Before remote controls, changing a TV channel meant getting up and turning a dial.

Zenith Electronics introduced the first remote, called "Lazy Bone," in 1950.

It was not wireless, and people tripped over its cord.

The first wireless remote, "Flash-Matic," came five years later.

It used light signals and looked like a gun.

Bright sunlight could trigger false channel changes.

The next year, Zenith's "Space Command" used sound waves and made a clicking noise.

That gave remotes the nickname "clicker."

Infrared remotes arrived in the 1980s, when cable TV made the device essential.

TV critic David Bianculli said losing a remote in couch cushions became as frantic as losing a phone today.

Remotes changed how networks scheduled shows to keep viewers from switching channels.

They also created the "surfer," who scanned channels aimlessly.

This forced networks to grab attention quickly.

Remotes have downsides, including amplifying selfishness and multiplying out of control.

Batteries often die at bad moments.

Late Zenith scientist Eugene Polley called the remote "almost as important as sex," though he may have felt pride of ownership.