The effect is referred to as "aliasing" (Before I get scores of comments talking about aliasing being a graphics term, pick up a book on digital sampling and you'll see that this is the correct term)
Aliasing occurs when a sampling rate (such as the TV or film camera that's recording) is trying to capture something of a higher or similar frequency. The minimum recommended sampling rate for frequencies is greater than twice the highest frequency.
So some samples would be:
Audio, approximate highest a human can hear is about 22kHz. The best sampling rate is therefore >44kHz (This is why you see 44.1kHz so prevalent in digital audio programs).
Standard NTSC television 30 frames per second, Sampling should be >60fps
Film = 24fps, best sampling rate should be >48fps
The assertion about LCDs not having a refresh rate is not entirely correct. Most LCDs use a matrix-type set-up to update the screen. Dual-scan LCD's have a similar "refresh" to a regular monitor. The flickering is not as noticeable, however, because the materials that are used have a better persistance of vision (stay illuminated longer) than standard monitor or TV phosphers. However, they are not actual switch type transistors, they are more like capacitors that need refreshing.
Active Matrix (sometimes also called TFT or Thin Film Transistor) screens use a transistor that acts as a switch to "turn on" the colors on the screen. Depending on the method of manufacture, they may use 3 or more transistors per pixel.
You may notice also that monitors/TV's tend to flicker more under flourescent light than incandescent. When monitors are set to lower refresh rates, this is very noticeable.
<IMG SRC="http://cwjr.home.infi.net/wilee.jpg">