things done watched

The best thing I've watched in recent memory was a very interesting documentary on the television of the Third Reich. Oh, indeed. Didn't know the Nazis had television? You bet your Blutfahne they did. Back in the 30s, upon learning that the US and Britain were developing and perfecting this newfangled technology that let you transmit sound and picture, Nazi Germany decided it wanted to beat those other guys at the game, and in 1935 -- that's one year before Britain and six years before US commercial broadcast television -- launched its own television service.¹ Even the 1936 Olympics were televised. Live, even. Television's reach in Nazi Germany was far from "mass", however; only top top party officials could get their own set and, for reasons listed below, few did. The majority of the receivers were placed in "television parlors" for public viewing. Think of a 20-person movie theater with two magnified TV screens in the front and staffed by one guy who is the only one what gets to fiddle with the knobs when the picture goes wonky. And it was hosted by a perky Aryan lady who cheerfully chirps "Heil Hitler!" as she introduces various programs of social and political import. That's how the Nazis watched their television.

( In what feels like a parallel universe. )