As little as fifty years ago, televisions looked radically different than they do today. They were heavy, square monstrosities topped often with what looked like the antennae of a super-sized cricket. When you turned the TV on, by means of a knob on the front of the device (there were no remotes and no cable service), you’d get either a grey, fuzzy screen with wavy lines or the faint outline of a show in progress. You’d choose the channel you wanted, and then you’d have to “fine tune” the reception by means of the giant antennae.

Much like adjusting binoculars, you’d have to move or twist the antennae this way and that with the finesse of a tightrope walker, while watching the screen in order to find just the right position in which the reception would become clear––or at least clear enou…