What you can plug your laptop in to depends on what ports are on the back. There'll be a VGA port for standard monitors, but if you had another monitor handy, or a TV with a VGA port (like mine ), that would be too easy.
So, find out which video output ports are on the laptop, and what video input ports are on the TV (and VCR, if you have one). Then it's a matter of getting the right cable.
For example, can you see
S-Video ports? or Composite Video (a yellow
RCA connector)?
PS: if you just plug the cable in, you might not see anything until you hit a key combination on the laptop, such as Fn+F4 - look for video icons on your function keys.