Customer Reviews

Prime Times: Writers on Their Favorite TV Shows

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Twenty-three writers write about their favorite TV shows or shows that stick in their minds for some reason. Nick Hornby, a British writer, writes about West Wing, a show about a fictional president, but can't imagine Americans enjoying an English show about a fictional prime minister. I guess he'd be surprised at the much-viewed collection of Yes, Prime Minister videos at our house.

Alan Lightman remembers three episodes of Twilight Zone that scared him, his brothers, and the housekeeper silly. After forty years he gets details of the shows wrong (the Chinese restaurant was really a diner, and the plastic surgery patient was a woman rather than a man, as he remembers), but it doesn't matter. The time and the memories are important, not the TV show.

Mark Leyner writes an unlikely, but funny essay about a South Korean academic he encounters who suspects that everything that has happened in the world since 1968 is a figment of Steve McGarrett's imagination.

As a former teen who loved Big Valley, I enjoyed reading Jayne Anne Phillips's memories of the strong character played by Barbara Stanwyck and that hunky Heath and the handsome, but apparently celibate older brother (played by Richard Long) who lived part time in San Francisco. "Hm," Phillips muses.

MST3K, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Davey and Goliath, Secret Agent (formerly Danger Man), The Dick Van Dyke Show, Star Trek, even Survivor all get analyzed, remembered, and misremembered.

An especially original essay has Lan Samantha Chang watching Gilligan's Island shortly after her family has immigrated to Wisconsin from China. She remembers identifying with the castaways and decades later when she sees the show again, understands the show on a completely different level.

Great for browsing and skimming, Prime Times is a lot of fun. Also recommended is Gilligan Unbound, an unexpected analysis of Gilligan's Island, the Simpsons, Star Trek, and The X-Files by a professor who watches TV without shutting down his brain.

A variety of elitist writers and academics slam the television medium under the guise of writing "on their favorite TV shows." Don't believe the sub-title of this book--many of the essays pick apart famous shows and tell readers why they should be skeptical of the medium.

The problem is in who was selected to write the chapters--some famous fiction writers who think their clever prose raises the validity of their criticism. Others are college teachers with noses in the air, pretending to like the medium but using their writings to condemn it.

One must note that the female writers in general are snottiest when approaching the subject. English teacher Phyllis Rose's piece on Survivor is a complete waste of time and Susan Cheever's supposed homage to Father Knows Best ends up being wrong in every way, using the cliched criticisms about the mistreatment of women in the 50s (she instead brags about watching The Simpsons with her children today!).

It is nice to see some appreciate for Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke, but much of what's in this book is worth skipping. People who know little about the medium provide commentary based on their stereotyped memories rather than on accurate images.

One message comes through loud and clear from most of the writers--you can't believe what you see on TV. Well, after reading this book it's obvious that when it comes to television criticism you can't believe what you read.

A 2007 summer reading list mini review.

Every summer my family turns our TV off and keeps it off until September. This gives us more opportunities to bond as a family. We go for walks, we go to ballgames. We go fishing, swimming, play tennis and we read lots of books. Usually, I am in the right spirit for this annual event, but I took to it slowly this year. Which is why I was online the 2nd evening ordering TV programs on DVD from our library to arrive at the beginning of September. While surfing for volumes, I came across this book and placed a hold on it.

When it arrived, the introductory story of the painter who went on a retreat to paint nature and ended up painting TV sets struck a chord with me. This was because it was exactly what I did. Instead of watching television, I was reading television. I quickly got into this amazing book. I was especially struck on how much I enjoyed the essays praising programs I don't especially care for. Reminiscences about television seem to be steeped in biography rather than criticism. I especially was moved by Lan Samantha Chang's finding solace in Gilligan's Island in light of her parents being real life castaways from mainland China.

I wonder if the TV guide will count for summer reading.

Writers who are insightful and entertaining elsewhere, like Virginia Heffernan and Nick Hornsby, are dull and pointless here. Susan Cheever gives us yet another picture of her famous father as a stuffy suburban drunk. Nora Ephron likes Mary Tyler Moore because it made her feel better about being a single woman. So what? "Why did you like Gilligan's Island" is not an inherently interesting question- quite the opposite. It would take real talent to make something nourishing out of these bones. And, although the resumes of these writers indicated that the necessary talent had been assembled, the product demonstrated otherwise