Another reason not to sit too close to a
CRT-based TV set is the
electromagnetic radiation it emanates. A
cathode-ray tube is basically an
electron gun aimed at a
phosphor-coated screen facing the viewer, and a large
electromagnetic field extends for some distance beyond the front of the set. There are even products such as the EMF-Bioshield® one can buy to minimize this radiation.
This has also been parodied by the Simpsons (almost everything has been parodied by them at one time or another) in episode 2F07, Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy. In it, Homer finds himself in his childhood home, and the living room wall has a shadow of Homer as a child burned into it by the Radiation King TV set. The scene then shifts to his memory of watching it in the refulgent radiation of TV the set in the process of creating that distinctive shadow on the wall.