Inside Fame on Television


Book Description

Fame, the hugely popular 1980 musical film inspired by New York's High School of the Performing Arts, was adapted as a weekly NBC television series in 1982. Though cancelled by the network after two seasons, the TV version of Fame rose from the ashes to enjoy a long and successful run in syndication. Among the series' cast members were such gifted performers as Debbie Allen and Janet Jackson. For five of the six years that Fame flourished on television, Michael A. Hoey was closely involved in the series' production. He has written a compelling behind-the-scenes history of the filming of the hit series, incorporating interviews with a number of the creative principals as well as recounting his own experiences.




Inside Fame on Television


Book Description

Fame, the hugely popular 1980 musical film inspired by New York's High School of the Performing Arts, was adapted as a weekly NBC television series in 1982. Though cancelled by the network after two seasons, the TV version of Fame rose from the ashes to enjoy a long and successful run in syndication. Among the series' cast members were such gifted performers as Debbie Allen and Janet Jackson. For five of the six years that Fame flourished on television, Michael A. Hoey was closely involved in the series' production. He has written a compelling behind-the-scenes history of the filming of the hit series, incorporating interviews with a number of the creative principals as well as recounting his own experiences.




Fame: The Hijacking of Reality


Book Description

"Wholly riveting." --New York Times Book Review "Justine Bateman was famous before selfies replaced autographs, and bags of fan mail gave way to Twitter shitstorms. And here's the good news: she took notes along the way. Justine steps through the looking glass of her own celebrity, shatters it, and pieces together, beyond the shards and splinters, a reflection of her true self. The transformation is breathtaking. Revelatory and raucous, fascinating and frightening, Fame is a hell of a ride." --Michael J. Fox, actor, author of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future "In a new book, Fame: The Hijacking of Reality, the two-time Emmy nominee takes a raw look at the culture of celebrity, reflecting on her stardom at its dizzying peak--and the 'disconcerting' feeling as it began to fade." --People Magazine A Book Soup (Los Angeles, CA) best seller, October 15–21, 2018 "As the title Fame: The Hijacking of Reality more than implies, this is a book about the complicated aspects of all things fame." --Vanity Fair "Bateman digs into the out-of-control nature of being famous, its psychological aftermath and why we all can't get enough of it." --New York Post "The Family Ties alum has written the rawest, bleakest book on fame you're ever likely to read. Bateman's close-up of the celeb experience features vivid encounters with misogyny, painful meditations on aging in Hollywood, and no shortage of theses on social media's wrath." --Entertainment Weekly "Bateman addresses the reader directly, pouring out her thoughts in a rapid-fire, conversational style. (Hunter S. Thompson is saluted in the acknowledgments.)...But her jittery delivery suits the material--the manic sugar high of celebrity and its inevitable crash. Bateman takes the reader through her entire fame cycle, from TV megastar, whose first movie role was alongside Julia Roberts, to her quieter life today as a filmmaker. She is as relentless with herself as she is with others." --Washington Post "While Bateman's new book Fame: The Hijacking of Reality (out now) touches on the former teen starlet's experience in the public eye, it's not a memoir. Far from it, in fact--it's instead an intense meditation on the nature of fame, and a glimpse into the repercussions it has on both the individual experiencing it and the society that keeps the concept alive." --Entertainment Weekly "Bateman takes an unsentimental look at the nature of celebrity worship in her first book, Fame: The Hijacking of Reality." --LA Weekly Entertainment shows, magazines, websites, and other channels continuously report the latest sightings, heartbreaks, and triumphs of the famous to a seemingly insatiable public. Millions of people go to enormous lengths to achieve Fame. Fame is woven into our lives in ways that may have been unimaginable in years past. And yet, is Fame even real? Contrary to tangible realities, Fame is one of those "realities" that we, as a society, have made. Why is that and what is it about Fame that drives us to spend so much time, money, and focus to create the framework that maintains its health? Mining decades of experience, writer, director, producer, and actress Justine Bateman writes a visceral, intimate look at the experience of Fame. Combining the internal reality-shift of the famous, theories on the public's behavior at each stage of a famous person's career, and the experiences of other famous performers, Bateman takes the reader inside and outside the emotions of Fame. The book includes twenty-four color photographs to highlight her analysis.




Fame Us


Book Description

In this stunning book, photographer Brian Howell takes us into the world of celebrity impersonators--the faux famous people who make a living at pretending to be someone else. Taken at various impersonator conventions and stage shows throughout North America, the photographs are both startling and poignant--for all of the frivolity and double takes (''Isn't that Paris Hilton?'') there is also a sense of the real person beneath the makeup and the artifice. Accompanying the portraits are first-person narratives by many of the subjects, many of whom feel personally close to those they are impersonating, even if they have never met them. In addition, in two essays, cultural critic Norbert Ruebsaat looks at the history of celebrity culture, and Geist magazine editor Stephen Osborne delves into the nature of photographing impersonators. As such, the book investigates the nature of fame in this era of celebrity blogs, stalkerazzi, and reality television-and how our obsession with famous people says as much about us as it does about them.




Fame Junkies


Book Description

In this groundbreaking book, Jake Halpern embarks on a quest to explore the facinating and often dark implications of America's obsession with fame. Traveling across the country, he visits a Hollywood home for aspiring child actors and enrolls in a training program for would-be celebrity assistants. He drops by the editorial offices of US Weekly and spends time at a laboratory where monkeys give up food to stare at pictures of dominant members of their group. Whether he is interviewing Rod Stewart or the nation's leading experts on addiction, Halpern deftly uncovers the strange working of our fame obsessed psyches. By interweaving stories from his travels with new research, including original findings from his own "fame survey," Halpern explains how psychology, technology, evolution, and profit conspire to make the world of red carpets and velvet ropes so enthralling. Fame Junkies is a provocative and insightful portrait of an America that wants nothing more than to see and be seen.




Entertaining television


Book Description

Entertaining television challenges the idea that the BBC in the 1950s was elitist and ‘staid’, upholding Reithian values in a paternalistic, even patronising way. By focusing on a number of (often controversial) programme case studies – such as the soap opera, the quiz/ game show, the ‘problem’ show and programmes dealing with celebrity culture - Su Holmes demonstrates how BBC television surprisingly explored popular interests and desires. She also uncovers a number of remarkable connections with programmes and topics at the forefront of television today, ranging from talk shows, 'Reality TV', even to our contemporary obsession with celebrity. The book is iconclastic, percipient and grounded in archival research, and will be of use to anyone studying television history.




Thar's Joy in Braveland


Book Description

"You talk about destiny, well, you can't rule that out. We were hard-nosed and that showed up in 1957." -- Braves catcher Del Crandall to editor Gregory H. Wolf Few teams in baseball history have captured the hearts of their fans like the Milwaukee Braves of the 19505. During the Braves' 13-year tenure in Milwaukee (1953-1965), they had a winning record every season, won two consecutive NL pennants (1957 and 1958), lost two more in the final week of the season (1956 and 1959), and set big-league attendance records along the way. This book celebrates the Milwaukee Braves' historic 1957 World Series championship season. Led by the bats of National League Most Valuable Player Henry Aaron and slugging third baseman Eddie Mathews and the "Big Three" pitching trio (Cy Young Award winner Warren Spahn, Lew Burdette, and Bob Buhl) the Braves won 95 games. The team enjoyed standout seasons by shortstop Johnny Logan, outfielder Wes Covington, and catcher Del Crandall And GM John Quinn pulled off the biggest trade of the summer, acquiring All-Star second baseman Red Schoendienst from the New York Giants. The Braves cemented their place in history by defeating the New York Yankees in the World Series. In one of the greatest performances in the history of the fall classic, crafty Lew Burdette tossed his second consecutive shutout (and third complete game) to defeat the Bronx Bombers in Game Seven, in Yankee Stadium. A collaborative effort of 32 members of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), Thar's Joy in Braveland! The 1957 Milwaukee Braves portrays that memorable team with life stories of all of the roster players, the manager and coaching staff, the owner, the general manager, and sportswriters and radio announcers. Summaries of the regular season and World Series re-create the magic of that unforgettable season. Table of Contents: Introduction:The Milwaukee Braves Make History by Gregory H Wolf From Yawkey to Milwaukee: Lou Perini Makes his Move by Saul Wisnia THE BRAVES Henry “Hank” Aaron by William Johnson Joe Adcock by Gregory H Wolf Bill Bruton by John Harry Stahl Bob Buhl by Gregory H Wolf Lew Burdette by Alex Kupfer Dick Cole by Doug Engleman Gene Conley by John R Husman Wes Covington by Andy Sturgill Del Crandall by Gregory H Wolf Ray Crone by Gregory H Wolf John DeMerit by Steven Schmitt Harry Hanebrink by Andy Sturgill Bob Hazle by Nancy Snell Griffith Joey Jay by Joe Wancho Ernie Johnson by Dana Sprague Dave Jolly by Chip Greene Nippy Jones by Dan Fields Johnny Logan by Bob Buege Bobby Malkmus by Gregory H Wolf Felix Mantilla by Rick Schabowski Eddie Mathews by David Fleitz Don McMahon by John Vorperian Red Murff by Michael J Bielawa Danny O’Connell by Mel Marmer Andy Pafko by Dale Voiss Phil Paine by Chip Greene Taylor Phillips by Rick Schabowski Juan Pizarro by Rory Costello Del Rice by Norm King Mel Roach by David Fleitz Carl Sawatski by Gregory H Wolf Red Schoendienst by Kristen Lokemoen Ray Shearer by William Johnson Warren Spahn by Jim Kaplan Chuck Tanner by Dan Fields Hawk Taylor by Steven Schmitt Bobby Thomson by Jeff Findley Frank Torre by Norm King Bob Trowbridge by Nancy Snell Griffith THE MANAGER Fred Haney by Jim Gordon THE COACHES Bob Keely by Gregory H Wolf Johnny Riddle by Nancy Snell Griffith Charlie Root by Gregory H Wolf Connie Ryan by John McMurray GENERAL MANAGER John Quinn by Rory Costello County Stadium by Gregg Hoffmann Jane Jarvis by Rory Costello THE SPORTSWRITERS Headlines and Deadlines: Wordsmiths of the Braves by Bob Buege Lou Chapman by Bob Buege Red Thisted by Bob Buege Bob Wolf by Bob Buege RADIO ANNOUNCERS Voices of the Braves: Blaine Walsh and Earl Gillespie by Bob Buege REGULAR SEASON SUMMARY The Milwaukee Braves Season Timeline and Summary by Gregory H Wolf WORLD SERIES SUMMARY World Series Summary by Norm King By the Numbers: Milwaukee Braves in 1957 by Dan Fields Thirteen Years of Magic by Bob Buege




A Biographical Encyclopedia of Scientists and Inventors in American Film and TV Si


Book Description

In this first in-depth study of how historic scientists and inventors have been portrayed on screen, A Biographical Encyclopedia of Scientists and Inventors in American Film and TV since 1930 catalogs nearly 300 separate performances and includes essays on the screen images of more than 80 historic scientists, inventors, engineers, and medical researchers.




Britain's Television Queen


Book Description

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 (for reasons that are not generally understood today), when Britain became the first nation in the world to have public service television. In 1969 the Queen opened the doors to the cameras once again for the invention of Britains first family-reality-TV, fly-on-the-wall programme, showing how she and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh and their children, Charles and Anne, went about their daily lives, thereby giving the seal of royal approval to reality-TV, ahead of the first programmes in the United States and the UK that followed in her wake. Queen Elizabeth II can accurately be described as a television queen, the first monarch to understand and embrace television and, in particular reality-TV, which is why she was light years ahead of other royals and her government ministers. Television was for her a right of passage and, not until she ran into bad and stormy weather with Princess Diana in the 1980s and 1990s, did she have any image problems with television. These problems no longer remain today, evidently, as once again the television arrangements are in full swing for her Diamond Jubilee celebrations this June. Queen Elizabeth II remains the most televised and visualised person in the world.




Johnny Cash and the Paradox of American Identity


Book Description

Throughout his career, Johnny Cash has been depicted—and has depicted himself—as a walking contradiction: social protestor and establishment patriot, drugged wildman and devout Christian crusader, rebel outlaw hillbilly thug and elder statesman. Leigh H. Edwards explores the allure of this paradoxical image and its cultural significance. She argues that Cash embodies irresolvable contradictions of American identity that reflect foundational issues in the American experience, such as the tensions between freedom and patriotism, individual rights and nationalism, the sacred and the profane. She illustrates how this model of ambivalence is a vital paradigm for American popular music, and for American identity in general. Making use of sources such as Cash's autobiographies, lyrics, music, liner notes, and interviews, Edwards pays equal attention to depictions of Cash by others, such as Vivian Cash's publication of his letters to her, documentaries and music journalism about him, Walk the Line, and fan club materials found in the archives at the Country Music Foundation in Nashville, to create a full portrait of Cash and his significance as a cultural icon.