Glued to the set

the long version

In this entertaining and informative book, journalist and political commentator Steven Stark takes us on a guided tour of the tube, and charts with unique wit and intelligence how America came of age, so to speak, in a box - watching everything from I Love Lucy, All in the Family, The Brady Bunch, and Saturday Night Live, to the CBS Evening News, Roots, MTV, and ER. Glued to the set asks the simple question - What has TV done to us? - and answers it with startling revelations about the power of its sixty most important shows and events. From Beaver to Roseanne, from Ed Sullivan to Oprah, from the blanket coverage of the early space program to the hearings for Watergate and the Clarence Thomas nomination, television has done more than simply record history and echo our culture. It has made us who we are, and Steven Stark has managed to catch in bright focus this hilarious, strange, and thrilling image of ourselves.