I recall a flashback episode of The X-Files where Mulder (pre-Scully) was shown with an older, brick-style cell phone. I think the flashback was meant to be in the 80s, though the bricks were still around in the early 90s when I worked at a law firm that had them for us errand people/legal assistants to use when out and about.
Use of pay phones would be another reasonable thing to track here. The various Law and Orders (mostly the Mothership) would be good barometers for both cell phones and pay phones. ________________________________ From: PGage <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [TV orNotTV] TV Phone History [Was: Sitcoms introduced to whole new generation] On Tue, Mar 20, 2012 at 2:41 PM, Hank Fung <[email protected]> wrote: You can try to look through Celebrities with Phones: http://www.phonelosers.org/cwp/ - and go through there. Hasn't been updated in a long time but interesting. > That helped a little. I see Courtney Coz on a corded phone in 1994's "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective". I see Drew Barrymore in 1996's "Scream" in two phone-photos, one corded, the other (apparently) cordless. I see Fran Drescher as "The Nanny" with a corded phone, but undated, so could be anywhere from 1993-1999. I see Rene Z. in 1996's Jerry McGuire with a corded phone. I am going to tentatively concluded that corded phones were used most often in movies/TV through around 1996, which is when I see the first cordless appearance. It may have been a few more years before they were ubiquitous. I don't see much evidence to inform my question about mobile phones, though I now note that the X-Files premiered in September of 1993. I was recently thinking of re-watching that series (via Netflix), and if I do I will check, but it sure feels like one of the things that stood out about that show from the start was their cell phone fetish - but maybe that didn't start until a season or two in? If cordless phones were predominant on screen though 1996 (and of course my evidence here is very thin and non-random) and cell phones were featured prominently on shows like the X-Files in the early 1990s, then it seems like it is possible that cell phones were represented in pop culture slightly before cordless phones. Okay, that may be enough procrastination from grading the pile of Final Exams waiting for me - then again, it may not. Let me see... -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
