Swansons wasn’t the first company to produce a frozen, compartmented dinner by any means, but theirs came out in 1953 and was the first to gain widespread popularity. Early versions were in aluminum containers and had to be heated in an oven. Microwaves were just becoming available as a consumer product then not yet available as a consumer product, and most homes didn’t have one yet anyway. Later, the packaging became plastic so it could be microwaved.
Swansons saw such success that in North America, “TV Dinner” has become a genercized term, like Kleenex, Xerox, or Jell-o.
1963 ad,
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Microwaves were decades away. Aluminum ftw.
It’s a good point, they weren’t actually rolled out yet as a product you could buy, until 1961. There were consumer prototypes in use in 54-55 according to wikipedia, but just for testing. Not as a product you could purchase. I’ll correct the post text.
I don’t remember anyone actually having one - or seeing them on tv - or hearing about them at all until well into the 70s.
Late 70s even
Yup, we would have them from time to time well into the 70’s.