Editorial Review

Featuring more than 400 pages and over 1500 images, the LOST Encyclopedia will be a comprehensive guide to the characters, items, locations, plotlines, relationships, and mythologies from all six seasons of the landmark series aired on ABC-TV and produced by ABC Studios. Created in full collaboration with ABC Entertainment and ABC Studios, this will be the first and only fully licensed and comprehensive reference to all things LOST, and it includes a foreword by executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.



LOST © 2010. ABC Studios. All Rights Reserved. ... Read more

Reviews

Great content; poor editing, October 15, 2010
First, an initial statement of possible sources of bias: I am a professional academic and an unapologetic LOST enthusiast (you may read what you like into that conjunction). I ordered the LOST Encyclopedia on May 4 and received it on October 12 following a delay from its original listed release date of August 24, so I've been anticipating its release for a while.

Second, an executive summary: as a fan of the show, I'm glad to finally have this "encyclopedia" on my bookshelf and think it an excellent resource. Nevertheless, the presentation of the book is somewhat less polished than I would have hoped, leading me to suspect that a second edition may be in the works. Any recommendation that I can give would therefore have to be a guarded one.

Like the show for which it serves as a reference guide, this book must have been a massive undertaking for everyone involved with little guarantee of pleasing everyone in its audience. I can therefore forgive the omission of some items (no entry for the Hybird, or "Hurley bird," for example) and the lack of linked entries (e.g. "The Hatch: see Swan Station," or "Jeremy Bentham: see John Locke").

My objections to the book's editing begin with the character entries, which are generally sorted alphabetically by first name. I have no problem with organizing an encyclopedia in this way, as this is hardly an academic text and there are a variety of minor characters whose last names are unknown; however, the glaring exceptions to this rule--John Locke, whose entry is filed under "L," and James Ford, whose entry is filed under "S" for "Sawyer"--happen to be among the most important entries in the volume. Finding those entries will only take an extra few seconds of the reader's time (especially since, as mentioned above, there are no linking entries), but the organization comes across as sloppy.

Also sloppy are the various textual redundancies. In the "Man in Black" entry, for example, a text blurb entitled "Jacob's Spirit" calls attention to the fact that "The spirit of a young Jacob repeatedly appeared to the Man in Black while he was acting out his end game as Locke..." One page later, immediately facing that blurb, is another blurb entitled "Haunting Reminders" which calls attention to the very same fact using the very same text, the only difference being in the capitalization of a single word. Similarly, the entry for Magnus Hanso ends with a three-sentence paragraph: the first sentence states that "Hanso's death remained a mystery to the outside world [until] DHARMA Initiative member Stuart Radzinsky documented Hanso's final resting place on the Blast Wall Map"; the second sentence states that "Details of Hanso's death remained a mystery to the outside world"; the third sentence states that (you guessed it) "DHARMA Initiative member Stuart Radzinsky documented Hanso's final resting place on the blast wall map." Again, this book constitutes a relatively massive undertaking and it's understandable that various typos would slip through (and there are a number of those), but given the two-month delay in the book's release I would have expected the editors to catch these obvious artifacts of the rewriting process.

I had initially speculated that the publication delay was a function of the writers' need to rewrite some entries in light of the final episode's controversial revelations regarding the "flash-sideways universe." That was apparently incorrect, as the only reference to the flash-sideways (that I've found, at least) comes at the tail end of Juliet's entry. Instead, all information about that "universe" is relegated to a few text-light and picture-heavy character entries that follow the encyclopedia's index. The entries seem arbitrarily organized (in order: Desmond, Hurley, Ben, Sun, Jin, Sayid, Kate, Claire, Locke, and Jack) and utterly disconnected from the rest of the encyclopedia. To the writers' credit, they call attention to some quotes from the final episode that should help confused viewers figure out where the flash-sideways universe fits into the overall story structure; however, one is left with the impression that someone involved with the book's production was embarrassed by the reception of the final episode and wanted to minimize its influence on the rest of the text. I would certainly hope that delaying publication gave the writers and editors adequate time to integrate this information--if they had wanted to do so. For better or for worse, this storyline is as much a part of LOST canon as anything else and it should have been treated as such.

Finally, there are several minor factual errors in the text--particularly with respect to the descriptions of the philosophers referenced by the show--but those are more nits to be picked than they are problems affecting the book's presentation. Nevertheless, it's an editor's job to pick those nits before publication.

Again, I'm glad to own the LOST encyclopedia and will readily admit that fans of the show (be they dedicated or casual ones) won't be able to find a better reference. The content is top-notch, covering both breadth and depth, as detailed in other reviews. If asked whether or not I would recommend that someone else spend $25 on it (much less the $45 cover price), however, I would only be able to answer that anyone considering doing so should take into account the very real possibility that an updated and cleaned-up new edition may be forthcoming. Of course, I also can't guarantee that any such edition will actually see the light of day. As such, I have no regrets on my part, but less risk-averse fans might think otherwise.

A good, if not definitive resource with some noticeable flaws, October 19, 2010
The LOST Encyclopedia will not bring a bevy of new insights or craved "answers" for fans of the show, but it is a solid catalog of facts and histories from the show's vast mythology. I wouldn't call it comprehensive, but it's an enjoyably casual reference for fans of the show.

The biggest negative trait of the book is the sloppy editing. Despite being delayed multiple times before its release, the articles still contain numerous typographical errors (I'd estimate one every couple of pages on average), far more than should be acceptable for a professionally published work like this. There are even entries that are OUT OF ALPHABETICAL ORDER: under "D," there are three entries ordered "Donovan," "Dogen" and "Doctors." I know it's something most people won't lose a lot of sleep over, but as an English major I found them impossible to ignore and quite distracting from the flow of the book.

More important and germane to the nature of the LOST Encyclopedia, there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to the emphasis placed on some elements of the show in contrast to others. For example, on the same two-page spread, Eddie Colburn, a minor character featured in ONE flashback episode, is given as much attention as Edward Mars, a character who appeared in multiple flashbacks and on the Island. Another example: there's a massive two-page entry dedicated to the RECORD PLAYER in the Swan station. The same amount of space is given to the blast door map, one of the pivotal set pieces of the series. If I had to guess, I'd say that such decisions were made to make the articles fit into neat two-page layouts, with the visual presentation emphasized over the relevance of information.

As mentioned in a previous review, the alphabetization of the entries is slapdash. If you want to actually look up an obscure element of the show rather than just casually browse the book, you may find yourself taking several guesses on what your query may be titled before you find it. For example, if you want to look up the glowing river alternatively called "The Source" or "The Heart of the Island," you won't find it listed under either of those two names. Instead, it is mentioned in a brief paragraph in the massive entry "The Island," as well as intermittently in other entries. Other aspects of the show that this fan thinks should have entries but do not, based on their importance in the show, include the Whispers, Time Travel, and the Donkey Wheel.

Now, to the positive. Given the existence of the much more comprehensive fan wiki "Lostpedia," the biggest appeal of The LOST Encyclopedia is not the depth or organization of its entries. Instead, it is the hundreds and hundreds of visual aids that accompany the entries, along with photos of LOST props and locales sprinkled liberally throughout the book. All of the entries on the major Dharma stations feature original diagrams. There are hundreds of close-ups of key props, such as Faraday's journal and maps used by the characters, as well as more obscure pieces like Drive Shaft promotional posters and the contents of Kate's time capsule. Most fans have never had an opportunity to see such components of LOST lore this clearly and up close.

The encyclopedia also features a number of ancillary elements that exist outside of the show, thus establishing them as canon while also exposing them to fans who may not have seen them before. The entry for Alvar Hanso contains information about Thomas Mittlewerk and Rachel Blake, characters featured only in the LOST Alternate Reality Game "The LOST Experience." The article on the Purge includes a copy of the truce between the Others and the Dharma Initiative, previously available only to those who bought the special edition of the Season Five box set. There are even translations of many of the hieroglyphics featured on sets and props from the show, engravings that would be impossible to discern from screencaps.

Ironically, the unofficial Lostpedia easily remains the definitive source of information on LOST even after the release of this book. Really, The LOST Encyclopedia functions best as a kind of coffee table attraction, a tome to peruse for the sake of curiosity as opposed to a serious study of the show's mythology. While its numerous textual errors give some entries an unpolished feel, from a strictly visual perspective the book is stunning. It's not easy to produce as many new images from a show as heavily scrutinized as LOST, but the material unique to the book, as well as the conversational tone best suited to enjoyable casual reading, make it worth the buy.

No buts-this book is canon, October 12, 2010
I still highly recommend this book to anyone who loved Lost. If you want a gift for your favorite Lost fanatic, this is the only book you should consider buying. That is because this is the only book written with the help of the Lost producers. It is fact-canon. Other books may theorize what happened in the Lost world but this is the only book that tells you what did happen.

"No great depth" said the previous review! I was amazed at all the depth and details. Just a few examples: Jacob appreciated Widmore's loyalty and allowed him to rise to leadership with Eloise. Jacob had Alpert strip Widmore of his position and banish him. Danielle arrived on the island after the Purge. Ben planned to fool Juliet into releasing the gas from the Tempest killing herself, the 815 survivors and the freighter crew. Plus it confirms things we suspected like Widmore being the one to execute the Purge of the Dharma Initiative via gas from the Tempest and the one who told his goons to slaughter the Ajira 316 survivors.

There is very little on the flash-forwards. The 14 or so pages (text is limited to brief recaps) are tacked on the end of the book after the index like an afterthought. Given this is an encyclopedia there isn't much for the writers to say about them anyway but the placement is very odd.

Know what else is odd? Apparently the editors didn't show up for work! I found too many instances of misplaced and repeated text including this gem in a series of bullets about Shannon; "Loudly whined about Marshal Mars dying too callously." LOL! It is sooo annoying when someone dies callously! That probably should have been "Callously whined about Marshal Mars dying too loudly."

I also found overall that the text lacked clarity. Many paragraphs were poorly worded and clumsy. In places grammatical errors left the text unnecessarily ambiguous. It's obvious that neither the publisher nor the writers were up to the task of producing this book properly which is sad. Or perhaps the producers are at fault for not choosing writers who could produce clean text under a tight deadline.

I'm still giving it five stars because the book looks great (all 400 pages), it contains a mountain of information that is all canon (which no other Lost book can claim) and it is relatively cheap for all it contains. For all its faults, it still makes the best gift you can buy for any kind of Lost fan from the causal fan all the way up to the Lost fanatic.

Coffee Table Book, NOT Encyclopedia, November 27, 2010
First off, let me explain that this is a coffee table book, plain and simple. It is hardly encyclopedic and exhaustive like I had expected. Every page is crammed full of large photos and the text is squeezed in the left over space as an afterthought. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with pictures, but why do they have to dominate the entire thing? I wanted an encyclopedia with lots of information and painfully detailed entries. Instead, they delivered an excersize in photoshop. When I actually saw this thing, I was really surprised how tall and thin it was. I was expecting something squat and fat, more along the lines of a dictionary. The proportions further emphasize the coffe-table-bookedness of this thing.

If you already own this book and enjoy it, then I do not mean to take away from your enjoyment. I simply would like to warn those who haven't purchased this and who are on the edge to NOT buy it. At the very least, go to Barnes and Noble (like I did) and check it out first. If it's what you want and you are pleased, then I am happy for you. But I will be sticking with my guides by Nikki Stafford, which I can't say enough about. I really hope some day someone will come along and give us the thousand-page treatment this material deserves.

Overall nice, if not a complete presentattion, November 20, 2010
Now I will readily admit that I do not actually own the book yet (I'm planning on ordering it ASAP), but I have read some of it at local bookstores and so far I do think it will be worth the purchase, and a nice complementary book to the LOST series. I did notice that some entries were oddly ordered, and although I haven't read much, I did notice an error in Alex's entry -- in reference to the episode "Stranger in a Strange Land" from season three, it stated that Alex opened the door of Jack's cell in the Hydra station so that he could stop Juliet's trial, which was not true -- in the episode "I Do," she unlocked Jack's cell door in the Hydra station which led to him seeing Kate and Sawyer on the monitor, but in the episode about Juliet's trial, Alex actually broke Jack out of one of the cages OUTSIDE of the Hydra station, when Jack asked to see Ben (so that he could save Juliet). I know this may be a minor mistake, and I may not have a right to gripe since I don't actually own this book yet, but as a rabid LOST/Jack fan, mistakes like that rub at me the wrong way. I also don't understand why some minor characters (like the undercover cop in one of Locke's flash back episodes), had a picture in his entry, but other characters (like Ben's childhood sweetheart, Annie) did not. Was it a space issue, or could they not get permission to use them? It was more likely the first, but still, that doesn't seem right to me. Especially since this is an offical encyclopedia.

Also, I wish that the book had a section devoted to the Flash-sideways - not like the one in the back of the book, but a special one that explains characters only in that world (i.e, Sayid's brother, and David Shephard), and the events that took place. I wasn't expecting answers to be explained that weren't in the show (Lindelof and Cuse are determined to be cagey about those), but a whole season was devoted to the Flash-sideways, and although those stories may have confused/pissed off people, I liked the majority of them, and would've liked them included. To have them omitted feels to me like they weren't a part of LOST - like the writers had "buyer's remorse" a little too late. But it WAS LOST, and they should be in the book! It makes me sad that they weren't.

And to the reviewer who mentioned the ordering of the characters listed in the Flashsideways - I think it begins with Desmond and ends with Jack because they were the two most important people in the FS. At least, that's what I think...?

Overall, though, I will gladly get this book in a few weeks if I can. It's a nice looking book, and the LOSTIE in me demands it. =)

Great book, but with painful grammatical and other editing errors, October 19, 2010
This is a great book for any die-hard LOST fan. It includes a number of details and clarifications that have not been offered anyplace else, which makes it indispensable. At the same time, many valuable features that one can find on Lostpedia.com (unofficial Lost encyclopedia online) are missing. Things like full lists of episode titles and summaries of each season, and, especially, timelines, character and mystery statuses. The book is also missing an index, which is quite odd for a publication of this nature, and makes it impossible to cross reference. This would lead me to believe there was not enough room to include all these features, which makes it somewhat curious that Sawyer's reading list, for example, is including twice in the book. Indeed, a number of facts and pictures are duplicated, while others are left out entirely.

My biggest complaint though is the number of grammatical errors. Someone who wrote or edited the book has a lot of trouble identifying the subject of a sentence. For instance, one sentence reads "Before his father went on the Kahana mission, Michael tried to make contact with Walt." What this sentence means is that Michael's father went on the Kahana mission, but this is incorrect--it was Walt's father, Michael, who went on the mission. This type of incongruent-subject error is very frequent in the book. I've only read about 1/10 of it so far and have found similar mistakes five times already, as well as a number of typos.

Most books have some mistakes, partly because our eyes tend to see what we know to be correct, so even astute editors miss some of these things. But there's a reasonable limit on just how many mistakes there should be, especially when this book is published by DK, known for its reference and educational books.

I'm glad I bought the book now, but I'm also hoping for a second, improved edition, at which time I'll sell the current one on Ebay and cut my losses.

Fantastic Informative Book for the LOST fanatic, October 15, 2010
I just received my copy of the LOST Encyclopedia last night and while I have only read about 20 entries so far, in no particular order, I can tell I will be very pleased with this purchase. From what I've read so far I am very happy with some of the information I have got from it. It seems there is an entry for every single character that ever had a speaking role on LOST, whether it was a main character or someone who just appeared on the show once and said only 3 words. Almost every location has a detailed entry as well. Another great aspect of the book is that it seems to tie up some small loose ends on the show. While you aren't getting answers for all major mysteries I have noticed loose ends such as why Libby was in the mental institution and if she recognized Hurley was answered to my surprise. I'm excited to read more of the book and I believe it's a must have for any serious LOST fan.

Overall pleased, October 20, 2010
As a fanatic of the show who followed all things CANON, I enjoyed the book overall. It's a great overall resource if you want to look something quick for reference. Whenever I thought something was omitted, it would pop up as information under a different entry.

There are some small errors here and there. But I think they can be taken with a "grain of salt."

Overall it's a great resource for the show. It doesn't offer "answers", but I felt the clarifications on things can be considered as new information. Such as how Ethan joined the others, that Widmore ordered the purge an JAcob suggested to Richard that he be removed from power, etc. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Reviews

The Return of Good Eats, September 29, 2010
Alton Brown continues his record of his distinctive and fun, but still educational food program Good Eats. He includes a DVD with 15 very short clips that include the subjects: cotton candy, plum pudding, cowboy chow talk, grog, egg nog, sugar, turkey carving, fish, French toast, knives, peanut brittle, macaroons, rice, pickles, diner speak. The turkey carving is very useful and well done.
All are done in Alton's inimitable quirky style.
Included in the book itself is an interview with Alton and seasons 6 through 10 which are episodes 81through 164. There are colour illustrations, diagrams and pictures to show various techniques such as shucking oysters. Two or three recipes are included with each episode. There are many good ones here including Cuban sandwiches and Alton's favorite on frying turkeys. Included are equivalent charts and a recipe index.

Everything is done in the fun quirky style of the show which would make this a good book for those a bit hesitant about their ability or the fun of cooking. Cookbook collectors and fans of Alton Brown of course would also appreciate this book.

Kind of Disappointing, October 17, 2010
I don't know if I just didn't remember the scripts from the first 80 episodes, but the first book it seemed like he took more time with the information at the beginning of each episode. The first book had stories and anecdotes about why each episode subject was chosen or a little story about it. In this one he just copied and pasted the opening script from the show. I still love that I get all the recipes plus a few extras, but I wish he had taken as much time with this one as he did with the first. Maybe it was the publisher's fault, pushing him to get it out faster.
I just hope the next one goes back to the first book's style.

Volume 2 - following the same good template from volume 1, September 27, 2010
This is the second book in the Good Eats "series" of book that Alton is putting out covering what he teaches us during the his TV show. It is a very valuable resource for people to learn a lot about a cooking in a fresh, innovative way as opposed to just reading another cookbook. It is a refreshing and entertaining way to discover they why's of cooking rather than just regurgitating recipes. For that I think this book is an excellent resource for people and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about cooking.

My only complaints are the same as they were for the previous edition. The main complaint is that the index doesn't really cover all of the books. This is a very minor problem and one that only real fans of the show will find difficult since, in my case I already have seen all of his shows and might know that I want to do a version of one of the recipes he covered in one of his shows but I have to remember which book contains that episode in order for me to find the recipe. True, the individual indices have all the values we need to go look things up but at the same time, they only index what is in that volume of the series, so if you are looking for something and don't find it in the index then you have to go look it up in the other index to see if the recipe is there instead. I think I'm just spoiled by how easy Alton makes it to understand everything on his show and am wishing that the same ease of use translated to looking things up in these books. I'm hoping/wishing that after a few volumes of the book are out that they include an overall index to make things easier to look up. (I also wrote in my review of the first book that not all of the recipes from the show were included in the book. I don't know if that is still the situation with this book since I have yet to find anything that is not included in the book.)

Overall I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book...especially for people that are new to cooking or shy about cooking since it does contain a treasure trove of information that can be unbelievably helpful to people whether they watch the show or not.

Buy it if you have any interest at all in cooking and why things happen the way they do.
Don't buy it if you don't cook or don't like thinking beyond just following a recipe step by step.
Definitely buy it if you are a fan of Alton Brown and his show.

Another outstanding Voume to the series!, October 18, 2010
What an excellent follow up to the 1st book, Good Eats "The Early Years." Yet again, I am very happy to have purchased the 2nd Volume in this series. Just a short blurb about us: I admit it, we are foodies. It started with my hubby (a bit like Alton Brown so naturally he was happily drawn to the show Good Eats) who quickly addicted myself and both of our daughters. We were immediately drawn to the entertainment factor and unbelievable tips and bits of information/education. We are devote Alton Brown fans. Anyone who can bring the level of education/information he does in such a fun way in just 30 minutes is awesome!

This hardcover book is simply gorgeous and is of the same size and thickness of the 1st book in this series. Attractive and worthy of being a coffee table book and simply a delight to hold and look through. This is a large book (10.3 x 9.3 x 1.7 inches ) and not to mention VERY thick with each of the 431 pages filled to the brim with information, diagrams and photos. The handy Conversion Charts are on page 422-423 and the Index is from pages 424-431. The format of this book is similar however greatly improved in my opinion with an upgrade in font and general format of the added tips & photos. The easiest way to locate specific episodes is the by using the Contents page with very simply lists the episodes in a very easy to use format. Much tidier. The book covers Seasons 6- 10; Episodes 81-164. An added bonus of an included DVD from Alton Brown: 15 Short Stories (The Middle Years) The book cover also happily informs us that Volume 3 Good Eats: Infinity and Beyond is soon to come!

After the section for his interview you jump right into the episodes. Each episode is very nicely set up:
* Title of episode, along with Season and number, and information about the episode.
* In depth "Knowledge Concentrate" which is VERY helpful things to know. Not too long, but just the right amount of information to keep you from drooling.
* The recipes (which Alton refers to amusingly as "Applications") themselves in a VERY well written way that is easy to follow and understand. Outstanding job with putting the recipes in this book!
And of course, in addition to the above, each episode is filled with diagrams, photos, tips and more.

You will absolutely relive each episode and have the information in your hands to run to the kitchen with and use right away. Alton brings his humor, science and character to every inch of this book. At the end of the book, you also have your Conversion Charts/equivalents (for Weight, Volume & Oven Temperature) As with well the recipes (ahem: Applications), these charts are easy to understand and use. This book does NOT have a poster book cover but does include a fun DVD called "15 Short Stories"

This was a gift for my hubby (You know, the guy who can't stop watching Good Eats and anything Alton Brown, lol) and I am very pleased with the quality and information in this gorgeous book. A must have for any Good Eats fan, a great idea for a gift (and useful as you don't have to go watch episodes and jot down recipes while watching) WELL worth the full price of $37.50 and even better at the Amazon price :o)

You've Seen the Movie; Now Read the Book!, November 7, 2010
Alton Brown and his merry band of studio accomplices have created the best dual medium cooking product since Julia Child launched Mastering the Art of French Cooking and PBS' The French Chef. On his televised series (I also bought the DVD set), Alton demonstrates a gift for clearly presenting dishes I want to cook while increasing my understanding of cooking techniques and equipment and how things all come together. As in Good Eats 1: The Early Years (which I also own), the text closely tracks the televised episodes. For fans, the book has sidebars with inside tidbits about filming, which of the merry band did what and a written version of the DVD "Ask Alton" section. Buy the package and you won't regret it. Plus, you get the whole teaching-training program of tell 'em what you'll teach, show 'em how and finally, remind 'em what they've learned. With this book, Alton even gives you the notes!

Alton organizes each recipe using "GeekSpeak" titles: 'knowledge concentrate', 'application', 'software' and 'procedure'. "Hardware" items are discussed in sidebars about, say 'pots and pans.' I find this presentation to be very well organized but the titles seem a little 'precious' with repeated cooking from the book. I do like Alton's commentary on running changes he has made to recipes and techniques based on his own experiences with food preparation. The overall effect is one of having a personal tutorial by Alton in your home, complete with conversational 'asides.'

Unlike the "Iron Chef" series Alton hosts, there is nothing 'foodie' about ingredients and there is nothing elaborate about procedures. This is 'straight ahead' cooking for all of us but with really good recipes and techniques so things come out better than expected and better than the recipes do from the 'average' cookbook.

As good as the first....., October 2, 2010
There are three places I turn to offline for culinary knowledge. I have tried and enjoyed dozens of AB recipes and I love the show Good Eats. In this book (as well as Volume 1, Good Eats: The Early Years) you will find recipes as well as instructions for preparation (and blueprints if you will of AB's most famous or notorious multi-tasking gadgets) sorted by episode. There's a good ol' fashioned index do-hickey included if you don't have the episode names and order memorized. Kids, you might have to get help from your parents to use it but don't worry, it won't hurt your eyes or anything. It's the perfect source for recipes and procedures I'm too lazy to write down and I can use it when the darn carpal tunnel is acting up.

All the best recipes plus a few extras are included. Some of the recipes and procedures have been tweaked from their on air format. Often this has to do with feedback from the shows. Recipes are made easier, procedures are made more convenient, and sometimes they are even made tastier if AB has changed his way of thinking in the years since the original air date.

Don't worry, these are improvements. It's nothing like the whole George Lucas, Star Wars Special Edition debacle.

The other sources you ask? Well, there's the previously mentioned Good Eats Volume 1 and another AB book, Gear for Your Kitchen which I always consult before shopping. ... Read more

Editorial Review

MAD MEN: THE ILLUSTRATED WORLD is an engaging celebration of the life and times of the 'mad men' of Madison Avenue in the early 1960s.This book is by turns funny, kitschy, sophisticated and wry, and this full colour miscelleny is both a memento and a stand-alone salute to the time of slim suits, prosperity, cocktails, and the golden age of advertising. With chapters on the office, the home, fashion and beauty, mainstream and counterculture, travel and rainy day activities, this all-encompassing anthology is the only companion a fan will ever need. The only official MAD MEN publication, this tie-in to the wildly popular and cult television series captures the spirit of the era as it might be imagined on one of Sal Ramano's storyboards. ... Read more

Reviews

The Perfect Gift For The Mad Men Fan(atic) in Your Life, October 13, 2010
Unless the person you're buying for is the most casual of fans, they should be delighted with Dyna Moe's sense of humor and eye for details. The art captures with style and wit some of the iconic images devoted viewers know by heart, bringing out clever details. We learn how to make some of your better cocktails and then how to whip up hangover recipes. (The image for the former references Sally's skill with a shaker, and the latter is Betty on the bed after "A Night To Remember.")There are several pages devoted to a Joan paper doll. Pete with rifle, Paul at his most pretentious, a stewardess making eyes at the cool and collected Don, as well as Sal, and Connie, and Peggy... You'll learn how to create the perfect bouffant, and well as the books you'll need to know about to bluff your way through a cocktail party, phrases for well-meaning squares who might want to attend a freedom ride, and what your secretary's hairstyle means.

Swell!

Great Gift!, October 12, 2010
I purchased this book as a gift to myself. I love it and may purchase it for other Mad Men fans I know. It is so fun to flip through. The fonts are fantastic and it is full of folly and flippant artwork.

Dyna Moe has captured the spirit of the show wonderfully. I just want to crawl into some of the pictures and live there, or slide and swing around on the fonts.

This is a perfect book to keep out on the table...much more satisfying than an overrated magazine and more cost effective than your typical coffee table book.

Buy it, share it, live it.

Fun book for Fans of "Mad Men", November 29, 2010
I purchased this book for a friend who is "mad" about Mad Men. She LOVED it. She worked at that time and in the atmosphere of the show for many years and can relate first-hand to most of what goes on.

Both of us got a laugh out of the paper dolls included in the book. Both of us are of the age that we remember playing with paper dolls when we were young.

Good fun!!

A nice collection of artwork, October 23, 2010
Mostly what it advertises to be: illustrations. Definitely a companion to the hit television series and nor a stand-alone book... too many of the inside jokes would get past you.

Mad Men Party!, October 31, 2010
The drinks are accurate and quite potent. There are hangover remedies in here for that too.
He illustrations could not possibly be any more cute or charming... even if they include pregnant women smoking (remember kids... it is just a drawing, it was only once real! Don't try this at home!)
The jokes can get raunchy but fit the show plot points.
Who doesn't want a Joan Holloway paper doll? Who doesn't want to sing "L'Amour ooh-la-la" as cute as Joan can (with or without accordion!)
This book is lot of fun amongst adults and fans of the show... even those don't watch the show are humored by the "bouffant" directions, the drink mixes, the "rainy day games" and begin telling me stories of their own childhood times making Betty look like a Nobel-Prize-mothering-nominee. Fascinating.
I would like to go the record wishing for something with maybe a Peggy Olson feature... Sequel perhaps? Because, how the heck does Crane get to write about bow ties, Sterling get a two-page giggle on Hotel Trysts and yet Peggy only get a cute image or three? More Peggy! Even if Joan is my Beloved Favorite!

Did I mention three seasons of Joan paper dolls? I cut them out, put them on magnet backings and stuck them onto my file cabinet at work... very, very, very popular with all! ... Read more

Editorial Review

Since the dawn of history man has searched for the answer to the most fundamental of questions: “Why am I here . . . not banging chicks?” The search is over. Now, with the help of The Playbook, you’ll be able to approach any beautiful woman, discover her innermost passion, and use that to trick her into sleeping with you. You’ll master more than 75 seduction techniques, developed by pickup guru and all-around good guy Barney Stinson, guaranteed to turn you into a bona fide ladies’ man. ... Read more

Reviews

Suit Up!, October 7, 2010
This is a hilarious read, another gem from the 'How I Met Your Mother' series. The "plays" Barney Stinson uses to pick up women would not work on a girl with half a brain in real life, but nevertheless, it's fun to think about trying to pull off some of these moves on girls. You take it for what it is-- a great extension of a great episode of the show. The ones featured on the show are there: "The Mrs. Stinsfire", "The My Penis Grants Wishes", "The Cheap Trick", "The Scuba Diver", "The He's Not Coming", "The Snasa", "The Don't Drink That!", "The Ted Mosby", "The Scuba Diver", and among others, my personal favorite, "The Lorenzo Von Matterhorn."

There are exactly 76 plays broken down into sections from the basic to the advanced. Each play has its own fact sheet. You're given a success rate, what type of woman the play attracts, the requirements to perform the play, the prep time, and the "bummers", which is a way of saying "but here's the catch."
From there, the play is broken down into steps. The rest is self-explanatory.
I won't explain any of the new plays in detail, but I'll give you a couple play names so as to build a little intrigue:
- "The Little Orphan Barney"
- "The Ghost"
- "The Mannequin"
- "The Confused Inheritor"
- "The Ballet Defector"
- "The Vampire"
- "The I Can Land This Plane"
- "The Trojan Lesbian"
- "The Ghost Of Christmas Future"

It carries much of the same type of humor as 'The Bro Code.' It follows common stereotype assumptions of men and women, leaves little remarks, anecdotes and/or tips at the end of some plays (and in between) and extensively uses sarcasm to make very obvious points. If you're a fan of 'The Bro Code', I highly recommend picking this up. It's creative and smart and I doubt would be offensive or repulsive in any way to anyone. As a matter of fact, I think it appeals just as much to women as it does men, especially those women who have been the target of some ridiculous pick-up scheme (I'm guessing that's somewhere in the range of most to all). After all, they're the "victims" in this, so to speak. Might as well make light of it.

Like the show, 'The Playbook' is well thought out, well executed, and well... just plain quirky. Hopefully it wins your praise as well.

Note: The episode this book is based on is called 'The Playbook.' It's episode 8 of Season 5 and the 96th of the series.

Grade: A+

Bro! Suit up!!, October 27, 2010
How could you not love this stuff. Too funny. The HIMYM writers are great. Love the show. Love the books. Barney is great. Ted is a tool. See if you can find this at like half price books or something. I know it's really cheap already but still... It's such a fast funny read you can easily read the entire thing in the bathroom in one morning. Borrow it from a Bro.

Do Not Try This At Home, October 24, 2010
This is basically a spoof version of pickup artists' routines manuals such as The Art of the Approach and Rules of the Game, and as such should be considered more of a companion piece to the show than an actual how-to guide because it demonstrates the absurd lengths Barney will go to for his next conquest. While I'm certain you can pull off The Fireman in the real world because I've been mistaken for one at least twice just by wearing a Boston Fire duty T-shirt I got online, there's no way you're going to find a girl so stupid that she'll fall for The Olympian's lock-in prop of an aluminum foil-wrapped oatmeal raisin cookie posing as an Olympic silver medal. ... Read more

Editorial Review

'How I survived beauty pageants, Elvis, sex, Bruce Willis, lies, marriage, motherhood, Hollywood, and the irrepressible urge to say what you think.'

From wholesome beauty queen to saucy cover girl, from heartbreaking movie star (THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, TAXI DRIVER) to one of television's most loved comediennes (MOONLIGHTING, CYBILL), Cybill Shepherd is renowned as sassy, shocking and sexy. In CYBILL DISOBEDIENCE, she opens her heart with the wit and honesty of a star who's seen and knows it all. ... Read more

Reviews

A Genuine Cybill Fan
I have to say that I truly loved this book. I laughed out loud many times. I really enjoyed Cybill's frankness and honesty about her past experiences. I have been a fan of Cybill Shepherd since her Moonlighting days. Even back then, there was always something that I admired about her. I couldn't put my finger on it until I read this book. Cybill reveals many secrets about her life over the years, especially her various sexual encounters. She also writes about her many experiences in movies and TV. I am a young woman and could very much relate to her tales of love, lust and betrayal. Cybill states clearly that she always did what pleased her and what pleased her was sex. Only a woman like Cybill could make a comment like that. She is so candid and such a real person. Some of us feel might feel this way but don't have the guts to say so. It's very hard to take an honest look at yourself and then reveal your soul to everyone. You can see how she has grown and realized the mistakes that she has made along the way but more importantly how she has learned from them. I admire her courage and strength for that. So, Kudos to Cybill for such an honest and humerous look at her very interesting life. I am an even bigger fan now than I was before.

Moonlighting with Cybill
Yes, Cybill jumps in and out of bed with quite a few men, but the world used to be more carefree back in the seventies and eighties. At least she wasn't a drug addict or alcoholic. Being a blue-eyed blonde myself, I identified with some of the catty things she went through with other women. I was intriqued reading the parts about her shows Moonlighting and Cybill. She had a rough time of it, but hung in there and I am sure she is stronger for it. Christine Baranski, I was surprised to read, was a little stinker! I couldn't put the book down and I am more of a fan of hers now than I was before I read the book. She has raised three gorgeous children and done a heck of a job of it. She has nothing to be ashamed of. All you ladies need to read this! A great story and inspiration for single moms with kids to raise alone. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Reviews

Gorgeous book - Good Eats at your fingertips!, August 27, 2009
I admit it, we are foodies. It started with my hubby (a bit like Alton Brown so naturally he was happily drawn to the show Good Eats) who quickly addicted myself and both of our pre-teen daughters. We were immediately drawn to the entertainment factor and unbelievable tips and bits of information/education. We are devote Alton Brown fans. Anyone who can bring the level of education/information he does in such a fun way in just 30 minutes is awesome!

This hardcover book is simply gorgeous. Attractive and worthy of being a coffee table book and simply a delight to hold and look through. This is a large book (10.3 x 9.3 x 1.7 inches ) and not to mention VERY thick with each of the 395 pages filled to the brim with information, diagrams and photos. This book has a chapter for each of the 1st 80 episodes of Good Eats (thus the reason behind the title: The Early Years. The book prologue happily informs us the volume 2 "The Middle Ages" is soon to come)

After the section for his interview you jump right into the episodes. Each episode chapter is very nicely set up:
* Title of episode and information about the episode.
* In depth "Knowledge Concentrate" which is VERY helpful things to know. Not too long, but just the right amount of information to keep you from drooling.
* The recipes themselves in a VERY well written way that is easy to follow and understand. Outstanding job with putting the recipes in this book!
And of course, in addition to the above, each chapter is filled with diagrams, photos, tips and more.

You will absolutely relive each episode and have the information in your hands to run to the kitchen with and use right away. Alton brings his humor, science and character to every inch of this book. At the end of the book, you also have your Conversion Charts/equivalents (for Weight, Volume & Oven Temperature) As with the chapters and recipes, these charts are easy to understand and use. This book also comes with a book cover which is actually a poster in disguise, pretty cool.

This is a gift for my hubby (You know, the guy who can't stop watching Good Eats and anything Alton Brown, lol) and I am very pleased with the quality and information in this gorgeous book. A must have for any Good Eats fan, a great idea for a gift (and useful as you don't have to go watch episodes and jot down recipes while watching) WELL worth the full price of $37.50 and even better at the Amazon discounted price right now. Not to mention free amazon shipping eligible.

Good Eats for your countertop - a multi-use tool., August 26, 2009
Finally! No more having to dig through the search engine of the food network website or dreading that I wrote the wrong measurement or ingredient while watching the show and frantically trying to copy all the juicy "tidbits"! No more looking at the DvD collection and sighing at the price, knowing I could never afford it! It's Good Eats, concise, compact and affordable.

This volume contains the first 6 seasons and covers all 80 shows, covering: steak, spuds, eggs, baking, grilling, jams, frying, apples, mushrooms, and many more Good Eats.

All of the tidbits are here and I dare say if not all, most of them, including updates on some of the tips and hints since the episodes were made (such as the recent teflon scare and how teflon isn't bad below 550F). The recipes from each episode are listed with procedures, diagrams, pictures and notations. It takes the fear away from the complexity of cooking and gives you fun history tips that you can pass on during dinner chat or use in a friendly game of trivial pursuit. Having seen other works of Alton's and considering him the best of the best for telling you how, when and why with science to back it up, I rate this the #1 must have.

BTW, it's printed in a durable binder and the dustjacket folds out into a pulp-fiction type poster (cover art) that I'm seriously considering hanging in the game room due to its fun nature.

Great book but could use some tweaks, September 11, 2009
Ok, I didn't give this five stars...which really kind of hurts to do because I am a huge Alton Brown fan. (My DVR is set to record every episode of Good Eats as it airs, I have autographed copies of all his other books and I've cooked just about everything on the show so far.) Anyway, the book is great, the "knowledge concentrate" is great in that it gets to the point of each topic/show, the recipes that are there are great and well written and the book is very well put together in general.

So why didn't I give it five stars...well mainly because I find myself wishing it had a better way of organizing it and making the information and the related recipes easier to get to when you are cooking and don't really want to improvise and want to try his recipes out. Case in point, I had a bunch of friends coming over for dinner and I had very short notice to throw something together so I was following Alton's recipes for meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Finding the recipes was kind of challenging because i first tried to use the table of contents but that is sorted by the order of the episodes so it isn't really that helpful. next I turned to the index which actually worked very well. I think I am just spoiled by the ease of use of some good eats fan pages websites as easier ways to find recipes by searching by things like food and find myself wishing that was included in the book. I am also hoping (Wishing) that future editions will include some sort of master index (hopefully by food too) so that I can just look up something like "Pork, tenderloin" and see that it was used in his schweinbrauten recipe in episode x, and the recipe is contained in book y on page z kind of thing. Otherwise it is going to be messy to find something since the reader will have to remember which season/book the recipe is in. Other minor complaints involve the recipes. I got very excited to see in the first episode that he included an additional recipe that wasn't in the show but was kind of let down by the scarcity of more of these recipes throughout the book. Also, some of the recipes seem to be missing. Case-in-point, the chapter about pickling is missing some of the recipes he went over on the show such as for "firecrackers" and I had hoped that this book would become my one-stop source for all Good Eats recipes but some of them are missing and must be found on the internet.

The above complaints may be things that are specific to me and not something other general readers would find as a problem. Me, personally, I'm a bit spoiled by how easy Alton makes it to explain and understand some of the complex things about cooking so I wish they took some extra steps to make the book easier to use. Overall though I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book...especially for people that are new to cooking or shy about cooking since it does contain a treasure trove of information that can be unbelievably helpful to people whether they watch the show or not.

Alton is great His work deserves 9 stars *********, June 27, 2010
I hate to give this book a THREE STARS.
My hope is that the editor will correct the problems
before the next edition of the MIDDLE YEARS.

The book is better than expected.
Organized greatly ... how else could you do it except
by Episode. There is an index for looking up by
specific items.

Well thought out.
But if you are buying this book as a gift for someone,
then make sure that someone is YOUNG with young eyes

The MAIN text is okay ... as least it is black text on a white background.

Other texts like tidbits is like white font on very light colored background.
I have to hold the book just right ... light over my left shoulder with the
book on an angle AWAY from the light source. This helps to get rid of the glare.

Tomorow I will try some COLOR GLASS to look thru.
Hopefully there is a color combination out there that will increase the contrast.

The publisher must have been worried about people copying the pages.

The pages are probably larger than what a scanner would read and some of the fonts
appear to be less than size 6.

I took my bifocals off and replaced them with just reading glasses.

Book is great ... info is great ...Alton is great ... I would buy again even with the poorly designed fonts.

I will be getting the follow up book also and was hoping this review would help in getting others to also suggest
changing the font color in the next book. Could be the smaller font is there in order to fit in all the good info

Alton Brown's epic trilogy begins with GOOD EATS: THE EARLY YEARS, October 2, 2009
To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the hit Food Network show, "Good Eats," Alton Brown, the series' creator, star, producer, writer and director has released the first book in a planned three volume epic tome on all things culinary, entitled GOOD EATS: THE EARLY YEARS. Covering the first eighty episodes of the show's run, GOOD EATS: THE EARLY YEARS features each episode broken down into its constituent parts, beginning with the "Knowledge Concentrate" section that gives all of the pertinent scientific background on the food featured in the episode and ending with the "Application," Brown's tech-jargon moniker for the recipes from the show. Done in true Alton Brown style, each section also features behind the scenes trivia interspersed with some cooking tidbits and tips along with plenty of diagrams of some of the "hardware" that one will need to carry out certain recipes. The massive book is jammed with 140 recipes, over 1,000 photos and weighs in at over three pounds, though Alton claims that this is due to the depleted uranium that they added to the ink. For good measure, the dust jacket also folds out into a full size poster of Alton.

The book is exactly what you would expect from the phenomenally talented Alton Brown. It is exceptionally researched and written in an easily accessible and incredibly entertaining manner. The recipes are simply not just rehashed versions of those learned while Brown was a student at the New England Culinary Institute, but rather are approached always from an inquisitive and innovative perspective. Brown never does something simply because that is how it has always been done. He instead breaks each recipe down to ascertain exactly why things are done a certain way and what exactly each ingredient is bringing to the finished product. Brown even states that some of the recipes differ slightly from when he first presented them on his show, because over time he found better ways to improve the flavor.

There is something for everyone in this book, including basics like preparing various meats and seafood, livening up comfort food standards such as macaroni and cheese and baking a variety of desserts. The book even moves into the more exotic when Alton gives instructions on how to make a "Moo-Less Chocolate Pie" that has a secret ingredient that will most likely shock most readers. Brown has also gone through and converted any of the volume measurements originally used in some of the baking recipes on the show into the more widely accepted, and more precise, weight measurements and includes a conversion chart between metric and imperial in the index.

Just as Brown describes the show "Good Eats" as being a cross between Julia Child, Mr. Wizard and Monty Python, GOOD EATS: THE EARLY YEARS follows suit, with Brown's trademark humor used to not only make cooking more fun, but also to teach something along the way. If there is one cookbook that you buy this year, it should definitely be GOOD EATS: THE EARLY YEARS. With its extensive encyclopedic information, great recipes, and humorous tone, GOOD EATS: THE EARLY YEARS is a book that you will be coming back to again and again.

Excellent book, but missing a few key recipes, October 24, 2009
Alton Brown is, quite simply, the best talent the Food Network has, and this book is a great review of the first few years of Good Eats. Brown manages to cram all the important stuff in each episode into less than a page in each chapter, as well as bringing *most* of the best recipes from each show into the book and giving much background and trivia on the production and cast of each show. It's a very worthy addition to anyone's cooking science shelf.

That said, I wish they hadn't left out a lot of the second-string recipes -- there's only one chocolate chip cookie recipe out of a show that featured three (though there's presumably enough information in the "knowledge concentrate" to recreate them), and the recipe for stovetop mac and cheese (a huge favorite of mine, and one I've recommended to others) simply isn't here. That's rather a shame -- it's not like they're hard to find on the Food Network website, but in focusing only on the marquee recipes Brown left out a lot of hidden gems.

Still, nothing that is in here is the least bit disappointing, and most of it is flat out awesome; it's not the bible of kitchen geekery by a long shot, but it definitely belongs on the same shelf with Shirley Corriher, Harold McGee, and Herv� This.

Great Gift for Alton Brown Addicts & Foodies, August 11, 2010
If you are a fan of Alton Brown and his detailed food information and trivia, you will love this book. It is organized by episode with all the great information he provides in each of his shows. It is a huge book with volumes and volumes of information. My husband sat down and read it like a book, not a cookbook when I gave it to him. This is a great companion to the episodes and a superb reminder of all those facts and details you wish you could remember when you watch the show. My only complaint is that I wish there were a list of the recipes in the book you could quickly scan when you are looking for something. A great gift for all Alton Brown addicts and foodies.Good Eats: The Early Years

I absolutely love it., January 17, 2010
The only food book you will ever need. It's not only informative, but entertaining and easy to read. This book has lots of good information in it, and isn't just another "recipe book." I love his style because he shows you how to
do things from start to finish, instead of just making a recipe. I have learned so much from Alton Brown that I
rarely use any of my other cook books. I can't wait for the next volume. If there were six star ratings, I would
give it six stars.

Alton does it again!!, September 9, 2009
I am a big Alton Brown fan and this book exceeded my expectations. I am a cook for whom information is a catalyst to go cook something. Alton's approach arms me with the information I need to be successful in the kitchen. Yahoo!

That said, what I love about this book is all the great information presented in an excellent format. There are 'knowledge concentrates' which give you the fabulous (and very 'Alton') core data about a particular item. There are additional blurbs (in green boxes) which give you explanations for things like clarified butter and flan vs. creme, etc. which don't turn up in the recipe searches online. There are tips called out and background stories about episode ideas, etc. All this is presented episode by episode. When I have something to prepare, I turn first to Alton. This is a great resource!!

The book is a substantial tome (almost 400 pages) and I think well worth the money. The poster is just a bonus (ok, not something I'd ever hang!). A must have for my fellow foodies-in-the-making. I can't wait for the next installment.

Incredible resource, February 24, 2010
I have gotten myself addicted to watching his shows. This allows me to bring them into the kitchen with me without having to endanger my laptop. I was disappointed to find a few of his recipes from the shows are missing here, but there are bonus ones that aren't covered so it evens out, I guess. This book is for the people who want to try everything they see on the show, but don't want to bring their televisions or laptops into the kitchen. ... Read more

Editorial Review

From Ryan Murphy, the creator of Nip/Tuck and Popular, comes GLEE, a one-hour musical comedy that follows an optimistic high school teacher as he tries to transform the Glee Club by inspiring a ragtaggroup of performers to compete in the biggest competition of all, Nationals. Size Closed: 11.5" W x 11.5" H. Size Opened: 11.5" W x 23" H. ... Read more

Reviews

Great Calendar!, August 12, 2010
This calendar looks great. The photos are high quality and the paper is not too thin. A moderate amount of space to write in on the dates, wish it was a bit more, but it's probably adequate. It does have some pretty minor innuendos that I wasn't aware of before buying (are you questioning my badassness, it's all about the pleasing and not about the teasing, I'm a dude and I have needs) I'm hoping my 7 year old doesn't read these and ask me what they mean! But, all in all, I'm happy with my purchase and I think this would be great for any of you Gleeks out there! ... Read more

Editorial Review

Days of Our Lives
A Celebration in Photos

Days of our Lives 45 years a celebration in photos is an unprecedented photographic journey behind the scenes of the longest-running scripted program in NBC's history, Days of our Lives. Including both vintage and recent behind-the-scenes photos, this book showcases the beautiful cast, dedicated crew, and familiar sets of a television icon that continues to this day to bring the beloved world of Salem to its loyal viewers.

Beginning with rare black-and-white historical photos and including a wealth of new never-before-seen full-color photos, this is a spectacular tour of over 250 pages of the cast, crew, sets, and styling from 1965 to 2010 that create the magic behind the show.

Welcome to an unparalleled peek into the TV magic of creating Days of our Lives-a blast from the past all the way to the stars of today, with a glimpse of what's to come.

"What began as a dream of my parents, Ted and Betty Corday, 45 years ago has become one of the most beloved shows on television. Days of our Lives is not just part of my family; it is also part of America's family. This book is a beautiful and unparalleled photographic celebration of Days of our Lives today."
KEN CORDAY
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

"What a wonderful celebration of 45 years of hard work, dedication, love, and family. I am honored to be part of television history and excited to share a glimpse of our world with our fans."
KRISTIAN ALFONSO
"HOPE"

"I am so excited that this beautiful book will offer our family of Days fans a special behind-the-scenes tour. This book is an amazing celebration in photos."
ALISON SWEENEY
"SAMI"

Reviews

NOT 45 Years of DOOL, November 13, 2010
I bought this book for my mother, a DOOL fan since the beginning of the show, for Christmas. She is 77-years-old and is in a nursing home. I had believed this to be a pictorial history of 45 years of the show, but there are very, very few photos of anything from the past. It's almost all present time, with the current cast. The photos are very nice, but this is NOT a history of the show, by any means. If you want to stroll down Memory Lane, this won't do it for you. I think it is a disappointment for long-time fans.

enjoyed all the memories!, November 11, 2010
I love this book! The photos are amazing and I love flipping through the memories and having an inside look at my favorite show and cast! Thank you Greg Meng and Eddie Campbell for this book, it is a treasure!!

AMAZING!, November 10, 2010
This book is AMAZING! It is beautiful and entertaining from cover to cover. It is a great tribute to the DOOL 45 years. I bought this book for myself, but it would make a wonderful gift for any DOOL fan. Beautiful, just beautiful.

An inadequate tribute to 45 years of Days of Our Lives, November 14, 2010
The cover photo is a good indication of the main focus of this book--- Present day, behind the scenes photos. The paper is high quality, thick & glossy pages, but the space could have been used much better. This book gives you a tiny glimpse at the history of Days of Our Lives, but does not showcase it. The title is misleading since only the first 55 pages are dedicated to the first 44 years and the remaining 198 pages are modern day behind the scenes snapshots. Some are interesting, but others are simply page filler. I was hoping for a more balanced, complete retrospective, and this just falls short. Not enough pages are dedicated to the history of the show to do it proper justice. I was disappointed to not see popular side characters like Lexi's psychic mother Celeste, Stefano's crazy Dr. Rolf, Vivian's old partner in crime Ivan, or Hope's recent partner Dr. Baker. And I was shocked at the absence of Grandpa Shawn Brady and Tony & Anna DiMera. It's just disgraceful to omit so much of the show's rich history from a 45th anniversary book! The layout could use some work too. The book is roughly organized into 5 sections:

1. In the Beginning (pg 3-15): Vintage black & white photos from the 1960's-1970's
2. Introduction (pg 16-33): Random photos from the 1960's to the 2000's
3. Romance (pg 34-43): A few pages of popular couples
4. Weddings (pg 44-55): A few pages of weddings
5. A Day in Our Life (pg 56-253): Modern day behind the scenes photos; a lot from Alice's memorial taping

Maybe they were under a strict time schedule, but when you have a picture from 1974 on one page, one from 2002 on the next, and a couple from 1986 on the page after that, it gives the book a thrown together feeling. A lot of photos were given an entire page which is nice for good quality shots, but wasteful for others that could have been scaled down to make room for better pictures. Not much text included with this, only photo captions. That's not a problem, although a character/cast list or list of most popular storylines would have been a nice addition. Overall this book is not a complete waste, because there are some nice photos, but I'm glad I borrowed a copy rather than bought one. If the title were more accurate like "Days of Our Lives: Behind the Scenes of the 45th year" then fans wouldn't have a false impression of what to expect. Then the first 55 pages would be a nice added bonus rather than an insufficient portrayal of the past.

MORE CONTEMPORARY DOOL THAN A HISTORY, November 22, 2010
The major selling point for this book are its great pictures, mostly reflecting the show's history over the last decade. It is a nicely (and very professionally) laid out volume which includes candids and studio shots that mix reality with what the viewer sees on tv. Current fans of the show will enjoy it, but the long time fans will be disappointed because this book pretty much ignores the glory days when Doc and Grandma Horton drove the show and the soap was populated with actors like Ed Mallory, Susan Flannery, Mac Carey, Bill Hayes, and Susan Seaforth
The negative part of this book for me is that I wish there had been more pictures that graphically illustrated the show's entire history from its inception. I would have liked to have seen pictures equally distributed by decade with an accompanying blurb about the actors and plots driving the show. I think it would have added an overall sense of continuity. The title implies that this is a photographic tribute to 45 years of DOOL. Truthfully, it pretty much just promotes the current cast and story lines.
This is a good coffee table book, but it could have been so much better.

This book in one word - BEAUTIFUL, November 12, 2010
This book is unlike any book i have ever seen from DAYS or from ANY soap. It is laid out so perfectly. It goes all the way back to black and white photos in 1965 OMG OMG OMG GORGEOUS. I am buying another one

EXCELLENT BOOK (from someone who is very picky), November 21, 2010
I'm very choosy about what I like and dislike; therefore, many of my reviews tend toward the negative. Also, with this economy I can only buy a few new books yearly. This is only my 3rd and probably my last new book purchase this year. But I am totally satisfied with this book of photos. Yes, many of the pictures are current (2010) with some from the 80s and some from the 60s. I also own Lorraine Zenka's DAYS OF OUR LIVES books from 1995 and 2002 so I am glad to have another book of DAYS OF OUR LIVES with more recent pictures. There are even pictures of characters that came back only for Mrs. Horton's funeral. The charters I am referring to and are not regulars on the show at the moment and haven't been for a long time. There is an old picture of the Horton living room from the 60s and later in the book there is a photo of the same living room from 2010. It was interesting to compare the changes of this set. I will enjoy looking at this book for years to come.

"The Royal Treatment For A Royal Show", November 9, 2010
"Days of Our Lives" has gone down in television history as being one of the greatest Amercian soap operas ever broadcast. From being the #1 rated serial in the early seventies while Bill Bell was head writing the show and making the cover of "Time" magazine (the only soap to do so), to being at the bottom of the Nielsen charts in the late seventies and hitting #1 again in 1988, through good writers and absolutely horrific writers (James E. Reilly nearly destroyed the series in the early 2000's), "Days of Our Lives" is the most cherished serial by fans of daytime drama. Time and time again viewers have shown their support for the only soap opera being programmed on NBC, so it is with pleasure that this outstanding coffee table book of photographs (both black and white) is now available for fans of "Days". Over 250 pictures, some never-before-seen, are included. The book is simply a trip down memory lane for viewers, both old and new, and is in essence an encyclopedia of pictorials of actors, stories, and happenings in the fictional town of Salem, U.S.A..

On November 8, 2010 "Days of Our Lives" celebrated its 45th anniversary on the air. This book has been released in celebration to a milestone very few TV shows ever accomplish. Upon publication of the book NBC announced a two year pick-up of the series, renewing the serial through September, 2013. For fans of "Days" and of soaps this is the greatest news we could hear especially in a world where long-running serials have seen their final broadcasts.

Congratulations "Days of Our Lives"; you are a class act!

Days of our Lives 45 Years Picture Book, December 27, 2010
This book was received at Christmas time as a gift to my wife who has watched this show from the beginning. She enjoyed this book much as she went through each page and mentioned the actors like the role of Dr. Horton and many others. She was impressed with the collection of pictures. Yours truly, her hubby Bill

Days of Our Lives 45 Years: A Celebration in Photos, December 15, 2010
I love Days of Our Lives and this book has great pictures and it remindes me of all the great times I have had watching Days. Anyone who likes Days this book is a must. I bought the book at Amazon.com and got the book to me right on time and in great condition. They are very good at getting your purchase out quickly. ... Read more

Editorial Review

The sixth season of the award-winning television series The Office was full of milestones. There was a wedding in Niagara Falls, a surprise pregnancy, and promotions to branch co-manager and salesperson--and that's just Jim and Pam. With all these changes, one thing remains constant, and that's Michael Scott. More precisely, he continues to create cringe-worthy moments, like dating Pam's recently divorced mother and angling to get the scoop on office gossip. The Office--Quotes from the Hit Show on NBC 2011 Day-to-Day Calendar contains memorable quotes from the whole cast of season 6, providing laughs on each page. ... Read more

Reviews

Dissapointing, December 14, 2010
The description should be more specific about the actual calendar.
It is black and white, with no pictures and very cheap paper. Really disappointed with this.

Office calender, December 17, 2010
bought this and The Office Monopoly game as gift for same person. They love the show The Office. And requested these products. Really fast delivery.

i love the office, but not this way..., October 22, 2010
its ok.. if someone really loves the office i say get it.. but if you are not a fanatic you just wont understand.. it's just not as funny when they don't say it do you know what i mean? :( ... Read more

Editorial Review

Go behind the scenes of the daytime television soap opera industry with Boob Tube. Written by Lesleyann Coker (a former reporter for Soap Opera Weekly) and her husband Mark, the two interviewed dozens of soap opera industry insiders for their stories and then fictionalized everything here.

The story:Actress Gina Martin lands a role on a top daytime television soap opera, and days later her predecessor is found dead in the Hollywood hills. Will Gina be next? Boob Tube offers readers a fast-paced read filled with intrigue and humor, and a surprise ending that will leave you breathless. ... Read more

Reviews

Much like a Jackie Collins novel, October 24, 2010
Being a long time fan of Ms. Collins I found the Coker's story to be similar in nature. This is not to say it is as good or that Collins needs to worry about new competition...but I enjoyed reading this story for all the same reasons I am a Collins fan.

I disagree with a previous reviewr regarding the characters being interchangeable. I found each of them quite well devleoped especially the 2 protagonists Gina and Jason. The reader can feel what these two are feeling as well. Simon is reaaly made out to be a leech. Maybe too muc so but given this type of novel it was fun to read about such a dirtbag!

Unlike the other reviewers I enjoyed the twist in the ending. Cheap attempt at surprise? Ye it was but again part of what made the book so fun. If you like a mindless entertaining read to escape reality...which is why I AM sunc a bigk Jackie Collins fan....then read this book.

The real soap opera behind the TV soap opera, October 10, 2010
This fictional story is about the cast and crew of a day time soap opera. There is plenty of romance and scandal, drugs and eating disorders, as well as a good story line. The story contains many of the stereotypical characters including the naive newcomer who is corrupted by the evil manager, the aging diva, the bratty child actor, etc. The authors apparently interviewed many soap insiders prior to writing this story so I have to assume a fair amount of accuracy in the details - frightening. My only complaint is the ending which was abrupt and confusing.
Overall, an entertaining story. Not appropriate for teens.

Good Story - Bad Ending, October 24, 2010
I was really enjoying this story... until the ending. The book feels unfinished and I feel let down. Seems almost like there should have been a "to be continued" tacked on to the last page.

OMG, the confusion..., October 20, 2010
First things first: the premise of this is engaging enough, and I picked it up when it was offered as a free download.

I would have been really disappointed in myself had I bought this one after just finishing it. The ending was extremely abrupt and confusing as the other reviewer pointed out. Maybe it was written to try and mimic the cliffhanger of a soap opera; if that is the case, then the writers failed.

The punctuation and delineation of who was speaking in the book was extremely poor, so be aware of that when you're reading through it. There were paragraphs I re-read to figure out who was speaking simply because of the lack of quotes terminating a sentence, or improper paragraphing to show the end of a discussion. That's the technical critique; let's get back to the story.

This was written with the characters coming back rather flat, which would be appropriate for a soap treatment but not for a book. Better character development is definitely needed. The writers clearly didn't take notes of what their characters were doing in the story either. For example: at one point near the end a character mentions that this is the moment he had been waiting for with a particular female, but he had already experienced that moment with that same female character earlier in the book.

The female characters seemed almost interchangeable with another male character they were interacting with, and some of the issues that came up between characters had very quick and not necessarily logical resolutions. There were deeper issues here that could have been dealt with, and maybe one or two women struck from the entire plotline.

I'd recommend it if it's free, but I wouldn't spend your money on it. ... Read more

Editorial Review

The legendary talk show host's humorous reminiscences and pointed commentary on the great figures he has known, and culture and politics today

For years, Dick Cavett played host to the nation's most famous personalities on his late-night talk show. In this humorous and evocative book, we get to hear Cavett's best tales, as he recounts great moments with the legendary entertainers who crossed his path and offers his own trenchant commentary on contemporary American culture and politics.

Pull up a chair and listen to Cavett's stories about one-upping Bette Davis, testifying on behalf of John Lennon, confronting Richard Nixon, scheming with John Updike, befriending William F. Buckley, and palling around with Groucho Marx. Sprinkled in are tales of his childhood in Nebraska in the 1940s and 1950s, where he honed his sense of comic timing and his love of magic.

Cavett is also a wry cultural observer, looking at America today and pointing out the foibles that we so often fail to notice about ourselves. And don't even get him started on politicians. A generation of Americans ended their evenings in Dick Cavett's company; Talk Show is a way to welcome him back.

Reviews

This collection of Cavett's columns is almost as good as his TV interviews --- which were classics.
Dick Cavett is, for me, like that clich� about the 1960s: If you remember him, you weren't there. I know I wasn't --- he launched his first talk show on 1968, when I didn't own a TV set, and he was pretty much finished with a regular show by 1987, when I finally bought one. So I never had the pleasure of watching him.

But I know about Dick Cavett. He was the smart one. Pretty much, the only smart one.

He was from Nebraska, and blond, and boyish to a fault. He was a gymnast and a magician, and then he went to Yale, where he read a book. But he was obsessed with show business, and, as quickly as he could, became a joke writer for Jack Paar and, later, Johnny Carson.

Then he got his own show --- and reinvented the form. Clive James, who knows a thing or two about talk shows, isolated his genius: "The idea that one man could be both playful and serious was never deemed to be quite natural on American television, and Cavett was regarded as something of a freak even at the time.... Cavett never mugged, never whooped it up for the audience, rarely told a formally constructed joke, and listened to the guest. To put it briefly, his style did not suit a mass audience..."

That's not exactly a knock --- I worked at America Online for a while, where we courted the mass audience as if it held the secret of life. (It doesn't.) In the years since, the Internet has taught us that "niches are riches." Despite this, no one has managed to come up with a way to lure Cavett back to TV.

On the other hand, why should Cavett do TV? It would be almost impossible to top his past. He's 74. And, more to the point, he's got a New York Times column that's won him the devotion of literate grownups --- in my view, the dream demographic.

You can read all of his Times columns online. Or you can buy "Talk Show," which arranges them slightly differently and doesn't excise the "dirty" words. Ordinarily, the tightwad in me would recommend clicking and scrolling. But the thing is, Cavett's columns --- unlike, say, the Times columns of Thomas Friedman and David Brooks --- hold up quote nicely in print.

Cavett started this column before the 2008 election, about which he had a few thoughts. Then his former guests started dying, which fueled a batch of columns. Then there was his personal drama, which took any number of readers by surprise. Finally, there were the show-biz stories, which, are, for some reason, extravagantly satisfying --- very little is more delightful than a star talking like a human.

In 2008, Cavett wrote often about politics. You may not agree with his views. [Richard Nixon didn't. After Cavett testified that John Lennon should be permitted to stay in the United States, his entire staff was audited by the IRS, right down to the lowest secretary. Though maybe that was a coincidence.] But however much you may disagree, I think you have to admire his elegance and timing. Here he is, days after we met Sarah Palin at the Republican convention:

"Performance is the mot juste for what she did at the convention. And I admit that even my own jaded and cynical showbiz heart leapt up as she wowed the adoring crowd with a show-stopper display of charm and personality. I even laughed at two or three of the two or three too many insults directed at Obama. Don Rickles could not have snapped them out better.
Watching a woman, slight of build and full of pizazz so thoroughly bedazzle a vast audience is entertaining. Something chimed in my memory when she brought that crowd to its feet with frantic and worshipful cheering.
Ah, yes. I had seen it all before.
It was Judy Garland at The Palace.
And yet no one offered her the vice-presidency. (Fact-checker: Am I right on this?)"

As a former talk show host, he's a quipster, master of the one-liner. And it shows. About McCain: "I feel a little sorry for John. He aimed low and missed." About Mitt Romney: "There is one question I have not seen Romney asked. It's the one a friend dared me to put to John Wayne when he appeared on a show of mine: Sir, how is it that neither you nor any of your multiple strapping sons have ever served a day in the armed forces?" Bush, however, inspired no wry amusement. He was, simply, "the capering loon who does soft-shoe in the White House while young Americans are dismembered and splattered in Iraq."

His piece on Norman Mailer ends with a great kicker: "I know someone who sure as hell hates being dead." And he consistently has the knack of delivering a jaw-dropper: "Wouldn't it be fun to know if some of the jurors who freed O.J. actually thought he was innocent? (I've decided that if I chance to meet the Juice at a party, I will chat amiably and then say, `If you'll excuse me, I feel the need to talk to someone who hasn't murdered anybody.')"

Like a blogger, he enjoys give-and-take: "Years ago, having just had someone like, say, Jane Fonda on my late-night show, I received the following masterpiece from Waco, Texas, crayoned in block letters on a Western Union telegram blank: `Dear Dick Cavett: YOU LITTLE SAWED OFF [.....] COMMUNIST SHRIMP.' I wrote back, I am not sawed off!'"

Droll. But the price --- and there is one --- was high. For Cavett, it was a bottomless depression: "There were times when I longed for my ancient .22 single-shot squirrel-hunting rifle." In 1973, shock therapy brought him back. Now he seems good for a long, long run.

Lucky for us. There are a few writers running hard behind Cavett, eager for his gig. On any given day, several could be his equal. But not --- as Cavett does in "Talk Show" --- 68 times in a row.

Enjoyable; Cavett's Wry Narrative Brings Back the Memories

From Groucho Marx to Depression, Never A Dull Moment

A Rambling Dialogue From A Talk Show Legend
I wasn't much of a tv watcher in Cavett's heyday. I was going to school, protesting, partying and just generally being a kid. However, when I managed to go home for a visit the folks were usually watching Cavett and I watched, too. My watching wasn't reluctant; I liked the guy and thought he was for lack of a better term 'the anti Johnny' (as in Johnny Carson). He was urbane/folksy/easy/laid back and was a tempered professional with an easy going interview style that I did not find grating.
Today I catch the occasional rebroadcasts of his celebrity interviews on the classic movie cable station TCM and am amazed how good they are. Be it Bette Davis, Hepburn, or Groucho Marx, Cavett managed to get the most out of these people. The same can be said of the politicians and prominent people of the period. My philosophy back then was that if they didn't give it up to Cavett they were probably hiding something.
This book is much like watching the old DICK CAVETT SHOW. It imparts snippets of his growing up years in Nebraska, the interviews he conducted as well as his reactions to his interviewees, as well as funny and odd stories/recollections that happened behind the scenes of his talk show that is considered iconic by some people.
While Cavett has a tendency to ramble, you get the sense that the older man isn't that far removed from the young guy from Yale via Nebraska. There is that blend of thoughtful reflection mixed with curiousity and awe which I always thought made Cavett seem like an everyman to his varied tv audience.
Bottom line is that if you enjoyed Cavett's shows first-run or in rebroadcast, you'll probably like this book. It is much like a trip back in time with current impressions tossed in.

Entertaining and bright.

Editorial Review

A dramatic account of the politics and personalities behind NBC's calamitous attempt to reinvent late-night television.

When NBC decided to move Jay Leno into prime time to make room for Conan O'Brien to host the Tonight show-a job he had been promised five years earlier-skeptics anticipated a train wreck for the ages. It took, in fact, only a few months for the dire predictions to come true. Leno's show, panned by critics, dragged down the ratings-and the profits-of NBC's affiliates, while ratings for Conan's new Tonight show plummeted to the lowest levels in history. Conan's collapse, meanwhile, opened an unexpected door of opportunity for rival David Letterman. What followed was a boisterous, angry, frequently hilarious public battle that had millions of astonished viewers glued to their sets. In The War for Late Night, New York Times reporter Bill Carter offers a detailed behind-the-scenes account of the events of the unforgettable 2009/2010 late-night season as all of its players- performers, producers, agents, and network executives-maneuvered to find footing amid the shifting tectonic plates of television culture. ... Read more

Reviews

An excellent overview of one of the biggest TV stories in years., November 7, 2010
When the Lay Leno/Conan O'Brian "Tonight Show" debacle began, everyone knew there was only one person who could tell the true story: Bill Carter. 15 years after his excellent "The Late Shift," Carter finally gives us the follow-up and it's just as wonderfully detailed and excellent as the first book was.

Carter's writing is amazing as he makes you feel like a fly on the wall for the various meetings. He doesn't make judgements but gives us a balanced tale of the various players with full bios on Conan, Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, Craig Ferguson and more. This allows you to get behind the people who are fleshed out wonderfully.

With Conan, Carter shows that his big problem was being too nice a guy and niave to the network politics. It's astonishing to discover that his people never secured a deal to make sure "The Tonight Show" always followed the evening news, which gave NBC some ammuntion. Another telling remark is on how Conan didn't do as much audience interaction as Leno or Letterman and considered himself a writer, not a performer, which cost him down the line. While Conan is shown as a sympathetic figure, he's not given a free ride by the author.

Leno, meanwhile, doesn't come off as some evil schemer but a nice guy in a hard situation. Carter paints the picture that Leno's decisions are due to his thinking in a time warp, still under the impression that "Tonight Show" is the only late night program people care about. As far as Jay's concerned, HE was the one who had "The Tonight Show" taken from him and he sees nothing wrong with taking it back.

While the focus is on those two, David Letterman gets a lot of attention as well. As in "The Late Shift," Carter illustrates that Letterman was always his own worst critic, taking so much blame on himself despite the wide respect people had for him (such as his post-9/11 speech). That attitude helped him remain popular in the wake of the intern scandal and gave him new fire when he took on Leno. As Carter points out, Letterman was the true heir to the Carson legacy, something NBC always ignored.

The other late night players are focused on (Although Carter does give short shrift to Craig Kilborn, dismissing his five-year run in a page) with how Colbert and Stewart robbed Conan of some of his buzz with younger viewers and their political influence as well as how Kimmel and Ferguson rose well. Jeff Zucker is also given huge attention as a man who can't seem to understand how bad NBC is in the ratings and putting way too much faith in Leno and other quick fixes that don't pan out.

The book comes alive when Leno's prime-time show crashes and burns and the fight for "Tonight Show" ignites. The meetings are wild and dramatic with Conan at one point exploding at NBC execs "what does Jay have on you?" The epilouge notes the shift in power with Jerry Seinfeld making the nice observation that people don't think about "Tonight Show" or "Late Show" but Jay/David/Conan.

While much of it may sound familiar ("the Late Shift" was powerful because there was no Internet back then so much of it came as a surprise) the book is great in its details and that it doesn't take sides helps you connect better. Thankfully, Carter avoids traps such as speculating how Johnny Carson would feel over all this and for anyone who wants the full story of how such a ridiculous situation took place, this is the best source you can possibly read and a great character piece to boot.

Excellent piece of journalism - the definitive account, November 9, 2010
This is one of the most purely interesting books I've read in a very long time. As someone who is fascinated by the entertainment industry, and television in particular, this is about as good as it gets. Bill Carter is a fantastic writer, and he manages to make the events surrounding the Jay-Conan fiasco accessible and exciting without being overly dramatic. It is a solid piece of entertainment journalism, and is seems to be very fair and even-handed. There does seem to be a slight pro-Conan tone throughout, but this could be because many pages are spent on Conan's background and history. This part really drew me in as a reader and I more readily sympathized with Conan because of all the personal details provided. However, I never got the impression that Carter was telling only one side of the story. All three sides (Conan, Jay, and NBC) are all given fair treatment, and Carter's assessment of the actions of each is masterfully related to one another to provide a fuller picture of what transpired. At different points in the book, I got a strong sense of what it must have felt like for each party.

The writing style and flow of the story is excellent. The author does assume the reader has some basic knowledge of how the television industry works, but still provides concise and helpful explanations when needed. The access given to the author is amazing. Bob Woodward-type access. It seems that literally everyone involved talked to Bill Carter, and quite candidly at that. Granted, all sides surely gave their version of events, but thoughts and feelings are always clearly attributed to the different players.

The section about Conan's early years leading up to landing the Late Show in 1993 was very enlightening. Most of the information was new to me, and I have been following Conan for years.

The final few chapters, after the dust had settled, were especially readable and emotional. Carter clearly understood both sides of the story: on the one hand, some people become attached to television shows and talent on an emotional level. To others, it's all business and being a host is nothing more than a job. He cleverly steers clear of making any strong judgments in this respect, instead letting the story (and it's players) speak for itself. The epilogue, however, did give me the impression that that take-away message of this book is that late night television, at the end of the day, is a business. That may be true, but for the viewers, it's much more than that.

The story of real people really screwing up!!, November 16, 2010
Bill Carter does an excellent job of wading through the complexities of the most recent NBC fiasco. Buyers should read "The Late Shift" first, in my opinion, because it tells the reader that some things never change and lays the groundwork for the ultimate conclusion that television is a really brutal business. I found myself shaking my head saying "didn't you guys already mess this up once about 17 years ago?" The book portrays the audacious behavior of NBC executives who (5 years in advance) concluded that Leno would love to retire at age 59 and Conan would just walk down that yellow brick road and believe them! It makes me wonder if ComCast is run any better. One thing that should be clear is people are passionate about their late night viewing. When Carson retired I swore I would never watch Leno. When Leno retired I swore I would never watch O'Brien. The resulting animus was unfortunate, ruined friendships and should teach all of us to take whatever the network says with a grain of salt.

The Best Account of the Late Night Saga, December 11, 2010
I'm a huge fan of Conan O'Brien. I dedicated valuable VHS space to Late Night when I was too young to stay up for it, I celebrated his arrival to the Tonight Show, I've seen him live, I even attended the Team Coco rally outside of his studio in the pouring rain after he announced he would be leaving NBC. I like the guy, I think he's hilarious. And I devoured any information surrounding his divorce with NBC. Naturally, The War For Late Night was an instant purchase for me.

The War for Late Night: When Leno Went Early and Television Went Crazy chronicles the events surrounding O'Brien's ascension to 11:35 and Leno's move to 10:00, and the fall-out that followed. Bill Carter, who also wrote Late Shift, gives unprecedented access to the inner-workings of NBC's decision making by interviewing each of the key players involved. The perspectives of Leno, O'Brien, and Letterman were to be expected, but the addition of Kimmel, Fallon, Ferguson, Stewart, and Colbert were welcome surprises.

The real treat was reading about NBC executives like Jeff Zucker, Dick Ebersol, Jeff Gaspin, etc... The opinions of each late night host have been well documented, they obviously have their personal soapbox four to five days a week, but you rarely get the perspective of the behind the scenes influences. Jeff Zucker in particular had been demonized throughout the whole process (perhaps rightfully so) that insight into his actual character and personality was really surprising. Sure, he lived a little too much in the present, not thinking about the eventual consequences of his decisions, but he was a good person nonetheless, maybe one of the biggest pro-Conan exec at NBC.

It should also be mentioned that Bill Carter is an excellent journalist and writer. I've always avoided non-fiction that centered on pop culture events simply because the writing often feels dumbed down to appease a mainstream audience. Not so with The War for Late Night. The writing is clear, concise, and fairly eloquent. And although it's easy to become a fan of one or more of the hosts featured, a side is never taken in The War for Late Night. The events are laid out as-is, leaving the reader to decide who was right, who was wrong, and who was just misunderstood. Account that to Carter being an expert in the field.

In the end, The War for Late Night didn't really change my opinion on the events that transpired. I still feel that Conan O'Brien should have remained host of an 11:35 Tonight Show and Jay Leno should have walked away into the sunset... But things aren't as black and white as they used to be. It's hard to deny that Jay Leno wasn't a victim of NBC's poor decision making himself. Whatever your ultimate conclusion may be, The War for Late Night is an enjoyable ride through a controversial period in network television. Absolutely worth reading.

Secrets of Late Night Revealed!, November 21, 2010
Bill Carter's new book on the Late Night "wars" is simply sensational and a more-than-worthy sequel to The Late Shift, his earlier book detailing the Leno-Letterman fight to succeed Johnny. Based almost solely on first-hand reporting, Carter--clearly friendly with all of the many players, including all of the late night hosts--sets a new show biz bar for objective, thorough and incisive reporting. You will have to find your own villain--Jay, Zucker, Gaspin, the NBC Affiliate Board? or perhaps none of the above--because thankfully and skillfully, Carter is committed to just giving us the facts and not the answers. There is plenty to think about. Would Jay's show have been better if he had just been allowed to do the same show that he was doing at 11:35? Did Jay's show really disappoint in the ratings or was the real problem the fact that it served as a poor lead-in to most of the affiliates' real profit center, local news? Would Conan's show have had better ratings if NBC had broadcast a traditional television show at 10:00 p.m?

What makes the book particularly interesting is its many moving parts: Would the NBC affiliates begin changing the schedule on their own by broadcasting their local newscasts at 10:00 p.m. and then slotting the Jay Leno show at 10:35 if the new Leno show wasn't cancelled? Were Zucker's actions motivated by a desire for what proved to a futile attempt to impress the eventual new owners from Comcast? Did promising Conan the Tonight Show five years in advance already serve its purpose by preventing Conan from challenging Jay for the five-year holding period? How much damage did the infighting do to Jay's and Conan's careers?

Carter's book in some ways, resembles the saga written about the Eisner-Katzenberg battle in Disney War. This book's main action doesn't revolve just around the battle between Jay and Conan (who it turns out doesn't really respect Jay's comedy skills especially when compared to Letterman's). It's about Conan's team vs. Jay, Jay's executive producer and Zucker, Gaspin and the rest of the NBC brass (including Sports President Dick Ebersol still taking mean shots at the talents of Andy Richter and in disbelief that Conan had to bring back his "baby blanket").

Carter's book is more than just another look at television in-fighting. His remarkable access to every one of the key players offers a real close look at how powerful media people behave under stress. If there are any heroes in this story, it would be Conan (worried about the Tonight Show's television legacy) and his saint-like executive producer Jeff Ross.

Carter's story brings us all the way to September of 2010 where Zucker is forced to announce that he will not be part of the Comcast-NBCU endeavor. Carter also wonders whether Conan would have made the same choice to decline 12:05 a.m. on NBC if he knew that Fox was really in the end not interested and that he would end up on TBS. Stay tuned--I think there is yet another big story to be told since the Leno-Letterman era will soon give way to another generation.

How Network Executives Think (or Don't), December 12, 2010
Bill Carter's story of the well known "leno at 10" experiment is excellent. I enjoyed this book a lot for it's behind the scenes in the decision making of what is probably the biggest business blunder since the introduction of New Coke or the Edsel. Although Carter doesn't take sides on who is better Leno or Conan, this quote from Jeff Garlin (Conan's former roommate) captures it perfectly "the people that Jay appeals to are not comedy fans. It's just the general public. Letterman and Conan appeal to people who are comedy fans. It's like comparing John Coltrane to Kenny G. One of Kenny G's albums probably sold more than all of John Coltrane's library. But you can't tell me for a second that Kenny G is better than John Coltrane". Although this book is in the entertainment section of your bookstores, it really belongs in the business section because it's focus is on the business decisions that were made leading up to the mess that sent Conan to TBS. A really facinating behind the scenes look

The Truth about Leno, December 18, 2010
Sometimes it has seemed like Carter is a little too biased toward Leno. But I hope people realize that Leno really has no life outside of his show, and therefore, ratings are of ultimate importance to him. People are always saying, "Why should he have been made to retire when he was #1?" What do these people think, Leno is just going to go on forever? (Actually, though, since he has no life, he MIGHT AS WELL just go on forever with his talk show.)

And I hope people also realize that being #1 does not always mean you are the best. Leno appeals to Middle America- that is as important of a truth as the fact that he is #1.

And if Leno truly did nothing wrong, why has he not been able to regain his large lead over Letterman? He was gone for less than 1 year, and actually, he wasn't even gone. He was on primetime, more accessible than ever. I hope the public is finally waking up to Leno, and is no longer confusing ratings with talent.

A Great Behind the Scenes Look at a Crazy and Current Event, December 23, 2010
As a huge Conan fan I really enjoyed it. It gives a very detailed behind the scenes look at all the players in the late night switch up. From Leno and Letterman to Fallon and Kimmel. A very good read on a very current event.

Great story, but we already know most of it, December 11, 2010
Quite honestly, if you followed this story in the press or on the internet, there is not much new in this book for you. I think that says more about the times we live in, because when I read "The Late Shift" it was a real eye-opener because nobody really reported to that level of depth.

Even though I was familiar with everything in the book, the last 3 or 4 chapters still made the book worth the purchase. That's the point where Conan is finally pushed out and the book chronicles the aftermath of the situation. (Journalists and blogs still don't stay with a story after the outward drama is over - let along look back and put perspective on things!)

Having said that: for students of television or these comedians, who come to the story not knowing the details, there will be a lot to enjoy about this book. It will no doubt be the defining chronicle of this shift, as "The Late Shift" was with the end of Carson's Tonight Show.

Carter is, as always, an excellent writer and tells the story with a welcome level of detail and human interest.

Amazing!, December 10, 2010
Really loved the book!

A very detailed description of all the processes behind the whole Jay-Conan fiasco, plus a great description of the whole situation with today's late night shows. Gives you an insight of how the big decisions are made at the highest TV network level.

I'd recommend the book to anyone who regularly watches TV after 11:35 (well, after 11:00 with Conando on tbs now). ... Read more

Editorial Review

Amazon.com ReviewProduct Description
Look what you get in this cromulent compendium!

Comprehensive episode synopses for 20 seasons of The Simpsons, including 128 new gut-busting episodes never before covered! Stuff you may have missed! More screen shots than ever before! Over four hundred character profiles! Every chalkboard phrase Bart has ever written! Nifty new art throughout! Quotes and quips from all your favorite characters! Two or more jam-packed pages devoted to every episode!

As well as:
• Every couch gag
• A complete filmography of "Itchy & Scratchy"
• Every "D'oh" or "Mmm..." Homer has ever uttered
• Every song ever sung by the citizens of Springfield
• Every marquee message from the First Church of Springfield
• A tribute to star of stage, screen, infomercials, and filmstrips, Troy McClure
• The largest collection of Krusty the Clown merchandise outside of Bart's bedroom
• A complete list of celebrity guest stars

And much, much more...

Packaged in the ultimate wraparound slipcase and weighing in at a hefty 8.8 pounds, Simpsons World The Ultimate Episode Guide: Seasons 1-20 is meant for reading, not throwing!

ALook Inside Simpsons World The Ultimate Episode Guide: Seasons 1-20
(Click on Image to Enlarge)

Reviews

Large - Complete - Costly, but worth it, October 30, 2010
What is it? Hardback complete episode guide to the Simpsons. It has a sewn in book mark (the sign of high class real serious books). In fact, it might have been better as two hard back volumes.
Is it just a re-hash of the older published guides with some new stuff? NO! While there is some recycled stuff, there is new stuff which wasn't in the earlier guides, so even for seasons 1-10 there are new bits and pieces.
Besides the usual episode synopsis (1003 pages worth), writer-director-executive director-guest star credits, what else is there? (1) complete list of the Tracy Ullman shorts with brief descriptions and notable quotes, (2)detailed discussion of opening sequences - season 1, season 2-20, current opening, special xmas opening, post movie opening, billboard gag list, (3) list of couch gags and episode tags, (4) list of every time Homer says "D'Oh", (5) list of when Homer says "MMM...", (6) all of the church marquees,"Funeral Today: Homer Simpson's Vegas Wife", (7) Complete Itchy and Scratchy filmography by title and episode "Why Do Fools Fall in Lava?" and untitled clips, Itchy and Scratchy Movie, Itchy and Scratchy Radio show-musical-puppet show, Itchy and Scratchy Commercials, (8) List of all the crap Krusty sold out for and slapped his name "Krusty-O's",(9) Tribute to Troy McClure with complete list of all educational films/filmstrips, infomercials, TV shows, self help videos, and films "Here Comes the Coast Guard", (10) Lyrics to all of the songs sung in the show "We're sending our love down the well", "Dr. Zaius", (11) List of who does what voice - Dan Castellaneta has nearly 4 pages, (12)List of celebrity guest stars, Isabella Rossellini is between Charlie Rose and JK Rowling, (13) obsessive fan detailed index "Amy, cries like little girl 836"
Is it pricey? Yes, at $90 it is an expensive item, but probably worth it....If the shows runs another 10 years, I'm sure we'll be gouged for another a SupraUltimate Maxi Guide and I'll end up buying it as well - it is after all the greatest TV show ever.

A must have for every true Simpsons Fan., October 29, 2010
I own the other episode guides as well and this makes my collection complete. My friends love to read through it and there is so much stuff in there I didn't know, it might take years before I read it all. I could only imagine what kind of effort went into making this book.. 1200 pages! If there was ever anything you ever wanted to know about The Simpsons, it's probably in this book.

best 20 years ever, October 30, 2010
This was the grand finale of the 20 year celebration of The Simpsons. This book has it all, the first 441 episodes and every couch gag, guest star, every "D'oh" and "Mmm..." Homer has ever said, and of course, a tribute to Troy McClure. If you are a Simpson fan, buy this book now, I saw it at a bookstore and it was $150 and it is only [...] on Amazon but I am sure that will change fast.

Best. Episode. Guide. Ever., October 26, 2010
Amazing. Comprehensive. Beautiful. It does exactly what it is designed to do, it makes me want to re-watch every episode with this on my lap.

Very Nicely Done!!!..., November 8, 2010
This is a huge tome full of anything you'd ever want to know about the world of the Simpsons. My only complaint being that the print is pretty small in most sections of the pages, so make sure you have a good set of glasses on hand. Otherwise, a very impressive effort. Well worth the money if you're a Simpsons fan. It's also pretty heavy so you'll be working out those biceps picking it up. You won't want to put it down.

Mammoth Simpsons Book, December 12, 2010
Not easy to find a Christmas gift for a son living half a continent away, who buys everything he needs or wants. He's has been a fan of Simpsons TV since its first broadcast, so we wondered whether it was worth sending this big, heavy, expensive gift to a guy who's seen all the shows. He loved it! Couldn't believe there was such a thing. (Of course the Post Office delivered at at low book rate. And Amazon service was excellent.)

Amazing, December 25, 2010
I was skeptical when I heard about this book, but after getting it for Christmas today I wanted to post my first review ever on amazon because of it. If you fancy yourself a Simpsons fan and find yourself slipping even the most random, obscure quotes into your everyday speech, this book is for you. I can't even imagine the effort it took to put this together, but nearly every piece of information you could want to know is in here. The tribute to Troy is a great example of the book's depth. I will be proud to have this on my coffee table for years and years. I am not normally into commemorative collectors items, but this is something quite different and more functional and enjoyable. Get it, you won't regret it.

It sucks, how do I get my money back ?, November 30, 2010
It Sucks, I wish I had my money back. So lame, welcome to 1970 technology. I thought it would have some online features, some disk, something. Just A stupid book, I will keep it next to my parent encyclopedia. DO NOT BUY FOR KIDS who are fans , they will hate it. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Star Trek: The Original Series 365 is the definitive, authorized guide to Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry's groundbreaking television program that first aired from 1966 through 1969 and went on to become a cultural phenomenon. A visual celebration of the original voyages of the Starship Enterprise, the book covers the entire series in unprecedented detail, combining in-depth commentary, behind-the-scenes histories, and interviews with writers, cast, and crew with synopses for each of the series' 79 episodes.
�
In addition to a wealth of never-before-seen images and newly commissioned photography, Star Trek 365 presents a treasure trove of remastered stills from the CBS archives, bringing to vivid life the famous five-year mission of Captain Kirk, Mister Spock, Doctor McCoy, and countless other characters for longtime and new fans alike.

Praise for Star Trek: The Original Series 365:�

"Just when you thought you knew everything there was to know about the original Star Trek series and figured you'd seen every single production still and behind-the-scenes photograph, along comes this new book from veteran Treksperts Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann and the good folks at ABRAMS Publishing. It's bursting with in-depth commentary, episode synopses, newly conducted interviews and more, with a treasure trove of remastered stills from the CBS archives making it a truly out-of-this-world addition to any bookshelf or coffee table."�
-Star Trek.com

Reviews

Outstanding book, August 26, 2010
The best book about Star Trek TOS since the Justman/Solow book. Really well done, with great photos (many I have never seen before). The text on each episode captures many anecdotes that I had not heard before either. And I love that the authors included some early aspects of fandom -- including the first few New York conventions. If you are a fan of the original series -- this is a "must have" book. I hope they do another one for the first six movies featuring the original cast.

A Celebration of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek!, September 13, 2010
STAR TREK 365 is a time capsule to the magic that was Star Trek. Sure to gladden the hearts of all us moldy oldy Trekkers, it offers up a 744-page tribute to Roddenberry's original, classic show filled with clear, crisp color photographs and incisive text. To coin a phrase, it's "Fascinating!"

Authors Block and Erdmann take a roughly chronological approach to the original series, detailing the show's origins, its beloved characters and the actors who portrayed them, behind-the-scenes info, specific episodes, themes, special effects, make-up, etc. Yet STAR TREK 365 is the kind of book where you just jump in at a random page and enjoy!

Paging through the book you're reminded of what a fine job Roddenberry & Co. did back in 1966. It not only brings back fond memories of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty and all the others in action but also makes one realize how much better Star Trek was in comparison to the tripe that dominated the boob tube back then. Roddenberry, Gene Coon and Bob Justman brought a sensitivity and humanity to Star Trek that was sorely missing in so many other shows, especially in the first two seasons. The show's humanism and sense of optimism was underscored by the superb acting that helped create the endearing Enterprise crew not to mention the equally memorable villains like Khan, Charlie X and Trelane. In particular, though Spock in some respects stole Kirk's thunder, watch Season One and Two shows and marvel at what a damn fine acting job Shatner did as Kirk.

The photographs are a combination of color and b&w production shots and candids, some never-been-seen, of the regulars, guest stars, the Enterprise and other starships, aliens and monsters, special effects, dramatic scenes from various shows and so on. All in all, a visual delight.

In short, STAR TREK 365 may not be THE definitive Star Trek book but it is an engagingly-written and appealingly-presented package. And a steal at $29.95! Beam this one on board; you won't be sorry! Recommended.

Where No Book Has Gone Before..., August 25, 2010
This incredible Star Trek book is the perfect companion to all 3 full-season, remastered DVD boxed sets released last year. Informative, insightful and loaded with great photos and artwork, this book is a must have for even the most casual Star Trek enthusiast. Beam up your copy today!

Great little book, August 23, 2010
This is an interesting little book. Strange size (about 6" high and 9" long but 2" thick) but a cool book. It's very heavy (seems like the weight of a phone book)!! Basically it devotes 2 or 3 pages to each episode sometimes with a summery of the episode; other times with some behind the scenes information. It also has the appropriate corresponding photos (which look grand). Mostly screen caps but there are many behind the scenes photos and some photos that have not been seen before. Has some interesting tidbits like the doomsday machine was actually made by dipping a wind sock into concrete. The only bummer is that there are full page photos of the phaser 2, communicator and tricorder . . . . wait for it . . . . . yes, they are all fakes! Anyway well worth picking up.

"I'll never lose you. Never...", September 4, 2010
I'm a huge Star Trek fan, and it's a pleasure to receive a new reference book on the franchise (this time, centered around the original series, aka TOS). The Encyclopedia and Chronology were great in their time, but with all the information in the later Deep Space Nine and Voyager episodes (as well as Enterprise and the last few movies), they've become outdated. I expected 365 to be similar to the excellent Art of Star Trek (1997), and it is a great companion piece to that book, offering some beautiful images along with insights into the production and the impact of the classic series over the last 40 years.

In general, the layout has images on the right side, with brief episode teasers and other information on the left.

I'm going to note a few things that came to mind as I read through the book:

Materials
+365 comes in hardcover, with a beautiful image of the Enterprise on the front and a picture of Spock, Kirk, McCoy and Scott (from "Spectre of the Gun") on the back. The pages are semi-glossy and easy to flip through. The page numbers are colored the same as the dvd sets - yellow for season 1, blue for season 2, red for season 3 (and black otherwise).

-The cover can scratch and dent easily, and mine already has a sort of "haze" around the edges. The pages pick up fingerprints (wash your hands before reading!), and several of the text pages had ink smears and other blemishes (not a big deal, but worth noting). The page numbers are all on the text (left) sides and are cut off slightly. I guess this was a stylistic choice, but they're often hard to read.

Episode Guide
+The episodes are presented in production order. Though this was often different from airdate order ("The Man Trap" aired before "Where No Man Has Gone Before", even though "Before" was actually the second pilot), the layout is much more logical and easier to read through.

-There's no table of contents, so it's hard to find your favorite episode or get a sense of which shows aired in which season. The opening page for each episode has a teaser for the show, which might whet your appetite, but doesn't reveal too much. They could have put the episode number on the page (1-79), the stardate, the original airdate, a list of personnel (directors, guest stars, etc) or other things, yet those are all missing. A few notes on specific actors or props might be included on subsequent pages, but you never really know what's coming.

PICTURES
+The big draw for 365 is in its images, and here it rarely disappoints. Many of the pictures are razor-sharp and look like they could have been shot yesterday (Spock mind-melding with Van Gelder from "Dagger of the Mind"). I've read the comments about the rest, which sometimes look a bit grainy; knowing they are from the original negatives and have been cleaned up makes up for this at times, though other times you wish they just chose another shot.

-Sometimes the pictures are from the remastered episodes (the Enterprise and Balok's ship from "The Corbomite Maneuver") without any note of that fact. It wouldn't bother me if it was consistent, but sometimes there is a really crummy original shot (The USS Constellation approaching "The Doomsday Machine") that would have looked much better if they used the remastered footage instead (the original shot used a model with almost no detail). There are also some episodes that are missing things that should be there...for instance, there are no pictures of Elaan in the collection for "Elaan of Troyius" (!), or of Mudd, who was in two episodes ("Mudd's Women" [5 pictures with the women, none of him!] and "I, Mudd"). Actually, several villains should be pictured but aren't, like Merik from "Bread and Circuses" or the Klingons from "A Private Little War".

INFORMATION
+I guarantee you'll not only learn a lot about TOS, you'll learn things that will make you smile (like how Vaal - the big dragon head from "The Apple" - was actually made of aluminum foil!). There are nice tidbits on some of the guest actors, locations, costumes, episode scores and more. You'll find out why several planets seem "just like Earth," why Sulu was missing for most of season 2, and why William Shatner sometimes kept...pausing in the middle...of his dialogue!

-Some of the information is presented randomly (a comment on the look of the transporter platform comes in-between episode summaries for season 3). They keep mentioning how NBC gave the show a small budget, but not WHY this was so, or WHY so many people left before the third season (also no mention of Freiberger, the producer for that season). Also, there's too much information in some places and not enough in others. For instance, we get a whole page of text dedicated to the belly dancer from "Wolf in the Fold" yet nothing on Klingon warrior Kor ("Errand of Mercy") or Kodos the Executioner ("The Conscience of the King"). I also expected more interviews and actual quotes from the actors and others; how did Ricardo Montalban approach the role of Khan? What did Mark Lenard think about Sarek's relationship with Spock ("Journey to Babel", as well as the third and fourth movies)? Surely these people (and the main cast) had something to say about the show (and its effect on their lives) that could have been reproduced here. Finally, it would have been cool to include a bit on the 2009 movie, like a trivia section on the little homages to TOS people might have missed.

I know I've piled on the book a bit, but what it all boils down to is: did I enjoy it? Yes, I did. It was fun to go through once, and I'll surely be checking back to it whenever I view the episodes again. I still think the DS9 Companion is the best Trek book out there though (even if it's only in black and white).

Nice, literary perspective, October 2, 2010
A solid piece of work which is, refreshingly, not as much a behind-the-scenes tell-all but, instead, very focused on story. Star Trek would be nothing without excellent stories, and this book discloses much about the literary depth that made the The Original Series a truly great show. Add to this the hundreds of delicious-for-any-fan photos and we have what is a truly professionally assembled, enjoyable reference.

considering the price and great pics, it is a bargain, September 23, 2010
You might not see pics you have never seen before but I did enjoy the choice and quality of pics. Many of the pics are large too (at least 4 x 6) The text is not extensive but it is a completely fun read. I suppose super fans might have seen and read all of this before but for me at least, there was plenty I learned from the book. When you factor in the low price, it really is a no-brainer.

What fantastic little Original Series Star Trek book........., September 4, 2010
The anecdotes and reminiscences in this book are thoroughly entertaining and very illuminating in many instances. The episode descriptions are brief 1 page affairs, which are perfectly fine for the format this book is presented in. If you happen to want much more detailed descriptions of the actual people involved in the technical aspects of the show or more thorough story synopisis' i would suggest picking up the Star Trek Compendium. Even being as familiar as I am about the production of the original series there were still numerous stories and observations in this book I'd never heard before. The pictures chosen are also outstanding, many, many of them previously unseen before. Behind the scenes, publicity stills, alternate views of scenes from the episodes themselves.....they're really great, there was absolutely no issue for me regarding the quality of the images used in this book as i had read in an earlier review. This is a real first rate book and I'm happy to have picked it up and added it my collection, I've enjoyed reading through it over the past few nights and if your a fan of the original show, you just can't go wrong with this one! Well done Paula!

Best book on TOS, August 29, 2010
I rarely gush over any book. I often think, 'I could have done this better myself'! But not this time! The author reveals her knowledge of and love for Star Trek throughout her very interesting text. I consider myself a super-fan, but she revealed some tidbits in this book that I'd never seen before. The photos and other illustrations are uniformly excellent.

Her book covers all of the pilots and episodes as well as all of the regular characters and the actors who portrayed them. The book also delves into some of the props (though not all) and covers many of the behind-the-scenes people who put the show together. My only (small) complaint is that a section wasn't expressly devoted to showing all of the Enterprise sets. But, really, most (if not all) are shown in the episode photographs.

All in all, a must-have book for a fan of TOS!

Simply wonderful..., October 10, 2010
Pictures, pictures and pictures! This book is so full of any kind of pictures, on stage and behind the scene, that any TOS fan should have it. Many interesting notes complete this wonderful compendium giving more appeal to the ansemble. ... Read more

Editorial Review

It's time to play Jeopardy!™ Just like the hugely popular TV show, the Jeopardy! 2011 Day-to-Day Calendar has a unique answer-and-question format. Each week features Jeopardy! and Double Jeopardy! categories with assigned "dollar" amounts and a Final Jeopardy! round where players can wager all or part of their "winnings." The answer is printed on the front of each page and the correct question is printed on the back. With categories such as Show Biz Awards, Scary Movies, Four-Syllable Words, and Famous Pairs, this calendar calls to any Jeopardy!™ fan.

The Jeopardy! 2011 Calendar is based on the television series produced by Sony Pictures Television, a Sony Pictures Entertainment company. Jeopardy! is a registered trademark of Sony Television Pictures, Inc. Copyright (c) 2010 Sony Television Pictures, Inc. All rights reserved. ... Read more

Reviews

My husband can't live without this calendar., November 22, 2010
This is the only Christmas gift that he specifically looks forward to every year. The calendar goes in the bathroom and every morning he answers the question (or tries to). If you love playing along with the Jeopardy! TV show then you'll love this calendar.

Perfect for the Jeopardy Lover!, November 8, 2010
I've been buying my father this calendar every year for Christmas for many years. He absolutly loves it! Many of his co-workers also love it. He told me they go into his office daily just to play it. If you someone who loves Jeopardy, they will love this calendar.

Betty's Jeopardy review, October 31, 2010
I'm very pleased with the Jeopardy calendar. It saved me a trip to the bookstore, which is invaulable. ... Read more

Editorial Review

A MEMOIR OF BETTY WHITE’S FIRST FIVE DECADES ON TELEVISION—AS IRREVERENT AND IRRESISTIBLE AS THE BELOVED ACTRESS HERSELF

BETTY WHITE first appeared on television in 1949 and has gone on to have one of the most amazing careers in TV history, starring in shows such as Life with Elizabeth, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and The Golden Girls, among many others. She is one of the hardest-working actresses of any era, and her sense of humor and perennial optimism have seen her through half a century of industry changes and delighted millions of fans.

Now, during Betty’s sixty-first year on screen, a year in which she has enjoyed a huge resurgence of popularity, her 1995 memoir makes a comeback too. Here We Go Again is a behind-the-scenes look at Betty’s career from her start on radio to her first show, Hollywood on Television, to several iterations of The Betty White Show and much, much more. Packed with wonderful anecdotes about famous personalities and friendships, stories of Betty’s off-screen life, and the comedienne’s trademark humor, this deliciously entertaining book will give readers an entrée into Betty’s fascinating life, confirming yet again why we can’t get enough of this funny lady. ... Read more

Reviews

Full of fun and laughter
I had read another book "In Person" by Betty White a few years ago - and it was a side splitter. I have always been a big fan of hers anyway - and enjoy her immensely.

This book is no exception. She is talking about how her career and TV's career started about the same time. She gives insight into early television and her part in that whole genre. She talks about her "addiction" to work and her willingness to fill in whenever she is needed - and the break neck schedule she had in the beginning.

Have not gotten through the book yet - but have really enjoyed reading what I have. Betty in writing is as funny as Betty on TV.

Pick it up if you would like to see the infancy of TV from an insider's view - and if you want a good laugh!! This book supplies both very well.

"The One And Only Betty White"
Not many celebrities can say they are enjoying a renaissance and resurgence in their careers at the tender age of 88, but Betty White is not your every day celebrity. In 2010 Betty became the oldest performer to host "Saturday Night Live" (for which she won an Emmy), plus she continues to work in movies and primetime TV, most recently in TV Land's "Hot In Cleveland". She also had a memorable role on the soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful" and she continues to appear in commercials. Suddenly Betty White is everywhere.

With a career that has spanned sixty years on television, Betty White continues to shine and is an example to other celebrities who have reached that certain age that it doesn't matter how old you are; just keep working and love what your doing.

In this insightful biography that was published way back in 1995, Betty describes her life in television and how she got started in the business. Eventually it wasn't long before she became famous for being the celebrity who appeared regularly on game and talk shows, working with Jack Parr, Johnny Carson, and Allen Lunden, with whom she married. Eventually Betty did a guest-part on "The Carol Burnett Show", became famous for her role as man hungry Sue Ann Nivens on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", and to a whole new generation of fans played naive Rose Nyland on the 1980's/1990's sitcom "The Golden Girls".

In these pages Betty discusses how she got her two most famous roles on two of the most beloved comedies in TV history, how it was like to work with the giants in the industry, and how and why those beloved shows came to an end.

There is much more too on these pages on the the wonderful life of a lady who never slows down. The reader realizes Betty loves her life and loves the career that has made her a household name. Thoroughly readable, "Here We Go Again..." is an insightful memoir on one of the legends in TV comedy.

The book also contains multiple black and white photos of Bette displayed sporadically throughout the book that gives the reader a mental picture of where Betty was at certain times in her career.

Betty
Betty's book was great! It was easy to read & you felt like she was there talking to you. I would tell all my friends.

You again!
I remember watching Golden Girls and Mama's Family reruns with my grandma as a kid, but not knowing much about Betty White, the actress or the woman. So imagine my surprise when I came across her memoir (originally published in 1995) and discovered that she'd had so many television accomplishments under her belt well before her roles as Rose from GG and Ellen on MF.

Born an only child to two loving and encouraging parents, Betty worked as a model, stage actress, and joined the American Women's Voluntary Services before making radio appearances in the 40's. She made the jump from radio to tv as host of Hollywood on Television, one of the first live variety shows. It was also daily and there were no holiday breaks, but Betty loved the work too much to mind. So much so that she also starred as the title character in the 50's sitcom Life With Elizabeth, a later show titled Date with the Angels, and participated in a slew of game shows.

Betty also found time for love and was happiest with her third husband Allen Ludden. You can tell how much she loved him and how painful it was losing him, but it's not written in an overly dramatic kind of way.

Betty seems like a really down to earth woman who's seen alot, done even more, but is always humble and thankful for everything. To be in your eighties, in good health, and make such an incredible comeback is a major blessing. Keep goin' til the wheels fall off, BW!

Bette White Has More Lives Than A Cat
I find it amazing that someone who has been on tv as long as Betty White has managed to reinvent herself so many times. Truthfully, 'reinvent' is probably an unfair description. White appears to have the humor and creativity and vigor to remain current when her contemporaries are passing time at the Motion Picture Country Home or Forest Lawn.
This book is a quick and humorous (though sometimes poignant) look at Betty's life seen through her career in television and her 'third time's the charm' marriage to tv host Allen Ludden. It is loaded with anecdotal stories about the people she has worked with, her own career and personal history, and is imbued with her own personal charm and vivacious personality. I liked this book a lot from the perspecive that she sailed through her story without speedbumps and drama and brought her reader on a long lived tour of television and performing without missing a beat or a punchline. Her account of meeting Allen Ludden and their marriage was very touching and definitely revealing while it also gave me a sense that the tv Betty was pretty close to the private Betty.
This is a good book that will keep your interest and bring back a lot of fond memories of some of the best comedy tv has offered.

Need Unabridged Audio
I find Betty White's life very intersting, and her sense of timing and humor is wonderful. I only wish I could find this book on Cd and unabridged. ... Read more

Editorial Review

A traves de un formato epistolar, la Dra. Ana Maria Polo nos ofrece un dramatico retrato de vidas sin respuestas. Son los casos desesperados de quienes le escriben a la espera de un espacio en su programa o una solucion a sus problemas, pero cuyos relatos son demasiado explicitos, extraordinarios, o desgarradores para la pantalla televisiva. Cada uno recibe aqui la respuesta de la Dra. Polo. Una respuesta honesta, directa y a veces dura, pero siempre con el carino y la sensibilidad que caracteriza a la Dra. Ana Maria Polo. Estructura del libro: Prologo 21 cartas y respuestas. Para que no te pase a ti: indice de recursos legales. ... Read more

Reviews

Excellent!, November 20, 2010
I couldn't expect less from Dra. Polo. The book is great, very entertaining and certainly it is not a children's book so I don't know why other people are offended by its content. When promoting the book she says clearly that these are cases too graphic to be aired on TV, and they are. but I am a great fan of hers, I am only 22 and I would definitely recommend this book to anybody.

ic, December 11, 2010
What part of "cases that were too controversial to air on tv" do people not understand? Why would anyone be shocked? This book would obviously deal with strong topics which are controversial in nature. This is REALITY, not Mother Goose. Dr. Polo has always addressed her cases on tv in a tactful yet direct manner, always considering her show is aired on tv. The cases which were too graphic and could not be aired are related in this book. I thought it was excellent and was written in a profesional manner. This is not porn or sensationalistic. It is reality folks, deal with it.

Shocking!, December 1, 2010
Es una recopilacion de casos reales, en donde se despertara sentimientos de impotencia al leer la realidad de muchos y muchas personas que llegan a vivir lo imaginable.
Este libro se lo compre a mi madre, quies es una fanatica de "Caso Cerrado".
Por lo poco que llegue a leer, este es un libro que tiene que leerse con muy amplio criterio.
Es obvio que no es apto para la televion debido a su alto contexto en violencia y sexo.
A mi madre, quien es una fanatica de "Caso Cerrado", le parecio fuerte y algunas veces desagradable.
Es un libro detallado en su mayoria de veces, demasiado grafico y algunas veces sensacionalista diria yo, que puede provocar en el lector un grado de incomodidad.
Un libro de esta magnitud no se puede recomedar deliberadamente a cualquier persona. Tampoco lo recomendo como un regalo para alguien.

This book was more of the tv show. Not impress at all!, December 11, 2010
Querida Dra.Polo; Las Cartas secretas de 'Caso Cerrado'
Was not very impress, the book is almost the same themes that you see on tv. Most of the book was about lies,cheating and sex topics. I know it supposed to be cases that can't be seen or discuss on tv, but in the show you already see that. Please Dra. Polo, write a book with different law themes, like inmigration, living wills,domestic violence, etc., to help the people with questions in need for answers. No more sex or trashy subjects to make this world worse.

Cartas a Dra, Polo, November 18, 2010
This book should be rated R. The book was a gift for a senior citizen that admires Dra. Polo and never misses her show. She was so embarrassed to find out the contents were more of a pornographic nature. We can understand now why not too many details are given when the book is promoted. Somehow what she says on television does not sound as vulgar as when it is written on paper. ... Read more

Editorial Review

From Joanie's Marilyn Monroe-esque pencil skirts to Betty's classic Grace Kelly cupcake dresses, the clothes worn by the characters of the phenomenal Mad Men have captivated fans everywhere. Now, women are trading in their khakis for couture and their pumas for pumps. Finally, it's hip to dress well again. Emmy-Award winning costume designer Janie Bryant offers readers a peek into the dressing room of Mad Men, revealing the design process behind the various characters' looks and showing every woman how to find her own leading lady style--whether it's vintage, modern, or bohemian.

Bryant's book willpeek into the dressing room of Mad Men and reveal the design process behind the various characters' looks.But it will also help women learn how fashion can help convey their personality.She will help them cultivate their style, including all the details that make a big difference.

Bryant offers advice to ensure that a woman's clothes convey her personality. She covers everything from where to find incredible vintage clothing and accessories to how to pair those authentic pieces with modern shoes and jeans. Readers will learn how to find their perfect bra size, use color to convey a mood, and invest in the ten essentials every woman should own. And just so the ladies don't leave their men behind, there's even a section on making them look a little more Don Draper-dashing. ... Read more

Reviews

Fashion File: The Fashionita Bible, November 4, 2010
It should be noted that I have little fashion sense, but I absolutely love reading about fashion, especially its evolution as an art and medium of expression. When I received this book, the first thing I did was flip through it to see just what was covered. I was thrilled to see a survey of fashion from eras not restricted to that of Mad Men.

One of my real favorite things that was covered in this book, and really what was at the heart of the book, was the strong inspirational tone of developing one's personal style. It touched on the idea of colors matching with moods, silhouettes for particular body shapes, and activity/career-minded clothing.

For the fashion lover, this book would serve as a reinforcement of the rules they already know, and for me, it was the perfect primer for a lifetime of likely continued mismatched patterns, but also the added reason for me to continue to appreciate those in my social circle who dress to impress around the clock.

Special thanks to Grand Central for the opportunity!

Love the show, love the stylist!, November 13, 2010
I've been a fan of Mad Men since episode one. I love seeing the world as it was around the time I was born, when my parents were in their thirties. The tone of the show is largely due to Ms. Bryant's talents.

I've always been a fan of classic & vintage inspired clothes and jewelry & when you add in the wonderful acting & writing on the show, what more could you want!

As a curvy girl, Joan is my hero & watching her has given me more confidence when I dress.

Janie's book is full of good info above & beyond the normal fashion books. My favorite piece of advice in the book is to stand up straight, shoulders back & "be an exclamation point, not a comma". That's the best fashion advice of all time- If I find myself slumping, those words straighten me up & I instantly feel better.

Pros and Cons, November 28, 2010
I went through the book and then felt somewhat like the other reviewer that this book was written mostly for someone else. If you are the type of person that wakes up in the morning and don't know who you are until you put on a particular look, then this book is probably for you. To me, and maybe I missed something here, but to me, this book seems like it is written for someone who lives their life from the outside in. That is to say, they do not know who they are until they establish a certain look through their wardrobe that they select in order to know who they are.

Personally, if I were having someone design clothes for me, I would hire someone who could know about me and what my lifestyle was so they could design a wardrobe around who I was - not fit me into a wardrobe to define who I am for the day. I think the book has some merits already mentioned by some of the other reviewers, but I think this book lacks some of the variation and detail I would have expected. Such as what type of colors and designs around the neckline, shoulderline, waste line, hip line, and so on. I think this is what many women have questions about and many women seek a fashion statement that is mostly their own. While the book brushes the surface of these topics and the body types (straight, apple, pear, hour glass) and so on, it does not give a further examination of the subject and is more about frills and thrills than it is about practical wardrobing. I feel it is written on a level for juveniles and teens or early twenties. Not enough goes into practical work, play, dinner, entertaining, etc., the types of wardrobing that can be dressed up or down. Exploration of color is not even investigated nearly enough.

Now, the thing that makes this book worth while are the beautful illustrations by Robert Best. Robert Best is the Barbie fashion designer and he is also the illustrator that does the Barbie Calendars every year. His beautiful illustrations are more than just fluty garnishes in the book, they make the book's image and shape and statement. The creativity in the fashions are absolutely surpurb and for me, make the book worthwhile, even though all the figures he created are pencil thin and dreamlike without a basis of reality in their form. Even the illustration of "Joan" from Mad Men is devoid of her full curves, thus evaporating the opportunity to go beyond the stereo typical Barbie figure. The illustrations are indeed beautiful and dreamlike models that look like our beloved Barbie - now what fashion saavy woman doesn't like Barbie? There is a small credit statement to Robert's work in the back of the book and a credit statement on the inside front page but I think it could have been far more prominant in the book for the amount of incredible illustration work he did which is almost on every page. His work makes the tone and character of the book. Sorry he didn't get the notariety he was due for all the work he did. His illustrations are magnificant and give character and a great image of the book.

The messege of this book seems to be to break out of your current styles and have some fun with your wardrobe. It has lots of ideas to get people outside of their current mold (such as wearing lavish hats and lacy high heeled shoes) but not enough information to cover practical everyday wear for work, for executives, for recreation, for dining, etc. Robert Best creates the imagination while the author creates the inspiration to break out of the mold and try something provocative, frivilous, and daring.

The repeating idea in the book is that you don't know who you are until you put on that special wardrobe so you can be "somebody" special that you want to be for that day. So I missed the point of the book I guess. I was looking for a book that could put the fashion around me, a style that could express a bit of who I am, not prop me up into the fashion clothes for the day to define myself. This is where the rub kept occuring for me. Many of the suggestions are overstated and full of glam. Great to look at but hardly practical. I did learn a few things and although I wouldn't take the same approach as the book, I did get some ideas which I can certainly use as a basic idea to tweak towards my own objectives. Since the author's experience is dressing up actors and actresses for their shooting, I can understand completely her approach. But for the rest of society, it is a bit brief and not very practical. Great if you are still searching out who you are and need a fashion statement to get you out of a wardrobe funk. It seems to me that the premise is to awaken your inspiration and get out there and do something different.

That being said, the book is beautiful and fun, very girly, and great conversation book to have on the coffee table or nearby for those girly guests at tea time or to add to a collection of fashion illustration books. Robert Best's illustrations and interviews with the actresses make it worth it for me.

Decent but nothing new., December 15, 2010
This book is less about Mad Men fashion and more about developing your own (as the title suggests).

There is little in this book that you haven't heard from other fashion gurus. The illustrated content is attractive but, again, nothing you haven't seen before unless you are entirely new to men and women's fashion. It's a light read with a very casual, "dishy" voice to it and some comments from the actors.

Overall, it's a pleasant book with nice content.

Out of the top drawer, December 8, 2010
Wow. This book exceeded my expectations! A beautifully bound hard covered book with glossy pages. Most of the illustrations are sketched to portray Janie's styling ideas from costume design, right through to throwing an outfit together at home. She gives advice on what to look for when shopping, and is an avid vintage collector. I also enjoyed reading how she defines a character by costume, color and style. Janie encourages the reader to explore fashion ideas and perhaps reach outside their own comfort zone, trying new looks by mixing different styles. This book is a must have for Mad Men fans that admire those great 60's looks, and fashion in general.

Yay Janie!, November 30, 2010
Okay - first of all, full disclosure: I'm a friend of Janie's. I'm a writer/producer on Mad Men and I've been lucky enough to know her for four years now. And in that time, I have been so amazed by her breadth of knowledge about fashion and by her incredibly contagious enthusiasm about what clothes can do: how they can change your mood, how they can tell a story, how they can reveal character. The book feels very much like a million conversations I've had with Janie - about what to wear, what not to wear, attracting attention, but not too much attention, and what kind of attention? - there's so much that goes into the choices of what we put on our bodies every day. And Janie has thought about it all - literally from head to toe. There's advice on bras, getting out stains, tying bow ties, dressing for galas (and cocktail parties and dinner parties and first dates...). The illustrations are amazing - like the Butterick pattern girls all dressed up by Janie and the photographs are wonderful: Brigitte Bardot's impossibly small waist, Mick Jagger somehow making saddle shoes work, Janie's grandmother's rhinestone shoe clips (who even knew there were shoe clips?!) - every page has something wonderful to look at.

Sometimes it's so hard to figure out how much importance to give to one's appearance. I think I'm one of a lot of women who struggles with that. For Janie it's a pure celebration. That comes through in the book. It's pretty great.

Clearly for someone else!, November 10, 2010
I'm not a fan of the show, but I love the way Bryant styles the characters. I am so happy that her styles have brought back looking nice. There has been way too much frumpy, slouchy and ill-fitting fashion lately and I love that Mad Men is inspiring a shift into feminine styles again.


Several times in the book, I really felt like the book was aimed at someone else. I'm not thin and I can't wear a lot of the styles she advocates. I do like that she made everything pretty basic and easy to learn. She's way obsessed with accessories though!


The most useful parts for me were the "necessities" she advocates for both women and men.


I received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. No additional compensation has been received and I was not required to write a positive review.

Thumbs up! ... and "thumbs forward" :), November 8, 2010
THE FASHION FILE by Janie Bryant is part memoir, part history of fashion since the 1920s (including mentions of AMC-TV's Mad Men, where Bryant is costume designer), but mostly a guide to discovering and developing one's own, individual fashion style.

It begins with a Foreword by January Jones and ends with comments by Elisabeth Moss and Christina Hendricks. In between, Bryant and co-author Monica Corcoran Harel guide readers through discovering their personal styles: Who are you, e.g. as a persona? What clothes, accessories, hair and makeup best characterize that persona? Which of them do so most flatteringly on your own body?

It's very fun -- lushly printed on smooth, heavy paper, with a variety of fonts, charts and sidebars, and almost every page enhanced by a period photograph or a full-color drawing by Robert Best (whose women, alas, are all model-skinny). It emphasizes core concepts, applicability and positivity -- Bryant keeps readers at the center and adapts fashion to them rather than the reverse -- and the parts gather into a deceptively substantive whole. There's also a section on men's style.

Though I'm outside the book's likely audience of chic, urban twenty- and thirtysomethings, I've already noticed that Bryant has inspired in me a more style-oriented mindset. And among my favorite takeaways is a tip toward better posture, something every stylist attempts but Bryant nails: "By always keeping your thumbs facing forward, you can be sure that your shoulders are elegantly thrown back." Thumbs up for the book, and thumbs forward for looking good!

(Review based on a copy of the book provided by the publisher.)

Pretty book: just not what I expected, December 5, 2010
If you are expecting a book filled with photos of the costumes from Mad Men, be prepared to be disappointed: this is not that book. ... Read more

Editorial Review

An Emmy--and Golden Globe-winning AMC original series, Mad Men revolves around the conflicted world of Don Draper, the biggest ad man (and ladies' man) in the business, and his colleagues at the Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency. As Don makes the plays in the boardroom and the bedroom, he struggles to stay a step ahead of the rapidly changing times and the young executives nipping at his heels. The series also depicts authentically the roles of men and women in this era while exploring the true human nature beneath the guise of 1960s traditional family values.

The collectible Mad Men 2011 Wall Calendar features striking images of the cast, including Jon Hamm, Jon Slattery, Vincent Kartheiser, Robert Morse, Elisabeth Moss, Christina Hendricks, and January Jones in the best moments from the series' third season. ... Read more

Reviews

Perfect wall addition for any Mad Men fan!, August 3, 2010
This is a great addition to my wall or the wall of anyone who loves Mad Men. It's a standard 12 month calendar - but the last four months of 2010 are showcased on the first page, and then each month of 2011 provides you stunning 1960's eyecandy.

If you're like me and anxiously count down the days to Sunday night on AMC, this will be a great distraction. And for the months they're not on air, you can pretend they are as you lose yourself in the days and months of 2011.

Reasonable price, full color inside and out. Can't go wrong if you dig Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce!

Mad Men Calendar Rocks!, October 8, 2010
I bought several Mad Men calendars as gifts and they didn't disappoint! Looking forward to every month in 2011. The photos are fantastic and each one reminds me of what a great series Mad Men is! ... Read more

Editorial Review

Reviews

Marie Jones, AbsoluteWrite.com book reviewer, states:, June 19, 2005
OK, maybe not the last book you'll ever need, but if you are a screenwriter or play one on TV, this just may be the BEST book you'll ever need, or read, on the subject of how to break into the big screen big time as a writer of tall tales.

Blake Snyder is a working, selling writer himself, so that gives the reader a true inside glimpse into what it's like, what it takes, and what to expect on the long road to screenwriting stardom. Many screenwriting how-to tomes are written by guys and gals who have few or no real studio credits, so with this book you can be sure you are getting the info direct from the source of a successful member of the Hollywood elite.

Snyder starts out with a bang, describing how important a good title, pitch and concept are, and giving tons of useful advise for whipping those log lines into shape, the best shape ever in fact, for as the author points out, many industry powerbrokers won't even look beyond a log line...so it better be good. Damned good. He then discusses how to make your story like everything else out there, only different, and if you can come to understand that paradox, you will be a success indeed.

We also learn about the importance of creating characters that fit certain archetypes, like the hero and the villain, and how the use of Jungian archetypes can help you shape and mold real people that resonate with the audience. Also covered is the importance of knowing your genre and how to best amplify the style of that genre.

Another chapter deals with the author's own system of breaking a script down to 15 beats, and how every successful movie fits this same beat system. We also learn the art of building scenes and the use of those wonderful index cards for moving and changing scene progression, as well as following the basic rules of a great story, rewriting and reshaping the script, and of course, what the heck to do with the darned thing once you've finished. I really appreciated the glossary of screenwriting and industry terminology, something every writer should know (or at least pretend to know in meetings).

Although this book does follow the mold of many other screenwriting books before it, focusing both on writing and marketing the script and including summaries and exercises for the reader to expand their understanding, the difference that makes this book stand out is the honesty and directness of the author in giving the reader every best chance to comprehend and conquer the inner and outer workings of screenwriting. "Save the Cat" (I'll let you find out what the title means on your own!) doesn't hold back on doling out the solid advise, and presents it in a way that will not only inspire screenwriters, but also make them more aware of just how hard it really is to succeed. No sugar-coating here, but plenty of motivation and great info packed into one book.

So, "Save the Cat" may not be the final screenwriting book you will ever need, should for some reason the entire industry change and adopt some bizarro new standard of screenwriting that will require you to learn the metric system and Pig-Latin. But barring a drastic reshaping of the industry standard (I think most execs are too lazy to change much of anything), this is no doubt the one book that will do more to help you achieve success and get your two-brad-bound puppy through the door than any other I've read so far. And believe me, folks, I've read them all.

FADE OUT.

Aptly titled and Aptly Subtitled, October 11, 2006
The "Save The Cat!" title refers to a method of presenting your protagonist that draws the reader into the protagonist's personal story, even if the protagonist isn't actually very likeable!

It is, simply put, have him do something viewers feel a nice person would do -- i.e. "save a cat."

I just saw a jeans commercial where a bunch of guys go out on a clothesline to save a dog in order to impress some girls. It's as if the writer of that commercial had just read this book and spoofed it. It works.

The method for finding the correct action to introduce a particular protagonist is explained in spare and direct detail in this book, as is every other point in this book.

And that brings us to the sub-title. It is indeed the LAST book you will need (and you do need it) to create saleable screenplays.

That means it isn't the first one. This book summarizes and organizes, rearranges emphasis, and illuminates all the myriad other techniques taught in other books.

This book won't do you any good if you can't read a novel or watch a movie and identify the protagonist, antagonist, theme, Conflict, climax, resolution, denoument, and trace the plot, differentiating it from the story, and identify sub-plots, B-story, & C-story.

It won't do you much good if you can't write a story smoothly incorporating those basic elements, most especially conflict. (not necessarily a script, but a STORY. This book doesn't teach storycraft.)

You have to master all that storycraft first -- including spelling, punctuation and grammar (both common English grammar and script-ese.)

But this book will draw a picture in your mind -- give you the image of exactly what it is you are trying to learn from all those other books on crafting a story for the screen, and save you lots of time as it points you to exactly what you must learn.

Once you've mastered what all the other books have to teach you, and then you read this book again -- WOWWWWW!!!

SAVE THE CAT! is the AHA! book at the end of the learning cycle.

But it's more than that. This is actually a thumb-reference book, a volume you keep on your desk and refer to over and over as you are laying out the structure of your screenplay from basic concept to blocked scenes.

This slender volume, in ultra-condensed form, delineates most of the criteria that you must meet in order to produce a saleable screenplay.

It's a checklist reminding you of everything you already know about story telling -- but keep forgetting when you write. Keeping it on your desk and referring to it often can cut your production time in half by saving you many mistakes at the conceptual level.

This is the book you will keep after you've thrown all the others into the recycle bin or given them to the library.

But this is not the place to start if you haven't yet learned to turn a story on a clean conflict.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Unbeatable, August 25, 2005
A fast-paced and entertaining read, this book could help you look at your craft in a whole new way.

This is a book that doesn't get bogged down in rules and formulas. The funny thing about it is that it all feels like common sense... except it's "common sense" that most of us haven't thought about before! How do you make a "tough guy" character likeable? How do you paint mental pictures when pitching a script? Practical answers abound in this book.

Blake is a guy who really, seriously walks up to total strangers and says, "Hi. I have an idea for a movie. Can I tell you about it and you tell me what you think of it?" He does this even though he's already sold million-dollar scripts to Disney and Spielberg. It's this never-ending quest to learn more about the audience and more about what makes movies work that is so clear in Blake's book.

He does an excellent job of explaining things in ways that'll stick in your mind-- funny little phrases and lists that are off-beat enough, yet simple enough to remember while you're plotting out your next script. I felt like I was in the hands of a very capable teacher, and a real pro.

No matter how many (or how few) screenwriting books you've read, this one is worth buying. It offers a valuable perspective from a writer who is eager to share, never condescending, and knows his stuff. I give it two thumbs up!

Criminally Overrated, February 1, 2009
This extremely overrated book doesn't deserve the accolades its getting. There's nothing Snyder offers in this book that can't be found elsewhere and better. Snyder spends too much of the book stroking his own ego and bragging up his meager accomplishments -- he wrote Disney's Blank Check! -- and this self-importance imposes itself on all his advice.

I really lost my patience with the book when I reached his section on genre. Rather than discuss genre as most people understand it -- Murder/Mystery, Sci-Fi, Romantic Comedy, etc. -- Snyder creates his own schema and new categories. This encapsulates the whole problem with the book: Snyder devotes far, far too much time to reinventing the wheel, or copying better writers and imposing his own weird theories on their ideas. Vague and unhelpful examples litter the book, with Snyder making off-hand remarks about a bad script he read once in lieu of actual text examples.

Trottier's The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script and Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting contain all the information in this book, and present it in a clearer, more concise and less treachly manner.

The only "original" idea in the book is found in the title -- the advice to show your protagonist "saving a cat", i.e. doing something kind or good -- is hardly new advice, and is really nothing more than an obvious inversion of Syd Field's advice about"kicking the dog" -- the idea that you can make an audience loathe an antagonist by showing them being cruel to the harmless (i.e. kick a puppy).

There, I just saved you a labored reading of this entirely unnecessary book.

Save the Hack!, August 15, 2010
I'm a professional screenwriter, and here's a typical comment I get at parties: "Oh you're a writer? I have this great idea for a movie. All I need is someone to write the dialogue...I'll give you my idea and you write the dialogue and we'll split the money." These sadly misguided people are actually serious about this proposal. These people are the kind for whom "Save The Cat" is meant.

In other words, people who think so little of the art of screenwriting that it's just "an idea and some dialogue" to them. Ideas are cheap and plentiful, it's the execution of the idea that matters. "Save the Cat!" offers no insight into the art of screenwriting, but it is a concise guide to how to write a crappy script. The fact is: the author sold several hack scripts and made money on them. The implied reasoning is "I made money on crappy scripts, so you can, too!" There is no disputing that crappy scripts sell and get made all the time, but you can't build a career on them. And why would you want to? Clearly the author couldn't, either, hence this book and all the other products based on it.

If you haven't looked at his credits, he wrote "Blank Check" and "Stop or My Mom Will Shoot." These movies got 4.2 and 3.4 stars on IMDB. Of course, the writer is not responsible for the final product, but from the way he talks in the book, I'm sure these screenplays were only improved in the production process.

BTW, he had 3 co-writers on those movies, so we don't even know what his contribution to each of them was.

If you are a good writer with actual talent and something to say, you'll benefit from Robert Mckee's "Story." If your aim is much lower, then buy "Save the Cat." The concepts are simple and will propel you well on your way to hack-dom. If you want to write the next "Shakespeare in Love," this book ain't for you. But if you want to write the next Paris Hilton direct-to-DVD movie, the next woman-in-peril Lifetime Movie Channel schlock, or the next Tyler Perry movie, then "Save the Cat" is for you. (BTW, "Shakespeare in Love" has no "save the cat" moment in it. Shakespeare does not do anything to help anyone (or any cat) in the film. "Groundhog Day" has no such moment either -- which is kind of the point of the whole movie. Get the idea? If you want to be original, this ain't your book.)

I fully realize my review may sound snobby, and perhaps it is. To be fair, the types of movies that Blake Snyder's rigid cookie-cutter formula engender certainly have their place in the business. They've been made from the beginning of cinema and continue to be made. And if that's what you're meant to write, then go for it. Just don't expect this book to elevate your idea to anywhere in the realm of art.

It kind of reminds of the one and only class I ever took in filmmaking at UCLA. The teacher was an Oscar-winning producer. When he told the class the story of how he got attached as a producer to a film that won an Oscar, it was clear it was all kind of a fluke and that he personally had nothing to do with the artistic merit of the film. He concluded by saying: "My point is that if a no-talent schmuck like me can win an Oscar and make it in this business, there's no reason why you can't either." I will never forget his brutal honesty. But obviously, his career did not last since there he was teaching an extension course at UCLA. But his honest assessment of the business is oddly comforting.

The simple truth is that there are tons of people in the business with little or no talent who make a living. Seriously. I know -- I've worked with them. "Save the Cat" tells you how to be one of those people. Whether this is a good or bad thing, it's not for me to say.

On the flip side, there are tons of people with oodles of talent who *don't* make it in the business because they never actually finish their screenplay. Or more likely, they finish it but never do the necessary rewrites. So if this book gets you to write and rewrite, then it will have served a good purpose.

Better Than Some, February 22, 2006
Hmm... I'm not quite sure how best to review this book. Was it an enjoyable read? Yes... I read it in one sitting and, by and large, found it entertaining. Was it informative? Sort of... a lot of the information can be found in other screenwriting books, but the author has some interesting spins on much of it (and "Save the Cat" has become part of my vernacular much as "Jump the Shark" did when I first heard that phrase, as in: "That guy that I was crushing on had a 'save the cat' moment when he leapt to my defence but he 'jumped the shark' when he didn't tip the waiter on our first date").

So why only three stars? Mostly to balance the overenthusiastic reviewers who seem to forget (or not care) that the book focuses on Hollywood comedies that won't strain your brain. If I were only reviewing it for that genre, I would give it four stars. But, in my opinion, the book fell short on the other genres. Hence the measly three.

Good Breakdown of the Hollywood Formula, December 26, 2005
This book definitely has some usable information, and its breezy tone makes for easy reading, but it's by no means the last book on screenwriting you'll ever need. Blake Snyder has certainly made money in the industry -- good for him -- and if that's all you're looking to do, then this is the perfect book for you. Not to say that I wouldn't love to make a living in this industry, but -- call me a naive idealist -- I'd rather do it by having a really good movie made out of my screenplay than by selling a formulaic spec script that never even gets made.

Don't get me wrong, I am no elitist who eschews the Hollywood formula; it has its merits and its uses. I've enjoyed many a formulaic movie and have no problem using those formulas when they work for me. However, I'd much rather have a movie like "Memento" to my credit than "Miss Congeniality"... even though, as Snyder points out, "Miss Congeniality" grossed far more at the box office.

The bottom line? If you're like me, writing something a little outside the mainstream, I do actually recommend this book (albeit with a little hesitation): his "rules" might inspire some ideas and, among other things, his breakdown of the beat sheet is useful (but be warned that you may find yourself a little annoyed at times). If you're a little more mainstream than me and want to write a Hollywood blockbuster, then I HIGHLY recommend this book for you; in your case, it may well be the last book on screenwriting you'll ever need. HOWEVER, if you have no intention of going the Hollywood route, or if you think that the Hollywood formula is cheesy, tired and/or a total sell out, I suggest that you avoid this book... you'll just end up throwing it against the wall with great force.

P.S. For those reviewers who seem to think that people who want to write indie or artsy films must be arrogant and/or not serious about writing a salable script, I have to wonder what you think about film festivals like Cannes and Sundance. (Just file that under "Things that make you go hmmm...")

re-name the book, October 3, 2007
The book should've been named "How to take the joy out of screenwriting."

Although Blake Snyder is at the top of the screenwriting industry (he has had two spec scripts that have been made into movies), it is fortunate that he wasn't born during the Renaissance and wound up teaching artists how to precisely paint.

Perhaps everything he states in the book may be the absolute gospel in Hollywood (ala Syd Field/Robert McKee at al), but Blake Snyder believes all screenplays must be severely structured:
- The script must have precisely 40 scenes for some unknown reason
- the theme of the script must be made by page 5
- the catalyst (a life-changing event) must occur precisely on page 12
- the hero finally making the decision to act must be on page 25 (end of act one)
- the B story of a script must begin around page 30
- there must be an identifiable midpoint (exactly on page 55 of a 110-page script) where the hero peaks or the world collapses all around the hero or vice-a-versa
- the hero's "All is lost" scene must be on page 75
- and so on.

True, he reveals previously unknown industry secrets such as all scripts must have a terrific logline, a great title, a likeable hero (thus the title of the book), and must have conflict.

On the plus side, the book is certainly well organized and extremely well written. Is it worth shelling out 3 bucks on E-bay? Check your public library.

The Last Book on Screenwriting You Should Ever Buy, January 23, 2010
Snyder's book is, as another viewer noted, a guide to screenSELLING. Judging by Snyder's advice and illustrious career (yeah right), it's apparent that he believes in making cheesy, gimmicky family comedies with stupid premises, selling them for millions of dollars and watching the second-week box office nose dive after everybody realizes the movie sucks. That obviously doesn't bother him, because he's made his career on the types of movies that film-lovers roll their eyes at. To be fair, he states many times in the book that his emphasis is on writing family comedies with mass appeal, and the book is by no means directed towards writers of indie and arthouse films.

That being said, there are certainly good kernels of advice in this book, including the importance of structure and pacing of a story, creating a likable and empathetic hero that the majority of people can identify with, etc. However his approach is awfully formulaic and closed minded, and you constantly get the nagging feeling that this guy has built a career on putting awful idea after awful idea over the same exact closed-minded framework, which explains why only two of his movies have actually been made and both have been major flops. He claims he's sold dozens of scripts and millions of dollars doing it. Great, but he's contributed nothing to the art of film and his scripts are obviously passed over on a regular basis after purchase in favor of better films. Everything in this book has been stated before in others, though I commend Snyder for his right-to-the-point writing style which makes Save the Cat a much shorter read than other screenwriting books.

I'm currently trudging through the 'bible' of screenwriting, Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting, but it's a heavy read with lots of theory before you get to the practice. Ultimately I would recommend Syd Field's books (Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting)as the best marriage of theory, practice, know-how and good advice that can be applied to any writer of any genre, unlike Snyder's book that demonstrates the best way to write and sell forgettable garbage and make a fortune doing it.

Save the Cat may be okay for your first screen writing book, but it definitely should not be your last.

How to be a successful Hollywood hack (no small feat!): may be the last book on screenwriting you actually need, October 12, 2006
This is a very good book on the craft of writing scripts that get sold, and if that is your aim (and what screenwriter doesn't want to sell a script?) this is an important book to read. Blake Snyder knows the territory. He makes a very good living selling scripts and has created a user-friendly guide to the process that has worked for him. I have read most of the other "classics" in the field, and this is very likely the best if what you want is both a clarification of the mindset of those who buy screenplays and a set of reliable strategies for appealing to them. Even if you never plan to write a screenplay, I would recommend this for someone who is interested in how Hollywood works.

While the book is very well written -- Mr. Snyder knows how to make his point both clearly and cleverly -- I had an uneasy feeling while I was reading it. He illustrates his points with some very exceptional (and some not so stellar but reasonably successful) films, and I believe he convincingly shows that some of the best Hollywood films are in line with the strategies he suggests. At the same time, nothing he writes begins to suggest what the difference is between the very best films and the generic and forgettable films that "work" but have nothing special to recommend them (I guess that is what I mean by describing them here as the product of "hacks"). The criterion he continually points to is just that the films he admires were in fact sold and recuperated their investment. That is no small accomplishment, and Blake is to be congratulated for having written two films (and some smaller projects, including so-far unproduced films) that appear to fit this bill -- and especially for making clear that there are some more or less reliable guidelines to getting there. Still, as everyone knows (and this is what lies behind the usual critiques of Hollywood type films) there are a lot of films that do get made and even make money that will nevertheless be forgotten very quickly, and will never win awards or the admiration of critics. This book is not aimed to do anything more than help you in creating the latter. Blake Snyder's own films, while certainly evidence of craft and skill, are obvious examples: I can't believe that "Stop or My Momma Will Shoot!" or "Blank Check" will ever be on anyone's top 100 films list, or will ever stand out as films that were "worth" making apart from the fact that they earned back their investments.

A lot of reviews are written here by people who have attended Mr. Snyder's seminars, and who obviously like him. He does seem like a charismatic (even if a bit self-important) man from the way he writes, and you certainly can learn a lot from his book. After reading this book, though, I would strongly recommend honing the strategies he outlines by watching the very best Hollywood films in the genres you choose to write in, films that are both "successful" and admired. What you will find is that while they usually do fit the strategies he encourages, there is usually much in them that a studio executive would not likely have embraced willingly and yet somehow is the special thing that makes the film stand out. In addition, it would be well worth your while watching the very best films made outside the Hollywood tradition (films from the Criterion collection of dvds would not be a bad place to start), many of which deliberately eschew the kinds of strategies Snyder suggests and yet have stood the test of time and stand as enduring examples of the power of the cinema (-- Snyder acknowledges that there are critically acclaimed films that don't fit the mold -- he uses Memento as his example -- but thinks he clinches the point about the value of his methods when he reminds us that these films rarely make as much money as more mainstream fare; he misses the point that while Memento was no cash cow, it will continue to be watched twenty years from now, and it did recuperate its costs and did fairly well for an indie; and introduced the world to a talented director who has since gone on to create extremely successful commercial films that are much less generic than most mainstream Hollywood fare). While Blake Snyder's book may well be the last book on screenwriting that you really need (since what all of us aspiring writiers really need is just to write and rewrite and get rejected and reflect on what went wrong and get advice from writers we admire and keep writing), still the guidelines he offers are only a starting point for understanding and creating unforgettable films that are worth making and that the world really needs. ... Read more