Here's a project from 1957: hack your TV so you can turn off the volume (with a flashlight) when commercials come on. I like how it's presented as a device to protect you from commercials, in the same way that Mitch Altman's TV-B-Gone protects you from the intrusiveness of public TVs. It's also interesting how the photocell sits on your TV like a Wii sensor bar.

Here's the article, from the 1957 edition of Popular Electronics' "Electronic Experimenter's Handbook":

From the 1957 edition of Popular Electronics' "Electronic Experimenter's Handbook":