The sci-fi development detailed in a 1998 article dubbed “New $5,000 Multimedia Computer System Downloads Real-Time TV Programs, Displays Them On Monitor” detailed a 75-minute download of an eight minute segment of an NBC sitcom. Although it may have chastised the “grainy” image streaming at “six frames per second,” it’s certain that the author of the article was onto something major: “Imagine watching TV at the click of a mouse, instead of a remote control,” the faux-director of product development Bill Welborne ‘told’ The Onion. “With the Compaq Presario 6000 and a few reasonably priced add-ons, you’ll never have to watch TV on a television again.”

“More exciting still, the viewing can occur in real-time concurrent with the download, provided the user owns a dedicated T1 Internet connection,” the article joked. Who knew that, less than a decade later, Netflix would trigger a revolution at the intersection of technology and entertainment that changed the way many made and consumed television.