As TV Turnoff Week draws to a close — we addicts were expected to abstain from our daily tube-feedings from April 22 to 28 — I can proudly declare that I resisted the pressure to voluntarily "Turn off TV, Turn on Life." My question is, why does TV have to be antithetical to life? Television routinely enhances my life. Not all television, of course; I am one of few regular viewers I know who doesn’t "get" MTV’s The Osbournes and doesn’t want to. But without TV, this football bigot never in a million years would have watched a Super Bowl game — even one featuring the hometown team — and experienced the thrill of Adam Vinatieri’s winning field goal. My life has never been enhanced by a glossy fashion magazine, a supermarket tabloid, or a John Grisham novel, but I wouldn’t want to go on a weeklong reading hiatus because of the print world’s trash quotient. So why pick on TV? The TV Turnoff Network’s Web site encourages adults and children to watch less TV "in order to promote healthier lives and communities." It goes on to tell us — in its own morally superior way — that "people will discover that life can be more rewarding, fun, and relaxing without TV."

Well, thanks for the advice, but no thanks. Here are 10 reasons why I boycotted TV Turnoff Week, and why I’m glad I did:

• Cardinal Law and the Church scandal. In the absence of an "All Law, All the Time" station, how would I keep up on the daily suspense surrounding the beleaguered cardinal, covered by a bevy of Boston reporters moving this week from the chancery in Brighton to St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City?

• Alias. This superb TV thriller rivals most feature films for head-spinning effects, dazzling action, complex characters, and top-notch writing and direction. It is must-see Sunday-night TV.

• Six Feet Under. HBO’s series is a deserved megahit, and no one who watches this highly original show can accuse TV of dumbing down for its audience.

• Seinfeld reruns. The nightly dose of irony and wit, which airs before and after prime time, makes up for all the offenses in between.

• The West Wing. Aaron Sorkin and the cast continue to deliver stellar work, but this season it’s Allison Janney’s acerbic but compassionate C.J. Cregg who seems to be reason they invented the White House press office.

• The Boston Red Sox/Boston Bruins/Boston Celtics. Is this a great city or what?

• Diane Sawyer’s weekly chat with Rosie O’Donnell. When the queen of morning and prime-time TV meets the jolly comic queen of the daily talk show, the quips and tears and true confessions fly fast and furiously. These two know how to work the medium like the pros they are. Next week: Rosie and Diane go shopping and out to lunch.

• TV movies. Where else are you going to see divine actresses past 40 — Christine Lahti in The Pilot’s Wife is one recent example, Marlo Thomas is another — strutting their stuff? Certainly not on the obsessively youth-centric big screen.

• Frontline. Still the best investigative journalism anywhere. Period. Even during pledge week.

• David Letterman. Hard to believe his late-night show is still unpredictable, fresh, smart, and funny after all this time. And in the sad aftermath of September 11, Letterman proved he indeed represents contemporary culture’s street corner.