ANDRE BEGIN

I don’t think it will come as a shock to many people if I said that there was a TV in my bedroom when I was a kid. The thing is, my parents didn’t buy it for me. I did!

The part that might be a bit of a stunner is that I was an only child. It was just my mom, my dad and me. I think it would be safe to say that three TV sets for a house with three people was probably not considered normal by mid-1970s standards.

Before my big purchase, we had a new colour TV set in the living room and an old black-and-white TV in a big woodgrain cabinet in the spare bedroom.

I can’t remember the exact tipping point that motivated me, but there must have been enough times when Dad would be watching shows he liked in the living room and Mom was watching her favourite shows in the spare bedroom, neither of which appealed to the discerning tastes of this 8-year-old.

Perhaps it was my regular perusal of the Sears catalogue that had me seeing a solution to this predicament in the form of a portable black and white television selling for $119.99. When I shared the idea with my mom, she must have said something to the effect of “save your pennies” as the way forward to fulfill my dream. Whether she thought I was serious about it, I can’t say for sure.

Being the determined little dude that I was, I really meant it, and I put my mind to it. The plan I hatched was that I would save up birthday money, Christmas money and allowance money to raise the $128.38 to pay for the TV and the sales tax.

Saving up for a TV was probably a good exercise for me. It helped me learn the concept of priorities as well as the process of weighing the pros and cons of competing purchases, especially when I was getting into music and photography at the same time.

By the summer of 1976, I had reached my goal. On my mom‘s next visit to Sears, she bought my little portable TV and a few days later, we went to the bank together for me to withdraw my $128.38 to reimburse her.

When I look back, I marvel at the discipline and the drive that the younger version of me was able to exhibit to reach this goal. I must have wanted it pretty badly.

Even though I could only watch seven local channels on it, they were my personal window on the world. They were my opportunity to spend more time with public broadcasters and educational TV, planting the seeds about the creative possibilities that came with this art form.

Having my own television set likely contributed to a sharp increase in my “screen time,” but not to the detriment of my getting my homework done on time. I still had my priorities straight there.

Even though I purchased a small colour TV when I moved out on my own, the black and white one took its place as the TV in the bedroom for many years to come.

Incredibly, the portable TV stayed with me for about 45 years! Unfortunately, a black and white TV can’t really compete with today’s newer technology. My beloved TV turned into a large paperweight.

Just after the pandemic, I brought it to an e-waste depot for disposal. I admit that it was hard to say goodbye, given that it had moved with me eight times and had been put to use in all of my residences along the way. Some of my friends even had a chance to enjoy it as I lent it to them when they moved out of their parents’ places and didn’t have a TV set of their own yet.

Today, when I am lying in bed watching a classic series on my tablet that I recall watching on my little black-and-white TV, I think to myself how the idea of a device this small on which I could watch TV, movies, play games, read books, communicate with family and friends and access the knowledge of the world would have been unimaginable. Funny enough, when I do the math, the $128.38 I paid in 1976 converts to approximately $728 in today’s money, not far from being able to buy a tablet in today’s world.

But it is interesting how having a goal like buying my own TV set was as strong a motivator as it was for me to actually follow through and save up my money to be able to buy one. The exercise taught me life skills in discipline, planning, decision-making, prioritizing and self-restraint. A few years later, when I got my first part-time job, I repeated this performance in saving up for a VIC-20 computer.

Who knows if this little black and white TV is where I got my start in not just watching TV but studying TV, which led to my fascination for screenwriting? I tend to think that things happen for a reason, and if the many hours I spent watching this little TV helped shape the storytelling skills I use today, then I think it was a worthwhile investment on my part.

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Have a great day,
André