# What was the first tv show to use the internet as a plot device? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 21, 2012, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-tv-show-to-use-the-internet-as-a-plot-device/622649 "2012-05-21T20:45:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-tv-show-to-use-the-internet-as-a-plot-device/622649/41 "2012-05-22T17:50:55Z")
Silver Spoons episode [1:7](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0700793/): The Great Computer Caper. Aired November 6, 1982. Rick Schroder and Gary Coleman (in a Diff’rent Strokes crossover) hack the military. [Clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOGhUab23sA). ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-tv-show-to-use-the-internet-as-a-plot-device/622649/42 "2012-05-22T18:17:50Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > To be fair, though, IIRC, they used the term “World Wide Web” interchangeably with Usenet groups and BBS terminology. I suspect the writers had heard about Al Gore and Bill Clinton talking about the Information Superhighway the previous fall, and didn’t fully understand what they were talking about. I think that beings up a different question: When was the last time “Information Superhighway” used unironically? ---
**Author:** ![Pixel\_Dent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Pixel\_Dent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixel_Dent)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-tv-show-to-use-the-internet-as-a-plot-device/622649/43 "2012-05-22T18:31:04Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > Not sure if that was how _Wargames_ billed it, pretty sure the Broderick character explained it realistically to his girlfriend and us the audience that certain computers had phone numbers through which they could be accessed. There was no hopping from computer to computer once you logged into one. It also showed him using a war dialer program to find other modems in an area code by dialing every phone number and noting which ones had modems. ---
**Author:** ![goldmund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a4c791/32.png) [@goldmund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/goldmund)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-tv-show-to-use-the-internet-as-a-plot-device/622649/44 "2012-05-22T20:34:57Z")
According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benson_(TV_series)): > [@Wikipedia](#): > > Benson has the distinction of being the first TV series to reference the Internet on an American network television.[citation needed] This occurred on the episode airing February 22, 1985 (“Scenario”, season 6 episode 20)—in the episode, the characters were accessing the ARPANET, the progenitor of the Internet. ETA: The page on [ARPANET](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET) says: > [@Wikipedia](#): > > A 1985 episode of the U.S. television sitcom Benson includes a scene in which ARPANET is accessed. This is believed to be the first incidence of a popular TV show referencing the Internet or its progenitors. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-tv-show-to-use-the-internet-as-a-plot-device/622649/45 "2012-05-22T20:49:36Z")
re: Max Headroom (1985), they did ‘hack’ into systems, but as I recall, it was largely single television stations that were the dominant form of entertainment. I don’t know if they envisioned a ‘connected’ internet as such. That said, it was set in the future so doesn’t meet the OP’s standard. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-tv-show-to-use-the-internet-as-a-plot-device/622649/46 "2012-05-22T21:03:42Z")
> [@goldmund](#): > > According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benson_(TV_series)): > > ETA: The page on [ARPANET](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET) says: Great. Sounds like we have a winner. Thanks so much! ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-tv-show-to-use-the-internet-as-a-plot-device/622649/47 "2012-05-22T23:01:33Z")
In real life, this [January, 1994 _Today Show_ clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUs7iG1mNjI) is always worth a view. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-tv-show-to-use-the-internet-as-a-plot-device/622649/48 "2012-05-22T23:39:43Z")
In the related videos list from that classic Today show clip, there is this [1981 TV news report](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WCTn4FljUQ&feature=related) out of San Francisco that features Compuserve’s early service, though they don’t even mention them by name. Again though, not really the Internet or any of its predecessors though. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-tv-show-to-use-the-internet-as-a-plot-device/622649/49 "2012-05-23T01:26:50Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Silver Spoons episode [1:7](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0700793/): The Great Computer Caper. Aired November 6, 1982. > > Rick Schroder and Gary Coleman (in a Diff’rent Strokes crossover) hack the military. [Clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOGhUab23sA). Note that in this clip, Rick refers to it as “visiting”. Was that a real term? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-tv-show-to-use-the-internet-as-a-plot-device/622649/50 "2012-05-24T01:12:09Z")
William Gibson of _Neuromancer_ fame also wrote an _X-Files_ episode, “Kill Switch,” which first aired February 15, 1998 and was about the Internet. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-tv-show-to-use-the-internet-as-a-plot-device/622649/51 "2012-05-24T02:24:47Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > William Gibson of _Neuromancer_ fame also wrote an _X-Files_ episode, “Kill Switch,” which first aired February 15, 1998 and was about the Internet. The previously mentioned X-Files third season episode “2Shy” aired November 3, 1995 had the monster-of-the-week meeting his victims in online chat rooms. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-tv-show-to-use-the-internet-as-a-plot-device/622649.md?page=2)