Report Leaves Vitamin C With The Sniffles
ABC’s John Stossel returns to prime time once again to burst a few balloons and remind us that, just because you read something in the newspaper or saw it on television, it isn’t necessarily true.
Stossel’s “Junk Science: What You Know That May Not Be So” at 10 is another eye-opening hour that will leave you wondering just whom to trust.
Here are some examples:
The media reported that Vitamin C prevents colds. Why? Linus Pauling, a Nobel scientist, said so. But there’s no medical evidence to prove it.
We’ve been led to believe that eating less salt and more spinach improves your health. Again, no evidence.
Stossel confronts the head of a government low-sodium campaign with testimony from leading universities that reducing salt has no effect on most people’s health. The bureaucrat blandly waves off Stossel’s assertions.
Perhaps the hour’s most annoying revelation is that millions in tax dollars are being spent to incinerate dioxin-contaminated soil in Times Beach, Mo.
In Italy, where a more serious spill occurred, the site was merely bulldozed over and turned into a public park. And no study has found that anyone has been harmed.
Stossel’s revealing specials are informative and entertaining. But why wasn’t he around to nip some of this junk science in the bud?
Highlights
“Friends,” NBC at 8: Oh, man. Chandler (Matthew Perry) gets smashed and makes out with one of Joey’s (Matt LeBlanc) sisters. But the next day he can’t remember which one.
Also, Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) is approached by a handsome stranger (Steven Eckholdt) offering her a job in the fashion industry, but Ross (David Schwimmer) thinks the guy is on the make.
“Diagnosis Murder,” CBS at 8: Even this mild-mannered mystery knows how to mix sex and violence. Sloan (Dick Van Dyke) tries to prove that the head of pediatric nurses (Marta Martin), a former call girl, is responsible for the murder of her ex-boss, “The Malibu Madam” (Theresa Saldana).
“Mystery!” KSPS at 8: In “Original Sin,” Commander Adam Dalgliesh (Roy Marsden) investigates a disturbing spate of hate mail sent to a publishing house. Soon after the detective’s arrival, an editor is found dead, and clues point to the possibility that the killer will kill again.
“Seinfeld,” NBC at 9: John Michael Higgins (he played David Letterman in HBO’s “The Late Shift”) guest-stars as a bald man whom Elaine dates. Kramer gets a new pet, and George finds romance in a women’s prison.
“New York Undercover,” FOX at 9: In a tense episode, a man (Tommy Hollis) whose son is about to be executed straps explosives to himself and takes Lt. Cooper (Patti D’Arbanville-Quinn) hostage. J.C. (Malik Yoba) sets out to find the evidence to stay the execution and save his boss’s life.
“Suddenly Susan,” NBC at 9:30: One of this show’s bright spots is Nestor Carbonell as Luis the photographer. Tonight he decides to become a U.S. citizen and gets help from an unlikely source - former GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole.