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Fabulous Five #24
The Great TV Turnoff
When Katie Shannon's mother writes an article calling television a menace to society, Katie knows she's in for trouble. Wakeman Junior High has announced a television turnoff. All the teachers, students, and their families are supposed to turn off their sets for two whole weeks!
128 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1991
31 people want to read
About the author
Betsy Haynes
123 books111 followersABOUT ME
Maybe it's because my feisty grandma chased tarantulas around with a broom when we lived on an oil lease property when I was a baby that made me love danger and adventure. And maybe it was my father's spending nights as a trombonist with the bands of his day and his days spent drawing sketches that sparked my artistic side. Do you suppose that because my mother stood only four feet ten inches tall that I feel like a giant at five feet? And I'm sure my FBI (Full Blooded Italian) step-father, his seven brothers and sisters and their families are responsible for my LOVE of Italian food. That's who I am. Who are you?
My First Book, Peppy The Frog That I Wrote In The 2nd Grade
I'll always be a child at heart. Whenever I close my eyes, wonderful, funny, awful, embarrassing memories of middle school/junior high come flooding back to fill the pages of my contemporary novels. My childhood friendships and rivalries with old enemies all find their way into my books. I've even spied on my own kids for story ideas.
Unlike most kids who can't wait to grow up, I've gotten younger--at least my stories have. I've stepped into the world of 7 to 10 year olds.
I and my husband, Jim, live in Texas on Lake Lewisville north of Dallas. We are owned by our greyhound, Miller. Our favorite things to do are traveling the world and boating.
Maybe it's because my feisty grandma chased tarantulas around with a broom when we lived on an oil lease property when I was a baby that made me love danger and adventure. And maybe it was my father's spending nights as a trombonist with the bands of his day and his days spent drawing sketches that sparked my artistic side. Do you suppose that because my mother stood only four feet ten inches tall that I feel like a giant at five feet? And I'm sure my FBI (Full Blooded Italian) step-father, his seven brothers and sisters and their families are responsible for my LOVE of Italian food. That's who I am. Who are you?
My First Book, Peppy The Frog That I Wrote In The 2nd Grade
I'll always be a child at heart. Whenever I close my eyes, wonderful, funny, awful, embarrassing memories of middle school/junior high come flooding back to fill the pages of my contemporary novels. My childhood friendships and rivalries with old enemies all find their way into my books. I've even spied on my own kids for story ideas.
Unlike most kids who can't wait to grow up, I've gotten younger--at least my stories have. I've stepped into the world of 7 to 10 year olds.
I and my husband, Jim, live in Texas on Lake Lewisville north of Dallas. We are owned by our greyhound, Miller. Our favorite things to do are traveling the world and boating.
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June 7, 2024The Great TV Turnoff
Tony still is way too into watching baseball games on tv so Katie goes to Melanie’s to vent and ask her advice. Only when she gets there Melanie is way to into an episode of Star Wars. So, Katie goes home and vents to her mom. Her mom says her school should have a tv turn off and she decides to write an article about it. Katie knows this will get her a lot of hate from the Wakeman students who won’t want to go without tv.
At the mall, the Fabulous Five have seen the article and tell Katie they feel bad for her if Mr. Bell approves of the idea. Beth says it’ll be bad for her because no one will watch their new show. Melanie freaks because she won’t get to watch her soap “Interns and Lovers” even though Katie says it’ll just be a week and Jana says she can record it like she always does and binge it. Melanie says she doesn’t want to do this and wants to watch it while it’s happening. They see Laura and Melissa who basically start talking loud and saying her mother needs to mind her business (and taints Katie by quoting from the article). Then Katie sees Tony with some of the other guys. She waits for him to join her in the movie and sit by her, but he doesn’t. Afterwards she sees him in an electronics store sitting on the floor in a circle with his friends watching a baseball game.
The next day at school, there’s talk of a big meeting all the teachers are having. News has spread about Katie’s mom’s article. At lunch, Katie is about to get happy that Tony asked to come over, but he just wants to watch a Sox game because his tv is broke, and she goes off on him in front of everyone. This causes Laura to get in her face and say that the maybe *she* was the one who wanted the tv turn off to happen because she’s afraid of losing her boyfriend. At the end of the day the announcement goes through that not only will they have the turn off it’ll be for two weeks instead of one because the Mr. Bell wants to prove they can beat Branford at *something*. Some of the students are enthusiastic (Ricky). Others think the idea is horrible. So, Katie demands when she gets home that her mother stop what she started. Her mother tells her she didn’t do this to turn people against her. It’s something she believes in and Katie will just have to stand up to Laura and tell her it was her idea (her mother’s).
Jana calls later and tells her Tony is going around saying that Katie was behind the turn off to get back at him. At school, the opinions are mixed. Some don’t watch tv that much but don’t like being told what to do. Some need it for background noise while they do homework. Katie’s asked how she feels about it some of the other girls and she also says she doesn’t watch tv that much. So, they think she’s cool with it. She could blame it on her mom but doesn’t want to hear them bad mouth her either. So, she just lets it go. At Bumpers, Katie notices Tony isn’t there. Shane asks about the rumor he heard that they can’t watch tv for a year. He and the other guys decide video games don’t count and plan to get together to do that. Beth later comes in and announces Jack Allbright is coming to town. A celebrity from a popular tv show and she’ll be the one interviewing him for the cable show. She says she already knows she’s going to cheat and watch herself. Then they overhear Laura talking to some other girls who also have mixed opinions. One says it’ll be a challenge. The other says with no tv her and her sibling will just fight more. Laura says she thinks Katie’s mom did this because she doesn’t like television. Kaite hops to her defense and says she’ll just be *helping* Mr. Bell and not only that *she’ll* be helping too. (Even though she really isn’t for the turn off). There’s an assembly announced and anyone who wanted to do something related to the turn off can (a poem, a skit, etc). Surprisngly Katie finds out that Taffy is against the turn off, but figures its because she has a movie coming up. A lot of the girls want to participate. Dekesha has an idea for it but says she’s gonna keep it a secret. The contracts are passed out and discussed. The guys don’t like that video games are forbidden but they’ll still participate. Melanie and Beth also say they’ll do it and give up watching the interview and soaps.
There supposed to each keep a diary and record what activities they did with family and friends. Even if they cheated and watched tv. The boys instead of playing video games plan to build a rocket and they want the first to ride it to be Igor. There’s an assembly and the principal throws a funeral for a tv. Dekesia does a imitation of Bill Cosby and talks about Brandford. Curtis does a parady of the Emancipation Proclomation. The cheerleaders do a cheer and then they drop their contracts into the coffin. After the assembly they find out Laura is trying to lure people into breaking their contracts. The Fab Five decide to send out spies to find out what (rather who) Laura is talking to and what she’s telling them so they can convince them to tough it out.
At school, kids are already starting to get is interested. They’re bored after not having tv that weekend. Then Lisa says none of her parents are interested in it. Jana says the guys had a great time making rockets and Rony went along with the turn off. Katie tho still won’t talk to Tony. In class, they all talk about what things they filled their time with without television. Some read. Some spent time with friends. Some said they snuck a peerk. They find out “The Four” have already discouraged some people. Laura even says she’ll watch shows for anyone for fifty cent and report back to them the next day so they won’t have to break the contract. Half the kids in class signed up. Laura and the others go back and forth at Bumpers. She then taunts Melanie by what happened on “Interns and Lovers”. She offers to watch it for Melanie but she tells her no way. She says she might just tell her what happened on the next episode or not.
Willie asks Katie how the turn out is going (not believing Mr. Bell), Katie tells her about what Lisa and the others said. Willie says that’s the problem with parents they use the television to entertain their kids because they can’t think of constructive things for them to do and this gives her an idea for another article. Some of the things the studens are doing are (Cooking, Cleaning, Writing Stories). Some say they don’t like to read and they can’t write or cook so Katie decides to make a list of things they can do. But she only comes up with activities for girls. Jana then reports to Katie that Laurie is going to throw a party and have three televisions. She invited Randy and they knew she’ll probably invite the rest of their boyfriends. This will mean the end of the turn off.
At school, now it’s up to four tv going at lunch. A lot of the boys are starting to cave. Melanie happily reports Shane isn’t going. Katie can’t help thinking Tony will go to spite her. After listening to a plot Melanie came up with for her diary for “Interns and Lovers” she comes up with an idea to ask the students to go on a bike ride at Adventure Land and then afterwards to Mama Mia’s. That way they won’t have time to go to Laura’s party. Mr. Bell gets a lot of irate calls from the parents who think the school “encouraged” her to do it. Mrs. Simone thinks its from guilty consciouses.
Laura comes on the trip to Adventure Land. The Fab Five have fun with there boyfriends. Katie rides with Christie. Even though she misses Tony, Katie has fun and the afternoon goes quickly. Tony is hanging out with some of the other guys. Some Brandord boys come into the eating area. Then they start talking ish about the Wakeman “wimps” thinking they can beat them. Beth notices some of the cheerleaders and Katie gets an idea. She goes over to them and suggests they do cheers about the turn off. So, they do (minus Laura and Melissa who think it’s a dumb idea). Ummm.. but wouldn’t this get the two schools even MORE AGAINST EACH OTHER!?! But somehow this keeps a fight FROM breaking out. OH KAAAAAY!! Everyone gets into it.
It also works in that the restaurants are all full so no one really went to Laura’s party. Katie even finds out Tony was on his friends case about going to Laura’s party. She finds this out from Randy and Shane. Katie goes up to Tony in the line (fast food place) and she commends him on what he did and they apologize to each other. Katie explains the reason the turn off happened and he says he’s taken the time to read up on the games and since he’s been doing that he’s become an expert. More and More kids come up to Katie and tell her all the things they’ve been doing. Mrs. Simone says some of the parents have called back and are now siging a different tune. They see they should have supported their kids,
There’s a party to celebrate the turn off and Katie thinks about how proud she is of her mother that she stood up for her ideas. Beth interviews Kaie and asks her what’s the most interesting thing that happened but Katie says nothing really. So, Beth tells John they’ll have to find someone else. Melanie finds out tha nothing really happened on her soap. The leading lady was in a coma for two weeks. Katie and her mother get a special ovation. Wakeman also wins the contest against Brandford. All the participants get certificates.
My Thoughts
I don’t know. I just feel like they made entirely too big a deal over this turn off thing. Mr. Bell didn’t say you *HAD* to turn off your tv for two weeks. He did give them a CHOICE! If you wanted to do it OK. If you didn’t FINE. Truthfully I wouldn’t have cared about beating Branford in sports. I don’t even really care about sports. Then my HS didn’t really have a rivalry with a certain school. Then what else? There was a certificate. I certainly could have lived with a piece of paper that said I hadn’t watched tv for two weeks. Now if it was a cash prize or gift card I might have been more interested. Then I really don’t watch that much TV myself. I do watch a lot of things streamed but the odd thing is when I heard our tv might be turned off I actually started to wonder how that be. Then I couldn’t imagine having to cut the cable. I did think that the results were good. A lot of people started to read. Anythng that gets people to read is GOOD! I am a OBSESSIVE reader so I’m ALL FOR IT! Then some of the girls also started to cook-which is another thing I’ve always wanted to be better at-. I also thought the “funeral” was a creative idea and wondered did Mr. Bell come up with this himself.
Rating: 5
Tony still is way too into watching baseball games on tv so Katie goes to Melanie’s to vent and ask her advice. Only when she gets there Melanie is way to into an episode of Star Wars. So, Katie goes home and vents to her mom. Her mom says her school should have a tv turn off and she decides to write an article about it. Katie knows this will get her a lot of hate from the Wakeman students who won’t want to go without tv.
At the mall, the Fabulous Five have seen the article and tell Katie they feel bad for her if Mr. Bell approves of the idea. Beth says it’ll be bad for her because no one will watch their new show. Melanie freaks because she won’t get to watch her soap “Interns and Lovers” even though Katie says it’ll just be a week and Jana says she can record it like she always does and binge it. Melanie says she doesn’t want to do this and wants to watch it while it’s happening. They see Laura and Melissa who basically start talking loud and saying her mother needs to mind her business (and taints Katie by quoting from the article). Then Katie sees Tony with some of the other guys. She waits for him to join her in the movie and sit by her, but he doesn’t. Afterwards she sees him in an electronics store sitting on the floor in a circle with his friends watching a baseball game.
The next day at school, there’s talk of a big meeting all the teachers are having. News has spread about Katie’s mom’s article. At lunch, Katie is about to get happy that Tony asked to come over, but he just wants to watch a Sox game because his tv is broke, and she goes off on him in front of everyone. This causes Laura to get in her face and say that the maybe *she* was the one who wanted the tv turn off to happen because she’s afraid of losing her boyfriend. At the end of the day the announcement goes through that not only will they have the turn off it’ll be for two weeks instead of one because the Mr. Bell wants to prove they can beat Branford at *something*. Some of the students are enthusiastic (Ricky). Others think the idea is horrible. So, Katie demands when she gets home that her mother stop what she started. Her mother tells her she didn’t do this to turn people against her. It’s something she believes in and Katie will just have to stand up to Laura and tell her it was her idea (her mother’s).
Jana calls later and tells her Tony is going around saying that Katie was behind the turn off to get back at him. At school, the opinions are mixed. Some don’t watch tv that much but don’t like being told what to do. Some need it for background noise while they do homework. Katie’s asked how she feels about it some of the other girls and she also says she doesn’t watch tv that much. So, they think she’s cool with it. She could blame it on her mom but doesn’t want to hear them bad mouth her either. So, she just lets it go. At Bumpers, Katie notices Tony isn’t there. Shane asks about the rumor he heard that they can’t watch tv for a year. He and the other guys decide video games don’t count and plan to get together to do that. Beth later comes in and announces Jack Allbright is coming to town. A celebrity from a popular tv show and she’ll be the one interviewing him for the cable show. She says she already knows she’s going to cheat and watch herself. Then they overhear Laura talking to some other girls who also have mixed opinions. One says it’ll be a challenge. The other says with no tv her and her sibling will just fight more. Laura says she thinks Katie’s mom did this because she doesn’t like television. Kaite hops to her defense and says she’ll just be *helping* Mr. Bell and not only that *she’ll* be helping too. (Even though she really isn’t for the turn off). There’s an assembly announced and anyone who wanted to do something related to the turn off can (a poem, a skit, etc). Surprisngly Katie finds out that Taffy is against the turn off, but figures its because she has a movie coming up. A lot of the girls want to participate. Dekesha has an idea for it but says she’s gonna keep it a secret. The contracts are passed out and discussed. The guys don’t like that video games are forbidden but they’ll still participate. Melanie and Beth also say they’ll do it and give up watching the interview and soaps.
There supposed to each keep a diary and record what activities they did with family and friends. Even if they cheated and watched tv. The boys instead of playing video games plan to build a rocket and they want the first to ride it to be Igor. There’s an assembly and the principal throws a funeral for a tv. Dekesia does a imitation of Bill Cosby and talks about Brandford. Curtis does a parady of the Emancipation Proclomation. The cheerleaders do a cheer and then they drop their contracts into the coffin. After the assembly they find out Laura is trying to lure people into breaking their contracts. The Fab Five decide to send out spies to find out what (rather who) Laura is talking to and what she’s telling them so they can convince them to tough it out.
At school, kids are already starting to get is interested. They’re bored after not having tv that weekend. Then Lisa says none of her parents are interested in it. Jana says the guys had a great time making rockets and Rony went along with the turn off. Katie tho still won’t talk to Tony. In class, they all talk about what things they filled their time with without television. Some read. Some spent time with friends. Some said they snuck a peerk. They find out “The Four” have already discouraged some people. Laura even says she’ll watch shows for anyone for fifty cent and report back to them the next day so they won’t have to break the contract. Half the kids in class signed up. Laura and the others go back and forth at Bumpers. She then taunts Melanie by what happened on “Interns and Lovers”. She offers to watch it for Melanie but she tells her no way. She says she might just tell her what happened on the next episode or not.
Willie asks Katie how the turn out is going (not believing Mr. Bell), Katie tells her about what Lisa and the others said. Willie says that’s the problem with parents they use the television to entertain their kids because they can’t think of constructive things for them to do and this gives her an idea for another article. Some of the things the studens are doing are (Cooking, Cleaning, Writing Stories). Some say they don’t like to read and they can’t write or cook so Katie decides to make a list of things they can do. But she only comes up with activities for girls. Jana then reports to Katie that Laurie is going to throw a party and have three televisions. She invited Randy and they knew she’ll probably invite the rest of their boyfriends. This will mean the end of the turn off.
At school, now it’s up to four tv going at lunch. A lot of the boys are starting to cave. Melanie happily reports Shane isn’t going. Katie can’t help thinking Tony will go to spite her. After listening to a plot Melanie came up with for her diary for “Interns and Lovers” she comes up with an idea to ask the students to go on a bike ride at Adventure Land and then afterwards to Mama Mia’s. That way they won’t have time to go to Laura’s party. Mr. Bell gets a lot of irate calls from the parents who think the school “encouraged” her to do it. Mrs. Simone thinks its from guilty consciouses.
Laura comes on the trip to Adventure Land. The Fab Five have fun with there boyfriends. Katie rides with Christie. Even though she misses Tony, Katie has fun and the afternoon goes quickly. Tony is hanging out with some of the other guys. Some Brandord boys come into the eating area. Then they start talking ish about the Wakeman “wimps” thinking they can beat them. Beth notices some of the cheerleaders and Katie gets an idea. She goes over to them and suggests they do cheers about the turn off. So, they do (minus Laura and Melissa who think it’s a dumb idea). Ummm.. but wouldn’t this get the two schools even MORE AGAINST EACH OTHER!?! But somehow this keeps a fight FROM breaking out. OH KAAAAAY!! Everyone gets into it.
It also works in that the restaurants are all full so no one really went to Laura’s party. Katie even finds out Tony was on his friends case about going to Laura’s party. She finds this out from Randy and Shane. Katie goes up to Tony in the line (fast food place) and she commends him on what he did and they apologize to each other. Katie explains the reason the turn off happened and he says he’s taken the time to read up on the games and since he’s been doing that he’s become an expert. More and More kids come up to Katie and tell her all the things they’ve been doing. Mrs. Simone says some of the parents have called back and are now siging a different tune. They see they should have supported their kids,
There’s a party to celebrate the turn off and Katie thinks about how proud she is of her mother that she stood up for her ideas. Beth interviews Kaie and asks her what’s the most interesting thing that happened but Katie says nothing really. So, Beth tells John they’ll have to find someone else. Melanie finds out tha nothing really happened on her soap. The leading lady was in a coma for two weeks. Katie and her mother get a special ovation. Wakeman also wins the contest against Brandford. All the participants get certificates.
My Thoughts
I don’t know. I just feel like they made entirely too big a deal over this turn off thing. Mr. Bell didn’t say you *HAD* to turn off your tv for two weeks. He did give them a CHOICE! If you wanted to do it OK. If you didn’t FINE. Truthfully I wouldn’t have cared about beating Branford in sports. I don’t even really care about sports. Then my HS didn’t really have a rivalry with a certain school. Then what else? There was a certificate. I certainly could have lived with a piece of paper that said I hadn’t watched tv for two weeks. Now if it was a cash prize or gift card I might have been more interested. Then I really don’t watch that much TV myself. I do watch a lot of things streamed but the odd thing is when I heard our tv might be turned off I actually started to wonder how that be. Then I couldn’t imagine having to cut the cable. I did think that the results were good. A lot of people started to read. Anythng that gets people to read is GOOD! I am a OBSESSIVE reader so I’m ALL FOR IT! Then some of the girls also started to cook-which is another thing I’ve always wanted to be better at-. I also thought the “funeral” was a creative idea and wondered did Mr. Bell come up with this himself.
Rating: 5
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July 29, 2020As a kid every Saturday we went to Kmart, and every Saturday my mom would let me buy one thing, and it was ALWAYS a fabulous five book. (The cover looks like a spiral notebook cover... I thought that was very clever)
I also managed to track down all the Taffy Sinclair books at a thrift store.
I wonder if this series is still at my parents I would definitely read them again.
I remember in the Taffy books Melanie was chubby and it make references to her eating brownies and then one day she was like NO i don't want the brownie... and then she got skinny.
This is a very vague memory... so don't quote me on this one, what you CAN quote me on is that Taffy had a crooked bicuspid, and Jana ate cream cheese and jam sandwiches,... which I tried because of her and they were DIS-GUS-TING, and I never trusted her again.
I also managed to track down all the Taffy Sinclair books at a thrift store.
I wonder if this series is still at my parents I would definitely read them again.
I remember in the Taffy books Melanie was chubby and it make references to her eating brownies and then one day she was like NO i don't want the brownie... and then she got skinny.
This is a very vague memory... so don't quote me on this one, what you CAN quote me on is that Taffy had a crooked bicuspid, and Jana ate cream cheese and jam sandwiches,... which I tried because of her and they were DIS-GUS-TING, and I never trusted her again.
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