Men Continue George Burns’ Grip On TV Remote Control

Wed., June 26, 1996

William Mccall Associated Press

Taking aim at the TV, comedian George warned wife Gracie to stand aside in a 1956 ad for the nation’s first successful TV remote control.

“Look out!” he said.

Television and women have come a long way since then. Black-and-white has given way to wide-screen, full-color home entertainment. Gracie’s ditzy housewife has yielded to Murphy Brown’s self-assured professional.

But a new Oregon State University study confirms what many women have known - and endured - all these years: The guy still controls the clicker.

“He just flips through the channels,” one woman told researchers. “It drives me crazy because you can’t tell what’s on, because he just goes through, and goes through, and goes through….”

The study was conducted by the president of the National Council on Family Relations, who found scientific evidence that channelsurfing men rule the roost, systematically driving their wives and girlfriends bonkers.

Alexis Walker did not have to look any further than her own parents for a living example of her research.

“My parents bought a second TV set because my mother said to me, ‘I will not watch TV with your father anymore because of the way he uses that remote control,”’ Walker said.

As a daughter, it was funny. As a sociologist, it was confirmation that the balance of power at home still is tilted toward men no matter how equal a couple views a relationship.

In fact, the women in the study repeatedly said they saw nothing unfair about their men’s control over joint leisure time in front of the TV set, typically the biggest chunk of time any couple spends together besides sleeping.

The women told researchers they had to plan programming in advance or resort to videotape to see shows they liked. Otherwise, they had to put up with annoying channel surfing to be with their men.

Zenith Corp.’s “Space Commander” remote control debuted June 8, 1956.

The Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association estimates nearly 400 million remote controls are in use today, and the group has stopped counting.

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