TV Columnist Admits TV Stars Hate TV

Ben Kallen — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:25:00 GMT

We all know people who claim they don't ever watch TV, except maybe Mad Men and Masterpiece Theatre and the occasional roundtable debate about the effects of global warming on penguin habitats. But now we have confirmation from AP television writer Frazier Moore that this group of Hills-despising, How I Met Your Mother-ignoring snobs includes TV performers themselves.

"Among the scads of TV stars I've talked to, I never made a point of grilling them on their TV consumption," Moore writes. "I don't recall how often it came up. But over time I started to realize (and marvel) that, out of everyone who did address the issue with me, fewer than a dozen of them copped to being TV fans.

"The rest: Well, they don't shun just the programs they appear in. They don't watch TV, period. Or so they claim."

Well, sure -- it's one thing to play Horny Nerd at Sci-Fi Convention on The Big Bang Theory, and another to admit you watch the thing. What would you tell your friends when you run into them at Pinkberry? In fact, Moore points out, it's obvious what Hollywood's attitude toward the medium itself is, given that the TV-watchingest TV characters tend to be fat louts such as Homer Simpson, Peter Griffin and Tony Soprano.

Luckily, not all performers feel that way about their own audience. The actors who Moore says do admit to being fans of the tube also participate in some of the smartest, most pop-culture-relevant shows: The Office and Extras writer-actor Ricky Gervais, Robot Chicken cocreator Seth Green, and Mad Men star Jon Hamm.

So if you ever catch yourself saying all you watch is Mad Men and The Office, keep in mind that the people on the screen are home with a bowl of popcorn and Two and a Half Men or some Law & Order marathon, just like everybody else.

Image: Fox

Previously:
Mad Men Recap: Sunday Worst
Even More Great Office News
How I Met Your Mother Secrets Revealed (No, Not That One)

The Remote Island : AP

TV Columnist Admits TV Stars Hate TV