TV is such a huge part of most lives these days that the notion of “TV Turnoff Week” (yes, it’s this week) might seem a bit antiquated. Some critics clearly feel that there’s enough good available on the set today to make the anti-tube forces seem out of step. But at least one UK writer wonders when exactly we all began building our lives around the infernal thing, anyway. “I’m sure there are good things to see on TV. I’m simply not convinced that it’s something you need to watch every single day… We have become a slovenly nation of living, breathing, wan-faced sponge fingers, entranced by some blinking, bawling machine.”