After more than fifty years of television, it might seem only obvious to conclude that it is here to (1) ……….. There have been many objections to it during this time, of course, and (2)………….. a variety of grounds. Did it cause eye-strain? Was the (3)………………. bombarding us with radioactivity? Did the advertisements (4) …………………. subliminal messages, persuading us to buy more or vote Republican? Did children turn to violence through watching it, either because so (5) ……………… programmes taught them how to shoot, rob, and kill, or because they had to do something to counteract the hours they had (6) ………… glued to the tiny screen ? Or did it simply create a vast passive (7) …………………………… drugged by glamorous serials and inane situation (8)……………………..? On the other hand did it increase anxiety by sensationalising the news (or the news which was (9)..…………….. by suitable pictures) and filling our living rooms with war, famine and political unrest? (10) ……………………….in all, television proved to be the all-purpose scapegoat for the second half of the century, (11) ……………….. for everything, but above all, eagerly watched. For no (12) ……………………. how much we despised it, feared it, were bored by it, or felt that it took us away from the old paradise of family conversation and hobbies (13) …………….. as collecting stamps, we never turned it off. We (14) ……………….. staring at the screen, aware that our own tiny (15) ……….. was in it if we looked carefully.