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The Best & Worst Books about Television
- Thread starter mleach
- Start date
If you are interested in the history of network news, I would highly recommend Barbara Matusow's The Evening Stars: The Making of the Network News Anchor (Houghton Mifflin, 1983).
As the title suggests, the book features in-depth profiles of legendary news anchors such as Cronkite, Huntley, Brinkley, Chancellor, Reasoner, Swayze, etc., and explains their influence and legacy. However, it's also a full-fledged history of network news, analyzing how broadcast journalism had changed between the late 1940s and the early 1980s, with descriptions of technological developments, competing news philosophies, the roles of top producers and executives, the ever-growing importance of ratings and audience research, and so on.
As the title suggests, the book features in-depth profiles of legendary news anchors such as Cronkite, Huntley, Brinkley, Chancellor, Reasoner, Swayze, etc., and explains their influence and legacy. However, it's also a full-fledged history of network news, analyzing how broadcast journalism had changed between the late 1940s and the early 1980s, with descriptions of technological developments, competing news philosophies, the roles of top producers and executives, the ever-growing importance of ratings and audience research, and so on.
Double post. Sorry!
I have another book recommendation, especially for those of you interested in a global look at television: The Universal Eye by Timothy Green. Published in 1972, it's a lively, journalistic account of the television landscapes of various countries by a British author and provides a wonderful time capsule of that era.
The book has chapters on: The United States, Canada, Latin America, Eurovision (a pan-European TV exchange run by the EBU that is still going strong), the United Kingdom, West Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, East-West television propaganda, the Arab world and Israel, Asia (including looks at Thailand, India, Hong Kong, and the Philippines), Japan, Australia, Africa, and the future of television (which discusses cable, satellite, and videotape).
Each chapter has plenty of information on a country's or region's broadcasting setup, the main broadcasters, the most popular programming (both self-made an imported), as well as quotes from TV executives, and so on.
The book has chapters on: The United States, Canada, Latin America, Eurovision (a pan-European TV exchange run by the EBU that is still going strong), the United Kingdom, West Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, East-West television propaganda, the Arab world and Israel, Asia (including looks at Thailand, India, Hong Kong, and the Philippines), Japan, Australia, Africa, and the future of television (which discusses cable, satellite, and videotape).
Each chapter has plenty of information on a country's or region's broadcasting setup, the main broadcasters, the most popular programming (both self-made an imported), as well as quotes from TV executives, and so on.
...by contrast, Linda Ellerbee's ...And So It Goes: Adventures in Television remains a thoroughly entertaining volume...Neil Rattigan said:
Goldenson's book was called "Beating The Odds." I've read
it and can't vouch for some of its accuracy; for instance, he
says that Lawrence Welk was running locally in L.A. on KABC
when ABC put him on the network; I thought he was on KTLA.
He also says that WSOC Charlotte was NBC's oldest affiliate;
not true--it wasn't one of NBC's charter radio affiliates (sister
station WSB Atlanta was, however), and the television station
didn't even sign on until 1957.
I'm hearing that Irna Phillips' autobiography, written many years
ago (she died in 1973), is about to be published. Phillips, for those
who don't follow daytime, created "Guiding Light," "As The World
Turns," "Another World," and helped create "Days Of Our Lives."
Someone in her family apparently found the manuscript, and it seems
an appropriate time for it to be published, since "GL" left the air for
good Friday, and "ATWT" may be gone this time next year. (I might
note that she had good vibes when it came to the future of soaps; she
was the first to see the viability of the half-hour, as opposed to 15-minute
soaps, as "ATWT" and "Edge Of Night" were the first half-hour soaps and started
a trend to 30 minutes on all soaps. Before she died, she predicted the expansion
of the genre to an hour; "Another World" became the first hour-long soap a little
over a year after her death. But I'm not sure even she would have an answer for
saving the genre from what many feel is inevitable extinction, although I still say
that what goes around, comes around--as the world turns.)
it and can't vouch for some of its accuracy; for instance, he
says that Lawrence Welk was running locally in L.A. on KABC
when ABC put him on the network; I thought he was on KTLA.
He also says that WSOC Charlotte was NBC's oldest affiliate;
not true--it wasn't one of NBC's charter radio affiliates (sister
station WSB Atlanta was, however), and the television station
didn't even sign on until 1957.
I'm hearing that Irna Phillips' autobiography, written many years
ago (she died in 1973), is about to be published. Phillips, for those
who don't follow daytime, created "Guiding Light," "As The World
Turns," "Another World," and helped create "Days Of Our Lives."
Someone in her family apparently found the manuscript, and it seems
an appropriate time for it to be published, since "GL" left the air for
good Friday, and "ATWT" may be gone this time next year. (I might
note that she had good vibes when it came to the future of soaps; she
was the first to see the viability of the half-hour, as opposed to 15-minute
soaps, as "ATWT" and "Edge Of Night" were the first half-hour soaps and started
a trend to 30 minutes on all soaps. Before she died, she predicted the expansion
of the genre to an hour; "Another World" became the first hour-long soap a little
over a year after her death. But I'm not sure even she would have an answer for
saving the genre from what many feel is inevitable extinction, although I still say
that what goes around, comes around--as the world turns.)
bpatrick said:
I've heard for quite a while that there was an autobiography about Irna but I never heard why it wasn't published--I didn't know if it was incomplete or if her surviving family didn't want it done, or for some other reason it shouldn't see the light of day. I'd be very interested in reading it if it does get released and published.
...actually, Larry Lujack's Superjock is still a more entertaining read. As Ol' Uncle Lar did some TV work in Chicago, he marginally qualifies for this board...gr8oldies said:
In September 1979 I bought the first ed. of Brooks & Marsh at a small indie bookstore on the main street of the small town where I had just begun my first semester of college. It was through that book, and not A League of Their Own 13 years later, that I first learned about the All American Girls Professional Baseball League (ABC aired AAGPBL games in 1951 and 1952). 
In 1981 I received the second ed. as a Christmas present.
I don't know what happened to my 1979 and 1981 copies, but in 2005 I bought the 8th (2003) Brooks & Marsh ed. at Borders. For 30 years now, it has been a classic.
ixnay
In 1981 I received the second ed. as a Christmas present.
I don't know what happened to my 1979 and 1981 copies, but in 2005 I bought the 8th (2003) Brooks & Marsh ed. at Borders. For 30 years now, it has been a classic.
ixnay
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