10/84Average life span of a 1960s television sitcom (in years): 2.26
10/84Percentage increase in the number of cop shows in prime time since last season: 100
3/84Nations where Dallas appears on television: 91
4/84Percentage of Americans too young to remember the Bicentennial: 25
Life before television: 69
6/84Percentage decrease in television viewing in homes with personal computers: 40
8/84Percentage of the sexual acts depicted or referred to on prime-time TV that are between married partners: 6
10/85Percentage of Americans who say television news portrays politicians “too favorably”: 46
Who say it portrays professional sports stars “too favorably”: 54
12/85Percentage of Americans who regularly buy a publication or watch a TV station owned by Rupert Murdoch: 11
2/85Percentage of the radio and TV equipment industry’s output purchased by the Pentagon in 1982: 58
2/85Rank of watching television among activities people look forward to during the day: 1
3/85Rank of Hill Street Blues, Dallas, and Dynasty among prime-time programs most frequently taped at home: 1,2,3
3/85Number of trench coats owned by Morley Safer: 5
5/85Number of murders the average American child has seen on television by the age of 16: 18,000
7/85Number of children’s TV shows based on toys in 1983: 14
8/85Number of the ten most popular TV shows among families earning more than $30,000 that are on NBC: 5
8/85Legal fees paid by CBS to outside counsel in 1984: $10,400,000
10/86Number of brands advertised on network television in 1985: 2,713
11/86Percentage increase, since 1975, in the number of prime-time TV characters who are women over 50: 500
Percentage who say the automobile is: 10
4/86Percentage of households whose television sets have remote control: 51. 3
4/86Rank of The Cosby Show in popularity among all programs on South African television: 1
4/86Total amount NBC’s four Thursday night sitcoms are expected to earn in syndication: $1,000,000,000
6/86Portion of the domestic TV market held by American manufacturers: 3/4
8/86Episodes of Perry Mason currently in production: 3
Average number of minutes per weekday the child of a nonworking mother watches television: 139
1/87Rank of Doctors Welby, Pierce, and Westphall among TV physicians Americans would go to if they existed: 1,2,3
Number today: 31
10/87Number of Betty Rubble tablets in a bottle of Flintstone Chewable Vitamins: 0
11/87Amount lawyers spent advertising on TV in 1986: $47,000,000
2/87Percentage of Americans who don’t recognize Dan Rather: 53
6/87Estimated 1986 earnings of the CBS television network: $80,000,000
6/87Estimated 1986 earnings of Wheel of Fortune: $110,000,000
6/87Number of colleges that invited Vanna White to give their commencement address this spring: 0
11/88Ratio of television sets produced to babies born each year in the United States: 3:1
2/88Percentage change, in the first month of the 1987 season, in the three networks’ combined prime-time rating: -11
4/88Percentage of Americans who watch an evangelical religious program on television at least once a week: 25
4/88Average number of sexual innuendos broadcast on television each hour during prime time: 9
5/88Number of jokes told about the Republican candidates on late-night network television in January and February: 173
About the Democratic Candidates: 110
8/88Percentage of Americans who say they saw Dan Rather’s January interview of George Bush live on TV: 29
Percentage who actually did: 13
8/88Average number of minutes a viewer spends watching a TV program before changing the channel: 3.7
1/89Estimated value of the goods purchased by Americans through TV shopping channels last year: $1,400,000,000
12/89Percentage of American men who say they deal with depression by trying to figure out their problems: 23
Percentage who say they deal with depression by watching television: 35
3/89Percentage of Americans who watch television during dinner: 50
4/89Percentage of Americans who like dogs on TV commercials because they are “more exciting than people”: 23
7/89Percentage change, since 1979, in the average number of hours of television devoted to public affairs: -51
7/89Rank of July, among all months last year, in the amount of prime-time television watched by Americans: 12
9/89Number of last year’s network TV pilots that were about police officers: 5
Number of this year’s that are: 12
1/90Number of Supreme Court justices in 1984 who voted against legalizing the recording of TV broadcasts by VCR: 4
10/90Rank of coffee, alcohol, and soft drinks, among the foods most often consumed or mentioned on prime-time TV: 1,2,3
10/90Percentage change, since 1978, in the amount of videotape used by members of Congress in the House TV studio: +300
12/90Rank of TV viewing, eating, and shopping, among activities Americans spend the most leisure time engaged in: 1,2,3
12/90Number of television pilots broadcast in September that contained the word “suck”: 4
2/90Rank of Washington, D.C., among U. S. cities with the highest per capita viewership of TV evangelists: 1
4/90Ratio of presidential press conferences held last year to presidential press conferences held in 1981: 5:1
Ratio of network TV news coverage of George Bush last year to coverage of Ronald Reagan in 1981: 1:3
5/90Total amount of network TV airtime devoted to the national elections in Chile and Brazil last December, in minutes: 2
9/90Portion of network news coverage of the 1988 presidential campaign that focused on the role of television imagery: 1/2
10/91Percentage of American men who say they have fantasized about having sex with a fictional TV character: 30
11/91Number of times CBS interrupted Miss Teen USA on the first night of the Soviet coup with bulletins on the crisis: 0
11/91Percentage of Americans who say they are “addicted” to television: 13
12/91Chances that a television set tuned to Good Morning America or The Today Show is not being watched: 1 in 5
2/91Rank of Mr. Rogers, among preschoolers’ first choices for president of the United States: 1
4/91Percentage of TV evening-news coverage of the Vietnam War between 1965 and 1970 that depicted casualties in battle: 3
6/91Percentage of Americans who say they watch “too little” television: 23
7/91Number of U.S. households that watched NBC each week in 1979, when the network was in last place: 13,300,000
Number that watch NBC today, when the network is in first place: 11,800,000
9/91Estimated number of birds that are killed in collisions with TV broadcast towers each year: 1,250,000
9/91Percentage of the references to male tennis players made by TV sportscasters that use the player’s first name only: 8
Percentage of the references to female tennis players that do: 53 [see page 38]
11/92Rank of The Rich Also Cry, a Mexican soap opera, among the most popular TV programs in Russia: 1
5/92Percentage by which the likelihood of a child becoming obese increases for every hour of TV watched per day: 2
7/92Number of the 50 highest-rated first-run programs ever broadcast on TV that were episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies: 7
9/92Number of the 10 TV shows watched most often by blacks that are among the 10 watched most often by whites: 0
1/93Percentage of TV viewers who say they wouldn’t give up watching TV in exchange for any amount of money: 25
1/93Number of fan letters Mr. Rogers answers personally each year: 5,000
10/93Number of jokes told about Bill Clinton this-year in the monologues of late-night network TV talk shows: 391
Number of jokes told about George Bush during his first six months in office: 60
3/93Number of times fashion model Iman was interviewed about Somalia on national TV news shows last year: 10
Chances that a person who has not seen an Amy Fisher TV movie can cite a reason for the war in Bosnia: 1 in 3
5/93Number of cardigan sweaters worn by Mr. Rogers on his TV show since 1968: 24
8/93Days elapsed between the fire at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, and the first TV movie about it: 34
9/93Number of TV stations that have refused to air a consumer group’s ad advocating a Canadian-style health-care system: 8
11/94Number of the 16 Democratic senators up for reelection this month whose TV or radio ads mention Bill Clinton: 1
12/94Chances that a black suspect pictured on a network TV evening news program will be shown in police custody: 1 in 3
3/94Number of US. politicians who have appeared on Sesame Street: 4
4/94Number of Married … with Children scripts about TV violence rejected by the Fox network last year: 2
7/94Ratio of the number of Americans who cite physicians as their primary source of medical information to those citing TV: 1:2
8/94Number of writers who contributed to the screenplay of The Flintstones: 32
10/95Number of years ago the executive news producer of NBC’s New York City station was producing Howard Stern’s TV show: 3
11/95Percentage of American adults who say they could not “survive” without a television set: 19
12/95Number of stories about Hillary Clinton’s attendance of the U.N.’s women’s conference that appeared on Chinese TV: 0
5/95Ratio of the number of Chinese who own a television set to those who have hot running water: 84:1
6/95Chances that the bedroom of an American child between the ages of ten and sixteen contains a TV set: 1 in 2
8/95Number of viewers who called CBS during Connie Chung’s coverage of the Oklahoma bombing to ask if Dan Rather was dead: 3
8/95Average percentage of local-TV evening news time that is devoted to crime and disaster coverage: 53
8/95Percentage change since 1994 in the price of one minute of prime-time TV advertising in Russia: +200
1/96Estimated percentage of all U.S. television cartoon programs that are drawn in Asia: 90
11/96Amount the U.S. government spends each year to broadcast anti-Castro TV Martí toward Cuba: $11,600,000
12/96Amount that Wanted, a British TV game show, pays contestants for each day they elude a team of former KGB agents: $1,560
9/96Chance that an American parent requires that children do their homework before watching TV: 1 in 12
9/96Chance that a campaign story about Boris Yeltsin aired on prime-time Russian TV last spring was positive: 1 in 2
Chance that a campaign story about any other Russian presidential candidate was positive: 1 in 12
11/97Number of radio and television stations shut down by the Yugoslav government since last year: 76
11/97Average number of political ads aired on U.S. TV each day of last year’s election season: 3,585
4/97Chances that a U.S. TV was tuned to network coverage of the State of the Union and the Simpson verdict in February: 2 in 7
Chances that a U.S. TV was tuned to the networks’ regular programming during the same time period a week earlier: 2 in 5
4/97Ratio of America’s Most Wanted episodes aired since 1988 to the number of profiled criminals arrested since then: 1:1
4/97Ratio of last year’s federal budget to what Americans would earn if paid the minimum wage for watching TV: 1.3:1
Number of phone lines connected to her five car phones: 7
6/97Ratio of legal fees paid by Newt Gingrich’s reelection campaign last year to the amount it spent on TV and radio ads: 5:4
8/97Number of actors who auditioned last winter to be the new Captain Kangaroo: 1,000
1/98Ratio of TV viewers who watched a 1973 Elvis Presley concert to those who watched the 1969 moon landing: 3:1
11/98Amount that CBS is paying Rome’s Atlante Star hotel to use its rooftop view of St. Peter’s when the Pope dies: $180,000
2/98Ratio of NBC’s budget for the next season of ER to the annual budget of New York’s Bellevue Hospital: 1:1
6/98Rank of ER among prime-time TV shows that are most popular with African-American viewers: 19
1/99Hours after ABC’s technical union declared a strike last fall that Al Gore canceled an ABC interview: 12
10/99Number of times CBS’s press release for Jesus, the miniseries, mentions the “billions” of Christians He inspired: 2
10/99Minimum number of TV markets in which last August’s FCC vote will allow networks to own more than one station: 50
Days after the FCC vote that a TV executive told the [NewYorkTimes|New York Times that he was eager to play the “duopoly game”: 1
10/99Hours after the Woodstock riots last summer that a participant told a reporter he couldn’t wait to see them on TV: 6
11/99Percentage of American ER viewers who say they learn important health-care information from the program: 53
11/99Number of consecutive days last spring that Michael Moore trained a camera on Lucianne Goldberg’s apartment: 45
3/99Number of American children crushed to death by television sets since 1990: 28
4/99Number of times a Florida Fox-TV station asked 2 reporters to rewrite a news story on Monsanto in 1997: 83
Amount the station offered the reporters to quit their jobs and keep silent after the news story was killed: $151,250
4/99Ratio of Americans who say they trust TV news magazines to those who say they trust print news magazines: 2:1
4/99Miles per hour at which a New York TV station clocked a police van driving Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to lunch last year: 75
5/99Chance that a mother of dependent children depicted on a prime-time network TV show holds a paying job: 1 in 3
7/99Average number of murders a U.S. child sees on television by the end of elementary school: 8,000
7/99Fee that Nike offered Ralph Nader to say “another shameless attempt by Nike to sell shoes” in a TV ad: $25,000
9/99Change since last fall in the number of network sitcoms whose main characters are members of the same family: -25
9/99Points by which the national Nielsen rating of the 1999 Women’s World Cup exceeded that of the NBA Finals: 2
Percentage change since then in the incidence of self-induced vomiting among girls there since TV came to the island in 1995: +300
3/00Estimated amount the BBC paid for noise-producing software last year after workers complained of the quiet: $1,600
5/00Number of TV game shows hosted by Mike Wallace before beginning his full-time journalism career: 7
8/00Chance that a contestant who’s appeared on ABC ‘s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire has won a million dollars: 1 in 67
9/00Length, in pages, of Al Gore’s 1969 Harvard thesis on the impact of TV “on the conduct of the Presidency”: 105
10/01Number of network-TV dramas scheduled this fall whose protagonists are employed in law enforcement or the legal system: 17
4/01Chance that a TV character engaging in sexual intercourse during the 1997-98 season was a teenager: 1 in 33
Chance last season: 1 in 11
5/01Percentage of TV investigative reporters and editors who say that an advertiser has tried to kill one of their stories: 60
7/01Percentage of CPR attempts depicted on television that save the patient’s life: 67
Percentage in real life that do: 15
9/01Percentage of Men’s Health readers who say they have learned most of what they know about sex from television: 18
1/02Number of nations that got less than ten minutes’ coverage on U.S. network evening news in the 1990s: 88
11/02Average number of hours that the calories consumed in an American’s Thanksgiving Day meal could power a 27” TV: 49
12/02Rank of a burning Yule-log video loop among the top-rated 8-10 a.m. TV shows in New York City last Christmas: 1
7/02Number of hours Israeli soldiers in Ramallah broadcast pornography on seven Palestinian television stations in March: 48
9/02Number of appearances made by corporate representatives on U.S. network nightly newscasts last year: 955
Number of appearances made by labor representatives: 31
2/03Number of female characters with supernatural powers on major U.S. network-television programs last season: 20
6/03Chance that a network-television advertisement is paid for by one of the 100 largest U.S. corporations: 3 in 4
6/03Days that AT&T ceased its TV advertising last March “out of respect for the U.S. military operation in Iraq”: 3
8/03Number of magicians who won damages from Brazil’s largest TV network in May after their tricks were revealed on the air: 22
9/03Percentage refund that Laura Bush’s office sought in June for a $15.95 children’s book that it bought for a TV reading: 100
9/03Amount Pat Robertson has invested in Liberian gold mining: $8,000,000
Number of times he cited the country’s leaders as wronged Christians on his TV show while President Bush was in Africa: 3
9/03Amount New Zealand’s Fire Service spent this year on a TV campaign against cooking while drunk: $201,300
3/04Estimated percentage of television static that derives from the Big Bang: 1
3/04Days after Paul O’Neill criticized the President on TV in January that the former treasury secretary came under investigation: 1
5/04Number of years a North Carolina man has been in prison for stealing a television: 33
7/04Amount NBC’s parent company, General Electric, stands to earn from Iraq’s reconstruction: $600,000,000
7/04Price of a bleepinator, a device for TV broadcasters that “surgically removes indecent words and phrases”: $9,995
10/05Average estimated salary, in today’s dollars, of the dads on the ten top-rated TV shows of the 1950s: $77,000
Average for the dads on today’s ten top-rated shows: $207,000
10/05Number of toilet seats at the EU Parliament building in Brussels that a TV station had tested for cocaine: 46
Number that tested positive: 41
8/05Ratio of the projected U.S. ad revenue of Google and Yahoo! this year to that of NBC, CBS, and ABC in primetime: 1:1
12/06Amount a cable TV reporter paid a former Army interrogator to waterboard him in July: $800
Minutes into the waterboarding that a producer decided he had to stop it: 24
12/06Number of incidences of torture on prime-time network TV shows from 2002 to 2005: 624
Number on shows the previous seven years: 110
12/06Number of people the U.S. counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer personally killed last season on the TV show 24: 38
6/06Ratio of negative portrayals of teachers on U.S. children’s TV shows to positive portrayals: 3:1
Ratio for portrayals of adults in general: 10:1
7/06Average number of extra calories children consume for every hour of television they watch: 167
11/07Number of the top ten TV shows watched by African Americans in 1997 that were also among the top ten shows overall: 1
Number today: 8
11/08Number of scenes of or references to sex between a married couple shown during an average week of NBC programming: 1
4/08Minimum number of homicides committed in the last full seasons of the three Law & Order TV shows: 83
6/08Minimum number of Italian parliamentarians from Silvio Berlusconi’s party who are former TV showgirls: 3
9/08Percentage of primary-season TV ads for McCain and Obama, respectively, that included images of the American flag: 60, 30
9/08Rank of McCain among the most frequent guests on Sunday-morning network TV news shows since 1997: 1
9/08Number of full-time correspondents that U.S. TV networks have posted in Afghanistan: 0
9/08Total minutes of network TV coverage devoted to the war in Iraq between January and June 2008: 300
Total during the same period last year: 1,229
9/08Minimum number of times that journalists and politicians on TV have referred to Barack Obama as “Osama”: 8
Times they have referred to Osama bin Laden as “Obama”: 8
3/09Average number of hours of television watched per week by Americans aged 43 to 61: 19
Average number watched by those aged 26 to 42 and those aged 14 to 25, respectively: 15, 11
3/09Number of serialized TV and radio melodramas in favor of population control produced by a Vermont group: 18
Number of countries in which the group has aired them: 23