Reruns online
Most of us remember, if only through reruns, Ozzie and Harriet, Andy and Barney, Rob and Laura, George and Gracie. Black-and-white, monotone and brimming with life’s lessons, 1950s and 1960s classic television shows represent simpler times. Though, today, the pipe and slippers have been replaced by the nicotine patch and Nikes — the chiffon cake and percolated coffee by Hagen Daas and Starbucks — it is always a pleasure to look back. At www.liketelevision.com, surfers can view more than 1,000 TV shows and films from Hollywood’s Golden Era — with the latest in broadband technology. The privately owned Broadband Media Network launched liketelevision in 1999 to promote their newly developed “IGS process,” one that “creates high-quality video files at very low data rates.” Broadband users, of course, have the advantage here. For them, the site’s streaming videos are of near-TV quality — or at least 1950s quality! While those with simple dial-up connections may find a video or two in which motion matches sound, most films will appear in the site’s “slideshow” format, in which selected still clips accompany full audio playback. format. In addition to classic comedy, liketelevision offers such quirky cult films as Nosferatu and the hilarious 1930s government warning against marijuana abuse, Reefer Madness. Cartoons — Bugs, Elmer, Daffy and even claymation Gumby — as well as early TV toy commercials — remember Mr. Potatohead and Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots? — round out the program of this high-tech-meets-nostalgia spot on the WWW.