Television: Difference between revisions

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(→‎Viewable programs: clarification of episode appearances)
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===Weazel===
===Weazel===
[[Weazel]] is a parody of [[wp:Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox Broadcasting Company]].
[[Weazel]] is a parody of [[wp:Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox Broadcasting Company]].
*[[The Men's Room]].
*[[The Men's Room]]. (+ one more episode in TBoGT)
*[[Split Sides]] (both Ricky Gervais and Katt Williams).
*[[Split Sides]] (both Ricky Gervais and Katt Williams).
*[[Republican Space Rangers]] (Episode 6 is added in TLAD).
*[[Republican Space Rangers]] (+ one more episode in TLAD + one more in TBoGT).
*[[Venturas Poker Challenge]].
*[[Venturas Poker Challenge]].
*[[Weazel News]] (Special report on the Motorcycle Menace) (TLAD).
*[[Weazel News]] (Special report on the Motorcycle Menace) (TLAD).

Revision as of 17:48, 14 August 2013

A brown television in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

A Television (or TV for short) refers to a large (and sometimes small) device that is used for watching shows and news and for playing video games (although they require the use of a console, like the Playstation 3, Playstation 2 and Playstation 1 in order to achieve this). In relation to the Grand Theft Auto series, the TV has long been a traditional "platform" for GTA games (although they require the use of a console in order to play them on the TV).

Description

Pre-GTA IV

Televisions appear in-game in the Grand Theft Auto series although they have by large been non-interactive props (although they might be animated in cutscenes and certain missions); in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, however, televisions of various forms can be stolen from homes in the burglary side-mission. Various TV shows have also been advertised in GTA III, GTA Vice City, GTA San Andreas, GTA Liberty City Stories and GTA Vice City Stories but are usually unseen. The ability to watch TV was first trialed in GTA Vice City Stories, where the player can watch mission cutscenes with the TV in The Clymenus Suite.

GTA IV

Grand Theft Auto IV introduced the ability to watch television shows in most safehouses, although this feature is largely useless in actual gameplay and is more of a minor feature used to pass time.

Televisions in Grand Theft Auto IV appear as interactive devices that allowing the player to watch television shows, although they have very little bearing to actual gameplay. Each safehouse in in GTA IV has a television, as is the case in GTA IV's episodic packs, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony; in TLAD however, access to televisions becomes unavailable upon completion of the storyline as only one safehouse, which is disabled in the end, is the only location where a television should be available.

The design of the safehouses' televisions in both GTA IV and its episodes vary according to the condition of the safehouse. Shabby safehouses often feature olden CRT televisions which also have television channels that are purely static; more upscale housing are usually equipped with widescreen LCD/plasma televisions that are either freestanding or wall-mounted.

Each Television allows the player to watch up to three simultaneously running channels (Weazel, CNT, and the Public Broadcasting Corporation); however, the channels are not numbered, so finding a show is more or less coincidental. Most of the shows are running time-shifted, so while "I'm Rich" may be almost over on one channel, for example, it may just start on another.

The feature is carried over to its episodic titles, including The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, with new shows and advertising added in. However, depending on whether the player opted for downloading episodic DLC or obtaining Episodes from Liberty City, the availability of shows and ads from GTA IV in both episodic titles, like radio stations, varies between DLCs and Episodes from Liberty City:

  • In DLCs, existing programming and advertising from GTA IV and a DLC purchased earlier will be present in the new episodic title, and vice versa.
  • In EFLC, only programming and advertising from TLAD and TBOGT will be available in both episodic titles, as much of GTA IV's content is not included in the stand-alone compilation.

While there is one television for each safehouse in GTA IV, the player can only watch TV at the Lost MC Clubhouse in The Lost and Damned until "Get Lost", to which point the player has no legal means of watching television; in The Ballad of Gay Tony, one TV is available in Luis' safehouse.

GTA IV alludes that two other television networks, CCC and X, exist in the in-game universe, but are unviewable.

Viewable programs

Weazel

Weazel is a parody of Fox Broadcasting Company.

CNT

CNT is a play on CNN or TNT, possibly a combination of both as CNT also has a news program.

CNT is a refererence to "cunt", a term for vagina.

Public Broadcasting Corporation

The Public Broadcasting Corporation is a parody of PBS, or possibly the BBC, as the latter is an acronym for British Broadcasting Corporation

Role in missions

GTA III Era

During the Los Santos Riots, looters can be seen running around and carrying televisions.

GTA IV Era

In the mission Crime and Punishment, Niko Bellic has to find a van full of Televisions and deliver it to a Faustin Family hideout, for a buyer to purchase.


Notes

  • There is a glitch in The Lost and Damned that allows you to watch the TV even after the end of the game. Take a helicopter and land on the roof of Lost MC Clubhouse. Walk around to where the TV would be inside just under the roof, and you will be prompted to watch the TV. If you do this there is only 2 ways to get outside of the clubhouse: kill yourself, or reload an old save file. This glitch is fixed on Episodes from Liberty City.

Gallery

GTA San Andreas