmires". The series follows the dysfunctional Griffin family—father Peter, mother Lois, daughter Meg, son Chris, baby Stewie and Brian, the family pet, who reside in their hometown of Quahog, a fictional city in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The executive producers for the fifth season were David Goodman, Chris Sheridan, Danny Smith and series creator Seth MacFarlane. Sheridan and Goodman served as showrunners for the fifth season.

The season received positive reviews from critics, who praised that the series saw "no sign of tiring", and had "as many funny moments as ever." Some criticism went to the cite of a lack of original writing. (Full article...)

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