Glued to the Set

Do you love TV? Do you want a way to silence those poor souls who chastise you for spending too many hours in front of the tube? Glued to the Set is what you've been looking for. NPR commentator, cultural critic, and unapologetic TV-watcher Steven Stark explores six decades of television to find the shows and the events that prove how important this medium has been in the shaping of modern American culture. From Milton Berle's invention of TV-comedy to "ER and the fight for health-care reform," Stark engages in serious, thoroughly researched analysis while occasionally moving his tongue towards his cheek.

He examines the subversive pleasures of The Monkees, and the ways in which sitcoms both reflect and create ideas about family. The book's serious premise is kept afloat by Stark's lively prose, and this allows his points to hit home with a force that would be lost in a more academic arena. After reading Glued to the Set, America's Funniest Home Videos will never seem the same again: "As the theme song says: 'America, America, this is you.'" --Simon Leake