Truth and Rumors

This is much more than a compilation of who is dead, who is alive, who is out of rehab, and who lied to get publicity. Journalist Brioux examines the reasons why American believe in rumors about the godlike beings on television they hate, love, and envy. As he builds his case about collective psyches he sets us straight about talk shows, the Beav, 'splaining, Pravda v. Star Trek, nudity, weird commercials, 1970s family values, the synthetic rock group, game shows that were truly scary, the sad stories behind drama series and the even sadder ones behind reality shows, the perpetually undead despite the rumors, kids, 'toons, sports and the news, along with a range of western strangeness and the various things people had to say about men in tights. The last chapter, which corrects impressions that people actually died on television, is particularly chilling in its implications about viewers. Annotation c2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Bill Brioux has been a featured voice in a wide range of national media - both as a key pundit in a variety of radio, television and on-line forums, and as a contributor to several leading publications. He has served on the board of directors of the Television Critics Association, and his weekly television commentary Brioux On The Box is distributed nationally by The Canadian Press. From 1999 to 2007, as daily television columnist forThe Toronto Sun, his humorous - and always outspoken - take on television and pop culture garnered numerous accolades, including two Edward A. Dunlop Awards for critical writing.