Back in the early to mid sixties, you could buy a plastic screen you that you’d put over the picture tube of your black and white TV that diffracted (I think that’s the term) the picture to produce colors.
Sounds like something an early hacker would do :D
I haven't heard of that one, but I remember a couple people having screen magnifiers that would sit in front of the television so they could see it. I did a quick search and I think they are called Fresnel lenses.