BAD TV: The Very Best of the...

BAD TV: The Very Best of the Very Worst by Craig Nelson (Delta: $9.95; 340 pp., illustrated, paperback original). Nelson celebrates the power of television to fascinate and appall simultaneously. His “Tammi” Awards, named after the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor, honor such dubious programs as “My Mother the Car,” “Cop Rock” and “Queen for a Day.” Each chapter is devoted to a specific genre, enabling Nelson to dredge up “Love That Bob,” “Clutch Cargo,” “Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp,” “O.K. Crackerby” and “On the Air” from the network equivalent of Love Canal. Happily, the book doesn’t come with a cassette of excerpts.