I recently created a system that produces a convincing experience of what it was like to watch TV in the 1990s, staying true to the original daily and weekly schedules.
I love old television, and have a fondness for the quality of TV that was on when I was a kid. I remember it being very good, and although I was young, I recognized that we were witnessing a special time on TV.
The air waves were packed with outstanding writing and sitcoms. Norm Macdonald hosted Weekend Update. Bob Ross softly painted. Twilight Zone came on late each night, followed by Three Stooges. Johnny Carson reruns still ran nightly. Weird psychic hotlines came on at 3 a.m. and everybody saw the 6 o’clock news.
I wanted to closely reproduce that exact time and tone, and although I can continue adding content to it, I have already struck that chord, and the TV is officially a vibe. I am very excited for where the project now stands.
The element that most often surprises people about this television, is that shows come on at their original air days and times, complete with commercial breaks, network identification & bumpers, interstitial material, announcements, and news headlines.
Operation
- My no-touch system’s code and structural elements are complete, and the TV has demonstrated its ability to run reliably for many months without interaction, as it pushes this cultural project 24 hours per day.
- The TV can be turned off and on, and time will pass in the background, servicing the programming schedule regardless of power state, and automatically adjusting for Daylight Savings Time.
- Even after a power outage, the television system continues along its regular operating schedule, requiring no user input or configuration.
- There are benefits to connecting it to a local network, but the system is designed to operate offline.
- Works on any UHF-capable TV.
Example footage shows Liquid Television on MTV, 1992 L.A. riots on NBC, and some spooky foreign film on INT. I can’t remember what it is.
TLC on MTV, news on NBC, and Akira on INT.
Channels
- MTV (Original schedule)
- NBC (All network TV)
- INT (TV from around the world)
My system can be set to play in an unlimited number of ways. Here, I have chosen to create three channels, a reference to the Big Three television networks. For the purposes of this project, I chose to condense the experiences of ABC, NBC, and CBS into a single channel, which I refer to internally as NBC. This allowed me to open up the other two channels to more creative and rewarding experiences.
MTV, like NBC, follows its original television schedule in time with the archival footage available to recreate it, including much of that footage itself. However, because this system is sitting in my living room, I’ve added some personal embellishments, such as sneaking in music videos from my friends’ bands, like Bastards of Fate from Roanoke and Slothrust in Brooklyn.
The International channel is the most experimental of the three. It provides a space for playing around with conceptual videos, while remaining faithful to the same pre-2000s concept of this TV project. I am continuously gathering archival television broadcast footage and film from every country in the world, and always on the lookout for more! Most recently I added a batch of found materials from the 1970s and 1980s, shot in Africa, Europe, and Asia.
This process takes the most time because while I may not review every second of these materials, I still hold it to a certain standard so that the viewing experience remains unbothered by issues such as strange edits, watermarks, added content, incomplete materials, or just feeling out-of-place.
I have supplied this system with enough material to create the essential experience of sitting down on the couch, glancing at a clock, and seeing what’s on TV. Every night is something different. Something old, made new again.
Section to be added: TV Guide
Commercial break? A custom-made TV Guide shows what’s coming on.
[Tom Green show ad] [schedule image]
This page was last edited on April 17, 2025.