This year's official TV-Turnoff Week runs from April 25 to May 2. Sponsored by a nonprofit organization called TV-Turnoff Network and supported, according to the group's website (www.tvturnoff.org), by more than 65 national organizations, including the American Medical Association and the National Education Association, TV-Turnoff Week has been going since 1994. It's covered not only in alternative media but also nationally in newspapers, magazines and even on TV. The organization even quotes politicians and literary figures in support of turning off your TV—not only for a week, but for good.
All this self-righteousness drives me crazy. The assumption is that TV is inherently bad, and the only solution to the evils of TV (which do exist) is to turn it off entirely. But there are a wealth of intelligent, enriching and challenging programs on TV, just as worthwhile as the best books and movies. Here are 10 good reasons to leave your TV on this week.
1. Veronica Mars (UPN, Tuesdays, 9 p.m.). Hands down the best show on network TV, Veronica Mars is dark, complex and incredibly well-written. Following a teenage PI (the excellent Kristen Bell) as she investigates weekly crimes, as well as the larger mystery of who killed her best friend, this is the smartest teen drama to come along since Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's also got a better mystery than wildly popular dramas Lost or Desperate Housewives, and best of all, promises a solution by season's end.
2. The first 10 minutes of The Daily Show (Comedy Central, weeknights, 11 p.m.). Jon Stewart's fake newscast has been justly praised by nearly every highbrow, middlebrow and lowbrow media outlet in the country, but it's really just the opening segment that's worth all the hype. Stewart and his faux correspondents skewer the day's news with such hilarity and precision that you won't even realize you're learning more about current events than you would watching CNN. The taped segments and interviews are hit-and-miss; the full-on satire is where the show always succeeds.
3. Ellen Degeneres. The comedian, whose coming-out overshadowed her '90s sitcom (which was pretty middling, anyway) has found her niche as a talk-show host, and her daytime chatfest (airing locally at 3 p.m. weekdays on KLAS-TV Channel 8) is easily as good as anything in late night. Degeneres' madcap enthusiasm, warm humor and respect for her audience might make her the next Rosie O'Donnell, but she's just as sarcastic and absurdist as David Letterman or Conan O'Brien. Her show is the best thing in daytime syndication.
4. The chemistry of James Spader and William Shatner on Boston Legal (ABC, sadly on hiatus until fall). David E. Kelley's latest legal drama doesn't break new ground in the courtroom, but watching Spader and Shatner as lawyers Alan Shore and Denny Crane is like taking a master class in acting every week. No other show captures the nuances and emotions of getting older as BL, and in a world of youth-obsessed programming, it's refreshing to see the middle-aged Spader and senior Shatner playing such rich, involving characters.
5. C-SPAN's Book TV (C-SPAN2, weekends). The proponents of TV-Turnoff Week probably consider TV and books mutually exclusive, but C-SPAN's long-running series highlighting lectures, discussions and festivals related to books and authors is proof the two can enrich and enhance one another. Especially living in a town where literary events are few and far between, Book TV is a fascinating, unadulterated look into literary minds great and small.
6. Tim Daly on Eyes (ABC, Wednesdays, 10 p.m.). Nearly everything about this criminally under-promoted show is great, but Tim Daly as private investigator Harlan Judd is the main reason to tune in every week. Who would have guessed that the milquetoast guy from Wings could be this bitingly funny and nasty? Daly takes his sharply written lines and makes them zing, moving effortlessly from light comedy to dark drama, carrying the weight of the show's delicate tonal balance.
7. Adult Swim (Cartoon Network, nightly, 11 p.m.). Cartoon Network made a smart move programming a block of animation for adults late at night, tapping into heretofore unexplored reserves of bored insomniacs raised on Scooby-Doo who were looking for something a little more offbeat and risqué in their cartoons. With the tone set by the brilliantly absurdist pseudo-talk show, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Adult Swim has perhaps become a little too obsessed with bizarre non sequiturs. But it's essentially the only place to catch groundbreaking animation on TV, plus repeats of Matt Groening's underappreciated Futurama, and coming soon, an animated version of Aaron McGruder's political comic strip, The Boondocks.
8. Turner Classic Movies. While NBC Universal has turned Bravo into the network of catty reality shows, and AMC considers any movie with actors a "classic," TCM remains a bastion of pure classic cinema, showing films uncut and without commercials, and delving deeply into the richness of movie history. You can catch well-known staples like Citizen Kane, but you're more likely to see obscure and forgotten films you've never heard of, or witness a heartfelt tribute to a great designer of opening titles. For people who love movies, there's no better channel on television.
9. Kim Possible (Disney, daily, 5:30 p.m.). There are a plethora of tween shows on Disney and Nickelodeon, all coveting the crucial preteen market of mostly girls who love Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan. Unlike most, Kim Possible presents a smart, dedicated heroine who doesn't condescend to her viewers, has a strong but not saccharine relationship with her parents, is well-adjusted and even popular at school, but still has the same insecurities other adolescents face. Also, she kicks ass as a super-spy, the animation is kinetic and distinctive, and the humor works for adults without being crass.
10. Watching TV as a subversive act. Now more than ever, the government is intent on regulating what you see and how you see it. Rather than turning your TV off or turning it to sanitized, bland programming, by watching intelligent, risky, high-quality shows, you send a message that TV watchers are just as dedicated and passionate about the medium as those who stand up for banned books and movies. Don't turn off your TV this week—turn it to something worth watching.