About Television Obscurities
If you're interested in learning more about this website, you've come to the right place. And please remember, Television Obscurities welcomes all input regarding our mission and our website. Feel free to contact us with any comments or suggestions.
Our television history is a history of us.
That simple statement really says it all. Our mission here at Television Obscurities is to secure the history of broadcast television in the United States of America, from its humble beginnings in the 1940s through the present day. So much of the early history of television has been forgotten, misplaced or ignored.
We are dedicated to keeping obscure television from fading away forever. To that end, we independently maintain a collection of rare and forgotten television programs and specials, spanning decades. Television Obscurities is proud to present in-depth articles on a variety of topics, aided by audio and video files, photographs and memories submitted by our readers.
We welcome any and all contributions, especially recollections from viewers who watched these programs when they were originally on television. These memories help to flesh out our articles. Furthermore -- and perhaps most importantly -- we're building a community of television fans, historians and archivists who share our desire to see the history of television from disappearing into the mists of time.
The early history of Television Obscurities dates back to the late 1990s and encompasses several attempts to create a website dedicated to forgotten television programs. Originally, the website was entitled "Television That Time Forgot" and was little more than a listing of so-called forgotten television programs with individual pages for only a handful of these shows.
The original version of Television Obscurities was launched in late November/early December of 2002 with six main features and a few additional bits and pieces. The website was relaunched on June 11th, 2003 and has been online ever since. On January 1st, 2004, we moved the site from a freebie host to its own domain.
In January of 2006, the site was moved to a new webhost and underwent a major overhaul. We began converting all of our audio and video files to Flash during the summer of 2007. At the same time, we began expanding many of our existing articles and adding citations and footnotes. Although it took longer than we expected, it was finally finished in June of 2008.
We would like to thank the following people for their contributions to the site:
-A source that would like to remain anonymous for donating a massive collection of TV Guide magazines for use in researching television shows from the 1960s to 2000.
-This same anonymous source for also allowing Television Obscurities the use of episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation originally taped in the late 1980s that gave us access to rare promos and previews for obscure shows.
-Scott at www.mexijew.com for designing our new website.
-Eric for making our old logo and banner/button links.
-Numerous people who volunteered their time to check various versions of the sites, check for mistakes, and give feedback.
-A big thank you to Deep9x for checking the entire site to make sure everything was working.
-Webmasters who, either by our asking or of their own free well, linked to our website, therefore allowing countless visitors access to the site.
-An anonymous source for donating a Fall Preview issue of TV Guide to our collection.
-Maureen for donating tapes containing original broadcasts from The WB and UPN and promotional spots from the 1960s.
Everyone who has e-mailed us with comments, questions and corrections gets a hearty thank you. This website is a group effort. All contributions are appreciated and credited on the site.
Last Updated June 26th, 2008