In 1969, ABC released the first entirely AI generated TV Show, hosted by a Computer... Turn-On: The First Computerized TV Show In the show, sketches generated by an artificially intelligent computer would be acted out. It was pulled 10 min into the first episode...

On February 5th 1969, 16-17 million Americans turned into ABC to watch the premiere of Turn-On: The First Computerized TV Show. 10 minutes later it was off the air forever. It cost ABC $1,000,000 ($8.5m with inflation). "We just couldn’t handle all the calls," says Gene McCurdy of Philadelphia’s WFIL-TV...In Baltimore, the switch was "in three to one against the show,” says Paul Coss of WJZ-TV. “I think we have dropped the show even if ABC hadn’t." From TV Guide 1969

If you couldn't tell by now, the 'computer generated' component was more fiction than reality - but serves as a potent prediction of todays AI realities. It still had a number of innovate tech uses, including the early motion capture system pictured below.

Alternate Title: When A “Wing Nut” Cost ABC $8.5m in 1969 “He called all the affiliates, said this is terrible…they kept canceling the show before anyone has seen it because of one wing nut in Cleveland…they said jammed the switchboard - the switchboard was one phone..” From an interview with the creator of Turn-On, George Schlatter in 2010.

Despite the computer generated fiction, the computer depicted in the show had actual IBM 1620 panels. The IBM 1620 was announced by IBM in 1959 & produced into 1970, advertised as an inexpensive 'scientific computer.' It cost about $90,000 in 1963, or just over $900k today.

1969's 'Turn-On' from the perspective of the shows actual host, Tim Conway. He was the superman character in the short clip as well as the advertisement aside. "It was waaaay ahead of its time...as it came across the country it was being canceled." From 2008's 'Pioneers of Television.'

Turn-On would go unseen until Oct. 2023, it is likely one of the most infamous pieces of lost media - not for its AI plot, but because of FOMO. The show was canceled before anyone had been able to see it, the curiosity it left for some was insatiable & take 54 Years to feed.

Still has to be one of my favorite 'media stories' of all time 🤣🖤

omg thank for sharing this! One of those things where I'm just shocked I had never heard of it. Sooo good! 🔥🔥🔥

Totally found by accident while watching a documentary on Scanimate (one of the early graphics tools used in the making of 'Turn-On'). It was very famous evidently, less for the AI plot but more for the fact it was canceled then lost. Nobody got to see it and had FOMO lol.

Absolute crazy story 😍😍🔥🔥🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 and WE think we are digital revolutionaries... 🤯🤯🤯🤯

It’s crazy how long that thing went unseen before it was finally released on YouTube - they advertised this series into stardom then they told half the country “actually, we can’t show you this - some people saw it already and they’ll never be the same” — then that was the end for decades!