Before remote controls, people got up to change TV channels.

They turned a dial by hand.

Zenith Electronics made the first remote in 1950.

Its name was "Lazy Bone."

It was not wireless.

People fell over its cord.

The first wireless remote came five years later.

Its name was "Flash-Matic."

It used light signals.

It looked like a gun.

Bright sunlight could change channels by mistake.

The next year, Zenith made "Space Command."

It used sound waves.

It made a clicking noise.

So people called remotes "clickers."

Infrared remotes came in the 1980s.

Cable TV made the remote very important then.

TV critic David Bianculli said losing a remote in couch cushions was very upsetting.

It was like losing a phone today.

Remotes changed TV schedules.

Networks planned shows to keep people from changing channels.

Remotes also made the "surfer."

This person changed channels without a plan.

So networks had to get attention fast.

Remotes have bad sides.

They make people more selfish.

They multiply without end.

Batteries often die at bad times.

Late Zenith scientist Eugene Polley called the remote "almost as important as sex."

But he may have felt proud of his work.