A TV Guide to Life: How I Learned Everything I Needed to Know From Watching Television by Jeff Alexander
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(Paperback)
- Pub. Date: July 2008
- 272pp
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Product Details
- Pub. Date: July 2008
- Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
- Format: Paperback, 272pp
- ISBN-13: 9780425221556
- ISBN: 0425221555
Synopsis
A couch potato’s book of wisdom— 100% commercial free!
Some say that entire generations of Americans are being raised by the television…like that’s a bad thing. Not so, says author Jeff Alexander, long-time television writer, advocate of education by television, and recapper for the popular website Television Without Pity. Here, he offers the ultimate in life lessons as seen on TV. Topics include:
• Saved by the Bell: School on TV
• Somebody Save Me: Super Powers and Magic Spells
• Tell Me Why I Love You Like I Do: Relationships on TV
• Making A Living: The Workplace
• And more
With a smart, snarky style, Alexander guides readers through important lessons gleaned from years of TV reviewing (now in convenient book form!), freeing up a whole new generation to learn other things, like how to cure cancer or solve world hunger…or anything more useful than watching TV (Author’s note: Just joking… there is no such thing).
Publishers Weekly
Alexander, a writer for notoriously acrid web site Television Without Pity, takes on the common wisdom that television rots your brains by examining the wealth of knowledge he's gained through his lifelong pursuit of television viewing. Sly, wordy and tongue-in-cheek, Alexander offers commentary, insight and information that straddle the line between impassioned viewer and cagey insider. Limiting himself to pure entertainment (no public or educational television here), Alexander distills the influence that scripted dramas and comedies, past and present, have on collective views of school, life, love, jobs, medicine, cops, friends, superpowers and death. While he does raise valid, and funny, points while berating television's glamorous, unrealistic portrayals of doctors, lawyers, cops and a particular group of city-dwelling friends, it's always evident that he's made his living dissecting television-something that may alienate the masses who watch television simply to be entertained, not to fuss over the differences between NBC's fictionalized portrayal on 30 Rock and Studio 60. On the other hand, fellow television writers, industry insiders, critics and true media junkies should find some barbed laughs.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Biography
Jeff Alexander writes for his own award-winning personal blog site, and was a staff writer for A Prairie Home Companion.
More About the AuthorCustomer Reviews
A TV Guide to Life: How I Learned Everything I Needed to Know From Watching Televisionby Anonymous
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July 02, 2008: As a long-time reader of Mr. Alexander's on Television Without Pity, I expected to enjoy his book and his snarky take on television. I didn't realize that the book would be so much fun while still being informative. I enjoyed his ability to poke fun at TV without sounding like he is better than it, and I liked seeing aspects of TV that I had never realized, like the unlikely friendships that only exist on TV, or the way all sitcom homes look the same. A quick and amusing read.
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