Customer Reviews

Down the Tube: My Week in TV Hell

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The premise of this book is fascinating: what happens to a man when he does nothing but watch television over a two-week period? I expected a fun narrative about how the author spun out, going deeper and deeper into his TV hell. Instead, the author gives a play-by-play, often at 10-minute intervals, of what he watched and what he thought of the show of the moment, which takes us inside his world but does not comment on it. The book could have been titled "Reports from the TV Front: An Examination of What's on TV at This Very Moment." This book would have been far better if Brownstein had sat back after compiling his diary and had written a more general description of what happened to him on his journey, rather than what was on the tube (because who really cares?). The diary entries would have worked best as add-on elements rather than as the core of the narrative.

This book is a book we all think we could write. Hey, it's only TV! However, Brownstein is very droll. He is everyman but more observant--and funny.

I am reminded of the old chestnut, "Tragedy is easy, comedy is hard". Dave Barry is funny 80% of the time and Bill Brownstein is funny 85% of the time. Nobody is 100%. Scott Adams' cartoons are 90+% funny but his prose is about 55%. I consider Brownstein to be a Dave Barry for the guy who went to college and doesn't move his lips when he reads.

I am a fan of his work. I'll buy anything he writes. If you like Montreal, read his columns in the Montreal Gazette.