tv

I knew that people on television or in the movies weren't real, but it seemed entirely reasonable to me that they could interact with each other. When the man who played Mr. Hooper on Sesame Street died back in the early '80s, I was convinced that Darth Vader had killed him. I knew this to be true because his breathing sounded like "Hoooo-per... Hoooo-per..."

allison

I used to believe that black backgrounds on talk shows were endless voids and I used to wonder how peopel weren't scared by them and how they didn't fall into them.

Anon

I used to believe that when the television was turned off, the program would stop, and resume at the exact point where it left off when the set was turned back on.

Anon

I used to be afraid of party political broadcasts on the tv, because they always started with the Party's name on a black background and silence, so I thought the prime minister lived in a horrible dark world and if I watched I might get sucked in or something, so I hid when they started and never saw what they were really about... i was a disturbed child!

megan

Up until I was about 6 years old, I used to believe that each person had different t.v programmes on their television.

One day my mum past the phone on to me so I could speak to my friend, as she was talking to my friends mother. We (my friend and I) spoke while we were both watching T.V. During our conversation, We started talking about what we where watching. I then told her to press 4 on her remote control and describe what she saw on the screen. I was then amazed at what she desribed, as they were the same images that I could see on T.V!

Anon

I believed as a kid that the TV stations showed a TV program on a projector screen and aimed the camera at it to air to the town.

Greg

I used to believe that whenever you watched TV, the actors would come into your screen, and act it out for you. I somehow pictured millions of clones of the same actor going to different people's TV screens. I also believed that when they died in the show, they died in real life, and gave their money they earned to friends and family.

Leming

In the days before cable, when the TV signal would fail, local stations used to put up a placard that read, "Please Stand By, Technical Difficulties." I used to think I had to get up from the couch and go stand by the TV to help the signal come back. I did it for months until I surprised my family with my trick. I was a little insulted they didn't want to help.

luminux

When I was about 3 or 4, I thought that when they said they had to be 'shot' (i.e. filmed), they had to shot with a little dart that let them be filmed somehow.

johnny jims

my older sister could NEVER make me take a nap in the afternoon since i was glued to the tv. one day, she was absolutely fed up with me, so she told me that little girls and boys who watched too much tv would get sucked into the t.v.

Anon

TV sets still had "tubes" when I was a kid, so when I saw these lit up inside the back of the set I thought there were entire cities in there where all the people I saw on TV lived and worked. After all they were only as big as the TV screen, weren't they?

cg

I used to believe that when a t.v show stopped, and the credits were rolling with the last shot as a backgroud, the people in it had to freeze until the credits finished and i used to feel sorry for those people becuase they couldn't move or breath for such a long time!

Star

I used to think that if I was watching The Brady Bunch and Mom called for dinner that I could turn off the TV and come back to see the rest of the show when we were done. Although it never worked out that way I continued that thought process for a couple of years. I imagine I also used to bump into walls when I was learning to walk, back up and bump into them again. That's my only explanation.

Tom McDonald

When I was around 8 or 9, I saw Rolf Harris (UK TV personality) do a skit dressed up as Jake the Peg, who had an extra leg. The leg of course was fake, but to me it looked real. From then on I believed that Rolf actually did have three legs, and when he presented other shows like 'Animal Hospital' he just tucked his extra leg down his trousers or something.

Mel

I used to believe that people on TV used to somehow get shrunk then queue up inside the cable to await their turn. I always wondered how they got inside the plug.

Anon

I used to believe that you could climb into the television and you'd end up where ever it was that was on the screen.

Michelle C from Michigan

When I was little I used to think that everything you saw on TV was actually inside the TV. Like little people and all those yummy chocolate bars from the Moro adds, and I thought you had one opportunity to smash the TV glass and then you could have whatever was on TV at the time. So I watched the TV for years waiting for the best thing to come on so I could smash the TV but I knew it had to be really really special, so I kept waiting for the most perfect thing... Luckily I never ended up smashing the TV.

Toni

When I was about 3-4 years old, I used to believe that if I could break through the TV screen somehow, I could make it to Sesame Street. I guess I thought the TV was some kind of portal to another place.

Susie

I use to believe that when I turned off the tv programming would be halted. I thought that changing channels on the tv would make the vcr record different programs and also believed that the 'reflection' on the tv was a magical tape that recorded what I do before I did it instead of a camera.

m0u5y