Big Turnoff

Like most parents, Ellen Currey-Wilson and her husband aspired to be better parnts than their own. Having shared most of her childhood with "The Beverly Hillillies" and having memorised the TV listings ever since, Currey-Wilson longedor her son Casey to know the people around him better than he knew the cast ofFriends".;In her revealing and outspoken take on parenting, Currey-Wilson recunts her increasingly fanatical behaviour and the intermittent fits of insecurty that find her worrying whether Casey might be ostracised for not knowing th theme song to SpongeBob SquarePants. But something remarkable happens as teleision assumes a back seat to real life: Currey-Wilson's relationships with heraid-back husband, new-age sister, eccentric mother and remarkably self-possesed son begin to deepen and grow. And while Casey develops into a self-sufficiet, intelligent and confident boy, scores of his TV-mesmerised peers are beingiagnosed with ADHD.;In an age when it's easier to flip on the TV than to interct with the people around us, "The Big Turnoff" shows what can happen when oneoman decides to buck the trend.