31 replies to this topic

[moycon]

Not sure if this has been discussed before, if it has, can someone point me to the thread?
I was visiting another site and there was some half-hearted discussion about when home computers showed up on TV shows. Silver Spoons and Whiz Kids was mentioned, no one really had any links to back up their guesses. I can think of a lot of movies from the early 80's that had desktop computers, but not so many TV shows. I found on YouTube a Season 5 episode of Magnum PI that had him playing a fictional adventure game on a computer. That would have been around 1985. I found some old Mr Wizards that had computers featured on the show, but I am thinking more like sitcoms or TV mystery shows as opposed to science shows.

Anyone have instances of earlier appearances of home computers in TV shows?

[cybercylon]

The arcade games in Silver Spoons is the earliest scripted series that I can remember having games in it.

As for unscripted, anyone remember TV POWWW and it's variant on the east coast... TV Pix? Star Blazers, TV Pix, and The Space Giants (aka Ambassador Magma)

[moycon]

cybercylon, on Tue Jan 8, 2013 7:34 PM, said:

The arcade games in Silver Spoons is the earliest scripted series that I can remember having games in it.

Yes I would agree with that, Ricky also had a home computer as well. This was from 1982, it is the earliest instance of a home computer in a TV series we've found so far.



I did mention computers showed up in the old Batman and Star Trek shows, but they were discarded since they were obviously HUGE and /or fictional computers, and weren't available to the home market.

[Gregory DG]

Wow, that clip is remarkably prophetic. Who knew that Ricky Schroder could see the future?!

[Cap5750]

http://www.starringt...ture.html?f=462

[moycon]

Now that is a helpful site Cap5750!!

It looks like to me the earliest home computes in a running TV series was...

Simon and Simon - Season 1, Episode 3, "Trapdoors" (1981)


Apple II

Terry uses his Apple II to hack the bank's computer system. There is another II in the computer shop he visits

There were some earlier examples like Rockford Files, and Hardy Boys, but those weren't home computers. Looks like those computers took up the room!

[Cap5750]

Yep...pretty cool. Fits in well with the thread I used to post in here about videogames in TV/Movies.

[littleman jack]

Seinfeld always had an Apple. I think he started off with an SE or original Mac, and progressed with the times. They were always to the left of his bikes, which were hanging in the hall, and just right of the window to the street.

[Keatah]

I remember some sort of movie with two hippie druggies racing cars. And they stopped into a buddy's trailer house, started playing the VCS and then had a fight about cigarettes. This was in 1977 or 1978.

Edited by Keatah, Wed Jan 9, 2013 4:28 AM.

[jmetal88]

moycon, on Tue Jan 8, 2013 7:40 PM, said:

Yes I would agree with that, Ricky also had a home computer as well. This was from 1982, it is the earliest instance of a home computer in a TV series we've found so far.



I did mention computers showed up in the old Batman and Star Trek shows, but they were discarded since they were obviously HUGE and /or fictional computers, and weren't available to the home market.

Hey, and it's a Tandy Color Computer!

[Hatta]

Wouldn't an actual CoCo modem plug into the cartridge port on the side?

[thegoldenband]

It's not as early as the Silver Spoons episode, but Too Close For Comfort, with Ted Knight, had a 1984 episode called "Goodbye, Mr. Chip" in which perennial nebbish Monroe used a computer to calculate stocks to buy and horse races to bet on.

I saw the episode when it was rerun on AntennaTV last year, but I don't remember what kind of computer he lugged to his room though I think I may have recognized it at the time.

Hatta, on Wed Jan 9, 2013 12:12 PM, said:

Wouldn't an actual CoCo modem plug into the cartridge port on the side?

They used the RS-232 port, no?  I never owned a CoCo modem BITD, alas, though I wanted one.

BTW this is an arcade game, not a home computer, but a fun example nonetheless: Judson Scott as The Phoenix, playing...Phoenix.

[jmetal88]

Hatta, on Wed Jan 9, 2013 12:12 PM, said:

Wouldn't an actual CoCo modem plug into the cartridge port on the side?

Probably not.  It could, but without a Multi-Pak, you'd be out of luck running cartridge or disk-based software with it plugged in.  More likely, someone would use an RS-232 modem hooked to the CoCo's software-controlled bit-banger serial port.

[cybercylon]

Of course, can't count the number of times I've seen Dells or Macs, with the logo taped over and running a different operating system.

I now vaguely remember that Silver Spoons ep and then asking for a home computer from my parents. My dad told me to get real....

I have my doubts that is a working prop.... wouldn't you see the refresh on the monitor?

Edited by cybercylon, Wed Jan 9, 2013 5:18 PM.

[atarian63]

1981 commercial, sort of remember seeing Atari on tv shows around this time

[JamesD]

The CoCo did in fact have a modem on a cart available but most people used the RS-232 port on the back to connect a modem.

[JamesD]

cybercylon, on Wed Jan 9, 2013 5:14 PM, said:

Of course, can't count the number of times I've seen Dells or Macs, with the logo taped over and running a different operating system.

I now vaguely remember that Silver Spoons ep and then asking for a home computer from my parents. My dad told me to get real....

I have my doubts that is a working prop.... wouldn't you see the refresh on the monitor?

I think it was a working prop.  The garbage Rickey was typing was showing up as he typed it.
Maybe they used a special TV with slow decay phosphor.

That program probably took less than 100 lines of BASIC for the entire sequence.

[Hatta]

JamesD, on Wed Jan 9, 2013 7:19 PM, said:

The CoCo did in fact have a modem on a cart available but most people used the RS-232 port on the back to connect a modem.

And here I didn't even know it had built in serial.  That's pretty good for an 8-bit home computer.  I only know about the cartridge modem because I have one somewhere, but I've never had occasion to use it.

[high voltage]

Battlestar Galactica (original 1978 TV series) used Commodore Pets with the Commodore label removed.

[JamesD]

Hatta, on Thu Jan 10, 2013 12:53 PM, said:

And here I didn't even know it had built in serial.  That's pretty good for an 8-bit home computer.  I only know about the cartridge modem because I have one somewhere, but I've never had occasion to use it.

The cart only operates at 300 baud.  If I remember right, there is a mod to convert it to a serial port to use like the RS232 pack.

Edited by JamesD, Thu Jan 10, 2013 6:54 PM.

[jmetal88]

cybercylon, on Wed Jan 9, 2013 5:14 PM, said:

Of course, can't count the number of times I've seen Dells or Macs, with the logo taped over and running a different operating system.

I now vaguely remember that Silver Spoons ep and then asking for a home computer from my parents. My dad told me to get real....

I have my doubts that is a working prop.... wouldn't you see the refresh on the monitor?

I'm pretty sure it's working.  It's showing the correct screen for Tandy Color Basic when the TV warms up.

[Retro Rogue]

moycon, on Tue Jan 8, 2013 7:25 PM, said:

Not sure if this has been discussed before, if it has, can someone point me to the thread?
I was visiting another site and there was some half-hearted discussion about when home computers showed up on TV shows. Silver Spoons and Whiz Kids was mentioned, no one really had any links to back up their guesses. I can think of a lot of movies from the early 80's that had desktop computers, but not so many TV shows. I found on YouTube a Season 5 episode of Magnum PI that had him playing a fictional adventure game on a computer. That would have been around 1985. I found some old Mr Wizards that had computers featured on the show, but I am thinking more like sitcoms or TV mystery shows as opposed to science shows.

Anyone have instances of earlier appearances of home computers in TV shows?

Do you mean any TV show? It looks like you're listing Sitcom/Television series.

Tom Snyder's talk show, "Tomorrow" had one of the earliest apperances I'm aware of (1976). Processor Technology got their Sol-20 personal computer on the show and Tom Snyder sat there playing legendary hacker Steven Dompier's game "Target" on it for a segment.

[moycon]

Yep TV shows based on fictional situations it what I was looking for. Old episodes of shows that happened to have early home computes as part of the fictional story.

A show like Mr Wizard (which I did find an early episode with an Atari computer) would not qualify.

[Retro Rogue]

moycon, on Thu Jan 10, 2013 10:12 PM, said:

Yep TV shows based on fictional situations it what I was looking for. Old episodes of shows that happened to have early home computes as part of the fictional story.

A show like Mr Wizard (which I did find an early episode with an Atari computer) would not qualify.

Yah, you're more likely to see terminals and mainframes in 70s television shows than a home computer. Hollywood television usually uses what they can get cheap for props or whatever prop houses have for rent.

[carmel_andrews]

I remember seeing the tv series kate and ali (i think it was shown on C4 in GB), in one episode i distinctly remember the son (think his name was chip or sommat like that) pulling an Atari 800 out from under his bed

Also in chocky's children the main character in the series in the first episode is seen playing with his friends Atari 800 playing the game 'space invaders' at turbo speed

If anyone remembers the 1980's series 'Magnum PI', in one episode when tom sellecks character is laid up in hospital, the kid in the same ward is playing the A8 version of defender on a 600xl it looks like and later in that episode, tom's character is seen using the 600xl to hack into some computer system using Atari brandard telecoms hardware