THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 1, 1994 TAG: 9412010049
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
THERE WAS A time when Americans were so enthralled with television, they did not miss a minute of it, even at mealtime.
It didn't matter what was on - a test pattern, Arthur Godfrey and his talent scouts or Milton Berle Tuesday night on ``The Texaco Star Theater.''
``We're the men from Texaco. We work from Maine to Mexico.''
Remember that?
Families back then watched TV while they ate frozen TV dinners off TV trays.
Television is no longer the novelty it was when Kukla, Fran and Ollie were on, but Americans are still slaves to it. There are TV sets in 98.3 percent of American homes. The average family in the United States watches six hours and 53 minutes of TV every day, according to a Nielsen survey done last July.
With or without food, I wonder?
Does anybody still eat TV dinners off a TV tray while watching TV?
When I put that question to the people who call my Infoline number (640-5555, Category 3333), I heard from dozens of readers but none who still plunk down a TV tray full of food before the ol' Sony.
Where have all the TV trays gone?
To the flea markets?
Rhonda S. of Suffolk left this message on Infoline: ``I'm sure that people still eat off TV trays but not as religiously as in the 1960s and 1970s. I'm guilty of eating when I watch television, but not TV dinners. I mostly eat finger food. Doritos. They keep my jaws busy when I'm watching. I consider eating another form of entertainment.''
Like me, Stephanie Kuhlmeyer of Chesapeake wonders if TV trays are still around, if they are still being made and sold in those neat little stacks of six. ``With or without a TV tray, I do eat while in front of the TV, although I know it's not good for me.''
Give her a bagel, a slice of pizza and a soda or two, and she's good for a miniseries.
A woman named O'Hara in Norfolk said in the world of the 1990s, when Mom and Pop work, the family is rarely all together for meals. ``TV trays belong to that time when the entire family gathered aroud the television to watch `Bonanza,' '' said O'Hara.
As part of this Infoline survey, I also asked the callers what food they like most when watching TV. The top three:
1. Doritos.
2. Popcorn.
3. Pizza.
Meg Bruner if Virginia Beach admits that she craves whatever she sees on the TV screen - in a commercial or in a program.
``On `Seinfeld,' whenever Jerry Seinfeld reaches for the cereal boxes in his kitchen, I say to myself, `I could go for a nice bowl of cereal myself.' When it's taco day at the high school attended by TV's No. 1 social misfits, Beavis and Butt-Head, Bruner says she is overcome by a powerful urge to eat tacos.
Ever count the cereal boxes in Seinfeld's kitchen? I guess 15.
Pam Hall of Virginia Beach says her favorite TV munchies are popcorn, Hershey's Hugs and ice cream.
Dave Strickland of Norfolk generates an appetite by attending college and working. TV time means settling in with a Pepsi and Moon Pie, he said.
A caller from the Eastern Shore says she pigs out on french fries while watching TV. She likes them hot. She likes them cold.
Rosa Matthews in Virginia Beach says she doesn't know of anyone who doesn't eat while watching television. ``TV. Eat. TV. Eat. How can you separate them?'' she asks.
Eating, yes. TV, yes. But does anyone still do what Americans did when TV was black and white - watch while eating a TV dinner off a TV tray? by CNB