rodney:
I always found the TV in
Picaros very impressive
Yes, it's nice, isn't it? I'm pretty sure that it's based on the work of Eero Saarinen; he designed tables and chairs (most famously seen as set dressing aboard the
U.S.S. Enterprise on the original
Star Trek series), with a distinctive curved pedestal leg, sweeping to a circular base, which was called the "Tulip".
Whilst Mr. Saarinen died in the early sixties, a "Tulip" design TV set, very similar to the Captain's, was on display at the Palais du CNIT (Centre des nouvelles industries et technologies/ Centre for New Industry and Technology) in Paris in the early seventies, suggesting his æstehtic was being carried on.
If you Google for "tulip design television", you should see an image of the one I mean (I'm not posting a link, as they seem to be on image library sites, and I'm not going to risk being billed for using the picture, thank you very much!).
rodney:
It could be the most extravagant piece of AV equipment Hergé incorporated into the stories...!
You may be right! There's also the TV set that Calculus invented (impractical, but certainly extravagant), and the impressive hi-fi in
Picaros (apparently based on Hergé's own set-up, which was by all accounts state of the art audiophile stuff, and thus also extravagant), but I actually would suggest that the TV set in
Black Island when it first appeared was probably a greater outlay in its day; leaving out the fact that it was apparently, and incorrectly, colour, it was certainly more extravagant, given the paucity of TV programming at the time!