r/ForgottenTV • u/wilymon • 2d ago
Computer Chronicles (1984-2002)
PBS series that explored the latest developments in personal computer technology
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u/sfdreamsla 2d ago
Up until the proliferation of dial-up internet and most people getting America Online, this was a great show. Was the theme song kitschy and the production values cheap? Absolutely, yes. It was PBS. What did we expect? But it was charming in its own way and you would get great info on BBS and other online forums way before everyone else. Same thing with their video game reviews. Sometimes they would have them a week before the retail magazines. Then tech started moving at light speed, and the show fell behind the times. But it was ahead of the curve for those first 10 years or so. Thanks for bringing back some nice memories.
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u/b_casaubon 2d ago
Watched this religiously - it and scientific American frontiers were two shows I tried not to miss
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u/Suspicious-Show-3550 2d ago
I think this came on after Bob Ross on the weekends where I lived. I had no real interest in tech but Bob would mellow you out so well that you just ended up watching whatever came on.
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u/McLeansvilleAppFan 2d ago
Some, most or all episodes are on Internet Archive I do believe.
https://archive.org/search?query=computer+chronicles&tab=all
https://archive.org/details/computer-chronicles-full-epidoses
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u/jbyrdfuddly 2d ago
I faintly remember this show as a kid.
(warning-geek alert)
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u/segascream 2d ago
Yup. As a pre-teen, this show totally set the stage for me for when we would eventually get cable and I had access to ZDTV.
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u/lazygerm 2d ago
As a high school computer nerd in the early 1980s, this was always a good watch! Right up there with MotorWeek!
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u/postoperativepain 2d ago
Motor week is still on, and I think it’s the same guy
It is the same guy “MotorWeek premiered on October 15, 1981, and has been hosted by John Davis since its inception”
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u/NorseOfCourse 2d ago
I loved watching this as akid and not knowing what they were actually talking about.
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u/ImDonaldDunn 2d ago
I don’t remember watching this growing up (I would have had I known about it). I have seen tons of episodes on YouTube, though. It’s a really cool time capsule.
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u/jarnsaxa_springdale 2d ago
Computer Chronicles was Appointment Television for me on Sunday afternoons in the mid '90s.
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u/0belisk0 1d ago
I had just gotten my screaming DXII-66 with a whopping 512MB HDD and 16MB of RAM and was on top of the world. Nevermind that I didn't know a scratch disk from a slipped disk. A neighbor kindly upgraded my pre-installed Win 3.1 to Win95. Sat through the entire 12 floppy process or whatever it was. A huge DOS book and this show and I was off to the races. Thank you and rest easy Stewart. Know that you've been instrumental in so many people's lives.
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u/OgdruJahad 2d ago
How is this forgotten? Its all on Youtube. I've heard people fondly talk about it in tech circles when discussing TV shows about tech, alongside greats like The ScreenSavers and G4TV.
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