MCM media rooms and the flat screen issue  

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God yes, it feels like the last few months have been awful everywhere. It will be a good wake up call whatever occurs as to where we site industrial facilities of any sort, the flood maps here are all being redrawn.
I dislike television but can also laugh at myself and the stereotypes on either side of the argument, it is pretty funny really. I don't think anyone here if they met face to face would really have any problems, compared to other forums this lovely place is amazingly polite, its a fine thing.

Funny...
The original poster's topic was about the size of his/her TV screen in proportion to the other furnishings.
Now when people who think huge TVs are extremely tacky chime in with that thought, they are scolded by the defensive big TV owners and chastised for straying from the topic.
Except that TV size IS the topic.
And apparently people who own huge TVs are really insecure about owning one. Go figure.

another solution ...
.... just put a frame around it and call it a rauschenberg .....
http://greg.org/archive/2011/02/02/much_to_see_but_not_much_shown.html

Scooby-
I, for one, was never defending big TVs in particular but rather TVs in general. My take on most comments regarding size is that people opt for smaller NOT because it's more in proportion but rather more "tasteful" (as if a larger TV would suggest that they don't have the proper disdain). You yourself call large TV's "tacky" rather than "disproportionate" or "out of scale"-- you're alluding to far more than proportion with that comment.
My own TV is 19", for the record. What am I insecure about, exactly?
And taptap's right-- contemporary flat-screen TVs are neutral rectangles, much the same as color-field paintings.

back to the design question
Leaving aside the burning issue of moral superiority and screen size for a moment ....
The more interesting design question is how to make these big obtrusive things less big and obtrusive -- and I think the trick is to integrate them with furniture, art, etc, so that the tv is no longer the focal point of the room. You want to lead the eye away from the tv, so it becomes background rather than focal point --
And size, per se, isn't necessarily the determining factor in how obtrusive the tv seems to be --
For instance -- to my eye, gene's room (pictured above) has a tv that sticks out and calls attention to itself, even though it's quite small, since it's standing alone and is surrounded by a lot of empty space, and has what seems to be a tail of cables leading off to the side.
But robert1960's tv, even though it's twice as big and is right in the center of the wall, seems much less obtrusive. It's integrated very cleanly and closely into that elegant teak wall unit, so it doesn't shout at you -- it becomes just a neutral rectangle within a larger pattern, and the eye moves from the tv, to the unit, to the pottery, to the more interesting furniture shapes in the room --
It's a very smart design solution -- looks natural and pleasing --

While I don't love how...
While I don't love how flat-screen TVs look, I agree with the comment that they are pretty neutral, and I think you can blend one into a MCM home much better than you can with pre-modernist interiors. A couple weeks ago someone on Apartment Therapy sent in pictures of their living room, very attractive but in a turn-of-the-century style, and was asking for advice on where their huge flat-screen TV could be placed. Nobody had a good answer because there just wasn't one--it would simply stand out like a sore thumb anywhere in that home.

@ W- H- C
WHC said:
"...people opt for smaller NOT because it's more in proportion but rather more "tasteful" (as if a larger TV would suggest that they don't have the proper disdain). You yourself call large TV's "tacky" rather than "disproportionate" or "out of scale"-- you're alluding to far more than proportion with that comment.
My own TV is 19", for the record. What am I insecure about, exactly?"
Wouldn't something wildly out of proportion lack "taste" in terms of composition of a room? In my opinion a giant TV shows a certain lack of design sensibilities and/or sophistication. And that is just my OPINION. Not knocking anyone's viewing habits or their intelligence, just their taste.
I don't care what they watch, nor am I attempting to project any pretentious superiority. I just think big TVs are tacky. I find then to be overkill and completely unnecessary.
As for what your 19" TV tells us about your insecurities, I have no idea. I doubt anyone cares. But your need to attach other pop-psychology motives to people who dislike big TVs, does hint at some issues.

Below are three rooms with undeniably large TVs.
None strike me as tasteless, unsophisticated, or "tacky"; despite the big TVs.

"Excellent, sir. Lobster stuffed with tacos."
By which I mean, of course, that stacking your giant TV above your small fireplace doesn't make either one look better.
http://www.snpp.com/episodes/5F12

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ikR1H3mh90

It's a rectangle above a rectangle
Nothing bothers me about these, except maybe the height of the third (in which case my criticism would be "too high", not "too tacky").
Would you find fault if the TV were instead a painting ("...stacking your giant painting above your small fireplace doesn't make either one look better.)?
And: which is the lobster, which is the taco?

Wow.
I would be kicked seeing a dvd of an aquarium full of nervous fish playing on a flat screen above a blazing fireplace. Way deck.

i am the lobster....
you can be the taco...i just want a tv that is flat...my tube tv is a beast and is taking up just too much floor space...that said, to each their own, dig it or dont....ive seen good points on all sides and it seems hardly worth becoming petty over...and that is in no way poking at anyone..

Lobster tacos....
Delicious.

Moderate
I'm going to (attempt) to bridge the middle here and say that I do not completely eschew television, nor do I worship the damn thing.
I don't watch any reality TV other than Antiques Roadshow, nor do I plod through PBS' MasterPiece Classics.
My screen size is 23" - not small enough to be considered discreet, not large enough to be considered overscaled.
The 2 lounge chairs, sofa, and two side chairs are arranged in such a way as to facilitate both conversation AND viewing since we entertain guests in both formal and casual settings. (The Eames' swivel allows both conversation and tv watching)
And finally the livingroom, diningroom and guest room all feature a comfortable sitting chair with a lamp and close proximity to bookshelves should Heath ever visit.