Joel Stein Supports Me

April 23, 2002

I've been talking about TV Turn-Off week and how I think it sucks lately, and I've found a man who supports me. Joel Stein, from Time. He wrote a column in this week's issue about TV Turn-Off and has some choice quotes.

SATURDAY, DAY 1: I have already listened to every disk I own, including both Sun Ra records. Eventually it gets so bad that I go to a play. It's like watching a TV show from one camera angle. At 10 p.m. I stretch out with a book. By page 13, I am face down in my pillow, drooling, the book still in my extended hand. I conclude that reading uses such a huge part of the brain that it exhausts me immediately. Either that or it's boring as hell.

...

After a week, I'm not sure what the TV-Turnoff people are trying to prove. It's not like reading is so great. The Top 10 shows are better written than the best-selling books. Fighting the most popular storytelling medium is not only a losing battle and horribly snobbish but unsocial too. The Osbournes and Survivor bring us together and define us as a culture. Hey, better that than Nora Roberts.

note: Although reading can be boring as hell, that is not my personal point. You should cut out your frivolous tv, reading, internet, anything and save the good stuff. Point made, I hope.

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