Zenith Electronics

How Zenith's 1950 Lazy Bone remote turned viewers into channel surfers

The articles trace the TV remote’s evolution from Zenith’s 1950 Lazy Bone to wireless and infrared remotes, highlighting how the device transformed channel surfing, programming, and viewer behavior across decades. They also note downsides like lost remotes and battery failures, with culture-clash anecdotes such as the fearsome first remote designs and a critic’s comparison of losing a remote to losing a phone, underscoring the remote’s enduring impact on television viewing.