Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Tunes into TV

Uncle John's Facts and Trivia

by Bathroom Readers' Institute

What does Homer Simpson call “friend…mother…secret lover?” Television, you meathead! Here comes your wacky neighbor Uncle John to present TV the way only he can. From test patterns to Top Chef , from My Three Sons to Mad Men , as well as TV news, advertising, scandals, sitcoms, dramas, reality shows, and yadda yadda yadda, Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Tunes into TV is “dy-no-mite!” Read about…

Gilligan’s seven deadly sins
The inside story of TV’s first commercial
What goes on behind the scenes of Jeopardy !
The most incredibly bizarre shows from around the world
Why Gene Roddenberry tried to beam the original Star Trek cast into space
What reality show producers don’t want you to know
How the King of Late Night crushed his competition
What really went down on the island of LOST
Unexpected sitcom fatalities
TV’s greatest chimps
And much, much more!

Genres: Nonfiction, Trivia, Humor, Tv, Pop Culture, History

504 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2011

About the author

The Bathroom Reader's Institute UJBR boasts more than 12 million books in print and a membership base topping 40,000 loyal readers . . .

Reviews

[TrumanCoyote · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually, I probably would've given this one the full 5-star enchilada, but for its marked tendency to lapse into modern-day fussbudgety wussiness. One example comes to mind (though by no means the most prominent one): "First came the talent portion: girls would sing a song, perform a dramatic recital, or play an instrument. Next, though completely unrelated to the talent portion, the audience would guess which girl had had her hair done professionally and which had used a Toni Home Permanent kit." I really didn't need the inclusion of that "completely unrelated" aside; and the description would have been much funnier had the writer(s) managed to overcome their Common Scold tendencies long enough to omit it. Oh yes, and I also have to say that I encountered a few (or maybe more than a few) errors of fact amongst those copious pages...

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

My biggest problem with the Bathroom Reader books is that I can't just read them in the prescribed place and end up pushing right through them. But I thoroughly enjoyed this book, particularly the sections that discuss bizarre shows that had very short runs. I didn't so much like some of the longer features. As much as I enjoyed "Lost" while it was on, the summary of the series was pretty much a waste of space. And as with other books in this series, I think the BRI has a tendency to place the telling of a good story above the need to be factual. But that's okay. This isn't exactly supposed to be a scholarly work. A very fun read for longtime TV viewers with eclectic tastes.

[Lonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 years worth of reading a page or two a day. Great trivial read about television. Some fantastic, some boring, and some just blah. Great book for TV fans

[Bob Cantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some great stuff on TV. The origins of the networks were one of the interesting things to be found in this book along with trivia about them. If you like TV then this is one for your book shelf.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love these books. I didn't like this one as much as others because I prefer mixed stuff and this was, obviously, all about tv.

[susan akalan]

Very interesting trivia.

[Raven Griffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never new this much about TV before!! Informative, humorous, and historic. Having always been a fan of the Bathroom Reader Institute this book is a wonderful read.

[Angela Lamson · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as Uncle John books go, this was a good one. I was not excited about the way it was presented on the Kindle platform. There were many misspellings throughout the book.

[Goosehead · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is like The Bible to me

[David Caldwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you aren't familiar with the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series, they are collections of trivia packaged into small reading segments that are perfect for a bathroom visit. Actually, there are segments that are designed for short, medium, and long visits. A few segments are broken into multiple bathroom sessions.

This time, all of the trivia is geared towards TV. There are bits about shows, actors, TV networks, and other bits of the television industry. Some of the information I already knew. Others were of limited interest to me. I did find this on a bargain book table, so the book is already dated.The quizzes are difficult to work in the bathroom (lacking paper and pencil). The final negative is a problem that occurs in most larger volumes of trivia. The tendency is to read the parts that interest you the most. But that ends up causing you to have a harder time finding the bits that you haven't read. I finally just gave up and started reading all of it in order(and just skipping the bits I had already read).

Those were the negatives. While there are relatively few positives, they are fairly important. There are some very interesting bits of trivia. I do enjoy television trivia for the most part. The other is that Uncle John's Bathroom Readers have figured out what they are doing, Their segments are the right length for the purpose. So it is showing its age and can be hard to find a segment that you want to read (and haven't read before), but it is entertaining for couch potatoes like me.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uncle John's Tunes Into TV! Indeed! Lots of trivia, facts and detritus from the boob tube! More information about television than you can shake your remote at!

As with most of Uncle John's books this one is a keeper and everyone should be able to find something interesting between it's covers. Whether it's television in it's infancy or the latest shows to grace the small screen you'll find a nugget or two of information about your favorite show.

[Linda McHardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

When it's done well, I love this kind of book--trivia, history, lots of fun facts about a certain subject -- and Uncle John's Readers are definitely done well! I just recently discovered them from listening to the also recently discovered gem of a podcast "Stuff You Should Know" from HowStuffWorks.com. My only regret is that I didn't discover both of them sooner; but no mind, it has just given me a backlog of great reading AND listening to enjoy over the next several months!

[Benjamin Kahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this at a booksale. I've always been a fan of the Bathroom Readers, but I didn't know how interesting I would find one focussed solely on television. I was pleasantly surprised, as I learned lots of interesting tidbits about shows I knew as well as those I didn't, and about the industry itself. As always, a good book for dipping into now and again, when you have a few minutes or even a little longer.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy these hefty volumes of trivia and history, and this has been one of my favorites. But I really do wish that Uncle John would hire a proof reader. It can take a while to unwind some of the sentences just because of poor editing.

[Michael Tarpinian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never like the theme books as well as the general ones.

[Abraham Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice book of television by uncle john's bathroom reader series!

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another shining example about how reading about television is often much more interesting than actually watching it.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely LOVE these books. And I love TV. It's like a match made in heaven!

[Dan Stern · Rating 5 out of 5]

interesting articles about shows, networks, actors, scripts, unsuccessful ideas and shows, advertising, news, soaps, game shows, commercials, history and influence of television, etc. It was all interesting to me. You get a nice variety of eras, from the birth of TV to broadcasting in the 2000's. Lots of fun nostalgia here. There could easily be a sequel to this book. Enjoy!