The TVs prior to the 1970s/solid state era were not very reliable. They needed repair often enough that "TV repairman" was a viable occupation. I remember having to turn on the TV a half hour before my dad got home from work so it would be "warmed up" so he could watch the evening news. We're still at that stage of AI.

The guy started saying it in the 80s or 90s when that issue had been fixed. Ge is the Minix guy if I recall correctly.