Swanson's original frozen TV dinner consisted of a compartmentalized ... By the summer of 1954, fried chicken was introduced as a second entrée choice, and beef soon followed.

Ultimately, it was the Swanson company that transformed ... or enjoying one themselves. “The best fried chicken I know comes with a TV dinner,” Barbra Streisand told the New Yorker in 1962.

Dinner in plastic serving tray with salisbury steak, corn, and mashed potatoes, next to a remote - Hillwoman2/Getty Images ...

And when C.A. Swanson & Sons introduced the TV dinner in 1954 ... than a meatloaf or roast chicken done from scratch. At the risk of trying to read the mind of the kid I was at the time, I ...