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T.V. OR NOT T.V.

Program 06-06-04-B	Listen!

It turns out that television may not be quite the "boob tube" and "the idiot box" that we thought it was. It seems that watching TV can actually make you smarter... by posing new cognitive challenges for your brain to solve. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll explore the cerebral side of TV. Also, the smart, subversive TV sketch comedy of "The Kids in the Hall." And a writer for "Frasier" talks about his latest novel.

SEGMENT 1:

Steven Johnson is the author of "Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actualy Making Us Smarter." He tells Anne Strainchamps how television storytelling has become more sophisticated with mutiple plots lines extending over several episodes, and says the audience's tolerance for ambiguity has increased greatly.

SEGMENT 2:

Joe Keenan was a writer-producer for "Frasier." He's also a novelist. He reads from his latest - "My Lucky Star" - and talks about the story with Steve Paulson. Also, Kathleen Fitzpatrick teaches English and Media Studies at Pomona College in Claremont, California. Her book is "The Anxiety of Obsolescence: The American Novel in the Age of Television." Fitzpatrick and Jim Fleming talk about television in the novels of writers Don DeLillo and Thomas Pynchon.

SEGMENT 3:

Dave Foley hosts "Celebrity Poker Showdown" but first rose to fame as one of The Kids in the Hall, a Canadian sketch comedy troupe. He reminisces about The Kids with fellow Canadian TTBOOK producer Doug Gordon, and we hear plenty of clips.

CD copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 06-06-04-A.

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Books:

• Steven Johnson, Everything Bad Is Good For You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter (Riverhead Books)
• Joe Keenan, My Lucky Star: A Novel (Little, Brown)
• Kathleen Fitzpatrick, The Anxiety of Obsolescence: The American Novel in the Age of Television (Vanderbilt University Press)

Websites:

• Steven Johnson
  http://www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/
• Excerpt from Joe Keenan's novel, "My Lucky Star"
  http://tinyurl.com/qu4ku
• Kathleen Fitzpatrick
  http://www.anxietyofobsolescence.com/
  http://www.dci.pomona.edu/~kfitzpatrick/
• Dave Foley/The Kids in the Hall
  http://store.kidsinthehallondvd.com/
  http://www.kithfan.org/

Clips used in Dave Foley/"The Kids in the Hall"

• "Knife Sharpener (Axe Murderer)"
  from "The Kids in the Hall: Complete Season 4"
  DVD box set (A&E Home Video)
• "The King (Dean & Lex)"
  from "The Kids in the Hall: Complete Season 3"
  DVD box set (A&E Home Video)
• "Citizen Kane"
  from "The Kids in the Hall: Complete Season 1"
  DVD box set (A&E Home Video)
• "Would You Do An Alien?"
  from "The Kids in the Hall: Complete Season 4"
  DVD box set (A&E Home Video)
  http://store.kidsinthehallondvd.com/
  http://www.newvideo.com/productdetail.html?productid=NV-AAE-74520
  http://www.newvideo.com/productdetail.html?productid=NV-AAE-71978
  http://www.newvideo.com/productdetail.html?productid=NV-AAE-71392
  http://www.newvideo.com/productdetail.html?productid=NV-AAE-71203
  http://www.newvideo.com/aae.html

Music:

• "Main Title"/Composed by J.J. Abrams
  from the CD, "Lost: Original Television Soundtrack"
  Music Composed by Michael Giacchino
  (Varese Sarabande)
  http://www.varesesarabande.com/details.asp?pid=302%2D066%2D721%2D2
  http://www.varesesarabande.com/
• "Win One For The Reaper"
  from the CD, "Lost: Original Television Soundtrack"
  Music Composed by Michael Giacchino (Varese Sarabande)
  http://www.varesesarabande.com/details.asp?pid=302%2D066%2D721%2D2 http://www.varesesarabande.com/
• "Hooray for Hollywood (Cha-Cha)"/Don Swan & His Orchestra
  from the CD, "Ultra-Lounge, Volume 2: Mambo Fever" (Capitol)
  http://www.ultralounge.com/
• "I've Got A Plane to Catch"
  from the CD, "Lost: Original Television Soundtrack"
  Music Composed by Michael Giacchino (Varese Sarabande)
  http://www.varesesarabande.com/details.asp?pid=302%2D066%2D721%2D2
  http://www.varesesarabande.com/
• "Having An Average Weekend (Theme from The Kids in the Hall
  TV Show)"/Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet
  from the CD, "Savvy Show Stoppers" (Cargo Records)
  http://www.cargomusic.com/home2.html
  http://shadowy.brainiac.com/

Distribution dates:

week of 09/23/2007 - hour 2 week of 06/04/2006 - hour 2

Listen!

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Questions and comments can be addressed to: flemingj@wpr.org

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