A bullet done dodged

In 1950, the FCC adopted the CBS color TV system as our national standard. It was a mechanical contraption with a big spinning color wheel -- beams directed through the color wheel produced a color image on the screen.

The production of color TV was postponed by the government, however, because of the Korean War. During that break, everyone realized that the RCA/NBC non-spinning-wheel color system was superior and that became the national standard.