I was scrolling through Facebook and look what I found.

A bit of nostalgia from the 90s and 2000s. Anyone else remember these?

Web TV was my first introduction to the internet, at least at home. I know it was not a true PC, but at the time, I was a console peasant and only worried about chatting, emailing and web surfing. I think this was the exact model or one very close to it. I remember the credit card slot, which reminded me of Total Recall, for purchases on the TV, although I never used it.

It came with the main unit, that hooked up to a standard TV and a phone line, a wireless keyboard, a remote and a rather thick booklet on getting started. The remote acted like a TV remote and also a mouse, sort of. I believe you could even type with the remote, but it was slow. I just mainly just used the keyboard. I used it for about a year or so, discovered EverQuest Trilogy and Half Life 1 mods and bought a Dell PC, never to touch WebTV again.

In saying that, it did what it said it did. I enjoyed it and do not regret the purchase. I think it was around $100, but I am going off memory from decades ago. You could download pictures, and play very rudimentary games. I think play by email games were big(ger) back then. I think you could watch videos, but you had to wait for them to load slowly and I usually did not bother.

I mainly, for playing purposes, would go to the RPG chat rooms. One was Peroria Castle or something about a moon. Who ever types the fastest and most accurately won the round in a fight. Other wise, it was basically a tavern setting in a castle.

There were chat rooms that were basically a bar with a juke box. People would take turns playing their music of choice and everyone listened. And then of course, chat rooms that were flooded with "ASL". If you know, you know... All in all, pretty decent for the price. Most people owned a TV. Most people had the phone line. It was just a matter of getting the Internet or paying for the service.

The link below shows how it worked and some of the options, like start up, webpages, chat and email.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHJN9cMo4P4

almost every living room i see now just has one giant modular sectional. It looks great, sure, but sharing a massive couch after an exhausing day means zero personal boundaries.

when i was a kid, my dad had HIS chair (it didn't match the decor at all). When he sat in it, it was an unspoken 'do not disturb' signal for the whole house. i used to think it was just a weird old-person habit. Now that i'm older and constantly tired, i completely get it. its impossible to get that mental disconnect on a shared sofa.

i'm trying to carve out some sort of boundary in my own apartment by getting a dedicated single seat. just browsing for something like a nouhaus chair or whatever offers actual back support without eating half the floor plan.

gonna end up sitting in a corner just to not be perceived for thirty minutes. did we trade actual comfort for aesthetic living rooms?

I used to watch this show religiously. Then, at some point, stopped cold turkey.

Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!

I had one of these, although not sure this exact brand or model. Also, I did not always fill it with bubbles. I distinctly remember the speed change switch from rabbit to turtle or fast to slow. Although, not sure that actually did anything, besides give you something to fiddle with or make a noise while switching. Used to pretend mow when my father was mowing, although obviously a safe distance away. Loved it. 🥰 When I got older, I hated mowing. 😅

Is the song now stuck in your head? You're welcome. ☺️

Somehow this one has held up for over 20 years