So what's up with my TV? (electrical q)

Factual Questions
1

I have a 15" TV in my bedroom. I think I bought it new in 1997 when I went to college. It served me well.

I go in spurts with watching it. Sometimes every night, and then not for a long while. I had not been watching it for a while when it started acting funny…

I went to turn it on (using the Power button on the set, not the remote) and it didn’t come on. It was plugged in to a 35-year-old outlet on an outside wall, so I thought maybe the outlet was bad or the plug was loose. The plug didn’t seem loose but for good measure I moved it from the top socket to the bottom. The TV came on.

I forgot about it for a few days then went to turn it on again. It didn’t come on. I switched the plug from the bottom socket to the top. It powered on.

I thought maybe the problem was with the plug being smooshed between my bed and the wall (not smooshed but it could have been bumped.) From then on every time I went to watch TV, I had to switch outlets to make it work.

I’ve since moved to a new house and now the plug is on an inside wall (of an equally-old house in the same neighborhood) and not next to my bed or impeded in any way.

The problem persists … but now I can just unplug and re-plug into the same outlet and it works fine. This is good because I have a “wall wart” in the bottom outlet that needs to stay there.

What is causing this behavior? I am guessing it’s not the power in the house but the TV itself. I have NO knowledge of electricity so I am really curious as to why a TV’s plug needs to be “rebooted” or whatever is happening.

And I guess I will accept threats of “get rid of the TV before it burns your house down” … but mostly I’m interested in why this happens. I’ve never seen it happen in any appliance before.

2

Sounds like you have a break in one of the conductors in your power cord. Frequent smooshing will do that. The problem is intermittent because, even though the cord is busted, the insulation holds the two ends close enough that a little wiggling can reconnect them.
The cure is to replace the cord.

3

With the TV plugged in and working wiggle the power cord around. If there is a break the TV will go on and off. If it is a break in the cord it’s probably near the plug since that’s really what you moved, mostly, in unplugging and replugging. It sounds like it’s also the place where the smooshing took place. After the TV has been on for a while feel the plug. If it’s hot chances are the break is there. Use a flashlight to examine the plug and the cord into it before you feel it. If there is a break one of the strands of the wire might have worked its way through the insulation.

4

Modern TVs don’t actually turn completely off when you turn them off. They keep a small circuit powered which basically waits for you to press a button or do something with the remote control. If you don’t have a power cord problem, then you probably have a problem with this circuit inside the TV. It may be a bit annoying, but given the cost of a TV and the relative cost of repair these days, it’s probably not worth paying someone to fix it.