Did we say two channels? Actually, that wasn't to last. While CBS and NBC ruled the early airwaves, it wasn't long until a third contender came along. No, not ABC -- we're talking about the mostly forgotten DuMont Television Network. Founded in 1946 by TV set maker Allen B. DuMont, the network was home to the immensely popular Captain Video And His Video Rangers (the first-ever sci-fi TV series) and Cavalcade Of Stars, a show most notable for introducing the world to Jackie Gleason and, subsequently, The Honeymooners (thereby kicking off a proud tradition of situational comedy and implied spousal abuse).
Sadly, on the playground of early TV, DuMont was the kid who ate paste. After a decade or so of mismanagement, the network went under. And much like the kid who ate paste, they took their ball when they went home. All of those old recordings were filed away in a warehouse until the 1970s, when an unnamed lawyer -- ostensibly sick and tired of negotiating responsibility for the preservation of DuMont's library -- "took care" of them by loading them onto a bunch of semis, driving them to a barge in New Jersey, and dumping them into New York Bay.
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"Did you really need to give them concrete shoes too?"
Who thought you'd come out of this with a new reason to hate lawyers?