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I love living in the South: great weather and kind, friendly people here! I have an awesome adult daughter who continues to amaze and delight me at every turn. I write mysteries for fun, love-Love-LOVE dark chocolate, and am experimenting here with a food holiday blog. Hope you'll drop me a line from time to time!

Friday, September 10, 2010

KOWABUNGA!!!!! IT'S NATIONAL TV DINNER DAY

The ubiquitiuos TV Dinner.  Just saying the words: now there's a walk down memory lane whether you want to go or not.  We all have our own memories of mashed potatoes still frozen in the center, mystery meat with some gelatinous glob of goo on top of it, and the most shrivelled peas in the world in that funky metal container that always made the food taste like aluminum.  So, I'll leave you to your sentimental journey and talk today about how that marvelous or murderous, depending upon your point of view, 'dinner' came about and was portrayed in the media in days long gone by.  

1954, Omaha, Nebraska. Swanson introduced the first TV dinner: turkey, cornbread dressing, frozen peas and sweet potatoes packaged in an aluminum tin with dividers for each portion of the meal. While the idea wasn’t new – other companies had sold frozen dinners years before and William Maxson’s (Maxson Foods) frozen meals were served onboard airplanes in 1944 – Swanson launched their product at an ideal time. Americans were viewing their first live, color TV programs. To capitalize on our growing love of the ‘tube,’ the food was arranged and packaged similar to how a 1950s TV set looked: a screen on the left,
                                        speakers and control on the right. 

Although the first Swanson TV Dinners sold for 98 cents, a lot of money back then, the company figured they'd sell about 5000 of these new-fangled things in the first year. Swanson’s marketing gurus definitely underestimated the American public’s desire for the convenience, the speed, the technological novelty of having a complete dinner ready in 25 minutes. Swanson had sold 10 million TV dinners by the following September. There were no dishes to wash so the family could easily get dinner done and plop down in front of the TV to watch shows like “I Love Lucy” and “Dragnet,” “Make Room for Daddy” and “Romper Room.” Celebrity figures from Howdy Doody to President Eisenhower touted the dinners. It’s said that Mamie served Dwight Eisenhower TV dinners while he watched westerns on TV. I’m sure in later years, the ads like this one playing off the popularity of “Lassie” helped to continually boost sales.

TV dinners sure made things easy for the ‘little woman.’ Don’t you just love this ad? I really do like the pink & green combo – my daughter graduated from Sweet Briar College this year and these are their colors.


Notice how happy the woman looks as she’s trying to get dinner together? She hasn’t removed her hat or gloves, and her handbag hangs so delicately from her arm, yet she's delighted to be able to get dinner on the table before King of the Castle finishes his paper (or maybe she's just glowing from cocktails with the girls?). Regardless, ya gotta laugh at the not so subliminal message here.

TV dinners became such a cultural phenomenon that in 1987, a representative tray was placed in the Smithsonian Institution to commemorate their impact on our lives. Does anyone still call them TV Dinners? I can’t remember when or why I stopped but I did. Now, I just refer to them as ‘Lean Cuisines’ or whatever brand of ‘frozen diet food’ I’m buying at the moment. Funny, though….I still eat them while I’m watching TV.

Want to celebrate TV Dinner Day? Stop by your local supermarket on the way home and pick up some Swanson Hungry Man TV dinners for your family!

And for old fashioned entertainment, check out their really retro-cool website: http://www.swansonmeals.com/ to watch old commercials and see some neat advertising pictures.

Happy Frozen Dinner To You and Yours.
Until Tomorrow......

“I personally prefer a nice frozen TV Dinner at home, mainly because it's so little trouble. All you have to do is have another drink while you're throwing it in the garbage.” ~ ~ Jack Douglas


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