Donate SIGN UP

SF Short Story - Panel Game

Avatar Image
ArranBrown | 23:26 Fri 10th Dec 2010 | Arts & Literature
3 Answers
Can anybody remind me who the author of the above story is? It was written in the 1950s but is remarkably prescient w.r.t. 'reality' TV. Scenario - television is used to control the masses. Each social class watches their designated channel, and all the time. Advertisements are personalised. Mysterious stranger visits home of ordinary (Green Star) couple - talks subversion to wife, who admits, 'I hate the telly.' It then appears that she has been 'had', as the interview was being broadcast on the White Star (intellectual' channel, which had a habit of making its viewers the subject of the programmes, in this case a panel game. But the mysterious stranger really is trying to foment a revolt against 'Great Mother Telly', and unseen by the cameras he has handed our heroine (Martha?) a device to jam the television signals, which she attaches to her husband's personal transport.
The story begins begins something like, 'Snow fell, courtesy of ...' and then comes a manufacturer's name. It ends along the lines of, 'Poor Rick - but he would never know. Quickly she fitted the anti-telly suppressor to Rick's helic.'

It is a funny SF story but extremely relevant to today's culture, which deserves to be more widely known. I would like to get a copy of it.
Gravatar

Answers

1 to 3 of 3rss feed

Best Answer

No best answer has yet been selected by ArranBrown. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.

For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.
It's on here somewhere but I can't search an individual page on my iPhone
Question Author
Thank you, Count - now I know it's by Brian Aldiss that will help me track down a copy, I hope.

1 to 3 of 3rss feed

Do you know the answer?

SF Short Story - Panel Game

Answer Question >>

Related Questions

Sorry, we can't find any related questions. Try using the search bar at the top of the page to search for some keywords, or choose a topic and submit your own question.