Kissing Bill O'Reilly, Roasting Miss Piggy: 100 Things to Love and Hate About TV

Ken Tucker

Macmillan, 2005 - Performing Arts - 254 pages

According to Ken Tucker, television is where the mass culture action really is. It's where the weasel goes pop. But for such a fluid, of-the-moment, democratic yet "cool" medium, a strangling accretion of false pieties, half-remembered history, and misplaced nostalgia has grown up around it--the prose equivalent of choking vines. In this book, Ken Tucker shares his zealous opinions about the best and worst of television, past and present

Everyone has firm beliefs about what he loves and hates about TV. If TV fans think the high point of televised political wit was M*A*S*H, or that Johnny Carson was the true king of late-night, Ken Tucker does his damnedest to convince them that they've been hoodwinked, duped by pixilated mists of memory and bad TV criticism.

His dazzling, provocative, and entertaining pieces include LOVES: James Garner as TV's Cary Grant, Pamela Anderson's breasts, David Brinkley--the only anchor who understood that being an anchor was a hollow ego-trip, Heather Locklear as the ultimate TV Personality, Bill O'Reilly--why the biggest asshole on TV is a great TV personality. And from his HATE lists: "The Sopranos" as The Great Saga That Sags, Miss Peggy as media star, Bob Newhart: Human Prozac, Worst Mothers on TV, Star Trek-Sci-Fi suckiness decked out as utopian idealism.

His perception and passion about this much maligned medium gives the lie to passive cliché's like "vegging out in front of the boob tube." This book is the TV version of Michael Moore's Stupid White Men or Bill O'Reilly's The No-Spin Zone.

Contents

• Edie Falco: 1
• David E Kelley: 3
• Jennifer Garners wig: 6
• Star Trek: 8
• Ricky Nelson: 9
• Seinfeld theme music: 11
• David Caruso: 13
• Ed AsnerLou Grant: 15
• MTVs Real World: 17
• MTVs music videos: 19
• NewsRadio: 22
• The Kids in the Hall: 24
• Cops: 26
• BaldMacho Kojak and The Shield: 27
• Full HouseTGIF shows: 31
• The Brady Bunch: 35
• CSPAN: 38
• Sunday morning news shows: 40
• Aaron Spelling shows: 42
• Reality TV: 44
• Abbott Costello: 47
• Rowan Martins LaughIn: 48
• Andy Rooney: 52
• Viewers for Quality Television: 54
• James Garner: 57
• Paris Hilton and The Simple Life: 60
• Homicide Life on the Street: 62
• William and Robert Conrad: 64
• Buffalo Bill: 66
• MASH: 68
• Bill OReilly: 71
• Geraldo Rivera: 73
• Michael Manns copshow trilogy: 75
• MadeforTV movies: 77
• Marg Helgenberger: 81
• John Larroquette: 83
• MacGyver: 85
• Home makeover shows: 87
• Simon Cowell: 90
• American Idol: 91
• Best mothers: 95
• Worst mothers: 100
• Best fathers: 107
• Worst fathers: 112
• Andy Griffith ShowThe Honeymooners: 118
• Barney Miller: 119
• David Duchovny: 122
• Six Feet Under: 124
• Freaks Geeks: 127
• The Price Is Right: 129
• Informercials: 131
• The Tonight Show: 133
• Roseanne: 139
• The Smothers Brothers: 141
• David Brinkley: 144
• Edward R Murrow: 145
• Alec Baldwin in Knots Landing: 148
• Vincent DOnofrio on Law Order Criminal Intent: 150
• The Joy of Painting: 153
• Michael ODonoghue SNL: 156
• Jack Benny: 158
• The Golden Age of Drama: 160
• Ramona: 164
• TV animals: 166
• The Point: 169
• A Charlie Brown Christmas: 170
• Profit and Vengeance Unlimited: 173
• Bochco and the story arc: 176
• Richard Hatch: 179
• Queer EyeAs Folk: 181
• Johnny Rotten on American BandstandTom Snyder: 184
• Howard Stern on TV: 185
• Homer Simpson: 188
• Mystery Science TheaterThe Family Guy: 190
• PeeWee Herman: 193
• The FCC: 195
• Silk Stalkings: 198
• West Wing: 200
• Paul Lynde: 203
• Miss Piggy: 205
• Pardon the Interruption: 207
• PBS: 208
• Lisa Bonet on The Cosby Show: 212
• Tackling Issues: 213
• William H Macy on SportsNight: 216
• The women of Law Order: 217
• Laverne Shirley: 221
• Whoopi: 223
• The Best Twilight Zones: 226
• The Worst Twilight Zones: 227
• Twin Peaks: 229
• Final episodes: 231
• Welcome Back Kotter: 235
• Chuck Barris: 236
• The Waltons: 240
• Little House on the Prairie: 243
• Batman: 245
• Nostalgia: 248
• Pamela Andersons breasts: 251
• Sex on TV: 252

About the author

Ken Tucker is the pop culture critic for New York Magazine and formerly Entertainment Weekly's Critic-At-Large, where he won two National Magazine Awards. He also does weekly reviews on NPR's "Fresh Air with Terry Gross." His reviews have been published in The New York Times, Esquire, Rolling Stone, Vogue, and the Los Angeles Times, among others. The winner of the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards for 2003 and 2004, he was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism for his work at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He lives in Berwyn, Pennsylvania.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Kissing Bill O'Reilly, Roasting Miss Piggy: 100 Things to Love and Hate About TV
• Author: Ken Tucker
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Macmillan, 2005
• ISBN: 031233057X, 9780312330576
• Length: 254 pages
• Subjects: Performing Arts / Television / General; Performing Arts / Television / Guides & Reviews; Performing Arts / Television / History & Criticism