Television Obscurities turns 20 years old today. The current incarnation of this website launched on June 11th, 2003. It was hosted for free by Tripod, which I was shocked to discover recently still exists as a web hosting service, and consisted of just six features. Audio and video were formatted using RealMedia, which also seems to still exist.
Twenty years ago, the Internet was a very different place. Television Obscurities arrived before Twitter, before YouTube, before Facebook, before MySpace. Wikipedia was two years old and Google five years old.
Take a look at one of the only surviving images of Television Obscurities from 2003:
© 2014 Robert Jay
Information about many of the TV shows I wrote about was scarce online. Television Obscurities offered images, videos, and audio that couldn’t be found anywhere else. That’s changed thanks to YouTube, where full episodes of many rare and forgotten TV shows have been uploaded and removed and uploaded again.
The amount of time I can devote to Television Obscurities has fluctuated dramatically over the past few years. I’ve been slowly working on a number of projects, including a comprehensive list of network fall preview specials, an overview of trading cards based on TV shows, a guide to short-lived and forgotten TV shows released on DVD, episode guides for TV shows like The New People and Accidental Family, and more. Later this week, look for a new installment of the history of Television Obscurities covering the last ten years.
Twenty years is a long time. It’s remarkable to think that back in 2003, TV shows that premiered in 1983 were 20 years old and TV shows that premiered in 1963 were only 40 years. Now those same shows from 1963 are 60 years old, the shows from 1983 are 40 years old, and any TV shows that premiered in 2003 are 20 years old. Time sure flies.
I’m very interested to hear from any longtime readers who may remember when they first visited Television Obscurities and what they were searching for that led them to this website.
Here’s to 20 more years of researching and writing about obscure television.
In trying to remember when I first discovered TV Obscurities I’m thinking it was a couple of years ago, but often something I believe happened less than five years ago ends up being closer to ten years! I can’t give a definite starting point, but I probably discovered your website while researching the DuMont Television Network. I have a special interest in DuMont, a network that left the airwaves before I was born, and a search may have lead me here, since most DuMont shows are pretty obscure.
It just became one of those websites that I check up on a couple times a week to see what posts or comments have been added. Thank you for your hard work in keeping the website going. It must be discouraging to report on changes in the schedule of one of the diginets (Cozy, MeTV, etc.) and have dozens of people think you somehow own the channels, and demand that you return to the old schedule, or complain about technical aspects of the channel. Please be assured that there are readers who understand you are a researcher writing about television, and that you don’t control what is being shown. And there are readers who appreciate the service you are providing.
Robert, congratulations on twenty years of TV OBSCURTIES. I really enjoy browsing over your top-notch site. I think that I first came across this wonderfully informative site about five years ago, although time does get away from me. I was just surfing across the internet looking for anything concerning TV shows from the past and I found TV OBSCURTIES.
Keep up the good work.
Congratulations on your 20th anniversary! I don’t come here often but anytime I do it’s always an interesting read.
btw I was also on Tripod many years ago. I think I am as surprised as you are to read it’s still around!
Congratulations on 20 years! I’m not sure when I first discovered your website, but I do remember finding your “Year in TV Guide” around 2014, which covered a full year of TV GUIDE issues for the 1964-65 tv season, including from the week when I was born. From there I discovered Mitchell Hadley’s TV GUIDE page and his website, and you’ve both provided great information over the years. BTW, I have some guides in text file format which cover all the network reruns of several tv series from the 1950s to the 1970s, including LEAVE IT TO BEAVER and THE BRADY BUNCH, based on TV GUIDE & newspaper listings. Please let me know if you have any interest in reviewing these.
Thank you!
lets see… 2004?? an anonymous citation by chance..The net has become so diffuse in 20 yrs…..That;s why i brainstorm weekly with close internet users to compare notes,,,,IT IS VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE to keep up otherwise….as long as its not TV PARTY,, ….{ that innocuous thing is like discovering bubble gum stuck under a desk at a bowling alley…}