TV Dinner Inventor Gerry Thomas Dies

The man credited with having invented the TV dinner has passed away at age 83.

The first Swanson TV Dinner turkey with corn bread dressing and gravy, sweet potatoes and buttered peas sold for about $1 apiece and could be cooked in 25 minutes at 425 degrees.

"We had the TV screen and the knobs pictured on the package. That was the real start of marketing," [Gerry] Thomas said. Ten million dinners were sold in the first year of national distribution.

Link to SF Gate story (Thanks, Bonnie)

Reader comment: Mike Ransom says,

I recognize that scan of a TV dinner as one I did for my site a few years ago (the dinner was tasty, too.) The Swanson TV dinner has a Tulsa radio connection: Link.