When Television Brought Us Together


Book Description

Why do millions of people love classic television shows? One reason, certainly, is that many Americans have become disenchanted with the current TV landscape. The shows from decades past are more than a source of happy shared memories among millions of people; they are a common thread weaved through our culture. We're 50 years beyond most of their debuts now. Do they still mirror how we live? Should they? When Television Brought Us Together celebrates the era in television that came of age with the Baby Boomer generation, and how its most fondly remembered shows can still inspire us to emulate the ideals and ethics it portrays. "David Hofstede delves into the meanings of our favorite comforting classics and compares them with the TV fare of today. You'll be happy you stopped by to take a long breath of nostalgic fresh air and rediscover why these past shows are so classic. Totally recommended!" - Kathy Garver - Star of Family Affair and author of Surviving Cissy "Thanks to television, America was able to laugh together, cry together and love together, because we watched together. David reminds us how television united, rather than divided, a large and diverse country and how, even today, it has the power to provide valuable lessons for living in the real world. - Mitchell Hadley, author of The Electronic Mirror and founder of It's About TV blog "David Hofstede has encyclopedic knowledge and spot-on insight into TV shows of the past. I'm happy to know I'm not the only one looking back at the television series of my youth not just with nostalgia, but with longing for programs today that comfort, nourish, entertain and reflect who we are." -- Kathryn Leigh Scott, star of Dark Shadows and author of The Dark Shadows Companion "David Hofstede's thoughtful takes on our favorite TV shows from the '50s, '60s, '70s, and '80s-and the shared experience we often felt as we grew up watching them together, in a three-network, pre-DVR, pre-viewing on demand, pre-social media, pre-a lot of other things universe-are sometimes whimsical, sometimes analytical, but always absorbing to read." - Ed Robertson, Host of TV Confidential and author of 45 Years of The Rockford Files




That's the Way It Is


Book Description

Ever since Newton Minow taught us sophisticates to bemoan the descent of television into a vast wasteland, the dyspeptic chorus of jeremiahs who insist that television news in particular has gone from gold to dross gets noisier and noisier. Charles Ponce de Leon says here, in effect, that this is misleading, if not simply fatuous. He argues in this well-paced, lively, readable book that TV news has changed in response to broader changes in the TV industry and American culture. It is pointless to bewail its decline. "That s the Way It Is "gives us the very first history of American television news, spanning more than six decades, from Camel News Caravan to Countdown with Keith Oberman and The Daily Show. Starting in the latter 1940s, television news featured a succession of broadcasters who became household names, even presences: Eric Sevareid, Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, Peter Jennings, Brian Williams, Katie Couric, and, with cable expansion, people like Glenn Beck, Jon Stewart, and Bill O Reilly. But behind the scenes, the parallel story is just as interesting, involving executives, producers, and journalists who were responsible for the field s most important innovations. Included with mainstream network news programs is an engaging treatment of news magazines like "60 Minutes" and "20/20, " as well as morning news shows like "Today" and "Good Morning America." Ponce de Leon gives ample attention to the establishment of cable networks (CNN, and the later competitors, Fox News and MSNBC), mixing in colorful anecdotes about the likes of Roger Ailes and Roone Arledge. Frothy features and other kinds of entertainment have been part and parcel of TV news from the start; viewer preferences have always played a role in the evolution of programming, although the disintegration of a national culture since the 1970s means that most of us no longer follow the news as a civic obligation. Throughout, Ponce de Leon places his history in a broader cultural context, emphasizing tensions between the public service mission of TV news and the quest for profitability and broad appeal."




The Bombs That Brought Us Together


Book Description

Fourteen-year-old Charlie Law has lived in Little Town, on the border with Old Country, all his life. He knows the rules: no going out after dark; no drinking; no litter; no fighting. You don't want to get on the wrong side of the people who run Little Town. When he meets Pavel Duda, a refugee from Old Country, the rules start to get broken. Then the bombs come, and the soldiers from Old Country, and Little Town changes forever. Sometimes, to keep the people you love safe, you have to do bad things. As Little Town's rules crumble, Charlie is sucked into a dangerous game. There's a gun, and a bad man, and his closest friend, and his dearest enemy. Charlie Law wants to keep everyone happy, even if it kills him. And maybe it will . . . But he's got to kill someone else first.




Humanities


Book Description




Glued to the Set


Book Description

Call it literate fun. Ranging from the 1940's to the 1990's and focusing on 60 programs that will surprise you, Stark comments on TV history in a smart, pithy voice and reveals how as a nation we've moved from Lucy and Ricky to Roseanne and Dan; from Howdy Doody to Sesame Street -- and what that says about us.You may think you know television -- but when Steven Stark is finished pushing your buttons with fighting words and brilliant insights, you'll see what television has done to us as a nation in a whole new way. From Beaver to Roseanne, Ed Sullivan to Oprah, Monday Night Football to MTV, Stark takes us on a guided tour of the tube, providing startling revelations about the power of its sixty most important shows and events in the history of television. He catches in bright focus a hilarious, strange, and compelling image of ourselves as reflected on the small screen, and he shows us, with striking logic, the awesome power of television over our future and our fate.




Time Is the Length to Forever


Book Description

A backdoor suddenly opens, a descent down the rabbit hole—a book within a book within a book. “Another journey through Princeton's history, but this time, the focus is on empowerment, with a less-than-subtle nudge to the skills of listening and compassion. Flawlessly interwoven with synchronicity, this is another masterpiece by Dr. Clovis” (Alison Ward). “The anecdotes that stand out are stories of Ms. Ida B., an elderly Princeton woman whom the author interviewed for her first book and later befriended. It’s clear Ms. Ida B. is not merely an interview subject, but part of Clovis’ life . . . It’s a moment of welcome candor. An inspiring, lyrical fusion of pertinent social issues and the writer’s own experiences” (Kirkus Reviews). “The stories fall in her lap by a masterful design, almost with the precise intent of being unveiled to readers by the unique craft she should trademark” (Giordana Marioni).




History of U.S. Television


Book Description




The Club


Book Description

Geoff arrived home, was arrested, tried, found guilty and executed for his fiancees' murder--a crime he did not commit. He awoke from a drug-induced coma to learn his execution had been faked and he now owed the Club the next ten years of his life. He accepted the Club's conditions and became a membe--there was no choice. The Founding Fathers having fled tyrannical monarchies of Europe established the Club as insurance against their greatest fea--a corrupt and ever expanding central government. The first name on the Club's founding documents can be found on the American Declaration of Independence.




LIFE


Book Description

LIFE Magazine is the treasured photographic magazine that chronicled the 20th Century. It now lives on at LIFE.com, the largest, most amazing collection of professional photography on the internet. Users can browse, search and view photos of today’s people and events. They have free access to share, print and post images for personal use.




They Call Me Baba Booey


Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Includes all-new ma-ma-material! ALL NEW CHAPTER: Baba Booey’s Afghanistan Journal! and . . . the Shvoogie Buzzer story! One of pop culture’s great enduring unsung heroes: Gary Dell’Abate, Howard Stern Show producer, miracle worker, professional good sport, and servant to the King of All Media, tells the story of his early years and reveals how his chaotic childhood and early obsessions prepared him for life at the center of the greatest show on earth. Baba Booey! Baba Booey! It was a slip of the tongue—that unfortunately was heard by a few million listeners—but in that split second a nickname, a persona, a rallying cry, and a phenomenon was born. Some would say it was the moment Gary Dell’Abate, the long-suffering heroic producer of The Howard Stern Show, for better or worse, finally came into his own. In They Call Me Baba Booey, Dell’Abate explains how his early life was the perfect training ground for the day-to-day chaos that comes with producing the most popular radio show on earth. Growing up on Long Island in the 1970s, the youngest of three boys born to a clinically depressed mother, Gary learned how to fend for himself when under attack. Obsessed with music, he listened with religious intensity to Casey Kasem's Top 40 every Sunday morning, compulsively bought 45s of his favorite songs, and nerdily copied the lyrics into a notebook. Music became an ordering principle to his life, even as the chaos at home got out of hand. Dell’Abate’s memoir sketches the trajectory from the obsessive pop-music trivia buff to the man in the beekeeper’s mask who handily defeats his opponents playing “Stump the Booey.” We learn about the memorable moments in his life that taught him to endure epic bouts of humiliation and get his unique perspective on some of his favorite Stern show episodes—such as the day he nearly killed the Mets mascot while throwing out the first pitch, or the time his mother called Howard’s mother and demanded an apology. Hilarious, painful, and eye-opening, it’s Gary as you’ve never seen him before, telling a story that even Stern show insiders can’t begin to imagine.