Television Memoir

Readers and listeners have followed Jen Lancaster through job loss, sucky city living, weight loss attempts, and 1980s nostalgia. Now Jen chronicles her efforts to achieve cultural enlightenment, with some hilarious missteps and genuine moments of inspiration along the way. And she does so by any means necessary: reading canonical literature, viewing classic films, attending the opera, researching artisan cheeses, and even enrolling in etiquette classes to improve her social graces.

For decades, women battered the walls of the male fortress of television journalism. After fierce struggles, three women - Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, and Christiane Amanpour - broke into the newsroom’s once impenetrable “boys’ club”. These women were not simply pathbreakers, but wildly gifted journalists whose unique talents enabled them to climb to the top of the corporate ladder and transform the way Americans received their news.

If there's one thing the nation can agree on - we all love Betty White! This spirited homage to Betty captures her unique humor, timeless wisdom, and impish irreverence that's made her one of America's longest lasting and most beloved stars. How to Be Golden recounts her engaging life story while weaving in her words of wisdom and insight about love, friendship, work, family, sex, acting, aging, beauty, and more.

Could Steve Wright navigate the uneasy intersection between aggression and empathy without losing himself? The answer to this question determined the course of his NFL career and his life. Steve spent over a decade taping his knuckles and preparing for battle with the Cowboys, Colts, and Raiders. It was all part of a day at the office, along with blocking for some of the best in the game, including Tony Dorsett, Bo Jackson, Eric Dickerson, and Marcus Allen. But his journey didn’t begin or end there.

For just over 30 years Al Bernstein has been one of the most recognizable and respected sportscasters in America. In those three decades, the “voice of boxing” reported the funny, poignant, and bizarre events that helped shape sports television, ESPN, boxing, Las Vegas, and Showtime. With an eclectic cast of characters that includes every big name in boxing, including Marvin Hagler, Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather, and Manny Pacquiao, as well as such names in the entertainment world as Rodney Dangerfield, Sylvester Stallone, Russell Crowe, Jerry Lewis, and Jack Nicholson, Bernstein's memoir will have you in stitches.

John Scott has lived a varied life, but whether it's behind the scenes of a regional theatre, working on costumes for Hollywood movies such as Interview with a Vampire or Four Weddings and a Funeral or presenting TV shows like This Morning with Richard and Judy, his love of sewing and the humble needle and thread has run, like a rich seam, through everything he does.

In 2021, Texas Country Reporter celebrates its fiftieth season on the air. Broadcast every week on stations across Texas, it focuses on "ordinary people doing extraordinary things." In this memoir, Phillips tells his own story, from his early days as a reporter and his initial pitch for the show while a student at SMU to his ongoing work at the longest-running independently produced television show in American television history.

When former government staffer Alisha Aitken-Radburn was given a 'villain edit' on her first season of The Bachelor, she wasn't entirely surprised – there are only a handful of character tropes producers can manipulate into storylines. But the backlash on social media was unexpectedly intense, and Alisha found her sense of identity completely rocked by a single comment: 'You are a bad person'. Determined to shake the 'villain' label, she returned to reality TV screens, and this time, she got a different edit.

This is the story of Jerry Bryant, who has spent his life showcasing the biggest rock stars before anyone else could.

Walter's Perspective provides a unique glimpse into the rough-and-tumble Chicago news business as seen through the eyes of one of its legendary players. From his first news job working as a legman to his later role as a news anchor and political commentator, Jacobson battled along the front lines of an industry undergoing dramatic changes.

In 1968 a group of young people took over a derelict trouser factory in a rundown part of Leeds and set about producing programmes that were to define the British television world of the late 20th century. These included the investigative documentary series First Tuesday, Darling Buds of May, Whickers World, Don't Ask Me, and Heartbeat. At the same time they attracted, indeed often created, stars of international fame such as James Mason, Catherine Zeta Jones, Alan Whicker, David Jason, Magnus Pike, and David Frost.

The author is the son of broadcaster and adventurer Macdonald Hastings, and journalist and gardening writer Anne Scott-James. Max’s father roamed the world for newspapers and as a presenter for BBC TV’s legendary 'Tonight' programme, while his mother edited 'Harper’s Bazaar', became a famous columnist and wrote bestselling gardening books. One of Max’s grandfathers was a literary editor, while the other wrote plays and essays.

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.

On the Frontlines of the Television War is the story of Yasutsune "Tony" Hirashiki's 10 years in Vietnam - beginning when he arrived in 1966 as a young freelancer with a 16mm camera but without a job or the slightest grasp of English and ending in the hectic fall of Saigon in 1975 when he was literally thrown on one of the last flights out. His memoir has all the exciting tales of peril, hardship, and close calls as the best of battle memoirs but it is primarily a story of very real and yet remarkable people: the soldiers, the reporters, and the photographers.

In this dazzling Hollywood memoir, Jeff Margolis takes us on the ultimate behind-the-scenes tour of television’s most memorable variety series and specials spanning the past fifty years—from the most iconic variety shows of the 1970s to the Oscars. Today, as one of the most prolific directors/producers of event television, Margolis is not only a technical ringmaster but also a confidante and sage to the stars who headline the shows. Students of television will savor the “how-to” of event television while fans will love the intimate stories of beloved stars.

Focusing purely on Queen Elizabeth II's relationship with television, this book shows how she was ahead of the game in helping to change the face of British television from the outset of her reign in 1953 when she let the cameras into Westminster Abbey. The queen embraced television at a time when Winston Churchill and her government advisors recommended that she should keep them out--on the grounds that the cameras would destroy her royal mystique--right through the 1950s, which was Britain’s television decade.

Roughly ten per cent of all murders in the UK go unsolved. Here, Britain's top ex-undercover cop shines new light on cases up and down the country in search of answers. Peter Bleksley's life has been devoted to investigating. As an undercover detective for the Metropolitan Police and in his ability to get to the bottom of a case was legendary as he dealt with some of the world's most feared criminals. His success rate in solving murders as a serving officer was one hundred per cent.

In January 2011, my life changed forever, as I learnt about Venerable Margaret Sinclair. She is truly inspirational and is a role model for our times. In 2013, I began to film a documentary about her called Margaret Sinclair: The Untold Story. This was broadcast globally in October 2015 on EWTN.

Best known for his screen prints of soup cans and movie stars, this shy young boy from Pittsburgh shot to fame with his radical ideas of what "art" could be. Working in the aptly named Factory, Warhol's paintings, movies, and eccentric lifestyle blurred the lines between pop culture and art, ushering in the Pop Art movement and with it a national obsession. Who Was Andy Warhol? tells the story of an enigmatic man who grew into a cultural icon.

Imagine postponing an interview with Fidel Castro to take your daughter to her first day of kindergarten? That's exactly what Maria Shriver did. As a woman who has mastered the balancing act between career and parenting, she shares the lessons she has learned along the way in this audio program.