kinescope

An archive of a live television broadcast, prior to the advent of videotape; it was recorded by filming the broadcast output. It has a slightly trippy, distorted look.

Kinescope Trivia Tidbits

• The kinescope was invented by Vladimir Kosma Zworykin during his tenure at Radio Corp America.
• The first major TV show to be filmed rather than kinescoped was I Love Lucy.
• Some of the reruns of The Twilight Zone on the Sci-Fi Channel are based on kinescope masters. Episodes that are in this format include "Patterns" and "Night of the Meek".
• Much of the Golden Age of Television has been lost due to original broadcasts not being recorded or kinescope masters being destroyed to save space in warehouses.
• The most popular programs to be kinescoped? Game shows, believe it or not.
• Most networks still have a kinescope projector handy just in case old archive footage needs to be trotted out. However, as years go by much of this footage has been converted to film or video tape.