This 4- volume series covers everything you ever wanted to know about your favorite television shows. In addition to learning the stories about the shows and the stars who made them come to life, you'll learn about behind-the-scenes details. Enjoy articles about television theme composers, set designers, costume staff, and the writers who bring the show to life. You'll also find articles on a variety of topics such as shows about dentists or advertising professionals or the best episodes about rainy days, bowling, or US presidents. This book is a must-read if you love classic television or trivia.
Bonanza aired on NBC from September 12, 1959, to January 16, 1973, playing to 480,000,000 viewers in over 97 countries. It was the second longest running western series, surpassed only by Gunsmoke, and continues to provide wholesome entertainment to old and new fans via syndication. This book provides an in-depth chronicle of the series and its stars. A history of the show from its inception to the current made-for-television movies is provided, and an episode guide includes a synopsis of each show and lists such details as the main characters of each episode and the actors who portrayed them, the dates they stayed with the show, date and time of original broadcast, writer, director, producer, executive producer, and supporting cast. Also provided are character sketches for each of the major recurring characters, career biographies of Lorne Green, Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker, and Michael Landon, brief biographical sketches of the supporting cast, a discography of recordings of the Bonanza theme and recordings of the four major stars, and information on Bonanza television movies.
ENJOY THESE UNIQUE LISTS, PACKED WITH TV TRIVIA AND TIDBITS ON SUCH TOPICS AS: TV REPLACEMENTS * All-TIME FEMALE SITCOM EPISODE CHAMPS * STATUES HONORING CLASSIC TV * MOST REGULAR ROLES IN PRIME TIME * TV'S TOP MOMENTS * THE LONGEST-RUNNING SHOWS * STAR TREK MEMORIES * IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME * LIVE-ACTION SHOWS THAT WERE ANIMATED * SUPERMAN AND LOIS ON TV * EMMY ESSENTIALS * AND MORE!
Television fans are fascinated by the history of their favorite shows -- past and present. Now for the first time, TV's bible, TV Guide has authorized the The TV GuideBook of Lists -- 147 fascinating lists featuring characters, celebrities, top shows from daytime and nighttime and famous episodes. From the bizarre to the brilliant, this one-of-a-kind collection of TV lists will have you watching your shows and their stars ina whole new way. In these pages you'll discover: How many movie stars got their first break on TV Who has stripped for Playboy The 50 greatest TV stars of all time Which child TV stars have a criminal record The 100 most memorable moments in TV history Rosie O'Donnell's favorite TV theme songs Chris Carter's scariest X-Files creatures Which stars sang their own TV theme songs And so much more!
DESCRIPTION: Jackie Gleason was the original "Great One." This is a celebration of the greats of the People era. Johnny Carson was a peerless stand-up guy who also ruled from his chair. Likewise Carroll O'Connor. Jerry Seinfeld was about nothing, Walter Cronkite was about everything. We knew and loved others simply as The Coz or The Fonz, Lucy or Oprah. One gave us a rush in E.R., another a blush in Sex in the City. Ride the career rollercoaster again and again with the luminous stars who made our TV sets and memories glow. This is one re-run you simply gotta catch.
Containing personal interviews and photographs of classic television stars such as Lucille Ball, Ed Sullivan, Dick Clark, Tim Conway, Ed McMahon, Buddy Ebson, Jack Lord, Eva Gabor, Eddie Albert, Don Knotts, Sonny and Cher, Johnny Cash, Burg Reynolds, Barbara Walters, Bill Bixby, Jack Klugmann, Merv Griffin, Jim Nabors, Robert Young, Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo), and includes sports stars such as Bud Wilkinson, Chris Schankel and others, THE CLASSIC TELEVISION REFERENCE is a delightful stroll down Memory Lane and a behind-the-scenes look at Classic TV shows, Classic TV stars and the business behind them.
Creating Television brings television and its creators to life, presenting fascinating in-depth interviews with the creators of American TV. Having interviewed more than 100 television professionals over the course of his 15 years of research, Professor Robert Kubey presents here the 40 conversations that provide the most illuminating insights about the industry and the people working in it. These interviews bring television's creators to life, revealing their backgrounds, work, and thoughts about the audience and the television programs they create. Each interview tells a compelling tale of an individual's struggles and successes within a complex collaborative and highly commercial medium, offering readers rare insights on the human component in television's development. Featured in this volume are actors, agents, writers, directors, producers, and executives, representing television's earliest days through to the present day. Spanning shows from I Love Lucy and The Tonight Show through to Seinfeld, The Simpsons, and The Sopranos, these creators share the stories of how they gained entry to the industry and built their careers, offering readers a rare opportunity to meet, up close, the people involved in creating many of the most famous and successful programs in the medium's history, and linking the creators' personal histories to the television programs they create. With its unique insights on the people responsible for making television, this volume will be of interest to scholars and researchers in television history, sociology of culture, human creativity, television production, media studies, and mass media ethics. It will also be a popular reader for undergraduate and graduate students in courses addressing television, mass culture, media and society, American Studies, creativity, television history, and media ethics.
Why do millions of people love classic television shows? One reason, certainly, is that many Americans have become disenchanted with the current TV landscape. The shows from decades past are more than a source of happy shared memories among millions of people; they are a common thread weaved through our culture. We're 50 years beyond most of their debuts now. Do they still mirror how we live? Should they? When Television Brought Us Together celebrates the era in television that came of age with the Baby Boomer generation, and how its most fondly remembered shows can still inspire us to emulate the ideals and ethics it portrays. "David Hofstede delves into the meanings of our favorite comforting classics and compares them with the TV fare of today. You'll be happy you stopped by to take a long breath of nostalgic fresh air and rediscover why these past shows are so classic. Totally recommended!" - Kathy Garver - Star of Family Affair and author of Surviving Cissy "Thanks to television, America was able to laugh together, cry together and love together, because we watched together. David reminds us how television united, rather than divided, a large and diverse country and how, even today, it has the power to provide valuable lessons for living in the real world. - Mitchell Hadley, author of The Electronic Mirror and founder of It's About TV blog "David Hofstede has encyclopedic knowledge and spot-on insight into TV shows of the past. I'm happy to know I'm not the only one looking back at the television series of my youth not just with nostalgia, but with longing for programs today that comfort, nourish, entertain and reflect who we are." -- Kathryn Leigh Scott, star of Dark Shadows and author of The Dark Shadows Companion "David Hofstede's thoughtful takes on our favorite TV shows from the '50s, '60s, '70s, and '80s-and the shared experience we often felt as we grew up watching them together, in a three-network, pre-DVR, pre-viewing on demand, pre-social media, pre-a lot of other things universe-are sometimes whimsical, sometimes analytical, but always absorbing to read." - Ed Robertson, Host of TV Confidential and author of 45 Years of The Rockford Files
The world loves Lucy. And now, here is the ultimate tribute to the most popular show in television history. Readers will have a behind-the -scenes look at the show's creation and its unbelievable meteoric success as it reinvented the rules and business of television. Over 35 classic episodes are celebrated with detailed plot synopses and photo montages from exclusive production skills - and a complete 'TV-ography' offers a look at every one of 179 episodes and 13 one-hour specials featuring the Ricardos and Mertzes.
