DINNER BY TV LIGHT

BY DAN MILLER
(originally posted July 22, 2005)

As a kid, I would occasionally skip meals, in favor of something much more important........ watching TV.

I would watch anything.
If it was just a test pattern on the screen, I'd watch that... and listen to the irritating tone.
My parents -- I'm certain -- were concerned.

When Augusta's first TV station came on the air in 1953, their broadcast day lasted only about 7 hours.
They'd sign-on late in the afternoon, and sign off at about 11 PM, right after the prime-time network shows.

For me, this created a dilemma..... the TV day spanned dinner time (or supper, as we called it).
How could I possibly eat supper, and still see my shows?

I couldn't bring the TV into the kitchen, it was too big and heavy.
Once, I experimented with a series of strategically placed mirrors between the kitchen and living room that would allow a glimpse of the TV screen. That was quickly rejected by the ruling members of my family.

Then -- an advertisement came on TV that fixed everything -- Swanson Foods was introducing the TV Dinner.
The idea was pure, simple genius.
Pre-packaged meals in disposable aluminum-foil trays, with each item in a separate compartment, made specifically for eating in front of the television.

At last, young TV geeks were free.
The dinners could be heated in less than a half-hour (there were no microwaves in the 1950s).
Moms could now join the rest of the family, zoning out on the sofa, staring at a TV screen.

Gerry Thomas, the man who came up with the idea for the TV Dinner, was a salesman at Swanson Foods at the time.
In 1954, the first year the TV Dinner was introduced, they sold 10,000,000 of them.
Soon, they were selling 3,000,000 a week!

Swanson..... sensing they had a gold mine..... rewarded Gerry Thomas with a $1,000 bonus.

Campbell Soups bought Swanson in 1955...... and I sure hope they put a little something extra in Gerry's check.

Like the NASA space program, important peripheral products were developed in support of the TV Dinner.
Those little folding TV trays became huge sellers......
And, of course, carpet spot removers boomed, as people had to clean up all the spilled gravy and Salsbury steak.
Weight Watchers probably benefited too.

And we in the TV industry are indebted to Gerry Thomas for his idea.
By moving Americans in front of the TV set, he helped establish big audiences for evening newscasts, and early prime-time programming.

Gerry could never have guessed how much he would change the habits of Americans.
But he did.
Robert Thompson, who runs the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University said Gerry Thomas "started a change in American eating habits bigger than any change in culinary history since the discovery of fire and cooked foods."
Wow!

So today we remember Gerry Thomas, who died this week at the age of 83, a true American industrial legend.

Interestingly, Thomas' wife says he never ate TV Dinners..... he was a gourmet cook.

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