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The Television Portal

Flat-screen television receivers on display for sale at a consumer electronics store in 2008

Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, entertainment, news, and sports. The medium is capable of more than "radio broadcasting," which refers to an audio signal sent to radio receivers.

Television became available in crude experimental forms in the 1920s, but only after several years of further development was the new technology marketed to consumers. After World War II, an improved form of black-and-white television broadcasting became popular in the United Kingdom and the United States, and television sets became commonplace in homes, businesses, and institutions. During the 1950s, television was the primary medium for influencing public opinion. In the mid-1960s, color broadcasting was introduced in the U.S. and most other developed countries.

In 2013, 79% of the world's households owned a television set. The replacement of earlier cathode-ray tube (CRT) screen displays with compact, energy-efficient, flat-panel alternative technologies such as LCDs (both fluorescent-backlit and LED), OLED displays, and plasma displays was a hardware revolution that began with computer monitors in the late 1990s. Most television sets sold in the 2000s were flat-panel, mainly LEDs. Major manufacturers announced the discontinuation of CRT, Digital Light Processing (DLP), plasma, and even fluorescent-backlit LCDs by the mid-2010s. LEDs are being gradually replaced by OLEDs. Also, major manufacturers have started increasingly producing smart TVs in the mid-2010s. Smart TVs with integrated Internet and Web 2.0 functions became the dominant form of television by the late 2010s. (Full article...)

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Thunderbirds is a British science fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, filmed by their production company AP Films (APF) and distributed by ITC Entertainment. It was filmed between 1964 and 1966 using a form of electronic marionette puppetry called "Supermarionation" combined with scale model special effects sequences. Two series, totalling 32 fifty-minute episodes, were made; production ended with the sixth episode of the second series after Lew Grade, APF's financial backer, failed in his efforts to sell the programme to US network television.

Set in the 2060s, Thunderbirds was a follow-up to the earlier Supermarionation productions Four Feather Falls, Supercar, Fireball XL5 and Stingray. It concerns the exploits of International Rescue, a life-saving organisation with a secret base on an island in the Pacific Ocean. International Rescue operates a fleet of technologically-advanced rescue vehicles, headed by five craft called the Thunderbird machines. The main characters are the leader of International Rescue, ex-astronaut Jeff Tracy, and his five adult sons, who pilot the Thunderbirds.

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Credit: GraYoshi2x, Noodle snacks, Frisia Orientalis

High-definition television (HDTV) is a digital television broadcasting system with greater resolution than traditional television systems (NTSC, SECAM, PAL). HDTV is digitally broadcast, because digital television (DTV) requires less bandwidth if sufficient video compression is used. HDTV technology was introduced in the United States in the 1990s by the Digital HDTV Grand Alliance, a group of television companies.

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... that the ending of the TV series Community features a fourth-wall-breaking monologue?
... that after his movement's victory in the Cuban Revolution, television broadcasts showed Camilo Cienfuegos freeing parrots from birdcages, declaring that the birds had "a right to liberty"?
... that Amrita Shah found that the introduction of television to India led to more women aspiring to become independent?
... that Sharp Corporation produced three official variants of Nintendo's Famicom in Japan, one of which was a television set that was subsequently released in the United States?
... that among the special events broadcast by the Maine Television Network during its brief existence were a fashion show, a basketball tournament, and an ordination ceremony?
... that former CIA agent Bazzel Baz was hired to be a consultant for The Blacklist television series and instead became a cast member?

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I like to talk on TV about those things that aren't worth writing about.

— Truman Capote

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...that the book The Psychology of The Simpsons uses this TV series to analyze topics in psychology including clinical psychology, cognition and Pavlovian conditioning?

...that Anne Montgomery, who has been a sportscaster for several local television stations as well as SportsCenter, was the first female football referee in Arizona?

...that model Albert Reed, selected to appear in September 2007 on the United States television show Dancing with the Stars, admits that he cannot dance?

..that the time traveling premise featured in the Chrono series of video games was inspired by such television programs as The Time Tunnel?

...that Dr. Andrew Rochford, a presenter on the popular Australian television show What's Good For You, got his break after he won the popular show The Block?

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Brokaw in 2015

Thomas John Brokaw (/ˈbroʊkɔː/; born February 6, 1940) is an American retired network television journalist and author. He first served as the co-anchor of The Today Show from 1976 to 1981 with Jane Pauley, then as the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News for 22 years (1982–2004). In the previous decade he served as a weekend anchor for the program from 1973 to 1976. He is the only person to have hosted all three major NBC News programs: The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, and, briefly, Meet the Press. He formerly held a special correspondent post for NBC News.

Along with his competitors Peter Jennings at ABC News, and Dan Rather at CBS News, Brokaw was one of the "Big Three" U.S. news anchors during the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. All three hosted their networks' flagship nightly news programs for more than 20 years. (Full article...)

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James T. Aubrey Kroger Babb Rudolph Cartier Sydney Newman Eric Bana Kylie Minogue Peter Jennings KaDee Strickland Austin Nichols Aaron Sorkin Jake Gyllenhaal Dan Rather Brad Pitt Walter Cronkite John Le Mesurier George Formby Dan Castellaneta Perry Como Red Skelton Rose Catherine Pinkney

General images

The following are images from various television-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1First television test broadcast transmitted by the NHK Broadcasting Technology Research Institute in May 1939 (from History of television)
Image 2The Philco Predicta, 1958. In the collection of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis (from History of television)
Image 3This live image of actress Paddy Naismith was used to demonstrate Telechrome, John Logie Baird's first all-electronic color television system, which used two projection CRTs. The two-color image would be similar to the basic Telechrome system. (from Color television)
Image 4The Nipkow disk. This schematic shows the circular paths traced by the holes, which may also be square for greater precision. The area of the disk outlined in black shows the region scanned. (from History of television)
Image 5Family watching TV, 1958 (from History of television)
Image 6Ferdinand Braun (from History of television)
Image 7RCA CT-100 at the SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention playing Superman. The RCA CT-100 was the first mass-produced color TV set. (from Color television)
Image 8Color bars used in a test pattern, sometimes used when no program material is available (from History of television)
Image 9Manfred von Ardenne in 1933 (from History of television)
Image 10Philo Farnsworth in 1924 (from History of television)
Image 11Samsung's discontinued Orsay platform (from Smart TV)
Image 12Comparison of image quality between ISDB-T (1080i broadcast, top) and NTSC (480i transmission, bottom) (from Digital television)
Image 13Ad for the beginning of experimental television broadcasting in New York City by RCA in 1939 (from History of television)
Image 14DBS satellite dishes (from History of television)
Image 15An RCA Victor Color TV ad featuring milliner Lilly Daché in 1959. (from Color television)
Image 16An early Smart TV from 2012 running the discontinued Orsay platform (from History of television)
Image 17Smart TVs on display (from Smart TV)
Image 18Hovannes Adamian c. 1900s (from Color television)
Image 19LG Electronics smart TV from 2011 (from Smart TV)
Image 20LG Smart TV using the Web browser (from Smart TV)
Image 21Baird in 1925 with his televisor equipment and dummies "James" and "Stooky Bill" (right) (from History of television)
Image 22RCA 630-TS, the first mass-produced television set, which sold in 1946–1947 (from History of television)
Image 23The first mass-produced Czechoslovak TV-set Tesla 4001A (1953–57) (from History of television)
Image 24A map depicting digital terrestrial television standards (from Digital television)

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Featured lists have been determined by the Wikipedia community to be the best lists on English Wikipedia.

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The third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons originally aired on the Fox network between September 19, 1991, and August 27, 1992. The showrunners for the third production season were Al Jean and Mike Reiss who executive produced 22 episodes for the season, while two other episodes were produced by James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, and Sam Simon, with it being produced by Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox Television. An additional episode, "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?", aired on August 27, 1992, after the official end of the third season and is included on the Season 3 DVD set. Season three won six Primetime Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Voice-Over Performance" and also received a nomination for "Outstanding Animated Program" for the episode "Radio Bart". The complete season was released on DVD in Region 1 on August 26, 2003, Region 2 on October 6, 2003, and in Region 4 on October 22, 2003. (Full article...)
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The first season of the American drama thriller series Quantico premiered in the United States on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) on September 27, 2015, and concluded on May 15, 2016. ABC Studios produced the season, with creator Joshua Safran, Mark Gordon, Robert Sertner, Nicholas Pepper and Jake Coburn serving as executive producers.

Consisting of twenty-two episodes, season one follows Alex Parrish, the brightest FBI recruit in her class, who becomes an FBI field agent after graduating from the FBI Academy at Quantico, Virginia, and later becomes a prime suspect after a terrorist attack on Grand Central Terminal. Told using dual timelines, the narrative switches between the present, where Parrish runs from captivity to prove her innocence, and the past, which shows her training at the academy with her fellow recruits as details about their lives and relationships with one another are revealed. (Full article...)
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Alexandra Burke in October 2011

British singer Alexandra Burke has recorded songs for two studio albums. She has collaborated with other artists for duets and featured songs on her albums. Burke has also contributed vocals for charity singles. After she won the fifth series of The X Factor in December 2008, Burke signed a £1 million recording contract with Syco Music. Her first single, "Hallelujah", was made available to purchase the day after she won the singing competition on 14 December 2008.

She began to work with writers for her debut album, Overcome, which was released on 19 October 2009. The album's second single, "Bad Boys" featuring Flo Rida, was released in the same month to coincide with Overcome. American singer-songwriter Ne-Yo co-wrote two songs for the album, "Good Night Good Morning" and "Nothing But the Girl"; he appeared as a featured artist on the former. "Good Night Good Morning" was written in collaboration with Norwegian production team Stargate, while "Nothing But the Girl" was co-written with Stargate along with Chase and Status. British singer-songwriter Pixie Lott received writing credits for the song "You Broke My Heart", while Moroccan-Swedish songwriter RedOne wrote and produced three songs for the album, "The Silence", "Broken Heels" and "Dumb". The re-release of Overcome in December 2010 included new songs which were not on the original album. They included collaborations with Cobra Starship on "What Happens on the Dancefloor" and Laza Morgan on "Start Without You". Burke stated that a newly recorded vocal version of "The Silence" was released as a promotional single for the album. (Full article...)
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BBC Young Musician is a televised national music competition broadcast biennially on BBC Television and BBC Radio 3. Originally BBC Young Musician of the Year, its name was changed in 2010.

The competition, a former member of the European Union of Music Competitions for Youth (EMCY), is open to UK-resident percussion, keyboard, string, brass and woodwind players, who are eighteen years of age or under on 1 January in the relevant year. (Full article...)
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Brotherhood, an American television drama series created by Blake Masters, premiered on July 9, 2006, on the cable network Showtime in the United States. It ended its first season on September 24, 2006. The show's second season debuted on September 30, 2007, and ended on December 2, 2007.
The show's third and final season premiered on November 2, 2008, and concluded on December 21, 2008. There are eleven episodes in the first season, ten in the second, and eight in the third – twenty-nine episodes aired, in total. The episodes are approximately 50 minutes long each.

Brotherhood is set in Providence, Rhode Island and centers on the Irish-American Caffee brothers, who hail from a fictional working-class neighborhood known as "The Hill". Tommy Caffee (Jason Clarke) is a respected local politician; he is a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives. Michael Caffee (Jason Isaacs) is a professional criminal who is involved with the Irish Mob of New England.
Throughout the series, the brothers' professional and private lives are intertwined. (Full article...)
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Stone at the UK premiere of Maniac in 2018

Emma Stone is an American actress who aspired to an acting career from an early age. She had her first role onstage at age 11, and followed with parts in sixteen plays in a regional theater in Arizona. Stone made her television debut in the unsold pilot for the reality show The New Partridge Family (2005). After brief television roles in Medium, Malcolm in the Middle, and Lucky Louie, she made her film debut in the comedy Superbad (2007).

Stone appeared as a ghost in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009), and found commercial success with the horror comedy Zombieland. Her breakthrough came with her first leading role as a high school student perceived to be sexually promiscuous in the comedy Easy A (2010). In 2011, she starred in the romantic comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love and in the period drama The Help, which were both commercial successes. Stone's success continued with her role as Gwen Stacy in the 2012 superhero film The Amazing Spider-Man that became her highest-grossing release, with a worldwide revenue of $757 million, and she later reprised the role in its 2014 sequel. Critical success followed with her performance as a recovering drug addict in Alejandro González Iñárritu's black comedy-drama Birdman (2014). It earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Later that year, she made her Broadway debut in a revival of the musical Cabaret. (Full article...)
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The fourth season of the Bleach anime series was directed by Noriyuki Abe and produced by Studio Pierrot. Like the rest of the series, the season follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki and company, but instead of adapting content from Tite Kubo's Bleach manga series, it features an original, self-contained filler story arc. The twenty-eight episodes form the Bount arc (バウント篇, Baunto Hen), which focuses on the introduction of the Bount, a race of humans that consume human souls to extend their lives, and their conflicts with Ichigo Kurosaki and his allies.

The season aired from January to August 2006 on TV Tokyo. The English adaptation of the season aired on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim in the United States from May to December 2008. Seven DVD compilations, each containing four episodes of the season, were released by Aniplex between May 24 to December 20, 2006. Viz Media released the season on seventeen DVDs from May 12 to November 17, 2009. Each of them contain four episodes in both English and Japanese languages. Two DVD box sets collecting the entire season were released on November 3, 2009, and February 16, 2010. Manga Entertainment released the season in three DVDs for the United Kingdom from October 26, 2009, to June 7, 2010, while a box set was released on August 9, 2010. (Full article...)
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The first season of the international fantasy series Highlander: The Series, part of the Highlander franchise, consisted of 22 episodes produced between 1992 and 1993, and began airing on October 3, 1992 in broadcast syndication. Highlander: The Series follows the adventures of Duncan MacLeod, a 400-year-old Immortal who can only die if he is beheaded; conflict inevitably finds him because he is part of the Gathering, an ongoing battle in which all Immortals have to fight and behead each other until only one is left. The season was released on DVD as a nine-disc boxed set on November 12, 2002 by Anchor Bay Entertainment. It is also available at the online video on demand service Hulu, a joint venture between NBC and Fox Broadcasting Company. (Full article...)
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This is a list of episodes of the 2008 Japanese animated television series True Tears. The episodes are directed by Junji Nishimura and produced by P.A. Works, Lantis, and Bandai Visual. P.A. Works produced the animation and Lantis was responsible for the production of the music. The anime, while sharing its title with the visual novel by La'cryma, has no relation to the visual novel; however, La'cryma is credited as the series' original creator. The story follows Shin'ichirō Nakagami, a high school student, who is unable to express his feelings for Hiromi Yuasa, a fellow high school student who was taken in by Shin'ichirō's parents after her father died, as well as his interactions with another student, Noe Isurugi, who enlists Shin'ichirō's aid in recovering her "tears."

The episodes aired from January 6, 2008, to March 29, 2008, on TV Kanagawa in Japan, although a special preview of the first episode was shown in Japan on January 4, 2008, on BS11 Digital. The episodes also aired at later dates on Chiba TV, Kansai TV, Kids Station, Tokai TV, TV Saitama, and BS11 Digital. The title for a given episode is a line spoken within the episode. (Full article...)
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Twin Peaks is an American serial drama television series created by David Lynch and Mark Frost which spans 48 episodes over three seasons. The show's original run, which comprises two seasons and 30 episodes, premiered on April 8, 1990, on ABC in the United States and ended on June 10, 1991. ABC canceled the original run due to declining ratings in the second season. The show's third season, consisting of 18 episodes, was announced in October 2014 and premiered on Showtime on May 21, 2017. The pilot and season 2 premiere are each 90 minutes long, while every other episode is approximately 45 minutes. Most episodes of the third season are approximately 60 minutes.

Twin Peaks follows FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan), who is sent to the fictional town of Twin Peaks, Washington, to investigate the murder of popular and respected high school student Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). A feature-length prequel film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, was released on August 28, 1992, and depicts the events leading up to Laura's death. (Full article...)
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The Jimmy V Award (sometimes called the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance) is awarded as part of the ESPY Awards to "a deserving member of the sporting world who has overcome great obstacles through perseverance and determination". The award is named in honor of North Carolina State University men's basketball coach Jim Valvano, who gave an acceptance speech after receiving the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 1993 ESPY Awards ceremony which "brought a howling, teary-eyed Madison Square Garden to its feet". Valvano died from adenocarcinoma two months after receiving the award. The Jimmy V Award trophy, designed by sculptor Lawrence Nowlan, is presented at the annual awards ceremony in Los Angeles by The V Foundation, a charitable organization founded in 1993 by ESPN and Valvano to raise money to fund cancer research grants across the United States.

The accolade's inaugural winner in 2007 was basketball coach Kay Yow, who successfully led the North Carolina State University women's team to the ACC tournament championship game, and the Sweet 16 (regional semi-finals) of the NCAA Division I Tournament after returning from sessions of breast cancer chemotherapy. Although the award has usually been given to coaches or athletes, it has been presented to two reporters: Stuart Scott (2014) and Craig Sager (2016). The award has been shared twice: Team Hoyt (2013), consisting of the father and son team of Dick and Rick Hoyt, and the father and daughter combination of Devon Still and Leah Still (2015). The 2024 recipient of the Jimmy V Award was Dawn Staley. (Full article...)
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The second season of Degrassi: The Next Generation, a Canadian serial teen drama television series, commenced airing in Canada on 29 September 2002 and concluded on 23 February 2003, consisting of twenty-two episodes. This season depicts the lives of a group of eighth and ninth grade school children as they deal with some of the challenges and issues teenagers face such as child abuse, hormones, date rape, body image, hate crimes, sexual identity, alcoholism, and protests. This is the first season to feature high school students from grade nine and the last season to feature middle school students.

Filming began 10 June 2002, and continued into November 2002. (Full article...)
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The 40th Daytime Emmy Awards, presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), "recognizes outstanding achievement in all fields of daytime television production and are presented to individuals and programs broadcast from 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. during the 2012 calendar year". The ceremony took place on June 16, 2013, at The Beverly Hilton, in Beverly Hills, California beginning at 5:00 p.m. PST / 8:00 p.m. EST. The ceremony was televised in the United States by HLN and executive produced by Gabriel Gornell.

The evening was hosted by Sam Champion, A. J. Hammer and Robin Meade for the first time and the pre-show ceremony was hosted by Hammer and Christi Paul. The drama pre-nominees were announced on February 27, 2013, and the nominations were announced during an episode of Good Morning America on May 1, 2013. (Full article...)
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Baccano! is a 2007 anime series directed by Takahiro Omori and produced by Brain's Base and Aniplex. The 16 episodes are adapted from the light novels of the same name written by Ryohgo Narita and illustrated by Katsumi Enami. Told in out-of-order sequences, the story spans three consecutive years of Prohibition-era America during which three seemingly unconnected events occur: two bottles of immortality elixir are passed around Manhattan by gangsters believing it is alcohol, a supposed monster massacres members of two gangs attempting to hijack the transcontinental train Flying Pussyfoot, and a missing man is tracked down by his sister and a gang. The first thirteen episodes aired in Japan from July 26, 2007, to November 1, 2007, on WOWOW, a Japanese pay-per-view station, and the final three were released direct-to-DVD. The series made its North American television debut when it started airing on the Funimation Channel after the channel transitioned to HD in September 2010.

Eight DVD compilations were released by Aniplex, each containing two episodes, with the first released on October 24, 2007, and the eighth on May 28, 2008. A Blu-ray boxset was released January 26, 2011. On July 21, 2008, the English adaptation of Baccano! was licensed by Funimation. They released four DVD compilations, each containing four episodes, with the first released on January 27, 2009, and the fourth on June 16, 2009. A complete DVD collection boxset was released December 29, 2009, and re-released on December 28, 2010, as part of a lower-priced Viridian Collection. A limited edition Blu-ray boxset was released May 17, 2011; the Blu-ray set was later rereleased on July 31, 2012. The entire English-dubbed series was streamed through Hulu during October 2009 and English-subtitled episodes although once available for streaming, have been removed as of December 2017. Funimation streams English-subtitled and English-dubbed episodes through their website. In Australia and New Zealand, the series is licensed by Madman Entertainment, who released the series over four DVDs between June 24, 2009, and October 21, 2009. A boxset was released on March 17, 2010. Baccano! is licensed in the United Kingdom by Manga Entertainment and was released in a complete boxset on October 11, 2010. The series is aired in the Philippines, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia on Animax Asia. (Full article...)
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McHale's Navy actors Ernest Borgnine (right) and Tim Conway (left), shown here in 1962, were the first credited guest stars. Borgnine made the most guest appearances on the show, appearing in 16 episodes before his death.

In addition to the show's regular cast of voice actors, guest stars have been featured on SpongeBob SquarePants, an American animated television series created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. SpongeBob SquarePants chronicles the adventures and endeavors of the title character and his various friends in the fictional underwater city of Bikini Bottom. Many of the ideas for the show originated in an unpublished, educational comic book titled The Intertidal Zone, which Hillenburg created in the mid-1980s. He began developing SpongeBob SquarePants into a television series in 1996 upon the cancellation of Rocko's Modern Life, which Hillenburg directed. The pilot episode first aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on May 1, 1999. The show's thirteenth and current season premiered in 2020, and 276 episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants have aired. A series of theatrical films based on the show began in 2004 with The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.

Guest voices have come from many ranges of professions, including actors, athletes, authors, musicians, and artists. The first credited guest stars were McHale's Navy actors Ernest Borgnine and Tim Conway, who appeared in "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy (I)", the show's sixth episode. Borgnine and Conway have since been featured as recurring characters on the show until 2012. Rock band Ghastly Ones were the first guest stars to appear as themselves, appearing for a special musical performance in the first-season episode "Scaredy Pants". Aside from the aforementioned actors, actress Marion Ross has a recurring role as Grandma SquarePants, SpongeBob's grandmother. Borgnine has made the most appearances, guest starring 16 times. Conway has made 15 guest appearances, while Ross has appeared four times, John O'Hurley appeared three times, and John Rhys-Davies has appeared twice. Michael McKean has also appeared twice, voicing different characters. (Full article...)

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