Television Memoir

The Sopranos. Oz. The Wire. Deadwood. The Shield. Lost. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 24. Battlestar Galactica. Friday Night Lights. Mad Men. Breaking Bad. These 12 shows, and the many more they made possible, ushered in a new golden age of television, one that made people take the medium more seriously than ever before. Alan Sepinwall became a TV critic right before this creative revolution began, was there to chronicle this incredible moment in pop culture history, and along the way changed the nature of television criticism.

Before the heyday of the Food Network, there was Chef Tell - TV persona of Friedemann Paul Erhardt, America's first TV showman chef. Big on personality and flavor, Chef Tell was once called by Philadelphia magazine the "affably roguish Bad Boy of the Philadelphia restaurant world." Chef Tell explores how a young German American chef became America's biggest TV celebrity chef of his time. Most of Chef Tell's forty million baby boomer viewers - a number comparable to Julia Child's - never knew his fascinating, hardscrabble life story. Until now.

Filled with sharply drawn, emotionally powerful senses, Walk Through Fire traces the hardships Sheila faced in her marriage and her professional life. Despite her skills as a violinist and music teacher, as well as her obvious entrepreneurial talent, she had to fight to overcome self-doubt and fears of failure. Sheila vividly details her struggles, including battling institutional racism, losing a child, suffering emotional abuse in her thirty-three-year marriage, and plunging into a deep depression with her divorce. And yet, out of that pain came renewed purpose and meaning.

In this "unauthorized autobiography" - now a film starring Drew Barrymore, George Clooney and Sam Rockwell - Gong Show host Chuck Barris claims he spent two decades as a covert CIA assassin. "Though Barris' reputation as a wacky TV show host doomed this literary venture when it was originally published, it is in fact a remarkably well-crafted and entertaining book, both unflinchingly personal and at times laugh-out-loud funny," says Publishers Weekly.

The Gamesmaster is a narrative memoir chronicling the life and career of Flint Dille. And while he isn't exactly a household name, you almost certainly know his work - which includes credits from some of the most important and successful entertainment franchises throughout the world across the cartoon, film, video game, and comic book industries and beyond.

In many ways, Kamal Haasan is unique. One of the greatest actors India has ever produced, he has usually gone further than just enacting a role to completely immersing himself in it. Kamal Haasan: A Cinematic Journey explores some 50 films out of the 245 Haasan has been associated with and analyses his cinematic journey from his beginnings as a child star all the way to his latest blockbusters.

In Take Me Home from the Oscars, Schwab tells for the first time her story of living an amazing life in television while suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. Schwab recounts with incredible honesty how on the same day she produced and appeared in a major makeover segment for Live with Regis & Kelly in New York and then raced to Chicago to appear on Oprah!, all while balancing medications to ward off the relentless pain that plagued her on-camera and off.

In his first memoir, Josh Widdicombe tells the story of a strange rural childhood, the kind of childhood he only realised was weird when he left home and started telling people about it. From only having four people in his year at school, to living in a family home where they didn't just not bother to lock the front door, they didn't even have a key. Using a different television show of the time as its starting point for each chapter, Watching Neighbours Twice a Day... is part-childhood memoir, part-comic history of '90s television and culture.

Michael Landon was an actor, writer, director, and producer. For over three decades, Michael Landon's creative gifts touched millions of viewers around the world on Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie, Highway to Heaven, and in several other productions. This is the first detailed examination of his work both in front of and behind the camera, including information about every Landon script.

If you want to uncover the secrets of one of the most notorious criminal organizations in American history, then you need to listen to this audiobook. Within these chapters is a riveting and in-depth exploration of the shadowy history of the DeCavalcante family, from their origins to their ultimate downfall.

Before Colton Underwood captured the hearts of millions on The Bachelor, he was a goofy, socially awkward, overweight adolescent who succeeded on the football field while struggling with personal insecurities off it. An All-American gridiron hero, he was also a complex, sometimes confused, soft-hearted romantic wondering how these contradictions fit together. Old-fashioned and out of step with the swipe-right dating culture of today, he was saving the most intimate part of life for the love of his life. If only he could find her.

Everyone has screwed up a few times, or had their work screwed up by others. It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time is a lifetime reflection of what Bruce Vilanch has experienced, learned, forgotten, dismissed, and embraced in decades of working in show business, specifically the south forty acres known as comedy. It involves very famous people and people who were not very famous but should have been.

Tapie se livre comme jamais il ne l'a fait. Deux hommes vrais, dans un dialogue complice, émouvant, sans concession. Un portrait inédit et passionnant. Celui d'un personnage fort en gueule, d'une énergie débordante, intrépide et provocateur. Un autodidacte issu d'un milieu très modeste qui a eu mille vies. Bernard Tapie, l'une des personnalités françaises les plus populaires et authentiques, dont toute la France a suivi les aventures mouvementées et qui aura marqué la politique, le sport, le monde des affaires pendant près de cinquante ans.

After eight years on the air, Desi Arnaz did not love Lucy any more. On screen, they were dynamite, a comedy pairing more successful than any Hollywood had ever produced. But when the cameras stopped rolling, they fought, screamed and threatened each other more each season. Finally, an argument in Desi's production office turned violent. Lucy hurled a cocktail glass past his head, and Desi demanded a divorce. He moved out that night. After nearly 20 years, America's favorite couple was finished.

Think of an important moment in live TV over the last half-century. Dick Ebersol was likely involved. Dropping out of college to join the crew of ABC’s Wide World of Sports, Ebersol worked the Mexico City Olympics during the famous protest by John Carlos and Tommie Smith as well as the Munich Olympics during the tragic hostage standoff. He went on to cocreate Saturday Night Live with Lorne Michaels and later produced the show for four seasons, helping launch Eddie Murphy to stardom.

This highly respected veteran newsman shares the stories he's long kept under wraps. Schieffer goes beyond the news everyone is familiar with to share the compelling anecdotes only his colleagues were previously privy to. Says the author, "I want to tell you about the parts that didn't get on television or in the paper." The result is an eye-opening glimpse behind the scenes of the news business.

After a contestant wrote "We love you, Alex!" as his Final Jeopardy! answer, fans around the world quickly chimed in to proclaim their own love and support for beloved Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek. It was no surprise, since millions of devoted viewers have long considered Alex Trebek to be a part of their daily lives ever since he began hosting the show in 1984. Now, best-selling biographer Lisa Rogak gives listeners a look at Trebek's early life, his career, and his personal life throughout the years, drawing on many sources to tell his full story for the first time.

Fess Parker grew up in Texas, served in World War II, and later became TV's incredibly popular Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. After his film and TV career, Parker became a successful businessman, hotel builder, and vintner. William R. Chemerka's authorized biography is a respectful tribute to an amazing man that features thoughtful recollections from Parker's family, friends, co-stars, and fans.

Legendary Rock and Roll guitarist. Founding member of Television. Masterful storyteller. Written in Lloyd's inimitable, frequently humorous style, Everything Is Combustible chronicles, through vignettes, Lloyd's colorful early life, starting in Pittsburgh and soon moving to New York City, and then details his teenage travels and encounters with music legends including Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, and Keith Moon.

Andy Griffith and Don Knotts met on Broadway in the 1950s. When Andy went to Hollywood to film a TV pilot about a small-town sheriff, Don called to ask if the sheriff could use a deputy. The comedic synergy between Sheriff Andy Taylor and Deputy Barney Fife ignited The Andy Griffith Show, elevating a folksy sitcom into a timeless study of human friendship, as potent off the screen as on.