The television, and in all it's glory of propaganda and
dumbing a society down. It is the ultimate
weapon of mass distraction and can make anyone and any person hate anybody.
The term is often used by people that can see that the TV makes others stupid who believe anything and everything they see on TV as
a fact even if it's fiction.
Term is also used to define people who waste their time all day flipping channels and watching junk instead of doing something useful with their lives.
A good case of the Idiot Box is this; in the 70's many people wrote letters to the Navy and
Coastguard telling them to go rescue
Gilligan and the others off their island.
Once upon a time there was people who went to the Beverly Hills with their only goal to knock on the door of
the mansion used in the Beverly Hillbillies show and ask for Jeb or Granny. No wonder the owners got tired of it and sold the house!