Television: the Big Babysitter, both shaper of reality and reality itself, give us this day our daily bread and Rock on! ( )

For 2 1/2 years, Harlan Ellison wrote a Television column for the Los Angeles Free Press. Ellison is a take-no-prisoners gadfly from the word "go", which he will shout out if no one else does. The period was the late 1960's - early 1970's, one of the most volatile and fascinating periods in American cultural history. Ellison did not restrain his columns to television, although it usually formed a backdrop. These columns, mainly consisting of Ellison railing against the known universe (or at least the establishment part of it) are a fascinating read, even 30 years later. Ellison is a lot of things, but "boring" has never been one of them. ( )