Growing Up in Front of the Telly.
In this personal tribute to teleheaven, Stuart Jeffries explores the way in which our lives have been coloured by looking at the world through the cathode ray tube, and how the addiction to a little flickering box in the corner shaped our lives since the late 1950s.
The story begins in fuzzy black and white, with a warm wooden box, one crude chrome-effect knob, two channels, one nation and seemingly limitless potential, and ends in pin-sharp colour, with a cool metallic slab, one slim, sophisticated handset, 200 channels, innumerable niches and an inescapable air of ennui. Witty, entertaining and thought-provoking, here is humorous study of growing up with television.