It was the end of an era in the entertainment industry last Monday when the 55-year history of television came to an abrupt close.

Though the decision to stop transmitting has come as a shock to viewers, whose reactions have ranged from wild panic to profound grief, television industry insiders said it was an idea whose time had come.

"It's been great producing shows over the years, and we are grateful for all the hours the fans have spent watching. But we just feel we've taken the medium as far as it can go," NBC President William Schallert said. "Anything more would just be a tired rehash of old ideas. We'd like TV to be remembered as something better than that."

At 9:17 PM EST, millions of Americans watched in horror as their favorite programs--including Melrose Place, Murphy Brown, Friends, and reruns of Monday Night Football--were cut off by hissing white hoise and static on their TV screens. While many sat in front for hours, staring in slack-jawed disbelief, others took to uncontrollable pacing as they searched for new cues as to when to go pee. Despite throwing nearly every aspect of American society into chaos with their decision, television executives remain optimistic about the future.

"Television was a nice enough medium, but it always fell flat compared to other means of expression: the power of the written word, the magic of painting and the thrill of community-based quilting bees," Viacom's Eileen Brennan said. "We tried to take TV to the next level, but compared to those things, I think it's obvious television never stood a chance."

Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, who earlier in the day had unexpectedly returned all the free spectrum space for future broadcast technology given to him by Congress, was said by a company spokesman to be out in a park enjoying fresh air for the first time in years.

Former NBC President Brandon Tartikoff struck a note of realism. "There's only so much revenue that can be generated spooning pre-adolescent pixilated pablum to the lowest common demographic denominator. In retrospect, we're glad we quit while we were ahead. I think it's pretty obvious that consumers felt they deserved better. The marketplace has spoken."