Yes, Virginia, there was a time before television, when if you wanted to watch your favorite series you gathered with a bunch of friends and strangers and watched it on a large screen in a movie theater.
For some reason, I never really caught on to any of the pre-television series of films. I know they were frequently shown on television, back in the early days, but I don't remember seeing them.
I remember Abbott and Costello movies. But those weren't really a series, where the characters continued from story to story, they were just a whole slew of 'em. Not the same thing.
What I do remember is the family gathering around the coffee table, which was laden with cheeses and crackers, and munching while we watched old horror movies and episodes of The Avengers (with Diana Rigg as Mrs. Emma Peel). But that's, again, not the same thing.
I smell a slice of gouda, I think of Diana Rigg dressed in leather. Kinky, what?