Reading-aloud vs. Watching Cartoons

I'm not sure I'd enter this debate on a blog that is designed to promote the love of reading-aloud to children, but I would like to weigh in on the many different ways there are to reinforce a love for reading aloud. Whether the book or the animated feature comes first (Disney's Lady and the Tramp comes to my mind because it was the first movie I ever saw), one does make the other come to life in the form of a child's imagination or by the thrill of seeing the people, animals or characters move, talk, sing or dance. Author Jim Trelease wrote one of my parenting bibles, entitled The Read Aloud Handbook and in it he calls television the "plug in drug." No doubt, it can be, but some of the most clever, non-violent, unique stories on children's television today can be used by parents and care-givers to reinforce the stories that children have already read or the ones that they want to read next time they go the library.