Television Without Pity: 752 Things We Love to Hate (and Hate to Love) about TV

Television Without Pity, for those who haven't heard of it, or still believe in the concept of pity, is an Interblag site where ridiculously articulate people recap TV shows so you don't have to watch them. Or so that you can read the recaps and be more thoroughly prepared than any network's "previously seen on" clip could possibly make you. Well, except possibly UPN's before the last two or three episodes of Veronica Mars. Seriously, I microwaved popcorn at the start of one of those, and it was done before they got to covering mid-season. But I digress. This book is the brain-child of Tara Ariano and Sarah D. Bunting, better known to TWoPers as Wing Chun and Sars. It's essentially an encyclopedia of what they think you ought to know about TV's greatest shows, cliches, actors and catchphrases, as well as its most mediocre shows, cliches, actors and catchphrases. It is opinionated, but hardly ever crosses the line between snarky and just plain mean, and when it does so, it's well deserved. Such as when they talk about the beast that is Horatio Caine. The book is an attractive volume, about the size of a typical mass market paperback though considerably wider. The layout and design are crisp and simple and the entries are organized simply; you'll find actors under their last name, characters by their first name, and other entries by the second-most important word. For example, if you want to know what they think of cliches relating to the physically challenged, don't look up "cliches," look up "physically challenged" to find "physicallly challenged, cliches associated with." None of the entries goes for more than a page or so, and they aren't long pages, so it can either be read page-by-page or as you have time for it. I have to say, as much as I love the writing and appreciate the depth of material and all that, it's the illustrations that really make this book. Lovingly rendered pencil drawings of actors and famous set-pieces decorate every third or fourth page. All in all, a worthy and entertaining read from two of TV's most-loved outsiders. Highly recommended for anyone who watches TV. Oh, heck, even if you and the missus are still sock-hopping to old Bandstand standards on the Victrola, you'll still find it funny.

I bought this book a few weeks ago, and brought it with me for something to read on a recent weekend trip to Manhattan, thinking I'd read it on the train because it would be easy to pick up and put down. I was fifty percent right. Very easy to pick up, very enjoyable to read, and even when I don't agree with the authors, the writing is so entertaining that it is addictive. Here's the problem: you can't put it down. Not only because you want to see what they say about the next person or show, either. You literally cannot put it down, because if you do, it disappears. Your friends shamelessly abscond with it, and you may find them an hour later, hiding in the bathroom laughing until tears come. That's usually how you find the book, actually. You stand there, very quietly until you hear someone snickering or chuckling or laughing out loud, and then you collar the culprit and beg for your book back. I heartily recommend this book. But don't put it down. I'm just saying.

I'm a long-time fan of Television Without Pity - it's essential web-reading in my book. So buying this book was a no-brainer for me. I love the encylopedia format complete with what are truly the most important entries for any television addict - things like notorius "show killers," signs that you're watching a bad sitcom, and the answer to one question that's bugged the hell out of me for years: how to tell apart twin "actors" Jeremy and Jason London. And, hey, any book that has entries for "Jack Bristow" and "Jem & the Holograms" on facing pages is a must-read for me!

I've been a member of the site Television Without Pity for a long time. I used to be an active forum poster --- these days, I mainly just lurk. But the site is still as good as ever and this book won't fail to delight readers of the site or television fanatics in general. Ariano and Bunting (Wing Chun and Sars) have laid out "Television Without Pity: 752 Things We Love to Hate (And Hate to Love) About TV" rather like a traditional reference book. So you'll find entries such as "Brady Bunch, Musical Stylings Of" and "Police Videos, Shows Reliant Upon." This book can easily be read cover-to-cover, or depending on your tastes, you can start by looking up some of your favorite shows and people and reading what it has to say about them. This book covers a wide range of material and there's no doubt there'll be stuff in there you probably won't be interested in, or just plain disagree with. For example, the book skims over "Star Trek: Voyager" as barely worth mentioning, but it's my personal favorite "Trek." And the authors also comment that they don't really mind the split-screening of closing-creidts on programs because people can look that stuff up on the Internet. Well, sorry, but somebody has to *enter* that stuff on the Internet first and for those doing that, those splits are a real pain. But never mind that, though, within seconds, you'll soon be finding something to laugh at and that you can totally identify with. For example, the hilarious description of local television news broadcasts "News, Crappy Local --- ...something about local unions, about which nobody cares... and then the weather report (always overhyped, always inaccurate)" or something surprisingly touching about "Reading Rainbow ... just really, really cute." "Televisin Without Pity" is no doubt a book you'll be coming back to often. And given how large this medium is, if this book sells really well, there's certainly more than enough material for something like "Television Without Pity 2 The Sequel: 1000 More Things..."

Slight but very funny and opinionated encyclopedia-style listing of TV obsessions we all hate to admit we're very familiar with. Stuff like: "Good comedians who star in bad sitcoms"; why Lucille Ball is not funny; an appreciation of Schneider, building super from "One Day at a Time"; analysis of talents displayed by Tyra Bank's as host of "America's Next Top Model"; discussion of whether it matters that David Boreanez, playing a vampire on "Angel", became increasingly pudgy and tan over the course of the series. I laughed a lot.